September 23, 2019

How do you watch "Fleabag"?

I'm seeing "Fleabag" everywhere, the morning after the Emmys. My first question — other than what is it? — is how do you watch it? Because TV isn't like it once was where if something was on TV, duh, you watched it on TV. Something on TV could be in any number of weird places, and if it's something new I have to think about whether I want to subscribe to, I don't know if I want to know anything else. But I googled how do you watch "Fleabag" and I was happy to see it's on Amazon Prime. Okay.

What's the show about then? According to Cosmopolitan, "'Fleabag' Fans Are NOT Happy With Ben Stiller For Saying the Show is About a Sex Addict." Sooo... it's a show with fans who can't take a light ribbing?
Anyone with access to Google (ever heard of it?) can easily tell you that Fleabag is about "a dry-witted woman, known only as Fleabag, has no filter as she navigates life and love in London while trying to cope with tragedy." So, yeah. It's definitely weird that Ben Stiller chose to explain Fleabag as a "show about a sex addict," because that's definitely NOT the main storyline. It's very eye-roll worthy for a dude to describe a female protagonist that is open and honest about her sex life as a "sex addict."
I'm going to add that to my list of Things That Are Very Eye-Roll Worthy For a Dude.
If we're going to get technical here, it's probably worth mentioning that Phoebe [Waller-Bridge] has used the words "sex addiction" when speaking about Fleabag. (Seemingly only once.) In an interview with Vulture, Phoebe did casually mention Fleabag's "kind of sex addiction," but also quickly followed up with, "I suppose if it is that." It's kind of stretch to say that's what the whole entire show is about.
Why bother to make comedies for people with no sense of humor?

Anyway, "Fleabag" won for Outstanding Comedy Series. And Phoebe Waller-Bridge won for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, which is a big deal because they always give that award to Julia Dreyfus for "Veep" and this was the final season of "Veep." And she also beat out "Mrs. Maisel."

117 comments:

rehajm said...

Phoebe [Waller-Bridge]i amazing and Fleabag is very funny, very dark comedy. I can appreciate the criticism of Stiller's characterization, too but it's a bit defensive to attack him.

Just start watching. It was mentioned on the Emmys you could binge both seasons in an afternoon. I found I watched two or three together depending on my mood. Some episodes go down easier than others. Just wade in...

gahrie said...

Why bother to make comedies for people with no sense of humor?

To indoctrinate (inoculate) them with woke thought.

Kevin said...

It absolutely a comedy about a sex addict. It delves deeply into the reasons for her behavior and it makes her a very sympathetic character, but that makes it absolutely no less a comedy about a sex addict.

Cato Renasci said...

I tried to watch it a year or more ago. I like some dark sex comedies, but this one just didn't work for me. I couldn't even finish one episode.

Shouting Thomas said...

Fleabag is a devastating indictment of feminism.

The heroine is morally adrift and unspeakably cruel. She’s too hip to adhere to Christian morality, she’s lazy and she prefers a life of cheap whoring and hitting up daddy,

But she feels compelled to try to be what her feminist indoctrination demands.

The show is a brutally effective satire of the prof’s Marxist feminism.

Martha said...

Fleabag is about a conflicted troubled woman who has a lot of meaningless sex which leaves her feeling worse. So she has more meaningless sex........etc.

Fernandinande said...

We watched part of one. The 2nd season is supposed to be better.

Speaking of stuff -

"[Guy you never heard of] First Openly Gay Black Man To Win For Lead Actor In Drama..."

reminded me of

Chinese guy First to Play 4-Track Version of Pachelbel's Canon in D on a Rubber Chicken

rehajm said...

Something on TV could be in any number of weird places, and if it's something new I have to think about whether I want to subscribe to, I don't know if I want to know anything else.

I think we've reached the inflection point where disruption of traditional television is cascading. My parents are usually slow adopters but they dropped cable for streaming services and haven't looked back. They love it! Of course they're saving money vs cable but I think they're much happier with the quality of the experience. Better picture and better content. Mom's a binger. Dad gets horse racing all day...

tim maguire said...

