What Would Diplo Do?

I only caught this show because James Van Der Beek went on Conan to promote it. The clip looked hilarious and so I set my DVR to record it. You should too. Before this show I couldn't have told you even who Diplo was, so I don't think it matters if you have a clue either. It's the right amount of over the top situations coupled with some seriously off the wall thinking. It even borderlines on the sweet and endearing at times. Some of the things Diplo says make him seem like a modern day Yogi Berra. Seriously, don't take my word for it, go DVR the show and watch it. It's comedy gold and every episode is pretty much a standalone experience worth watching multiple times.

Not funny to me. It was severely dumb. I was like a Disney sitcom for stupid adults.

Diplo (James Van Der Beek) is an international electronic DJ superstar. He is self-obsessed and an unaware diva. His assistant Karen has to cater to his every whim. Jasper is his idiot school friend and hanger on posse. Brian (Bobby Lee) is his manager. Kröner is his stat-obsessed tech. Jamar is his ball-busting best friend.

Everybody is trying to do original material for the streaming world. This is probably Viceland dipping its toe in the water. It's low budget, high concept. Van Der Beek has done the deadpan realistic idiot character before. It's modeled after someone like Calvin Harris. Here's the deal. There isn't much in terms of writing. It is like a concept being produced for each episode and let the inmates run wild. There may be a laugh a show. This is somebody trying something and having fun with it. There are worst things in the world.

I hope this is James Van Der Beek's major breakthrough! A clever critique about the music scene and the pop stars that end up surrounded by "lapdogs" that only ignite narcissistic personalities. A series about a current theme that doesn't (YET) resort to the use of obscene language and does not rely on the stereotypes associated with the music industry like showing naked women to illustrate their point of view to tell the story. I hope it doesn't get canceled or underrated like other equally good shows. A candid way to create entertainment. Highly Recommended!

Though never a target demographic for most of his material, I thought I would take a chance on watching James during a late night bout with insomnia. I used to be interested in electronic music back in the days when Frankie Knuckles was still a novelty, but then I got a life. I enjoyed watching the series end-to-end to kill that time, even though the surrounding characters seemed under-developed. I thought Jamar was the most interesting subplot, but wanted a bit more detail which was never explained. It would seem that a coherent plot line is unimportant to this type of satire, but in this case "Diplo is a dope" is well-established by the first episode and unnecessarily beaten to death by the second, and there was little more than that by the final episode. Worst of all, James just can't seem to pull that satire off. Even in the series' most playful moments he seems the least so, weighing down the rest of the cast's performances. Plus, watching unusually long shirtless and pant-less sequences of him led to a lot of fast forwarding. If you are a 40-44 year old woman who just can't get enough of six degrees of separation from Dawson's Creek, than this might be for you, otherwise, watch at your latest convenience.