Is ‘Girls5eva’ the best comedy since ’30 Rock’?

This is a preview of the pop culture newsletter The Daily Beast’s Obsessed, written by senior entertainment reporter Kevin Fallon. To get the full newsletter in your inbox each week, sign up here.

This week:

I will love this show Five-eva

In my mind, there is no better line in TV comedy than the button above Girls5eva soundtrack.

At the beginning of each episode, the group, a former Y2K pop artist, sings, “We’re going to be the famous 5eva, because fourever’s too short.” It was just a clever wordplay. Then came the kicker, “So what are you waiting for…five? ”

How stupid. But it’s brilliant. I whine at the beginning of every episode. It could be the perfect piece of comedy.

If you watched the first part of Girls5eva, you won’t be impressed, with a host of clever quips that make the show more of a meme than a comedy series. Those lines are working to their full potential for the new season. “#AlbumMode is a state of mind that started when our album was announced and ended when I went to the Met Gala in a catheter because my outfit was too complicated,” was one of the first lines of the song. Wickie (Renee Elise Goldsberry).

But what’s gratifying about the second is that, while it never loses sight of the specific, episodic, weird pop culture jokes, it does have space to delve into who these characters are. .

They all have layers, and the satire is even better. They are talking about motherhood. Divorce. Dating. Music industry. Middle-age. Hopelessness. Feminist. Gender discrimination. Ego. Double standards. And it all feels important, and at the same time hilarious.

These are the characters who were the first women to wear slippers into the White House, but they’re also rewriting the industry’s rules when they return in them.

And they get to wear a Nicole Kidman jacket Undoing Collection while doing it.

I will hold her hand

My poor office chair suffered a great tragedy this week. Lady Gaga releases new song.

“Hold My Hand” is cheesy as hell. But it’s very good. It was “Live Laugh Love” interjected as a classic rock song; Michael’s have an open mic evening.

But the point is, it’s also brilliant. Gaga recognized a genre and perfected it. She’s not flirting with a certain genre of song, she’s perfecting it.

All of this is to say that I got bored of a hole in my chair by twirling around in my chair and dancing to “Hold My Hand” all week. Now there’s footage of her wearing a helicopter dress to the movie premiere. Great.

And just like that…

There’s too much bad in the media version of anything going back and forth between Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall, leading to Cattrall rejecting a third Sex and the city film and also did not appear in the sequel series And just like that…

Anything said or unsaid between them becomes headlines or echoes.

So it’s really fun to come here. I was drawn to — and very supportive of — everything Parker had to say to justify the existence of the new series. And, in doing that, I think I dismissed Cattrall’s point as petty.

But read it as a Q&A to emphasize how smart and thoughtful she is, in this Diversity piece, makes you think of things differently. (Read it here.)

Go to sleep!!!

The The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills back this week. This is possibly the most scrutinized season yet, with fans finding out who’s on the right, no matter what the right, in terms of Erika Jayne and her scandal.

I have no opinion on any of that. But this should be enough to get her fired:

What to watch this week:

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: I had to type those words, so now you have to see it. (Friday in theaters)

Candy: Jessica Biel kills with an ax in a wig. Of course we’re watching! (Monday on Hulu)

Sheryl: Please respect Crowe. (Friday at Showtime)

What to skip this week:

Circle: Who is forcing you to watch this? (Available on Netflix)