Attractive Friends as Family, Jersey RenFaire, and Modern-Day Loveline
The Weekly Binge: 3 Web Series To Watch This Week
The Weekly Binge is a handful of recommendations based on what the Stareable Team has been bingeing on this week. Click through to watch and let us know what you think by leaving your own reviews on the site!
The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo
What’s the relationship between The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo and its presumable namesake, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao? We have no idea. A more natural point of comparison for Gallo would be Transparent: like the family at the center of the Amazon series, Caleb Gallo’s group of LA acting-world friends navigate a fluid web of sexual identities and relations that leave everyone a little confused and sometimes hurt, but ultimately redeemed through their shared capacity for affection. It’s a surprisingly natural portrait of modern friendship, made engaging through the silliness, warmth, and sharp comic timing of its cast.
Knights of New Jersey
Art is meant to be transformative. Good art allows you to borrow someone else’s perspective and experiences and gain a new understanding of the breadth of the human condition. Knights of New Jersey accomplishes just that, though in a less than exotic sort of way. It transports you to a Renaissance Fair in New Jersey, where cosplayers joust and eat giant turkey legs. You’ll come away changed — for example, did you know they refer to us regular folks as “mundanes?” Or that they have an ongoing feud with Game of Throners even though they’re both groups of grown-ups that believe in nonsense and have no apparent sense of embarrassment? And perhaps most importantly, it teaches these lessons without actually requiring you to go to a RenFaire or visit New Jersey.
Just Between Us
Half advice show, half sketch, Just Between Us is a comedy channel from two LA comedians, Gaby Dunn and Allison Raskin. The advice portion is a modern-day Loveline, with the two comics exorcising their misanthropic, horny and performative tendencies as they advise youths on how to live their best lives. The sketches are an exploration of the joys of extended friendship. Namely, how conversations among old friends can easily devolve into long-stewing pettiness. “Remember how you were a pain in the ass about mustard in college?” “Your horrible personality ruined my chances with that girl at that wedding five years ago.” “Why does everyone keep hopping on the salad bandwagon when I’ve clearly claimed salads for this potluck?” Their cheeky and playful bickering binds the sketches together.
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