My friend John started testifying about "Slow Horses." He was a fan of Mick Herron's books. He testified about the Mick Jagger theme song. But I had no frame of reference, knew nothing of what he was talking about.
But John kept mentioning it. And scrolling through Apple TV+ I saw it. And decided to watch it.
This is the Gary Oldman show. Cops in England. Well, actually MI5. It's a high class production, visually rich, acting impeccable, but Felice fell asleep in the first episode. But we watched another. I was impressed that Apple commissions such highbrow product. But there was absolutely no buzz on it. Maybe because Apple rolled out episodes week by week. Sure, if something is an instant hit this can build buzz. But if something is left field, without HBO exposure on cable TV, one of just a very few projects, it is lost in the shuffle. But maybe it's just not worth the buzz.
And then we switched to "Feel Good."
It was on my list, I could not remember what it was about, but I rechecked with "RottenTomatoes," and its ratings were 100% critics, and 90% audience. Really doesn't get any better than that.
So we dug in.
I guess we're inured to mediocrity. The songs in the top ten. The genre movies. It's a smorgasbord of professionalism. But creativity? Envelope-pushing? Jaw-dropping? That's almost nowhere to be found.
Why?
Because both creators and purveyors are worried about getting ahead of the audience, being uncommercial, sent to purgatory. So we get endless safe, like "Slow Horses." But "Feel Good"...
Now it's not much of a commitment. Two seasons. Twelve episodes. All under half an hour.
But there's a segment of the public which won't bother to tune in. They can't handle it when two women have sex, even though Mae considers herself non-binary, not sure whether she's a boy or a girl. But Mae is not only magnetic, she's real. That's right, "Feel Good" is a thinly fictionalized version of comic Mae Martin's life. And to tell you the details... Would undercut the viewing experience, so I don't want to.
Are there some clichรฉs in "Feel Good"? Yes, the character Phil, like out of a TV sitcom, well-played as the third wheel, but he doesn't ring true in any way, he sticks out.
But Mae. And her life and quandaries. And the relationship issues. BINGO!
Doesn't matter whether it's heterosexual or homosexual or any kind of human relationship, they're all the same...insecurities, issues of mutuality.
Our viewpoints are skewed by most music and TV. Where there is a male, but sometimes a femme fatale, who dictates, who rules a world they believe they dominate. No one dominates the world, and everybody has insecurities.
Come on, is the other person into you? Are you behaving correctly? Are you moving too fast? Or too slow?
And every person is different. You can say the same thing to two different people and get vastly different reactions. One can reject you, feeling offended, the other can reject you because you're moving too slow.
Mae is screwed up. But in truth, we're all screwed up.
Mae wants to feel connected. Is she just needy? Does who she's involved with matter?
I've never heard of Mae Martin. But in "Feel Good" she emerges fully-formed. I cannot fathom how she created her own show and got it so right. The dialogue, the feelings. Being true to her vision. She hasn't had the rough edges sanded off. She's genuine, and you can feel it, it shows on screen.
This is not "Friends." Not that it's heavy, in most instances it's light. But "Feel Good" is not superficial. To have a sustained relationship is nearly impossible. If you're together with someone for years you've weathered so many crises to get there, or one person is just internalizing their feelings and staying silent. There are the misunderstandings. Miscommunications.
I don't want to say any more, but Mae Martin and "Feel Good" are what the internet and streaming explosion promised but didn't deliver.
Yes, now everybody can make and distribute music. Has this generated any left field superstars, taking us to unknown places that wow us? No.
But Netflix...
Come on, Netflix was HBO on steroids. At HBO creators heard no, at Netflix they heard yes. And only by saying yes, trusting in creators, can you end up with something like "Feel Good."
Now I was reading in the paper about Netflix's new game show with Howie Mandel... This is where Netflix is losing the plot, literally, trying to be all things to all people. Its original programming started out highbrow, the outlet doesn't need the lowbrow, it may think it does but it doesn't. HBO stands for something, Netflix used to, but now it's muddying the water.
Netflix doesn't need the detritus. People will watch smart shows. You just have to lead them to them.
The problem with Netflix is not the lack of new, great product, but the fact that the average customer is unaware of most of it. Like "Feel Good," which premiered in 2020 and concluded in 2021. I'd never heard of it, or maybe I read about it and forgot about it. No one ever told me about it. But it's there, just waiting for you to partake.
It's the new and different, the outside that resonates. And this is true over and over and over again. "Squid Game." "The Tiger King." The phenomena can't be categorized, they are truly must watch TV.
Stop lauding HBO and Disney with their anemic new streaming offerings. Sure, catalog goes a long way, but it creates no buzz, builds no shows, especially if you've got so new few shows available. Today people devour product. They eat it up nearly instantly. And then they want more. They want to jump from show to show, the flat screen is not the idiot box, far from it, TV is the most dynamic creative medium extant today.
As for allowing a free, ad-laden tier... That's hogwash. There aren't that many people who want to endure the commercials. Look at the Spotify numbers re listening. It's the paying customers who spend all the time on the service. And Charlie Ergen just said the ad-supported TV model was broken, with fifteen minutes of spots an hour.
As for Netflix's subscriber loss...
Now all the numbers are in. Seemingly every technology company took a hit, even Amazon. What happened? The world opened up. Covid restrictions evaporated. Everybody isn't sitting at home, in front of the TV.
But Wall Street only sees numbers. And Hollywood thinks it is in control of the audience when in truth it is vice-versa.
Watch "Feel Good." Maybe only in little chunks, it might overwhelm you. But when it's over you won't forget it, and you'll tell everybody you know about it.
Like me.
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