Like an obscene image spray-painted on your car, this docu-parody was an out-of-nowhere surprise, but in this case a welcome one. It began as a raunchy sendup of true-crime documentaries, developed into an astute comedy of teen social-media mores and ended up a surprisingly moving study of how pigeonholing kids can set them onto a life path before they have the chance to learn who they really are.
這部惡搞紀錄片的電視劇就像出現(xiàn)在你汽車上的色情涂鴉一樣,完全讓你出乎意料,不過是驚喜的那種。本劇的開頭是一段對真實犯罪紀錄片的黃暴惡搞模仿,隨后發(fā)展為一部關(guān)于青少年社交媒體習俗的精彩喜劇,最后出人意料地演變?yōu)橐粋€感人的故事,探討不同背景的孩子在還沒有機會了解自己到底是誰的情況下,如何走上人生之路。
Better Things 《更美好的事》
Pamela Adlon elevated the second season of her comedy into a raw and poetic story of the feverish love-hate relationship between three generations of mothers and daughters. (That Louis C.K., disgraced for sexual offenses, wrote much of the season should not overshadow Ms. Adlon’s feat as creator, star, writer and director.) The show is devastating without being sentimental, and Ms. Adlon’s Sam Fox is one of the best character studies on TV today.
帕梅拉•阿德隆在第二季將這部喜劇升華為一個質(zhì)樸而充滿詩意的故事,講述了三代母女之間的愛恨情仇(本季大部分內(nèi)容是因性侵而聲名狼藉的路易斯•C•K創(chuàng)作的,但這掩蓋不了阿德隆作為主創(chuàng)、主演、編劇和導演的成就)。這部電視劇令人悲痛,卻不過于感傷,阿德隆飾演的山姆•福克斯是如今熒屏上一個最好的角色研究案例。
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 《瘋狂前女友》
The third season, beginning this fall, interrogated the “crazy” in Rachel Bloom’s musical comedy of obsession by exploring her character Rebecca’s diagnosis with borderline personality disorder — while still delivering multiple spot-on song parodies a week.
《瘋狂前女友》是一部關(guān)于迷戀的音樂喜劇,今年秋季播出的第三季探討了麗貝卡(蕾切爾•布魯姆飾)的邊緣性人格障礙,展現(xiàn)了主角瘋狂的一面,而且每周依然能夠奉上多首恰到好處的滑稽歌曲模仿。
The Deuce 《墮落街傳奇》
“This is my job,” Candy (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a prostitute hoping to become a porn mogul, tells a discount-seeking client in this series’ pilot. A drama about the 1970s sex business, on a channel with a penchant for salacious sex, could have gone wrong in many ways. It went right, very right, because David Simon and his collaborators (including female writers and directors) treated sex work as work: an economic system with dangers, calculations and financial and physical pressures.
“這是我的工作,”希望成為色情業(yè)大亨的妓女坎迪(瑪吉•吉倫哈爾飾)在該劇的試播集中對一個試圖砍價的客戶說。這部講述上世紀70年代性交易行業(yè)的電視劇在一個偏愛色情題材的頻道上播出,在很多方面都可能跑偏。但《墮落街傳奇》沒有,一點都沒有,因為大衛(wèi)•西蒙和他的同事(包括女性編劇和導演)把性工作視為一種工作:一種充滿危險、算計、財務壓力和生理壓力的賺錢方式。
The Good Place 《善地》
The network sitcom with the most insight into life just happens to be full of characters who are dead. This afterlife comedy, about a group of misfits in a troubled paradise, is full of twists I don’t have the room to list or the heart to spoil, but its real appeal is a top-notch cast performing prime time’s most entertaining philosophy lesson.
這部情景喜劇充滿深刻的人生洞見,主角是一群已經(jīng)死去的人。他們死后升入一個麻煩眾多的天堂,在那里格格不入?!渡频亍返膭∏槌錆M反轉(zhuǎn),我在這里沒有足夠篇幅詳述,也不忍心劇透。但這部劇真正的吸引力在于,一群頂級演員在黃金時間段為觀眾呈上最有趣的哲學課。
Halt and Catch Fire 《奔騰年代》
The final season of this digital-culture origin story, which began in the early ’80s, took us through the popularization of the World Wide Web. But it also brought full circle the troubled partnership of Cameron (Mackenzie Davis) and Donna (Kerry Bishé), their passion for discovery rekindled by four magic words: “I have an idea.”
