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"content": "\u003cp>Attendees of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/04/28/526019457/paradise-lost-luxury-music-festival-turns-out-to-be-half-built-scene-of-chaos\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">infamous Fyre Festival\u003c/a> didn’t exactly get what they paid for in 2017, when they arrived in the Bahamas for a luxury music festival only to find themselves stranded without basic provisions, let alone first-class accommodations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some four years later, hundreds of ticket holders are poised to receive more than $7,000 each after settling a class-action lawsuit with event organizers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The settlement was reached Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York, court documents show, with an early May deadline to object. The plaintiff is named as Gregory Messer, the Chapter 7 trustee of the estate of Fyre Festival LLC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='pop_108743'] It adds up to $2 million, and was announced as part of the festival’s ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. As it stands, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/15/arts/music/fyre-festival-settlement.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>New York Times\u003c/em>\u003c/a> reports, 277 ticket holders will each receive a payout of $7,220, with an approval hearing scheduled for May 13. (The exact amount of the payout may change depending on how ongoing bankruptcy proceedings progress.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Billy [McFarland] went to jail, ticket holders can get some money back, and some very entertaining documentaries were made,” Ben Meiselas, a partner at California-based Geragos & Geragos who represented the ticket holders, told \u003cem>the Times\u003c/em>. “Now that’s justice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_omekVr9fE\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, the 2017 festival-that-wasn’t has left a trail of lawsuits, criminal charges and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/01/18/686262708/fighting-fyre-with-fyre-fraud-two-documentaries-about-the-same-disaster\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">dramatic documentaries\u003c/a> in its wake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McFarland, who organized and promoted the event, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/06/591366152/fyre-festival-promoter-billy-mcfarland-pleads-guilty-to-fraud\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pled guilty\u003c/a> in 2018 to two counts of wire fraud related to the festival. He was \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/william-mcfarland-sentenced-6-years-prison-manhattan-federal-court-engaging-multiple\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sentenced\u003c/a> to six years in prison and three on probation for engaging in what prosecutors described as “multiple fraudulent schemes” and making false statements to law enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McFarland and his company, Fyre Media, have faced some \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/06/591366152/fyre-festival-promoter-billy-mcfarland-pleads-guilty-to-fraud\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">dozen\u003c/a> lawsuits in the festival’s aftermath. As NPR \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2018/07/24/631945121/sec-settles-fraud-charges-against-fyre-festival-founder\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reported\u003c/a> in 2018:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>McFarland had hawked a “life-changing,” paradisiacal music festival for well-heeled patrons intended to take place in the Bahamas in late April and early May 2017. Instead, the festival—which carried ticket prices of up to $12,000 apiece—collapsed in chaos, launching a parade of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/04/28/526019457/paradise-lost-luxury-music-festival-turns-out-to-be-half-built-scene-of-chaos\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#dumpsterfyre\u003c/a> jokes and scads of schadenfreudic social media commentary, as hopeful festival-goers and vendors alike realized that they had been bilked.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Organizers offered an \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/01/526392280/fyre-festival-hit-with-100-million-suit-organizer-says-we-were-a-little-naive\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">apology\u003c/a> in the immediate wake of the event, admitting it “fell dramatically short of even the most modest expectations” and providing a form attendees could fill out to apply for a refund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for many, a refund was not enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The original class-action suit was \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/01/526392280/fyre-festival-hit-with-100-million-suit-organizer-says-we-were-a-little-naive\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">filed in April 2017\u003c/a> against Fyre Media, McFarland and rapper Ja Rule, who was advertised as the festival’s co-founder, and sought $100 million in damages. The plaintiff is named as Daniel Jung, acting individually and as a representative of “a class of similarly-situated persons.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 21-page \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3688226-Fyre-Fest-Lawsuit.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">complaint\u003c/a> said refunds were inadequate, writing, “Class Members’ damages in being lured to a deserted island and left to fend for themselves—a situation tantamount to false imprisonment—exceed the face value of their ticket packages by many orders of magnitude.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It accuses organizers of knowingly lying about the festival’s accommodations and safety, reaching out to celebrities and performers to discourage them from coming while continuing to sell ticket packages, which started at $1,200.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The festival was promoted—including by many \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/article/bankruptcy-jenner/in-brief-kendall-jenner-to-pay-90000-in-fyre-festival-settlement-idUSL1N2D300N\">social media influencers\u003c/a>—as a posh musical festival on a private island once owned by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, complete with luxurious accommodations and first-class culinary experiences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, attendees arrived to find unsecured FEMA tents, \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/trev4president/status/857776562615308288?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">widely panned\u003c/a> food rations and no festival or medical staff to offer assistance. The island was neither private nor formerly owned by Escobar, attorneys noted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13148571'] “The festival’s lack of adequate food, water, shelter and medical care created a dangerous and panicked situation among attendees—suddenly finding themselves stranded on a remote island without basic provisions—that was closer to \u003cem>The Hunger Games\u003c/em> or \u003cem>Lord of the Flies\u003c/em> than Coachella,” they wrote, adding that efforts to escape were hampered by attendees’ reliance on organizers for transportation and the fact that the event had been billed as “cashless.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several other lawsuits involving the failed festival have been settled already.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, a North Carolina judge awarded \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2018/07/24/631945121/sec-settles-fraud-charges-against-fyre-festival-founder\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$5 million in damages\u003c/a> to two attendees who had sued McFarland; Ja Rule was initially named in that suit but was removed from the claim after settling with the two. And last May, \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/article/bankruptcy-jenner/in-brief-kendall-jenner-to-pay-90000-in-fyre-festival-settlement-idUSL1N2D300N\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kendall Jenner\u003c/a> agreed to pay $90,000 for promoting the festival in a social media post.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Hundreds+Of+Fyre+Festival+Ticket+Holders+Poised+To+Win+Payout+In+Class-Action+Suit+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/7_omekVr9fE'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/7_omekVr9fE'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Indeed, the 2017 festival-that-wasn’t has left a trail of lawsuits, criminal charges and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/01/18/686262708/fighting-fyre-with-fyre-fraud-two-documentaries-about-the-same-disaster\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">dramatic documentaries\u003c/a> in its wake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McFarland, who organized and promoted the event, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/06/591366152/fyre-festival-promoter-billy-mcfarland-pleads-guilty-to-fraud\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pled guilty\u003c/a> in 2018 to two counts of wire fraud related to the festival. He was \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/william-mcfarland-sentenced-6-years-prison-manhattan-federal-court-engaging-multiple\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sentenced\u003c/a> to six years in prison and three on probation for engaging in what prosecutors described as “multiple fraudulent schemes” and making false statements to law enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McFarland and his company, Fyre Media, have faced some \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/06/591366152/fyre-festival-promoter-billy-mcfarland-pleads-guilty-to-fraud\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">dozen\u003c/a> lawsuits in the festival’s aftermath. As NPR \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2018/07/24/631945121/sec-settles-fraud-charges-against-fyre-festival-founder\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reported\u003c/a> in 2018:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>McFarland had hawked a “life-changing,” paradisiacal music festival for well-heeled patrons intended to take place in the Bahamas in late April and early May 2017. Instead, the festival—which carried ticket prices of up to $12,000 apiece—collapsed in chaos, launching a parade of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/04/28/526019457/paradise-lost-luxury-music-festival-turns-out-to-be-half-built-scene-of-chaos\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#dumpsterfyre\u003c/a> jokes and scads of schadenfreudic social media commentary, as hopeful festival-goers and vendors alike realized that they had been bilked.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Organizers offered an \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/01/526392280/fyre-festival-hit-with-100-million-suit-organizer-says-we-were-a-little-naive\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">apology\u003c/a> in the immediate wake of the event, admitting it “fell dramatically short of even the most modest expectations” and providing a form attendees could fill out to apply for a refund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for many, a refund was not enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The original class-action suit was \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/01/526392280/fyre-festival-hit-with-100-million-suit-organizer-says-we-were-a-little-naive\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">filed in April 2017\u003c/a> against Fyre Media, McFarland and rapper Ja Rule, who was advertised as the festival’s co-founder, and sought $100 million in damages. The plaintiff is named as Daniel Jung, acting individually and as a representative of “a class of similarly-situated persons.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 21-page \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3688226-Fyre-Fest-Lawsuit.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">complaint\u003c/a> said refunds were inadequate, writing, “Class Members’ damages in being lured to a deserted island and left to fend for themselves—a situation tantamount to false imprisonment—exceed the face value of their ticket packages by many orders of magnitude.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It accuses organizers of knowingly lying about the festival’s accommodations and safety, reaching out to celebrities and performers to discourage them from coming while continuing to sell ticket packages, which started at $1,200.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The festival was promoted—including by many \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/article/bankruptcy-jenner/in-brief-kendall-jenner-to-pay-90000-in-fyre-festival-settlement-idUSL1N2D300N\">social media influencers\u003c/a>—as a posh musical festival on a private island once owned by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, complete with luxurious accommodations and first-class culinary experiences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, attendees arrived to find unsecured FEMA tents, \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/trev4president/status/857776562615308288?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">widely panned\u003c/a> food rations and no festival or medical staff to offer assistance. The island was neither private nor formerly owned by Escobar, attorneys noted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> “The festival’s lack of adequate food, water, shelter and medical care created a dangerous and panicked situation among attendees—suddenly finding themselves stranded on a remote island without basic provisions—that was closer to \u003cem>The Hunger Games\u003c/em> or \u003cem>Lord of the Flies\u003c/em> than Coachella,” they wrote, adding that efforts to escape were hampered by attendees’ reliance on organizers for transportation and the fact that the event had been billed as “cashless.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several other lawsuits involving the failed festival have been settled already.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, a North Carolina judge awarded \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2018/07/24/631945121/sec-settles-fraud-charges-against-fyre-festival-founder\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$5 million in damages\u003c/a> to two attendees who had sued McFarland; Ja Rule was initially named in that suit but was removed from the claim after settling with the two. And last May, \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/article/bankruptcy-jenner/in-brief-kendall-jenner-to-pay-90000-in-fyre-festival-settlement-idUSL1N2D300N\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kendall Jenner\u003c/a> agreed to pay $90,000 for promoting the festival in a social media post.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Hundreds+Of+Fyre+Festival+Ticket+Holders+Poised+To+Win+Payout+In+Class-Action+Suit+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "'Grey's Anatomy' is in its 17th Season... But Are Today's Shows Built to Last?",
"headTitle": "‘Grey’s Anatomy’ is in its 17th Season… But Are Today’s Shows Built to Last? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The venerable doctor drama \u003cem>Grey’s Anatomy\u003c/em> is adding new characters, bringing back old ones and writing in COVID-19 subplots in its 17th season. When you look at \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest-running_scripted_American_primetime_television_series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a list of the longest-running scripted shows\u003c/a>,\u003cem> Grey’s Anatomy\u003c/em> is among the very few still airing on primetime TV, along with \u003cem>The Simpsons\u003c/em> (32 seasons), \u003cem>Law & Order: SVU\u003c/em> (22 seasons), \u003cem>Family Guy\u003c/em> (19 seasons) and \u003cem>NCIS\u003c/em> (18 seasons.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They all come from a completely different era of television, says Steve Mosko, a former Sony Pictures Television executive, now CEO of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group. Back when those shows first started, people still used VCRs to tape TV programs they missed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Look at how\u003cem> Law & Order \u003c/em>and some of these great dramas on broadcast TV were doing 22 episodes a year plus. That’s like 22 movies a year,” he points out. “That’s not easy.” [aside postid='arts_13893475']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Compare that to today, he says, when great dramas on cable and streaming TV like \u003cem>The Crown\u003c/em> or \u003cem>Game of Thrones \u003c/em>run only 10 episodes a season—or fewer. And for some shows today, he adds, such as new comedies, the old calculus of re-runs and syndication, which depends on making a certain number of shows, simply does not apply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nasim Pedrad can testify. “You know, I think it’s pretty unlikely that a show could ever do six seasons, let alone 16 seasons nowadays, just based on the way that we produce content and watch things,” she observes. Pedrad created and stars in \u003cem>Chad,\u003c/em> which started this month on TBS. She plays an obnoxious, teenage American Muslim boy trying to fit in at his high school. “I’m not right now picturing Chad going off to college,” she laughs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13895901\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13895901\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/chad-1-pix-34b7c31ef462ba1da15c469a15ef2ad9d07416d8-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Showrunner Nasim Pedrad behind the scenes of 'Chad' with director Rhys Thomas. Pedrad plays a teenage boy in the new TBS comedy.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/chad-1-pix-34b7c31ef462ba1da15c469a15ef2ad9d07416d8-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/chad-1-pix-34b7c31ef462ba1da15c469a15ef2ad9d07416d8-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/chad-1-pix-34b7c31ef462ba1da15c469a15ef2ad9d07416d8-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/chad-1-pix-34b7c31ef462ba1da15c469a15ef2ad9d07416d8-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/chad-1-pix-34b7c31ef462ba1da15c469a15ef2ad9d07416d8-1536x1151.