Roar (2022)

"Roar" is a genre-bending anthology series that is a cross between "The Twilight Zone," "Black Mirror," and "Love, American Style" with a feminist twist. The eight-episode first season is uneven, but always intriguing. The strongest episodes highlight the challenges women face in a male dominant world. Perhaps the best example is "The Woman Who Solved Her Own Murder," which stars Alison Brie as the central character. "The Woman Who Returned Her Husband" is charming despite being fairly predictable. Some of the less effective episodes like "The Woman Who Disappeared," show a lot of promise, but lack sufficient plot development. The "Nosedive" episode of "Black Mirror" (which was co-written by Rashida Jones, who directed an episode in this series) is a good example of the show's potential for biting social commentary. Part of a larger resurgence of the half hour drama, with crisp writing, consistent tone, and a compelling premise, "Roar" has the potential to be a great series like the classic "Twilight Zone" of the mid-20th century, but with a female gaze.

Worst TV I've seen this year. Insultingly obvious theme trying to mask how little there is to it with magical realism. What if to display the problems women face in the world, metaphors are real? That's the entire theme of the show, and the horse is dead after the first half of the first episode. Casually insults much better actual authors for no apparent reason, and has whole conversations between black women who drop the race card every three sentences despite ostensibly being about feminism. It is hard to imagine how obnoxious the writer of this episode is, but I can safely guess they've made an entire career out of complaining about racism. Most TV explicitly written for children is deeper than this puddle of a show.