Now Streaming in Austin: #ATown

Welcome to Now Streaming in Austin, highlighting locally made titles to watch while self-quarantining. Everybody is muddling through right now, with no instruction manual and just a handful of people close to us – but as web series #ATown reminds us, that's what we've always been doing.

Think of a less snarky Portlandia. After all, series creators Elena Weinberg and Mallory Larson describe it as a series about "Austin [and] the imperfect people who live here. Because let’s face it, nobody is squeaky clean." That definitely applies to barista/failing stand-up Layla (Weinberg) and her new-to-town, fresh-from-Portland friend Melanie (Larson) as they struggle to get through bad jobs and worse dating.

A lot of shows claim to catch the spirit of a time and place, and #ATown manages that in sometimes cringe-inducingly perfect observations about what is is to be a twentysomething woman in Austin: Shitty public transit, how your friend who moved here is OK and it's everyone else who came here that's the problem, how everyone has their "secret spot" on the Greenbelt, pretending that Town Lake is the wilderness, dudes who shotgun Lone Star as a hello and goodbye, newcomers who wonder why you can't get a PBR, the importance of margaritas and nasal rinses as survival mechanisms. Plus, on top of that, check out some of your favorite places from around town – at least vicariously.

Just like yesterday's Now Streaming in Austin director, Brandon Reich, has his new feature, The Bob Zula, coming to VOD very soon, you'll be able to catch #ATown star Weinberg's Austin Film Festival-selected post-apocalyptic relationship drama, A Room Full of Nothing. It's scheduled to drop digitally on April 21 (read our interview with star/director Weinberg and writer/director Duncan Coe right here), but first you can catch up on her hilarious (and very, very recognizable to Austin audiences) series.

Catch the first episode of this series about "friendship and fucking up in the greatest city in the world" below and the entire series at www.atowntheseries.com. And remember, life may suck, but it's OK if you've got someone to tell you your stand-up set didn't suck, and to hold your hair back when you vomit in a sink.

#ATown

• YouTube (Link)