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/chad-1-pix-34b7c31ef462ba1da15c469a15ef2ad9d07416d8.jpg 1705w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Showrunner Nasim Pedrad behind the scenes of ‘Chad’ with director Rhys Thomas. Pedrad plays a teenage boy in the new TBS comedy. \u003ccite>(Scott Patrick Green/Warner Media)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Pedrad started her career on \u003cem>Saturday Night Live\u003c/em>—a show you now may mostly watch on YouTube. “The competition is just so different now,” Pedrad says, pointing to the sheer volume of original scripted shows today, around 500 a year. “Now, there’s not only so many more shows, but there’s also different mediums distracting us. TV shows are also competing against Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and other things that are taking our attention.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do think it’s harder today in the sense that eyeballs are more fractured,” agrees Steven D. Binder, a showrunner for \u003cem>NCIS.\u003c/em> “People are now playing video games as much as they’re watching television.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>NCIS\u003c/em>, which started in 2003, still pulls in phenomenal ratings. It draws more than 10 million viewers a week. Police procedurals are a special case; they’re built to last forever. On \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest-running_scripted_American_primetime_television_series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">that list of the longest-running scripted primetime shows\u003c/a>, \u003cem>CSI\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Criminal Minds\u003c/em> are also way up there along with two \u003cem>Law & Order\u003c/em> franchises. [aside postid='arts_13895138']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As my colleague \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/people/93702353/linda-holmes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Linda Holmes\u003c/a> pointed out to me, these cop procedurals are not complicated, conceptually. Every week, a case gets solved. Actors can get swapped out. Some shows have baked-in advantages that make it easier to stick around, including animated shows like \u003cem>The Simpsons\u003c/em>, \u003cem>American Dad \u003c/em>and \u003cem>Family Guy, \u003c/em>all also \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest-running_scripted_American_primetime_television_series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">at the top of that list\u003c/a>. Making these shows is easier for actors, you can watch them no matter how old you are, and they’re relatively cheap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know if a show created now could go the distance,” says Mike Barker, who’s written and produced for \u003cem>Family Guy (\u003c/em>on its 20th season) and \u003cem>American Dad (\u003c/em>on its 18th). “Because everything has changed so much.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those changes are not only in how we consume TV shows, says Nasim Pedrad. They translate to changes in how TV writers tell stories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Things on shows happen fast. You have to find an audience quickly because of that,” she says. “Like, it used to take multiple seasons before the \u003cem>Friends \u003c/em>[characters] started sleeping with each other, for example, but now with binge culture, there’s so much pressure to hook the audience that things just need to happen faster. You’re burning through plot a lot faster.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A streaming provider has incredible amounts of data on a TV show,” adds Binder. “And they’re so data-driven, maybe they won’t let a show nurture. They’ll cut it off and replace it with another one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A constant stream of brand-new shows works for Netflix, which uses them to draw new subscribers. It works less well for an old-school, advertiser-driven network relying on relationships between shows and their fans. Even if somehow, Pedrad’s new show\u003cem> Chad\u003c/em> ends up becoming a long-running hit, she’s not sure if that’s the best thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oh my goodness,” she says. “I don’t know if I can pull off looking like a 14-year old-boy for 14, 15, 17 seasons.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27Grey%27s+Anatomy%27+Is+In+Its+17th+Season+...+But+Are+Today%27s+Shows+Built+To+Last%3F&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The venerable doctor drama \u003cem>Grey’s Anatomy\u003c/em> is adding new characters, bringing back old ones and writing in COVID-19 subplots in its 17th season. When you look at \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest-running_scripted_American_primetime_television_series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a list of the longest-running scripted shows\u003c/a>,\u003cem> Grey’s Anatomy\u003c/em> is among the very few still airing on primetime TV, along with \u003cem>The Simpsons\u003c/em> (32 seasons), \u003cem>Law & Order: SVU\u003c/em> (22 seasons), \u003cem>Family Guy\u003c/em> (19 seasons) and \u003cem>NCIS\u003c/em> (18 seasons.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They all come from a completely different era of television, says Steve Mosko, a former Sony Pictures Television executive, now CEO of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group. Back when those shows first started, people still used VCRs to tape TV programs they missed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Look at how\u003cem> Law & Order \u003c/em>and some of these great dramas on broadcast TV were doing 22 episodes a year plus. That’s like 22 movies a year,” he points out. “That’s not easy.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Compare that to today, he says, when great dramas on cable and streaming TV like \u003cem>The Crown\u003c/em> or \u003cem>Game of Thrones \u003c/em>run only 10 episodes a season—or fewer. And for some shows today, he adds, such as new comedies, the old calculus of re-runs and syndication, which depends on making a certain number of shows, simply does not apply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nasim Pedrad can testify. “You know, I think it’s pretty unlikely that a show could ever do six seasons, let alone 16 seasons nowadays, just based on the way that we produce content and watch things,” she observes. Pedrad created and stars in \u003cem>Chad,\u003c/em> which started this month on TBS. She plays an obnoxious, teenage American Muslim boy trying to fit in at his high school. “I’m not right now picturing Chad going off to college,” she laughs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13895901\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13895901\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/chad-1-pix-34b7c31ef462ba1da15c469a15ef2ad9d07416d8-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Showrunner Nasim Pedrad behind the scenes of 'Chad' with director Rhys Thomas. Pedrad plays a teenage boy in the new TBS comedy.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/chad-1-pix-34b7c31ef462ba1da15c469a15ef2ad9d07416d8-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/chad-1-pix-34b7c31ef462ba1da15c469a15ef2ad9d07416d8-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/chad-1-pix-34b7c31ef462ba1da15c469a15ef2ad9d07416d8-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/chad-1-pix-34b7c31ef462ba1da15c469a15ef2ad9d07416d8-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/chad-1-pix-34b7c31ef462ba1da15c469a15ef2ad9d07416d8-1536x1151.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/chad-1-pix-34b7c31ef462ba1da15c469a15ef2ad9d07416d8.jpg 1705w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Showrunner Nasim Pedrad behind the scenes of ‘Chad’ with director Rhys Thomas. Pedrad plays a teenage boy in the new TBS comedy. \u003ccite>(Scott Patrick Green/Warner Media)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Pedrad started her career on \u003cem>Saturday Night Live\u003c/em>—a show you now may mostly watch on YouTube. “The competition is just so different now,” Pedrad says, pointing to the sheer volume of original scripted shows today, around 500 a year. “Now, there’s not only so many more shows, but there’s also different mediums distracting us. TV shows are also competing against Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and other things that are taking our attention.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do think it’s harder today in the sense that eyeballs are more fractured,” agrees Steven D. Binder, a showrunner for \u003cem>NCIS.\u003c/em> “People are now playing video games as much as they’re watching television.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>NCIS\u003c/em>, which started in 2003, still pulls in phenomenal ratings. It draws more than 10 million viewers a week. Police procedurals are a special case; they’re built to last forever. On \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest-running_scripted_American_primetime_television_series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">that list of the longest-running scripted primetime shows\u003c/a>, \u003cem>CSI\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Criminal Minds\u003c/em> are also way up there along with two \u003cem>Law & Order\u003c/em> franchises. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As my colleague \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/people/93702353/linda-holmes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Linda Holmes\u003c/a> pointed out to me, these cop procedurals are not complicated, conceptually. Every week, a case gets solved. Actors can get swapped out. Some shows have baked-in advantages that make it easier to stick around, including animated shows like \u003cem>The Simpsons\u003c/em>, \u003cem>American Dad \u003c/em>and \u003cem>Family Guy, \u003c/em>all also \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest-running_scripted_American_primetime_television_series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">at the top of that list\u003c/a>. Making these shows is easier for actors, you can watch them no matter how old you are, and they’re relatively cheap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know if a show created now could go the distance,” says Mike Barker, who’s written and produced for \u003cem>Family Guy (\u003c/em>on its 20th season) and \u003cem>American Dad (\u003c/em>on its 18th). “Because everything has changed so much.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those changes are not only in how we consume TV shows, says Nasim Pedrad. They translate to changes in how TV writers tell stories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Things on shows happen fast. You have to find an audience quickly because of that,” she says. “Like, it used to take multiple seasons before the \u003cem>Friends \u003c/em>[characters] started sleeping with each other, for example, but now with binge culture, there’s so much pressure to hook the audience that things just need to happen faster. You’re burning through plot a lot faster.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A streaming provider has incredible amounts of data on a TV show,” adds Binder. “And they’re so data-driven, maybe they won’t let a show nurture. They’ll cut it off and replace it with another one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A constant stream of brand-new shows works for Netflix, which uses them to draw new subscribers. It works less well for an old-school, advertiser-driven network relying on relationships between shows and their fans. Even if somehow, Pedrad’s new show\u003cem> Chad\u003c/em> ends up becoming a long-running hit, she’s not sure if that’s the best thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oh my goodness,” she says. “I don’t know if I can pull off looking like a 14-year old-boy for 14, 15, 17 seasons.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27Grey%27s+Anatomy%27+Is+In+Its+17th+Season+...+But+Are+Today%27s+Shows+Built+To+Last%3F&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Neither #OscarsSoWhite Nor #OscarsSoMale—What a Difference a Pandemic Makes",
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"content": "\u003cp>This past year of masks, lockdowns, and capacity restrictions has been the most catastrophic 12 months in the history of movie theaters. It has also been a banner year for diversity at the Oscars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Odd as this might seem, I suspect those two things are related—a matter of industry imperatives meeting cold hard cash. And as salutary as the diversity part is, it’s going to take some work to make it permanent. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awards the Oscars, has signaled a willingness to do that work with inclusion standards for Best Picture nominees. They’ll start phasing them in next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, they got lucky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One thing you don’t want, if you’re in charge of the Oscars, is a hashtag—especially something like #OscarsSoWhite—as telecast host Chris Rock acknowledged in 2016, when that one went viral. “It’s the 88th Academy Awards,” he said then to applause, “which means this whole no-black-nominees thing has happened at least 71 other times.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The situation didn’t change much in the next few years. Last year’s Oscars were again among the least diverse in recent memory; only one of 20 acting nominees was non-white.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this year, nine of the 20—almost half the acting nominees—are non-white.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another telecast, another hashtag: 2018 was the year of #OscarsSoMale, which Frances McDormand riffed on in her Best Actress acceptance speech by asking to have “all the female nominees in every category stand with me in this room tonight.” [aside postid='arts_13892640']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of women stood as the crowd cheered but, again, it didn’t initially have much effect. Last year, just as in 86 of the 91 previous years, not a single woman director was nominated, even though McDormand had closed-out this speech urging her colleagues to insist on women behind the camera by adding a clause to their contracts called an “inclusion rider.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But McDormand took her own advice and this year, what a difference a pandemic makes. She produced as well as starred in \u003cem>Nomadland\u003c/em>, a film based on a book by a woman, featuring the stories of quite a few women, and scripted, edited and directed by Chloe Zhao, who, for the first time in Hollywood history, is a woman competing with a second woman in the directing category.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for the unprecedented number of actors of color among the nominees, it represents a remarkable moment of recognition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There were the nominations for vibrant performances in the true stories of celebrated African-American figures: Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield, each a Best Supporting Actor nominee as, respectively, Black Panther Fred Hampton and the informant who set him up for assassination in \u003cem>Judas and the Black Messiah\u003c/em>; Andra Day as Best Actress for playing blues legend Lady Day in \u003cem>The United States Vs. Billie Holiday\u003c/em>; Leslie Odom Jr. for Supporting Actor as Sam Cooke in \u003cem>One Night in Miami. \u003c/em>[aside postid='arts_13890664']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And there were nominations for acting as fictional characters too: A blues singer and her trumpet player in \u003cem>Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom\u003c/em> earned Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Bosemen nods for Best Actress and Actor. Youn Yuh-Jung received a supporting actress nomination as a feisty grandmother in \u003cem>Minari\u003c/em>, the story of Korean immigrants in Arkansas. Riz Ahmed became the first Muslim Best Actor nominee playing a heavy metal drummer who suffers hearing loss in \u003cem>Sound of Metal.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All are eye-opening performances that, taken together, are a clear sign that this is a year of inclusion for the Academy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But not necessarily because Tinseltown has awakened to the virtues of diversity. These are the films that studios decided to open in the middle of a pandemic, a decision that they were well aware would have financial consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Films usually get an Oscar bounce from being nominated—a bump in ticket sales that, in a normal year, can amount to many millions of dollars, and also give a film far more reach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year’s Best Picture winner, \u003cem>Parasite\u003c/em>, is a case in point. The film was playing in 300 theaters before it was nominated. Following the award, its run in the U.S. expanded to five times as many theaters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this year, with cinemas mostly closed, and audiences skittish about crowds, that box office bounce doesn’t exist. If you take all eight of the Best Picture nominees, and combine their earnings, the total comes to barely $35 million worldwide. That would be an unimpressive number for just one nominee in a normal year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So to compete for an Oscar in 2020, a filmmaker had to make an almost Faustian bargain: Come out mid-pandemic for awards consideration and lose your shirt, or sell your soul for bigger box office after the pandemic and lose your shot. [aside postid='arts_13893138']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the films regarded as Oscar shoo-ins decided to wait. A new version of the musical \u003cem>West Side Story,\u003c/em> for instance, with a script by Pulitzer winner Tony Kushner, directed by Oscar winner Steven Spielberg. Also the star-studded costume epic \u003cem>The Last Duel\u003c/em> from \u003cem>Gladiator \u003c/em>director Ridley Scott. And \u003cem>The French Dispatch\u003c/em>, the latest weirdness from Wes Anderson, director of \u003cem>Grand Budapest Hotel.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These films were all shot, edited, and ready-to-go in plenty of time for Oscar consideration, but their studios opted to wait. And from a financial perspective, it’s easy to see why. Until a couple of weeks ago, New York and Los Angeles—the two markets that make-or-break prestige pictures—were still not allowing theaters to open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost as bad, the theaters elsewhere that were open were reducing attendance to as little as 25 per cent of capacity. That scared off even the commercial crowd, from 007, to Marvel superheroes, to the \u003cem>Fast & Furious\u003c/em> crew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they weren’t willing to brave the crippling economics at cinemas in a pandemic year, why should Oscar hopefuls?