38 | JUNE 18 • 2020 

CELEB’
S DIY VIDEOS AND A 
GOOD NETFLIX FILM
Celebrity Show-Off will start on 
TBS on Tuesday, June 23, at 10 
p.m. Mayim Bialik, 44, hosts 
this 10-episode series, which is 
based on a hit Korean show. Each 
week, five celebs will compete 
via videos they created and were 
shot at their homes. The goal is 
to entertain the most viewers any 
which way. The first episode will 
acquaint viewers with the format 
and introduce the first five con-
testants. The next day, June 24, 
the videos they created will be 
posted on TBS’
s YouTube channel. 
 The videos will be judged on 
number of views and view dura-
tion. The next episode will feature 
the five celebs viewing the videos 
and commenting on them. Then 

the celeb with the lowest rated 
video will be ousted and replaced 
the next week with a new celeb. 
 About 15 celebs have con-
firmed they’
ll compete, and, 
frankly, they aren’
t “A” listers. The 
first 15 includes Tori Spelling, 
47. Her career has faded since
Beverly Hills, 90210 ended 20 
years ago. But I’
m curious what 
she’
ll do to entertain us.
Wasp Network, a Cuban politi-
cal thriller starring Penelope Cruz 
and Edgar Ramirez, will begin 
streaming on June 19. Variety
gave it a good review. Wasp was 

directed by Olivier Assayas, 65, 
a French director who has made 
many good films.

SURPRISES EVERY WHICH WAY
The Vast of Night, an original 
Amazon Prime film, started 
streaming on May 29. This small 
budget film, without any name 
actors, has got real buzz. It is 
rated 92% positive on Rotten 
Tomatoes, and leading critics 
have given it the thumbs-up. A 
short summary: In the late 1950s, 
on one fateful night in New 
Mexico, a young, switchboard 
operator Fay (Sierra McCormick) 
and charismatic radio DJ Everett 
(Jake Horowitz, 25) discover 
a strange audio frequency that 
could change their small town 
and the future forever.
Horowitz’
s Jewish father, Peter 
Horowitz, 70ish, is an actor and 
the founder/artistic director of a 
Brooklyn theater company where 
Jake got his start. Peter grew up 
in Miami, where his father, the 

late Arthur Horowitz, founded 
and ran a very successful restau-
rant chain called Junior’
s. Arthur 
and his wife, Peter’
s mother, were 
very involved in the Jewish com-
munity and took a very tough line 
on the Israel-Palestine conflict. 
Jake’
s mother is a practicing 
Catholic and a lay organization 
leader. Jake’
s two sides are very 
different, and I simply don’
t know 
how he identifies religiously. But, 
wait, there’
s more unusual stuff: 
There’
s a Brooklyn restaurant 
chain named Junior’
s, famous 
for its great cheesecake (It is 
great!). There were historical 
ties between the Miami chain 
and the Brooklyn chain. A claim 
was made around 2006 that the 
cheesecake recipe originated 
with the Miami chain. Brooklyn 
said no. The NY Times ran a long 
article about the controversy. 
Peter Horowitz was interviewed. 
The Times said that no conclusion 
was possible because so many of 
the “players” were deceased. 

T

here couldn’
t be a better 
setting for Hashoter Hatov
(The Good Cop) than 
Petakh Tikva, one of the earliest 
Jewish settlements in the center 
of Israel, just a short ride from 
Tel Aviv. 
Petakh Tikva has become a 
symbol of peripherality; many 

Israelis joke about how insignifi-
cant the city is. If you want to see 
what’
s living day-to-day in Israel 
is really like beyond the head-
lines, Hashoter Hatov will show 
you.
The cop comedy, whose first 
season is available to American 
viewers on Netflix, follows Israeli 

policeman Danny Konfino (Yuval 
Semo) and family and his friends 
and coworkers in the station. 
After Danny’
s fiancée cheats 
on him and they break up, he’
s 
forced to move back in with his 
parents. 
Danny’
s journey is one of 
learning to control his anger and 
open his heart, but also one of 
trying to live in a country that 
barely gives a damn about him. 
Though the show occasionally 
crosses the thin line from satire 
to offensive humor, its goal is a 
novel one: to deconstruct toxic 
behaviors and show an unglam-
orized version of Israel. 
Some notes before I recom-
mend the show. First, the cast 
includes Moshe Ivgy, who was 
accused by several women of sex-
ual harassment and indecent acts 
in 2016 and indicted in four cases 
in 2020 (Hashoter’
s first season 
was filmed in 2015). Ivgy’
s pres-
ence on my screen tells another 
Israeli story — one of a society 
that too often neglects its women. 
That isn’
t the only problem. As 

waves of protests against police 
brutality erupt in the U.S. and all 
over the world, I cannot turn a 
blind eye to how, as with any cop 
comedy, Hashoter Hatov essentially 
treats Danny’
s violent behavior 
toward suspects and criminals as 
a joke. 
Violence is a fact within an 
organization that forgives and 
encourages it, and the show does 
acknowledge that. What’
s missing 
is a deeper acknowledgment of 
how unfunny police brutality 
actually is and who suffers from it 
the most. 
Nevertheless, the ugliness that 
often appears in the show and 
surrounds parts of it adds to its 
authenticity, which is the show’
s 
heart. That’
s Israel, for better or 
worse. 

Arts&Life

TV Review

A Very Israeli
Cop Comedy

Hashoter Hatov is a satirical portrayal 
of Israel that looks different against our 
global dialogue on police brutality.

MICHAEL ELIAS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

WHERE TO WATCH
The first season of Hashoter
Hatov (and its American remake)
is now available on Netflix. Two 
more seasons have already
aired in Israel.

PHOTO COURTESY OF NETFLIX VIA JTA.ORG

The cast of 
Hashoter Hatov

Arts&Life

celebrity jews

NATE BLOOM
COLUMNIST

Mayim 
Bialik

MARK NEYMAN / GOVERNMENT PRESS OFFICE/ISRAEL

