September went by too fast. I couldn’t find the time or the mental wherewithal to publish anything more than fleeting tweets. I spent some time on the West Coast. Of late, especially the last two months, despite my efforts, inner peace has been elusive. In fact, that’s been the theme of this year so far. For most of the year, I’ve felt incredibly off-center. Lots of anger, lots of sadness yet lots of growth and healing, but in an interminable rotation. Overall, it’s been an annoying and confusing year, not unlike the on-going state of geopolitical affairs and financial markets. As always, I’ll only be able to connect the dots later in the future and will hope things make sense instead of just being a big ugly jumbled mess.
In the complicated mess that life usually is, TV brings comfort for many. And I am a big fan of comfort viewing. This is why this year I’ve mostly rewatched episodes of shows that have brought me comfort in the past. A twinge of nostalgia is probably activated upon channeling that comfort of the past. That can be a beautiful thing or it can spiral into unproductive longing to live in the past. Afraid of the latter, over the last couple of weeks, I decided to explore my desire to find new binge-worthy shows.
Navigating the oceanic swaths of waters in this Age of the Streaming Wars, I luckily landed upon three shows rather quickly that would live up to my “binge-worthy” criteria, each on a different network. Without further ado, the shows:
Panchayat (Prime Video)
This comedy drama set in a small fictional village in Uttar Pradesh, India weaves very real themes and dilemmas of small town India with incredibly potent comedy in an immersive tapestry of human emotions that I feel many Indians will relate to. Of course, being from Bihar, I was able to connect to the screenplay on a whole other level. Hats off to TVF and the cast of this show. Not just Jitendra Kumar whom I’ve enjoyed watching over the years in Pitchers and Kota Factory before, but the other established actors like Neena Gupta (who clearly never seems to age on screen), Raghubir Yadav and Faisal Malik pull their weight spectacularly, along with the young newcomer Chandan Roy who is thoroughly impressive.
Seasons 3 and 4 often break a good show or propel one to greatness and only time will tell whether Panchayat can live up to its blockbuster initial success.
Uncoupled (Netflix)
Romcoms set in NYC hold a special place in my heart and I’m always on the lookout for a good one.. but I’m disappointed way too often. The Neil Patrick Harris-starring Uncoupled however was a delight to watch. It felt like Sex and The City but a lot more diverse and made for the iMessage generation. I was hooked. I feel like it’s good enough to return for a Season 2. Let’s see if Netflix thinks so.
Andor (Disney+)
I’m not sure if I will go to the extent of raving about this show with the intensity that well-known tech journalist Casey Newton recently expressed in a tweet, but it is pretty good. This prequel of sorts to Rogue One has a real darkness to it that feels core to the soul of Star Wars. Also, how it explores the corporate underpinnings of the Galactic Empire feels reminiscent of the Time Keepers plot of Marvel’s Loki but real, dark stuff instead of quirky multiverse comedy. At least that’s how I feel as of the first 5 episodes. Let’s see how it fairs over the remaining 7.
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On a related note, I’ve been using an app called Queue to keep a 📺 diary. It’s a beautiful app and the team in LA has been iterating fast. In case you download it, feel free to follow me (@sidjha) on there.