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Episodic anthology shows are a real mixed bag.
There are a few shows that really test my distaste, though.
TheresDocumentary Now, which is more than welcome to keep doing whatever its weird heart desires.
TheresHigh Maintenance, which makes surprise feel welcome rather than obnoxious.
And now theresLittle America, a show which I was not prepared to love and then absolutely did.
Shows likeSeeandServanthave an explicit genre appeal.
There are eight half-hour episodes.
Their scope is modest.
The stories, which are sometimes delightful and sometimes tragic, are about relatively everyday lives.
Right out of the gate,Little Americapulls an effective, remarkable bait and switch.
For Kabir, the point is not to win.
The point is that hes heard finalists get to have a face-to-face meeting with Laura Bush.
Kabir hopes that if he meets her, he can plead his case.
He wins spelling bees.
He goes to the national event.
He becomes a finalist.
A lesser show wouldve made this the arc.
Thats not the choiceLittle Americamakes.
They are hard work pays off stories, and they are immigration is hard stories, yes.
But each of them is also much more lovely and painful and complicated than those easy summations.
See, this all really happened!
Yoshida imagines the filmmakers saying.
See, we didnt lie!
But Im more inclined to excuse it here.
We are lucky we haveLittle Americahere to do it.
