Widow’s Bay
Season 1
I made the mistake of watching the first couple of episodes of Widow’s Bay on my phone during a flight. Even on a small screen, I could tell that the cinematography was quite accomplished. Other than that, the show didn’t really click with me. I knew that it was billed as a horror-comedy but I found it neither scary nor funny.
Having said that, once I returned from my trip and started watching the show on a properly-sized television, I grew to really love it. The show is a spin on the haunted-small-town formula, also recently executed with resounding success by Midnight Mass. Where Widow’s Bay is unique is how it mixes sitcom-style comedy into the proceedings.
The blending of genres works because of the contrast: the scary parts need to be genuinely scary so that the jokes can break the tension at the perfect moment. I would say that the ratio leans more towards horror. Each episode only has a handful of laughs, but because they come in the middle of such spooky stuff, the laughs are huge when they hit. I found myself rewinding so that I would watch those moments again.
I think I had trouble getting into the first couple of episodes because I didn’t get fully immersed due to the small phone screen. Normally, a comedy is the perfect thing to watch on a flight, but in this case, you really need to fully experience both of the tones that the show has to offer.