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So when filmmakers had the clout to say “let’s wait” they did. And who had that clout? The same mostly male, mostly white stars, producers and studio heads who’ve always had it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Who apparently didn’t have that clout? Well, start with the women who made \u003cem>Nomadland\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Promising Young Woman\u003c/em>. Or the Korean-American director of the low-budget indie, \u003cem>Minari.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Or even the well-connected folks behind \u003cem>Judas and the Black Messiah\u003c/em> who are the first all-Black producing team ever nominated for Best Picture. They told \u003cem>The Hollywood Reporter\u003c/em> they’d originally thought their film would perform about as well as \u003cem>Straight Outta Compton\u003c/em>, which earned $200 million worldwide. [aside postid='arts_13895652']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pandemic lowered that estimate, and Warner’s decision to stream all its films the same day they hit theaters lowered it further. Left with no choice but to go along, the producers watched as their film stalled at the box office. Instead of $200 million, \u003cem>Judas and the Black Messiah\u003c/em> has made less than $6 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not easy to imagine a Steven Spielberg being put in that position.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Is this another way of saying Hollywood’s power and privilege still resides mostly with white men? The power to maximize box office; the privilege of making event pictures so expensive they can’t be treated as loss-leaders for streaming services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, sure. But while dollars are important, for filmmakers who have traditionally been marginalized, they are not all-important.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This pandemic year will go down in history as the year without blockbusters—not one, single, billion-dollar superhero epic or action-adventure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it will also be remembered as a watershed for inclusion. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which produces the Oscars has already made history by nominating the most diverse slate of actors ever, as well as a record number of women. Had studios thrown their weight behind the usual, big-budget spectacles, that might not have happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By letting less expensive, more socially conscious films lead the way back to cinemas, studios have—possibly inadvertently—ended up championing work that speaks to this moment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next year, the blockbusters will return, and with them, no doubt, a lot of inequities that seem wedded to the cash they generate. But in the meantime, audiences get to celebrate artists for whom the recognition brought by awards may just have greater value than dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Neither+%23OscarsSoWhite+Nor+%23OscarsSoMale+%E2%80%94+What+A+Difference+A+Pandemic+Makes&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>This past year of masks, lockdowns, and capacity restrictions has been the most catastrophic 12 months in the history of movie theaters. It has also been a banner year for diversity at the Oscars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Odd as this might seem, I suspect those two things are related—a matter of industry imperatives meeting cold hard cash. And as salutary as the diversity part is, it’s going to take some work to make it permanent. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awards the Oscars, has signaled a willingness to do that work with inclusion standards for Best Picture nominees. They’ll start phasing them in next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, they got lucky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One thing you don’t want, if you’re in charge of the Oscars, is a hashtag—especially something like #OscarsSoWhite—as telecast host Chris Rock acknowledged in 2016, when that one went viral. “It’s the 88th Academy Awards,” he said then to applause, “which means this whole no-black-nominees thing has happened at least 71 other times.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The situation didn’t change much in the next few years. Last year’s Oscars were again among the least diverse in recent memory; only one of 20 acting nominees was non-white.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this year, nine of the 20—almost half the acting nominees—are non-white.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another telecast, another hashtag: 2018 was the year of #OscarsSoMale, which Frances McDormand riffed on in her Best Actress acceptance speech by asking to have “all the female nominees in every category stand with me in this room tonight.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of women stood as the crowd cheered but, again, it didn’t initially have much effect. Last year, just as in 86 of the 91 previous years, not a single woman director was nominated, even though McDormand had closed-out this speech urging her colleagues to insist on women behind the camera by adding a clause to their contracts called an “inclusion rider.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But McDormand took her own advice and this year, what a difference a pandemic makes. She produced as well as starred in \u003cem>Nomadland\u003c/em>, a film based on a book by a woman, featuring the stories of quite a few women, and scripted, edited and directed by Chloe Zhao, who, for the first time in Hollywood history, is a woman competing with a second woman in the directing category.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for the unprecedented number of actors of color among the nominees, it represents a remarkable moment of recognition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There were the nominations for vibrant performances in the true stories of celebrated African-American figures: Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield, each a Best Supporting Actor nominee as, respectively, Black Panther Fred Hampton and the informant who set him up for assassination in \u003cem>Judas and the Black Messiah\u003c/em>; Andra Day as Best Actress for playing blues legend Lady Day in \u003cem>The United States Vs. Billie Holiday\u003c/em>; Leslie Odom Jr. for Supporting Actor as Sam Cooke in \u003cem>One Night in Miami. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And there were nominations for acting as fictional characters too: A blues singer and her trumpet player in \u003cem>Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom\u003c/em> earned Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Bosemen nods for Best Actress and Actor. Youn Yuh-Jung received a supporting actress nomination as a feisty grandmother in \u003cem>Minari\u003c/em>, the story of Korean immigrants in Arkansas. Riz Ahmed became the first Muslim Best Actor nominee playing a heavy metal drummer who suffers hearing loss in \u003cem>Sound of Metal.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All are eye-opening performances that, taken together, are a clear sign that this is a year of inclusion for the Academy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But not necessarily because Tinseltown has awakened to the virtues of diversity. These are the films that studios decided to open in the middle of a pandemic, a decision that they were well aware would have financial consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Films usually get an Oscar bounce from being nominated—a bump in ticket sales that, in a normal year, can amount to many millions of dollars, and also give a film far more reach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year’s Best Picture winner, \u003cem>Parasite\u003c/em>, is a case in point. The film was playing in 300 theaters before it was nominated. Following the award, its run in the U.S. expanded to five times as many theaters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this year, with cinemas mostly closed, and audiences skittish about crowds, that box office bounce doesn’t exist. If you take all eight of the Best Picture nominees, and combine their earnings, the total comes to barely $35 million worldwide. That would be an unimpressive number for just one nominee in a normal year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So to compete for an Oscar in 2020, a filmmaker had to make an almost Faustian bargain: Come out mid-pandemic for awards consideration and lose your shirt, or sell your soul for bigger box office after the pandemic and lose your shot. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the films regarded as Oscar shoo-ins decided to wait. A new version of the musical \u003cem>West Side Story,\u003c/em> for instance, with a script by Pulitzer winner Tony Kushner, directed by Oscar winner Steven Spielberg. Also the star-studded costume epic \u003cem>The Last Duel\u003c/em> from \u003cem>Gladiator \u003c/em>director Ridley Scott. And \u003cem>The French Dispatch\u003c/em>, the latest weirdness from Wes Anderson, director of \u003cem>Grand Budapest Hotel.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These films were all shot, edited, and ready-to-go in plenty of time for Oscar consideration, but their studios opted to wait. And from a financial perspective, it’s easy to see why. Until a couple of weeks ago, New York and Los Angeles—the two markets that make-or-break prestige pictures—were still not allowing theaters to open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost as bad, the theaters elsewhere that were open were reducing attendance to as little as 25 per cent of capacity. That scared off even the commercial crowd, from 007, to Marvel superheroes, to the \u003cem>Fast & Furious\u003c/em> crew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they weren’t willing to brave the crippling economics at cinemas in a pandemic year, why should Oscar hopefuls?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So when filmmakers had the clout to say “let’s wait” they did. And who had that clout? The same mostly male, mostly white stars, producers and studio heads who’ve always had it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Who apparently didn’t have that clout? Well, start with the women who made \u003cem>Nomadland\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Promising Young Woman\u003c/em>. Or the Korean-American director of the low-budget indie, \u003cem>Minari.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Or even the well-connected folks behind \u003cem>Judas and the Black Messiah\u003c/em> who are the first all-Black producing team ever nominated for Best Picture. They told \u003cem>The Hollywood Reporter\u003c/em> they’d originally thought their film would perform about as well as \u003cem>Straight Outta Compton\u003c/em>, which earned $200 million worldwide. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pandemic lowered that estimate, and Warner’s decision to stream all its films the same day they hit theaters lowered it further. Left with no choice but to go along, the producers watched as their film stalled at the box office. Instead of $200 million, \u003cem>Judas and the Black Messiah\u003c/em> has made less than $6 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not easy to imagine a Steven Spielberg being put in that position.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Is this another way of saying Hollywood’s power and privilege still resides mostly with white men? The power to maximize box office; the privilege of making event pictures so expensive they can’t be treated as loss-leaders for streaming services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, sure. But while dollars are important, for filmmakers who have traditionally been marginalized, they are not all-important.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This pandemic year will go down in history as the year without blockbusters—not one, single, billion-dollar superhero epic or action-adventure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it will also be remembered as a watershed for inclusion. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which produces the Oscars has already made history by nominating the most diverse slate of actors ever, as well as a record number of women. Had studios thrown their weight behind the usual, big-budget spectacles, that might not have happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By letting less expensive, more socially conscious films lead the way back to cinemas, studios have—possibly inadvertently—ended up championing work that speaks to this moment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next year, the blockbusters will return, and with them, no doubt, a lot of inequities that seem wedded to the cash they generate. But in the meantime, audiences get to celebrate artists for whom the recognition brought by awards may just have greater value than dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Neither+%23OscarsSoWhite+Nor+%23OscarsSoMale+%E2%80%94+What+A+Difference+A+Pandemic+Makes&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>A couple months after Lauren Hough’s essay \u003ca href=\"https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cable-tech-dick-cheney-sex-dungeon_n_5c0ea571e4b06484c9fd4c21\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">“I Was a Cable Guy. I Saw the Worst of America”\u003c/a> went viral at the tail-end of 2018, I assigned it to my creative writing students in a unit on “character.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hough’s essay had a distinct narrative voice—and she was capable of giving so much information about the people she encountered through a few quick details, like one of those cartoonists who can sketch out four lines and suddenly you see your face in them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hough’s first book, \u003cem>Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing\u003c/em>, includes “Cable Guy” and 10 more essays, each of them more revealing and honest than the next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13895832 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/leaving_custom-3ed61d4a13dd106c7f024f0f18436067e566ce9c-800x1231.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1231\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/leaving_custom-3ed61d4a13dd106c7f024f0f18436067e566ce9c-800x1231.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/leaving_custom-3ed61d4a13dd106c7f024f0f18436067e566ce9c-1020x1569.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/leaving_custom-3ed61d4a13dd106c7f024f0f18436067e566ce9c-160x246.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/leaving_custom-3ed61d4a13dd106c7f024f0f18436067e566ce9c-768x1182.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/leaving_custom-3ed61d4a13dd106c7f024f0f18436067e566ce9c-998x1536.jpg 998w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/leaving_custom-3ed61d4a13dd106c7f024f0f18436067e566ce9c-1331x2048.jpg 1331w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/leaving_custom-3ed61d4a13dd106c7f024f0f18436067e566ce9c.jpg 1550w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hough was raised in a cult known alternately as the Family, the Family of Love, the Children of God, or, if you go back far enough, Teens for Christ. I was startled to learn that the whole “Jesus was a socialist hippie” line is not necessarily the progressive talking point I’d believed it was. (Look, I’m Jewish, I first learned about this kind of Jesus from the Buddy Christ in \u003cem>Dogma.\u003c/em>) Instead, this version of Jesus (along with the term Jesus Freaks) seems to have originated around the same time as David Berg “tested his new brand of Gospel” on disenchanted youth in Huntington Beach in the late 1960s: “Jesus was a long-haired hippie like them. Jesus was a socialist. Jesus was the biggest radical ever.” People wanted to find something to believe in—this was mid-Vietnam War—and they followed him, and his cult grew and changed. Hough’s parents joined up separately, met each other, married on a whim, and had Hough and her three siblings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A cult,” writes Hough, “is your textbook abusive relationship—love-bomb, isolate, create dependence, and your victim won’t have the power to leave, even if staying in the relationship means buying into the new Gospel of David Berg.” This theme comes up over and over again throughout the essays, and how could it not? We all want to believe that growing up in a cult must be a particular kind of awful; nearly unfathomable, affecting a person’s whole life—and in many ways it \u003cem>was \u003c/em>like that for Hough. [aside postid='pop_4982']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In “Badlands,” she writes about the constant vigilance she had as a child, how she knew to expect violence, and how she learned to enact it on those smaller than her—in particular her little brother—because what other models did she have for how to deal with her anger and hurt and upset at the time? In “Speaking in Tongues,” she lists some of the cult’s rituals, the fasting and sleep deprivation used in the name of practicing its spirituality according to their leader, but which really served to make everyone too tired and hungry to see clearly what they were doing. The Family was also a sex cult, and in “Boys on the Side,” Hough details the encouragement children got to “express themselves sexually,” how when “an adult groped a preteen girl, she might freeze; she might be called unloving and told to be more receptive. She’d learn, eventually, to only freeze on the outside.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Hough’s book isn’t really a cult memoir—it’s about so much more than that (and it’s also quite funny, although you’ll have to take my word on that because most of the funny bits include expletives I can’t quote here). Slowly, essay after essay, it becomes clear that she’s drawing parallels between the Family and good ol’ fashioned American Exceptionalism in all its various facets, from rah-rah-‘Merica attitudes surrounding freedom, to the worship of individualism, to the demands of capitalism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In “Solitaire,” the first essay, she’s gaslighted by her superiors in the Air Force after her car is torched in what is clearly a hate crime—Hough is gay, and she’d been getting death threats for some time—and instead of trying to find out who did it, they try to pin it on her. “I knew I wasn’t guilty,” she writes. “But guilt or innocence had never mattered all that much in my experience.” In the Family, after all, she was punished simply for being tired or not being upbeat enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In “The Slide,” Hough describes her days living out of her car in Washington, D.C., trying to find work and a room to rent. It was her first time encountering a gayborhood, in the form of Dupont Circle of the early aughts, but that didn’t make it home, because “both cultures—the religious cult and the white-teeth gays—share a rule about smiling. Both believe in the power of positive thinking to keep things like homelessness at bay. This way, when you fall, you have only yourself to blame. There has to be a reason because no one wants to think it could happen to them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The United States is a nation full of people to whom it has already happened; people who are one paycheck, accident, or unexpected bill away from it happening; and people who are so astronomically far away from it happening to them that they can only imagine that those of us closer to the bottom of the financial safety rungs must be morally bankrupt, stupid, lazy, or all the above. There’s less space in between these tiers than we think.