Curb Meets Portlandia, Stoned Moms, and Diaries of Doomed Relationships

The Weekly Binge: Staff Picks for what to watch this week

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Tim Daly is one of those actors you immediately recognize, even if you can’t name. From Diner to Wings, the Sopranos, and Private Practice, he’s been consistently working for decades. And if you had to describe what he’s like as a person, you’d probably guess that he’s boring and one-dimensional, given how attractive he is and how well he’s aging. Which is why it’s so jarring to discover this pseudo-reality show, now in its fifth season, that makes him seem funny, bizarre, self-aware, and yet a little delusional. He lectures his son on how to be “a little less douche (the family motto),” is humanized by Larry David-like arguments with a string of guest stars who are clearly his real-life friends, and maybe has a superhero complex from his time spent voicing Superman the animated series. It’s a little bit of Curb, a little bit Portlandia, and a fun perspective on Hollywood.

This series about mothers who start to secretly partake is dryly brilliant. It’s full of fantastic quiet moments, from the snide remarks about other parents feeding their kids sugar (i.e. toxins), to the husband hiding his disengagement from his family behind his biking obsession, to their quietly-voiced fears that their children are going to be ugly. As the show progresses, the women become more of a motherhood support group (who happen to get stoned), and the gripes become darker, funnier, and more real. It’s interesting to think about how this show would be perceived thirty years from now when marijuana is no big deal and mothers grumbling in silence is hopefully a historical artifact.

These fictional recaps of relationships-gone-wrong are raw and gripping, especially impressive to someone who’s experiencing them through subtitles (the show is in Spanish). Done in vlog format, the show takes you on a narrative ride, effectively capturing the couples’ backstories and their emotional ups and downs as they meet, date, and end things. The characters find themselves piecing together facts, wondering where things went wrong, and stewing in the anger and regret.