Stripped of a lot of content, the OCS catalog still contains a few nuggets. If you’re not sure what to watch this weekend, here are our three recommendations.
Summary
After a very brief overview of the MGM catalogue, the CNET France editorial staff continues its exploration of the Prime Video Channels with OCS (Orange Cinéma Séries). Even if its catalog is now devoid of the majority of the HBO catalog (there are nevertheless many programs and seasons broadcast in 2021 and 2022, including House of The Dragon), the premium channel still has many series that are worth seeing… including its own productions, the OCS Originals and OCS Signature series. To start your viewing this weekend, we have selected three really special comedies: 30 Rock, Atlanta and Toutouyoutou.
What series to watch this weekend on OCS with Prime Video Channels?
A hilarious and cult sitcom: 30 Rock
Synopsis : The manager of a successful women’s show on a New York channel must adapt to the new boss’s policy, and in particular the hiring of a star who has come to Hollywood.
The opinion of CNET France: In the fall of 2006, NBC aired two series very freely inspired by the backstage of the cult show Saturday Night Live. On paper, the dramatic version, Studio 60 On The Sunset Striphas everything to succeed: the star of Friends Matthew Perry, and the production team ofTo the White House, including its creator Aaron Sorkin. Opposite, even if it counts the true producer of Saturday Night Live Lorne Michaels in its ranks, and a former head writer in front of the camera, Tina Fey, 30 Rock seems a little more risque, with the first comedy role of an Alec Baldwin who caused a stir by appearing in the SNL. But apart from that, not many people give a lot of skin to the series …. wrongly. Studio 60 is canceled at the end of one season; 30 Rock will obtain an avalanche of prizes and recognition from the profession and the public, and will last 7 seasons to become a cult series. The full version is now available on OCS, a first for French platforms since its end in 2013.
30 Rock, is the story of the meeting and the friendship obtained at a high price between an overwhelmed, somewhat neurotic and strongly feminist program producer, Liz Lemon (Fey) and the false boss of the NBC, a charismatic executive but ignorant of television, Jack Donaghy (the role played by Baldwin). This one tries, at the beginning of the series, to impose on the Girlie Show (the fake show produced weekly by Liz Lemon) the arrival of an African-American star on the downward slope after drug problems and behavioral lapses (Tracy Jordan, played by the defector of the SNL Tracy Morgan). A cohabitation all the more difficult since the star of the Girlie Show is also the best friend of Liz Lemon, Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski)… The series mocks as soon as it can the ridicule of the business of television and quest for an audience, but above all it features a group of characters who are completely opposed and who will have to stick together and develop a certain respect in the midst of permanent chaos. Between causticity and more tender moments, satire and characters deeper than they seem, the series refuses to choose. All against a backdrop of charming music composed by Jeff Richmond (the credits that everyone hums in their head is him). 30 Rockit is also the beginning of the series of Tina Fey and her associate Robert Carlock: a tone apart, well defined, which we will then find in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt et Girls 5Evathe third season of which is set to arrive on Netflix this year.
- A preview of the pilot 30 Rock below :
An inventive and disconcerting drama: Atlanta (seasons 3 and 4)
Synopsis : Earn, Paper Boi, Darius and Van are in the middle of a European tour. The group tries to adapt to its new environment and to this dazzling success to which its members have always aspired…
The opinion of CNET France: Donald Glover returned in the spring of 2022 to offer the last two seasons of his creation Atlantain which he plays Earn, the earthy and busy manager of a successful trap artist, Paper Boi (camped by Brian Tyree Henry, nominated this year for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for Causeway). Reality exceeding fiction, the careers of each of the actors of the series exploded during the almost four years when the series was not on the air. Meanwhile, success requires, the series was expected at the turn, and to renew itself… It offers a season 3 which does not take place in Atlanta, or even almost not in the United States… but on tour between Amsterdam, London and Paris. The opportunity for Earn, Paper Boi and their small entourage to find themselves in very strange situations, sublimated by the realization of the faithful associate of Donald Glover Hiro Murai.
Atlanta isn’t much of a comedy, and while it could come close to satirizing the world of rap in its early seasons, it prefers to deliver its scathing jokes with a tongue-in-cheek tone. And the horror film like surrealism are never far from each sequence of the series, like these episodes between dream and reality which have no connection with the adventures of Earn: one is the first episode of the season 3, and follows the long journey of a black child placed in a terrifying foster family. The other revolves around lawsuits brought by African-American descendants of slaves seeking reparations from individuals whose ancestors profited from the slave trade; to say more would be a spoiler. The series does not lose its luster, and never goes where it is expected in its final episodes, taking full-time advantage of the creative haven guaranteed by its success. Before broadcast, Donald Glover said on Twitter that only The Sopranos could measure themselves against his work; maybe he’s not far off. The first two seasons are available on Disney+.
Season 3 teaser of Atlanta :
An absurd and retro comedy: Toutouyoutou
Synopsis : Early 1980s, Toulouse region, cradle of French aeronautics. Karine, 40, a docile and discreet mother, sees her life turned upside down by the discovery of aerobics. Led by the charismatic Jane, the Thursday evening class becomes a lifeline for Karine and her friends and the arena of their emancipation. But behind the smiles and leotards hides a more complex reality: what if Jane was not the one she claimed? What if this American dream was just an illusion?
The opinion of CNET France: “Toutouyoutou” is of course a reference to the credits of Gym Tonic, a cult gymnastics show from the 1980s. In fact, the high delirium of this series created by Maxime Donzel, Géraldine de Margerie (Tutotal on ARTE Creative) and Benjamin Adam can be summarized as: “aerobics and espionage in Lot-et-Garonne in the 1980s”. Fact; Karine (the incredible Claire Dumas) and her friends are women on the verge of a nervous breakdown, cramped and mocked by their respective husbands, all employees of the same headquarters of an aeronautical giant, all discussing secret projects out in the open without much of a case. Blessed bread for Jane (the equally incredible Alexia Barlier), emeritus spy who will pretend to be an aerobics teacher halfway between Jane Fonda and Candice Bergen… to better “bug” and wiretap everything Karine’s entourage and her husband Didier.
Beyond the crude and bloody humor of the dialogues – the real attraction of Toutouyoutou – the series mocks the ordinary misogyny of French society in the 1980s and some epiphenomena of the time (the pro-independent entrepreneurship book written by a certain Bernard Tapie, among others). She also depicts the boredom of women constantly sidelined by a male entourage, lost in stories without a future like Marie-Pierre, the best friend of Karine (Sophie Cattani) entangled in an extra-marital affair with a certain Jean -Claude…Jane’s target. The latter, on the other side of the barrier, also feels out of the way in a mission that she thinks is below her potential. Beneath a layer of absurdity and under a few spinners that don’t turn out as expected, Toutouyoutou is a real creative success punctuated by a very catchy soundtrack signed Feu! Chatterton.
- The teaser for season 1 of Toutouyoutou :
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