What To Watch While Quarantined - #4 Avenue 5

Series #4 – AVENUE 5

Streaming Service- Crave TV

Seasons – 1 (2020 - ???)

Starring -  Hugh Laurie, Josh Gad, Zach Woods, Lenora Crichlow, Suzy Nakamura, Kyle Bornheimer

Tone and Feel – Star Trek meets Gilligan’s Island

Memorable Quote – “It was true when I said it. Like marriage vows.”

— Matt Spencer (Zach Woods), Avenue 5, Season 1: He's Only There To Stop His Skeleton Falling Over

Avenue 5 is the newest of my recommendations having debuted only earlier this year, and yet, it is quickly becoming appointment television for me. The series stars Hugh Laurie as Ryan Clark, the Captain of a futuristic ‘Love Boat in Space”. (Note: If you’re too young to know what the Love Boat is, go away, I don’t want to know you)

Captain Clark is there mainly to glad-hand and schmooze the passengers of a luxury cruise ship in space during its three-week voyage. However, when an accident knocks them off of their flight path and delays their return window to earth significantly, it soon becomes clear that the Captain may be in over his head. The reason for this becomes evident as the pilot unfolds.

Laurie is surrounded by an all-star comedy cast led by Josh Gad, (perhaps best known as the voice of Olaf in the Frozen movies) who is amazing as Herman Judd, the clueless, arrogant, and narcissistic billionaire whose company owns the cruise line. Gad plays Judd as the perfect combination Richard Branson and the White House guy.

Zach Woods (Gabe from The Office) is always delightfully weird in everything he does, and he is never better than as Matt, the guy in charge of passenger liaison. His best lines are often in promotional videos for the ship’s amenities, “Be sure to try our amazing five-star buffet. “If you’re not completely satisfied – you’re wrong.”

The fun in the series comes from watching a crew of mostly inept cruise line staff deal with crisis situations in space better suited for the crew of the Starship Enterprise. One of my favorite running gags is the fact that people can’t tell is Captain Clark is American or British because the accent keeps oscillating between the two. It is hard to imagine but there would be a sizeable chunk of the viewing audience who recall Hugh Laurie as the American Dr. House and don’t realize he started out as part of the British comedy team Fry & Laurie. It’s clear Laurie hasn’t lost a comedic step over the years.

As the first season is still in progress, I can’t say for certain the long arc of the series will build to a logical and gripping season finale. It is possible the show, like the ship, could be lost and adrift. What I can say is I finish each episode, wanting to watch the next one, which is really all you can hope for at this point.

For this reason, I strongly recommend you watch Avenue 5 while quarantined.

And millennials, do yourself and Google the Love Boat. Come on board, they’re expecting you. That will be much funnier after you Google it. Okay…marginally funnier.