WandaVision (Disney+)

It better be.

1000 TIMES YES

My friend had this in his wedding playlist.

Okay, so I've watched both episodes. Here is the thing about this series, it's treading an awfully fine line between one-note parody and playful homage. When it leans too heavily into the former, it can get rough because it's telling only a single joke of sitcom cliches and it doesn't have anywhere to go. That's why the dinner scene is the low point of both episodes, because it's just an old hat parody that drones on.

Episode 2 is the better of the two episodes because it leans heavily into the latter. It feels like the filmmakers had a blast recreating the aesthetic of a Bewitched plot and cut loose with it, and some of the "sitcom" jokes were genuinely funny. That episode feels like it should be the first and the first should have been scrapped, especially since both episodes are more engrossed in the sitcom reality with slight shades of "the mystery."

I think people who were raised on trash like Two-and-a-Half Men will really struggle with this show, because those who can really appreciate what this show is trying to do would be the ones who watched Nick at Nite during their formative years. Real Nick at Nite, not whatever the fuck it is now. If it doesn't have I Love Lucy in the lineup, it's not genuine Nick at Nite. I'm not convinced this is the "Welcome Back" the MCU needs after a year and a half, because it's too experimental and those who aren't down with its experiment will be bored stiff. But those who watch it and think "I see what you did there" will have fun with it.

As someone who, as a child growing up, regularly watched the good Nick at Nite line-up (shows like I Love Lucy, Dick Van Dyke, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeanie, Get Smart, etc.) and loving those shows, I loved these first two episodes.  Y'all be bitching that they leaned too hard into the sitcom tropes, but that's exactly what I dug so much about them.  Plus, they were legitimately funny.  Give me more.  I know they're eventually going to work their way up to the 2000's with an Office/Modern Family-style mockumentary episode.  Since this is going to be 9 episodes total, my guess is at least half will be these sitcom formats, maybe more than half.  But I'm not complaining, cause I'm totally down for such a big creative swing.

As an aside, I'm hearing on social media that Dick Van Dyke was brought in as a consultant on this show, and I'm thinking over the first two episodes in my head and am thinking "That makes so much sense." Everything we've seen so far seems heavily influenced by the Dick Van Dyke Show, to the point where one of the first gags in the series is a play on the "Trip over the footrest?" gag from that show's opening credits. Wanda's sitcom persona seems heavily based on Mary Tyler Moore's character from that show as well. I'm leaning toward My Favorite Martian being an inspiration for Vision's persona, but there could also be some Bewitched extended family (Aunt Clara, Uncle Arthur) and Mork in him.

Anyway, I'm curious what other influences I can spot along the way. Apparently they're going to go blue collar at some point, so I'm thinking I'm going to feel a bit of Roseanne or Home Improvement in this show going forward. Maybe the Brady Bunch and Family Ties as we pass through the 70's and 80's.

As someone who hasn't watched any of the show, reading these comments is just mind boggling.

Dooms, Nevs, and Ian can stay in Star Wars land. If it's superheroes and Nick at Nite, this is my house.

I'm generally one that likes the old format of weekly episodes and I've never actually binged a show in my life, but this is a show that would really benefit from the all at once dump as opposed to weekly. I enjoyed the two episodes, they were funny and I love the old school sitcom aesthetic that they've nailed really well, but this show is teasing without delivering to the point that even David Lynch would say what the fuck guys show us something already.

I’d hope so, considering they’ve been playing the characters for 6 years.

I like the show.  It's fine.  Seems like a slow burn.

I really liked the retro sitcom style in the trailers.  In actual practice, it's not exactly winning me over.  While I watched reruns of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeanie all the time as a kid, I've never been tempted to revisit the show on Nick at Nite or whatever.  Now I remember why I've never bothered with it since then.  Almost every episode was pretty much exactly what we get with these first two episodes.  The show does play with it a bit, but not enough to make it more appealing to me.  

Major improvement