“Documentary Now!” She’s just a little miracle, and we’re very happy that she returned for the fourth season (of course they call it the 53rd season, but that’s part of the humor. You’ll soon understand), because it’s been almost four years since the previous season. The series, the creation of “Saturday Night Live” alumni Bill Hader (“Barry”) and Fred Armisen (“Portlandia”), is the kind of project that can only exist on the delusional fringes of American television: every episode (or two) of it is an accurate and terribly funny parody About a docu of a different genre, only that the series takes itself completely seriously. I mean, really funny things happen there, but at no point does any character overreact, and there is no wink to the viewer. Previous seasons have already broken down VICE’s hipster-on-the-battlefield docuseries, “Giro Dreams of Sushi,” “Wild Wild Country,” and the docuseries about performance artist Marina Abramovich—and as you can imagine, each episode is simple Completely different from its predecessor and only the poker faces of Haider and Armisen (and also a million favorite guests, such as John Mulaney, Jack Black, Cate Blanchett and even Helen Paking Mirren) remain in the picture.
What are they promising us in the coming season? A parody of “Burden of Dreams” (a documentary about a nightmarish production by Werner Herzog), of course a parody of “Morthy the Octopus” (with a monkey. With a monkey!), two episodes of a disturbed fashion docu, a parody of a docu about Muhammad Ali and the documentaries of the Belgian director Agnes Verde (who received both an Oscar and the Palme d’Or for lifetime achievement, so you can understand that this is a piece of work). This whole thing is just a perfect blend of sophisticated, high-brow intellectual humor and utter stupidity in the best tradition of SNL veterans who want to go a little more wild than the parent show allows. A must-watch, really (and if you’ve missed it so far, you just have to catch up on past episodes. Start with Season 2’s “Juan Likes Rice & Chicken,” which, of course, pokes fun at “Jiro Dreams of Sushi”).
Documentary Now!, Season 4, IFC