Netflix Quick Shots
Recently, I've been catching up on some of the latest releases from Netflix. Normally, I'd try to devout a post to each each one, but since so many of them have piled up, I figured it best to talk a bit about some of my favorite recent releases in one place. Some are Comedy Specials and, some are Netflix Originals. I've got a bit to cover, so here we go.
1. Wanda Sykes: Not Normal
I didn't talk about this one when it initially came out (so to speak) several months ago, so here's my chance at long last.
Wanda Sykes is one of my favorite stand-ups because she is one of those comics who can combine bold honesty and brashness with intelligence.
At a time when most comics are trying their best not to talk about our flaming orange dog-turd of a POTUS, Sykes dives right into the subject right at the start of Not Normal. And there is a lot of material to mine in from that shithole. Each example of asininity we, the American Citizenry, have had to endure for the last 2 1/2 years get scrutinized by Sykes' comic magnifying glass.
However, she doesn't limit herself to comically pummeling the low hanging orange that is Trumpy. She also brings up all the major social issues that have flared up in this country yet again (like racism, sexism, and the country's latest push to deal with these old skeletons), and she never hesitates to find the funny side of these issues.
To top things off, she gives us the latest insights into her personal life, including the cultural divides in America between White and Black culture and how her interracial family is coping with them.
So long as she's around, Wanda will keep calling it as she sees it, and I have no doubt it'll be hilarious.
2. Mr. Iglesias
Speaking of favorite comics, next we have one of Netflix's latest attempts at creating original sitcom content. In this case, it's a sitcom featuring Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias, playing an alternate version of himself as a history teacher in a Long Beach, California Public School, titled Mr. Iglesias.
Unlike a lot of sitcoms featuring stand-up comics--such as Seinfeld or Louie--this show doesn't feature the main character performing stand up. Instead, Fluffy's humor comes through his engaging style of teaching and his interactions with the other characters, particularly his fellow teachers and the administrators of his school Some of Fluffy's trademark tricks, like his use of voices and sound effects, pepper his dialogue in some of the show's funniest moments.
The show also makes extensive use of Fluffy's genuine nice-guy personality and image as well as, like with all such sitcoms, bits of his own life. This makes his character seem less like a wisecracking stand up, remarking on the situation he's in, and more like an actual fully realized person. It also addresses some of the darker, seldom touched on elements of Public School life in America, such as the practice of "counseling out" under-performing students (often ones of color or low socioeconomic status), security practices that treat students like criminals-on-the-make, and the apathy that many administrations have towards their student bodies.
Mr. Iglesias does something that few sitcoms can manage mix humor with the truth about reality that feels authentic. (I really hope Netflix brings this back for several more seasons.)
3. Stranger Things 3
Regular readers know that I love Stranger Things. (I devoted a whole essay to it last year about how it's such a good example of serial storytelling.) Needless to say that I absolutely loved this latest season, and after viewing it I had some thoughts about it.
In addition to paying off the big question left unanswered from last season as to how the ominous Mind-Flayer would strike back against Eleven and the Hawkins Crew (well done, in a horrific way), I noticed was how similar, structurally speaking, this season was to season one. This is understandable.
The first two seasons of the show really act like the two halves of the same story. So many questions were left unanswered at the end of season one that eventually came to flower in season two that there a great sense of completion when our Eleven closed the gate (I even said that the show could've ended with season two's conclusion, had it not been for the final looming image of the mind-flayer).
This season finds our ragtag gang at the beginning of a new phase in their lives: adolescence. They're not the same people as they were in the first two seasons. They've got hormones pumping through their veins and the things they care about are changing. The bonds that once held them together--particularly among the four boys--are loosening. This season is really the start of a whole new chapter of their lives. If seasons one and two were the beginning and end of Part One of the Stranger Things, then season three is the first half of Stranger Things Part 2.
