Best TV 2019: the best 5 shows of April

Four months after 2019, we came across the television trend of the year unexpectedly and somewhat inexplicably: a series of ultra-short comedies on streaming services, designed to be consumed in one afternoon or less.

In retrospect, the month of February Russian doll (Netflix) and Pen15 (Hulu) announcing this trend that continued in March with Acute (Hulu)

But it is in April that Netflix started. Special and I think you should leave, two great fun series whose first seasons can be watched in their entirety in just under two hours, and Hulu debuting Ramy, which is getting closer to five hours but is helping to make the streaming platform one of the most exciting forces in television comedy right now.

April is also the month when many contenders on TV enter the competition to be able to complete their broadcast before the deadline of May 31 at Emmys. (Maybe have you heard of a little show called Game of thrones, for example?) But when we look back in April 2019, it'll be Special, I think you should leave, and Ramy that we keep coming back.

And these three comedies are in good company: here are our five new favorite shows from April 2019, six other new shows that we loved, and another six back that deserve to be visited. (Yes, we included Game of thrones. No, you probably do not need the reminder.)

Pit / Verdon is a mesmerizing broadcast on the destructive codpendance of a wedding showbiz

Here is an excerpt from my previous 4.5 star review of the new FX miniseries Pit / Verdon, which tells the true story of the tumultuous relationship between Broadway legends, Bob Fosse (Sam Rockwell) and Gwen Verdon (Michelle Williams):

I liked Pit / Verdonbut the miniseries is either a masterpiece or a total disaster, and I am not sure of the space between the two in this case. The show he reminded me most was Americansnot only because the co-host of this show, Joel Fields, is involved in this project, not just because a handful of his writers write about it too. No, both series talk about the impossibility for people living in a marriage to understand each other and those who live outside the couple to understand the couple as a unit. And both explain how easy it is to use toxicity as a crutch.

But Americans"The central spies were fictional, even if they had" really existed. "The award-winning director and choreographer, Bob Fosse, and his wife, actress and dancer Gwen Verdon, had been around for a long time. Something trying to understand how he was such an asshole, or what was constantly attracting him, etc., we still have to take into account the fact that all this happened to real people, many of whom are still desire.

But remember how I said it could be a masterpiece? That's what I meant. Because if Pit / Verdon is not quite the exciting biography of Fosse or the biography of the Verdon celebrating retroactively, we could have expected or dream, she is a deeply fascinating portrait of Fosse / Verdon, a third person formed from two people, who shaped our modern world.

Watch Pit / Verdon if you want: Broadway Americans, Mad Men

Where to look: New episodes of Pit / Verdon Tuesdays at 10 pm EST on FX. Previous episodes are available on the network's streaming platforms. –Todd VanDerWerff

Mr. jack is the latest series of one of the most incisive television writers around

Much of the discussion around the new BBC co-production by HBO Mr. jack (I saw four of the eight episodes) focused on the fact that this is an assault of a show on the binary drama genre of the period. The series is based on a real woman, Anne Lister, who decided to make her way through high society by marrying a well-placed woman. And as played by Suranne Jones, Lister has a well-chosen style, the kind of masculine energy that few women are allowed to have on television in 2019. Imagine how it threw people into the 1830s!

But Mr. jack also marks the return to television of Sally Wainwright, one of the world's best television writers to capture the complexity of human relationships, particularly in island communities such as small towns. His critically acclaimed Happy Valley, broadcast on Netflix in the United States, was a great example of the British mystery format, and while exploring an end-of-life romance, Last tango in Halifax (a PBS show here), it's a bit disgusting, it's hard to resist such a show.

J & # 39; hope Mr. jack bring his work to a wider audience. The show is not always perfect – it allows Lister to say something sharp or daring to put a button on a stage. But in his portrayal of the lives of LGBTQ people in the genre of a period drama story that is usually reserved only for heterosexuals and cisgender, it offers something rich, vanishing and romantic. –TV

Watch Mr. jack if you want: Downton Abbey (this one is a gift), Masterpiece of theater (also a gimme), Billions

Where to look: New episodes of Mr. jack Mondays at 10 pm EST on HBO. Previous episodes are available on HBO streaming platforms.

