Tennis Tuesday

Damian and I recently finished off our beloved "Red Oaks" on Amazon Prime, which went out with a tennis bang featuring Jon Rudnitsky ("Saturday Night Live") as a pro at a competing club. (The scene was set to "Destination Unknown" by Missing Persons!) Although I'm biased given that the show is set in a racket club in the 1980s, I really think it's a sweet slice of life that anyone would enjoy. Craig Roberts is adorable as wannabe filmmaker David Meyers, a rare likable TV show protagonist. And Ennis Esmer and Oliver Cooper take characters that could have easily been annoying and over the top -- a playboy schlub of a tennis pro and a brainy stoner with a heart of gold -- and make them human beings you actually root for. Add in a great supporting cast including Richard Kind and Jennifer Grey as David's parents with their own midlife issues and Alexandra Turshen and Alexandra Socha as love interests and you've got the best half-hour show I've seen in years. A dozen more hot shots of Mr. Rudnitsky HERE.

Song of the Day: 'Tous les Garçons et les Filles' by Françoise Hardy

Wow, have you checked out Season 2 of Amazon Prime's "Red Oaks"? The first season was admittedly just a guilty pleasure because of its '80s and tennis themes, yet the sophomore effort has started off with a bang, as if control of the show went from me to John Hughes' gifted offspring who grew up obsessed with his father and French New Wave cinema. 

The New Year's episode in Paris is especially poignant -- has Craig Roberts been working out? -- and Jennifer Grey and Gina Gershon still manage to make the most of their tiny parts in some of the best "mom porn" I've seen since "Freaks and Geeks."

Song of the Day: 'My Kinda Lover' by Billy Squier

Craig Roberts reminds me of Ash on "Vicious" -- and it turns out they're both Welsh, although Craig does a great American accent

After being a little underwhelmed by the pilot, Amazon Prime's "Red Oaks" is proving to be a sleeper favorite of mine. (That season 2 of "Doll & Em" and the current season of "Please Like Me" were/are insufferable may be helping.) Heard this Billy Squier song in the last episode I watched and had to admit in retrospect that it was better than I gave it credit for in junior high school!

Season One of Amazon Prime's 'Red Oaks' Is Finally Here

The Amazon Prime series "Red Oaks" -- a tennis friendly show set in the 1980s that's been called a cross between "The Graduate" and "Caddyshack" -- got picked up on the basis of its pilot, but it's taken nearly two years for season one to arrive ... until now. Vulture is lukewarm on the debut season -- I had the same "I want to like it more than I do" feeling about the pilot -- but I'm still looking forward to checking it out. Any show that has a dad (Paul Reiser) dressed in Fila -- then Ellesse -- and features Jennifer Grey and Amy Heckerling directing can't be all bad. Look for it on Amazon Prime starting today.