Watch Woody Allen's new Amazon show if you like period pieces and Miley Cyrus
LOS ANGELES -- It's official: Woody Allen is making his TV debut this week. And spoiler alert: The show is very Woody Allen.
Amazon's Crisis in Six Scenes, which is available to stream beginning on Sept. 30, is a six-part comedy series set in the 1960s.
It follows a middle class suburban family, Sidney (Woody Allen) and wife Katherine (Elaine May) after they get a surprise visitor named Lenny (Miley Cyrus), who upends their suburban lifestyle and way of thinking.
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Here's a list of why you should or shouldn't watch.
Watch if:
You are a fan of Woody Allen's signature Woody Allen character
Woody Allen is known for crafting a character that's neurotic, funny and very wordy.
Allen's character Sid in Crisis in Six Scenes fits that same mold. He -- of course -- is a writer.
Even from the opening scene (above), you can see Sid's insecurities come out when he asks for a James Dean-esque haircut as his barber critiques his work.
Throughout the show, Sid is also very paranoid about the arrival of their guest, which leads to a lot of funny, "I'm so nervous" moments of dialogue.
You're into period pieces
From the Vietnam War to racial tensions, the '60s were a turbulent time in the U.S.
Cyrus' character is a very radical, counterculture-minded young person. She spews out lines like this:
"This country doesn't care about the less fortunate, this a nation where they have pay toilets for the public. That says it all right there: You want to go to the bathroom you gotta pay"
and: "America the beautiful is just a fantasy."
Lenny's attitude causes Allen and May's characters to end up questioning their own stances.
You're generally curious about how Woody Allen's first TV show turned out
The last time Allen spoke about the series publicly, he called it "a catastrophic mistake for me."
"I’m struggling with it at home," he told reporters at The Cannes film festival in 2015 while promoting The Irrational Man. "I never should have gotten into it. I thought it was going to be easy. You do a movie and it’s a big long thing; to do six half-hours you’d think would be a cinch. But it’s not: it’s very, very hard.”
At that point in the process, Allen admitted he expected the show to be “a cosmic embarrassment."
He was not at Amazon's Television Critics Association day in August -- in fact, Amazon didn't even hold a panel for the series. He also was not on the list of talent at the New York Press Day for the show.
More recently, at the show's premiere, he told New York Daily News that he isn't too happy with the show overall.
“I’m never happy with the result of anything I do,” he told the publication. “I don't say that out of any fake modesty or anything so I'm no happier with this ... I hope people like it. If they do, fine.”
It's hard not to be intrigued.
Skip if:
You prefer Miley Cyrus as a wrecking ball in real life, not on a show
Lenny, Cyrus' character, definitely isn't Hannah Montana.
She breaks into Sid and Kay's home after being on the run from the cops (who Lenny calls "fascist pigs") because of her recent political activism.
She knows Catherine (May) through her parents, but immediately clashes with Sid who she deems "senile" and a "stooge with herd mentality."
In one exchange with Sid, Lenny says: "I don't dislike you; it's just everything that you stand for."
Oh, and she gives Sid and Kay's other houseguest/family friend Allen weed.
When asked on the carpet by Entertainment Weekly how Cyrus got cast, Allen said he remembered his kids watching her on TV.
"I said who is that little girl, she has that great comic delivery."
If you aren't ready for Cyrus' return to the small screen, it may be time to pass.
You can't separate art from the artist
There's obviously a lot of controversy surrounding Allen.
While he's praised for his work -- everything from Annie Hall to Midnight in Paris -- he's long been the subject of backlash over his personal life.
Many take issue with his marriage to Soon-Yi Previn, his ex-girlfriend Mia Farrow's daughter.
There are also allegations that he sexually abused Farrow's daughter Dylan as a child. The New York Times ran a piece by Dylan Farrow in 2014, in which she said Allen sexually assaulted her, a charge Allen denies.
Amazon has stood behind Allen and his work.
Topics Amazon
Saba was a Los Angeles-based reporter who covers all things digital entertainment, including YouTube, streaming services and digital influencers. Prior to that, she spent two years at the Los Angeles Times covering entertainment for the Calendar and Company Town sections. Saba grew up in Santa Monica and graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in journalism and B.A. in political science. When not reporting, she is usually binge watching shows online or looking for new coffee shops to frequent.
