Right now I am thinking that the only show I feel you must watch soon in the house with a thousand rooms that is streaming TV is “The Only Murders in the Building.” Yeppers, it’s that damned good, notable, funny, charming and persuasively entertaining in the binge-worthy modern TV way.
Some might say: What’s not to like? At the show’s core is two longtime friends, major comic talents and collaborators, Steve Martin and Martin Short, just for starters. But after seeing it in the Hulu listings and being intrigued, I resisted … because there has been something about Short’s oddball nerd comedic persona that has rubbed me a bit the wrong way in the past.
But “Murders …” is so killer that my inklings about Short have been been swept into the dustbin of history – a testament to just how effectively Short as well as Martin play like the mature veteran performers they are at the top of their game in this lively, nimble-witted and seductive comedic mystery.
Martin, also the series co-creator, is the dramatic maypole around which the other two leads, Short and vivacious young actress/singer Selena Gomez, spin and scurry as in season one the trio starts a podcast that aims to solve a mysterious death in the building a number of years earlier. That brings them into competition with a prominent true crime podcaster played with oily ambitiousness by Tina Fey – one of the the many prominent thespians who delightfully round out the cast, such as Amy Ryan as a bassoon-playing resident who becomes the love interest of Martin’s character, alongside bit parts and cameos by such notables as Sting, Shirley MacLaine, Nathan Lane, Cara Delevingne, Amy Schumer, Jimmy Fallon, Jane Lynch and Andrea Martin.
Even “the Building” helped woo me into loving this series, as the exteriors were shot at The Belnord on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. A lovely classic New York apartment structure built in 1909 that’s landmarked by the city and in the National Register of Historic Places, it covers the entire block between Broadway and Amsterdam Ave. on the north side of 86th St. Many’s the time I passed by it, especially when I lived about a block away. As I would peer through its archway entrance into the roomy interior courtyard – both prominently featured in the show – I wondered what it might be like to live there. “The Only Murders in the Building” takes my musings well beyond my wildest and delightfully oddest dreams.
The show is very much a Manhattan creature. Martin plays a semi-retired actor, Charles-Haden Savage, who starred in a hit 1990s TV crime drama and has faded and aged out of media worthiness. Short’s Oliver Putnam has come close to but never gotten his big break as a Broadway director. The vibrant way he drizzles his character with show people theatricality while sprinkling it with touching humanity is what washed away any reluctance I had about him. Gomez offers the counterpoint of current youth as an aspiring painter who lucked into her aunt’s sprawling Upper West Side digs. They’re a wonderfully quirky dream team
They are all archetypes of The City, played with heart, abounding wit and panache. The murder plots in seasons one and two spiral round in fun and nicely twisty ways. And I’m delighted that a third season is in the offing.
And yes, as an ex-New Yorker (looking to return nearby there in the near future), I’m a sucker for anything that captures the unique character of that metropolis and its denizens. Maybe it’s time for you, dear reader, to take a TV visit to the magical isle of Manhattan for a mystery that’s a roller coaster ride through a fun house.
TV Series: “Prime Suspect” (US) – Speaking of mysteries, one of the finest police procedural shows ever was the original English “Prime Suspect,” starring Helen Mirren. This American spin-off set in New York that launched in 2011 features a similar scrappy and smart female cop joining a murder squad suffused with testosterone who proves her mettle. Though it only ran for one 13 episode season, it stands tall next to the best cop shows.
Documentary Film: “Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man” – A refreshingly different rock doc about a refreshingly different musician who is far more than a fine keyboard player whose distinctive sound and style has enhanced popular music since he joined the Allman Brothers Band in 1972 and later with notables like Eric Clapton, George Harrison, David Gilmour and many more as well as, most notably, principal keyboardist with The Rolling Stones since 1982. He’s also a tree farmer – named National Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year in 1999 – environmentalist, author and activist as well as a loving and devoted husband and father. A modest yet brilliant musical talent and man of integrity other rockers would do well to emulate.
Rob Patterson is a music and entertainment writer in Austin, Texas. Email robpatterson054@gmail.com.
From The Progressive Populist, May 1, 2023
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