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At her cable guy job, Hough watched a man get an award for never taking a day off in ten years—not a sick day, a snow day, or even a vacation. He had a wife and kids. “In a sane society, he would be a cautionary tale. In our society, he got a plaque and a fifty-dollar gift card to Best Buy.” You can’t make this kind of thing up—it’s all too common, the praise Americans get for working hard, the way we’re obsessed with “efficiency” and “productivity hacking” and even “self-care,” that term that originated in Black activist circles and that has become another marketing tactic to sell us things. [aside postid='arts_13894648']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which is not to say that Hough believes we’re all doomed, exactly. In “Everything That’s Beautiful Breaks My Heart,” she makes the ties between her own upbringing and the cultishness of American ideology explicit, but also opens up room for hope via small acts of resistance. One time she and a bunch of her fellow JETTS (Junior End Time Teens) went out to play in the snow after arriving at a new house in Switzerland after fleeing their last home because it was about to be raided. When a grownup came out to get them, he was ignored—a rarity. “We realized, if only for that one morning, they had no power. The same holds true now,” she adds, referring to the systems that surround us, that promise protection and care via personal responsibility and hard work but that fail more of us than not. “They only have power because we believe, because they’ve taught us to need them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Do we believe? There are many reasons we do: The lies are comforting; they give structure to our lives, something to strive for, goals to achieve; they make us feel safer, because they make us feel certain that we can see what’s going to happen next. Not knowing is far scarier. Thank goodness that Hough doesn’t claim to know either, that she isn’t trying to sell us a solution or asking us to join anything. She tells it like it is, and it’s heartbreaking—but to find our way out, we have to see things clearly first. Any survivor of a cult or an abusive relationship will tell you that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Ilana Masad is an Israeli-American fiction writer, critic, and founder/host of the podcast The Other Stories. Her debut novel is \u003c/em>All My Mother’s Lovers\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27Leaving+Isn%27t+The+Hardest+Thing%27+Isn%27t+Just+A+Cult+Memoir&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A couple months after Lauren Hough’s essay \u003ca href=\"https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cable-tech-dick-cheney-sex-dungeon_n_5c0ea571e4b06484c9fd4c21\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">“I Was a Cable Guy. I Saw the Worst of America”\u003c/a> went viral at the tail-end of 2018, I assigned it to my creative writing students in a unit on “character.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hough’s essay had a distinct narrative voice—and she was capable of giving so much information about the people she encountered through a few quick details, like one of those cartoonists who can sketch out four lines and suddenly you see your face in them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hough’s first book, \u003cem>Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing\u003c/em>, includes “Cable Guy” and 10 more essays, each of them more revealing and honest than the next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13895832 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/leaving_custom-3ed61d4a13dd106c7f024f0f18436067e566ce9c-800x1231.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1231\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/leaving_custom-3ed61d4a13dd106c7f024f0f18436067e566ce9c-800x1231.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/leaving_custom-3ed61d4a13dd106c7f024f0f18436067e566ce9c-1020x1569.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/leaving_custom-3ed61d4a13dd106c7f024f0f18436067e566ce9c-160x246.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/leaving_custom-3ed61d4a13dd106c7f024f0f18436067e566ce9c-768x1182.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/leaving_custom-3ed61d4a13dd106c7f024f0f18436067e566ce9c-998x1536.jpg 998w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/leaving_custom-3ed61d4a13dd106c7f024f0f18436067e566ce9c-1331x2048.jpg 1331w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/leaving_custom-3ed61d4a13dd106c7f024f0f18436067e566ce9c.jpg 1550w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hough was raised in a cult known alternately as the Family, the Family of Love, the Children of God, or, if you go back far enough, Teens for Christ. I was startled to learn that the whole “Jesus was a socialist hippie” line is not necessarily the progressive talking point I’d believed it was. (Look, I’m Jewish, I first learned about this kind of Jesus from the Buddy Christ in \u003cem>Dogma.\u003c/em>) Instead, this version of Jesus (along with the term Jesus Freaks) seems to have originated around the same time as David Berg “tested his new brand of Gospel” on disenchanted youth in Huntington Beach in the late 1960s: “Jesus was a long-haired hippie like them. Jesus was a socialist. Jesus was the biggest radical ever.” People wanted to find something to believe in—this was mid-Vietnam War—and they followed him, and his cult grew and changed. Hough’s parents joined up separately, met each other, married on a whim, and had Hough and her three siblings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In “Badlands,” she writes about the constant vigilance she had as a child, how she knew to expect violence, and how she learned to enact it on those smaller than her—in particular her little brother—because what other models did she have for how to deal with her anger and hurt and upset at the time? In “Speaking in Tongues,” she lists some of the cult’s rituals, the fasting and sleep deprivation used in the name of practicing its spirituality according to their leader, but which really served to make everyone too tired and hungry to see clearly what they were doing. The Family was also a sex cult, and in “Boys on the Side,” Hough details the encouragement children got to “express themselves sexually,” how when “an adult groped a preteen girl, she might freeze; she might be called unloving and told to be more receptive. She’d learn, eventually, to only freeze on the outside.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Hough’s book isn’t really a cult memoir—it’s about so much more than that (and it’s also quite funny, although you’ll have to take my word on that because most of the funny bits include expletives I can’t quote here). Slowly, essay after essay, it becomes clear that she’s drawing parallels between the Family and good ol’ fashioned American Exceptionalism in all its various facets, from rah-rah-‘Merica attitudes surrounding freedom, to the worship of individualism, to the demands of capitalism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In “Solitaire,” the first essay, she’s gaslighted by her superiors in the Air Force after her car is torched in what is clearly a hate crime—Hough is gay, and she’d been getting death threats for some time—and instead of trying to find out who did it, they try to pin it on her. “I knew I wasn’t guilty,” she writes. “But guilt or innocence had never mattered all that much in my experience.” In the Family, after all, she was punished simply for being tired or not being upbeat enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In “The Slide,” Hough describes her days living out of her car in Washington, D.C., trying to find work and a room to rent. It was her first time encountering a gayborhood, in the form of Dupont Circle of the early aughts, but that didn’t make it home, because “both cultures—the religious cult and the white-teeth gays—share a rule about smiling. Both believe in the power of positive thinking to keep things like homelessness at bay. This way, when you fall, you have only yourself to blame. There has to be a reason because no one wants to think it could happen to them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The United States is a nation full of people to whom it has already happened; people who are one paycheck, accident, or unexpected bill away from it happening; and people who are so astronomically far away from it happening to them that they can only imagine that those of us closer to the bottom of the financial safety rungs must be morally bankrupt, stupid, lazy, or all the above. There’s less space in between these tiers than we think.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At her cable guy job, Hough watched a man get an award for never taking a day off in ten years—not a sick day, a snow day, or even a vacation. He had a wife and kids. “In a sane society, he would be a cautionary tale. In our society, he got a plaque and a fifty-dollar gift card to Best Buy.” You can’t make this kind of thing up—it’s all too common, the praise Americans get for working hard, the way we’re obsessed with “efficiency” and “productivity hacking” and even “self-care,” that term that originated in Black activist circles and that has become another marketing tactic to sell us things. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which is not to say that Hough believes we’re all doomed, exactly. In “Everything That’s Beautiful Breaks My Heart,” she makes the ties between her own upbringing and the cultishness of American ideology explicit, but also opens up room for hope via small acts of resistance. One time she and a bunch of her fellow JETTS (Junior End Time Teens) went out to play in the snow after arriving at a new house in Switzerland after fleeing their last home because it was about to be raided. When a grownup came out to get them, he was ignored—a rarity. “We realized, if only for that one morning, they had no power. The same holds true now,” she adds, referring to the systems that surround us, that promise protection and care via personal responsibility and hard work but that fail more of us than not. “They only have power because we believe, because they’ve taught us to need them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Do we believe? There are many reasons we do: The lies are comforting; they give structure to our lives, something to strive for, goals to achieve; they make us feel safer, because they make us feel certain that we can see what’s going to happen next. Not knowing is far scarier. Thank goodness that Hough doesn’t claim to know either, that she isn’t trying to sell us a solution or asking us to join anything. She tells it like it is, and it’s heartbreaking—but to find our way out, we have to see things clearly first. Any survivor of a cult or an abusive relationship will tell you that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Ilana Masad is an Israeli-American fiction writer, critic, and founder/host of the podcast The Other Stories. Her debut novel is \u003c/em>All My Mother’s Lovers\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27Leaving+Isn%27t+The+Hardest+Thing%27+Isn%27t+Just+A+Cult+Memoir&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "'Quo Vadis, Aida?' Asks: Where Does a Society Go After War Ends?",
"headTitle": "‘Quo Vadis, Aida?’ Asks: Where Does a Society Go After War Ends? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Filmmaker Jasmila Zbanic was a 17-year-old student living in Sarajevo with her family when the Bosnian war began in April 1992. As clashes over Bosnia’s referendum for independence first started, she says nobody imagined there could ever be a full war. “It started like [the] riots on Congress in January in [the] U.S. … I was happy when this happened because I thought what a cool thing not to go to school and have [the] whole city stop,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, the ensuing siege of Sarajevo became part of the longest and bloodiest armed conflict in Europe since World War II. The experience marked Zbanic as a young woman—and as an artist—and her award-winning films have explored the legacy of war with a particular focus on women’s stories. Her latest film \u003cem>Quo Vadis, Aida?\u003c/em> is among the nominees for this year’s Oscars for Best International Feature and it dramatizes the genocide of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in July 1995.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Journalist Christiane Amanpour, who covered the war for CNN, says she was “gobsmacked” by the film and it took her right back to the asymmetry of that conflict. “I was a young woman in my first real war and it took me several weeks, maybe a couple of months, to understand that in Bosnia there was no question that there was an aggressor, clearly defined and there were victims, clearly defined. The aggressors were white Christians who were the Serbs and the Bosnian Serbs. The victims were white European Muslims and the aim of the aggressor was exactly the definition of genocide: to destroy a community in part or in whole based on their ethnicity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zbanic spent years researching the real-world politics and mass violence that unfolded in Srebrenica but she says she knew she was also creating a piece of cinema. “Media are dealing with numbers or shocking images but cinema allows us to identify with characters and spend time with them and be with their decisions, having [the] feeling that it’s in real time,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her version eschews on-screen violence and widescreen battles for a more immersive and intimate experience than traditional Hollywood war films. “I just respect [the] audience very much and I know that [an] audience can imagine many things so I didn’t show blood and violence in an obvious way. I really think we don’t have to see men in blood to know that they were all killed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13895792\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13895792\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/jasmila-zbanic-c-deblokada-photo-by-imrana-kapetanovic_enl-57353808e02f73f7c9ad5abd7c075ea90ff20b43-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"Jasmila Žbanić, who wrote and directed 'Quo Vadis, Aida?'\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jasmila Žbanić wrote and directed ‘Quo Vadis, Aida?’ \u003ccite>(Super LTD)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Zbanic tells the story of Srebrenica through Aida, a former teacher working as a translator for the United Nations forces. Played by acclaimed Serbian actress Jasna Duricic, Aida rushes between meetings and military negotiations as Srebrenica is ethnically cleansed, her own family joining the thousands of refugees outside the gates of the U.N. base seeking protection. Despite her privileged status as a United Nations employee, she is unable to ensure her own family’s safety. Zbanic says the U.N. betrayed the people it sought to protect and Aida is a tragic character placed at the intersection of that impossible position. In a landmark 1999 report completed under then Secretary General Kofi Annan, the United Nations acknowledged its systemic failures to intervene and protect civilians in Srebrenica.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite being Bosnia’s entry to this year’s Oscars, for some viewers, the film has been simply too painful to watch. Amir Husak, who is a Bosnian filmmaker and scholar of media studies at The New School says, “I can tell you that many of my friends and family reported not being able to finish the film in one sitting. It’s a collective trauma that we’re speaking about and it brings back many painful memories.” [aside postid='arts_80724']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 25 years after the events of Srebrenica, the bones of missing victims are still being found in mass graves surrounding the forests where the film is set. Zbanic says she has been following the stories of those discoveries and \u003cem>Quo Vadis, Aida? \u003c/em>includes Aida’s own search for closure in the present day. In this on screen portrayal, Zbanic says she wanted to pay tribute to the mothers of Srebrenica who have shown a way beyond the politics of vengeance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These women of Srebrenica are what we thought once saints are,” Zbanic adds. “They are really going back and facing these perpetrators and there was not a single case of revenge. They shaped our country in completely unbelievable ways because they said no revenge, we just want people who did killings to be in prison and they are always talking about truth and justice, not revenge, and how we have to live together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Therefore the film’s title—\u003cem>Quo Vadis, Aida?\u003c/em>—\u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/glossary/domine-quo-vadis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">taken from the apocryphal Christian tradition\u003c/a>—asks the question at the heart of the film’s story: where is Aida going and where does a society go after a war ends?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Kn4TOJwR2w\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27Quo+Vadis%2C+Aida%3F%27+Asks%3A+Where+Does+A+Society+Go+After+War+Ends%3F&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Filmmaker Jasmila Zbanic was a 17-year-old student living in Sarajevo with her family when the Bosnian war began in April 1992. As clashes over Bosnia’s referendum for independence first started, she says nobody imagined there could ever be a full war. “It started like [the] riots on Congress in January in [the] U.S. … I was happy when this happened because I thought what a cool thing not to go to school and have [the] whole city stop,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, the ensuing siege of Sarajevo became part of the longest and bloodiest armed conflict in Europe since World War II. The experience marked Zbanic as a young woman—and as an artist—and her award-winning films have explored the legacy of war with a particular focus on women’s stories. Her latest film \u003cem>Quo Vadis, Aida?\u003c/em> is among the nominees for this year’s Oscars for Best International Feature and it dramatizes the genocide of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in July 1995.