Vic's Picks: The Best TV Shows of Spring 2024
My picks for three TV shows from the past few months that are worth the watch.
In this edition of Vic’s Picks, I’ll be covering three recent seasons of TV shows that are worth checking out. And stay tuned for my spring album recommendations coming soon.
“Curb Your Enthusiasm” Season 12 – March
The final season of one of the funniest shows ever aired on television, Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” ended with a bang (of a gavel) in its 12th season. Over the last 24 years, David has lampooned contemporary social behavior through the eyes of an exaggerated, overly petty version of himself, to great comedic effect. Throughout the show’s run, David has found himself in a number of ridiculous situations: hiring a prostitute so he can use the carpool lane to get to Dodgers game, starting his own coffee shop out of spite for his nemesis Mocha Joe, receiving a Fatwa from the Ayatollah–– even dying and coming back to life.
Season 12 sees Larry after the tremendous success of his TV show “Young Larry,” which shot Maria Sofia’s (played by Keyla Monterroso Mejia) career into the stratosphere. After receiving a request from a wealthy South African businessman to make an appearance at his birthday party in Atlanta, Larry travels with Leon (played by J.B. Smoove) and Maria Sofia to Georgia, where eventually, Larry is arrested for giving Leon’s Auntie Rae a bottle of water while she waited in line to vote. The rest of the season explores Larry’s legal battle as he fights his case, showcasing his natural aptitude for making things exponentially worse for himself.
This season was–– in my eyes–– one of the show’s best, with every episode firing on all cylinders in its classic semi-improvisational style. It features an impressive list of cameos with stars like Steve Buscemi, Bruce Springsteen, Matt Berry and Ike Barinholtz, as well as fantastic performances from recurring characters like Jeff Greene (Jeff Garlin), Susie Greene (Susie Essman) and the late Richard Lewis, who passed during the airing of the season. Lewis in particular was at his absolute best in Season 12, and in the third episode “Vertical Drop, Horizontal Tug,” which aired a little over a week before his death, even made a bet with Larry over who would die first–– a tragic testament to the comedy legend’s talent for self-deprecation.
Any fan of “Curb” is bound to enjoy its final season, as it is filled to the brim with great references and callbacks to previous episodes. The finale even attempts to fix the infamously controversial ending to “Seinfeld,” and in my opinion, does so expertly. If you have never taken the time to watch “Curb,” now is the time to do so, and you can experience for yourself the pinnacle of situational comedy on television from the greatest to ever do it. All seasons of “Curb” are available to stream on Max, and they are pretty, pretty… pretty good.
“Fallout” Season 1 – April
I’ll be honest, I did not have high hopes for the “Fallout” TV show. I saw a trailer a few months back for it, and my first thoughts were, “Oh okay, this is going to suck. What a shame.” However, when I began hearing overwhelmingly positive reviews for the show after it aired on April 10 on Amazon Prime, I was intrigued. As a longtime fan of the “Fallout” video game series, I did not think they could successfully emulate the post-Great War earth that felt so compelling in the games, but I am happy to say I was dead wrong.
With an outstanding cast featuring Ella Purnell (“Yellowjackets”), Walton Goggins (“The Hateful Eight,” “Vice Principals”), Aaron Moten (“Disjointed”) and Kyle MacLachlan (“Twin Peaks,” “Desperate Housewives”), “Fallout” follows Purnell’s character Lucy MacLean–– a vault dweller from Vault 33 who leaves the safety of the underground vault in the year 2296 to search for her kidnapped father (MacLachlan) within the nuclear wasteland caused by the Great War of 2077. In her journey she encounters Maximus (Moten), a young squire in the Brotherhood of Steel, and the Ghoul (Goggins), a ruthless, irradiated bounty hunter who has been alive since before the Great War, in her quest to find her father and return to Vault 33.
The world-building of the show is fantastic, and fits brilliantly with the atmosphere and tone established in the games. There are a few minor inconsistencies with the pre-established lore here and there, but I didn’t find them egregious enough to mar my viewing experience. The dialogue is cleverly written, with some great jokes and visual gags, as well as some excellent easter eggs peppered in for fans of the franchise. The goofy, over-the-top violence commonly seen in the games is on full display, with blood and gore splattering as limbs are severed and holes are blasted through flesh–– and it looks surprisingly good! Whenever the Ghoul is on screen, just brace yourself for some badass combat sequences bookended by some witty one-liners.
I absolutely loved watching this first season of “Fallout,” and I am happy to hear that more seasons are confirmed in the future (especially with how they teased the locale for the next season). If you’re looking for an exciting, funny, adrenaline-pumping show filled with intense action and an engaging narrative, look no further than “Fallout.”
“Smiling Friends” Season 2 – May
I got into “Smiling Friends” way later than I should have. I watched the entire first season last week after watching the first episode with a friend (thanks Olivier), and I found myself cracking up almost every minute. The show has been especially popular lately thanks to going viral on social media (especially Twitter), with its second season releasing on a weekly schedule on Adult Swim.
Created by Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel, who also voice main characters Pim and Charlie respectively, the show follows a kooky bunch of creatures who work for the Smiling Friends, a charity focused on making people smile. Pim’s chipper optimism pairs perfectly with Charlie’s grounded cynicism as they try to fix their clients’ problems and turn their frowns around. The writing on the show is tailored to young adults, with the dialogue deftly mirroring contemporary social behaviors, and its humor shines in its abundance of referential absurdity, poking fun at common tropes in popular media like fantasy and mystery stories.
The animation is creative and well-executed–– and one of my favorite parts of the show is how some characters are animated drastically differently than others. A great example of this from the new season is from “Gwimbly: Definitive Remastered Enhanced Extended Edition DX 4k (Anniversary Director’s Cut),” which finds the Smiling Friends trying to cheer up a washed up video game character and help him return to his former glory. Gwimbly is animated like an old Nintendo 64-era character, polygons and all, while another new character Troglore looks like a character you’d see depicted in a modern AAA game today. The contrast between these characters and the world they inhabit is just really funny to me. I don’t know why, but it rocks.
As of right now, only three episodes of the season are available on Max, but that just means that it’s the perfect time to get caught up. New episodes release on Max every Sunday at midnight EST, so you’ve got some time to get invested if you haven’t already. The Smiling Friends succeeded in making me smile, and I’m sure they’ll do the same for you.