HBO’s ‘Chillin Island’ Features Beautiful Settings and Boring Conversations: TV Review

HBO is currently airing a superlative show about the serendipity and possibility of life, and the unexpected discoveries that can emerge through conversation and openness. That show, “How to With John Wilson,” finds a new timeslot partner, and a seeming companion piece, in “Chillin Island,” a series that uses unpolished chats between its hosts and guest stars to attempt to draw out grander revelations.But where “How to” is scrappy, beginning with humble ambitions and arriving at startling conclusions, “Chillin Island,” whose executive producers include director Josh Safdie, is self-consciously grandiose. New Yorkers Alec “Despot” Reinstein, Ashok “Dap” Kondabolu, and...