If you give it a try, give it at least 2 or 3 episodes. She seems really unlikable at first, but there's a good explanation for it that unfolds slowly over the first season.

"Sex addict" is a very superficial description, but it's accurate as far as it goes.

Jim Gust said...

Never saw Fleabag, had never heard of it before yesterday.

I loved the first season of Mrs. Maisel, I bought Amazon Prime just to watch it. The second season left me cold, but I can't say why. I keep meaning to go back to finish the second season, but somehow I never do.

So I'm not surprised it didn't win.

rhhardin said...

Ah, I have to check if there's another season of Veep on DVD, then.

rehajm said...

BTW, I watched both seasons of Fleabag on All 4, not Amazon. If you're a in the states and a little tech savvy you can tap into some good programming not otherwise available in the US...

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

"You don't write about what a person isn't. You write about what they are!"

Ken Ashford said...

I binged it on Amazon. Two seasons, each consisting of six half-hour episodes.

It starts off as a sex comedy, which is not my bag. But I pushed through the first couple episodes and was glad to see it transcended into something else. And the second season (for which all the Emmys were about last night) for the show was masterful as it transcended again.

There are no more seasons planned. And it ended perfectly.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

The question in the era of binge watching is whether to watch now or wait to start until after the last episode.

Lucid-Ideas said...

"How do you watch Fleabag?"

You don't. Don't watch it. Strangle the vine at the source. Ignore them. Ignore their advertisers. Their currency of the realm is neither gold, nor silver, nor the almighty dollar, it is attention.

Don't watch it. Keep these people on their current slide to irrelevance. A tectonic shift occurred about 7-8 years ago where people really are watching celebrities now to watch them fail. Help them out. Make them fail.

Put them back where they used to be, vagabonds in travelling circuses troubadouring for tuppence next to the local town barber.

Yancey Ward said...

I haven't watched either season yet, but plan to. I usually like to get at least three seasons in before I binge something. So, I will likely wait until Fleabag's third season arrives sometime next year.

MadisonMan said...

It sounds like the kind of thing you watch once and then think "That's it? That got an Emmy?"

Cameron said...

I have an amazon fire tv box, and one good thing about it, is the remote has a little microphone, so you press the button and say "fleabag", and it immediately shows you what services offer that show (since netflix, hulu, etc are all connected to the amazon fire).

Rick said...

She looks like Sandra Fluke. Is the show's point that paying $96/year for birth control is so oppressive the government should instead pay $3,000/year for you?

Ralph L said...

I watched a few episodes of Carnival Row (with Orlando Bloom) on Prime last night. Everyone must be trying for the next GoT / LotR. I almost bailed in the first 15 minutes as it starts out loudly woke: anti-anti-immigration, etc, with cartoonish bad people, but it got a bit better. The Fairy Princess is an actual fairy.

Yancey Ward said...

A few weeks back, I binged the first season of Euphoria on HBO- I was deeply impressed by it, and highly recommend it. Very disturbing show, though.

iowan2 said...

Yes to those advising to give it 3 episodes. The humor is "quirky" and Fleabag talks to the audience all the time. Give you the "did she she think that out loud" experience often. We all think the stuff she speaks to the audience.
One of the early episodes has her and her lover doing it in the spoon position. Both obviously in the moment, as she explains her date sprung for lobster and she thus agreed to doing it up the bum. So it comes across as trashy, but only because she thinks out loud that which we all think but keep to ourselves.

iowan2 said...

TV has changed, we cut the cord. Been a prime member for years, steal netflix from one of the kids, pay for Hulu live. Put up and antenna and get about 40 over the air channels.
We are finding we are watching a lot of old serial TV from England Australia and Canada. Along with original stuff from Hulu, Netflix and Hulu

We just finished "William and Mary". About an English midwife meeting an undertaker. 3 seaons and we were disappointed when it ended prematurely

WisRich said...

I'm pulling a Charlie Gibson: "Fleabag? Never heard of it."

