Three Hulu Shows for Fall 2021
With the weather outside getting chilly, it’s natural to spend more time at home. You know we love sharing our picks for our favorite shows and movies, so gather around the (virtual) hearth and cozy up to these shows for fall – all on Hulu.
What We Do in the Shadows
If you’re vampire curious this Halloween season, check out this dark comedy!
Filmed in faux-documentary style (think, “The Office“), “What We Do in the Shadows” follows four vampires. The humor comes out of the vampire stuff (blood, gore, coffins, sudden bat transformations) going up against the humdrum of getting along with other people. Now tell me/us that this doesn’t sound like an awesome premise to watch stoned??
Guillermo is a guy who wants to be a vampire more than anything but has been a familiar to Nandor the Relentless for 10 years. Guillermo says being a familiar is like being a “best friend who’s also a slave.”
Nandor had been a warrior of the Ottoman Empire and is an intimidating vampire. But nowadays, he’s also preoccupied with buying glitter and “creepy” (crepe) paper for an impromptu party. Laszlo is an English dandy turned into a vampire centuries ago by his Romani wife, Nadja. Both Nadja and Laszlo are very open about their wild sexual escapades.
An energy vampire named Colin Robinson lives in the basement but works in a typical office where he feeds off the energy of his co-workers. “You probably know an energy vampire,” he intones, deadpan. “We’re the most common kind of vampire.”
Only Murders in the Building
This show captures the perfect tone for fall. It’s set in the Arconia, the type of old-school, very classy New York apartment building that has a courtyard, an arch, and a gate out front.
Our characters are brought together by the true-crime podcast they’re all obsessed with – “All Is Not OK in Oklahoma.” Podcast host Cinda Canning (played by Tina Fey) is at the top of her game.
Steve Martin is Charles, a retired actor who played a detective whose catchphrase was “This takes the investigation in a whole new direction.” He’s joined by Martin Short as Oliver, an out-of-work Broadway director. Seeing these two together again is a comic delight.
And Selena Gomez is their perfect straight man, with her deadpan voice and Gen Z insouciance – not to mention a killer wardrobe. A murder happens almost in front of their eyes; they are drawn into making their own podcast and trying to solve the crime simultaneously. But they aren’t distracted by other NYC murders – “Only murders in the building,” Charles says.
We gradually learn they are all in various states of mourning and hopefulness. The show is quietly funny and the mystery, well-constructed. The cast and production folks around are enough to let most of us know that this is a great series to watch while chillin’ and partaking. Not to mention a rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
If binge watching, might we suggest some yummy edibles to take (little-by-little) while watching this very well-crafted series? Try any of these for a good time: Buddy Boy Brands edible offerings.
Reservation Dogs
Four teenagers live in a small town on a reservation in Oklahoma. Together they steal a food truck, the loading ramp still out and giving off sparks as they speed away. The heist is to help raise money to leave for California. The town, they feel, killed their friend Daniel last year.
The first episode focuses on Bear, whose bedroom wall features a poster for the Tarantino classic “Reservoir Dogs,” along with the Cherokee medicine wheel. That clash of modernity with traditional native culture (and a pervasive sense of the spirit world) gives the show its drive.
The kids aren’t really a gang, but a rival gang (the NDN Mafia) shows up and blasts them with paintballs. Bear falls, then passes out. He sees a spirit warrior on a horse, who winds up being hilarious. But he does ask Bear seriously, “What are you doing for your people?”
Bear, Elora Danan (named after the baby in “Willow”), Willie Jack, and Cheese meet up frequently at a mostly destroyed old brick building, where they’ve made a shrine to Daniel. The show tells the story of each kid and shows life on the reservation. Twins Mose and Mekko ride around on old bikes, spitting rhymes and reporting all the gossip. The town cop, Big, wears his hair in long braids and seems aware of the kids’ criminal activities though he doesn’t doesn’t arrest anyone.
The great actor Wes Studi, who grew up in Oklahoma speaking Cherokee, even has a cameo.
The show has a gentle pace, and the humor flows naturally from all the characters, but the statements it makes about life on the reservation are powerful. “Reservation Dogs” also hold a rating of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes this makes it a great series to watch one of those Colorado weekends that are cold and rainy.
Happy watching and chilling!
