HISTORY OF THE WORLD
(2), PERRY MASON
REDUX, LAST OF US
On March 6, the highly
anticipated series History
of the World, Part 2, pre-
mieres on Hulu. Every
Mel Brooks’ fan knows
that Part 1 was a hilarious
1981 film, directed and
written by Brooks. Scenes
included Moses (played by
Brooks) bringing down the
Ten Commandments from
Mount Sinai.
The 1981 film hinted that
there would be a Part 2.
But Brooks always said
that was a joke. Well, the
95-year-old Brooks was
coaxed to co-write a sequel
with David Stassen (not
Jewish).
The Hulu sequel will be in
the form of eight half-hour
episodes. On March 6, two
episodes will be released.
Two more episodes will be
released each following day
(March 7-9). It is unclear if a
hilarious scene in the trailer
— Jews in Space, will be a
series full skit.
As I write this, the cast
list is a bit incomplete. The
“definite” Jewish mem-
bers of the large cast are
Pamela Adlon, 56, Evan
Shafran, 40, Richard Kind,
66, Ike Barinholtz, 45, Nick
Kroll, 44, Jack Black, 53,
Sarah Silverman, 52, Seth
Rogen, 40 (as the biblical
Noah), David Duchovny,
62, David Wain, 53, Josh
Gad, 41, Emily Ratajkowski,
31, and Jake Johnson, 40.
All the persons above
have/had two Jewish
parents, except those
noted here: Johnson and
Ducovny are the secular
sons of Jewish fathers,
and Ratajkowski, also sec-
ular, has a Jewish mother.
(Famous director/actor Taiki
Waititi is a cast member.
He had one Jewish grand-
parent and identifies as
“Jewish/Polynesian”.)
In 2020, HBO released
Perry Mason, a reboot of
the famous TV series. But,
unlike the original, which
was set in the 1950s and
1960s, the new series
is set during the Great
Depression. The 1930s
Mason, that we first see, is
a broke private investigator.
His life changes when a
major case prompts him to
become a defense attorney.
As in the TV series,
Hamilton Burger, an assis-
tant district attorney, is a
major character. Justin Kirk,
53, played Burger in the
first season, and he will be
even more prominent as
Burger in the second sea-
son (which begins March 6
on HBO).
Kirk is the secular son
of a Jewish mother and
non-Jewish father. He’s
best-known playing Andy
Botwin, a (star) Jewish char-
acter on the long-running
Showtime series Weeds.
Michael Begler and
Jack Amiel, both 54, took
over as the main produc-
ers of the show in the
second season. They also
wrote most of the sec-
ond season scripts.
I was reluctant to watch
The Last of Us, a “dys-
topian” HBO series that
premiered in January. I am
tired of movies and series
that are set in a “screwed-
up” fictional world and go
on and on (sequels or new
seasons). A prime exam-
ple is The Walking Dead,
a “zombie apocalypse”
series that ran for 11 (!) sea-
sons on AMC. They would
still be making new epi-
sodes if repetitive storylines
hadn’t led most viewers to
stop watching.
The Last of Us may “go
the way” of The Walking
Dead. But, right now, it is an
exciting, very well-written
program. I tuned in when I
saw great reviews and arti-
cles that said that HBO had
its biggest ratings hit since
Game of Thrones.
Here’s the essential
set-up: in 2003, a mutant
fungus infects people all
over the world. There is no
vaccine or treatment. The
infection turns victims into
zombies whose only aim is
to infect other people (via
a bite). The storyline focus-
es on Joel Miller (Pedro
Pascal), a small-time con-
struction contractor who
deftly stays uninfected. In
flashbacks and jumps for-
ward, we follow him from
2003 to 2023. (To date, no
Jewish actor has appeared
in a main or important guest
role).
Last is based on a series
of very popular and literate
video games of the same
name. For the most part,
the plot of the first HBO
season, and the characters,
were created for the video
game first.
The original video
game and its sequels
were co-created by and
co-written (scripts) by
Neil Druckmann, 44. He
was born in Israel and lived
there until 1989, when
his family moved to the
States. He has the technical
ability to create video
games (programming, etc.)
and the talent to write very
good stories.
Druckmann and Craig
Mazin, 51, co-created the
HBO series, and Mazin has
adapted the video scripts
for the HBO series. He is
best known for writing and
directing the HBO series
Chernobyl.
Do watch an excellent
CBS Morning Show (Feb.
17) interview with Mazin
(How Great Storytelling is
the Secret Behind the Last
of Us’ Success …). Its free
online/CBS News app:
https://tinyurl.com/2mxx-
fj55.
NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
CELEBRITY NEWS
ARTS&LIFE
ANGELA GEORGE
Mel Brooks
KRISTIN DOS SANTOS
Justin Kirk
JONATAN BLOMBERG
Neil Druckmann
MARCH 2 • 2023 | 51