Television series

Fleishman is in Trouble

A sharp-eyed examination of middle-aged male entitlement dressed up as sexual liberation. Jesse Eisenberg's newly single doctor discovers dating apps work better than ever—until his ex-wife vanishes, leaving him with custody and the first real consequences of his choices. Funny and painful by turns, it refuses easy sympathy for its protagonist.

TVMaze rating3.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy sharp, wry dramas about marriage and midlife, where the funniest scenes sit right beside real unease and the point of view keeps shifting.

Skip it if you want a tidy, plot-driven story, since this one lingers in heads with long stretches of interior monologue where little seems to happen.

What it asks of you: Eight roughly fifty-minute episodes that take their time, so settle in for slow scenes, abrupt shifts in tone, and long stretches of watching people think.

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Succession2018

Richly observed portrait of someone whose appetites consistently outpace his self-awareness, trapped in a world of his own making. Pulverizing dialogue and performances that find humanity in the monstrous.

But Bleak, occasionally exhausting, and deeply concerned with people you might not want to spend time with. Requires patience with unlikeable characters across nine hours.

Succession poster

The Morning Show2019

Explores the collision between personal ambition and family obligation through a fractured marriage, with Claire Danes delivering work of extraordinary nuance and restraint throughout.

But Uneven in tone; sometimes lurches toward prestige-drama cliché. The male characters can feel like obstacles rather than full people.

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Marriage Story2019

A divorce story that treats both people as fully human and fully complicit. Watches like a novel about how people who once loved each other can become strangers while sharing a bed.

But Emotionally brutal for anyone currently in or recently out of a marriage. No catharsis, only exhausted understanding.

Marriage Story poster

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The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Olive Kitteridge2014

Both are about people in their forties learning that the life they built doesn't match the life they imagined. But where Toby remains unchanged, Olive actually transforms through consequence.

A limited series that observes middle-aged disappointment and small-town claustrophobia with such tenderness you don't realize you're watching a tragedy. Frances McDormand is towering; the ensemble work is museum-quality.

But Glacially paced. Very little happens externally. If you want plot propulsion, you'll find this boring rather than meditative.

Olive Kitteridge poster
More like this (6)

Veep2012

Vicious, precise comedy about someone whose confidence vastly exceeds their competence, surrounded by people enabling their worst impulses. Armando Iannucci's script is like a scalpel.

But Relentlessly cynical about human nature. Misanthropy is the whole premise, which wears on some people by season three.

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The Affair2014

Each episode rewrites itself from a different character's perspective, revealing how subjective memory poisons even the stories we tell ourselves. Haunting and technically virtuosic.

But The shifting perspectives can feel gimmicky. Second season loses some momentum, and the show doesn't always know when to stop.

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Ozark2017

A marriage tested by extraordinary circumstances, where both partners are equally ruthless and complicit. Jason Bateman and Laura Linney develop an almost brutal intimacy over four seasons.

But The violence can feel gratuitous. By the end it's more interested in plot mechanics than character, and the final season disappoints many viewers.

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Big Love2006

Explores the architecture of marriage, family obligation, and self-deception through a premise that strips away pretense. Bill Paxton is mesmerizing as a man justified in his own eyes.

But The premise can overshadow character work. Some storylines feel exploitative of the women characters, intentionally or otherwise.

Big Love poster

The Diplomat2023

Lighter than the above, but genuinely funny about professional people whose personal lives collapse while cameras are rolling. A palate cleanser with real intelligence underneath.

But Sometimes chooses plot momentum over character depth. If you want something more searching, this skates along the surface.

The Diplomat poster

The Letdown2017

Both center on a parent abandoned by the other, both refuse to make that parent a saint for coping alone. But where Toby treats his crisis as an injustice, The Letdown understands it as the baseline.

An Australian comedy-drama about motherhood that's unsentimental, genuinely hilarious, and willing to be furious in ways American television rarely permits. Each episode is twenty-five minutes of perfection.

But The humor is dark and specific to parenting; if that's not your landscape, much of it will miss. Also ends after two seasons, right when you want more.

The Letdown poster

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