It’s created by Christopher Storer, a writer/producer of Ramy and a producer of Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade. It’s the story of a well-regarded five-star chef who returns to Chicago to take over his dead brother’s beef sandwich shop. It’s the restaurant business, so profanity flies everywhere like hot oil from the fryer. It’s very true to life, and pretty stressful (especially the first ep), but also quite funny. I love the way it draws its characters, most of whom are kitchen workers who don’t understand why Carmy, the trained chef, is coming in and changing how things are done. Especially not taking Carmy’s shit is his brother’s best friend, Richie, who is crass and opinionated and more than willing to have one pissing match after another with the shop’s new owner. Then there’s Sydney, another trained chef brought in to… stage? (pronounced “stahj”?). Her interactions with Richie in the second episode are fantastic.
Carmy is played by Jeremy Allen White, who I guess was in Shameless? He’s really good–the whole cast is really good. The only bad thing is the ads on Hulu!
I watched it while working from home the other day. Really good overall but a stressful watch at times for sure. Thought they did a really job on casting also.
It’s really good for lots of reasons but strangely on of my favorite things about it is that each episode is only 30 minutes long. There needs to be more 30 minute dramas!
I have the 2 or 3 year Disney+/ESPN/Hulu bundle so I’m stuck w/ the ad version for its entirety I think. Or at least, I didn’t see a way to just upgrade the Hulu portion or I would have a while ago!
I have the free-with-Spotify deal they’ve discontinued but still support and you straight up can’t upgrade that. So it’s not a couple bucks more, it’s $12. Still, there are solutions as long as one watches on one’s computer, which I primarily do.
I started the thread after watching two episodes, and the rest of the season did not disappoint, especially the last two eps. The whole cast is just perfect.
A few bits of trivia I learned reading up on them:
Sugar, Carmy’s sister, is played by one of the daughters of Chris Elliott
Fak, the handy man who they won’t let be a chef is actually a (minor) celebrity chef
Yes, that was Joel McHale as the oppressive head chef in Carmy’s flashback
Really liking it so far through the first two episodes, though it is definitely giving me restaurant flashbacks. :) Which is a credit to the writing, casting, and acting.
One thing that I cannot unsee: Carmy runs his hands through his hair all the time. No chef at the Beard Award level (and who otherwise demonstrates being a stickler for cleanliness) would do that.
I have no idea why I like this show. It’s like a laundry list of things I don’t care about in real life or usually hate in TV shows. Thanks, qt3 thread, for talking me into watching it!
