''High Maintenance'' is an American

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically cate ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

and

web Web most often refers to: * Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal * World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to: Computing * WEB, a literate programming system created by ...

series created by ex-husband and wife team Ben Sinclair and

Katja Blichfeld Katja Blichfeld (born 1979) is an American writer, director, producer and casting director. She is known for co-creating and directing ''High Maintenance'', a Vimeo web series and HBO television series. She won a Primetime Emmy award for Outstan ...

. The show follows The Guy, a

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...

courier (played by Sinclair), as he delivers his product to clients in the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

borough of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. Each episode focuses on different characters as their lives intersect with The Guy. The full series consists of six web series followed by four television seasons, released from November 2012 to April 2020. ''High Maintenance'' originally premiered as a web series on

Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...

on November 11, 2012, and began airing as a television series on HBO on September 16, 2016. The show's second HBO season premiered on January 19, 2018, and its third on January 20, 2019. HBO renewed the series for a fourth season, which premiered on February 7, 2020. On January 14, 2021, it was confirmed that the series would not return for a fifth season. ''High Maintenance'' has received critical acclaim for its portrayals of boredom, loneliness, and the

human condition The human condition is all of the characteristics and key events of human life, including birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, morality, conflict, and death. This is a very broad topic that has been and continues to be pondered and analyzed f ...

. First season episodes "Meth(od)" and "Grandpa" both placed on numerous year-end lists in 2016, while second season episode "Globo" was ranked as one of the best episodes of 2018 by sources such as ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'' and ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

''.

Structure

Largely lacking serial plotlines, the show consists of vignettes in the lives of various New Yorkers as they come into direct or indirect contact with The Guy. The web series was shot throughout various neighborhoods in

and occasionally

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, and its episodes range from 5 to 20 minutes in length. "Freed of the constraints of thirty-minute or one-hour formulas, the episodes are luxurious and twisty and humane, radiating new ideas about storytelling," wrote television critic Emily Nussbaum in an article for ''The New Yorker''. When the series moved to HBO, its episodes expanded to the half-hour format. The television version continued the practice of on-location photography.

Episodes

Production

Sinclair said that the TV shows '' Six Feet Under'' and ''

Party Down ''Party Down'' is an American sitcom created and primarily written by John Enbom, Rob Thomas, Dan Etheridge and Paul Rudd that aired on the Starz network in the United States in 2009 and 2010. The series follows a group of caterers in Los Ang ...

'' were inspirations for the web series. The talent pool in New York City is rich—and familiar to Blichfeld (who is an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

-winning casting director of ''

30 Rock ''30 Rock'' is an American satirical sitcom television series created by Tina Fey that originally aired on NBC from October 11, 2006, to January 31, 2013. The series, based on Fey's experiences as head writer for ''Saturday Night Live'', tak ...

''). Each episode cost less than $1,000 to make. In June 2014,

announced that the website would provide financial backing for upcoming episodes of original programming via their Vimeo on Demand platform. Vimeo funded six episodes of ''High Maintenance'' before the series was picked up by HBO. Three episodes were released November 11, 2014, and the remaining three on February 5, 2015.

Critical response

Critical response has been positive. The actor

Dan Stevens Daniel Jonathan Stevens (born 10 October 1982) is a British actor and writer. He first drew international attention for his role as Matthew Crawley in the ITV acclaimed period drama series '' Downton Abbey'' (2010–2012). He also starred as ...

, who later appeared on the show, calls it "a brilliant collection of succinct character portraits from a cross-section of New York society."

Jenji Kohan Jenji Leslie Kohan (born July 5, 1969) is an American television writer and producer. She is best known as the creator and showrunner of the Showtime comedy-drama series '' Weeds'' and the Netflix comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black''. ...

said that ''High Maintenance'' was one of her favorite recent discoveries, calling the episodes little jewels, "beautiful glimpses into people's lives," "really well crafted," "delicious." The Guy often interacts with members of the Jewish community in the areas of New York that he services, and he himself is Jewish. This aspect of the series has been noted approvingly by Jewish reviewers for its representation of contemporary Jewish life. Ethnic diversity in the show as it moved from web series to an HBO series has also been noted.