SDaly said...

I watched Season 1 of Fleabag and thought it was very good. The last episode was so depressing, though, that I haven't watched Season 2.

narciso said...

I caught much of the first season of 'killing eve' her other show about the sociopathic Russian assassin, makes the modern shmert spionem' seem more sophisticated than in practice (Salisbury and surrey,)

Ficta said...

Fleabag is fantastic. Deep and very funny. And short! It has things to say about sex, feminism, grief, family, and even, somewhat surprisingly, about faith. It really does seem to be done after two seasons, so it's not a big time investment either. I already miss it.

I suspect the outraged fans in that Cosmo article are two Twitter users with a combined follower count of 27. Of course she's a sex addict, she as much as says so in her big breakdown rant at the end of season one.

rhhardin said...

A Touch of Frost "No Refuge" (burglary at a glass factory) was notable for Frost telling off his girlfriend when she went all "you don't really care about me."

I imagine she'll be back. Secondary plots are always needed, especially ones for the ladies to watch.

Last night's viewing.

These detective shows have a lot in common. Don't try to figure out who did it, you don't have all the clues that the detective inspector does. They write until it's the right length and cut.

Veep was good for the contempt everybody held the public in. Power depends on it.

William said...

I thought it was worth watching. She fucks a priest. That's kind of edgy. Intracial and same sex sex have been done to death. Sex with Roman Catholic priests is a new twist. I hope next season she develops a fetish for extremely old men. That would be something new and might start a trend.

rhhardin said...

British detective shows have smart blacks, acting white.

rehajm said...

Put them back where they used to be...

Interesting you mention it. I didn't watch all of the Emmys but the pre-game and the first hour was completely empty of Trump hate and only a sprinkle of leftie politics. I felt like I should shut it off when Kimmel and Colbert showed up but even they were well behaved. Key Hollywood dbags must be sick of getting sucker punched in the income statement.

reader said...

A comedy about a sex addict? The first character I think of is Sam Malone from Cheers.

Narr said...

I'm too old for this shit. By which I mean, my tastes and preferences are formed, and my time is limited -- much too limited to even try to watch these shows.

There's a commercial now for Dish, that points out that with Dish you can see "every touchdown in every game" over the weekend. That strikes me as a very sad thing to want, but YMMV.

OTOH. Bluff City Law premieres tonight and I'll have to watch just to see if my hometown comes across as the beautiful, creative, and culturally important place I find it to be.

Narr
Binges are for drinking

Anthony said...

I almost choked when Peter Dinklage described Hollywood as a place of "diversity and tolerance".

Yeah, tolerance of rape, sexual harassment, and drugging young men to death, and diversity of thought from hard left to whacko left.

But other than that. . . . . . .

That was about the sum total of my viewing of it and only then because the Spousal Unit flipped to it.

rhhardin said...

Life in England is life in a slum, as far as I can tell. I put it down to not having central heating. No Indians to learn it from.

GatorNavy said...

I misheard the title, "Fleabag" and thought the mighty bassist Flea won a well deserved Emmy.

rhhardin said...

Yeah, tolerance of rape, sexual harassment, and drugging young men to death, and diversity of thought from hard left to whacko left.

Sexual harassment is okay. That's just a PC thing.

Fernandinande said...

Carnival Row ... I almost bailed in the first 15 minutes as it starts out loudly woke: anti-anti-immigration, etc, with cartoonish bad people,

We bailed.

oleh said...

Fleabag was very dark. I thought it was very funny. The character clearly, though via implication, acknowledges her sex addiction. It is a central driver of the plotlines. Problem is that it is the kind of comedy that people without senses of humor can also like. And then they take offense.

cf said...

So glad to have an inkling of something people know about, we are very late adopters, really out in the weeds in our television viewing, so thanks for letting me know ONE particular show i can seek out on amazon and/or namedrop as needed, kind of like putting on a gorgeous but fake tattoo to be safe to go shopping in Portland. {happy face emoji here}

Maillard Reactionary said...

Well, I'll be skipping this one.

cf said...

