Fargo -- the latest season seems to have nothing whatsoever to do with the original movie, and that's fine. It tries to find the same tone as the movie and it somewhat succeeds -- a bit of a surrealistic take on organized (and disorganized) crime in a cold midwestern town (Kansas City this time) with lots of quirky characters and ironic plot twists. Solid entertainment but the series is starting to feel a little cookie-cutter-ish.
The main plotline centers around a turf war between Black and Italian crime gangs. Naturally all sides justify their sociopathic behavior with historical grievance sob stories. More interestingly, while the Italians are standard mafia types, the blacks are all thoughtful, well-spoken, and simply profit oriented. That may be an attempt to counter a typical black stereotype for reasons of principal or practicality -- avoiding triggering the very grievances the show celebrates. Somewhere I read the comment that the black characters on the show behave more like Jews. Maybe it was originally written for Jews but they decided it would be better to have people of color. Such is the deconstruction we now have to consider in 2020.
I have issues with the casting. I find neither Chris Rock or Jason Schwartzman are particularly convincing mob bosses. But Jessie Buckley as a serial killer nurse and Salvatore Esposito as a sadistic goodfella are excellent, as is the ever reliable Timothy Oliphant as a Mormon badass. In any event, you could find worse things to watch, and you probably will.
Archer -- For its first couple of seasons Archer was one of the funniest shows on TV, ever. If I ever get around to creating a pantheon of TV comedy, Archer would be on it. But like many shows it degraded over the years as the writers ran out of ideas and plots and themes became ever more far-fetched -- dream sequence seasons, outer space adventures, etc. Some of these, apart from feeling desperate, simply weren't funny. The current season is a return to form in both format and quality. The general theme is that the team finally became somewhat functional, sane, and accomplished...then Archer himself returns and drags everyone back into dysfunction and insanity. It is unapologetically beautiful.
Nero Wolfe Mysteries -- Some of you may remember from years ago the Nero Wolfe mysteries starring Maury Chaykin and Timothy Hutton that aired on A&E just after the turn of the century. They were clever, stylish, perfectly paced, and brilliantly acted. It perfectly captures the feel of the original mysteries in that, as someone pointed out elsewhere, they are really drawing room escapades disguised as mysteries.
Interestingly the casting was troupe-based. The main characters were fixed, but remaining characters were played by the same set of (very capable) actors in different roles each episode. It gave it more of a sense of repertory theatre. It lasted two seasons of less than 12ish episodes then, as Maury Chaykin said, "[A]t the time A&E was transforming from the premier intellectual cable network in America to one that airs Dog the Bounty Hunter on repeat, so it was never promoted and eventually went off the air."
I don't believe it is streaming legitimately anywhere, but there are (probably illegitimate) full episodes on YouTube although the audio seems to cut in and out on them occasionally. They are still worth watching. A delightful escape to that rare moment in history when TV had ambitions of quality.
