What’s Worth Watching: School Daze

Gates (6 episodes, available now, Hulu)

For nearly half a decade, Hulu has been the streaming network for contemporary U.K. comedies. Gavin & Stacey? Check. Green Wing? Got it. Fresh Meat? It’s in there. (If you haven’t seen these series, by all means, go watch them, now.) The site’s latest, Gates, is for all you anglophiles with school age kids and the annoying responsibilities that accompany them. Thirtysomethings Helen (Joanna Page) and Mark (Tom Ellis) have just moved to the suburbs with their 9-year-old daughter, Chloe (Mari Ann Bull). Their goal: avoid becoming wrapped up with the aggressive moms and dads that gather every morning outside the gates of their daughter’s grade school, which is a mistake Helen has made before. Their success rate: middling to none. Between aggressive Australian ex-pat Mia (Ella Kenion) and needy New-Agey Ella (Catherine Shepherd), Tom and Helen are doomed the moment they hit the playground. Even a British accent can’t improve a PTA meeting. It can, however, make it extra funny to watch two people suffer through one.