High Maintenance originally aired on Vimeo on November 9, 2012. The comedy centers around an unnamed “weed guy”, and each episode provides a different window into his daily interactions with his New York clientele. This character-study style is coupled with minimalist cinematography that seems to depict New York from the eyes of a native. The city is captured in visually striking ways, but never overblown. But as far as enjoyability, the only thing that overshadows the series’ visual artfulness is its comedic value. Because each episode contains different characters, the premise of the show allows for nearly infinite thematic possibilities. Handled by writers and actors of a lesser caliber, but utilizing the same setup, I think that the show could eventually become repetitive and derivative. But High Maintenance succeeds in keeping each episode progressively more inventive and often startlingly hilarious. The series removes nearly all discussion of smoking weed from the dialogue of the characters, distinguishing it from its predecessors in the realm of pot-related TV and cinema. Instead, the weed aspect of the show serves as a way to look into individuals’ private lives — each deal that the Guy makes takes place in his clients’ homes. And this is precisely what makes the show so appealing — each of his deals is an intimate look at one or more of the many personality archetypes that exist in New York City. The visual component of the series, as well as the succinct time limit, reinforce the minimalist, dialogue-driven quality of the show. This necessitates that every word and every brief flash on the screen contributes to the unfolding of the episode’s plot. High Maintenance is a tasteful and series of New York character studies, written and performed by stellar writers and actors.