''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 related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

television 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. The show follows The Guy, a

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

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

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

borough of

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. 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 ( ) is an American Online video platform, video hosting, sharing, and services provider founded in 2004 and headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices and operates on a ...

on November 11, 2012, and began airing as a television series on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

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 can be defined as the characteristics and key events of human life, including birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, reason, morality, conflict, and death. This is a very broad topic that has been and continues to be pondered ...

. 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 continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' 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

and occasionally

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, 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 Amy Beth Dziewiontkowski (born May 3, 1968), known professionally as Amy Ryan, is an American actress. She began her professional stage career in 1987 and made her Broadway debut in 1993 as a replacement in the original production of Wendy W ...

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 Max Jenkins (born March 13, 1985) is an American actor and writer. He starred as Max Carnegie in NBC's comedy-drama detective series '' The Mysteries of Laura''. He is also known for his appearances in the HBO series '' High Maintenance''.Jenki ...

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 Lee Allen Tergesen (; born July 8, 1965) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayals of Chett Donnelly on USA Network's '' Weird Science'' (1994–1998), Tobias Beecher on HBO's '' Oz'' (1997–2003), Peter McMillan on the second seas ...

as Leo ("Museebat") *

Gaby Hoffmann Gabrielle Mary Antonia HoffmannStated on ''Finding Your Roots'', November 21, 2017 (born January 8, 1982) is an American actress. She made her film debut in ''Field of Dreams'' (1989) and found success as a child actress in ''Uncle Buck'' (1989 ...

as herself, a yoga practitioner and attendee of the day rave ("Tick") * Hannibal Buress as himself ("Selfie") *

Brett Gelman Brett Gelman (born October 6, 1976) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Murray Bauman in Netflix's horror-supernatural series ''Stranger Things'' and as Martin in the BBC comedy '' Fleabag''. Gelman began his care ...

as himself ("Selfie") *

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

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 Margaret Moran Cho (born December 5, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian, actress and musician. In her Stand-up comedy, stand-up routines she critiques social and political problems, especially about race and sexuality. She starred in the Ame ...

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 ''This American Life'' is a weekly hour-long American 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 internationally, and is ...

'' ("Cycles)" *

Nick Kroll Nicholas Kroll (born June 5, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is known for the FX (TV channel), FX comedy series ''The League'' (2009–2015), creating and starring in the Comedy Central series ''Kroll Show'' (20 ...

as himself ("Trick") *

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

as herself ("Trick") *

Martha Stewart Martha Helen Stewart (, ; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail business woman, writer, and television personality. As the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, focusing on home and hospitality, she gained success through a variety ...

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,

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

. 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 Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

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 Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, 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

''High Maintenance''
on

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