I think you should go with Tim Robinson is the absurd comedy at its best

Created by and featuring the old Saturday Night Live star player turned writer Tim Robinson, I think you should leave is a series of sketches that runs between strange commercial parodies that end up in places completely different from those where they started; satirical social media is aggressively and hilariously turning to the surreal; and, at the best moments of the series, subversive and unpredictable tricks in mundane situations such as birthday parties and work meetings.

This may seem superficially similar to Saturday Night Live. Be warned: I think you should leave is like a version of SNL this plays exclusively in a very fun hell version, where exploring your craziness is both allowed and encouraged. Robinson's sketches remain fully faithful to their fundamental principles, following them in strangely strange places. And then, when you do not know where the joke can go, Robinson moves on. It works like a charm every time. -Allegra Frank

Watch I think you should leave if you want: Kroll Show; Tim and Eric Awesome Show, great job!; the character bits in the studio on Late at night with seth meyer (you will see familiar faces of Late at night sure I think you should leave)

Where to look: The six episodes of I think you should leave are streaming on Netflix.

Ramy is one of the best shows of the year

Quietly and slyly, Hulu – who was previously best known for his dramas – has launched three comedies in 2019 that could end up on my end of the year list. February Pen15 was a perfect explosion of anxiety in adolescents. March Acute was an adaptation of Lindy West's book on being a plus size woman in America.

And now comes the poignant, captivating Ramy. I've seen six out of ten episodes and I share the rest because I do not really want it to be over.

In general, Ramy is similar to shows like Atlanta and Master of none. It is centered on a young Muslim American living in New Jersey, played by comedian Ramy Youssef (who also co-created the show). It's funny, certainly, because Youssef is funny without effort. But that does not bother do not be funny in times when the best thing to do is to drop the jokes for a moment to explore another character's point of view or examine the flaws and weaknesses of his main character.

Again Ramy is never serious. He is interested in the division between the faith of his characters and the world as a whole – between the religion in which Ramy grew up and the secular country that offers many reasons to leave that religion behind. This is the rare series that seriously examines the views of believers, unbelievers, and those who question their faith. She is terribly attentive to strained relations between parents and children.

It's one of the best TVs of the year. –TV

Watch Ramy if you want: Master of none, Atlanta, The Sopranos (and for more than New Jersey of all this – The Sopranos was fascinated by faith too … but also, yes, for New Jersey)

Where to look: Every 10 episodes of Ramy The first season is broadcast on Hulu.

warrior is fun fun TV action from the creator of Banshee

From 2013 to 2016, the big and late Cinemax series Banshee conveyed the principles of action movies – from last-minute escapes to brutal battles, to muscular know-how – to the otherwise silent Amish country. This four-season series is one of those slightly underrated works that I'm always happy to show people, simply because it's such a wild and strange time.

And now Banshee Creator Jonathan Tropper has returned to the idea of ​​deploying tropes of action movies in small island communities that are not often represented on television with his new Cinemax series. warrior, co-created with director Justin Lin. (I've seen three episodes to date.) This time, the action takes place in San Francisco in the 1870s, when Chinese immigrants arrived in considerable numbers on US shores, as did organized crime.

In his heart, warrior Andrew Koji plays Ah Sahm, a Chinese man who travels to San Francisco to find his missing sister and is quickly drawn into a gang war. But his combination of brutally entertaining fight scenes and the alienation of the immigrant experience adds to something greater than the sum of his parts. This show is still defining itself, but there are so many interesting things along the way that I am more than happy to enjoy the trip. –TV

Watch warrior if you want: In the badlands, Banshee, Peaky Blinders

Where to look: New episodes of warrior Fridays at 10 pm on Cinemax. Previous episodes are available on Cinemax streaming platforms. (Useful tip: if you have HBO, you probably have Cinemax!)

