Finals are around the corner, and that means that interterm is around the next corner. If you’re anything like me, you spend your interterm pretending to be too cool for your parents (even though you actually really want to hang out with them) and watching TV and movies. So, I thought that I’d give a few recommendations for some good things to watch during interterm.
1. “Party Down”
“Party Down” is my favorite television show of all time. It aired on the STARZ network for just two seasons, beginning in 2009 and ending in 2010. It centers around a catering team in Los Angeles made up of aspiring actors. Each episode takes the form of an event that they are catering. It is a truly hilarious and easy-to-watch show, featuring great performances from Adam Scott of “Parks and Rec”, Lizzy Caplan of “Masters of Sex”, Martin Starr of “Silicon Valley”, Jane Lynch of you know who she is, and many more. There are some cool smaller parts played by actors who would go on to be much more famous, such as J.K. Simmons and a young Kevin Hart. Unfortunately, it’s not available on Netflix, so if you want to watch you will have to buy it on iTunes. Or, you know, you could find it somewhere else on the internet, probably. I wouldn’t know. (Or would I?)
2. “High Fidelity”
“High Fidelity” is my favorite movie of all time. It came out in 2000 and stars John Cusack. He plays a record store owner who decides to reconnect with old girlfriends that have dumped him. This is just another very fun watch. The fourth wall is frequently broken, and Jack Black plays an insane record store clerk in his breakout role. You know, the two things you need for the movie to be a fun watch! Seriously, though, the performances are excellent. Jack Black steals every scene he’s in, and John Cusack is at his neurotic best. Check it out!
3. “Michelle Wolf: Nice Lady”
I wrote a few weeks back about Michelle Wolf and how amazing she is. Luckily for us, she just released her first stand-up special on HBO this past weekend. I had very high expectations, because everything that Wolf has ever done has been excellent. It is safe to say that I was not disappointed. Her comedy is just so wonderful. It is pointed, self-aware, joyful, and critical all at once. She absolutely commands the stage, even though she doesn’t move around all that much. Michelle Wolf is a comedy force to be reckoned with. She’s going to be around for a long time, during which she’ll probably be producing excellent work. I’d recommend getting on the Wolf Train now. You can watch the special on HBO GO or HBO NOW or HBO whatever-it-is.
4. “The West Wing”
In my last column, I wrote some very mean things about “The Newsroom,” Aaron Sorkin’s most recent show, because it is horrible and deserves to be insulted every time it is brought up. So, I thought I’d be a little nicer to Mr. Sorkin in this column. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend checking out “The West Wing” (created by Sorkin). It is a fantastic show centered on the senior staff in a fictionalized version of White House and the presidency. This show is Sorkin using his writing talents for good: the dialogue is sharp and engaging and the political messages are conveyed in a way that is not overly pretentious (although sometimes still pretty pretentious, but hey, you’re watching a Sorkin show, what do you expect?). The performances are all fantastic, but particularly good is Allison Janney as press secretary C.J. Cregg. Fortunately for you, the entire series is on Netflix. Binge away.
