Jonathan Van Ness is a charming man, but it’s a bit weird to see him on the small screen. He’s best known for the kind of behind-the-scenes chatter that happens during his podcast, Getting Curious With Jonathan Van Ness, which he hosts and produces. The series has 6 episodes, each around 30-40 minutes.
–Netflix’s Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness review does not contain any spoilers–
Getting Curious With Jonathan Van Ness Is Much More Than His Personality
The Queer Eye reboot star also served as executive producer on the show, which has him taking a break from his usual role as the main attraction to instead sit in an interviewee’s chair.
As Van Ness explains in the first episode, this series is a spin-off from his podcast of the same name, in which he quite literally gets curious about a topic then speaks to various guests about it. The podcast is long-running, well-established and very charming, but the question of whether it needed to become a more visual experience is yet to be answered.
The show is a spin-off of his wildly popular podcast, which sees him curious about various topics and speaking to multiple guests about them. And while the podcast is long-running, well established and very charming, there’s still some question about whether or not the series is essential, especially given how similar it is to all of Van Ness’ other work.
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Getting Curious With Jonathan Van Ness Is Much More Than His Personality
Van Ness’s upbeat personality is a perfect fit for the Netflix format. His genuine curiosity (he often refers to himself as “curious”) makes this a more exciting concept than some other celebrity-endorsed projects currently on offer. But it will have to work hard to differentiate itself from its peers. There are already several successful, long-running shows that take a similar approach – including Van Ness’s podcast and Joe Rogan’s hugely popular podcast-cum-YouTube channel.
Through Van Ness’s openness and honest questioning, we learn about the transgender experience, sexual fluidity, and gender dysphoria. Each hour-long episode covers subjects that could have easily been made into documentaries. Still, instead, Van Ness asks questions to understand rather than to educate.
Van Ness’s effusive personality is also a natural fit for the format of Getting Curious With Jonathan Van Ness. He’s a good talker, and his enthusiasm is infectious. The TV show takes advantage of this by giving him more time to talk.
Getting Curious with Van Ness Sets the Pace for an Exploratory Show
Van Ness hosts one of TV’s best reality shows right now in Queer Eye, but this new show is on a very different level. It feels like a labour of love for the star and his team, and you can tell he’s trying to do something different from his usual schtick. Whether that translates into success for him or not remains to be seen, but it is worth checking out at least once.
It’s a premise that fits pretty nicely into the show’s format, but there’s still something odd about seeing such a familiar format in Getting Curious With Jonathan Van Ness being transplanted onto Netflix.
That’s not to say it’s perfect: it sometimes feels like the show is trying to do too much. To keep things moving along and dynamic, the format of each episode varies wildly: sometimes there are guest experts, sometimes there are sketch-like monologues or abstract animations. The energy is always high, but occasionally it feels like the whole thing might topple over under its weight.
But if you’re worried about Van Ness and crew being too earnest for your tastes, don’t be. Some of the most exciting moments in Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness come from Van Ness himself, who has a knack for bringing out the best in people he talks to and is having a blast sharing his passion for learning with his viewers. Indeed, so much of Van Ness’s appeal lies in his ability to channel an infectious sense of playfulness.
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Stream It or Skip It?
Van Ness is a showman and an entertainer. But he’s also not afraid to be vulnerable, to show that he’s not perfect and doesn’t always have all the answers. It’s this openness and lack of pretence that makes Getting Curious genuinely compelling to watch. And it’s what makes Van Ness a surprisingly apt fit for an exploratory show like this one.
Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness is streaming on Netflix.
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Thank you . Just a heads up that Van Ness uses they/them pronouns, not he/him, and it would be good if you could change them in the article.