MORE: i will take Sex any day over Violence, a good fit for my husband and I to enjoy together, so good for fleabag, and thanks Althouse.

Ann Althouse said...

A woman with low self regard having a lot of sex to work through her problems? Not what I want to be a voyeur of. Why do I want to look at that and laugh?

Ann Althouse said...

Watching *other* people have sex — why is that worth doing?

Watching other people have *bad* sex — what are you trying to do with yourself? Persuade yourself to avoid bad sex? Is that your starting point? If yes, I wish you well and I feel sorry for you.

Shouting Thomas said...

As I said, Althouse, the woman is a victim of your Marxist feminism.

That’s why you should watch it.

Sigivald said...

I saw some of the first season. "Sex Addict" seems defensible.

And really, the show is ... about an awful person being awful, but sorta funny about it?

Ann Althouse said...

"... i will take Sex any day over Violence..."

You're talking about what to watch (not how you want to live in real life).

I don't know why that's the choice — sex or violence. Is entertainment so impoverished? And the depiction of sex will often have a violence component (even as depiction of violence often involves sexual titillation).

I don't like graphic sex or graphic violence in anything I'm watching as entertainment. As for real life, good sex is good, violence bad.

Ann Althouse said...

"Fleabag is about a conflicted troubled woman who has a lot of meaningless sex which leaves her feeling worse. So she has more meaningless sex........etc."

This sounds like the worst show ever.

Shouting Thomas said...

The show is a great satire that mocks the professor’s ideology as destructive and morally unworkable.

That’s what it’s really about, not good or bad sex.

Shouting Thomas said...

The heroine of this show might as well as grown up in a Woody Allen movie.

Rich, bored and aimless professional and academic types.

Artsy-fartsy stepmom who won’t shut up about how healthy she is in her outlook on sex.

It’s your world, prof.

narciso said...

the latter was written by a correspondent for vanity fair and the guardian, phoebe waller is helming the next bond film, oh goody,

Known Unknown said...

Fleabag is about family dynamics and relationships, like 99% of human dramedy.

It's extremely well-written and constructed. The twist in season 2 (I can't give it away) is amazing but not one of those plot twists that completely changes the storyline.

It's deserving of its win, too.

Ralph L said...

Sex with Roman Catholic priests is a new twist.

It took them a while to find a straight one with flesh anyone would want to see.

Ann Althouse said...

I will probably watch an episode or two, but I won't watch a mentally damaged woman degrading herself in sexual encounters.

If you enjoy that, I have a problem with you.

rehajm said...

A woman with low self regard having a lot of sex to work through her problems? Not what I want to be a voyeur of. Why do I want to look at that and laugh?

As Amazon might say Recommended because you liked Girls

Shouting Thomas said...

She degraded and damaged herself in the name of your two bit Marxist feminism, prof.

That’s what her liberal Woody Allen family and the educational system taught her.

Like the University of Wisconsin does.

Ficta said...

"A woman with low self regard having a lot of sex to work through her problems? ...Why do I want to look at that and laugh?"

Because it's not only about that. Because she's a very funny and insightful woman who is changing herself for the better (more so in season 2). Because that description could easily be applied to much of Girls and you liked that. But de gustibus non est disputandum, Fleabag is certainly not a show for everyone.

Shouting Thomas said...

The artsy-fartsy stepmom with the completely healthy, psychologically upbeat and properly Marxist feminist attitude about sex is a dead ringer for you, prof.

Ficta said...

“The same authorities who insist upon beginnings, middles, and ends, declare that Great Literature (by which they mean the stories they have been taught to admire) is about love and death, while mere popular fiction is about sex and violence. One reader's sex, alas, is another's love; and one's violence, another's death.”
― Gene Wolfe

Known Unknown said...

"And really, the show is ... about an awful person being awful, but sorta funny about it?"

Yes, but everyone else is equally or more awful in ways, so it's not a big deal I suppose.

It's of the same lineage as Larry David and Ricky Gervais. Misanthropic comedy, which I do enjoy.

