Dude!!

I just wrapped up the first episode of Tales From The Loop the brand new Amazon show produced by Mark Romanek? (Dude graciously retweeted me…I was one of a handful of people on Twitter talking about the show…sigh. Romanek should not be retweeting me. His work should be bigger that Twitter instantly becomes noise.) Romanek directed Loop the first episode and visually it’s stunning. You could watch the whole thing with the sound off so good. (Although Phillip Glass did the score. I know!!)

It’s like when you watch Romanek’s Cash Hurt video it’s so visually beyond the medium it’s kinda disrespectful to call it a music video. Duran Duran and U2 make music videos. Hurt is…I dunno what it is. Hurt makes you sit up in your chair after years of watching music videos. Oh…music videos can do that?! It’s like that first time you suddenly get bumped up to first-class on a flight and you see how good that life is; how much space you have. Then the next time you gotta fly coach…no!! I don’t want to go back to that. (Airlines: I will let you down; I will make you hurt…for true.)

I’m doing my best but failing to minimize the number of exclaim points as I talk about this. When the trailer was dropped it became an “I cannot wait for this sci-fi tv show!” one of those “how many sleeps until I can watch?” events. Must See TV. Have you read The Electric State by Simon Stålenhag? A runaway teenager and her toy robot race to the edge of the continent as all around them a deeply consumerist society crumbles. It is visually stunning. Electric State’s movie rights were sold to the Russo brothers with IT creators Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti slated to be the director and producer. Oh, that is so gonna work (for now…these things can change). While we impatiently wait for that we get Tales From the Loop produced by Mark Romanek (YES!!) and based on the Simon Stålenhag book with the same name. Instantly the trailer suggested this’ll be like a Michel Gondry film crossed with Black Mirror. Her if Her was ominous (which I suppose it is).

Romanek did the Batman: The Animated Series thing where you can’t tell what year it is. One of the main characters their house is all gloriously 70s…a rotary phone on the wall in the kitchen, those Miami Vice style mirrors in the living room but his brother has a cybernetic arm like Arnold’s unfleshed arm in Terminator and oh: there is an unexplained robot in the backyard. People just don’t do that enough: Tommy guns and computers and I’m a sucker for that.

I wasn’t sure what tea to make for this being the first episode and all and randomly went with Lady Grey. Nailed it! S’a British-Norway tea that’s about right. It’s European slooooow and smooth in no hurry to tell its story. Especially in this climate, Americans will not watch it. It’s done. The show is so not getting a second season.

You guys SUCK! I willed and forced the Universe to give me 4 seasons of Man In The High Castle and I’m exhausted from that battle. (I manipulated the cosmos into gifting us 30 episodes of Mr. Mercedes on something called Audience Network. I’m doing what I can; I’m doing all I can. I made all kinds of sinister deals to ensure Dark a German-Netflix sci-fi show that lives up to its name scores 3 seasons. Dark is one of the best sci-fi tv shows in the entire history of the television medium. This is not a debate and I will not be taking questions.)

I’m tired tired tired of Mother Teresaing these precious tv shows. We’re gonna end up with 7 seasons of Strange Things (Season 7 the kids go to college!!) you fools and this one will be done by the weekend. My outstretched hand is saying: “Come with me if you want to live…” and I’m getting shrugs and eh: I’ll think about it. With Tales of the Loop be in the loop and don’t think about it. Check it out.

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Also published on Medium.