How to With John Wilson has more to say about the world in its weird little pinky finger than most shows manage to get at over entire seasons. Take the poignant trailer for the show’s second season, which is structured almost like a mini-version of one of John Wilson’s quirky, surprisingly moving video essays. Its thesis? That New York is still full of funny and bizarre life and garbage to draw visual material to muse on, even when it all got shut down. “A lot of people thought that we wouldn’t be able to make another season of the show, but we did,” Wilson says in voice-over atop footage of banquet halls, subway stations, cloudy beaches, and street-corner hijinks. “New York looks more interesting right now than it ever has before. And even though you lost a lot of what you loved,” he says over footage of the boarded up Gem Spa (RIP), “it really made you appreciate what you still have.” Cut to Wilson’s beloved landlord, Mama. The music swells over shots of weirdos, eccentrics, and ugly, dirty New York City snow, and Wilson signs off by saying, “Talk to you soon.”
This season will be six episodes, just like the first, with topics ranging from “How to Throw Out Your Batteries” to “How to Remember Your Dreams,” and Susan Orlean is among this season’s writers. How to With John Wilson is back on HBO on Friday, November 26, at 10 p.m. ET. What did we do to deserve the loveliest show?