When I discovered\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Red Oaks\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a few years ago I was late too and it came via a friend\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s recommendation. I never saw it advertised or even heard of it. When I did get around to watching it I did what I hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t done since \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Transparent\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and binged it. So did everyone else I raved to about it. Hell, I even made my own bootleg Red Oaks Country Club\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 shirts.\u00c2\u00a0Every actor in the series was fantastic. We see this all the time in the music industry and as fans of music in general\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6an\u00c2\u00a0artist makes a great record that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get the accolades you feel it deserves. So, you climb on your soapbox to hip all your friends to it so they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in-the-know too.\u00c2\u00a0Sure, season two wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t as strong but overall it still ticked the same boxes that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Fast Times at Ridgemont High\u00e2\u20ac\u009d,\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Caddyshack\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Stripes\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and even\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Stand By Me\u00e2\u20ac\u009d did for me back in the day.<\/p>\n
-Greg Glover<\/p>\n
Portland, OR<\/p>\n
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We loved it and friends I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve recommended it to keep thanking me for it. Josh Meyers (Seth\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brother) is over-the-top but hilarious.<\/p>\n
Steve Gillan<\/p>\n
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My wife and I love Red Oaks!! We couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get enough.<\/p>\n
-Dan Diaz<\/p>\n
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We caught Red Oaks about a year ago and couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe we had never heard of it. Great show, great cast, but weirdly no hype<\/p>\n
Jack Pratt<\/p>\n
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One of those hidden gems…absolutely LOVED this series for all the reasons you stated.<\/p>\n
Sandy Alouete<\/p>\n
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So glad you wrote about this! Found it during the pandemic, too, and it had just the right amount of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153feel good\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for these crazy, shtty times. When Esmer said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153boychik, boychik, my dear\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to the 3 younger actors at the wedding it killed me.<\/p>\n
Jared Milgram<\/p>\n
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Great fucking show. Wife got me hooked.<\/p>\n
Mike Serra<\/p>\n
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Wow this is the first time and likely the only time I watched a series before someone!!
\nAnd I loved it.<\/p>\n
Kara Horvath<\/p>\n
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This is an amazing show, came out almost 5 years ago. \u00c2\u00a0Fantastic!!!<\/p>\n
Jared Polin<\/p>\n
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When son tells dad (Richard Kind) he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to work in his field, dad simply says \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d But the look on Kind\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face, & the delivery of the line literally made me burst into caterwauling tears.
\nI too found the series strangely beautiful.<\/p>\n
Peter Zizzo<\/p>\n
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I’m actually surprised no one turned you on to this before. I thought it was a gem, and the character arcs are anything but stereotypical for this genre. I know you still parse through Amazon Prime Video, because you turned me on to “Bosch”!<\/p>\n
Roy Liu<\/p>\n
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Red Oaks is great. Actually, Greg Jacobs,\u00c2\u00a0who worked with my Dad and Soderbergh on all the Oceans movies and Candelabra, created and produced it. It is largely, I think, his story.<\/p>\n
Glad you found it and enjoyed it.<\/p>\n
Michael Weintraub<\/p>\n
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Saw Red Oaks years ago\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6even before Maisel. Loved it! Definitely an homage to the John Hughes movies of the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc80s. Nice to see Paul Reiser as a sort-of asshole for a change, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll take any excuse to see Richard Kind. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re right\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6on Netflix it would\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been a smash.<\/p>\n
Rob Maurer<\/p>\n
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Red Oaks was a surprisingly enjoyable show — we streamed it earlier this (when Delta curtailed our nascent going out). The soft glow of nostalgia, with a fantastic cast, (and not too much schmaltz). And it’s fun watching Resiser play an asshole.<\/p>\n
Streaming has helped us find lots of pre-Covid show that we missed first time around<\/p>\n
Try “Madame Secretary” (Netflix) for its surprising depth and characters<\/p>\n
-Barry Ritholtz<\/p>\n
