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Atlanta |OT| Donald Glover's New Show For FX - Tuesdays 10/9c
- Thread starter TheOddOne
- Start date
RatskyWatsky
Hunky Nostradamus
That was a very good episode. I loved when Van's friend slyly took a picture of her food.
Also, this is a good read:
The Muse -
A Conversation With Zazie Beetz On Atlanta, Hair Touching and the Nuance of the 'Angry Black Woman'
Also, this is a good read:
The Muse -
A Conversation With Zazie Beetz On Atlanta, Hair Touching and the Nuance of the 'Angry Black Woman'
firehawk12
Subete no aware
I thought black Beiber would be my favourite thing. But crazy kid in white face is now me new favourite thing.
Good looking out dude.
Funny episode, not as great as the last two but that's not a slight cause the last two were phenomenal.
ColonialHawk
Member
Great episode, but poor Van. Just couldn't get a win.
That kid and his smirk got me. Laughed way too hard at that. I also liked Alfred's text response; it came so fast that I'd like to think he had that response macro'd on his keyboard.
That kid and his smirk got me. Laughed way too hard at that. I also liked Alfred's text response; it came so fast that I'd like to think he had that response macro'd on his keyboard.
She was pretty dumb for not at least putting some of her pee in the cup. That's what I would have done in that situation. There is always the off chance they aren't actually testing it or they lose your sample or it comes back inconclusive and ask you to take another test. Or they see weed on the test but aren't really concerned about that and are just looking for harder stuff.
Straight up admitting it isn't gonna do you any good.
Cornballer
Member
Permanently A
Junior Member
I noticed he was sticking to the rule of thirds hardcore whereas hiro isn't afraid to be more experimental and loose with his shots
For sure. It didn't have the dreamy quality of the previous episodes which, one might argue, makes sense for an episode about Van, who only has time to deal with reality.
It would seem like the dude took a risk deciding to debut with an eight minute dinner conversation but with that level of acting and writing maybe not.
shadow_shogun
Member
Cornballer
Member
dead souls
Member
Great episode.
The People vs. OJ Simpson broke the f-word barrier for FX and now they're letting the fucks fly pretty freely. I love it.
The People vs. OJ Simpson broke the f-word barrier for FX and now they're letting the fucks fly pretty freely. I love it.
spindashing
Banned
Okay, kid in whiteface was too much for me lmao
metsallica
Member
This show is so damn good... nobody I know has any idea it exists. 
God, Van's 1-upping friend was awful. The kid in whiteface got me though. His smirk was too damn good, haha
I am falling so hard for Zazie Beetz, it's not even funny.
I am falling so hard for Zazie Beetz, it's not even funny.
panthapanda
Member
My guess is black and white mentality that Van mentioned in the beginning. I've always been terrible at this type of stuff lol.
OdysseusVA
Banned
Its been a while since I laughed as hard as did during these scenes
Whiteface kid deserves all the acclaim, and Jayde deserves the title of the wooooorst
Very good episode. Perfect ending too, that chilly every-woman-for-herself fake sympathy.
Very good episode. Perfect ending too, that chilly every-woman-for-herself fake sympathy.
Yeah she's really good, her friendship with Aya Cash's character was a lot of fun.
Discotheque
Banned
Lol this kid killed me. Such a goofy ass image.
Great episode, very sobering in what happened to her tho. Van is gorgeous, but man what a dumb move with the condom and the teeth ....poke a damn hole in it shytttt
D1renegade
Member
White face might be the funniest thing I've seen this year.
panthapanda
Member
Yeah with all that frizzy hair, you would think she could just hide a pin or something to poke the condom lol
Permanently A
Junior Member
After thinking about it and your comment this is what I've got.
The whole episode is about Van struggling with who she wants to be, who she really is and who she presents herself as. You see her and her friend arguing about Van's lifestyle - she has become the kind of girl she used to make fun of. Van doesn't want to become the stereotypical black girl with an absentee father raising a kid on her own - and yet, here she is. The "whiteface" represents Van trying to present herself as someone she isn't. (and of course "acting white" and trying to separate her appearance from black stereotypes) is integral to this. When her friend talks about going to London, Van makes excuses for why she can't go, not wanting to admit that money is tight. Van trying to resist getting high before giving in. Van trying to distance herself from Earn to her friend. The piss boiling scene kind of shows us the true Van, not afraid of getting dirty and something that wouldn't match the image of herself she is trying to present. The whiteface kid smirking at her at the end of the episode is "look where your facade got you." The episode is aptly titled "Value" because Van's value is in her gilded appearance which has now crumbled.
captjohnboyd
Member
Had to download the episode cause I wasn't at home to catch live but I cant tell if it just cut short. Last scene was whiteface kid showing up in her class right? Kid had me dying
I was that child long ago.
