What Was That Look?

Winning Time's fourth wall-breaking is just too much

https://www.gawker.com/culture/hbo-winning-time-fourth-wall-why-no-stop

It's time to declare a temporary ban on breaking the fourth wall on TV shows and movies, says Kelly Conaboy of Adam McKay's new HBO Showtime Lakers series. "For the time being, if you want the audience to understand something, you will have to find a way to portray it in action and dialogue," says Conaboy, who adds: "It’s a pretty good trick when the person speaking directly to us is Anthony Bourdain, and he’s explaining whatever 'collateralized debt obligation' is. The reason behind that use of fourth-wall breaking, in The Big Short, was clear: this was boring, but necessary, information that had to be relayed in a captivating way. The reason for (Adam) McKay’s trick is less clear, though, when the person speaking directly to us is John C. Reilly, and what he’s explaining is that basketball is 'like great sex' (because there is rhythm involved, and bodies). Ahh … like great sex you say? Well, I might just be interested in this 'basketball' after all! In the first 15 minutes of Winning Time, four main characters break the fourth wall, each multiple times. There are two instances of meta-fourth-wall breaking: characters replying directly to camera to what another character has said directly to camera. There are three instances of informative fourth-wall breaking graphics. The gimmick is immediately tiresome, and it continues, though less frequently, throughout the entire series. It is as if Adam McKay saw Fleabag and thought, 'But what if every element of a TV show were Fleabag talking to the camera?' And 'but what if every element of a TV show were Fleabag talking to the camera?' is a fine thought to have while watching Fleabag, sure, as long as it is followed at some point by the thought, 'It would be very annoying.' Alas, in this case, it was not."