Crisis In Six Scenes

Crisis In Six Scenes begins with Woody Allen's character, writer SJ Munsinger, telling his barber: "I'm working on an idea for a television series now." This is the first time Allen has directed for television, and the series of six episodes was shown on Amazon Prime Video last year.

In contrast to conventional sitcoms, the episodes are not self-contained, so the series would probably work if it was shown as a single film. In fact, each episode is only twenty-three minutes long, so the entire series is as long as a standard film.

In making a TV series, Allen is joining other directors such as Martin Scorsese (who directed the Boardwalk Empire pilot) and David Fincher (who directed the first two episodes of House Of Cards), though they are all following in the footsteps of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Like House Of Cards, every episode of Crisis In Six Scenes was released simultaneously.

Although Allen hasn't acted in his recent films, he appears in Crisis In Six Scenes as his familiar character, with his usual shtick. If you're already a fan (as I am), his performance will probably make the series worth watching, with the requisite one-liners about atheism, hypochondria, and neuroses. On the other hand, as episode one has virtually no plot, some viewers might stop watching before Miley Cyrus appears in episode two.