Darrell said...

Fleabag is about an educated British woman who bought the bullshit taught at Uni. For example, allowing anal because she made the booty call, or screwing your simple friend's Black boyfriend when she has told you she has met her soulmate. Waller-Bridge is my physical type, so I give it more leeway than normal. Series 2 features a restaurant scene with rapid-fire dialogue that wooed many fans. The dialogue is completely unrealistic, though. People don't talk like that. Having sex with a Catholic priest would be transgressive if it were not Great Britain. I've seen it too many times before in Brit shows for it to raise an eyebrow.

Carnival Row is not as woke as it seems. The Fae aren't normal immigrants--think Alien Nation. There is good reason for normal humans to be wary of creatures with superpowers, like the ability to fly or super strength. The show gets better as you get used to the premise. It could be shortened, but I do not regret watching the entire series.

rehajm said...

If for no other reason, give it try because you want to see an incredibly talented female writer and actor in the breakout of her career. If you don't like it just bail.

Temujin said...

I'm with some of the others. I tried to watch it when it first came out. Couldn't get through one episode. Maybe I was in a bad mood and tired of meh programming, but I thought it tried too hard to be edgy. It was neither edgy nor funny. Just...meh. Netflix and Prime are getting like regular cable- thousands of shows but very few that actually interest me.

Which is great for my reading list.

Known Unknown said...

"I will probably watch an episode or two, but I won't watch a mentally damaged woman degrading herself in sexual encounters."

Yeah, GIRLS. Ha ha ha.

Maillard Reactionary said...

Fernandistein @11:04 AM: "It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all." --Johnson

Known Unknown said...

"The second season left me cold, but I can't say why.'

She's a shitty mom?

Maillard Reactionary said...

Stand back, people. Shouting Thomas is on a roll today.

Not that I necessarily disagree with him in substance.

Darrell said...

but I won't watch a mentally damaged woman degrading herself in sexual encounters

Yeah. A woman allowing her partner to piss on her (GIRLS) help build self-esteem in both the character and the audience.

Yancey Ward said...

If you enjoy that, I have a problem with you.

Hmmm...... what do you mean by "enjoy"? What did the commenter mean by it? One could watch such a thing because it is well-written, acted, and produced, even if you find the subject matter disturbing. Does one enjoy watching, let's say, Apocalypse Now, or Full Metal Jacket? I know I greatly enjoyed both movies for the outstanding story and production values.

Yancey Ward said...

Shit, I was going to discuss Girls in my comment, and then decided to do a second comment.

Roughcoat said...

Paraphrasing Emerson: Violence educates the senses, calls into action the will, perfects the physical constitution, brings men into such swift and close collision in critical moments that man measures man.

Sam L. said...

I'll take "TV Shows that I don't watch", Mr. Trebec!

Known Unknown said...

" a mentally damaged woman"

I would categorize her as more emotionally-damaged.

Known Unknown said...

I always love Althouse TV/Movie posts.

It's like a book club meeting where 20% of the people sitting in the room brag about how they didn't read the book.

Howard said...

By on a roll, you mean a broken record. Thomas is begging for Mommy to pay him attention

Yancey Ward said...

Well, Howard, you would know, wouldn't you?

readering said...

I have not seen it, but have seen the 2 seasons of the BBC series she created based on novels, Killing Eve. Enjoyed that. Maybe before I try the Amazon series I'll try to catch the National Theatre Live screening of her one woman stage show she based her series on.

Mike said...

She's emotionally damaged for certain, which makes her human. She has sex with people she maybe shouldn't, and there are consequences. That makes it NOT a "woke" show as there are consequences of her meaningless sex, and she changes as a person because of it. I'd even call it somewhat conservative, because it's very clear that sometimes sex can be a bad idea.

She doesn't have horrible or great relationships with her sister and her dad, but she does have them. They aren't perfect, but they are important to her, and she works to keep them. She forgives them for their flaws the same way they forgive her. This show is closer to the truth about family relationships than most shows.

