You own over510.com!?!

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's Top 50 TV Shows of 2022.  

#23 : How To With John Wilson

Two years after debuting in the US, film-maker John Wilson’s oddly soothing documentary series arrived in a post-lockdown UK when life was back to full-throttle pace. Every episode – how to make small talk, how to improve memory, how to split the check – was an opportunity to check out for half an hour, as Wilson narrated his smart, sweet and sometimes silly social observations illustrated with expertly edited footage he had taken of New York City’s everyday minutiae.

The Guardian LURVED this when it came out and wrote a couple of articles on how great it was - so I did actually check it out at the time.

And well, it's very, very weird.  I gave it a couple of episodes, but at no point does Mr Wilson actually tell you how to do anything.  As far as I could tell, it was basically just a meander through random areas of New York getting distracted and diverted by the merest thing.  It's not unpleasant as such - it's just really odd.  I can see if you were in the mood for some wry observations with no specific point to them then this might hit the spot, but it was just too aimless for me.

And that's all I have to say about it really - there's no obvious script, plot, direction, acting or anything really so there's nothing for me to commend on there.  Wikipedia tells me that all the critics loved it and gives a full list of all the things John tries to tell us how to do across the three seasons including put up scaffolding, cook the perfect risotto, throw out your batteries, watch the game and track your package.  However it also points out that the episodes often "lead in unpredictable and diverse directions" so don't expect to actually learn those things.

I kinda wanted to like this, but it just left me cold.  You might like it, but I'd be very surprised if you did - it just doesn't seem like your sort of thing.  But if you fancy it, the first two seasons are on iPlayer - but don't say I didn't warn you.

#22 - Good rather than great
#24 - Diverting nonsense