What I’m Watching: August Edition

Loot (Apple Plus)-Maya Rudolph stars as a rich socialite who decides to take a more hands-on approach to running her own charity after her husband dumped her. It’s a classic classist comedy like “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” or “The Nanny” in which people of different social strata learn a little bit from one another. Joel Kim Booster (Fire Island) and Ron Funches are a highlight as a pair of co-workers who are a better fit as besties than Booster’s character would care to admit. The show is watchable but seems to rely a little too heavily on Maya Rudolph to carry the jokes. Unfortunately, Rudolph’s character of Molly Novak isn’t that much more memorable so far (I’m 4 episodes in) than her character outline suggests.

Never Have I Ever (Netflix)-I hate to use the term “jump the shark” because that fails to acknowledge the show’s achievement of once being good and it implies that it’s the show’s fault that current viewing isn’t as rewarding as past viewing. Never Have I Ever ended on a happily-ever-after resolution that took away my investment in seeing where the characters might go next. Season 2 featured a wonderful arc with Common as a love interest for the mom, the cousin standing up for herself professionally, and the independent-minded Dev yo-yoing between Ben and Paxton before landing in a place of self-respect. I’m still nipping away at an episode here or there, and I’m always happy that other people will…