If you like your lead breaking the fourth wall, this may be for you. The fourth wall doesn't even exist in this show. Think of Woody Allen talking to you in Annie Hall, it's like an entire show of that.

Season 2 might be my favorite season of any show. God this show has heart.

bagoh20 said...

I know what "meaningless" sex is, but I don't really know what meaningful sex is unless it's to have a child. I know enjoyable sex, incredible sex, pathetic sex, and profitable sex, but I think if you are looking for deep meaning there, you are looking in the wrong place. AMIRIGHT, guys?

vanderleun said...

Scruffy. Slut.

That's it.

FullMoon said...

And the second season (for which all the Emmys were about last night) for the show was masterful as it transcended again.

Heck, I overlooked the second season. Was surprised to see it won because seemed kinda average to me.
Good enough to watch all episodes without bailing.
Now looking forward to watching second season.

Was watching some Icelandic cop series last night about cruise ship and dead body in ocean.
Anyway, politician pitching new harbor,or something, to locals. Big idea was to build it, then sell to China, because China is the new big thing and United States is dying. Wonder if Trump advisors saw the same series.

Darrell said...

Killing Eve is the most ridiculous show on TV, if you want a show to be close to real life. Everyone in Sandra Oh's MI5 an MI6 groups are idiots. Her male partner spots the hitwoman they are looking for and doesn't tell her. He's a good guy because he doesn't cheat on his wife with women--he's done hundreds of guys (or so he said). That brings a forgiving smile to Eve. Eve is the kind of agent that, when confronted by a Russian assassination team with automatic weapons, doesn't call for armed police or MI5 agents. When she spots her nemesis, she freeze with her mouth agape--which becomes a regular occurrence. I could go on 'til the maximum word limit but I won't. It started out interesting, but quickly turned to shite. Waller-Bridge will now bring that to James Bond. Lovely.

FullMoon said...

Icelandic cop series "Trapped" 2017 Amazon

iowan2 said...

Isn't this a timeless storyline? Searching for love? Kissing alot of frogs? How do you recognize great sex unless you've experienced to zippless fuck? Seriously, I'm no man whore, but it took some relationships to understand how a meaningful connection completes intercourse.

As far as the protagonist struggling with making bad decisions. That Dunham girl has made an industry out of it. She is celebrated. The Kardasians? Drew Barrymore, Demi Moore? Real life Hollywood. Hell all of the entertainment industry behind the scenes voyerism is exactly what the left wants for America. Meaningless sex is way better than finding Christ.
I'm just channeling my moral, and intellectual betters.

Megthered said...

Never seen or heard of this show but I hardly ever watch tv anymore. When I do I can feel brain cells dying.

Laslo Spatula said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tina Trent said...

Fleabag is pretty unique. It has a few really graphic and painfully realistic sex scenes, which I enjoy watching as much as I enjoy watching someone spit on a subway platform.

But that's what fast forward is for.

Other than that, the show is very worth watching. It belies expectations like few shows I've watched. The main character is unpleasant but utterly compelling. She knows she's unpleasant and doesn't care but feels she would have a better life if she did care -- it's refreshing.

It's also exactly the opposite of Handmaid's Tale. The humiliation bits are mild and absolutely earned, evenly distributed and funny the way only the Beitish manage. The characters are products of modern mores but vibrantly weird and human, and it's clever the way educated people are clever if they actually like book-learning.

I recommend it as a sort of double-feature with the 1945 Powell and Pressberger classic "I Know Where I'm Going."

I don't know why, but I do.

rcocean said...

Some people have problems with other people having problems.

is that a problem?

Laslo Spatula said...

"I will probably watch an episode or two, but I won't watch a mentally damaged woman degrading herself in sexual encounters.

If you enjoy that, I have a problem with you."


If Althouse had written "I won't watch a mentally damaged woman degrading herself by lying about sexual encounters" then her take on Christine Blasey Ford would've been more interesting.

And if you believed Christine Blasey Ford, I have a problem with...

I am Laslo.

rcocean said...

