Overcompensating is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age comedy created by and starring Benito Skinner, the comedian and internet personality known for his viral character sketches. Produced by A24 for Prime Video, the series follows Benny, a former high-school football star and homecoming king who arrives at college harboring a secret he has spent his life burying: he is gay. To keep up appearances, Benny throws himself into an exhausting performance of heterosexual masculinity, even as he forms an intense, complicated friendship with a fellow student who is hiding insecurities of her own.
Skinner mines his own experiences for a story that is at once raucously funny and unexpectedly tender, capturing the specific anxiety of a young person terrified that the elaborate identity they have constructed might collapse. Wally Baram co-stars as Carmen, the friend whose bond with Benny anchors the series, alongside Mary Beth Barone and Adam DiMarco. The show is threaded with pop-culture references and a scene-stealing cameo from Charli XCX, giving it a hyper-current, extremely-online sensibility.
Debuting on Prime Video in 2025, Overcompensating earned warm reviews for its blend of broad comedy and genuine emotional honesty, marking a confident scripted breakout for Skinner beyond his short-form internet fame. Funny, heartfelt, and sharply observed, it streams on Prime Video.
Remember Tim "the tool man" Taylor from Home Improvement? Well he's back, sort of. The character Allen plays in Last Man Standing is named Mike Baxter and is practically identical to Tim Taylor in many ways. To make him entirely different would most likely be impossible due to Tim Allen's strong personality and likeability. And while the Taylor character had a wife named Jill (Patricia Richardson) and three sons, Baxter has daughters and a wife (Nancy Travis). Family matters most as it should, especially in the sit-com environment. Mike Baxter also has a "manly" job. He works at an outdoorsy sporting goods store where men buy tents, guns, and fishing gear. Mike used to handle the store's catalog but they seem to be extinct ever since internet sales became so popular. Now his duty is in making promo videos that go up on their web site. Just as with Home Improvement the quality and appeal of Last Man Standing is in the sharp writing and the high quality of the actors involved. Mike Baxter knows far well he's outnumbered with females in his household so turns to his boss (Héctor Elizondo) and friends for some comic relief.
Accessorize! Add on those extra touches to give the whole picture. Fashionable people know that choosing the right accessory can finish their outfit and that without that hand bag or gloves or shoes that go well with their dress, gown, or suit the entire effect is lost. This television show is all about designing just the right accessories and who can do it the quickest and the best. Twelve designers start out the competition and as weeks go by eliminations bring the count down to a single winner. Season one began with some really slow and tedious viewing but things pick up once the competitors are whittled down to the cream of the crop. Designing is not as easy as many think and especially finding the right accessory to go well with a particular outfit, it can become messy! Debra Messing (Will & Grace) is one of the guest judges who help the winning contestant earn the final reward of $100,000 worth of help from eBay Fashion that can go toward starting their own line of accessories.
The term foodie has become popular because there are so darn many cooking programs on television now days! A foodie is basically an amateur gourmet. A foodie is someone who loves food, both eating it and making it. Shows like Top Chef are designed to show how difficult it can be to get that special dish served up, starting with the basics like proper measuring, cooking temperature, timing, and the ability to know what tastes good. Then things get competitive! The idea behind Top Chef is to narrow down the competition by process of elimination until there is one winner. Top prize has been upped from $100,000 to $200,000 plus celebrity appearances and coveted editorials in gourmet type magazines. Along the way some fail because they don't belong in the heat of a professional kitchen and some just can't quite keep up with the rest. Judges have included some big famous names of the culinary world like Emeril Lagasse and Anthony Bourdain who bring their own style of leadership into the mix and make demands that increase the challenges each week. The very competitive world of cooking at the professional level is rewarding and tests the contestants to the limits of their capabilities, and the loser packs up his or her knives and goes home.
If you like watching shows like the Jersey Shore and all those Housewives of"¦ somewhere, you just might fall in love with Russian Dolls. Full of hair extensions, sex, arguing, gold chains, partying, drinking (vodka of course), and plenty of techno style music, these Russian Dolls are not the type to sit on a collectors shelf. Brighton Beach is home to the largest Russian American gathering place in New York. This community has plenty to show off including young beautiful women such as Anastasia, a 26 year old who has long blonde hair (with help from some hair extensions), deep tan, toned body, and ample make up. Her future hopes include college graduation but she's not trying very hard. The Levitis', Marina and Michael are owners of a popular local nightclub and Michael has somehow become involved with corruption that involves a state Senator. But don't let the gold chains, sex, and non stop partying keep you from watching Russian Dolls. After all the show's producers were out and about drumming up cast members by posting signs advertising for the next "Situation" or "Snooki" characters to step up and audition for the show. Just like other shows with similar formats, Russian Dolls are not afraid to showcase their intimate lives and all the sordid details viewers could ever ask for. Not exactly the prostitution game as the name implies, but plenty of steamy sex and exhibitionism.
