Series of the Month April: Of Family and Other Enemies – Media

Succession

What happens: King Lear meets Rupert Murdoch meets Axel Springer – and even this triad does not adequately describe the insanity of the family saga. Media mogul Logan Roy is still looking for a successor to his TV and entertainment empire. He still doesn’t think any of his children, who are allied against him, worthy. And yet a decision must and will be made. Creator and screenwriter Jesse Armstrong has announced that season four will be the last. The end is near.

Secret Star: The third episode of this season, in which a monumental twist is told almost entirely through distorted cell phone calls. Series TV History.

Not suitable for: Friends of fireballs and car chases. Excitement and entertainment arise from dialogues in which every insult, every stutter is set with a scalpel. Fabian Heckenberger

Succession, ten episodes, on Wow.

beef

What happens: Danny Cho (Steven Yeun) and Amy Lau (Ali Wong) meet in the parking lot of a supermarket – or rather, they crash into each other. A mini-incident leads to a chase and the two do increasingly worse things to each other over the course of the first season’s ten episodes. They would realize, if they just talked to each other properly, that they could understand each other perfectly.

Secret Star: The city of Los Angeles, shown as it really is: a place of yellowed self-love, where everyone is ultimately only allowed to play a supporting role in the lives of other, usually more powerful, people.

Not suitable for: People who think they’ve had it worse than others. The series shows you: No, it can always get a little worse – and nobody cares how you are doing yourself.

Beef, ten episodes, on Netflix.

Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

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What happens: Miriam “Midge” Maisel’s comedy career is coming to an end – or is it just beginning? In the fifth and final season, the ex-housewife, who accidentally discovered her talent for comedy, starts as a talk show writer. And hopes for a breakthrough. All around is her completely crazy family again.

Secret Star: Not so secret, but in the finale it becomes all the more understandable why Alex Borstein won two Emmys for the role of Maisel’s manager Susie Myerson. Incomparably grumpy, grumpy and yet loving.

Not suitable for: Zen devotees and fans of fewer words. Caroline Gasteiger

Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, nine episodes, on Amazon Prime.

intimate

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What happens: Most likely just life, or what you like to spend on it in series. So the actors Emil and Oskar Belton play themselves, or a somehow deformed version of it. Bruno Alexander, Max Mattis and Leo Fuchs are also there, also under their real names and together they dig deep into the bowels of human inadequacies. Exorbitantly deep. It starts at roughly the pain points where the series jerks withdraws the hand.

Secret Star: the depictions of sex. There’s a lot of it, very explicit, but not only for a series designed for maximum escalation of shame is it surprisingly rarely embarrassing.

Not suitable for: People for whom narrative threads are important in the traditional sense. Jacob Biazza

Intimate, eight episodes, on Joyn.

Poker Face

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What happens: Charlie, who was hanging around in Las Vegas as a cocktail waitress at the beginning of the series, becomes a reluctant investigator. Wherever she goes, people are murdered, pushed, poisoned. Because Charlie always recognizes lies, she can’t help but solve the cases right away. This leads to difficulties, she embarks on a road trip through the murderous United States. Big fun!

Secret Star: Natasha Lyonne’s voice: She sounds completely scratched and smoky, which suits the role perfectly.

Not suitable for: Everyone who couldn’t get anything out of the films “Glass Onion” or “Knives Out” by series creator Rian Johnson. Or, if such a thing is possible, disliked good old TV detective Columbo. Aurelie von Blazekovic

Poker Face ten episodes on Wow.