You can have a problem with me, as long you have a solution too.

BJK said...

mentally damaged woman degrading herself in sexual encounters.

As someone who has seen both seasons, that is not what the show is. The main character's sexuality - especially in Season 1 - is a means to avoid dealing with the recent emotional baggage the character is faced with.

It is the emotional beats to the characters, particularly as written and performed by Ms. Waller-Bridge which stay with you as you watch. The sex isn't particularly meaningful (which is very much part of the point).

rcocean said...

"I will probably watch an episode or two, but I won't watch a mentally damaged woman degrading herself in sexual encounters."

But is she sexy and good looking? That's the most important thing.

MayBee said...

I will probably watch an episode or two, but I won't watch a mentally damaged woman degrading herself in sexual encounters.

To be honest, this sounds a little bit like Lena Dunham's character in Girls.

M.K. Popovich said...

If you think you can predict the ending of a series's season arc, you could be fooling yourself.
Fleabag and Carnival Row both improve as the stories progress. (Carnival Row starts off very weak, so that's not saying too much.) Sometimes a series takes a while to grow the story. Pilots generally suck. Carnival Row might develop into a good show, maybe not. (I have my doubts.) Fleabag was obviously very good almost right off the bat. I liked it better than the one-woman show version.
You have to watch it yourself to find out. That's the fun of it, isn't it?

rcocean said...

Christine Blasey Ford had a problem. Sex appeal. Not just that she's was an Ok looking women in her 50's. But because, it was clear she wasn't that good looking when she was 16. That took points off what could have been a sexy scandal. Or at least as sexy a scandal as you can have with a SCOTUS judge.

Marc in Eugene said...

I couldn't get past the first episode myself but I see that Cristina Odone scribbled something to the effect that 'despite its foul-mouthed and dysfunctional appearance, Fleabag drives home a seriously Catholic message about redemption' after the manner of the fallen priest in Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory. Well, wonderful; and that there is an audience sophisticated enough to see beyond the degradation and sexual immorality etc etc, fine. Pft. And gin and tonic in cans? what a world.

It is an interesting question, though, I'd imagine (if one watched both series), how is what's her name in Girls entertaining? and Fleabag not?

rcocean said...

IN the sex vs. violence war, it depends on what you mean by "sex". Graphic depictions of sex in the movies are usually absurd. Lots of panting, body doubles, and dullness. I remember seeing "Body heat" as Teenager and thinking the sex scenes were super-hot. Went back and watched it 5 years ago, and their ridiculous. LOL ridiculous. Like Willam Hurt throwing a chair through a window (and its not his window), to get to her.

I now realize I just though Kathleen Turner was so attractive, I thought the sex scenes were good. Violence OTOH can be very tense and exciting as we root for our guy not to get killed. Of course, its mindless cartoon violence that's boring too.

Le Stain du Poop said...

It's times like these when I am glad I have not watched TV since Seinfeld went off the air.

Tina Trent said...

Oh, and Fleabag is worth it alone for the mockery made of conceptual art.

As I'm under weather reclining with blue heeler indulge me to suggest a few more shows:

Afterlife. Ricky Gervais manages to be Ricky Gervais while still somehow managing to affirm the decency of human relations in the aftermath of unbearable loss. How he does that while playing himself is a mystery of nearly religious proportions. Could the British be regaining their Christianity?

Black Books. What happens when British people make Seinfeld, based on Shakespeare, set in a bookstore. So much drinking it's equally great for active or recovering alcoholics.

I just started working the Trump re-election, so I'm mainlining House of Cards and Veep to innoculate me for the next 13.5 -- long -- months of election work. Even with such an amusing candidate, I like electoral politics about as much as I like watching someone spit on a subway platform or have graphic realistic sex on tv.

Ann Althouse said...

"The show is a great satire that mocks the professor’s ideology as destructive and morally unworkable."

You're not saying why that would be so. Others are describing what happens in the show, which I can react to. You just say what abstraction the show supposedly attacks. But what in the show amounts to a critique of feminism? I can't even guess. So be specific or be meaningless -- your choice.

