The New Show Everyone Is Calling The Weirdest Series Ever

The Curse is a dark comedy about the unraveling marriage of an upper-middle-class couple in a rapidly gentrifying New Mexico town that often drags its viewers through the phantasmagorical (horror-like) imagination of its creators, Benny Safdie and Nathan Fielder—often considered pop culture’s greatest provocateurs of weirdness. The story follows the aforementioned couple, starring Emma Stone and Nathan Fielder as Whitney and Asher Siegel, who are dealing with a curse that’s disturbing their relationship as they’re trying to conceive a child.

This dark comedy jumps on the cult-like hype of HGTV, a US TV channel that’s entirely dedicated to home improvement shows and nothing else—the number of things you can do to a home is so astounding that it has been turned into a 16-season show on HGTV. The Siegel couple are having their own home improvement show within the show, called Flipanthropy, taking place in Espanola, New Mexico.

While filming clips for their TV show, Asher Siegel hands money to a little girl, which he tries to snatch back once the camera stops rolling. This prompted the girl to curse him—which is the beginning of The Curse’s entire premise. But it also goes to show the less attractive side of reality television in real life, where seeming acts of goodness are often performed for mere camera shots and nothing else.

Furthermore, the couple is referred to as “slumlords” at the beginning of the series, implying that they’re not the eco-friendly saviors that Flipanthropy makes them be but privileged real-estate flippers with a white-savior complex. One of the most interesting facts is that Sadfie, a co-creator of The Curse, also has the role in the series—ironically, he’s the producer of Siegel’s home improvement show and a rude weirdo who’ll do anything to get ahead in his career.

The Curse, starring Emma Stone and Nathan Fielder, debuted last Friday, and fans over at IMDb have already awarded the series with an 8.1-star rating based on the pilot alone. Of course, this is never an indicator of success, but nobody can deny a really good start.   

Much of that good start is actually credited to the show’s writing. Sadfie is known for uproarious surrealism and content that would make your heart race faster than it should be humanly possible, while Fielder has become known as a member of the new generation of comedians specializing in extravagant cringe-worthiness.

The Curse comes as a result of this collaboration, with many online publications calling the show a weird, unforgettable, and brilliantly unsettling comedy TV show. Their humor is dark and unsettling, with the tone of the show mixing social commentary with low-key horror. The Curse is currently streaming on Paramount+.