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Television for the week of March 12th.

A DAY IN THE LIFE

*** (out 0f ****)

Documentary television shows are technically all the rage right now. Any reality show that’s not a game could be considered docu-series in the loosest sense of the word. So attempting a documentary series isn’t a bold move necessarily, but not focusing on a group of worthless drunken train wrecks? (See: Jersey Shore, the Real World, the Real Housewives of every city ever, all of Bravo)

Bravo: Bringing you mindless entertainment since 2004

But the partnership of Hulu and famous documentarian Morgan Spurlock has created a documentary series different from most of what’s out there. Most know Spurlock from Supersize Me, the documentary about eating McDonald’s 3 meals a day for a month, based on Doug Benson’s Super High Me. Spurlock tends to shoot for humor meets message in his work while getting it to the most people possible, and Hulu is trying to flash its nuts as a creative force so the partnership makes sense.

Hulu's left nut since 2012

“A Day in the Life” is Hulu’s first long form original programming, and follows a different notable celebrity for, you guessed it, a single day in their life. The commercials for the show make it seem like Spurlock is going to tae the guise of the celebrity, or learn how to do what they do. He’s featured heavily in the ads, and given his past projects, that premise would fit perfectly into his catalogue. If that’s what you’re expecting going in, you will be disappointed. Spurlock is nowhere to bee seen, and only slightly hear (and really I’m only guessing it was him interviewing the celebrities, it could have been anyone). Instead of learning how to be in the guest’s shoes, the show focuses on a random day they have, intercut with philospihcal musings of why they do what they do and how they got where they are. During the first season the celebrities ranged Virgin CEO Richard Branson, to comedian Russell Peters, to no explanation necessary will.i.am.

For some reason doing quite well, since 2002

The second season began this week on Hulu, focusing on veteran neurotic comic Marc Maron. Maron has had varying degrees of success since his start in the eighties, but through his podcast ‘WTF with Marc Maron’ he’s reached an all time high. He’s known for being obsessive, compulsive, obsessively compulsive, compulsively obsessive, overly emotional and narcissistic (that might sound insulting, but most of those are self-descriptions by Marc). For those unfamiliar with Maron, the show does a good job at highlighting his neurosis as he tackles fixing a broken espresso machine in the morning (when asked how many cups of coffee he drinks a day, his response was “I don’t measure life in cups”-a very philosophical way to say you drink way too much fucking coffee). Mindy Kaling (Kelly from the Office) makes an appearance as she records an episode of the podcast, and the exchange shown is more awkward than expected. Makes me more excited for that episode than I was already (also dropped this week). The show wraps on a set at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles, a venue Maron’s been going to for decades, but is still admittedly shaken by.

Haunting comics' nightmares since the 80's

Intercut with all of the ‘scenes’ are interview style questions about his career in comedy, and how he feels about it all. If you’ve listened to WTF a couple of time, it’s all the standard of self-deprecation and philosophy attempts, some which work and others that don’t. All in all, I’m not sure what ‘A Day in the Life’ is trying to accomplish, other than do a personality piece every week. There isn’t an over-arcing theme throughout the different episodes, and it’s not an advice on how to make it in whatever biz the guest works in. The couple I’ve seen are interesting, but that’s because I’m a fan of Marc Maron, and think Richard Branson is pretty damn interesting. Specifically to the Maron episode, if you’re familiar with him it’s pretty skippable, because you’re not going to learn anything you didn’t know before. The best part was his set at the end, and watching him interact with other comics in the green room. If they had a show that was just people hanging out waiting to perform, that would be awesome. For now, I just don’t see a reason to get hooked into the show- it’d be far more interesting if Spurlock was trying different careers for the first time. -MG

http://www.hulu.com/watch/338449/a-day-in-the-life-marc-maron