Girls5eva, Hacks, and Olivia Rodrigo nostalgia
The years really fly by, plus... the years really fly by
Hello!
On this week’s episode of Criticism Is Dead, we discuss Girls5eva and Hacks, two comedy series about grasping for new life in an industry that's all about the young and the fresh.
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07:04 Girls5eva — the latest in the Tina Fey/Robert Carlock universe, streaming on Peacock — is the closest to 30 Rock we’re going to get (although it doesn’t quite go all the way).
30 Rock remains one of my all-time favorite shows for its sharp writing, and for the way it skewered an industry that the showrunners knew so well. Girls5eva benefits from a similar kind of wit and setting in the music/entertainment world, but it’s interesting to see where the differences lie. This new series is, to put it mildly, gentler — or, to put it more bluntly, kind of neutered compared to the bite that could be found in 30 Rock’s jokes.
That said, Girls5eva and its main characters grow on you, and the meta casting of Sara Bareilles and Renée Elise Goldsberry, in particular, is truly inspired. Some laughs, some bops, some pathos — that’s more than enough for me right now.
P.S. Here’s the piece we reference about Girls5eva as some kind of redemption for 30 Rock?????????
22:33 Hacks, airing weekly on HBO Max, is a Jean Smart vehicle about generational differences and conflict.
This series also takes a few episodes to warm up, but all the pieces are there: lavish Vegas set pieces, a relationship that evolves from mutual dislike to some kind of begrudging respect and fondness, BANTER. We love a good “older legend must work with scrappy upstart” story!
There are also attempts to probe at, more philosophically, what makes comedy, and where the line is nowadays, which is where part of the generational conflict stems. Ava’s “cancellation” is not quite believable, but it’s at least interesting to see a show like this try to work out a thorny concept like that.
37:34 Plus, culture notes about why people our age are going gaga over a teen pop star’s teen angst oeuvre.
Bonus links
Mare of Easttown (which we talked about in our previous episode) is such a weekly treat to look forward to. If you, like us, can’t get enough of reading theories/predictions, here’s basically an airtight one on Vanity Fair (obvious spoiler alert before the finale).
Hi Sir Patrick:
That’s it for this week. Sorry, have been kinda offline (as much as one can be) these last couple of weeks. Bye!
— Jenny
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Some credits:
Music: REEKAH
Artwork and design: Sara Macias and Andrew Liu