One of my pandemic pleasures has been finding excellent shows to stream that nobody has told me about. Shtisel, which gets little buzz, is the best TV series I’ve seen in years. The other night I stumbled upon The Vertical Line, an Italian “comedy” set in a hospital’s oncology ward. It is droll and poignant and much more realistic (no great feat) than American medical shows. Occasionally the voice of the main character – who is awaiting surgery to remove a tumor – takes on the narration, making astute observations on life in a hospital. At one point he muses on the classless society of patients, who are all equal, “all wretches.”
Watching the show I wondered why I hadn’t heard about it, while I frequently see raves for Schitt’s Creek (which recently received 15 Emmy nominations). I watched two episodes and found the humor broad and farcical and weakened by the fact that the premise is so implausible. The Canadians construct an inherently funny situation (which is relatively easy to do) while the Italians find humor in, well, not everyday life (which is hard enough) but in life and death (a formidable challenge). And for the most part, they succeed.
One of the answers to my question, of course, is the barrier of subtitles. (The other is a distaste for the foreign.) But I would rather “read” one episode of The Vertical Line than watch a season of Grey’s Anatomy. No, you don’t get the interpersonal dramas, but – much better – you get insights into the human condition.
