Brand New Cherry Flavor: Season One
September 16, 2021 3:32 PM - Season 1 (Full Season) - Subscribe

Lisa N. Nova (Rosa Salazar) comes to LA dead set on directing her first movie. But when she trusts the wrong person and gets stabbed in the back, everything goes sideways and a dream project turns into a nightmare. This particular nightmare has zombies, hit men, supernatural kittens, and a mysterious tattoo artist (Catherine Keener) who likes to put curses on people. And Lisa’s going to have to figure out some secrets from her own past in order to get out alive.

Created by Lenore Zion and Nick Antosca, who previously collaborated on the series Channel Zero. Also stars Manny Jacinto and Eric Lange. Currently streaming on Netflix.
posted by DirtyOldTown (14 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Forgot to mention: based on the novel by Todd Grimson.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 3:36 PM on September 16, 2021


On the way to Hollywood, Lisa Nova seems to slip into an alternate universe. Or maybe that alternate universe follows Lisa around and manages to enshroud anyone in proximity? Whatever, it kinda works.

I liked a lot about this. It did manage to catch a bit of the time and place pretty well despite being filmed n BC. And it also was good at throwing out a genuine wtf more than a few times. Salazar and Keener were both entrancing. Some shades of Lynch, I think. The pacing kind of sputters toward the end, imo, but overall a good watch.
posted by 2N2222 at 9:04 PM on September 16, 2021


I am a big fan of the book--I still have my original hardback--so I can't wait to see how they did this. It's a very very weird book so I am definitely curious.
posted by Kitteh at 5:17 AM on September 17, 2021 [1 favorite]


It was very weird and very good - quite enjoyable, up-there with other Netflix series like; The OA, Maniac, Russian Doll.
posted by rozcakj at 6:09 AM on September 17, 2021


I've started watching this three times now, and just couldn't click with it. I kind of 'noped' at the creeper producer each time. Maybe I need to try a fourth time?
posted by Thorzdad at 7:00 AM on September 17, 2021


In the book, Boros is an immortal Mexican male shaman (there's a lot of stuff about the Spanish conquistadors and their subjugation of the native peoples in his origin story), so I'm intrigued they made the character female in the show.
posted by Kitteh at 7:31 AM on September 17, 2021


It sounds like everything in season 1 is from the first 66 pages of the book? I hope they make another season. Stray observations:

Every actor in this is great. Catherine Keener is doubly great. But the producer is really nailing the part too. It feels like the exact right energy for a sleazeball Hollywood guy - he thinks he’s the good guy and always has a metaphor at hand because he’s used to holding court with people who are in his thrall (or pretending to be)
cronenberg and lynch big influences, obvs
I love how matter-of-factly everyone takes the revelation that magic is real.
They could’ve leaned on period more, but they didn’t, and I think it’s better for it. The Trans Am was cool though.
It’s incomplete - what’s the deal with the mother?
posted by condour75 at 2:41 PM on September 17, 2021 [2 favorites]


Absolutely loved this! I'm a huge fan of the filmmakers' Channel Zero, which always had a fresh take on how to horrify, and always built the horror around an extremely strong and relatable emotional core. Channel Zero was built on familial trauma, and BNCF branches out a little in that the focus is on Lisa's artistic integrity, but it steers back to family at the end.

I agree that BNCF loses a little steam toward the end... A pattern in Channel Zero is that it tends to explain the horror rules, so the latter episodes become less horrifying and more about problem solving, and the same happens here. By the time Boros takes over Lucy's body, we're fully expecting it to happen.

The cast was wonderful. Rosa Salazar and Catherine Keener are two actors who always kill it, and there were a few scenes in which it's made clear why Salazar was cast for Alita: Battle Angel—she already has those anime eyes. But the two of them were able to sell the most bizarre supernatural shit convincingly. And Eric Lange, who I last remember from Lost, was perfect in his douchiness.

I was surprised to hear that the supernatural kittens were not in the original novel—they were the pivot on which the rest of the story rotated. I also read a reference to the original novel having unfortunate identity politics—Kitteh, would you be able to elaborate?

DirtyOldTown, what did you think? Since I recommended this show to you, I hope you didn't find it a waste of time!
posted by ejs at 6:17 PM on September 17, 2021


I am only two episodes in so far, but there is something about the portrayal of Lou Burke that is so perfect as an embodiment of a narcissist that it floors me. The thing where, when called to the carpet about anything, he tries to blow the person's mind with out-of-left-field revelation/brilliance... that is a real thing. He happens to be a relentlessly sexist man, but it's a bigger archetype than that, as this scam has been pulled on me by female narcissists and it still worked.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:53 PM on September 17, 2021 [3 favorites]


My wife loved this one. It's definitely a show to keep an eye out for.
posted by Catblack at 2:05 PM on September 18, 2021


I thought this was pretty awesome and it's made me want to read the book. It definitely took a few turns I wasn't expecting, it starts as a kind of Faustian "be careful what you wish for" story, but then by the end it's more about combat with an ancient magician. Lisa reminds me of a classic anti-hero protagonist in the vein of Walter White or those other Golden Age of TV types in the way that she starts off sympathetic and kind of irascible but driven, and then as the story goes along you start to realize she's kind of a bad person who is making bad choices which wind up hurting everyone else in her life. It's cool to see someone other than a middle-aged white guy play that part.
posted by whir at 6:17 PM on September 20, 2021 [1 favorite]


Also, I agree about Channel Zero - the first season didn't do it for me at all, but I really like the rest of them and how unpredictable they seem.
posted by whir at 6:22 PM on September 20, 2021


The thing about this show, and Channel Zero, is that this team has a striking and distinctly recognizable aesthetic that lets creepy nightmare and dream logic stuff slither right in next to the mundane. This show has a fair bit more surreal stuff, but the fucked-up nightmare/dream stuff that drops in still gets you.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:22 PM on September 23, 2021


Kittens, y'all. Holy shit. Kittens.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:47 AM on September 24, 2021


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