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Bob I agree with you 110% on this.\u00c2\u00a0 I had Red Oaks in my watch list for a couple of years and recently found myself scrolling through Amazon Prime for no good reason.\u00c2\u00a0 I had this one saved and decided to give it a go.\u00c2\u00a0 And you’re right, it is a show you cannot stop once you start….the acting and the characters are all top notch, like you said.\u00c2\u00a0 it helps that I was the same age as these kids were in the 80’s, so I could almost feel the hi-jinks happening around me.\u00c2\u00a0 my wife and I binged this show in about two weeks’ time….it’s so worth taking a chance on and I’m not surprised it had such high marks.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m glad you chose to watch it and write about it!<\/p>\n
Mike Farley<\/p>\n
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Good morning Bob. I loved Red Oaks, but you neglected to mention the best part of the show – the music! So many great 80s tracks and not the ones you always hear. They played Ceremony by New Order in episode 1 of season 2, which I’ve never heard in a movie or a TV show. Incredible!<\/p>\n
The acting is awesome, but for me, the music stole the show. I’m glad you liked it and you’re right, they don’t make movies like that today, which is a shame.<\/p>\n
John Byrne<\/p>\n
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Great review. I watched this a few summers back when it first came out. It being an 80s period piece attracted me, and the characters were all likeable and kept me in it. It also turned me on to Roxy Music’s Avalon!<\/p>\n
Keep it up,<\/p>\n
Nick Benko in Windsor, Ontario<\/p>\n
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Personally, I loved it.<\/p>\n
Richard Stumpf<\/p>\n
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As a big time tennis player from NJ, this show captivated me!<\/p>\n
Gary Eskow<\/p>\n
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I watched Red Oaks after hunting for something\/anything on Prime. I put on the show not expecting much but hung around. The characters are engaging as are the actors.<\/p>\n
One of the better parts of the production is that it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hit you over the head with \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc80s clich\u00c3\u00a9s. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t remember one \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Flock of Seagulls\u00e2\u20ac\u009d haircut reference, for example. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more subtle and you catch yourself thinking, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153oh yeah, I remember that.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The show works because of not only the characters and casting but also because the many storylines are smartly interweaved and are relatable in any decade. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got a nice chill pace and you can get lost in the show as desired.<\/p>\n
Paul Nordlund<\/p>\n
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I watched this a year ago, very entertaining\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6anyone who grew up in late 70\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s or early 80\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and was coming of age knew someone like at least one if not more of the characters\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.<\/p>\n
Michael Creamer<\/p>\n
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Hey Bob! Glad to hear you loved Red Oaks too! My wife discovered it, and I saw bits and pieces of it when she watched. Liked what I saw, started watching on my own, then once I caught up with her, we watched it together and loved it! The only thing I wish they would’ve added was the typical 80s movie end credits like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, etc, with an update on David, Misty and Wheeler, etc. I had to write that part in my head. Great show though, fun to hear your thoughts.<\/p>\n
Pete O.<\/p>\n
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I stumbled on to Red Oaks 4 years ago and watched every episode. Completely agree with your assessment. It’s good clean fun and well acted. Blows away any of these silly laugh track network offerings. You would think the networks would have gotten up to speed by now as you can say just about anything (IE cartoons like Family Guy) but they seem to live in the past just like the record labels. Lame<\/p>\n
Justin Fontaine<\/p>\n
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Oh man..spot on. I kinda hated this show while loving it\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6or loved it while I hated it. I watched the whole thing. About 2-3 years ago after a friend mentioned it. Some of the acting is really bad, I thought\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6but in a corny way. This write up nails it.<\/p>\n
Best Regards,
\nEric Seifert<\/p>\n
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Glad you found Red Oaks. Steven Soderbergh is a sure sign of at least an attempt at quality and intelligence. He was intelligent enough to hire Hal Hartley to direct a few episodes. Hartley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s films are cult favorites among those who get his dry sense of humor. They have their own rhythm, like Pinter Plays and Mamet Movies. Also, Red Oaks features my old college roommate Richard Masur as Morrie.<\/p>\n
best<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Michael Ross<\/p>\n
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Loved Red Oaks. I don’t know what prompted me to watch because Prime is so cluttered as you say and it’s annoying to navigate. But i’m glad I waded in and somehow found Red Oaks. I thought my wife and I were the only ones who’d seen it!<\/p>\n
Rick Saunders<\/p>\n
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