這部關(guān)于數(shù)字文化起源的電視劇從上世紀80年代講起,最后一季帶我們回顧萬維網(wǎng)的普及。在這一季里,卡梅隆(麥肯齊•戴維斯飾)和唐娜(凱莉•比什飾)充滿麻煩的合作關(guān)系恢復如初,他們對發(fā)現(xiàn)的熱情被那句神奇的話重新點燃:“我有一個想法。”
Lady Dynamite 《炸天女郎》
Things got weird in 2017. Television seemed at times to be dreaming, serving up ambitious hallucinations like “Legion” and “The Young Pope” as well as surrealistic curiosities like “At Home with Amy Sedaris.” The second season of Maria Bamford’s first-person comedy was the disorienting tops, using fractured storytelling to capture the experience of living and working with bipolar disorder from all angles.
2017年有點詭異,電視機好像有時會做夢一樣,播出的作品包括《大群》和《年輕的教宗》等雄心勃勃的虛幻作品,以及《和艾米•塞達里斯一起在家》等超現(xiàn)實作品。瑪麗亞•班福德這部第一人稱敘事喜劇在第二季達到了混亂的巔峰,采用斷裂的敘事方式,從各個角度展現(xiàn)了和躁郁癥患者一起生活和工作的經(jīng)歷。
The Leftovers 《守望塵世》
The last season of this series about faith, loss and mystery was constructed like an octagonal chapel, each of its eight episodes a stained-glass window lit with emotion and humor. It may or may not have answered its central question — what happened to millions of people who vanished from the earth — but it was a powerful expression of the ways people soldier on through the unknown.
《守望塵世》是一部關(guān)于信仰、失去和神秘未知的電視劇。該劇最后一季就像一個八角形的小教堂,每一集就像一扇被情感和幽默照亮的彩色玻璃窗。它可能回答了、也可能沒有回答劇中的核心問題——從地球上消失的那數(shù)百萬人都怎么樣了——但它有力詮釋了人們應對未知情況時勇敢向前的樣子。
One Day at a Time 《活在當下》
You’d have thought they didn’t make them like this anymore. This reimagining of the 1970s comedy revived a staid genre — the socially conscious, three-camera family sitcom — by updating the characters and their problems. Centered on a Cuban-American family in Los Angeles, the new “One Day” also spotlighted working-class struggles and veterans’ issues, enlivened by crack performances from Justina Machado and Rita Moreno.
你可能認為不會有人再拍這種電視劇了。《活在當下》翻拍自上世紀70年代的同名喜劇,新版通過塑造新的角色和劇情,讓一種過時電視劇類型——關(guān)注社會問題的三攝像頭家庭情景喜劇——重現(xiàn)生機。新版《活在當下》圍繞洛杉磯的一個古巴裔美國家庭展開,同樣是關(guān)注工薪階層的艱辛和退伍軍人的問題,賈斯蒂娜•馬查多和麗塔•莫雷諾的精彩表演為該劇增添了活力。
Twin Peaks: The Return 《雙峰:歸來》
The reunion of David Lynch and Mark Frost had a nominal plot: the odyssey of Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) back from the otherworldly waiting room where he’d spent the 25 years since he last tasted cherry pie. But mainly it was a direct download from the subconscious of Mr. Lynch, who directed every episode: part horror story, part slapstick, all twisted fantasy. It was a well, to paraphrase the mysterious Woodsman, that descended deep and retrieved strange, intoxicating water.
大衛(wèi)•林奇和馬克•弗羅斯特的再度聯(lián)手,名義上合作創(chuàng)作了一個故事:戴爾•庫珀(凱爾•麥克拉克倫飾)自從最后一次品嘗櫻桃派之后,在一個超自然的等候室里度過了25年的時光,本劇便是講述他歸來后的冒險之旅。不過,這部劇基本都是按照林奇的想法呈現(xiàn)的,每一集都由他執(zhí)導:它有點像恐怖故事,也有點像鬧劇,充滿怪誕的幻想。用劇中那個神秘林中人的話說,它是一口井,下潛到深處,便可以汲取令人陶醉的奇異之水。