I commented to you on Threads that I caught the tail end of your Sirius XM show. Well later that week I got in my car and they were talking about you and boom - your show came on again! I was able to hear the entire hour and it was very enjoyable. Both your commentary and the song selections. I guess I need to watch The OC? I had a false start where I watched 2 episodes and very much enjoyed it. So I need to get back to it. Congrats on the book launch. Seems like it went really well.
I look forward to digging into the book, Alan. While I've never seen The O.C., I'm a sucker for BTS stuff and oral histories of TV/filmmaking.
Fargo: My reaction to Wales, 500 years ago, was the same as yours. I think I first came upon the concept of a sin-eater via Carla Speed McNeil's excellent Finder comics some 25 years ago; with me, it often comes back to comics.
The Doctor Who special gave me, as my daughters would surely cringe to hear me say, all the feels. Of course they saw me openly weep at it as we all got to watch together with the eldest home from college last weekend, and our middle kid being g.n.c./non-binary the whole RTD ingeniously sappy mess was very, very moving. I stuck with Thirteen/Whitaker for her and Yaz's characters, but Ten/Tennant remains my favorite and I'm extremely glad to see him back for a spell.
I read the Cosmo excerpt! My sister bought the book for me as a birthday gift but I haven’t gotten it yet. I’m very excited about reading the full book, I have watched Season 1 many, many times so reading about the pilot was very fun. We graduated high school with the core group.
I have never seen even one episode of The O.C. But congratulations on the book! Publishing any book is a monumental achievement.
So I'm a dad, and I love Slow Horses. But I still get bothered by the term Dad TV. It seems to have a connotation that I should almost be embarrassed to enjoy those shows. Maybe it's just me and I've seen too many uncool, out-of-touch dads portrayed on TV over the years. But I'm not ashamed of my love for Slow Horses. It's a great show, period. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to put on my cargo shorts and pop some brisket on the smoker.
I was struggling with the Ole Munch flashback on Fargo. My wife and I tried to puzzle it out later--we couldn't figure out how he was immortal. I think he said one line about "I pawn my own soul", so maybe that's the key and he's an agent of Satan now? That would help explain the weird rituals at the end. I know Hawley is prone to some wild swings and I don't necessarily mind that. But I also am an engineer by trade and am not much of an abstract thinker, so I usually need something to go on to help me understand (I bailed on Legion after one season because I just couldn't follow it). I really love how Fargo has started this season, though, so it's earned patience for sure.
Agree that "Dad TV" is as pejorative as "chick flicks" was for rom-coms but the terms are also pretty accurate: these two types of entertainment are specifically designed for a certain demo, which doesn't take anything away from them either. I don't find it embarrassing to enjoy them, but I do feel seen.
Facts matter. Every time a “Dad TV show” comes around, both my Dad and my husband watch and enjoy them. Like clockwork. I would almost think of it as genre and shorthand marketing. I suppose the marketers could get more precise. “Chick lit” was deemed pejorative over time so now it’s called Women’s Fiction. It’s almost too general now. But you can see the dilemma for marketers.
I’m enjoying reading the book so far and learning new tidbits from the book (like Ben’s admiration for NYPD Blue).
One thing I noticed was the younger guest stars had quotes, but not from the older adult guest stars (Kim Delaney, Billy Campbell, Jeri Ryan, Rosalind Chao). Was that intentional or just a coincidence?
Not to be annoying but David Tennant is playing the Fourteenth Doctor, not the Tenth—it’s the incarnation after Whittaker. She regenerated back into that appearance (for, we are assured, some reason we might find out later?), and there’s definitely some characterization differences that are informed by 11-13th
We got another nice teasing reference to Danny Stevens this week. I still think he's alive and living in that North Korean capsule. While I don't want a return of the character, a nice quick cold-open showing them still delivering him food would be fun.
I guess the coup going the other way is another flipped turning point of history. I wonder if that will still lead down a real-world path--the non-Russian SSRs being unhappy with the reactionary government and pushing for a split.
I also want to know more about the command structure in place on Mars, since when they showed the meeting Dani was leading everyone in the room appeared to be American (or at least American-allied). Does the commander of the base get to put whoever they want in charge of different commands, and generally select "their own people"? Or was she just meeting with the American contingent themselves?
Ah The Curse my be my curse right now. I was really looking forward to it but I didn't get to the first ep until last week and I could not finish the episode. It felt so forced, so fake, so contrived, that I was completely put off. That's always been the subtext of his previous shows, that they may be entirely orchestrated and everyone is in on it, but never as blatantly as The Curse. If it were actually funny, I might have reacted differently, but the jokes were so bad.
I don't think it's really trying to be a comedy. Which may be part of the barrier to entry for many (and to me, at times). Fielder makes people uncomfortable as part of getting to a joke. With his brother, Benny Safdie makes people uncomfortable to ratchet up suspense. This show is neither comedy nor thriller, so... yes.
In your Rolling Stone article on Doctor Who, you write "I brace myself for the idea that [Russell T. Davies] could visit another bad ending on Donna before we move onto the Gatwa era."
I really really hope that you're just voicing the fear that many of us feel--and that you're not privy to inside information and subtly preparing us for the worst.
I commented to you on Threads that I caught the tail end of your Sirius XM show. Well later that week I got in my car and they were talking about you and boom - your show came on again! I was able to hear the entire hour and it was very enjoyable. Both your commentary and the song selections. I guess I need to watch The OC? I had a false start where I watched 2 episodes and very much enjoyed it. So I need to get back to it. Congrats on the book launch. Seems like it went really well.
Thanks! I hope you wind up liking it.