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Journalist Christiane Amanpour, who covered the war for CNN, says she was “gobsmacked” by the film and it took her right back to the asymmetry of that conflict. “I was a young woman in my first real war and it took me several weeks, maybe a couple of months, to understand that in Bosnia there was no question that there was an aggressor, clearly defined and there were victims, clearly defined. The aggressors were white Christians who were the Serbs and the Bosnian Serbs. The victims were white European Muslims and the aim of the aggressor was exactly the definition of genocide: to destroy a community in part or in whole based on their ethnicity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zbanic spent years researching the real-world politics and mass violence that unfolded in Srebrenica but she says she knew she was also creating a piece of cinema. “Media are dealing with numbers or shocking images but cinema allows us to identify with characters and spend time with them and be with their decisions, having [the] feeling that it’s in real time,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her version eschews on-screen violence and widescreen battles for a more immersive and intimate experience than traditional Hollywood war films. “I just respect [the] audience very much and I know that [an] audience can imagine many things so I didn’t show blood and violence in an obvious way. I really think we don’t have to see men in blood to know that they were all killed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13895792\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13895792\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/jasmila-zbanic-c-deblokada-photo-by-imrana-kapetanovic_enl-57353808e02f73f7c9ad5abd7c075ea90ff20b43-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"Jasmila Žbanić, who wrote and directed 'Quo Vadis, Aida?'\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jasmila Žbanić wrote and directed ‘Quo Vadis, Aida?’ \u003ccite>(Super LTD)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Zbanic tells the story of Srebrenica through Aida, a former teacher working as a translator for the United Nations forces. Played by acclaimed Serbian actress Jasna Duricic, Aida rushes between meetings and military negotiations as Srebrenica is ethnically cleansed, her own family joining the thousands of refugees outside the gates of the U.N. base seeking protection. Despite her privileged status as a United Nations employee, she is unable to ensure her own family’s safety. Zbanic says the U.N. betrayed the people it sought to protect and Aida is a tragic character placed at the intersection of that impossible position. In a landmark 1999 report completed under then Secretary General Kofi Annan, the United Nations acknowledged its systemic failures to intervene and protect civilians in Srebrenica.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite being Bosnia’s entry to this year’s Oscars, for some viewers, the film has been simply too painful to watch. Amir Husak, who is a Bosnian filmmaker and scholar of media studies at The New School says, “I can tell you that many of my friends and family reported not being able to finish the film in one sitting. It’s a collective trauma that we’re speaking about and it brings back many painful memories.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 25 years after the events of Srebrenica, the bones of missing victims are still being found in mass graves surrounding the forests where the film is set. Zbanic says she has been following the stories of those discoveries and \u003cem>Quo Vadis, Aida? \u003c/em>includes Aida’s own search for closure in the present day. In this on screen portrayal, Zbanic says she wanted to pay tribute to the mothers of Srebrenica who have shown a way beyond the politics of vengeance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These women of Srebrenica are what we thought once saints are,” Zbanic adds. “They are really going back and facing these perpetrators and there was not a single case of revenge. They shaped our country in completely unbelievable ways because they said no revenge, we just want people who did killings to be in prison and they are always talking about truth and justice, not revenge, and how we have to live together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Therefore the film’s title—\u003cem>Quo Vadis, Aida?\u003c/em>—\u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/glossary/domine-quo-vadis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">taken from the apocryphal Christian tradition\u003c/a>—asks the question at the heart of the film’s story: where is Aida going and where does a society go after a war ends?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/5Kn4TOJwR2w'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/5Kn4TOJwR2w'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27Quo+Vadis%2C+Aida%3F%27+Asks%3A+Where+Does+A+Society+Go+After+War+Ends%3F&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Emerald Fennell's 'Promising Young Woman' Doesn't Let Anyone Off the Hook",
"headTitle": "Emerald Fennell’s ‘Promising Young Woman’ Doesn’t Let Anyone Off the Hook | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>In the dark comedy \u003cem>Promising Young Woman,\u003c/em> Cassie (Carey Mulligan) works at a coffee shop by day and hunts sexual predators by night. She goes to bars, pretends to be falling down drunk—and then confronts the men who try to take advantage of her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cassie is avenging the death of her best friend, who, the movie implies, has died by suicide after being raped at medical school. Writer and director Emerald Fennell says the film was inspired, in part, by the messages other movies send about alcohol and consent. [aside postid='arts_13874000']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I was growing up—and I think still probably it’s the case now—in movies, getting women drunk to sleep with them, filling up their drink more than you’d fill your own, waiting at the end of the night to see who’s drunk at the club, girls waking up not knowing who’s in bed next to them—it was just comedy fodder,” Fennell says. “We live in a culture where this sort of stuff is normalized.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fennell got her start in television as an actor, then worked as the showrunner for the second season of\u003cem> Killing Eve. Promising Young Woman \u003c/em>is the first film she’s directed. The movie has been nominated for five Academy Awards, including best director and best original screenplay. Fennell describes the film as “a kind of fantasy—with wish fulfillment” but also as something “much darker and, I hope, more honest than that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I always wanted to make a film, I think, that people would really enjoy and emotionally connect to and find gripping and romantic and all of those things, but [that’s] also not a film that lets anyone off the hook,” she says. “That’s a really interesting position for a filmmaker: to make an audience feel that they’re in familiar territory when they’re not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i5kiFDunk8\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>Interview Highlights\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On the film’s depictions of sexual assault, especially as it relates to alcohol \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Britain at the moment, the most incredible thing is happening, which is that women and girls are writing about their experiences [with sexual assault] at schools. Honestly, the volume, the sheer volume of these stories shows just how commonplace this stuff is. There’s nothing in this film that isn’t—and regrettably—incredibly normal and certainly was when I was growing up. And I think for anyone who thinks that these things weren’t horribly common, I think, probably never went to a party or a nightclub, or is kidding themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On the character of Cassie\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is a film about a woman who is trying to find a way forward in a very grief-stricken and angry way. And part of her journey, part of her means of coping is to present herself as incredibly functioning. Like a lot of addicts, I think, she is somewhat addicted to these nighttime excursions, which make her feel kind of fleetingly better. During the day, she wears a lot of pink. Her hair is always immaculate. Her nails are perfect—kind of whimsical pastels. She’s weaponized her femininity, not just in a kind of aggressive way, but as a defense. Like, she knows that people won’t ask too many questions of her if she hides in plain sight like this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On why she wanted Cassie’s act of revenge to be scaring men rather than committing acts of violence \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think part of the film for me was taking a genre that I really love, which is the revenge thriller, and seeing if I could … use that structure, which we’re all so familiar with, but do something unexpected with it—and most importantly, do something that felt feasible to me and female, because I think so often in these kinds of films, and particularly when it pertains to violence, it is not feasible that a woman commits acts of violence against men in the night. It’s not a fair thing to expect. And I think this film is very clear about what happens if you were to try. I really started it by thinking: If I was going to go on a journey like this, what could I do? And if I couldn’t shoot a gun and I’m too unfit to kind of wrestle someone, what could I do to effect some kind of change or to punish people or frighten them? I could do what she does, which is scare them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On whether she sees a similarity between \u003c/strong>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Killing Eve \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>and\u003c/strong>\u003cem>\u003cstrong> Promising Young Woman,\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> in terms of how they subvert expectations \u003c/strong>[aside postid='arts_13884214']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think, certainly, this sense of wickedness is something that it shares. Anything that gives you that laugh/gasp, sort of “No! Oh god. Yes!” is just always going to be such a fun space to be in. Absolutely, they’re both twists on genres, but I would say they’re both kind of quite different genres, and I’m always kind of quite careful not to make comparisons, just because I think also we do tend to make comparisons between female-led projects much more, just generally all of us as a kind of society. I do think of them as quite markedly different, but certainly, I think, they do share some sort of sense of macabre wickedness and a subversion of the feminine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On portraying Camilla Parker Bowles in the latest season of \u003c/strong>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>The Crown \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I definitely don’t think of her as a villain. I think that increasingly what we’re realizing—and certainly on the show—is that anything that touches the royal family, anything that is part of that is so profoundly strange. It’s not like any other world. It’s not like any other family. The circumstances are just completely extraordinary. So that’s kind of the thing that was always interesting to me about Camilla, was that she’s actually very, very private. The Camilla that I was playing, there’s almost no footage, no photographs of her. … She was head girl of her school. She was incredibly popular. Everyone who’s met her from the research says she’s incredibly funny and kind and good fun, and I was just so interested in what happens to that kind of person when they get sucked into this world and then their biography is written for them by other people. I’m certainly not saying that having affairs is a good thing, but a lot of people do it, and it takes more than one person to do it, too. I went at it, to be honest, very much as a fiction. It’s just an amazingly genius drama.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Lauren Krenzel and Thea Chaloner produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey adapted it for the Web.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 Fresh Air. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fresh Air\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Emerald+Fennell%27s+%27Promising+Young+Woman%27+Doesn%27t+Let+Anyone+Off+The+Hook&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In the dark comedy \u003cem>Promising Young Woman,\u003c/em> Cassie (Carey Mulligan) works at a coffee shop by day and hunts sexual predators by night. She goes to bars, pretends to be falling down drunk—and then confronts the men who try to take advantage of her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cassie is avenging the death of her best friend, who, the movie implies, has died by suicide after being raped at medical school. Writer and director Emerald Fennell says the film was inspired, in part, by the messages other movies send about alcohol and consent. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I was growing up—and I think still probably it’s the case now—in movies, getting women drunk to sleep with them, filling up their drink more than you’d fill your own, waiting at the end of the night to see who’s drunk at the club, girls waking up not knowing who’s in bed next to them—it was just comedy fodder,” Fennell says. “We live in a culture where this sort of stuff is normalized.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fennell got her start in television as an actor, then worked as the showrunner for the second season of\u003cem> Killing Eve. Promising Young Woman \u003c/em>is the first film she’s directed. The movie has been nominated for five Academy Awards, including best director and best original screenplay. Fennell describes the film as “a kind of fantasy—with wish fulfillment” but also as something “much darker and, I hope, more honest than that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I always wanted to make a film, I think, that people would really enjoy and emotionally connect to and find gripping and romantic and all of those things, but [that’s] also not a film that lets anyone off the hook,” she says. “That’s a really interesting position for a filmmaker: to make an audience feel that they’re in familiar territory when they’re not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think, certainly, this sense of wickedness is something that it shares. Anything that gives you that laugh/gasp, sort of “No! Oh god. Yes!” is just always going to be such a fun space to be in. Absolutely, they’re both twists on genres, but I would say they’re both kind of quite different genres, and I’m always kind of quite careful not to make comparisons, just because I think also we do tend to make comparisons between female-led projects much more, just generally all of us as a kind of society. I do think of them as quite markedly different, but certainly, I think, they do share some sort of sense of macabre wickedness and a subversion of the feminine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On portraying Camilla Parker Bowles in the latest season of \u003c/strong>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>The Crown \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I definitely don’t think of her as a villain. I think that increasingly what we’re realizing—and certainly on the show—is that anything that touches the royal family, anything that is part of that is so profoundly strange. It’s not like any other world. It’s not like any other family. The circumstances are just completely extraordinary. So that’s kind of the thing that was always interesting to me about Camilla, was that she’s actually very, very private. The Camilla that I was playing, there’s almost no footage, no photographs of her. … She was head girl of her school. She was incredibly popular. Everyone who’s met her from the research says she’s incredibly funny and kind and good fun, and I was just so interested in what happens to that kind of person when they get sucked into this world and then their biography is written for them by other people. I’m certainly not saying that having affairs is a good thing, but a lot of people do it, and it takes more than one person to do it, too. I went at it, to be honest, very much as a fiction. It’s just an amazingly genius drama.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "'I Feel Like I'm an Olympian': Youn Yuh-jung on Her Historic Oscar Nomination",
