TV Talk: Amazon debuts magical realism series ‘I’m a Virgo;’ ‘The Bear’ roars again

Filmmaker Boots Riley (“Sorry to Bother You”) delivers magical realism weirdness with Amazon Prime Video’s “I’m a Virgo,” sort of a “Pushing Daisies” with a darker Tim Burton vibe but less coherent storytelling. It’s definitely strange but often funny and sometimes even moving.

Streaming June 23, the story begins with the birth of Cootie (Jharrel Jerome), an oversized baby who grows up to become a 13-foot-tall man. (The special effects are pretty old-school at times, bringing to mind the work of Ray Harryhausen.)

Cootie lives with his aunt (Carmen Ejogo) and uncle (Mike Epps), who hide him from the world to protect him. Sheltered though he is, sweet-natured Cootie learns by reading and watching TV, whose commercials lead him to covet food from Bing Bang Burger that his guardians refuse to supply.

“I’m a Virgo” makes minimal effort to explain Cootie’s gigantism through a series of headlines (including “16 Feet Tall Man Beaten by Angry Mob in Pittsburgh”) suggesting there are giants in every generation. The show is less interested in origin stories than in how the world reacts to anyone who’s othered.

Eventually, Cootie makes it out into the world and though he’s dubbed the Thwamp Monster, becomes a curiosity sensation and he’s worshipped by a cult. But some of that dissipates and he’s able to hang out with new friends, get high and start dating Bing Bang Burger counter clerk Flora (Olivia Washington), who moves like The Flash. (Yes, of course, there’s ultimately an awkward and at times confusing sex scene — what exactly is going on outside the camera’s view? — between the giant and his gnat-like love interest.)

“I’m a Virgo” also introduces The Hero (Walton Goggins), a corporate titan and self-styled superhero protector of truth and justice who’s so self-centered (and ultimately soulless), a building moves around him lest he be bothered with motion.

Cootie’s friend Jones (Kara Young) leads leftist protests and delivers a series of anti-capitalism critiques that are imaginatively staged but also ironic given this show is an Amazon production.

With most episodes running around a compact 30 minutes, “I’m a Virgo” entertains with a sly sense of humor (Cootie’s reaction when he finally gets to eat a Bing Bang Burger is a realistic disappointment) and Jerome’s sweet and grounded performance. The show has a lot of Big Ideas it wants to introduce even if “I’m a Virgo” doesn’t always follow through.

While the weirdness and absurd humor of “I’m a Virgo” has a fresh appeal, the show is also kind of a mess. A house that rises hundreds of feet into the air on stilts gets introduced but never explained. Neighbors get shrunk down to action figure size, but who did it and why? No idea. Cootie watches an animated TV show, “Parking Tickets,” featuring characters who go on depressing tirades when they aren’t repeating a nonsensical catchphrase. Late in the series viewers meet The Hero’s assistant, but the character never really goes anywhere. And then there’s Cootie’s skin rash, its origin unacknowledged, that worsens and ultimately serves as a cliffhanger for a series that feels like it should be a limited, one-and-done deal rather than something potentially ongoing.

‘The Bear’

Season two of “The Bear” turns The Beef restaurant in Chicago into a construction zone as Chef Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) and sous chef Syd Adamu (Ayo Edebiri) embark on building their dream dining establishment, which necessitates fewer chaotic, restaurant-based cooking scenes in the first half of the season.

Viewers may feel the intensity of the show’s first season has disappeared as the show delivers more tangential stories, spending a full episode with Syd as she tours local restaurants learning best practices or with Marcus (Lionel Boyce) as he goes to Copenhagen for specialized dessert training from a British chef (Will Poulter) who seems to be vying with Carmy for a Best Wavy Hair in a Comedy Series Emmy Award.

But the show’s ferocity ramps up in the second half of the season as construction at The Beef falls behind (screaming matches galore) and in a Christmastime flashback episode where chaos in the kitchen returns as Mama Berzatto (the first of many Big Name guest stars) prepares the Feast of the Seven Fishes (though no one asked her to and she knows they don’t really care but she does it anyway, working herself into a meltdown).

Unlike another popular half-hour “comedy” I know (cough, cough, “Ted Lasso”), “The Bear” mostly sticks with its 30-minute episode lengths except for that Christmas flashback (and unlike in the third season of “Ted Lasso,” this one is earned and necessary).

The success of “The Bear’s” first season seems to have enticed a bevy of well-known actors to cameo in season two. Most of those are best left to viewers to discover but I’ll make one exception to note Mt. Lebanon native Gillian Jacobs, long-time partner of “The Bear” creator Chris Storer, joins the cast in a recurring role. (Former Pittsburgher Edwin Lee Gibson is also back in season two as Ebraheim, who isn’t sure he likes the idea of turning The Beef into a fine dining establishment.)

What’s great about this second season is the way Storer and co-showrunner Joanna Calo find growth in each of the characters while still staying true to who they were when viewers first met them.

Kept/canceled

Netflix renewed Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “FUBAR” for a second season.

Adult Swim renewed “Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal” for a third season.

Paramount+ renewed “School Spirits” for a second season.

NBC canceled “American Auto” after two seasons.

Showtime’s “Billions” will end with its upcoming 12-episode seventh season (8 p.m. Aug. 13).

Channel surfing

After more than 30 years, Hearst Media Productions Group revives “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom” as an educational/informational series for NBC’s Saturday morning programming block beginning Oct. 7. … Animated “Babylon 5” movie “The Road Home,” rated PG-13 and running 78 minutes, will debut Aug. 15 digitally ($20), on Blu-ray ($30) and as a 4K Ultra HDTM Blu-ray ($40). … MGM+ series “Domina” returns for its second season at 9 p.m. July 9.