Notable cast

* Ben Sinclair, the co-creator of the web series, appears as "The Guy" (named in the finale as Rufus Mann), a marijuana delivery courier. *

appears as a cross-dressing screenwriter named Colin in the web series episode "Rachel" and three episodes of the HBO series. *

appears as Becky, the wife of Dan Stevens' cross-dressing character in the web series episode "Rachel" and four episodes of the HBO series. Blichfeld is also the co-creator of the series. *

Rosie Perez Rosa Perez (born September 6, 1964) is an American actress, choreographer, dancer, and activist. Her breakthrough came with her portrayal of Tina in the film ''Do the Right Thing'' (1989), followed by '' White Men Can't Jump'' (1992). Perez's per ...

appears as Adriana in the episode "Proxy" in Season 3. *

Hannibal Buress Hannibal Amir Buress ( , born February 4, 1983) is an American actor, comedian, producer, rapper and writer. He started performing comedy in 2002 while attending Southern Illinois University. He starred on Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; styliz ...

appears as himself in the episodes "Jonathan" and "Selfie". *

Abdullah Saeed Abdullah Saeed (born May 18, 1984) is a Pakistani-American producer, composer, journalist, host, writer, and comic. He produced and hosted several TV shows and documentaries for Vice. Personal life Saeed was born in New Hampshire to a Pakistani ...

appears as Abdullah, a temporary partner to The Guy in Season 2. * Max Jenkins and Heléne Yorke appear in several episodes as a pair of loathsome "Assholes" from the fashion world. *Christopher Caldwell (

Bob the Drag Queen Christopher D. Caldwell, better known as Bob the Drag Queen and Caldwell Tidicue, is an American drag queen, comedian, actor, activist, musician, and reality television personality. He is best known for winning the eighth season of ''RuPaul's D ...

) appears as Darnell, a recovering addict in "Meth(od)." * Kate Lyn Sheil appears as Jules, The Guy's ex-wife who he remains friends with. *

Yael Stone Jael or Yael ( he, יָעֵל ''Yāʿēl'') is the name of the heroine who delivered Israel from the army of King Jabin of Canaan in the Book of Judges of the Hebrew Bible. After Barak demurred at the behest of the prophetess Deborah, God turn ...

appears as Beth, one of The Guy's customers and budding romantic partner, a quirky, mushroom-dealing Australian who lives in Bushwick. *

Michael Cyril Creighton Michael Cyril Creighton is an American actor and writer best known for his portrayal of Howard Morris in ''Only Murders in the Building'', Patrick in '' High Maintenance'', Joe Crowley in '' Spotlight'' and his Writers Guild of America Award-win ...

appears as Patrick, a lonely agoraphobic obsessed with Helen Hunt and secretly in love with The Guy. * Gaby Hoffmann appears as a yoga practitioner and attendee of the day rave in season 1, episode 4 ("Tick"). *

Lena Dunham Lena Dunham (, born May 13, 1986) is an American writer, director, actress, and producer. She is known as the creator, writer, and star of the HBO television series ''Girls (TV series), Girls'' (2012–2017), for which she received several Emmy ...

appears as herself filming an episode of ''

Girls A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.c ...

'' in "Selfie". * Britt Lower appears as Lee, a love interest for The Guy in Season 3. *

Nick Kroll Nicholas Kroll (born June 5, 1978) is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is known for creating and starring in the Comedy Central series '' Kroll Show'', ''The Oh, Hello Show'', the FX comedy series ''The L ...

and

Rebecca Hall Rebecca Maria Hall (born 3 May 1982) is an English actress and filmmaker. She made her first onscreen appearance at age 10 in the 1992 television adaptation of '' The Camomile Lawn'', directed by her father, Sir Peter Hall. Her professional s ...

appear as themselves in Season 4. *

Ira Glass Ira Jeffrey Glass (; born March 3, 1959) is an American public radio personality. He is the host and producer of the radio and television series ''This American Life'' and has participated in other NPR programs, including ''Morning Edition'', ' ...

, the host and producer of

This American Life ''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internati ...

appears as himself in Season 4. *

Temple Grandin Mary Temple Grandin (born August 29, 1947) is an American academic and animal behaviorist. She is a prominent proponent for the humane treatment of livestock for slaughter and the author of more than 60 scientific papers on animal behavior. Gra ...

appears as herself in Season 3.

References

External links

* *
Web series blog''High Maintenance''
on HBO
''High Maintenance''
on

{{HBONetwork Shows 2016 American television series debuts 2020 American television series endings 2010s American comedy-drama television series 2010s American LGBT-related comedy television series 2020s American comedy-drama television series 2020s American LGBT-related comedy television series American comedy web series American television series about cannabis Comedy-drama web series English-language television shows HBO original programming Television series about illegal drug trade Television series based on Internet-based works Television shows filmed in New York (state) Television shows set in New York City 2010s American LGBT-related drama television series 2020s American LGBT-related drama television series American LGBT-related web series