High Maintenance is an American comedy-drama television and web series created by ex-husband and wife team Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld. The show follows a nameless marijuana deliveryman called The Guy (played by Sinclair) as he delivers his product to clients in New York City. Each episode focuses on a new set of characters as they all procure their cannabis from Sinclair's character.
High Maintenance originally premiered as a web series on Vimeo on November 11, 2012 and began airing as a television series on HBO on September 16, 2016. The show's second HBO season premiered on January 19, 2018.
On February 21, 2018, HBO renewed the series for a third season.
Video High Maintenance
Plot
Almost all of the episodes in this character-driven series are named after an unseen peripheral character that someone in the episode mentions (the one exception being "Heidi"). The characters are meant to be relevant, regardless of whether or not the viewer engages in similar activities. This web series is shot throughout various neighborhoods in Brooklyn and occasionally Manhattan. Each episode is between five and twelve minutes in length. "Freed of the constraints of thirty-minute or one-hour formulas, the episodes are luxurious and twisty and humane, radiating new ideas about storytelling," wrote television critic Emily Nussbaum in an article for The New Yorker.
Maps High Maintenance
Episodes
Web series
Television series
Production
Sinclair said that the TV shows Six Feet Under and Party Down were inspirations for the web series.
The talent pool in New York City is rich--and familiar to Blichfeld (who is an Emmy Award-winning casting director of 30 Rock). Each episode cost less than $1,000 to make.
In June 2014, Vimeo announced that the website would provide financial backing for upcoming episodes of original programming via their Vimeo on Demand platform.
Vimeo funded six episodes of High Maintenance before the series was picked up by HBO. Three episodes were released November 11, 2014, and the remaining three on February 5, 2015.
Critical response
Critical response has been positive. The actor Dan Stevens calls it "a brilliant collection of succinct character portraits from a cross-section of New York society". Jenji Kohan said that High Maintenance was one of her favorite recent discoveries, calling the episodes little jewels, "beautiful glimpses into people's lives," "really well crafted," "delicious."
Notable cast
- Ben Sinclair, the co-creator of the web series appears as The Guy, the nameless marijuana delivery man
- Dan Stevens appears as a cross-dressing screenwriter named Colin in the episode "Rachel"
- Katja Blichfeld appears as Becky, the wife of Dan Stevens' cross-dressing character in the episode "Rachel", and is the co-creator of the series.
- Hannibal Buress appears as a comedian in the episode "Jonathan" and as himself in "Selfie".
- Max Jenkins and Heléne Yorke appear in several episodes as a pair of loathsome "Assholes" from the fashion world
- Christopher Caldwell (Bob the Drag Queen) appears as Darnell, a recovering addict in "Meth(od)."
- Yael Stone appears as one of The Guy's customers and budding romantic partner, a quirky, mushroom-dealing Australian who lives in Bushwick.
- Michael Cyril Creighton appears as Patrick, a lonely agoraphobic obsessed with Helen Hunt and secretly in love with The Guy.
- Gaby Hoffmann appears as a yoga practitioner and attendee of the day rave in season 1 / episode 4 ("Tick").
- Lena Dunham appears as herself filming an episode of Girls in "Selfie".
References
External links
- Official website
- High Maintenance on HBO
- High Maintenance on Vimeo
- High Maintenance on IMDb
Source of article : Wikipedia
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