Better Things 2016-2021

 

It doesn’t get any better than this and just in time for Mother’s Day. . One of the best takes on a “modern woman” I've seen. I suppose I should say modern women, but I'm really focusing on the lead, the head of the family and the pusher and force behind this very good series. The show is about a single mom living in a nice house with her three spoiled daughters who really know how to push the buttons on my wanting to scream at them machine. Across the street lives her taxing and outrageous expatriate British mom played to perfection by Celia Imrie who also knows how to push buttons. Sam is an actress struggling in her vocation at age 50. Living in L.A. and  trying to get it on with her life and her work. The character Sam played by the wonderful Pamela Adlon (she also writes and directs most of the episodes) is up against it most of the time and there is truth and laughs splattered all over the place.  She tries her best to give her girls a good home, and to make a place for herself  in the dog eat dog world of Hollywood. There are men around but they are mainly just around, an ex husband, a difficult brother, a dead father who sometimes appears, a best gay friend and various other men who are sometimes boyfriends, lovers and just friends of hers. But this is about women and how they react to and with each other and to the world around them. Sometimes it’s the narrow world of Show Biz and sometimes it’s the larger petty but difficult world that intrudes on all of us. I especially like the scenes where Sam interacts with her women friends including the wonderful Alysia Reiner who comes and goes in the 3 seasons, and her dealings with the big shots who control Hollywood and her career. Let’s just say she takes no prisoners. Aldon who originally is from New York, brings my city’s tough as nails veneer to her role as a Los Angeles mom, it’s in her accent and her way of dealing with people and events. The light may be California but the Sam shadows are New York City. Her three daughters are grandly unlikable, with the exception of the youngest one played by Olivia Edward, but I took an interest in the middle one played by Hannah Alligood who is leaning Lesbian and is prickly and difficult most of the time. The oldest one acted with real annoyance for me is Mikey Madison spoiled to the very rim of the cup. Originally the show was co-written by Louis C.K. who was fired when accused of sexual harassment and transgressions.