Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Cherish The Day’ On OWN, An Ava DuVernay Drama That Tracks Specific Days In A Relationship

Ava DuVernay has been able to translate her quality touch in film to the small screen over the past few years, and with a remarkable degree of consistency. Her shows are entertaining while addressing issues that are in line with what we’re discussing as a society. Of course, some of the shows that she does are lighter in tone than others. Cherish The Day is her latest; does it continue her streak?

CHERISH THE DAY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Sexy music is the backdrop of limbs intertwining and two pairs of people having sex in two different locations.

The Gist: Cherish The Day is intended to be an anthology series, with each season tracking the progress of a particular relationship, with each episode representing a key day in that relationship. In the first episode, we track the day that Evan Fisher (Alano Miller), a tech guy who’s well off but not supremely satisfied with life, and Gently James (Xosha Roquemore), who is the caretaker for a senior citizen who was an underrated actress in her day, first meet. They both start the day by having sex with random people they have no intention of having relationships with.

When Evan takes his niece Esther (Camryn Jones) to the library for a lecture, he encounters Gently in the checkout line, trying to return the very late books taken out by Luma Langston (Cicely Tyson), the woman she takes care of, without paying the three-figure fines associated with them. They start to bond when he waxes poetic about Luma and how much his grandfather loved her. He offers to pay the fines, but Gently wants to “do what’s right” and get the librarian to waive the fees, which she somehow persuades her to do.

The two of them Insta-stalk each other and Gently is delighted when Evan DMs her; she thinks they should go to a barbecue joint to have the best pie ever. They sit on the curb outside the restaurant, having a deep talk about how Evan’s pie choice says something about his personality, and how “people want to be around happy people, so why not just try our best to make each other happy, in every moment and every interaction?” If he didn’t make her happy, “I’d be gone. Life’s too short.”

After that, he volunteers to help Gently with an errand; they go to where she lives with her “parent,” Ben (Michael Beach), and they take his El Camino to Carson to look for an old refrigerator that would go in Luma’s kitchen (Evan is worried about leaving his Tesla, but Ben assures him “Nothing moves without my say so”). While they wait for the shop to open, they hang out at a bar and even get a little close in front of a Centipede game. But then, as they watch the sun go down in the cab of the El Camino, she talks about her teenage life, and he asks “Where were your parents?” Feeling judged, the conversation takes a quick and ugly turn, and the two of them end the day having experienced a bitter ending to what was a magical day.

Our Take: One thing we can say about the shows Ava DuVernay has been producing for OWN and Netflix is that she doesn’t scrimp. She and showrunner Tanya Hamilton (who also runs Queen Sugar for DuVernay) hire fantastic actors who crackle with chemistry and their screen presence. The settings are lush and colorful, even the ones that are supposed to be urban and gritty, the writing is smart and doesn’t have many soft spots.

But a show like this won’t succeed without leads that you want to follow through what looks to be a tumultuous relationship over a number of years. Miller and Roquemore play the immediate attraction between Evan and Gently authentically. You can see the powerful draw they have to each other in their looks and smiles. Roquemore, who most people likely remember from The Mindy Project, has such a bright smile that when it crosses her face as she sees Evan, you can tell that she’s in for the ride of her life.

We’re not 100% sure the “one day per episode” conceit is effective. When you examine that first meeting, or that first magical date that seems to last all night, that’s one thing. But a day where you reconnect, or meet someone’s parents, or get engaged? Not sure. There are only four episodes for critics to preview, and those seem to be pretty monumental days; could there be a day where they’re just Netflix and chilling together? Or cleaning out a garage? Doubtful. But those are the days when relationships are really built, not just the big, momentous days, and we hope DuVernay and Hamilton show at least one of them.

Sex and Skin: Aside from that first sequence (and it’s fairly extensive and basic-cable graphic), nothing.

Parting Shot: A split-screen of the two of them lamenting what could have been; Evan drives his Tesla away from Gently’s house, and Gently sits inside, shaking her head.

Sleeper Star: Cicely Tyson is ninety-freakin’-five and she steals every scene she’s in. She’s obviously not a sleeper, but this is a good spot to mention how good she is here as the underappreciated but overall satisfied Luma.

Most Pilot-y Line: There’s a bit of a goofy sequence where Gently asks Evan to pick up a friend who’s hauling cans to the recycling center for cash. When she says that those cans better not have soda dripping out of them, he goes “This is a clean bag; the dirty ones are in the trunk!” Ah, what Evan will do when he’s attracted to someone.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Two engaging leads and a witty script make Cherish The Day a show that immediately draws you in. With DuVernay’s TV track record, we’re pretty sure the show will keep us engaged.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company.com, RollingStone.com, Billboard and elsewhere.

Stream Cherish The Day At Oprah.com