Weekly Musings 3/16/25
Some thoughts on Somebody Somewhere
Warner frustrates me- I suppose I should call them Warner Bros. Discovery, but acknowledging the latter part makes me sad. The studio has been under serious mismanagement for ages, stemming all the way back to Jack Warner buying his siblings’ stock from the company and doing fuck all with it, but ever since David Zaslav took over and CEO and started cancelling fully-finished films from release in hopes of a few dollars worth of tax breaks, it’s been hard to root for the place where dreams are made of.
Which is unfortunate, as there’s plenty that I love from the studio, from their many classics released in the golden age of Hollywood to contemporary releases and a rich library of animation and television. More than a couple of series intended for OTH are owned by the house Bugs Bunny built, including the two I’m currently covering, The West Wing and The Sopranos, my follow-ups for whenever I finish those (some day, I promise) The Wire and ER, and furthermore classics like Friends and Deadwood. You can currently watch all of these on Max, but there’s plenty of their library which you cannot, including any classic Looney Tunes shorts, what has remained their reliable mascots for generations. There’s a new movie starring Daffy Duck and Porky Pig currently in theaters that I bet you don’t even know about.
Still, I use Max, which even now has an impressive film library and worthwhile series to stream, from its former moniker, HBO’s library or its own original content. I could just as easily use this space to talk about Hacks, which I just caught up with shortly before its upcoming fourth season, or maybe The Pitt, the ER-continuation that lives up to the original in all but name and setting. Instead I have a few thoughts about a series that blew me away, Somebody Somewhere.
Surprisingly, I hadn’t heard much about the series before delving in, which surprises me as HBO’s series are among the few event TV series still regularly being made. In hindsight, it’s not that surprising, as the show lacks the frequent sex and nudity of Euphoria, Game of Thrones or spin-off House of the Dragon’s world-building, or can’t-miss rapid-fire pacing of Succession, but that’s not necessarily a deterrent. There’s a time and place for everything, including thoughtful, yet delightfully crass dramedies, which Somebody Somewhere does offer. The series still takes full advantage of HBO’s unlimited capacity for language, which even factors the c-word heavily into part of the show. Don’t worry if the word makes you uncomfortable, co-star Mary Catherine Garrison similarly had a hard time pulling out the word. But who doesn’t want a “lying cunt” pillow?
Somebody Somewhere is partly based on lead actress Bridget Everett’s real life, an Off-Broadway performer who worked with Sex and the City executive producer Michael Patrick King, leading to a memorable bit in the first film which he directed and later being a part of Amy Schumer’s circle; Everett was an executive producer alongside the Duplass Brothers Television company and was developed by the Debate Society company. Everett plays Sam Miller, a woman in her mid-40s who returns to her hometown of Manhattan, Kansas to care for her dying sister Holly. We start the series less than a year after Holly’s death, with Sam staying in town with her other sister Tricia (Garrison) as she tries to find her place. Even after all this time, Sam hasn’t found a career or serious relationship to build upon as she thinks she’s still coasting through life. It doesn’t help that Tricia has a successful knick-knacks store where she and best friend/co-owner Charity handmake furniture and other trinkets together. Sam tries to find her place while keeping up with her parents, as her father struggles to maintain his prized farm in his old age and her mother picked up a serious drinking habit after Holly’s passing, while she reunites with an old friend from high school, Joel (Jeff Hiller), an openly gay man who is proud to embrace Sam as his friend and helps remind her of one of Sam’s greatest gifts- her voice.
Over the course of three seasons, we see Sam, her family and friends consistently change and adapt as their life goes on, even if she’s the last to grow. Tricia gets divorced, has her only daughter leave for college, and closes her store down after a falling out with Charity (two of these are connected- guess which!), only for her to begin solo business ventures that end up very profitable for her. Joel has a crisis in faith, causing him to leave his church, falls in love and find a new church, only for him to return to his original while coming to grips with sacrificing some of his life goals for his new partner’s sake. Sam and Tricia’s parents eventually find a happy ending, even if tragedy had one, eventually both written out (Mike Hagerty, who played Ed Miller, passed shortly after the first season wrapped; Jane Brody, who played Mo Miller, is still alive, but ultimately doesn’t return for the last season as both characters are written to leave town). We see other characters, like Sam and Joel’s friend Fred, (Murray Hill) come out of his shell and find love over the course of the show.
The thing about Sam herself is that it takes a little longer. Over the show’s three seasons, she goes from job to job before finding something consistent as a bartender and a side hustle helping out Tricia’s business. She’s implied to never have been in a serious relationship and doesn’t try to find something resembling love until she starts growing feelings for the Icelandic man renting out her family’s farm, affectionally referred to as “Iceland”.
But even here, she’s not content, and this is what stands out to me. I relate to Sam’s uneasiness in the world, resenting that any potential partner will see the real me and never feeling content with my work. It’s an awful feeling, but it’s human, and I like that Everett and the crew allow Sam to appear human but don’t absolve her wrongdoings- there’s a point in the second season where she and Joel have a tiff, and Sam’s clearly in the wrong even though the narrative rarely deviates from her point of view.
I’m a good bit younger than Sam and Everett- a whole generation younger, in fact- but I see a lot of myself in Somebody Somewhere. How sometimes you just need to grin and bear life- maybe your friend will marry someone you don’t vibe with, but they make your friend happy, so that’s all that matters, for one. How sometimes it takes a tragedy to bring you back to perspective. Not everything is going to go according to plan in life, but that’s okay. That’s human. And I think that’s beautiful.
The past couple of years have been hard for me, to the point that sometimes even the things I love most don’t give me as much joy. A good book or TV show isn’t always the right answer, but sometimes it helps. I’m grateful for HBO, but Zaslav and his cronies need to go.
Movie to Watch:
Normally I try to pick something a little more challenging and available on streaming, but fuck it- if you’re a fan of Looney Tunes, I recommend going to theaters and seeing The Day the Earth Blew Up. It’s a delightful film done with modern 2D animation (not necessarily hand-drawn, but as close as we’re going to get) and does something I didn’t think would be possible- told a full-length story with characters meant for 8 minutes at a time, max, and didn’t wear out its welcome. I think it helps that the film only focuses on three Looney Tunes- Daffy, Porky and Petunia- and doesn’t become a cameo fest. It certainly could have, and I wouldn’t have minded if Marvin the Martian was used, but the film is all the better for its restraint.
It’s also pretty damn funny. Maybe not as unforgettably so as a Tex Avery or Bob Clampett classic, but close enough. I’ll take it!
Three Albums I’ve Been Listening To:
Death- The Sound of Perseverance
Dennis Wilson- Pacific Ocean Blue
Horrendous- Ontological Mysterium
Currently Reading:
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers