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