But the whimsical style of Dispatches doesn’t automatically feel like a natural salve for viewers mourning the cancellation of Lodge 49, and there are stretches where the new show is clearly high on its own supply. The whole thing is completely bizarre!”ĪMC has some history with inscrutable shows that are more about the value of human connection than traditional plotting. As Janice puts it, while relating her latest adventure to a loved one, “You would’ve hated every minute of it. In the series’ opening sequence, Octavio says, “Well, dear viewer, our entertainment has something for everyone, I assure you.” But as Peter and his new friends take part in inexplicable stunts involving curious, often borderline-magical technology - Janice is whisked back to her wedding day via virtual reality that allows her to debate her younger self, while Simone learns about the Elsewhere Society through an animated film that Peter powers by riding an exercise bike - one wonders whether Dispatches has something for everyone, or just something for a very small slice of the population tuned into a very-specific frequency. Each has their own reason for wanting to get involved in this feud, as well as their own belief about what’s really happening and whose side they should be on. As he tries to figure out which side he should be on, Peter is teamed up with a trio of fellow lonely-hearts: museum docent Simone (Eve Lindley), an anxious older woman named Janice (Sally Field), and the mysteriously wealthy Fredwynn (Andre Benjamin, in his first TV role since ABC’s American Crime). īut then Peter’s existence turns into genuine living when he stumbles across a rivalry between the Jejune Institute, a think tank promising to reveal that Peter was meant for more than mundanity, and the Elsewhere Society, a collective of anarchists who extol the power of “divine nonchalance” and insist that Jejune is really about maintaining the boring, conformist world Peter is so eager to escape. Though he’s best known for playing How I Met Your Mother straight man Marshall Ericsen, Segel used that celebrity to write himself roles that take advantage of his inner goon, like the overly-emotional dumpee in Forgetting Sarah Marshall or a puppet’s brother in The Muppets. With his gangly frame, broad smile, and aw-shucks demeanor, he’s a master of playing nice guys who never realize when they’ve gone too far. From the day the teenage Segel was cast as wannabe drummer Nick Andopolis on Freaks and Geeks, he has made a comic art form of lingering on the border between sweet and creepy. The oddness of it all shouldn’t be surprising once you learn the series (a planned anthology, with each season telling a different story) was created by its star, Jason Segel. It’s a show so aggressively twee, Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller would look at it and say, “That’s a bit much.” The series needs normality like a fish needs a bicycle - and that’s even before three of its heroes try to use a party bike to chase down a limo that has Andre 3000 locked in the trunk. Grant, clad in a green checked jacket and black turtleneck, seated in front of an orange wall, staring at us in the audience for an eternity, before announcing, “And now that I have your attention, I’ll begin” - Dispatches leaves no doubt that it will be self-consciously weird. You know those days when you step out the door and it feels like the humidity has slapped you across the face, just in case there was any doubt how hot it was outside? That’s exactly how the quirkiness of AMC‘s new series Dispatches From Elsewhere hits you.įrom the opening scene - a static shot of character actor Richard E.
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