Post by The Curmudgeon on Jan 17, 2017 12:55:36 GMT 2
Remember when people used to hate the 80's? Oh, the terrible fashion! Oh, the celebration of greed and capitalism! (Unlike today's not at all money and celebratory obsessed culture). Oh, the eighties. What WERE we thinking?
There's been a few shows that have shown a genuine snapshot of life in the 80's that don't showcase it as some dayglo tye dye nightmare, most notably the flawless This Is England series and Stranger Things. Add another to the list - Amazon's Red Oaks.
Got to be said, Netflix may have the "cool" factor when it comes to its TV, but Amazon are pretty much killing it with their own original programming ("The Man From the High Castle" is about ten times better than I expected), and so Red Oaks, a series I skipped over without even a thought until Mrs C mentioned it because she liked the star from another show. So you know how it goes - we gave one episode a try and haven't watched anything else since.
Set in a tennis club in 1985, at first you think it's almost a parody of those Porkies kind of 80's sex comedies, it quickly evolves into something with more depth and heart than any of those. You'll want to hang out with the main characters. You'll want to work in that club. Hell, you might even want to take up tennis. It's also got a brilliant soundtrack, eschewing the stereotypical sounds of the 80's (no typical Human League or Cyndi Lauper numbers here), and gives a genuine sound of kids in 1985 America.
It's one of those shows that makes you wonder why everyone isn't fucking raving about it, but then it's also one that you're glad it's some kind of cult secret that only you can enjoy. Well, I'm letting the secret out of the bag here today. Red Oaks. Amazon. Get involved.
There's been a few shows that have shown a genuine snapshot of life in the 80's that don't showcase it as some dayglo tye dye nightmare, most notably the flawless This Is England series and Stranger Things. Add another to the list - Amazon's Red Oaks.
Got to be said, Netflix may have the "cool" factor when it comes to its TV, but Amazon are pretty much killing it with their own original programming ("The Man From the High Castle" is about ten times better than I expected), and so Red Oaks, a series I skipped over without even a thought until Mrs C mentioned it because she liked the star from another show. So you know how it goes - we gave one episode a try and haven't watched anything else since.
Set in a tennis club in 1985, at first you think it's almost a parody of those Porkies kind of 80's sex comedies, it quickly evolves into something with more depth and heart than any of those. You'll want to hang out with the main characters. You'll want to work in that club. Hell, you might even want to take up tennis. It's also got a brilliant soundtrack, eschewing the stereotypical sounds of the 80's (no typical Human League or Cyndi Lauper numbers here), and gives a genuine sound of kids in 1985 America.
It's one of those shows that makes you wonder why everyone isn't fucking raving about it, but then it's also one that you're glad it's some kind of cult secret that only you can enjoy. Well, I'm letting the secret out of the bag here today. Red Oaks. Amazon. Get involved.
