Government Cheese, review: no surrealist flight of fancy is left unflown

Telegraph

16-04-2025

TV producers sometimes like to boast that, 'We've put all the money on the screen.' It means that rather than fritter the multiple millions on poster campaigns and fancy catering, it's all gone on production design, locations and making the thing look as good as it can. Which really, is exactly how it should be.
Government Cheese (Apple TV+), a new nine-part comedy-drama from Apple TV+, has put all the money on the screen. This being Apple, there's a lot to put there. Set in 1969 in a sort of suburban hinterland between the Jetsons, Wandavision, Mad Men and the Incredibles II, it looks sensational. It tells the story of Hampton Chambers (David Oyelowo), an ex-con trying to turn his life around after his release from prison, chasing impossible dreams and a stable family life in the San Fernando Valley, where everything is impeccably rendered.
Of course, when things look this good one is entitled to ask what lies beneath. Pretty pictures and a pleasing palette can conceal a lack of meaning or heart. In the beginning, Government Cheese does appear to be all surface, as it struggles to find its narrative centre. The early scenes, set in Hampton's jail just before his release, are dazzling but also dizzying. They feature a flood followed by a riot, smiles and jokes intercut with sudden stark violence, an introduction to Hampton's great invention – a self-sharpening drill bit – on which he is pinning all of his hopes, and a cast call for his family. The Chambers number a son called Einstein (Evan Ellison) who's into pole-vaulting and particle physics, another son called Harrison (Jahi Di'Allo Winston) who wears a cowboy hat and thinks his dad's a useless grifter, and Hampton's wife Astoria (Simone Missick) who didn't know her husband was coming back and would rather that he hadn't.
This is a lot to take in over an initial 45-minute episode (the rest are half-hours) and it doesn't help that creators Paul Hunter and Aeysha Carr are plainly Wes Anderson aficionados. The show leaves no surrealist flight of fancy unflown, and is as interested in aesthetics and that perfect shot as it is in story.
Much like Wes Anderson's films, however, too much quirk can sometimes irk. There is undoubtedly a barrier to entry for Government Cheese (such as its name – it is nothing to do with politics; the name comes from an early saying that 'the best sandwiches come out of government cheese and white bread,' i.e. you can be inventive with the most meagre ingredients.).
But if you can stay the course, a few episodes in it settles into a worthwhile family drama cleaved to a likeable crime caper. Can Hampton stay on the righteous path or will he turn to the dark side in a bid to ensure his great invention makes his fortune? With Oyelewo at the centre and the family unit all strong, it turns out that Government Cheese is more than just window dressing. The money is not just on the screen – it's been spent on the writing, too.