Previewing On Becoming a God in Central Florida

What a weird time we are in right now for television. Take On Becoming a God in Central Florida. First off, only in a time of Peak TV could something with that title get made. And even then, it almost did not make it to air. The show actually started as an AMC show. But then six months after AMC announced they were developing the show, YouTube Red Premium announced they had ordered the show to series.

A full year later, Showtime announce they acquired the show because YouTube pretty much announced they are getting out of the scripted game, getting rid of their paid tier only show and making everything free with ads. They just announced last week they are basically canceling all their scripted shows except Cobra Kai and Impulse whose second season is coming this fall (and then likely will be canceled shortly thereafter).

So YouTube’s loss is Showtime’s gain. They get this fully produced show and I am guessing they had to pay bargain basement prices because Tri-Star needed a place to put the show after YouTube passed. But is this show that has gone through three different networks any good? Um, maybe. But it certainly is as weird as it title suggests.

Kirsten Dunst (The Virgin Suicides) is married to an unrecognizable Alexander Skarsgård (True Blood) who is deep into FAM (Founders American Merchandise) which is part pyramid scheme part cult, all parts shady. The couple is comfortably near the bottom of the pyramid as they continue their minimum-wages J.O.B.s (or Just Over Broke) at the start of the season, but as the title suggest, they are slowly moving their way up the ladder while a few roadblocks put them back at the bottom.

Soon Dunst pulls in her neighbors and co-workers in hopes of pulling herself up the pyramid until she meets the guy at the top Ted Levine (Silence of the Lambs) and starts to question the whole experience. Since this is Central Florida in the late eighties, there are plenty of weird characters, one who I can best describe as John Waters if John Waters was a hitman (unfortunately no one as weird as Donkey Doug shows up). And the show only gets weirder the higher up the pyramid gets which mean it gets more entertaining as it goes along.

On Becoming a God in Central Florida airs Sundays at 10:00 on Showtime.