Here's a sneaky great one, a new show on Showtime that I've heard described as "what if Mr. Rogers had a nervous breakdown?" It's an accurate description, but it doesn't really do the show much justice. It was made by a screenwriter named Dave Holstein, but it's produced and at least partially directed by Michel Gondry, whose fingerprints are just all over this thing. Jim Carrey's here, cast perfectly as a sad sack of a Mr. Rogers figure who lost his son to a car accident and his wife to a divorce shortly thereafter, but who has to keep wearing a smile and singing happy songs on his PBS show every day. We've got Catherine Keener, Judy Greer, Justin Kirk, and Frank Langella all giving wonderful performances. Oh, and Tara Lipinski pops in briefly to portray a fictional, super-shitty version of Tara Lipinski. It's surreal and wonderful and I'm thrilled we're getting a second season of this totally unique show, this weird and darkly comic exploration of grief and parenting and human tenderness.
Here is maybe the best single clip that shows the whole range of what the show has to offer. I guess it's missing a lot of the fun, surreal elements, but, just give it a whirl and see if the raw, shitty emotion on display throughout this clip and the record-scratching familial reaction to it don't tickle something deep down inside you. Minor spoilers, I guess:
At any rate, this show came out of nowhere to become one of my favorites of the year. I can't praise it much more highly!
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