"Your Friends & Neighbors"

Jon Hamm will always be Don Draper. If you are not familiar with that you need to immediately take a week off and watch Mad Men. It is an amazing show and so is John Hamm in it. But that does not mean he has not been able to play other roles and be just as good.

In Your Friends & Neighbors Hamm plays Cooper, he has a wife, Mel, played by Amanda Peet, 2 kids, Tori and Hunter played by Isabel Gravitt and Donovan Colan, and life is good. He lives in a ridiculously wealthy neighborhood, with gigantic mansions, and all the trappings that come with it.

But now things are not quite going his way, he caught his wife in bed with his best friend Nick, a former NBA star played by Mark Tallman, and now they are divorced. And to cap it off he has lost his job.

Now to add to the confusion Coop is sleeping with Sam, a friend of his ex-wife, played by Oliva Munn.

Even though Coop does not have a job he is still supporting his ex and his children in the style which they have been accustom. He refuses to admit to his family that he no longer has a job, creates a huge dilemma for Coop.

A great part of this show is having Hamm narrate what is happening and what Coop is thinking. We hear his inner turmoil and realization that living this opulent country club lifestyle with thousand- dollar bottles of scotch, $50,000 Birkin handbags and endless parties where people are trying to impress people, they actual hate, is ridiculous and has no real point.

At one of these parties, with all the guests outside, Coop goes to the bathroom and starts poking around, opening drawers. He comes across one full of luxury watches the owner never wears. He decides to take one and sell it. He realizes that every house in his neighborhood is full of expensive items they never use, and best of all probably would never miss. This is the answer to his money problems. Or so he thinks.

The show is on Apple TV, there are 9 episodes each about an hour, Rated TV-MA for tons of language, lots of sex and nudity, definitely an adult show.

Of course, we as the viewer ask the simple question, why does he not tell his family that at the present time he does not have a job and they are going to have to adjust their lifestyle until he can get his life back on track. There are multiple reasons, pride, embarrassment, sense of duty as a father and husband, but the real reason is storyline. Most of the conflict in drama and comedy comes from having characters who refuse to have a ten-minute conversation that would clear things up. Like TV cops announcing who they are to the bad guys from 2 blocks away to create a chase scene. Without conflict and bad decisions, we have no entertainment.

If you are a fan of Jon Hamm and you have Apple TV, you will not be disappointed.

My Score: 5 Cold Buds