Inferno313
Banned
Amazing episode.
That kid in whiteface might have given me the biggest belly laugh I've had from a TV show this year.
That kid in whiteface might have given me the biggest belly laugh I've had from a TV show this year.
Another fantastic episode.
lol yes, i loved how fast he replied since when he was dealing with Zan's posts in episode 4 it was established that he types fast as hell.
Started watching this show yesterday and already caught up with all 6 episodes. Really enjoying it.
Can anyone recommend similar shows? By that I mean ones that are the same length (20-30 mins, don't always want those 50 minute shows) and in the same tone? Thats why I loved Entourage and Californication. They were lighthearted and not episode was too long. I'm not always in the mood to watch some intense, serious 50 minute show.
Can anyone recommend similar shows? By that I mean ones that are the same length (20-30 mins, don't always want those 50 minute shows) and in the same tone? Thats why I loved Entourage and Californication. They were lighthearted and not episode was too long. I'm not always in the mood to watch some intense, serious 50 minute show.
I don't find this all that similar to what I've seen of Entourage (and haven't seen Californication) but I can think of shows similar to Atlanta.
-Easy which was mentioned earlier is pretty low-conflict, anthology series of sketches about relationships. totally different world, it's northside Chicago instead of Atlanta, but I think there's plenty in common.
-Louie too. Louie can be a little heavier but even at its most dramatic moments there's a sense of everything being a big joke. Did a lot of the surrealistic touches Atlanta's doing now
-High Maintenance. Started as a web series and a TV show version just began on HBO (hbo also has all of the web series streaming). Web version is 10-20 minute episodes, TV is 30. Show follows an unnamed pot dealer in NYC, but he's often a minor character while the episode follows whoever it is he's delivering to as they go about their day and deal with their own problems
-Master of None, Aziz Ansari's netflix show
-The Trip, British series where two hilarious comedians playing versions of themselves go on restaurant tours and try to one-up each other with dueling impressions and generally try to hide the fact that they hate their lives. There've only been two seasons of it of six eps each, and each has also been edited into a movie; since it's only about 45 minutes longer I say just go for the TV version. Think a third series is coming next year
Aspirations26
Member
When I heard this playing at the beginning.....soo good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oSSNNSuQgE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oSSNNSuQgE
Emperor_EL
Member
Sucks we wont be seeing Tobias anymore.
https://twitter.com/AtlantaFX/status/784506391113437184
Paperboy
.
I'm just trying to get paid.
Paperboy
interviewed
I'm just trying to get paid.
Baroquemantic
Member
Man this shit is still hilarious.We'll be seeing him on every page for a while.
TrAcEr_x90
Member
I definitely love this breakdown of the episode. Didn't even think of some of those points. Buuuuut..... I had so much respect for Van than her friend who is basically a hoe for sport players. Van is where shes at because of respect for herself, and the responsibility of her child. Its the age old wealth vs happiness.
Net_Wrecker
Member
"I don't sell.
Save my name as someone else.
Girl, you sloppy af."
lmaoooooo. Great episode.
Zazie Beetz is just.....lawd
Save my name as someone else.
Girl, you sloppy af."
lmaoooooo. Great episode.
Zazie Beetz is just.....lawd
Just read this. Great interview that shows they know what they're doing and what makes the show tick.
An excerpt:
Lets talk about the black Justin Bieber episode, since it seems to have really struck a cultural cord. Can you talk me through being presented with the idea?
Murai: It was actually one of the first ideas that Donald and Stephen [Glover, his brother and a writer on the show] told me about after we shot the pilot. I had a really tough time wrapping my head around it at first, because it was such a jump from what we did in the pilot. [Episodes] 1 through 5 oscillate between a grounded story about two cousins in the hip-hop scene and Earns struggle, with almost Chappelle Showesque concept-driven sketch pieces but told in a narrative way. When they first told me the [black Justin Bieber] idea, I had no idea how much the show would oscillate between the two. I would say, How does that fit into our world? But as I saw the other scripts fill in the gaps, I realized that the show, because its a half-hour comedy, because its a little more fluid than an hour-long drama, it has the capacity to be both.
It was interesting to notice in light of the black Justin Bieber episode and its touched on in the final scene where the reporter tells Paper Boi to play his role that no one seemed to bat an eye two episodes earlier when Quavo from Migos shot a person like an animal hes hunting. Were you aware of the different responses?
Murai: I was very surprised. To be fair, Bieber is more visible and people know more about him than Migos, but I did think the same. I was surprised more people didnt react to how absurdist that Migos scene was, but there are certain expectations and a mystique for trap rappers that dont exist for Justin Bieber.
People point to Atlanta and some other recent shows as changing our expectations of what TV can be and how it can be structured. Youve been up-front about saying youve never done TV before, so Im curious if youve been only looking at other nontraditional models, or if the more time-tested approaches of TV shows interest you at all.