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"content": "\u003cp>Youn Yuh-jung is an institution in Korean cinema. Her career spans five decades and includes starring roles in classic Korean films and famous TV dramas. Now, at 73, she has newfound fame in the U.S. for her role in the Oscar-nominated film \u003cem>Minari\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Youn is nominated for Best Supporting Actress, making her the first South Korean woman ever to be nominated for an Academy Award in an acting category.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This has never happened in Korea, and I feel like I’m an Olympian competing for my country,” Youn tells NPR in a call from her home in Seoul. “It’s very stressful,” she says with a laugh. [aside postid='arts_13893138']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The film \u003cem>Minari\u003c/em> centers around a Korean-American family that moves to rural Arkansas to start a new life on a farm. Youn plays Soonja, the grandmother who travels from South Korea to watch over her two young grandchildren.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That character Soonja—she’s not a typical grandmother,” Youn says. Soonja is loving and lighthearted, but mischievous, too. She swears, watches pro wrestling, drinks Mountain Dew and shows her grandkids how to gamble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She was a widow—a Korean War widow, a single mother and a working mother,” Youn says of her character. “She likes to have some fun because she’s been through a lot. She tries to comfort [her family].”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soonja develops a special bond with her young grandson David, played by Alan Kim. But cultivating a relationship with him takes patience. In David’s mind, Soonja isn’t a “real” grandmother—she shares a room with him and never bakes him cookies. He accuses her of wearing men’s underwear. Soonja is unfazed. In one scene, she embraces him and looks into his eyes, saying, “Pretty boy, pretty boy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David interjects: “I’m not pretty, I’m good looking!” as he storms off into his bedroom. Soonja laughs, then turns back to the TV to watch the wrestling match.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ0gFidlro8\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Youn says the character Soonja holds a deeper meaning in her own life. While filming, she often thought about childhood memories of her great-grandmother.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a heartbreaking story,” Youn says. “I was born in 1947, so I was maybe 3 when the Korean War started. And after the war, we didn’t have enough water, enough rice, nothing. My grandmother passed away during the wartime, and my great-grandmother happened to be alive until I was 9.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Youn says her family had to ration supplies, and her great-grandmother would often re-use the family’s water. “To me, she was very dirty, or not hygienic. So, I didn’t like her at all. What a stupid thing [to think],” Youn says. “I didn’t like her because she’s not clean and she’d always say she’s not hungry. She would always skip lunch.” [aside postid='arts_13874634']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a child, Youn didn’t understand that her great-grandmother was skipping meals so her family could have more food. “I didn’t know that,” Youn says. “She never said, ‘I love you,’ but I realized, after I become 60 years old, all of a sudden I thought about my great-grandmother. Then I realized, ‘Oh, she was saving all the food and all the water for us. Every night, I prayed for her because I felt terrible,” she says. “I ask her for forgiveness, I was very ignorant.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Youn says she still lives with that guilt, but says playing the role of Soonja offered a chance to come to terms with her painful memories. “I really understood this script, deeply. It connected me. The script was very authentic and very real to me, and a very genuine story to me. It was very touching. So, I said, ‘OK, I’ll do it—without any condition.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27I+Feel+Like+I%27m+An+Olympian%27%3A+Youn+Yuh-jung+On+Her+Historic+Oscar+Nomination&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Youn Yuh-jung is an institution in Korean cinema. Her career spans five decades and includes starring roles in classic Korean films and famous TV dramas. Now, at 73, she has newfound fame in the U.S. for her role in the Oscar-nominated film \u003cem>Minari\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Youn is nominated for Best Supporting Actress, making her the first South Korean woman ever to be nominated for an Academy Award in an acting category.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This has never happened in Korea, and I feel like I’m an Olympian competing for my country,” Youn tells NPR in a call from her home in Seoul. “It’s very stressful,” she says with a laugh. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The film \u003cem>Minari\u003c/em> centers around a Korean-American family that moves to rural Arkansas to start a new life on a farm. Youn plays Soonja, the grandmother who travels from South Korea to watch over her two young grandchildren.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That character Soonja—she’s not a typical grandmother,” Youn says. Soonja is loving and lighthearted, but mischievous, too. She swears, watches pro wrestling, drinks Mountain Dew and shows her grandkids how to gamble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She was a widow—a Korean War widow, a single mother and a working mother,” Youn says of her character. “She likes to have some fun because she’s been through a lot. She tries to comfort [her family].”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soonja develops a special bond with her young grandson David, played by Alan Kim. But cultivating a relationship with him takes patience. In David’s mind, Soonja isn’t a “real” grandmother—she shares a room with him and never bakes him cookies. He accuses her of wearing men’s underwear. Soonja is unfazed. In one scene, she embraces him and looks into his eyes, saying, “Pretty boy, pretty boy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David interjects: “I’m not pretty, I’m good looking!” as he storms off into his bedroom. Soonja laughs, then turns back to the TV to watch the wrestling match.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/KQ0gFidlro8'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/KQ0gFidlro8'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Youn says the character Soonja holds a deeper meaning in her own life. While filming, she often thought about childhood memories of her great-grandmother.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a heartbreaking story,” Youn says. “I was born in 1947, so I was maybe 3 when the Korean War started. And after the war, we didn’t have enough water, enough rice, nothing. My grandmother passed away during the wartime, and my great-grandmother happened to be alive until I was 9.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Youn says her family had to ration supplies, and her great-grandmother would often re-use the family’s water. “To me, she was very dirty, or not hygienic. So, I didn’t like her at all. What a stupid thing [to think],” Youn says. “I didn’t like her because she’s not clean and she’d always say she’s not hungry. She would always skip lunch.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a child, Youn didn’t understand that her great-grandmother was skipping meals so her family could have more food. “I didn’t know that,” Youn says. “She never said, ‘I love you,’ but I realized, after I become 60 years old, all of a sudden I thought about my great-grandmother. Then I realized, ‘Oh, she was saving all the food and all the water for us. Every night, I prayed for her because I felt terrible,” she says. “I ask her for forgiveness, I was very ignorant.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Youn says she still lives with that guilt, but says playing the role of Soonja offered a chance to come to terms with her painful memories. “I really understood this script, deeply. It connected me. The script was very authentic and very real to me, and a very genuine story to me. It was very touching. So, I said, ‘OK, I’ll do it—without any condition.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27I+Feel+Like+I%27m+An+Olympian%27%3A+Youn+Yuh-jung+On+Her+Historic+Oscar+Nomination&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "HBO's 'The Nevers': When Steampunk Gets Foggy",
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"content": "\u003cp>Unfocused and overstuffed, the first four episodes of HBO’s \u003cem>The Nevers \u003c/em>provided to critics lack a sufficiently strong narrative backbone to support the surfeit of characters, subplots, themes and familiar storytelling tics thrown at the viewer. The series pairs all this tumult with a frustratingly incremental approach to disclosing What Is Really Going On; as a result, allegiances shift, plots twist and characters take actions for reasons we can only guess at—provided we’re willing to bother.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those sudden reveals and reversals are meant to surprise and delight, of course. And maybe they would, if the show spent more energy attempting to get us invested in these characters and what happens to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end of the fourth episode, viewers who’ve paying close attention will have developed a working theory about Amalia True (Laura Donnelly), the leader of a rag-tag group of women in Victorian London who’ve been granted weird powers by a mysterious event. Amalia’s got the power to experience sudden ripples of the future, see. She’s also fond of the occasional donnybrook, and is an uncannily exceptional hand-to-hand fighter in a way that doesn’t seem connected to her particular power (her “turn,” in the show’s parlance). She’s also got a complicated past she doesn’t like to talk about, including a connection to another one of the “Touched” (others who acquired powers in the same event)—a murderous madwoman named Maladie (Amy Manson). Amalia’s taciturn about pretty much everything, in fact, except for her stated mission, which is to gather together the “Touched” (mostly women of lower station) at the orphanage she runs, so as to offer them protection from a populace growing increasingly hostile to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s more to it, and to her, and the conclusion of the fourth episode suggests that we’ll get to know Amalia’s whole deal in the two episodes that follow (HBO is dividing up \u003cem>The Nevers\u003c/em>‘ season into two six-episode chunks—the second of which has yet to be filmed, and does not yet have an air date). Potential viewers will have to make their own personal calculations to gauge their willingness to invest their time into a show so devoted to cultivating and perpetuating inessential mystery in lieu of clear storytelling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs-ODufnJ8Y\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s not the only calculation they’ll have to make for themselves, either. \u003cem>The Nevers\u003c/em> was created by Joss Whedon; he wrote and directed the pilot, and directed the second episode as well. \u003ca href=\"https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/ray-fisher-opens-up-about-justice-league-joss-whedon-and-warners-i-dont-believe-some-of-these-people-are-fit-for-leadership?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Actor Ray Fisher raised allegations about Whedon’s abusive behavior on the set of \u003cem>Justice League\u003c/em>; \u003cem>Buffy the Vampire Slayer\u003c/em>‘s Charisma Carpenter and others \u003c/a>have since added their voices to the mix. Whedon officially exited \u003cem>The Nevers\u003c/em> in November of last year; Philippa Goslett took over post-production and was named the series’ new showrunner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It will be interesting to see if the back half of this first season, which won’t involve Whedon, will be able to shake off the thick coating of familiar Whedony writerly tics weighing down these early episodes. To be clear, Whedon doesn’t own the patents on badass women, quippy dialogue, misogynistic villains, sudden character deaths, moony-yet-vicious serial killers or any of the other tropes that recur in his work. But as executed in \u003cem>The Nevers\u003c/em>, these factors slot too neatly into the well-worn grooves we’ve seen from him before. Easily the series’ most familiar, and most tiresome, component is Manson’s Maladie, who swings from giddy, throat-slicing malice to a childlike woundedness in precisely the way—using snippets of the same dialogue—that so many Whedon villains have done before her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The world-building, at least, is extensive, and it’s possible later episodes might benefit from having carved out so much narrative real estate, so many competing interests. But these early episodes are crowded with various factions and alliances whose motivations remain unclear; to accommodate them all, the series keeps checking in on them in scenes too brief to land with the weight they need to, and the series’ insistence on keeping its narrative cards so close to its vest means we often don’t know what we’re supposed to glean out of a given meeting or conversation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re willing to give \u003cem>The Nevers\u003c/em> a chance, it contains the potential to reward your patience, given the introduction of a clear and direct narrative infrastructure to help focus its—and our—attention. Whether that’ll happen, and if anyone will still be watching if it does, is anyone’s guess.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>The Nevers\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> debuts on HBO at 9pmET on April 11.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27The+Nevers%27%3A+When+Steampunk+Gets+Foggy&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Unfocused and overstuffed, the first four episodes of HBO’s \u003cem>The Nevers \u003c/em>provided to critics lack a sufficiently strong narrative backbone to support the surfeit of characters, subplots, themes and familiar storytelling tics thrown at the viewer. The series pairs all this tumult with a frustratingly incremental approach to disclosing What Is Really Going On; as a result, allegiances shift, plots twist and characters take actions for reasons we can only guess at—provided we’re willing to bother.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those sudden reveals and reversals are meant to surprise and delight, of course. And maybe they would, if the show spent more energy attempting to get us invested in these characters and what happens to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end of the fourth episode, viewers who’ve paying close attention will have developed a working theory about Amalia True (Laura Donnelly), the leader of a rag-tag group of women in Victorian London who’ve been granted weird powers by a mysterious event. Amalia’s got the power to experience sudden ripples of the future, see. She’s also fond of the occasional donnybrook, and is an uncannily exceptional hand-to-hand fighter in a way that doesn’t seem connected to her particular power (her “turn,” in the show’s parlance). She’s also got a complicated past she doesn’t like to talk about, including a connection to another one of the “Touched” (others who acquired powers in the same event)—a murderous madwoman named Maladie (Amy Manson). Amalia’s taciturn about pretty much everything, in fact, except for her stated mission, which is to gather together the “Touched” (mostly women of lower station) at the orphanage she runs, so as to offer them protection from a populace growing increasingly hostile to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s more to it, and to her, and the conclusion of the fourth episode suggests that we’ll get to know Amalia’s whole deal in the two episodes that follow (HBO is dividing up \u003cem>The Nevers\u003c/em>‘ season into two six-episode chunks—the second of which has yet to be filmed, and does not yet have an air date). Potential viewers will have to make their own personal calculations to gauge their willingness to invest their time into a show so devoted to cultivating and perpetuating inessential mystery in lieu of clear storytelling.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/gs-ODufnJ8Y'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/gs-ODufnJ8Y'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s not the only calculation they’ll have to make for themselves, either. \u003cem>The Nevers\u003c/em> was created by Joss Whedon; he wrote and directed the pilot, and directed the second episode as well. \u003ca href=\"https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/ray-fisher-opens-up-about-justice-league-joss-whedon-and-warners-i-dont-believe-some-of-these-people-are-fit-for-leadership?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Actor Ray Fisher raised allegations about Whedon’s abusive behavior on the set of \u003cem>Justice League\u003c/em>; \u003cem>Buffy the Vampire Slayer\u003c/em>‘s Charisma Carpenter and others \u003c/a>have since added their voices to the mix. Whedon officially exited \u003cem>The Nevers\u003c/em> in November of last year; Philippa Goslett took over post-production and was named the series’ new showrunner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It will be interesting to see if the back half of this first season, which won’t involve Whedon, will be able to shake off the thick coating of familiar Whedony writerly tics weighing down these early episodes. To be clear, Whedon doesn’t own the patents on badass women, quippy dialogue, misogynistic villains, sudden character deaths, moony-yet-vicious serial killers or any of the other tropes that recur in his work. But as executed in \u003cem>The Nevers\u003c/em>, these factors slot too neatly into the well-worn grooves we’ve seen from him before. Easily the series’ most familiar, and most tiresome, component is Manson’s Maladie, who swings from giddy, throat-slicing malice to a childlike woundedness in precisely the way—using snippets of the same dialogue—that so many Whedon villains have done before her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The world-building, at least, is extensive, and it’s possible later episodes might benefit from having carved out so much narrative real estate, so many competing interests. But these early episodes are crowded with various factions and alliances whose motivations remain unclear; to accommodate them all, the series keeps checking in on them in scenes too brief to land with the weight they need to, and the series’ insistence on keeping its narrative cards so close to its vest means we often don’t know what we’re supposed to glean out of a given meeting or conversation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re willing to give \u003cem>The Nevers\u003c/em> a chance, it contains the potential to reward your patience, given the introduction of a clear and direct narrative infrastructure to help focus its—and our—attention. Whether that’ll happen, and if anyone will still be watching if it does, is anyone’s guess.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>The Nevers\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> debuts on HBO at 9pmET on April 11.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27The+Nevers%27%3A+When+Steampunk+Gets+Foggy&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Amazon's 'Them' is Drowning in Terror, Trauma and Too Many Ideas",
