Late Summer Recommendations & Early Fall Previews
To be honest, I can’t find a theme for you so I’m just dumping what diverted me in August the the first two weeks of September!
Good
TV Series: Evil (Netflix and Paramount+): This 4-season show, created by Good Wife/Good Fight creators Michelle and Robert King. I came to this because I have consistently enjoyed their shows, creativity, and even when they jump the shark, it’s great! It’s about a priest, a tech genius, and psychologist who work for the Catholic Church assessing when people believe there are miracles or possessions or other religious related situations. As with all King productions, they have important things to say about technology and online life and they do it so well here.
“I will deeply miss Evil—the snap of the Kings’ dialogue, the hilariously disgusting creature design of the demon characters, the astute critique of life online, the constant overlapping teenage chatter of Kristen’s four daughters (watch those scenes with subtitles!).” - Rebecca Onion, Slate
The cast is fantastic, both regulars and guests, it’s WEIRD, and sometimes there are miracles and demons, and sometimes there are con-men, but it’s all fun and good and also deep! And it’s also a procedural with a case a week. I enjoyed all 4 seasons. The first two seasons are already on Netflix and I assume at some point soon the final 2 seasons will join them!
Thailand and Berlin Zoo Baby Pygmy Hippos Moo-Deng and Toni: Basically since mid August, when their births were announced, I have looked at these cute baby pygmy hippos almost everyday for joy and also some education - for instance, when you see pictures of them wet and sudsy, it’s not soap, it’s a natural secretion that is a sunscreen and antibacterial! And Moo-Deng from Thailand is now a viral sensation, and Toni from the Berlin Zoo was named after a famous German footballer🤷🏽♀️🤷🏽♀️, already they have distinct personalities. I love them both through Instagram, but apparently Tik-Tok is where to see Moo-Deng’s cutest biting and hopping and sliding. Find them on the socials, be happy. PSA: This is not a request for anyone to buy me any hippo stuff at all, you know who you are.
TV Series: My So-Called Life (Hulu): This year marks the 30th anniversary of the premiere of an iconic and 1-season wonder, My So-Called Life. I remember watching once a week in my first apartment after college graduation. The emotions, the music, the cast were stellar. I still think of all them as their characters - Ricky, Brian, Angela, Sharon, Ray-Anne and Jordan. And I remember even at that young age also being invested in the adults, they had interior lives. It was very cutting edge for the time. I plan on watching it all again this fall, it’s 1 season only, 19 episodes. I miss it. Jared Leto’s best work (only best work!), he leaned so well!
“My So-Called Life is now twice as old as its adolescent heroine Angela Chase, but somehow, it hasn’t aged a day…Although My So-Called Life had low ratings and limped through 19 episodes before getting canceled, it had an outsize influence on teen dramas, and drama series generally, serving as a shining example of how to write a group of fully dimensional characters of all ages and life experiences while distributing attention democratically.” - Nothing on TV Felt Like My So-Called Life, Vulture
TV Series: Unreal (Netflix): Enough people this past week have asked me about Unreal and if I’ve seen it, that I had to put it in today! I watched this show when it first aired in 2015 on Lifetime (the late 2010s at Lifetime were a journey, they went edgy with this and You) in real time and loved it - Netflix dropped it a few weeks ago! It’s about the producers and staff behind a Bachelor/Bachelorette reality show and it’s a dramedy. It doesn’t take itself seriously but it also is very, well, real about the unreality of reality shows and how they script it, and use the worst of human nature including misogyny, racism, classism and more. Constance Zimmer and Shiri Appleby are amazing and randomly many Hallmark movie actors are all over this show - I guess they needed some edge! As with most shows the first seasons are much stronger, but it’s totally great TV (good and good bad ) full of schadenfreude for those of who WHO WOULD NEVER.
Looking Forward to…
Book: By The Fire We Carry by Rebecca Nagle: Nagle, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, has been a go-to for me on Native American news, legal issues and history, and I’ve been looking forward to reading her new book! In particular, Nagle’s book frames the centuries of fight for sovereignty in the story of a 2020 Supreme Court Case about the jurisdiction of a murder in Oklahoma. You can also learn about this specific case on the This Land podcast which first introduced me to her.
TV Series: How to Die Alone (Hulu): This was created by and stars Natasha Rothwell (Insecure, White Lotus), and the first 4 episodes dropped Friday and I really enjoyed watching them. It’s a comedy but has some melancholy and drama in it, so like real life! Rothwell has said it’s about being alone and loneliness and how folks confuse the two. It’s a workplace comedy, with the staff at JFK airport! Upcoming episodes will drop weekly.
Movie: RezBall (Netflix) Sept 27: I don’t like sportsball IRL but love sportsball TV, movies & romance books, and I crave more culture created by, starring, and telling of Native American stories. So this new movie is up my alley! Sterlin Harjo, creator of my fav Reservation Dogs, co-wrote the script, LeBron James produced and it’s based on the book, Canyon Dreams: A Basketball Season on the Navajo Nation by Michael Powell and his related New York Times articles.
TV Series: VOCES American Historia: The Untold History of Latinos (PBS): Sept 27: This three part PBS series is hosted by actor and activist John Leguizamo to spotlight the often untold and often intentionally hidden story of Latinos in the world and certainly in North and South America. Leguizamo is always someone worth hearing on this and related subjects, and I’ve been looking forward to watching this series and learning from it!
Time Pass
TV Series: The Perfect Couple (Netflix): Look, I can’t believe I watched this in one weekend and also, yes I can. I basically think this was a diverting “Nicole Kidman and her rich white family and friends do bad things and we watch” show. But writers better than I exist, so I leave you with couple of “reviews.”
“the perfect couple honestly? a perfect show. who fucking cares. it’s rich people doing rich people shit, my all-time favorite variety of low stakes television programming. nicole kidman’s wig is wigging, baby bono is still so cute i can hardly stand it (watch bad sisters!!!!!!!!), and i want to climb liev schreiber like a glasses-wearing tree.” - Samantha Irby
TV Series: Emily in Paris (Netflix): This show is the poster child for time pass - this post captures my thoughts, or lack of thoughts, entirely.
