I signed up with Starz to watch American Gods but the man getting sucked into the goddess’ vagina turned me off. I watched Power back when it first started but the plot got so convoluted, I got lost. Wandering thru Starz’ original series, I saw Survivor’s Remorse, labeled a comedy, and started watching. It’s about a Boston (Dorchester!) boy made good in the NBA, buckets of money with a contract to play in Atlanta.
And it is funny, the shock and fun of having all that money all of a sudden, gifted on a family that had very little, is fun and funny to watch. There’s upsides – huge fancy apartments, enormous house with a butler, multi-million dollar endorsement contracts – and downsides, a few wrong words in public can be a disaster with lasting effects, what would have been a simple family fight can become a legal matter threatening jail time and of course, friends from the old neighborhood looking for a handout. It’s executive-produced by LeBron James and some points mirror his life – he also has a cameo in a second season episode.
The cast is excellent and proves themselves as the series delves into more dramatic and darker moments in the second and third seasons. The show portrays the fun of winning the lotto and all that the excess of money can do but it also looks at what money can’t fix and how who they are goes with them no matter how their circumstances may improve. Chris Bauer is also excellent as the hard scrabble self-made team owner with a heart, providing grit and a verbal slap up the side of the head when needed.
It’s a total of 26 episodes so far, 30 minutes each roughly (and a real 30 minutes, not the network 22 minute half hours) so there’s 13 hours so far. Fourth season starts on August 20th – go binge and catch up before then!
