Love, Dick, and ITMFA.
Love, Dick, and ITMFA.

I've been holding my breath for so long, waiting for the moment when I can boldly write... I LOVE DICK! I LOVE DICK! IT'S HERE! I LOVE DICK! I'm writing, of course, about Jill Soloway's new Amazon series starring Kathryn Hahn as controversial feminist author Chris Kraus and Kevin Bacon as a man named Dick. Finally, this Friday, we will all be graced with Soloway's ambitious, tricky new project, but also with the return of Aziz Ansari's critically-acclaimed Netflix hit, Master of None, which drops its second season on Friday, too. Third suggestion this week: watch Dan Savage talk about fetishes with Donald Trump a Donald Trump impersonator on Comedy Central. If you've ever fantasized about Dan Savage talking to Donald Trump about piss play, this is (probably) as close as you're going to get to having that fantasy realized.

MASTER OF NONE
(Netflix)

The master is back, but this time hes in Europe.
The master is back, but this time he's in Europe.

Aziz Ansari's beloved Netflix-original comedy, Master of None, is finally back. These Netflix shows like to take their time when releasing new seasons, which is cool, as long as they deliver. And the second season of Master of None, which starts with a full black and white episode and spends a good portion of the season in Italy, delivers. It's like Aziz Ansari meets Frances Ha, but with less melancholy and credit card debt.

When I think about the genius of Master of None, I always think back to season one, episode six, "Nashville." It starts with Dev (Ansari) debating where he should take Rachel (Noël Wells) on their first date. After suggesting dinner at the cliched Giorgio's of Gramercy, Dev's friends suggest he take Rachel to Nashville for a night because a travel site is offering cheap ass tickets. "I don't know. A vacation for a first date. Isn't that kind of nuts?" he asks. His friend Denise responds, "That's what's so great about it. It's a bold move. Plus, think about it like this: If you do the normal date-dinner, then it's, like, the next day you'll be stressin' out about 'when should I text her; what's the next date gonna be.' This way, it's like 10 dates in a row. Y'all are just there, straight kickin' it in Cashville." Dev then fires off a text: "Are you down to clown in Nashtown?" Rachel's into it, and #NashvilleDate ends up being a refreshing take on modern dating: unconventional, irrational, with an endearingly frustrating meet cute. (Really, it's an abbreviated version of Ansari's "Modern Romance.")

For more great reading on Master of None: See Mallika Rao's "Master of None Recap: on Indian Actors Who Date White" on Vulture, which specifically covers the show's Nashville episode.

I LOVE DICK
(Amazon Prime)

Kathryn Hahn goes to Marfa, and shes searching for more than aliens.
Kathryn Hahn goes to Marfa, and she's searching for more than aliens.

I Love Dick won't be for everyone, but it will definitely win Amazon a few more Emmys. Early press has said the show may "upend television" and hailed it "TV's most feminist show," which is lofty to say at this point, but the team doesn't get much better. Jill Soloway is the perfect creator. They're the genius behind Amazon's Transparent. A child of a transgender woman, Soloway identifies as genderqueer and prefers the pronouns they/them/their. Soloway pairs with playwright Sarah Gubbins (also a badass), Transparent character actress Kathryn Hahn, and Kevin Bacon to create a TV adaptation of the 1997 cult classic piece of autofiction by Chris Kraus. And it's breathtaking.

Now, Marfa isn't supposed to be the setting of I Love Dick. The original novel by Chris Kraus is set elsewhere, but I Love Dick is about desire, a thing that often manifests, well, like Marfa, a town in a place you weren't expecting to visit. It's a town that should have dried up decades ago, just like the West Texas towns that surround it. But Marfa, like Kraus, is improbable. Saved (and also transformed to a point it could be considered destroyed) by the genius of artist Donald Judd, Marfa became a cultural hub in the epitome of nowhere, a "capital of quirkiness," as 60 Minutes called it. In this arid landscape, Kraus is tortured, turned-on, and antagonized by artistic men who hold too many opinions. Men who are allowed to be verbose and simultaneously "post-idea." Men who take up so much space they have to retreat to a desert so they can think.

The first season premieres on Amazon Prime tomorrow (Fri, May 12). Just watch it.

THE PRESIDENT SHOW
(Comedy Central, available on cc.com)

Dan Savage teaches the president about consent.
Dan Savage teaches the president about consent.

Before we get to Dan Savage, we have to start with a tweet. If you were on Twitter this weekend, you probably stumbled into this viral gem:



The tweet, which seems to show a little girl telling Trump that he's a disgrace to the world, is (sadly) fake news. It's from an episode of Comedy Central's latest addition to its cornucopia of experimental talk shows, The President Show. So many people fell for it that the prank has been covered by Gizmodo, the Hollywood Reporter, and even The New Yorker. But there's more to the show than its buzziness. The President Show is a standout among its class of talk show parodies, with Anthony Atamanuik's joyously weird characterization of Donald Trump getting to the heart of the POTUS' colicky behavior.

It also just so happens that same episode featuring the mouthy little girl also features The Stranger's own mouthy little girl Dan Savage, who is invited on as the president's guest. So far, each episode of The President Show features the president interviewing a guest at a fictionalized Mar-a-Lago. (There are yoga candles, orchids, and the lighting makes it look like a music video from Justin Bieber's tropical house phase.) The first episode features Keith Olbermann, and the second has Savage, with Trump asking him things like, "Why does talking dirty help you but it gets me in trouble? How do I get America to consent to me?" And, "What’s a fetish that you think I have that I’m not telling anybody?" The interview is hilarious, and also features a strong promo for Dan's ITMFA swag, which you can buy here. (You know what ITMFA means, right? If not, then again: buy here.)

Episode three of The President Show airs this Thursday on Comedy Central, with new episodes coming weekly.

Premieres & Releases This Week

This week, Charles Barkley hosts a two-night, four-part look at race relations in the United States, airing on TNT and titled American Race. On Friday, I Love Dick, Master of None, and Anne With an E, an eight-episode adaptation of Anne of Green Gables, premiere. Also, the MTV classic My Super Sweet 16 is getting a revival. Originally aired from 2005-2008, the show returns on May 14. I'm not sure if this is great or terrible, but I'll skeptically watch a few episodes to see what presents await this new crop of spoiled little monsters.

- American Race (TNT, Thurs, 5/11)
- Anne With an E (Netflix, Fri, 5/12)
- I Love Dick (Amazon Prime, Fri, 5/12)
- Master of None (Netflix, Fri, 5/12)
- My Super Sweet 16 (MTV, Sun, 5/14)