Murai: The structural godfathers of this show are shows like Louie, and even Adventure Time, to an extent. I brought up Adventure Time a fair amount with Donald when we were working on the show because Adventure Time does a very strange thing where its very world-based. Sometimes the main characters wont even appear in an episode and the story will sort of detour with some side character. It has a very meandering feel that I really like, and theres something about that cadence that makes it more digestible, or youre more willing to go with the flow.
Atlanta does feel very different from everything else out there, but one of the TV shows I do think about when watching it is Seinfeld, which is a masterful, old-model TV show in terms of bringing together the A story, B story, and C story so they all somehow make sense. Do you guys think about stuff like that?
Murai: We never really talked about it, but I think Donald is really good at weaving a traditional aesthetic with an experimental aesthetic. He does it with his music as well. He knows what works with shows like Seinfeld and classic sitcoms. The Darius character [in Atlanta] could be someone who really is in the same tradition as Kramer, but its also interesting because how do we take that character and put him in a world where you accept that hes a real human being and not a sitcom character? Or do you even need to do that?
A lot of the stranger or more surreal aspects of the show wouldnt work if it didnt have that base in reality.
Murai: Exactly.
So how do you root the show in reality and make sure you dont get too weird?
Murai: Thats exactly where the traditionalist stuff comes in. In the middle of this crazy show where theres a black Justin Bieber, what were trying to do is keep track of the core characters emotional space and keep the arc really clean. At the end of the day, if you dont identify with the main characters, no television show will work. Among all the craziness, our job has been to keep that clear. Obviously the actors are incredible at being the audience surrogates in this crazy universe.
Murai: It was actually one of the first ideas that Donald and Stephen [Glover, his brother and a writer on the show] told me about after we shot the pilot. I had a really tough time wrapping my head around it at first, because it was such a jump from what we did in the pilot. [Episodes] 1 through 5 oscillate between a grounded story about two cousins in the hip-hop scene and Earns struggle, with almost Chappelle Showesque concept-driven sketch pieces but told in a narrative way. When they first told me the [black Justin Bieber] idea, I had no idea how much the show would oscillate between the two. I would say, How does that fit into our world? But as I saw the other scripts fill in the gaps, I realized that the show, because its a half-hour comedy, because its a little more fluid than an hour-long drama, it has the capacity to be both.
It was interesting to notice in light of the black Justin Bieber episode and its touched on in the final scene where the reporter tells Paper Boi to play his role that no one seemed to bat an eye two episodes earlier when Quavo from Migos shot a person like an animal hes hunting. Were you aware of the different responses?
Murai: I was very surprised. To be fair, Bieber is more visible and people know more about him than Migos, but I did think the same. I was surprised more people didnt react to how absurdist that Migos scene was, but there are certain expectations and a mystique for trap rappers that dont exist for Justin Bieber.
People point to Atlanta and some other recent shows as changing our expectations of what TV can be and how it can be structured. Youve been up-front about saying youve never done TV before, so Im curious if youve been only looking at other nontraditional models, or if the more time-tested approaches of TV shows interest you at all.
Murai: The structural godfathers of this show are shows like Louie, and even Adventure Time, to an extent. I brought up Adventure Time a fair amount with Donald when we were working on the show because Adventure Time does a very strange thing where its very world-based. Sometimes the main characters wont even appear in an episode and the story will sort of detour with some side character. It has a very meandering feel that I really like, and theres something about that cadence that makes it more digestible, or youre more willing to go with the flow.
Atlanta does feel very different from everything else out there, but one of the TV shows I do think about when watching it is Seinfeld, which is a masterful, old-model TV show in terms of bringing together the A story, B story, and C story so they all somehow make sense. Do you guys think about stuff like that?
Murai: We never really talked about it, but I think Donald is really good at weaving a traditional aesthetic with an experimental aesthetic. He does it with his music as well. He knows what works with shows like Seinfeld and classic sitcoms. The Darius character [in Atlanta] could be someone who really is in the same tradition as Kramer, but its also interesting because how do we take that character and put him in a world where you accept that hes a real human being and not a sitcom character? Or do you even need to do that?
A lot of the stranger or more surreal aspects of the show wouldnt work if it didnt have that base in reality.
Murai: Exactly.
So how do you root the show in reality and make sure you dont get too weird?
Murai: Thats exactly where the traditionalist stuff comes in. In the middle of this crazy show where theres a black Justin Bieber, what were trying to do is keep track of the core characters emotional space and keep the arc really clean. At the end of the day, if you dont identify with the main characters, no television show will work. Among all the craziness, our job has been to keep that clear. Obviously the actors are incredible at being the audience surrogates in this crazy universe.
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