2024 Show
Spanish
A confusing, chaotic Brazilian sitcom that might pull some chuckles, but not riotous laughter
Good ol’ fashioned live-audience sitcoms feel like a thing of the past, especially with Netflix’s whole season drops, and the binge-watching culture that has developed due to streaming. End of the Line brings back the sitcom approach, with Rodrigo Sant’anna and Roberta Rodrigues leading the comedic ensemble as a bickering driving divorced couple forced to share a space, but the fast-paced Brazilian show isn’t the laugh-out-loud, hilarious comedy of yesteryear. With an actual live audience that they actually show, it’s possible that some of the humor might be specific to the country. There are some moments that might pull out a chuckle or two, but most of the comedy feels more like clumsy improv, rather than well-written jokes based on characterization, set-up, and chemistry.
Ivan, a clandestine bus driver, navigates the end of his marriage and daily challenges with humor in this quirky comedy series with a live audience.
After divorcing bus driver Sandra, Ivan decides to establish his own van driving business, though they are forced to still share the same home and the same van after Sandra gets fired.
The artifice of an in-studio audience is something everyone is aware about today, especially with all the retrospective, behind-the-scenes looks of previous classic sitcoms. Even if a show doesn’t use canned laughter of audiences decades before, we now know that studios would signal moments where audiences would laugh, or edit out rough moments to make things seem smooth. But when the laughter just randomly happens, the jokes feel confusing rather than funny.
An in-studio audience just doesn’t make sense for a new streaming binge drop.
Isabella Endrinal is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. She's now free from the corporate night shift. Previous articles have been published in outlets such as NANG Magazine. She's currently catching up on some classic films… if she isn't coping with the fact that the Haikyu anime will end soon.
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