The greatest TV show of the 21st century, according to Jeff Bridges: “I love it!”
Like a lot of other veteran actors, Jeff Bridges cut his teeth on television at the beginning of his career, and once he got a foothold in movies and became a star, he completely abandoned the medium.
However, with the current ‘Golden Age’ of small-screen storytelling still in full swing, the Academy Award winner joined countless other elder statesmen of cinema by coming full circle and returning to TV for the first time in decades, luxuriating in the freedom of having several hours to tell a story.
Prior to his long-awaited comeback in The Old Man, which premiered in June 2022 and landed him a Golden Globe nomination for ‘Best Actor – Television Series Drama’, Bridges hadn’t appeared on telly since 1983, when he starred in a single episode of the anthology fantasy series Faerie Tale Theatre, which was created by Shelley Duvall, randomly.
Unfortunately, his show was axed after two seasons, and he hasn’t gone near a network or streamer since. Bridges has always been a big-screen kind of guy as a performer, but as a viewer, he keeps his ear to the ground of what’s going on, and he definitely knows what he likes.
These days, it’s an understatement to say there are far too many shows to keep up with. Between terrestrial channels, networks, cable, streamers, and on-demand services, audiences need to be choosier than ever about what they invest their time in, which isn’t made easier when so much of it is worth watching.
Bridges, who’s never been shy in admitting that he’s lazy by nature, spends a lot of time on the couch poring over the latest episodic offerings. After name-checking Succession and What We Do in the Shadows as two of his most recent favourites, there was one 21st-century series that got a special mention.
“PEN15: that takes acting to another level, those women did such a wonderful job,” he celebrated. “It’s hard to even say it, it sounds so unbelievable, but they’re 34 years old, and they’re playing 13, seventh-graders. And they just do it so beautifully. I love it!”
It sounds weird, and if you’ve seen it, you’ll know that it is, but in an endearing way. Co-creators Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, who were in their 30s when the show’s first episode aired in February 2019, play fictionalised versions of themselves as teenagers, and do a remarkable job of bringing heart, humour, and pathos to the inherently ridiculous concept of playing characters two decades younger than they are.
A deserved Emmy nominee for ‘Outstanding Comedy Series’, PEN15 didn’t overstay its welcome by ending after two seasons, but you get the sneaking suspicion that Bridges would have loved nothing more than for the series to stick around a little longer.