"headTitle": "Amazon’s ‘Them’ is Drowning in Terror, Trauma and Too Many Ideas | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Lately, everyone’s talking about trauma. Trauma in news form, trauma in essay form, trauma in Twitter thread form. In pop culture, creators are mining the depths of trauma both personal and historical in a variety of ways—documenting the testimonials of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/02/21/969425823/allen-v-farrow-digs-deep-into-a-tale-of-celebrity-power-and-silence\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">real-life victims\u003c/a> in \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/06/12/876348924/in-on-the-record-black-women-s-voices-get-a-needed-spotlight\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">shocking detail\u003c/a>; weaving harrowing experiences into \u003ca href=\"https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/09/bojack-horseman-season-5-lisa-hanawalt-interview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fictional characters’ narratives\u003c/a>. In those fictional characterizations sometimes, the trauma is merely a plot point; at other times, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/01/21/958526533/the-agony-and-subversion-of-the-promising-young-woman-ending\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">it \u003cem>is \u003c/em>the point\u003c/a>, or rather, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/06/07/871472968/i-may-destroy-you-is-hbo-s-new-unforgettable-unmissable-drama\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wrestling with and processing of it\u003c/a> is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new Amazon series \u003cem>Them\u003c/em>, created by Little Marvin (Lena Waithe is one of the executive producers), has been billed as an anthology that “explores terror in America.” Terror, trauma … is there much difference between the two? Certainly not in this case, as the first season centers the Emorys, a Black family moving from rural North Carolina to the suburbs of East Compton, Calif., in 1953, back when East Compton was virtually all white.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if you hadn’t already seen the much-discussed trailer, it would be easy enough to guess what said terror might entail based on that short description alone: Good ol’, mid-20th century American racism. (With a brief detour to the 19th century in a later episode.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More specifically, the terror/trauma depicted in \u003cem>Them \u003c/em>includes, but is not limited to: White characters spewing the N-word at Black people; white characters graphically assaulting, torturing, and (occasionally) murdering Black people; a creepy minstrel character rendered in blackface; filicide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Of course\u003c/em>, the Emorys’ new neighbors in this cookie-cutter Pleasantville are the opposite of welcoming. Betty (Alison Pill)—a dissatisfied housewife who absolutely would have been front and center of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym8rdtq-KBE#t=01m10s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">angry white mob\u003c/a> that harassed the Little Rock Nine outside Central High School in Arkansas—leads the charge, rounding up the rest of the community to coordinate targeted attacks on the new family. Adding to these immediate threats is the fact that the Emorys—Lucky (Deborah Ayorinde), Henry (Ashley Thomas) and their daughters Ruby Lee (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and Gracie Jean (Melody Hurd)—are already entering into this new environment carrying their own set of deeply unsettling emotional baggage. Because \u003cem>of course\u003c/em>; they are Black in America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL3Jz8fDgFI\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Them\u003c/em> features an impressive array of filmmaking talent across 10 episodes, including Janicza Bravo (who’s directed, among other things, the excellent “Juneteenth” episode of \u003cem>Atlanta\u003c/em>) and notable horror director Ti West (\u003cem>The Innkeepers\u003c/em>). The performances are invigorating, particularly Ayorinde and Thomas, who are tasked with excavating the pain that comes from wounds both generational and directly personal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But baked into this production is the pesky, exhausting problem of “doing too much.” This is evident in the glut of needle-drops, many of them anachronistic, which clutter the storytelling and club the viewer over the head with their obviousness. When Lucky responds to one of Betty’s racist tirades by smacking her clear across the face (right after she politely asks little Gracie to hold her purse), James Brown’s electrifying “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=istJXUJJP0g\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Payback\u003c/a>” kicks in for a hot second; yet the punctuation feels less like a triumphant nod to \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCc99Gh-IEM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Foxy Brown\u003c/a> than it does a crass, intentional play for Black Twitter meme status. There are so many stylish music cues like this that early on it begins to seem as if the writers have relied on the likes of Judy Garland, Nat King Cole, and Isaac Hayes to do all of the heavy lifting to cover up the thin story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Them \u003c/em>is also drowning in terror and trauma, and little else. And that trauma and terror are so horrific, several episodes begin with content warnings of graphic violence. I’m not one who believes every piece of art depicting awful events needs such disclosure, but in this case, the producers made the correct choice; there are scenes involving Black pain and suffering so mortifying, I can imagine many viewers not being able to finish watching it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The attention to the details of this suffering is chilling not necessarily because of what is depicted—there’s a time and place for such explicitness in the right creative hands—but because it’s depicted in service of a cynical mode of storytelling. Each of the Emorys are haunted by a demon corresponding to their individual life experiences, and through these spirits, one can see the makings of a potentially more interesting character study than what we’re given—a story using supernatural elements to tap into trauma within Black families with the richness and sharpness of a movie like Kasi Lemmons’ \u003cem>Eve’s Bayou\u003c/em> or, more recently, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYY0QJhlXjc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>His House\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, the captivating haunted house tale about a South Sudanese refugee couple living in the U.K.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead it borrows from the playbook of last year’s unwieldly and exploitative \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/09/15/913246254/what-exactly-is-antebellum-trying-to-say\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Antebellum\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, and shows like \u003cem>Westworld \u003c/em>and \u003cem>Lovecraft Country, \u003c/em>which favor slick convolution over coherent narrative choices\u003cem>. \u003c/em>There are So! Many! Ideas! And! Tones! being mashed up here, and to little effect. At one point the show diverts to a baffling hostage-in-a-bunker plotline for reasons that remain unclear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the full trailer for \u003cem>Them \u003c/em>dropped last month, the Twitter timeline was alit with commentary about how the show’s themes and aesthetic seemed to be \u003ca href=\"http://abcnewsradioonline.com/music-news/2021/3/23/us-against-them-amazon-series-roasted-as-ripoff-of-jordan-pe-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">biting from Jordan Peele\u003c/a>. Superficial similarities aside—the titles \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNCmb-4oXJA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Us\u003c/em>\u003c/a> vs. \u003cem>Them\u003c/em>; the casting of Shahadi Wright Joseph in both projects—such conclusions gloss over a few realities, such as the fact that Peele himself has always been vocal about the \u003ca href=\"https://www.vulture.com/article/get-out-oral-history-jordan-peele.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">many films that inspired \u003cem>his own\u003c/em> work\u003c/a>. They also seem to misunderstand, or ignore, how genres fundamentally build upon and play with familiar elements and tropes. There’s as much standard horror stuff of the Stephen King variety in \u003cem>Them\u003c/em> as there is Peele’s influence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The problem, then, has less to do with parallels to \u003cem>Get Out \u003c/em>than the show’s inability to establish a reason to exist beyond the thesis of “Racism is terrorism, and it’s everywhere; in our entertainment, schools, workspaces, churches, homes.” It’s a fair starting point for telling a story (or teaching basic history), but it can’t be the \u003cem>only \u003c/em>point. By all means, wrestle with the real-life terrors that can come with Black homeownership, Black parenting, white women’s complicity in upholding racist infrastructure, and so on. But also bring more to the narrative in the way of inventive scares, characterization, or even, where appropriate, some levity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Them\u003c/em> suffers from the same predicament that has arisen in the wake of Black people becoming hashtags in death—the public knows far more about their last moments on Earth than all the moments that made up their life before. Viewers who make it through all 10 episodes will know plenty about how the Emorys have suffered and been traumatized, but they won’t come away with much else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Them \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>debuts on Amazon Prime on Friday, April 9.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27Them%27%3A+The+Trauma%2C+The+Trauma&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Lately, everyone’s talking about trauma. Trauma in news form, trauma in essay form, trauma in Twitter thread form. In pop culture, creators are mining the depths of trauma both personal and historical in a variety of ways—documenting the testimonials of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/02/21/969425823/allen-v-farrow-digs-deep-into-a-tale-of-celebrity-power-and-silence\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">real-life victims\u003c/a> in \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/06/12/876348924/in-on-the-record-black-women-s-voices-get-a-needed-spotlight\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">shocking detail\u003c/a>; weaving harrowing experiences into \u003ca href=\"https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/09/bojack-horseman-season-5-lisa-hanawalt-interview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fictional characters’ narratives\u003c/a>. In those fictional characterizations sometimes, the trauma is merely a plot point; at other times, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/01/21/958526533/the-agony-and-subversion-of-the-promising-young-woman-ending\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">it \u003cem>is \u003c/em>the point\u003c/a>, or rather, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/06/07/871472968/i-may-destroy-you-is-hbo-s-new-unforgettable-unmissable-drama\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wrestling with and processing of it\u003c/a> is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new Amazon series \u003cem>Them\u003c/em>, created by Little Marvin (Lena Waithe is one of the executive producers), has been billed as an anthology that “explores terror in America.” Terror, trauma … is there much difference between the two? Certainly not in this case, as the first season centers the Emorys, a Black family moving from rural North Carolina to the suburbs of East Compton, Calif., in 1953, back when East Compton was virtually all white.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if you hadn’t already seen the much-discussed trailer, it would be easy enough to guess what said terror might entail based on that short description alone: Good ol’, mid-20th century American racism. (With a brief detour to the 19th century in a later episode.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More specifically, the terror/trauma depicted in \u003cem>Them \u003c/em>includes, but is not limited to: White characters spewing the N-word at Black people; white characters graphically assaulting, torturing, and (occasionally) murdering Black people; a creepy minstrel character rendered in blackface; filicide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Of course\u003c/em>, the Emorys’ new neighbors in this cookie-cutter Pleasantville are the opposite of welcoming. Betty (Alison Pill)—a dissatisfied housewife who absolutely would have been front and center of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym8rdtq-KBE#t=01m10s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">angry white mob\u003c/a> that harassed the Little Rock Nine outside Central High School in Arkansas—leads the charge, rounding up the rest of the community to coordinate targeted attacks on the new family. Adding to these immediate threats is the fact that the Emorys—Lucky (Deborah Ayorinde), Henry (Ashley Thomas) and their daughters Ruby Lee (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and Gracie Jean (Melody Hurd)—are already entering into this new environment carrying their own set of deeply unsettling emotional baggage. Because \u003cem>of course\u003c/em>; they are Black in America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/WL3Jz8fDgFI'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/WL3Jz8fDgFI'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Them\u003c/em> features an impressive array of filmmaking talent across 10 episodes, including Janicza Bravo (who’s directed, among other things, the excellent “Juneteenth” episode of \u003cem>Atlanta\u003c/em>) and notable horror director Ti West (\u003cem>The Innkeepers\u003c/em>). The performances are invigorating, particularly Ayorinde and Thomas, who are tasked with excavating the pain that comes from wounds both generational and directly personal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But baked into this production is the pesky, exhausting problem of “doing too much.” This is evident in the glut of needle-drops, many of them anachronistic, which clutter the storytelling and club the viewer over the head with their obviousness. When Lucky responds to one of Betty’s racist tirades by smacking her clear across the face (right after she politely asks little Gracie to hold her purse), James Brown’s electrifying “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=istJXUJJP0g\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Payback\u003c/a>” kicks in for a hot second; yet the punctuation feels less like a triumphant nod to \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCc99Gh-IEM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Foxy Brown\u003c/a> than it does a crass, intentional play for Black Twitter meme status. There are so many stylish music cues like this that early on it begins to seem as if the writers have relied on the likes of Judy Garland, Nat King Cole, and Isaac Hayes to do all of the heavy lifting to cover up the thin story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Them \u003c/em>is also drowning in terror and trauma, and little else. And that trauma and terror are so horrific, several episodes begin with content warnings of graphic violence. I’m not one who believes every piece of art depicting awful events needs such disclosure, but in this case, the producers made the correct choice; there are scenes involving Black pain and suffering so mortifying, I can imagine many viewers not being able to finish watching it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The attention to the details of this suffering is chilling not necessarily because of what is depicted—there’s a time and place for such explicitness in the right creative hands—but because it’s depicted in service of a cynical mode of storytelling. Each of the Emorys are haunted by a demon corresponding to their individual life experiences, and through these spirits, one can see the makings of a potentially more interesting character study than what we’re given—a story using supernatural elements to tap into trauma within Black families with the richness and sharpness of a movie like Kasi Lemmons’ \u003cem>Eve’s Bayou\u003c/em> or, more recently, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYY0QJhlXjc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>His House\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, the captivating haunted house tale about a South Sudanese refugee couple living in the U.K.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead it borrows from the playbook of last year’s unwieldly and exploitative \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/09/15/913246254/what-exactly-is-antebellum-trying-to-say\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Antebellum\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, and shows like \u003cem>Westworld \u003c/em>and \u003cem>Lovecraft Country, \u003c/em>which favor slick convolution over coherent narrative choices\u003cem>. \u003c/em>There are So! Many! Ideas! And! Tones! being mashed up here, and to little effect. At one point the show diverts to a baffling hostage-in-a-bunker plotline for reasons that remain unclear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the full trailer for \u003cem>Them \u003c/em>dropped last month, the Twitter timeline was alit with commentary about how the show’s themes and aesthetic seemed to be \u003ca href=\"http://abcnewsradioonline.com/music-news/2021/3/23/us-against-them-amazon-series-roasted-as-ripoff-of-jordan-pe-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">biting from Jordan Peele\u003c/a>. Superficial similarities aside—the titles \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNCmb-4oXJA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Us\u003c/em>\u003c/a> vs. \u003cem>Them\u003c/em>; the casting of Shahadi Wright Joseph in both projects—such conclusions gloss over a few realities, such as the fact that Peele himself has always been vocal about the \u003ca href=\"https://www.vulture.com/article/get-out-oral-history-jordan-peele.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">many films that inspired \u003cem>his own\u003c/em> work\u003c/a>. They also seem to misunderstand, or ignore, how genres fundamentally build upon and play with familiar elements and tropes. There’s as much standard horror stuff of the Stephen King variety in \u003cem>Them\u003c/em> as there is Peele’s influence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The problem, then, has less to do with parallels to \u003cem>Get Out \u003c/em>than the show’s inability to establish a reason to exist beyond the thesis of “Racism is terrorism, and it’s everywhere; in our entertainment, schools, workspaces, churches, homes.” It’s a fair starting point for telling a story (or teaching basic history), but it can’t be the \u003cem>only \u003c/em>point. By all means, wrestle with the real-life terrors that can come with Black homeownership, Black parenting, white women’s complicity in upholding racist infrastructure, and so on. But also bring more to the narrative in the way of inventive scares, characterization, or even, where appropriate, some levity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Them\u003c/em> suffers from the same predicament that has arisen in the wake of Black people becoming hashtags in death—the public knows far more about their last moments on Earth than all the moments that made up their life before. Viewers who make it through all 10 episodes will know plenty about how the Emorys have suffered and been traumatized, but they won’t come away with much else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Them \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong>debuts on Amazon Prime on Friday, April 9.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27Them%27%3A+The+Trauma%2C+The+Trauma&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "'Dance Can Give Community': Twyla Tharp on Choreographing Through Lockdown",
