La fantastica signora Maisel

I know, Season 2 was released on Prime only yesterday. And I told myself, I'd pace it, make the ten episodes last....no more than one episode a week. Wait, no more than one episode per day. Darn, I've devoured all ten in just 24 hours. And I want MORE! 10 stars for rating are not enough. The Marvelous Mrs. Maizel deserves 1000.

This is a comedy about stand-up comedy, so it has to be pretty darn witty. And it is. But it's so much more.

The characters are incredibly likeable, particularly the lead who suffers sexism and setbacks with a plucky determination and a dream all her own. Those surrounding her are fascinating and unique, from her father (wonderfully played by Tony Shalhoub) to her manager and others, including a recurring version of Lenny Bruce, which is quite a gas.

The setting offers more flavour as we see, hear and smell late 50s Manhattan, particularly through the lens of an upper middle class Jewish-American family.

It's a show that is rich in personality and consistently so over 3 seasons. You'll be hooked by episode 2. Enjoy and, ahem, "tits up".

This.

This is what it a real comedy series should be. They've also found a real charmer in Rachel Brosnahan, who's not just lovely and energetic, but genuinely funny. A cast of bright characters with great writing rounds out this great show. The other guys could learn a thing or three from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

This fresh-feeling comedy, the brainchild of Daniel Palladino & Amy Sherman-Palladino leaves almost nothing to be desired. This is a full-bodied comedy series that really grabs your attention and never lets it go. Everything from the camera work, to the sets, to costuming is very well done and does a more than adequate job in immersing you in a lush, colorful, mid-century snapshot of 1960's New York.

Miriam "Midge" Maisel, the matriarch-in-training of her young nuclear family, exceeds by every measure to be the wife she believes her husband deserves. She dotes on him, cares for his emotional well- being, and is perfectly happy. Until changes happen that sets her on a path she's not sure she's able to handle.

I can name, both with TV shows and movies, many where the focus was to witness the genesis of a stand-up comedian, or where we look into the life of a seasoned comedian, or view the last bits of a comedian's career. Usually the actor portraying the comedian (or even sometimes an actual comedian portraying one) just isn't funny. We see the story taking pains to make us believe they're hilarious by cracking up the on screen audiences, winning awards or accolades, and receiving praise. It never really works, because unless you can make ME, the real audience, believe he or she is funny, it hasn't done its job.

Rachel Brosnahan is funny. Her timing is perfect. And obviously the jokes have to be good, so the writers are no slouches either, but the material goes nowhere unless you have the right person delivering that dialogue. They've found her. Effortlessly, Brosnahan delivers line after line of well written material with a confidence, brashness, and stereo-typically New York swagger that has you saying "yeah, I can see her doing stand-up". That's rare, and that's very special. De Niro couldn't do it in "The Comedian". Sally Field couldn't do it in "Punchline". Heck, Adam Sandler couldn't really pull it off well in "Funny People". And it has FUNNY in the name for Christ's sake!

The rest of the cast is a manic pleasure, and the show has done a great job with who they've cast to be her family. Tony Shalhoub wasn't in the pilot much, but now that the rest of the episodes have become available for streaming, I see that he stands out with great dialogue he was given and an intensity I hadn't before seen in him. It works. As well, Marin Hinkle who plays Midge's mom, does a wonderful job in the role. We see her character expand exponentially from the pilot with the new episodes.

Every fall that rolls around, I get excited to see the shows and which ones I think will swim or sink, and I believe we have a winner here.

What may seem to be a standard, formulaic "dramedy" really has a feel of its own. There are comparable shows in level of quality, but as far as I'm concerned, none just outright better. I hope it maintains its quality and has a nice, long run.

A lot of people would say we are in a "Golden Age" of television, providing feature quality series with acclaimed actors and indepth writing. And whilst it is of course somewhat debatable as there has always been great shows, it is indeed true that TV has gone through a great revolution.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is a great period-piece that offers great drama, in a somewhat lighthearted fashion, and showcasing incredible actors who sells the melancholiness and satire that one coveys beautifully.

It is a very near show overall, in terms of both cinematography, cutting and editing and writing and acting. Definitely a unique and great piece that I can not recommend enough!

I totally understand why they did what they did with the final season but I still don't love it. Season one and even season two and three were so charming and captivating because it was such a insular succinct story and world-you felt safe in this little world they created through the music and actors and characters and sets and costumes especially. Season four and five try to get too big and expansive which again I understand why-they were trying to build more into it and expand the story to the very end of Midges life, and explore some other themes and aspects of her life that weren't able to just be covered in the 1960s world and time frame. But honestly we didn't need it-it wasn't necessary; we would've been perfectly happy staying in the small world they created and just exploring and enjoying that place in space and who the character was in that time we didn't need to see the bitter or not bitter end. They also REALLY did us dirty by dropping Luke Kirby and Lenny Bruce almost entirely from the fifth season. They were so good together and the performances of them two on screen were so fun and so rich and so meaningful and we didn't get to see any of it or enjoy that! Again I understand that they felt Lenny Bruce served specific purpose and he wasn't really needed for that purpose in the same way in the fifth season but again we just wanted to enjoy the characters on screen we weren't asking for some great deep thing we just wanted to see them! Not only that but we got cheap replacement of Gordon ford-like who cares about him! His scene with midge were so meh! I DID love Carr and his rel with Susie-super cute.

The fifth season was also like a Gilmore girls reunion in a way that didn't really make sense. For example they brought back Milo as handsome man completely pointlessly and a lot of the other "funny" bits they were including throughout the season seemed very forced and pointless (eg zeldas plot) again because we lost a cohesive arc and line for the whole story so it just felt like bits and pieces together. They were good bits and pieces with some good writing and good jokes and good feeling moments (Tony shaloubs restaurant speech) but it didn't all go together cohesively because they were trying to do too much.

Also Midges character more broadly-and really Amy Sherman Palladinos writing-she seems to have these strong independent women but over and over the story progresses and the characters are lifted up both on this show and Gilmore girls by these magical men who fall in love with the leading ladies and basically do everything and give everything to them so it's like you're preaching independence yet there's always a man being the catalyst moving the plot forward. And this next point which mostly I like because I like living in a happy idealized world which is how ASP writes (except when it comes to the romantic relationships of her characters then it's all disaster and garbage over and over again-which is not what we want!), everyone always LOVES the main character. For example, I found it extremely unbelievable that male writing staff would be so quickly accepting and supportive of MM! So yeah while last season was solid and actually pretty good as far as endings go, I miss the MMM of season 1 And I miss Luke Kirby.