6 new shows to discover

CBS All Access

There is a lot, a lot, a lot of TV there! Here are six other new programs that started in April and are worth going to one level or another.

• Okay, maybe Bless this mess (ABC, Tuesdays at 9:30 pm, Eastern Time) is not a awesome show for the moment. But his story of two townspeople (Dax Shepard and Lake Bell) finding themselves back on a farm is perfectly comical and amusing. Hoping that it gets a little weird in future episodes.
• Do you hear people singing? Not sure Wretched (PBS, Sunday at 9:00 pm, Eastern Time, check your local listings), which is a direct adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel and do not A musical. But aside from this caveat, this is a sumptuous and beautifully realized miniseries that will be perfect for students who try not to read the book for decades.
• Our planet (streaming on Netflix) It may be depressing, because it may be the first major nature documentary series in which each episode provides sufficient evidence of how climate change is wreaking havoc on animal habitats. But the series was made by people who did Earth and so is beautiful enough to perhaps spark action when it comes to saving the planet.

• Reconstruction (PBS, now in streaming) is a terrific four-hour documentary on the legacy of the post-civil war, when the North tried not to redo the south to minimize the influence of slavery. Perhaps no other era is as important as Reconstruction in American history – yet so misunderstood. This film is an excellent starting point to learn more.
• It only takes about two hours to watch Special (streaming on Netflix) in its entirety, with eight short episodes including the warm and amusing story of a homosexual young man with mild cerebral palsy who decides to pursue the life of his dreams. Honestly, it might have been better served by slightly padded travel times (some story beats are a bit hurry), but the characters are all perfectly observed.
• The twilight zone (streaming on CBS All Access, new episodes on Thursday) is not yet at the level of Rod Serling – what could it be? – but his episodes have been more successful than failed, although the failures are … rather disappointing. However, the best episodes of this show perfectly capture the paranoia chilly of the dear anthology of science fiction.

And 6 concerts not to be missed

HBO

That's right, there is even more television that deserves your attention. These six recurring series – including a certain show featuring some dragons – all deserve to be on the roll.

• Looking for a good old-time cop show? Bosch (streaming on Amazon Video) is probably the best cop show at the moment, featuring compelling, compelling, crime-solving characters, and five of the most beautiful seasons in Los Angeles.
• Looking for a ribald comedy with a heart hidden somewhere in it? Brockmire (SFI, Wednesdays at 10 pm Eastern Time) is wonderfully dark and strange, and he boasts of the amazing performance of Hank Azaria as a dilapidated baseball announcer. The show has just started season three.
• (Todd) did not really know that The Chi (Show, Sunday at 10 pm, Eastern Time) had returned for his second season until I started working on this article. But I really liked Season 1, so let's hope Season 2 is just as good.
• Looking for Game of thrones? Well, Game of thrones (HBO, Sunday at 9 pm Eastern Time) is back and probably does not need to be introduced yet. The eighth and final season is now airing, and you might want to watch it? To you, of course!
• In search of what could be the next Game of Thrones – for example, the television show that we have been passionate about for a few years? Consider Kill Eve (AMC / BBC America, Sunday at 9 pm Eastern Time), a grim and amusing story of murderous women and other women who maybe love them a bit, anchored by the astonishing performances of Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer. The show has just started season two.

• And if you are not looking for any of these, you are probably looking for Legends of tomorrow (The CW, Monday at 8pm Eastern Time), which is perhaps the craziest show on television, in a way that is hard to describe in a short presentation. (Suffice to say that a gorilla has already tried to kill Barack Obama on this show.) He has just returned to finish his fourth season.

And guess what? The TV season 2018-2019 is almost over and May will see a tonne Streaming series starting just in time to qualify for the Emmys. So get ready for this attack!