Best TV Watched – February & March

Nothing in February or March hit the highs of the best shows watched in January (though FXX’s Dave is doing its darndest to change that)

Burning Bush (Czech: Hořící keř) (HBO Europe)
A slice of geopolitical historical fiction set in the Eastern European Soviet Cold War era that both entertains and portrays a facet of Eastern European/Cold War-era history less known the farther one lives from Czechoslovakia. Having watched scattered episodes of HBO Europe productions here and there, I’ve found they’re usually of the gritty cop drama type and none have intrigued me enough to watch beyond the first episode, but this 2013 miniseries bucked that, being very watchable and with my hardly ever feeling its 70-80 minute-per-episode runtime.

The New Pope’s Opening Title Credits (HBO/Sky Atlantic/Canal+)
Though rarely not pretty to watch, the show itself ranges from watchable to sleep-inducing. The title credits were consistently fun:

Gösta (HBO Europe)
Despite being on a list of the best things I watched, this is a very easy-to-dislike show. Its saving grace is the title character Gösta, played winningly by Vilhelm Blomgren (who played a very, very different character in Midsommar), a late-twentysomething/early-thirtysomething child psychologist who can’t help but to go out of his way to help anyone and everyone around him who looks like they could use it. In the premiere episode someone attempts to steal Gösta’s bike and within minutes Gösta—under no coercion—gives the guy a ride home. The bad part of the show is that for almost the entirety of the first (and hopefully not only) season Gösta is pretty much a doormat, letting everyone take up more and more of his time and largely unable to tell people No.
When the show launched, HBO talked about how the show would take from its Scandinavian roots but still feel very much like an HBO show:

Gosta is HBO’s attempt to become very Swedish while remaining very much HBO.
…
“We see our advantage very much in being curators, especially in Scandinavia where there’s is a lot of competition,” says Antony Root, vp original programing and production at HBO Europe. “And any Scandinavian show we do has to look like it belongs on the service right alongside the likes of Game of Thrones or Westworld, any of our big American shows.”

In the 2 schools of HBO comedies, the ha-ha funny (Veep, Silicon Valley) and introspective dramadies (Girls, Barry), Gösta very much feels at home in the latter (after the first few episodes I was surprised by how HBO this felt, not like I was watching something totally Sweden and disconnected from the U.S.).
As much as the characters around Gösta become varying levels of grating (especially the dad), Gösta is the Michael Bluth of the bunch, keeping a level-head and trying to tend to everybody’s needs even as the number of people that make up everybody continually expands. I can’t help but root for the guy and as much as almost all the other characters made me want to stop watching, I had to see the show to the end to see if Gösta finds happiness (and possibly a backbone) in the end. Out of all the shows listed here, I’ve thought about Gösta the most since finishing the season.

Tripped (E4 | UK)
What if Time Traveling Bong, but better?
Admittedly the show I’ve forgotten the most since compiling this list, it’s an easy, breezy light-hearted dramedy about a growing rift between two twentysomething friends with time-traveling and doppelgängers thrown in. George Webster is solid as the slacker stone friend (surprised I haven’t seen him in more things) and Georgina Campbell is winning in the various iterations of Kate (she made such an impression on me I’m surprised I don’t remember her at all from Channel 4’s Flowers nor ITV’s Broadchurch both of which she apparently had regular roles in, though I do remember her from the “Hang the DJ” episode of Black Mirror)

Dave (FXX)
What if nebbish early-Woody Allen character, but in an American Pie-type comedy?
The dearth of comedies so far this year has felt more pronounced with typical early-year comedies Corporate, Broad City, You’re the Worst, Man Seeking Woman, Catastrophe off the air/ended. Thankfully Dave has stepped in to fill the void, immediately likable from episode 1 with episode 3 possibly its funniest episode and episode 5 seeing the show stretching itself and by and large succeeding at something different. This feels like a worthy addition to past FX(X) under-the-radar comedy greats You’re the Worst and Man Seeking Woman.
Dave is giving The Goes Wrong Show from January a run for its money as my favorite new show of the year.

The New Nurses (Danish: Sygeplejeskolen) (TV 2 Charlie | Denmark)
What if Grey’s Anatomy but set in Denmark post-WW2 circa 1950s and about nurses
A pleasant watch about the first male nurses at a Danish hospital and the resistance/skepticism from some in post-WW2 Denmark. A charming cast given differentiated (and for the most part interesting) characters leads what’s essentially a medical procedural. Though things ended up a bit too neat and pat in the first season finale (again, procedural), I’m still looking forward to the second season whenever I can get my hands on it.