Sketches are a comics best format for television and Nick Swardson has a show that's loaded with them. Each episode displays some sort of rank and raunchy humorous ingredients that will make 7th graders giggle and adults cover their heads. But along the way some of it is actually funny even if rather dark. Skits about cats in wheelchairs, snipers who masturbate, and incestual dreams involving the Nightmare on Elm Street movies are unusual fare for family television nights and when the show's main character sits and tells us about what we are about to see we begin to wonder what world this is. Nick's dead cat, Fitzgerald, is fair game for another episode as are a fatherly bucket list for a dying son, urine powered cars, and even a Gay Robot. Never one to be short on "off the wall" ideas, Nick Swardson's Pretend Time will give viewers a peek into a rather weird place, the mind of Swardson. Imagine, if you will, recovering a time capsule full of sex objects, or following Gay Robot as he buys airplane tickets to visit the alien probe site (area 51 come to mind?), or maybe learn how a forest ranger steps in to break up intimate moments between homosexuals. All this and more can be found on the Nick Swardson's Pretend Time show.
Remember high school and those mean girls who seemed to love tormenting someone who was shy or just didn't quite fit in? Those who took every advantage and used it to pester or torment others who just wanted to be left alone? They were and still remain bullies and mean people. Parents of daughters who now are targeted by a bully at school are trying to help by "toughening" up their daughters or even stepping in to protect them. Mothers of a bully are also finding they need to help. They need to find out why their girls do such mean things and how they came to be such mean people. When Annie Watson (played by Jaime Pressly from My Name Is Earl) notices her daughter Sophie is mocking her and constantly trying to embarrass her own mother, she knows it may be her own fault because she always allowed her daughter to do pretty much whatever she chose. Nikki Miller (played by Katie Finneral from Sex In The City) grew up being fat and unpopular now sees her daughter as the type who used to tease her back in high school. The fathers aren't much help with daughters who bully so it's up to the moms to teach these manipulative young women how to "play nice" and grow up as decent people.
Today the do-it-yourself home video market is extremely busy and popular. Almost anyone who has a cell phone or digital camera can shoot some video any time and anywhere. MTV brings the Funniest Home Video idea into homes with a bunch of amateurish videos that have gone internet viral and for one reason or another, have grabbed the attention of a wide audience. Some subject matter, like guys getting hit in their groin area, may be humorous to some but not so much to others. It's a matter of taste (or maybe lack of it) that gets home produced videos to earn watchability. The title of this show is more or less self explanatory and Rob Dyrdek's idea of fun and entertaining television is robbing entertaining clips from YouTube and presenting them on a network that used to mean something music wise, then turning them into juvenile jokes. Also seen are Chanel "West Coast" and Sterling Brim aka Steelo making comments about what is funny and what was better left on the internet to be lost in space. MTV"¦. let's get back to your roots and play music!
Using the Civil War and the wild American west as a backdrop, Hell on Wheels takes us on an incredible journey back to the 1860's when railroads were being dug, blasted, and scraped from one end of this country to the other. The land was opening up from east to west and the railroads could be credited for much of the civilization and modernization of North America in a time where native Americans chose to keep their land. There was plenty of bloodshed from sea to sea as the original owners of beautiful soil were forced to leave due to who had the bigger and more effective weapons. Follow along with former soldier in the Confederate Army Cullen Bohannon (played by Anson Mount) who seeks his wife's murderer. Rapper Common "Sense" is Elam Ferguson, a slave recently freed due to the Civil War, looking for a better life than he had before. Money seekers and brothers, Mickey and Sean McGinnes are both young and eager to establish wealth in the new west. Eddie Spears is Native American Joseph Black Moon, torn between holding on to his traditional life and the new world of opportunities. This series is a must see and should make interesting viewing for a long time due to excellent writing and quality acting.
Las Vegas, Nevada has long had the reputation of harboring legalized prostitution but very little has ever been mentioned about male prostitutes also known as Gigolos. In fact that particular line of work is definitely illegal and won't be tolerated by the police in the city of Vegas itself or anywhere else in the state of Nevada. That being said, it is apparently a popular and common tradition to escort women who are lonely and want the companionship of good looking men who can take them out on the town or simply take them to bed. This series, running on cable's Showtime channel will show how the lives of several Las Vegas Gigolos, all working at the same escort agency, are played out and how they can so easily get women to pay for their sexual or social services. The five main Gigolos include Nick Hawk, Steven Gantt, Jimmy Dior, Vin Armani, and Brace. Brace has been in the business a long time and tries to come up with a product line that will enable him to retire from the business he's in. Gantt is single with a son he needs to provide support for. Clabots is a personal trainer and actor who is apparently also gay. Armani is new to the game and has lots to learn. And we also see Garren James who is the "Cowboys4Angels" escort agency owner. Interesting premise and something quite different on our TV sets!
Enlightened brings the very talented Laura Dern to television as Amy Jellicoe, an executive who has found her job and her life to be too much to bear. When she suffers from a breakdown which just happens to be a very public embarrassing situation for her, she finds she must attempt to put her life back together by going through rehabilitation. Watch for Diane Ladd who plays Amy's mother, Helen Jellicoe (she is Dern's real life mother). Amy spends three months in Hawaii where she undergoes therapy to help with her problems, then returns home to face reality and the group of co-workers she embarrassed herself by breaking down in front of, living with her mother who is never short on unwelcome advice, and a lazy ex-husband (Luke Wilson) who enjoys his "recreational" drugs too much. Laura Dern is known for her roles in Jurassic Park, Rambling Rose, & Wild At Heart. Actress Diane Ladd has starred in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Primary Colors, & Wild At Heart. She and actor Bruce Dern are Laura's parents. Luke Wilson has been seen in 3:10 To Yuma, Blades of Glory, & Death at a Funeral; and he is brother of Owen Wilson.