Like with the end of Season one, the Duffers left a lot of loose threads hanging. The five big ones (WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD), are as follows:
1. Is Hopper Really Dead?
2. Who is the American Prisoner the Russians Have?
3. How the hell do they have a Demogorgon?
4. Will Eleven get her powers back?
5. Will the gang finally be able to play D&D? (Okay, not a big question, but still.)
As of the writing of this piece, I haven't heard the news as to whether Netflix will renew Stranger Things for another season. However, and I think everyone who loves the show will agree, I believe Netflix would be genuinely stupid not to, if only to avoid the maelstrom of subscription cancellations and anger-fueled tweets that would follow such an announcement. The Duffers have a story to finish and questions to answer Hopefully, the streaming service will allow them to do so.
4. Aziz Ansari: Right Now
I saved this one for last because I figured it was the most controversial.
Let me explain this first. I was not a big Aziz fan before his calling out at the height of the #MeToo movement. I knew of him (because Netflix kept pushing me to watch both Parks and Recreation and his stand up specials), but I never really got into him. So, his calling out didn't affect me in the same way as, say, the accusations against Louis C.K. (of whom I was a big fan) did.
In the piece I wrote following the C.K. revelations though, I posed a question: how could these people--the ones who were called out, but whose actions wouldn't land them in jail, like Cosby--possibly reenter the public sphere?
Many people who are outspoken #MeToo advocates and allies believe that they shouldn't be able to, period. These people believe that these men (for they were all men), needed to be used as an example of the consequences that could and would follow if they sexually harassed people in any way. They should be permanently ostracized and disallowed the right to make their living.
While I agree that those accused need to be held accountable, I think the belief that these men--those not facing prison time or legal retribution--would never be allowed to work again is unrealistic.
No amount of public shaming or scandal has ever stopped someone in show business from continuing their career. The only thing that can is the box office. If you don't like someone, like Aziz, for what he did, all you can do is decide not to support them with your money, but you can't stop them from working so long as people will hire them and pay to see them.
With all that being said, I went ahead and watched Aziz's whole special, and, honestly, I thought he was funny. Not the whole way through, but for the most part, I thought it was a good special.
More so, he took the opportunity to devote large amounts of time at the beginning and the end of the special to own up to the accusations leveled against him. He owned it, he apologized for it, and he talked about how the experience affected him and his outlook. And, he doesn't play the situation up for many laughs either (save the segue he uses to bring up the topic). Very few comics have the skill or the confidence to be that real and honest about something on stage, let alone to allow it to record it on a special.
Of course, there will be people saying the only reason Aziz talked about it was he got caught, that this is a Hail Mary pass to cover his ass and save hi career. And, there's some truth to that. Likely, these are people who will not be watching this special or anything else he's involved in ever again, and that's their right as consumers.
The fact that he made the effort. This is his olive branch to those wavering fans who want to still like him and support his work. As a non-hardcore fan, I think he did a pretty good job.
1. Wanda Sykes: Not Normal
I didn't talk about this one when it initially came out (so to speak) several months ago, so here's my chance at long last.
Wanda Sykes is one of my favorite stand-ups because she is one of those comics who can combine bold honesty and brashness with intelligence.
 |
| Belongs to Netflix |
However, she doesn't limit herself to comically pummeling the low hanging orange that is Trumpy. She also brings up all the major social issues that have flared up in this country yet again (like racism, sexism, and the country's latest push to deal with these old skeletons), and she never hesitates to find the funny side of these issues.
To top things off, she gives us the latest insights into her personal life, including the cultural divides in America between White and Black culture and how her interracial family is coping with them.
So long as she's around, Wanda will keep calling it as she sees it, and I have no doubt it'll be hilarious.
2. Mr. Iglesias
Speaking of favorite comics, next we have one of Netflix's latest attempts at creating original sitcom content. In this case, it's a sitcom featuring Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias, playing an alternate version of himself as a history teacher in a Long Beach, California Public School, titled Mr. Iglesias.
 |
| Not Mine. Netflix. |
The show also makes extensive use of Fluffy's genuine nice-guy personality and image as well as, like with all such sitcoms, bits of his own life. This makes his character seem less like a wisecracking stand up, remarking on the situation he's in, and more like an actual fully realized person. It also addresses some of the darker, seldom touched on elements of Public School life in America, such as the practice of "counseling out" under-performing students (often ones of color or low socioeconomic status), security practices that treat students like criminals-on-the-make, and the apathy that many administrations have towards their student bodies.
