TV Obsessive
Mr. Corman
Caemeron: I have to admit that I’m not positive whether Mr. Corman would have been on my radar if it weren’t for the fact that I’m always on the lookout for upcoming new shows the site might want to cover. I hadn’t heard that much about it until I saw it on a list, and the fact that it was created by and stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt piqued my interest. I don’t remember exactly what the show description I read said—something about a schoolteacher and vague words that hinted at unpursued dreams—but I decided I’d check it out, finding myself incredibly curious as to what kind of TV show this would be with JGL so invested.
The truth is, it’s an odd one, but to me that’s a big selling point, as I want to watch something that feels novel and intriguing far more than I want something comfortable. Mr. Corman may be billed as a comedy, and it is funny, but it is also an exploration of the difficulites of existing. There is a fundamental anxiety at the center of Mr. Corman and it is the way in which the show grapples with this kind of question pertaining to the human condition that I find most compelling.
I don’t know if you’re supposed to like Josh Corman, but I can’t help but empathize with him in a meaningful way. Perhaps because I’m right around the same age, this story resonates with my own experience, and this led me to talk about millennial anxiety when I wrote on the first episode, in what was maybe the first time I ever was willing to use the word to describe myself. Because we’re not kids anymore; we’re 40 and with that comes a particular kind of uneasiness, as we perhaps never quite found our footing in a world where the ground has always seemed to be shifting underneath our feet.
I find myself wondering whether or to what extent Apple TV+ is staking a claim in this new age of streaming on shows that are quirky, strange, and by many accounts a bit of a risk. I may not have much to base this thought on beyond Mr. Corman and the recent Schmigadoon! but I get the feeling that Apple might be taking the kind of chances on things Netflix used to take. If that’s true, I hope they keep it up.
