P-P-P-Poker Face and The New Age of Television

If I watches it I gots to talk about it!

It used to be a joke. 

Back in the day, we used to say whenever we watched a program on Netflix how funny it would be if another company wanted to stream to our homes like that. Then Hulu came out. We joked a little more about new players entering the game and then Disney Plus, WWE Network, Paramount, Peacock, Crunchyroll, ESPN, and a host of others began scrambling for our attention. It wasn't funny anymore. What was a joke 15 years ago has happened. We've been asked to pay the same for streaming networks as we did for cable. It's been a madhouse ever since. 

The good news about this is also the bad news: There are too many shows to watch. I've had to mix up my watch options based on my attitude every day. I plug into a lot of TV and new anime, I screen movies at home, and watch a lot of movies out with my Alamo Drafthouse Card. I’m just glad we’re all splitting the cost all these apps. Keeping up with all the new stuff is out the window. I remember that era when we had only three channels (5 if you count the Spanish stations) and finishing a series was hard then. In the bad old days, I managed to finish Agents of Shield, but could not do the last seasons of the Arrowverse other than “Number 1 Show On TV” Legends of Tomorrow. A 22-episode season would kill me today. I don’t have that kind of time! I'm happy everything now is 8 to 12 episodes. I can watch until my interest wears out. 

Recently, I picked up on some great shows. I've checked out things I usually would not have and feel it's been beneficial. I’ve watched shows where a group of Black women try to be friends with each other like Harlem and First Wives Club. I recently ran through the anime Spy x Family because a woman I like likes it and it’s super cute and very weird. I ever watched Giselda because my friend Ian told me to. I still catch episodes of One Piece every week. Yet one of the most unexpected and best shows I've watched is Poker Face starring Natasha Lyonne. In my Media MixUp I said the following:

"Poker Face is directed by Rian Johnson, the director who made the best Star Wars Movie ever, Episode VII: The Last Jedi. After he was screwed by Disney, he quickly shifted to making two Glass Onion films starring british actor Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc, the world's greatest detective who sounds like Foghorn Leghorn.

I say I say Foghorn Leghorn is the rooster and would slap the shit out of a chickenhawk because rules were different back then.

Well, now Johnson is making Poker Face with Natasha Lyonne and a bevy of famous actors. It's like a "monster of the week" style of storytelling of detective work. Natasha plays Charlie Cole. She can tell when someone is lying, though that sounds like Natasha in real life. Charlie can't let things go. She hits the road on the run from the mob and somehow seems to find herself surrounded by murders carried out by these different characters in every episode. It's so good."

I couldn't help but eat up every episode. I think this is something you should do too. This is especially true if you're the type to watch Mystery programs. Poker Face is a clinic on how to do this “whodunit” storytelling. 

You start off with a look at the other characters like Joseph Gordon Levitt or Lil’ Rel Howery on the show and see their interactions with people they know. Eventually, someone dies during that interaction. We go back to the beginning and see how Charlie came to be in that place and who she made friends with on the way. Typically this new friend is the character who dies. I hadn't seen Judith Light since Whose the Boss but she’s here. I've seen Stephanie Hsu from Everything Everywhere All At Once, all over the place, and she shows up a as a nameless snowboarder and pickpocket expert. I haven't seen Nick Nolte in anything since 48 Hours where he and Eddie Murphy punch each a lot, but there he is as a company co-founder that Charlie befriends. 

You could call Charlie’s life a bit of a tragedy. Due to her past actions and “not letting things go” she now lives in her car. Charlie can't use a credit card because that mob will find her. Charlie can't get a well-paying job because the mob will find her. Charlie can't get too close to people because the mob will find her. It's simple and very effective. 

When Charlie meets up with her estranged sister Emily Cale (Clea DuVall) you get your first peek at Charlie's early life. Charlie is trying to apologize for something she did and her sister isn't trying to hear it. Emily Cale tells her sister something that stuck with me. She says that Charlie loves this life of tragedy and murderer hunting and doesn't really want to be different. Charlie just wants to be right. After meeting her five-year-old niece for the first time (which shows how long she's been gone) Charlie is back to her life again. Director Rian Johnson and co-showrunners Nora and Lilla Zuckerman fill up the show with easter eggs. You're told little but want to know more. When you get more it's not enough. You want to learn even more! This show is so well done in that way. 

So if you haven't watched it yet on Peacock. If you don’t bother with mystery shows, check out this series. If you love mystery programs, check out Poker Face. If you love stories about people on the road, check out this series. Check it out if you love Russian Doll and Natasha Lyone’s other work. Watch this show to stick it to Disney. That's why I did it. How dare Disney not stick with their plan to keep Rian Johnson as director of Star Wars: Episode Nine and make something so terrible and senseless that I quit the Star Wars franchise. Whatever reason you check it, you will have fun with Poker Face.