8 shows I'm watching in May

A staircase, a haunted baby, aliens, and Molly Shannon.

8. The Wilds (Season 2, Prime Video)
My score: 45/100

In case you missed it, I recently had the great pleasure of interviewing the iconic Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under, Brothers & Sisters) for W magazine. She is by far, the best part of the second season of The Wilds, which expands its cast to include a group of teen male plane crash survivors to compliment the previous season’s group of teen girls.

I personally found the Lord of the Flies teen boy characters to fall flat, and the cast felt so bloated we miss out on the tight focus from the first season. There was missing tension and the stakes felt muddled, on top of episodes that are too long. The show was never the most polished (and now has the misfortune of being compared to Yellowjackets), but season two sucked a lot of the fun out of what I enjoyed from season one.

7. The First Lady (Showtime)
My score: 50/100

I feel like I can’t even review this properly because of how uneven it is. Two thirds of the show are clunky and awkwardly cast: Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt and Viola Davis as Michelle Obama. Those parts of the show are…almost caricature-like, between the mouth acting, makeup, and prosthetics.

Meanwhile, Michelle Pfeiffer brings Betty Ford to life in a nuanced way that feels almost like it’s occurring in another, more thoughtful show. Whether or not it’s worth finishing the season just for Pfeiffer is to be determined—I’d like someone to create a supercut of just her scenes for my viewing pleasure.

6. I Love That For You (Showtime)