The Premise - General Discussion

[BetterButter]

‘The Premise’ First Look: B.J. Novak’s Comedy Anthology Series Arrives Soon

[BetterButter]

 

[AnimeMania]

The Premise S01.E01: Social Justice Sex Tape

Starring: Ben Platt, Ayo Edebiri, Tracee Ellis Ross, Jermaine Fowler, and Melissa Saint-Amand

When a white, woke, twenty-something ally to social justice causes discovers video evidence of a disputed police incident in the background of his highly embarrassing sex tape, a savvy young lawyer and her mentor strategize on how to best use the tape and witness to save an innocent man from prison.

Air date: Sept. 16, 2021

The show is a comedy that is not very funny. It is trying to make a comment about our society by taking situations to an extreme. Unfortunately I could not imagine that that scenario would ever occur the way it was depicted on the show. I am not sure that even the tattoo or weird sex moves and noises would earn the guy much internet ridicule. In real life the man would have been judged by the quality of the women he was sleeping with and everybody involved agreed they were "out of his league" so he would have been applauded for that.

The show would have been funnier if the lawyer tried to hide the fact that this new evidence was coming from a "sex tape" through an extreme close up of the pertinent incident and the lawyers had to reveal more and more of the sex tape as the trial went along. This could have included a large number of video analyzers trying to prove whether the video was a deep fake and forcing the two sexual participants to act out scenes from the tape in court in order to make sure all the angles and moles of their bodies are correct. When do we know all "reasonable doubt" has been eliminated, how far will lawyers go to win a case, how invasive can you go into a witness' life to prove whether they are credible or not, and how much must a jury endure to reach a fair verdict. 

[AnimeMania]

The Premise S01.E02: Moment of Silence

Starring: Jon Bernthal, Boyd Holbrook, Beau Bridges, and Amy Landecker

After losing his daughter to gun violence, a grieving father pursues a new job as a PR director at the National Gun Lobby, where he's befriended by a coworker who starts to suspect the man's motives may be far more dangerous than they seem.

Air date: Sept. 16, 2021

I could see what they were going for here as irony, but again nothing about it was funny, so can it be classified as a comedy, at best a satire.

 

The Premise S01.E03: The Ballad of Jesse Wheeler

Starring: Lucas Hedges, Kaitlyn Dever, O'Shea Jackson Jr., George Wallace, Ed Asner, Brendan Scanell, and Grace Song

A pop megastar returns to his high school to pledge a donation to build a new library, but instead promises to have sex with the school's valedictorian as an academic achievement prize. The promise inspires the disillusioned Abbi along with the rest of the student body, while the star's manager and the school's principal desperately try to walk back the promise.

Air date: Sept. 23, 2021

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 9/16/2021 at 11:32 AM, AnimeMania said:

The Premise S01.E02: Moment of Silence

Starring: Jon Bernthal, Boyd Holbrook, Beau Bridges, and Amy Landecker

After losing his daughter to gun violence, a grieving father pursues a new job as a PR director at the National Gun Lobby, where he's befriended by a coworker who starts to suspect the man's motives may be far more dangerous than they seem.

Air date: Sept. 16, 2021

I could see what they were going for here as irony, but again nothing about it was funny, so can it be classified as a comedy, at best a satire.

I'm really scared to watch this one.  Can you put if anything violent happens in spoiler bars for me?

Thank you.

I was pretty entertained by the first episode.  

On 9/16/2021 at 10:13 AM, AnimeMania said:

The show would have been funnier if the lawyer tried to hide the fact that this new evidence was coming from a "sex tape" through an extreme close up of the pertinent incident and the lawyers had to reveal more and more of the sex tape as the trial went along. This could have included a large number of video analyzers trying to prove whether the video was a deep fake and forcing the two sexual participants to act out scenes from the tape in court in order to make sure all the angles and moles of their bodies are correct. When do we know all "reasonable doubt" has been eliminated, how far will lawyers go to win a case, how invasive can you go into a witness' life to prove whether they are credible or not, and how much must a jury endure to reach a fair verdict. 

I don't think I would have found that funny, but that's just me.  I think I would have just become more and more uncomfortable and I wouldn't enjoy that.

[AnimeMania]

57 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I'm really scared to watch this one.  Can you put if anything violent happens in spoiler bars for me?

Thank you.

Yes, at the very end.

[absnow54]

On 9/18/2021 at 7:39 PM, Ms Blue Jay said:

I'm really scared to watch this one.  Can you put if anything violent happens in spoiler bars for me?

I would skip it. The entire episode is pretty dark, and a completely different tone than the satire of the first episode.

[SHD]

This is such an odd show. I'm not sure why shows like this (and Inside No. 9) are billed as comedy programs. As dark as it was, I liked the second episode but the first and third just kind of went nowhere for me.

[Cranberry]

I don't dislike this show, but it's not really feeling like a comedy to me, even a dark comedy. The first episode, sure, but the second was a straight-up tragedy and the third had a few amusing moments but wasn't overly comedic. This is more like Black Mirror but without such an emphasis on technology.

The IMBD page just says, "Anthological series that uses the boldest issues of our times as a jumping-off point to tell singular, character-driven stories about the world we live in today." That seems more accurate. Maybe reporters just assumed it was a comedy because it's B.J. Novak's show?

[AnimeMania]

The Premise S01.E04: The Commenter

Starring: Lola Kirke, Soko, Sylvia Grace Crim, and Benjamin Clement

A young woman with a happy life and loving partner becomes obsessed with a critical anonymous comment online, eventually upending her life in a quest for the commenter's approval.

Air date: Sept. 30, 2021

[AnimeMania]

The Premise S01.E05: Butt Plug

Starring: Daniel Dae Kin, Eric Lange, and Bryan Batt

A once-poor child of immigrants who has now become one of the world's richest men presents a chance at redemption to his former school bully: an uninterrupted hour with his board of directors to pitch a very specific product.

Air date: October 7, 2021

[Ms Blue Jay]

The Commenter reminded me a lot of Nosedive, an episode of "Black Mirror".

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosedive_(Black_Mirror)

[QQQQ]

On 10/7/2021 at 2:02 PM, Ms Blue Jay said:

The Commenter reminded me a lot of Nosedive, an episode of "Black Mirror".

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosedive_(Black_Mirror)

It feels like this series has a similar theme to Black Mirror i.e. examining how technology can affect/harm/transform society, but it falls short. Then again, I loved Black Mirror, so it would be a hard act to follow.

[Ms Blue Jay]

16 minutes ago, QQQQ said:

It feels like this series has a similar theme to Black Mirror i.e. examining how technology can affect/harm/transform society, but it falls short. Then again, I loved Black Mirror, so it would be a hard act to follow.

Every time some average movie with a similar premise is released, I think about how Black Mirror has ruined us for other projects now.  Sometimes a project about technology comes along and it's great!  But "The Premise" ..... eh.  I just don't feel much and haven't much to say!

Edited October 13, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay