Donald Glover's FX dramedy ATLANTA

There's a looseness and ease to this show right from the jump that's not like anything else I've watched in a while, but then it gets real AF on a dime.

The scene on the bus with the man and the Nutella sandwich was super weird—I thought it may have even been a dream sequence—but then I remembered some of the real stories I've heard about Marta buses.

Really liked the first couple episodes. I'm hoping it can go at least six or eight eps before he actually raps.

Same. He seems to keep Donald Glover and Childish Gambino separate, though, so maybe he never will!

I have to say, if some dude in a Batman mask showed up at my door asking if it was true that I lived there, I'd move asap.

'I like Flo Rida. Moms need rap to.'

I loved the first two episodes, especially the second one.

Can I measure your tree?

FX is showing the first episode on YouTube for those (like me) who don't have cable and didn't want to pay for it via Amazon Video or something:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qaqwio0bbG4

Glad this thread is here to remind me this is happening. Dude's been off my radar long enough that I'd almost forgotten how much I liked him on Community and hoped he'd skyrocket to whatever kind of success best suited him.

Third episode is out there and just as good

You know where the word ‘manage’ come from?
‘Manus’ latin for ‘hand’?
… Probably, but I’m gonna say no for the purpose of my argument… Manage come from the word ‘Man’, and that isn’t really your lane
My lane?
Yeah, I need Malcolm. You’re too Martin, and you know what they did to him? They killed him.
Didn’t they kill Malcolm too?
Nah, they say that, but nobody’s seen the body since the funeral!
… That’s how funerals work…

This is really well filmed as well. Earn with a gun in his face, Darius waiting with a knife and a mask over his face, the shots from the prison with people staring out of windows. There's a visual comedy to it, though it's incredibly dark.

I was late catching Episode 3, but is it out of the realm of possibility that show could maintain this level of quality for its whole run? Because this is absolutely the best new thing I've been into on tv (cable or broadcast) since The Americans and Orphan Black started, not that it's in any way like either of those. It's just that I want to COMMIT to loving this.

i really need to give Americans another go

This is pointed the right direction and very well executed. Cautiously more excited here than with the equally hyped but somewhat more underwhelming first two eps of Better Things.

the bullet in the cereal box gag really cracked me up

Some brilliant laugh out loud moments in Episode 3 (the valet guy, for example)

I...had no idea that was Dave Chappelle. What the hell is wrong with me? I'm actually jonesing for a new episode right now. Solid show so far, although my initial reaction was "this won't last past the first season". It has apparently been surprisingly well-received though.

Is it gauche to name top drop that I know the director and he's a great guy?

Name drop too

That wasn't Chappelle.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4790467/?ref_=tt_cl_t7

In my defense, it was all Wikipedia's fault.

This. Show. Is. BRILLIANT.

Yup. I want to watch the car ride with Shabazz Palaces over and over.

Four from four

Stoner philosopher dude is the fucking best.

Well this is the best thing on the box right now by miles. The tonal shifts between comedy and drama are executed in a seamless way and it has a brilliant cast. I have never been much bothered about Childish Gambino, but he is fab in this.

darius is my favorite character on television not named "elliot alderson"

glad someone made a thread for this show bc it rules

at the end of the most recent ep, darius saying, "we're friends now!" was the most delightful thing

Everything's made up stay woke

fourth episode best yet

with this and better things (and i guess Louis) FX is killing it rn

I think Louis is done, no?

i guess

So did the show actually portray Justin Bieber as a black character or were they just calling him that? Either way, well done. And odd.

http://www.vulture.com/2016/09/donald-glover-atlanta-black-justin-bieber.html

I <3 this show.

this show is great

tonight's ep was incredible, didn't think pulling an Adult Swim midseason would be a good look but damn

hit to miss ratio here is ridiculously high (in a good way) but i kinda thought most of the "adult swim" episode was weak, Chocolate Coco Cereal bit exempted.

Was that the latest one with the ads?

Yeah I thought that one was kinda weak. Just realizing Glover grew up like 15 minutes away from me in the Atlanta burbs

Yeah, he's a Stone Mountain kid, right?

The level of anti-trans bigotry in that last episode was a bit much. I mean, the guy who wanted to switch races was basically just a proxy for trans people right? I guess they figured that outright transphobic "humor" would be unacceptable but as long as they aired their bigoted views in the context of switching races it was ok. The rest of the humor in that episode was pretty weak too (except the cereal commercial).

Yeah, he's a Stone Mountain kid, right?

yep, he wrote a plurality of the jokes about Kenneth coming from Stone Mountain on 30 Rock

I thought the episode was a bit queasy as well, but it's worth noting that the link between transgender and transracial is made by 'Montague' not 'Atlanta'. The episode is first and foremost attacking respectability politics, it seemed to me, but it all becomes weird when the commercials seem so self aware, while the talkshow doesn't.

I haven't seen the episode yet but I highly doubt "trans racial" is mocking transgender. The term first had currency when Rachel dolezal claimed she was black and the kid they use (@r3trosp3ctro) who is "trans racial" had an online sketch at the time that went viral where he inverted the dolezal line as a joke

I thought the part where the trams racial dude was acting white was the best part. Esp ratting out the black dude to the cops. "But I called the cops!"

worth noting that "adult swim" elements in that last episode went well beyond homage: the montague theme song incorporates the bumper music from Eric Andre and the reporter on the trans-racial bit was "Nathan Wielder"

Paper Boi/Alfred is a great character.. his reactions are priceless.

Glover's Earn is the least interesting character, here.. his personality feels vague or lacking somehow

The callback joke towards the end of this episode was amazing.

"2 gangbangers hold a pastor & a drug dealer hostage in a stripclub during Katrina"

I guess FX being owned by Disney has had one positive outcome now

amazing

googling after the episode led me to this incredible Roger Ebert three-star review of A Goofy Movie, written after the projector broke two-thirds of the way through: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-goofy-movie-1995

Bravo! What an episode (again)!

Not sure what to make of E5. Pleasantly weird, but I didn't really laugh.

Was that the Mr Chocolate episode?

Seem to remember lots of laughs in that one

Yeah it was. Liked that episode but found it more weird and amusing than laugh-out-loud funny. Now, episode 6... some of the most laughs I've had from this show

A little embarrassed how long it took me to realize the latest episode was not a real story

Ha. It was so well crafted (and acted) though

Most of the laughs in episode 5 were at how absurd it all was but the end when Mr Chocolate loses it and screams "I shall have her! She can't be not-eighteen forever!" definitely cracked me up

Ha, wait -

Did a throwaway joke from the “Crank Dat Killer” episode pay off?!?

Thought the weirdness of S6 was funnier than S5, especially the very last scene where Darius responds to Paper Boi and Some Guy Named Doug's recording.

maybe thirty minoots

lost it completely at that bit

I was never more fucked up by any scene than by the one just preceding that thirty minoots line. The only comparison I can think of is the nightmare sequence in Mulholland Drive, but this one was tied to much deeper feelings. I can't believe someone put THAT on screen. Easily the greatest show of all time, like it's not even close.

I’m definitely going to think “don’t worry, I’m still in the tank” a few times this week

What a way to go out.

This is so weird so often, E7 (camping) was strange in how decidedly un-weird it was. I liked it; thought they controlled the tone really well. Thinking about E8...Deadpan-perfect, just a lot to process.

E7 felt like the quiet, rewarding end of Earn and Van's plot arc and I appreciated that

Maybe the whole series was Darius retelling the events of the last few years, while having a very tenuous grasp on what happened during tank time and what was real

I haven't kept up with this thread because we hadn't seen S3 yet, let alone S4. But we just jumped back in and started S3, and we were immediately reminded, boy, is this show good (and weird). Can't wait to hit S4.

yeah i’m way behind in early s3

looking forward to whats in store

As I watched E7--and always anticipating the weird turn--I was thinking "Get Out...no, wait; Deliverance...no wait..."

The tension is so thick in that one, both because of how it’s directed and what this show has trained us to anticipate.

you might say the episode was a metaphorical snipe hunt

🥁

E9: bucolic, like E7, but with the scary stuff left in. Broke one of my cardinal soundtracking rules early on with the Geto Boys--used a great song only to cut it off almost immediately (they could have had Alfred wander around aimlessly for two minutes while it played, I'd have been happy)--but made up for it with "Under Me Sleng Teng" (great! new to me) and Ray Charles.

Omg the mall scene - ep 6 so full of moments
Love this show so much!!!

Just started watching with my daughter (21). We just finished Wayne, which she now says is her favourite show ever. We watched S1E1 & 2 and she’s spellbound. I’ve only seen season 1 & 2 myself so I’m stoked to do the whole journey.

We just finished season 3. I know other seasons have leaned into horror here and there, but this entire season was written and directed like a horror anthology.

Tbh that’s why I haven’t gotten past the first 2 episodes of s3.

yeah there is a noticeable "throw every idea i have ever had into the bag" feeling to this show in general but i tend to appreciate that -- the impulse to seize the day and make the stuff you wanna make before someone takes the opportunity away from you is real

otm. Season 4 has some of this still but it calms down. Worth finishing.

s3 was in the tank

these backhoes aint loyal

Lol

i knew donald glover was overseeing a remake of mr & mrs smith (which seems completely unnecessary ..)

but had no idea he was also involved in a slasher/comedy show about obsessive music fans referred to as the swarm (uh, beyhive) and its coming out in march???

just saw trailer for it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OggFj5z2SLg

I'm only at the end of s3 right now but did no-one itt talk about the Cancel Club cameo?! This show has gotten more wtf. I kind of like it but also feel like maybe I'm not 'getting' everything.

I finally finished the show last week. Give Glover all the money.

Atlanta writer Stefani Robinson creating a remake of Peep Show, or at least using the Peep Show format (with approval of Mitchell and Webb), but with two american women.

Easily the greatest show of all time, like it's not even close.

― gospodin simmel, Friday, November 11, 2022 1:46 PM

marathoned everything (which was all rewatch except for the last season) to coincide with the finale last year and i had a similar reaction after the last ep.

i've kind of kept quiet ever since, but honestly: gospodin otm. such a perfectly fluid execution of comedy and commentary, seriousness and surrealism.

you know a show is good when you try to think of a single favorite episode and all of your candidates are spread evenly across the show's lifespan.

Atlanta writer Stefani Robinson creating a remake of Peep Show, or at least using the Peep Show format (with approval of Mitchell and Webb), but with two american women.

― dan selzer, Wednesday, March 8, 2023 6:45 AM

this sounds amazing lol!

I just finished it too, actually. So many purgatorial spaces.

Almost everyone I know was put off by the last two seasons but idk, I really liked it and was happy to roll with everything.

My wife likes the stuff centered around the core cast *least* and loves all the stand-alone and solo episodes.

The last two seasons, I guess I let the show be whatever it wanted to be--definitely not liking every episode, but admiring (most of) its weirdness along the way--but the real highlights were in the first two seasons for me. Right to the end, my favourite moment remained the end of the Drake episode, something I quoted earlier in the thread:

Vanessa's friend: "Can you help me stop thinking?"
Darius: (pause) "Perhaps."

as someone who grew up maybe 10 miles from Glover with only a 4 year age difference i have to say he did a really good job of representing Atlanta. esp the Helen episode and the ep that i assume took place at georgia southern university for a wider look at the state. so many scenes in the inner burbs where everything's green and lush, tons of trees. the industrial areas surrounded by forest. made me miss the place

Atlanta writer Stefani Robinson creating a remake of Peep Show, or at least using the Peep Show format (with approval of Mitchell and Webb), but with two american women.

Are you an AI generating stuff that it seems like I might like but in reality is likely to make no sense? :)
There have been a few US versions of Peep Show iirc, the one I saw sucked badly.
I'd give it a chance...

https://www.google.com/search?q=stefani+robinson+peep+show&rlz=1C5GCEM_enUS1019US1020&oq=stefa&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j46i39j69i57j46i433i512j0i131i433l2j69i60j69i65.1084j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

I loved the spite episode so much. any over-elaborate plan like that - was trying to think what other series had done something in the same ball park then realised I was probably thinking of that episode of WWDITS...

Loved seasons 1+2 but never picked it back up when season 3 came out, so I am very late to the party, with that said: I need an 8,000 word oral history about how the hell the season 3 premiere got made and aired. Possibly also a "Clipped"-style BtS drama.

Just saw Stephen Glover wrote Guava Island and House Party. These worth watching? His work on Atlanta is pretty amazing.

When Darius and Van are thrifting in Amsterdam together, they leave the thrift store and Darius randomly does a little dance and sings "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" == everything I love about this show

❤️

Love this show. I’m determined to rewatch the whole thing this year