Shouting Thomas said...

I suggest you watch the show.

The two sisters engage in a constant dialogue about their supposed obligations to follow their college feminist indoctrination.

It doesn’t work for either, which they also discuss at great length.

And, as I said, the artsy fartsy stepmom who can’t stop congratulating herself on her absolutely healthy, perky, feminist sexual morality could have been modeled on you.

narciso said...

what happened with the dumpster fire, they turned the last season of game of thrones into,

Lewis said...

I don't, I mean we've exported a couple of bad things to you - the Beatles etc, the efing Rolling Stones - but that, alleged, drama takes the biscuit. You know (that's rhetorical!) we have, in Britain, the longest soap saga ever - Coronation Street - and a couple of weeks ago they introduced a black family - what!!? And, of course, they must be neutered - gay, all gay. That's England or 'Fleabag'. OK only the son is gay but you get my point - if you're black chop it off. If your white, like a flea infested hag, don't call me a slag! What! It's not that she obsessed with, to obsessed means having a personality, but she's empty, a zombie, a dead person. I know her because I've met her - the walking dead.

Lewis said...

I don't, I mean we've exported a couple of bad things to you - the Beatles etc, the efing Rolling Stones - but that, alleged, drama takes the biscuit. You know (that's rhetorical!) we have, in Britain, the longest soap saga ever - Coronation Street - and a couple of weeks ago they introduced a black family - what!!? And, of course, they must be neutered - gay, all gay. That's England or 'Fleabag'. OK only the son is gay but you get my point - if you're black chop it off. If your white, like a flea infested hag, don't call me a slag! What! It's not that she obsessed with, to obsessed means having a personality, but she's empty, a zombie, a dead person. I know her because I've met her - the walking dead.

Lewis said...

I know - you think 'Oh, not him again'. What a joke.

Rick said...

I won't watch a mentally damaged woman degrading herself in sexual encounters.

Where is the presumption sexual encounters are degrading coming from?

rehajm said...

And gin and tonic in cans?

Well played, Marc...

Shouting Thomas said...

And, as usual, my criticisms are leavened with affection and gratitude for the service you provide in keeping up this site.

RobinGoodfellow said...

/
Blogger Fernandistein said...
We watched part of one. The 2nd season is supposed to be better.

Speaking of stuff -

"[Guy you never heard of] First Openly Gay Black Man To Win For Lead Actor In Drama..."


You must admit he had a great hat!

Narr said...

Shorter Gene Wolfe (who I think overrated):

One man's contemplation of the sublime is another man's slaking of perverted lust.

Narr
But why choose?

rehajm said...

I thought it would be fun if Ann showed up, admitted she got burned on the righteousness/Girls thing, we all had a laugh and moved on..

Not surprised, but disappointed...

Lewis said...

A ' bum' - that's the expert term - of course, the absurdity of the fallacy of a smile - the bruised cheek offers its hope - between it and the obvious fist, there is some kind of hope?

Howard said...

Thank you, Mommy. May I have another?

Rory said...

"...she explains her date sprung for lobster and she thus agreed to doing it up the bum."

This level of cynicism isn't something I can buy into if the reward is enjoying a sitcom.

Narr said...

When I started spouting off on the intertubes, about 1994 or so, I thought of it as - largely - a libertarian kind of place. In particular, some discussion groups, even unmoderated ones, could be pleasurable and productive as long as almost everyone stuck to a few simple rules.

It was a place of limited sanction--nobody could force the insistent asshole to cease and desist; there were community standards and responses of varied effectiveness, but eventually the unmoderated groups all succumbed to spam and shitheadery. No going back.

Like Shouting T, I appreciate that Althouse offers a place much like the early days I remember, and it irks me that some people have to abuse her and her blog.

Narr
Even if she has said, let's see, 17 anti-libertarian things by my rough count

Will Cate said...

My wife and I liked it. It's short (12 episodes total, as probably someone above has said), and sort-of comes at the viewer like a rifle-shot.