I look forward to digging into the book, Alan. While I've never seen The O.C., I'm a sucker for BTS stuff and oral histories of TV/filmmaking.
Fargo: My reaction to Wales, 500 years ago, was the same as yours. I think I first came upon the concept of a sin-eater via Carla Speed McNeil's excellent Finder comics some 25 years ago; with me, it often comes back to comics.
The Doctor Who special gave me, as my daughters would surely cringe to hear me say, all the feels. Of course they saw me openly weep at it as we all got to watch together with the eldest home from college last weekend, and our middle kid being g.n.c./non-binary the whole RTD ingeniously sappy mess was very, very moving. I stuck with Thirteen/Whitaker for her and Yaz's characters, but Ten/Tennant remains my favorite and I'm extremely glad to see him back for a spell.
I read the Cosmo excerpt! My sister bought the book for me as a birthday gift but I haven’t gotten it yet. I’m very excited about reading the full book, I have watched Season 1 many, many times so reading about the pilot was very fun. We graduated high school with the core group.
I have never seen even one episode of The O.C. But congratulations on the book! Publishing any book is a monumental achievement.
So I'm a dad, and I love Slow Horses. But I still get bothered by the term Dad TV. It seems to have a connotation that I should almost be embarrassed to enjoy those shows. Maybe it's just me and I've seen too many uncool, out-of-touch dads portrayed on TV over the years. But I'm not ashamed of my love for Slow Horses. It's a great show, period. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to put on my cargo shorts and pop some brisket on the smoker.
I was struggling with the Ole Munch flashback on Fargo. My wife and I tried to puzzle it out later--we couldn't figure out how he was immortal. I think he said one line about "I pawn my own soul", so maybe that's the key and he's an agent of Satan now? That would help explain the weird rituals at the end. I know Hawley is prone to some wild swings and I don't necessarily mind that. But I also am an engineer by trade and am not much of an abstract thinker, so I usually need something to go on to help me understand (I bailed on Legion after one season because I just couldn't follow it). I really love how Fargo has started this season, though, so it's earned patience for sure.
Agree that "Dad TV" is as pejorative as "chick flicks" was for rom-coms but the terms are also pretty accurate: these two types of entertainment are specifically designed for a certain demo, which doesn't take anything away from them either. I don't find it embarrassing to enjoy them, but I do feel seen.
I like your take on it. And I was hoping to come off in a tongue-in-cheek manner, because I definitely fit the demographic to a tee.
Keep in mind that I am the most Dad person I have ever met, and I love almost all of these shows.
Facts matter. Every time a “Dad TV show” comes around, both my Dad and my husband watch and enjoy them. Like clockwork. I would almost think of it as genre and shorthand marketing. I suppose the marketers could get more precise. “Chick lit” was deemed pejorative over time so now it’s called Women’s Fiction. It’s almost too general now. But you can see the dilemma for marketers.
I’m enjoying reading the book so far and learning new tidbits from the book (like Ben’s admiration for NYPD Blue).
One thing I noticed was the younger guest stars had quotes, but not from the older adult guest stars (Kim Delaney, Billy Campbell, Jeri Ryan, Rosalind Chao). Was that intentional or just a coincidence?
I think we mostly aimed for guest stars who played memorable recurring characters, which was pretty much from the teenager end of things.
Your headline made me look for this scene from Out of Sight. One of my favourite movies of all time.
https://www.tiktok.com/@maxtech75/video/7216844956911045893
#ReadingIsFundamentalAndShit #DumbShakedowns
Not to be annoying but David Tennant is playing the Fourteenth Doctor, not the Tenth—it’s the incarnation after Whittaker. She regenerated back into that appearance (for, we are assured, some reason we might find out later?), and there’s definitely some characterization differences that are informed by 11-13th
HomerSimpsonScreamsNerdDotGif
(But yes)
Honestly honored to receive this gif lol. Watching the second special right now and it is very good, very inventive!
We got another nice teasing reference to Danny Stevens this week. I still think he's alive and living in that North Korean capsule. While I don't want a return of the character, a nice quick cold-open showing them still delivering him food would be fun.
I guess the coup going the other way is another flipped turning point of history. I wonder if that will still lead down a real-world path--the non-Russian SSRs being unhappy with the reactionary government and pushing for a split.
I also want to know more about the command structure in place on Mars, since when they showed the meeting Dani was leading everyone in the room appeared to be American (or at least American-allied). Does the commander of the base get to put whoever they want in charge of different commands, and generally select "their own people"? Or was she just meeting with the American contingent themselves?
Ah The Curse my be my curse right now. I was really looking forward to it but I didn't get to the first ep until last week and I could not finish the episode. It felt so forced, so fake, so contrived, that I was completely put off. That's always been the subtext of his previous shows, that they may be entirely orchestrated and everyone is in on it, but never as blatantly as The Curse. If it were actually funny, I might have reacted differently, but the jokes were so bad.
I don't think it's really trying to be a comedy. Which may be part of the barrier to entry for many (and to me, at times). Fielder makes people uncomfortable as part of getting to a joke. With his brother, Benny Safdie makes people uncomfortable to ratchet up suspense. This show is neither comedy nor thriller, so... yes.
Congratulations on your new book!
In your Rolling Stone article on Doctor Who, you write "I brace myself for the idea that [Russell T. Davies] could visit another bad ending on Donna before we move onto the Gatwa era."
I really really hope that you're just voicing the fear that many of us feel--and that you're not privy to inside information and subtly preparing us for the worst.
I've seen nothing that the rest of the world hasn't, so this is just me hoping for the best, bracing for the worst.