Act Four: Where have all the fun TV dramas gone?

Yes, lots of prestige dramas are downers. But there are plenty of shows starring women that still deliver steady hits of pure fun.   Alyssa Rosenberg on culture and politics   Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart and Cush Jumbo as Lucca Quinn in “The Good Fight.” (Patrick Harbron/CBS) In a smart post on Uproxx this week, Brian Grubb lamented the downfall of the television drama that offers relatively easy fun. He wrote and he’s right that: “The Americans” is a heart-pounding series about Russian agents trying desperately to protect their cover in America. “Black Mirror” is a bleak series about how technology is ruining or has already ruined our lives. Three different characters on “Halt and Catch Fire” have had something resembling nervous breakdowns. Judging only by my Twitter feed and the headlines of recaps, “This Is Us” appears to be outright emotional terrorism. “Westworld” and “Game of Thrones” turn into homework quickly, just to follow along with who did what and why. And “The Leftovers,” bless its broken black heart, is a series about emotionally shattered people dealing with a Rapture-like event. That said, I don’t know that it’s quite as stark out there as all that. The CW’s “Jane the Virgin” and “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” have real emotional stakes, and in the case of “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” cringe-inducing mental health issues and bad behavior. But both shows are designed to make sure that audiences get a regular dose of pure pleasure, whether via the utter perfection of Rogelio De La Vega’s (Jaime Camil) fake television shows on the former, or the perfectly executed musical numbers on the latter. On Netflix, “The Crown” delivers a precisely calibrated cocktail of affairs of state, fabulous palace interiors and landscape shots, and royal personal drama. “Big Little Lies” is catty and dark and dramatic, but it’s still a huge treat. And the debut of “The Good Fight,” a spin-off of “The Good Wife,” felt like slipping into a pair of beloved old shoes in the best possible way; it’s got sharper liberal politics and more cussing than its predecessor, but the same procedural intelligence. I think it’s no mistake that the dramas that are giving me the most pleasure lately are ones that star women. Maybe some viewers will never take Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski) or Jane Villanueva (Gina Rodriguez) as seriously as certain brooding, middle-age male television anti-heroes. But they’re also freer to be fun and fizzy, too. ADVERTISEMENT   Reese Witherspoon is unlikable again in ‘Big Little Lies.’ Thank goodness. Witherspoon is so blonde and pretty that for a long time, Hollywood ignored her ability to be scabrously, subversively funny. By Alyssa Rosenberg  •  Read more »   Kellyanne Conway is the ultimate conservative ‘Cool Girl’ Women like Conway don't just flatter Trump's idea of himself. They use their gender as cover to try to sell him to others. By Alyssa Rosenberg  •  Read more »   ‘The Lego Batman Movie’ can’t escape the weight of Batman’s history "The Lego Movie" argued that you can tell any story with the same toys. "The Lego Batman Movie" ultimately suggests that you can tell only one. By Alyssa Rosenberg  •  Read more »   In the ‘John Wick’ movies, the women are dead and the men are trapped In the "John Wick" movies, women who try to make it in a violent, stylish crime world die. But the men who live aren't exactly happy, either. By Alyssa Rosenberg  •  Read more »   Critic Richard Schickel’s career reminded us that empathy is an art all its own The critic's biography of Elia Kazan is a masterpiece of looking outside your own perspective. By Sonny Bunch  •  Read more »   ADVERTISEMENT   Recommended for you   Today's WorldView What's most important from where the world meets Washington, plus the day's most essential reads and interesting ideas. Sign Up »         Share Act Four:       Twitter      Facebook Trouble reading? Click here to view in your browser. You received this email because you signed up for Act Four. For additional free newsletters or to manage your newsletters, click here. We respect your privacy. If you believe that this email has been sent to you in error or you no longer wish to receive email from The Washington Post, click here. Contact us for help. ©2017 The Washington Post, 1301 K St NW, Washington DC 20071