Mr. Iglesias does something that few sitcoms can manage mix humor with the truth about reality that feels authentic. (I really hope Netflix brings this back for several more seasons.)
3. Stranger Things 3
Regular readers know that I love Stranger Things. (I devoted a whole essay to it last year about how it's such a good example of serial storytelling.) Needless to say that I absolutely loved this latest season, and after viewing it I had some thoughts about it.
 |
| Property of Netflix |
The first two seasons of the show really act like the two halves of the same story. So many questions were left unanswered at the end of season one that eventually came to flower in season two that there a great sense of completion when our Eleven closed the gate (I even said that the show could've ended with season two's conclusion, had it not been for the final looming image of the mind-flayer).
This season finds our ragtag gang at the beginning of a new phase in their lives: adolescence. They're not the same people as they were in the first two seasons. They've got hormones pumping through their veins and the things they care about are changing. The bonds that once held them together--particularly among the four boys--are loosening. This season is really the start of a whole new chapter of their lives. If seasons one and two were the beginning and end of Part One of the Stranger Things, then season three is the first half of Stranger Things Part 2.
Like with the end of Season one, the Duffers left a lot of loose threads hanging. The five big ones (WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD), are as follows:
1. Is Hopper Really Dead?
2. Who is the American Prisoner the Russians Have?
3. How the hell do they have a Demogorgon?
4. Will Eleven get her powers back?
5. Will the gang finally be able to play D&D? (Okay, not a big question, but still.)
As of the writing of this piece, I haven't heard the news as to whether Netflix will renew Stranger Things for another season. However, and I think everyone who loves the show will agree, I believe Netflix would be genuinely stupid not to, if only to avoid the maelstrom of subscription cancellations and anger-fueled tweets that would follow such an announcement. The Duffers have a story to finish and questions to answer Hopefully, the streaming service will allow them to do so.
4. Aziz Ansari: Right Now
I saved this one for last because I figured it was the most controversial.
 |
| Copyright Netflix |
In the piece I wrote following the C.K. revelations though, I posed a question: how could these people--the ones who were called out, but whose actions wouldn't land them in jail, like Cosby--possibly reenter the public sphere?
Many people who are outspoken #MeToo advocates and allies believe that they shouldn't be able to, period. These people believe that these men (for they were all men), needed to be used as an example of the consequences that could and would follow if they sexually harassed people in any way. They should be permanently ostracized and disallowed the right to make their living.
While I agree that those accused need to be held accountable, I think the belief that these men--those not facing prison time or legal retribution--would never be allowed to work again is unrealistic.
No amount of public shaming or scandal has ever stopped someone in show business from continuing their career. The only thing that can is the box office. If you don't like someone, like Aziz, for what he did, all you can do is decide not to support them with your money, but you can't stop them from working so long as people will hire them and pay to see them.
With all that being said, I went ahead and watched Aziz's whole special, and, honestly, I thought he was funny. Not the whole way through, but for the most part, I thought it was a good special.
More so, he took the opportunity to devote large amounts of time at the beginning and the end of the special to own up to the accusations leveled against him. He owned it, he apologized for it, and he talked about how the experience affected him and his outlook. And, he doesn't play the situation up for many laughs either (save the segue he uses to bring up the topic). Very few comics have the skill or the confidence to be that real and honest about something on stage, let alone to allow it to record it on a special.
Of course, there will be people saying the only reason Aziz talked about it was he got caught, that this is a Hail Mary pass to cover his ass and save hi career. And, there's some truth to that. Likely, these are people who will not be watching this special or anything else he's involved in ever again, and that's their right as consumers.
The fact that he made the effort. This is his olive branch to those wavering fans who want to still like him and support his work. As a non-hardcore fan, I think he did a pretty good job.
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