REVIEW: 'Black Monday'

Just like the industry it depicts, this Wall Street–set comedy is hectic. Opening with scenes of the 1987 stock market crash the series gets its name from, Black Monday then jumps back a year to count down to the financial disaster with the promise of showing what really happened. Watch the trailer below.

All we know at the outset is that it has to do with the relationship between unconventional trader Maurice “Mo” Monroe (Don Cheadle) and the MBA graduate, Blair Pfaff (Andrew Rannells), he tricks into working for him. Fast-talking, profanity-spouting, risk-taking Mo seems only to have one setting – full tilt – while Blair prefers to do things by the textbook.

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But their odd-couple dynamic, the theoretical centre of the series, is swamped by a constant tsunami of inappropriate gags and fever-pitch monologues by Mo. “Wall Street is not the roller-coaster, you are,” colleague Dawn (Regina Hall) tells him at one point. We have the motion sickness to prove it. (Episode 1 on Stan now. Season continues on Mon., Jan. 28) 2 stars

Gavin Scott

After cutting his teeth on teen titles Smash Hits and TV Hits (remember them?) in the 2000s, Gavin moved into weekly magazines, working for TV Week for many years and continuing to contribute to that title to this day, and writing for Who, Woman’s Day, New Idea and OK over the past decade or so. He’s also worked for digital outlets, writing and editing for SBS, Pedestrian and Who.com.au, and has hosted and produced TV and music podcasts. Entertainment in all its forms has been Gavin’s focus, whether that be interviewing the latest eliminated contestant from Survivor; reviewing the newest films, TV series and albums; writing opinion pieces about streaming platforms and their offerings; or talking to Australian pop stars past and present about their musical journey. As a long-time freelancer, Gavin goes where the work takes him, with one hand on the remote and the other scrolling through his phone for entertainment updates.

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