Overrated/Underrated: There are better ways to relive ‘90s-era TV comedy than just ‘Friends’

There’s a lot of pop culture to sort through week after week. Times staff writer Chris Barton offers his take on what’s up and what’s down in music, movies, television and just about anything else out there that’s worth considering.

UNDERRATED

Marco Benevento on keyboards in Los Angeles on Feb. 11, 2009.

(Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Marco Benevento’s ‘The Story of Fred Short’: Best known for his free-wheeling improvisations on keyboards, Benevento has been heard reaching for the outer limits of jazz and experimental music on his own albums as well as with Stanton Moore, Tortoise’s John McEntire and various branches of the so-called jam-band circuit. Here, however, he continues a rewarding effort to straighten his twisted sound into the guise of an indie-rock singer-songwriter, harnessing his inventive sonic palette into rewardingly bite-size pop songs that touch on disco and soul.

“Girls” creator Lena Dunham at AOL Studios on Sept. 24, 2015.

(Charles Sykes / Invision / AP)

‘Girls’: After four seasons of uneven highs and some deeply uncomfortable lows, Lena Dunham’s series has transitioned from its “voice of a generation” lightning-rod status into something far more intimate and involving than its typically self-absorbed New York-centric universe previously allowed. Part of the key lies with the sweetness in the misfit toy coupling of Adam Driver and Jemima Kirke, along with a storyline centered on one-liner machine Andrew Rannells as well as long-form adventures led by Allison Williams and Zosia Mamet.

Overrated/Underrated: Pop culture’s best and worst >>

OVERRATED

U2 perform at ihe Forum in Inglewood, Calif. May 26, 2015.

(Rich Fury / Invision / AP)

iHeartRadio Music Awards: With a storied history dating to 2014 and a cuddly name from its parent company, a.k.a. our friends formerly known as Clear Channel, Sunday’s show — where awards are based on airplay and online chatter — is at least honest about being little more than a popularity contest. Still, being banished to basic cable isn’t a sign of good health, regardless of how many artists turn up for promotional appearances (even for made-up categories, like U2). Maybe rebranding to iHeartMarketing would help?

Director James Burrows, center, poses with the reunited cast of “Friends,” from left, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, Jennifer Aniston, seated, Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow on Jan. 24.

(Chris Haston / AP)

‘Friends’: Between the unsettlingly breathless reception that greeted a partial cast reunion this year and the show’s surprising popularity on Netflix as a nostalgic touchstone, it’s time for an intervention: There are far, far better ways to relive the ‘90s. Granted, “Seinfeld” may be too acidic or even predictable a choice by now, but dig into “NewsRadio,” “Frasier” or even “Northern Exposure” before treading the familiar grounds of Central Perk one more time. “Friends” will wait, but the late Garry Shandling’s epic “Larry Sanders Show” shouldn’t.

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