High Maintenance

''High Maintenance'' is an American anthology comedy-drama television and web series created by ex-husband and wife team Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld. The show follows The Guy, a cannabis courier (played by Sinclair), as he delivers his product to clients in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. 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 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. 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'' and '' Variety''.

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 Brooklyn and occasionally Manhattan, 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.

Cast

Main

* Ben Sinclair as "The Guy", a marijuana delivery courier. His real name, "Rufus", is revealed in the final episode.

Recurring

* Yael Stone as Beth (seasons 1–2), one of The Guy's customers and budding romantic partner, a quirky, mushroom-dealing Australian who lives in Bushwick.
* Dan Stevens (seasons 1–2, 4) as Colin, a cross-dressing screenwriter. Stevens appeared in the web series episode "Rachel" and three episodes of the HBO series.
* Katja Blichfeld as Becky (seasons 1–2, 4), the wife of Colin.
* Rebecca Naomi Jones as Gwen (seasons 1–2), his ex-wife's new partner.
* Miriam Shor as Renee (seasons 1–2), a bohemian woman with a difficult relationship with her daughter.
*Amy Ryan as Gigi (seasons 1 and 3), a film producer.
* Michael Cyril Creighton as Patrick (seasons 1 and 3), a lonely agoraphobic obsessed with Helen Hunt and secretly in love with The Guy.
*Max Jenkins and Heléne Yorke appear as Max and Lainey (seasons 1 and 4), a pair of loathsome "Assholes" from the fashion world.
* Greta Lee as Heidi (seasons 1–2), a customer of The Guy.
* Kate Lyn Sheil as Jules (seasons 2–3), The Guy's ex-wife who he remains friends with.
* Abdullah Saeed as Abdullah (seasons 2–3), a temporary partner to The Guy.
* Britt Lower as Lee (season 3), a love interest for The Guy.
* Ken Leung as Gene (seasons 3–4), a depressed veterinarian.

Notable guests

* Christopher Caldwell as Darnell, a recovering addict ("Meth(od)")
*Lee Tergesen as Leo ("Museebat")
*Gaby Hoffmann as herself, a yoga practitioner and attendee of the day rave ("Tick")
* Hannibal Buress as himself ("Selfie")
*Brett Gelman as himself ("Selfie")
*Lena Dunham as herself, filming an episode of '' Girls'' ("Selfie")
* Danielle Brooks as Regine, a realtor ("Namaste")
* Jessica Hecht as Laurie ("Ghost")
* John Gallagher Jr. as Zach ("Steve")
* Temple Grandin as herself in a cameo ("Craig")
* Annie Golden as Barbie ("Blondie")
*Margaret Cho as Doc Lee ("Payday")
* Rosie Perez and Guillermo Díaz as Adriana and Arturo, wife and husband ("Proxy")
* Reed Birney as Leonard ("Cruise")
* Ira Glass as himself, the host and producer of ''This American Life'' ("Cycles)"
*Nick Kroll as himself ("Trick")
*Rebecca Hall as herself ("Trick")
*Martha Stewart as herself ("Hand")

Series overview

Web series

Television series

Web series episodes

Cycle 1 (2012)

Cycle 2 (2013)

Cycle 3 (2013)

Cycle 4 (2013–14)

Cycle 5 (2014)

Cycle 6 (2015)

Television series episodes

Season 1 (2016)

Season 2 (2018)

Season 3 (2019)

Season 4 (2020)

Production

Sinclair said that the TV shows '' Six Feet Under'' and '' Party Down'' were inspirations for the web series. Each episode cost less than $1,000 to make.

In June 2014, Vimeo 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. For the first season, review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 95% approval rating with an average rating of 8.2/10, based on 42 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Dreamlike, poignant, and often funny, ''High Maintenance'' successfully transitions from the web to the small screen thanks to sharp writing and an excellent cast." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 81 out of 100 based on 20 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". For the second season, Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 9/10, based on 22 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "''High Maintenance''s silly premise turns surprisingly insightful in its second season, offering a hopeful, generous view tinged with bittersweet melancholy that consistently avoids stumbling into sentimentality." Metacritic assigned a score of 85 out of 100 based on 4 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". For the third season, Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 8.5/10, based on 5 critic reviews. For the fourth season, Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 8.2/10, based on 8 critic reviews.

The actor Dan Stevens, who appeared on the show, calls it "a brilliant collection of succinct character portraits from a cross-section of New York society." Jenji Kohan 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.

References

External links

*
*
''High Maintenance''
on HBO
''High Maintenance''
on Vimeo

{{Writers Guild of America Award for Best Short Form New Media

2010s American comedy-drama television series
2010s American LGBTQ-related comedy television series
2010s American LGBTQ-related drama television series
2016 American television series debuts
2020 American television series endings
2020s American comedy-drama television series
2020s American LGBTQ-related comedy television series
2020s American LGBTQ-related drama television series
American comedy web series
American English-language television shows
American LGBTQ-related web series
American television series about cannabis
Comedy-drama web series
HBO television dramas
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