"headTitle": "‘Dance Can Give Community’: Twyla Tharp on Choreographing Through Lockdown | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Neither the pandemic nor age can keep legendary choreographer Twyla Tharp from her work. During the height of the COVID-19 lockdown, Tharp, now 79, choreographed several dances through Zoom. One was with four dancers—each of whom was in a different time zone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One dancer was in New York at noon. One dancer was on the West Coast before breakfast. One dancer was in Denmark five hours ahead, and one dancer was in St. Petersburg working through their dinner hour,” Tharp says. “Nothing was capable of keeping us from having community. And that’s what dance can give—dance can give community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not the first time Tharp has worked in unusual conditions. In the 1960s, Tharp and her company of dancers performed in parks and malls, and on subway platforms and rooftops. “If it was kind of level, it was fair territory,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tharp went on to choreograph for Mikhail Baryshnikov, the Joffrey Ballet, the Royal Ballet, the New York City Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre. She’s also collaborated with \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/10/13/923258756/david-byrne-and-spike-lee-conjure-up-a-joyous-vision-of-american-utopia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">David Byrne \u003c/a>and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/15827020/billy-joel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Billy Joel\u003c/a> on Broadway shows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tharp is known for mixing ballet with other styles of dance: “I had always felt that one dancer should be able to dance across the line,” she says. “That is to say: When I started working in New York, you were either modern dancer, or you were a ballet dancer. I thought that was ridiculous, because I could be both a ballet dancer and a modern dancer, so shouldn’t everybody else be able to do that?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tharp is the subject of \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/twyla-tharp-documentary/16724/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Twyla Moves,\u003c/em>\u003c/a> a new documentary by the PBS series, American Masters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYpeHbCEyCM\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Interview highlights \u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On starting to dance as a small child\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I started with music training both in piano and violin and percussion, and the dancing came after the fact. But on the other hand, my mother was a concert pianist and as a very tiny baby, I was going to her classes. And so I was always wiggling and then I could crawl and then I could sort of hop. So I’ve always been dancing to music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On what made her early choreography different from others \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think the first thing was to eliminate the idea of steps or styles—it was to get to fundamentals of movement. And we were looking for very common, [ordinary] shared modes of movement. By ordinary, I mean not extremely sophisticated in training folks might have, and then how could that be extended and become more challenging for us who had had the advantage of that kind of training. …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I was beginning, I wanted to go back to the very mechanics: You either start on the right side or the left side. You either coordinate in opposition to the forward moving leg or parallel to the forward moving legs. You’re either moving forwards or you’re moving backwards or laterally, side-to-side. All of these kinds of, really, engineering questions are [a] kind of launch point, because I didn’t want to take anything for granted. I wanted to feel as though my fundamentals were sound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On performing dance without music \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Music is much more comfortable for the general public than movement. I often say: Take one phrase of movement and put on happy music, [and] the audience thinks it’s a happy dance. Put on sad music and they’ll think it’s a sad dance, and the movement is exactly the same. So I wanted to try to see what the emotional resonance of movement was. What excited people? What was provocative? What would they register? Not all of those, but many visual questions were asked. And that wouldn’t have been possible with music, because music is so overpowering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On why she wanted to start an all-women dance company in 1966 \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think we knew there was a bias in the world of art across the board, whether it was music, painting, sculpture, literature [or] dance. And we wanted to fortify ourselves in such a way that we could put forth what we thought was our strongest suit. And our strongest suit was a lot of technique and a lot of incredible ensemble work, but also strong individual voices. … We all had singular qualities, and that was clearer if we were all women, than had a man been in the group, we would have been the women [and] he would … have been the man, and that would have become the distinctive, defining characteristic rather than the individual qualities of each human being.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On wanting dancers with different body types in her company [aside postid='arts_13887871']\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In order to be inclusive, you need to have differentiation. So by having [different dancers who are] tall, short, classically trained, [without] classic training, [a] great athlete—all of these various qualities would redefine and give a three-dimensional quality to the work that obviously is lacking if there is a body type that is featured throughout the ensemble. One understands that need [for] fungibility in professional companies because if one dancer goes out, they want to be able to put another one in as directly and efficiently as possible and hopefully in the same costume. It’s all the bottom line, right? To me, that was not what dancing was about and it still isn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On choreographing men who didn’t want to be taught by a woman \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m a very strong jumper. And I jumped higher, longer, than most of the men. So it was like, “OK, guys, let’s go.” That’s how I’ve basically always been able to work with men: through strength and by a kind of challenge. … But, you know, men can be very arrogant—we all can. … If they were given the opportunity to work around that bias, many of them would, and gratefully. I mean, you’ll see some male dancers in \u003cem>Deuce Coupe\u003c/em> … were doing kind of extraordinary things. I think they were glad to be asked to work in a different way, eventually. It took a little doing, perhaps. … A couple never came around, but that’s OK.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On what her body is capable of at age 79 \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This last year, with the pandemic and its disruptions in terms of routine, discipline, just ordinary day-to-day activities, the body doesn’t know itself at the moment. So I can’t tell you what I can ask it to do until I re-familiarize myself. And I’m in the process of doing that. … Whenever I’ve finished one of these big projects, I’m out of shape, and that’s just a given. So I’ve been in this position before, not at this age, but I know that it is a commitment to get back into shape. It’s not going to happen on its own accord.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Lauren Krenzel and Seth Kelley produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey adapted it for the Web.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 Fresh Air. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fresh Air\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27Dance+Can+Give+Community%27%3A+Twyla+Tharp+On+Choreographing+Through+Lockdown&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Neither the pandemic nor age can keep legendary choreographer Twyla Tharp from her work. During the height of the COVID-19 lockdown, Tharp, now 79, choreographed several dances through Zoom. One was with four dancers—each of whom was in a different time zone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One dancer was in New York at noon. One dancer was on the West Coast before breakfast. One dancer was in Denmark five hours ahead, and one dancer was in St. Petersburg working through their dinner hour,” Tharp says. “Nothing was capable of keeping us from having community. And that’s what dance can give—dance can give community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not the first time Tharp has worked in unusual conditions. In the 1960s, Tharp and her company of dancers performed in parks and malls, and on subway platforms and rooftops. “If it was kind of level, it was fair territory,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tharp went on to choreograph for Mikhail Baryshnikov, the Joffrey Ballet, the Royal Ballet, the New York City Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre. She’s also collaborated with \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/10/13/923258756/david-byrne-and-spike-lee-conjure-up-a-joyous-vision-of-american-utopia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">David Byrne \u003c/a>and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/15827020/billy-joel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Billy Joel\u003c/a> on Broadway shows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tharp is known for mixing ballet with other styles of dance: “I had always felt that one dancer should be able to dance across the line,” she says. “That is to say: When I started working in New York, you were either modern dancer, or you were a ballet dancer. I thought that was ridiculous, because I could be both a ballet dancer and a modern dancer, so shouldn’t everybody else be able to do that?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tharp is the subject of \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/twyla-tharp-documentary/16724/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Twyla Moves,\u003c/em>\u003c/a> a new documentary by the PBS series, American Masters.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/pYpeHbCEyCM'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/pYpeHbCEyCM'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Interview highlights \u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On starting to dance as a small child\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I started with music training both in piano and violin and percussion, and the dancing came after the fact. But on the other hand, my mother was a concert pianist and as a very tiny baby, I was going to her classes. And so I was always wiggling and then I could crawl and then I could sort of hop. So I’ve always been dancing to music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On what made her early choreography different from others \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think the first thing was to eliminate the idea of steps or styles—it was to get to fundamentals of movement. And we were looking for very common, [ordinary] shared modes of movement. By ordinary, I mean not extremely sophisticated in training folks might have, and then how could that be extended and become more challenging for us who had had the advantage of that kind of training. …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I was beginning, I wanted to go back to the very mechanics: You either start on the right side or the left side. You either coordinate in opposition to the forward moving leg or parallel to the forward moving legs. You’re either moving forwards or you’re moving backwards or laterally, side-to-side. All of these kinds of, really, engineering questions are [a] kind of launch point, because I didn’t want to take anything for granted. I wanted to feel as though my fundamentals were sound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On performing dance without music \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Music is much more comfortable for the general public than movement. I often say: Take one phrase of movement and put on happy music, [and] the audience thinks it’s a happy dance. Put on sad music and they’ll think it’s a sad dance, and the movement is exactly the same. So I wanted to try to see what the emotional resonance of movement was. What excited people? What was provocative? What would they register? Not all of those, but many visual questions were asked. And that wouldn’t have been possible with music, because music is so overpowering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On why she wanted to start an all-women dance company in 1966 \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think we knew there was a bias in the world of art across the board, whether it was music, painting, sculpture, literature [or] dance. And we wanted to fortify ourselves in such a way that we could put forth what we thought was our strongest suit. And our strongest suit was a lot of technique and a lot of incredible ensemble work, but also strong individual voices. … We all had singular qualities, and that was clearer if we were all women, than had a man been in the group, we would have been the women [and] he would … have been the man, and that would have become the distinctive, defining characteristic rather than the individual qualities of each human being.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On wanting dancers with different body types in her company \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In order to be inclusive, you need to have differentiation. So by having [different dancers who are] tall, short, classically trained, [without] classic training, [a] great athlete—all of these various qualities would redefine and give a three-dimensional quality to the work that obviously is lacking if there is a body type that is featured throughout the ensemble. One understands that need [for] fungibility in professional companies because if one dancer goes out, they want to be able to put another one in as directly and efficiently as possible and hopefully in the same costume. It’s all the bottom line, right? To me, that was not what dancing was about and it still isn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On choreographing men who didn’t want to be taught by a woman \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m a very strong jumper. And I jumped higher, longer, than most of the men. So it was like, “OK, guys, let’s go.” That’s how I’ve basically always been able to work with men: through strength and by a kind of challenge. … But, you know, men can be very arrogant—we all can. … If they were given the opportunity to work around that bias, many of them would, and gratefully. I mean, you’ll see some male dancers in \u003cem>Deuce Coupe\u003c/em> … were doing kind of extraordinary things. I think they were glad to be asked to work in a different way, eventually. It took a little doing, perhaps. … A couple never came around, but that’s OK.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On what her body is capable of at age 79 \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This last year, with the pandemic and its disruptions in terms of routine, discipline, just ordinary day-to-day activities, the body doesn’t know itself at the moment. So I can’t tell you what I can ask it to do until I re-familiarize myself. And I’m in the process of doing that. … Whenever I’ve finished one of these big projects, I’m out of shape, and that’s just a given. So I’ve been in this position before, not at this age, but I know that it is a commitment to get back into shape. It’s not going to happen on its own accord.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Lauren Krenzel and Seth Kelley produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey adapted it for the Web.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 Fresh Air. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fresh Air\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27Dance+Can+Give+Community%27%3A+Twyla+Tharp+On+Choreographing+Through+Lockdown&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "'This is About Lifting Culture,' Says History-Making Producer Charles D. King",
"headTitle": "‘This is About Lifting Culture,’ Says History-Making Producer Charles D. King | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The film \u003cem>Judas and the Black Messiah\u003c/em> has already made history at the Oscars. It’s the first Best Picture nominee with an all-Black producing team, which includes two Kings and a Coogler: Ryan Coogler, Shaka King and Charles D. King, who brings a new vision for Hollywood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>King has always had an eye for spotting talent, and he knows diverse audiences are thirsty for their stories to be told in Hollywood. It’s why he created his own multiplatform company, called MACRO, “to focus on telling stories from and about people of color, ” he says. “There were just not enough of these types of movies.” [aside postid='arts_13892640']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>King remembers the phone call he got from his good friend Ryan Coogler, whose superhero movie \u003cem>Black\u003c/em> \u003cem>Panther \u003c/em>was a hit. He says Coogler was ready to produce a film about a real life Black Panther leader. “He said, hey, there’s this incredible script written by Shaka King about Fred Hampton,” King recalls. “And I’d like to see if you and MACRO would be interested in collaborating on it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were just blown away by the story,” he says, a story examining the work and life of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, and the FBI informant who infiltrated the Chicago chapter of the Black Panther Party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a producer, King helped develop the script for \u003cem>Judas and the Black Messiah\u003c/em>; he was on the set and he was intensely involved with the film’s release and marketing. Writer/director Shaka King says Charles King’s support was crucial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He committed 50 per cent of the budget before we even went out to a studio, which is incredibly rare, which also gave us just a certain level of autonomy,” says Shaka King. ” If he had put in less money, the studio would have had more control … I think one of the reasons [Charles] wanted to put up 50 per cent was because he wanted to make sure that I got to make the movie that I wanted to make, which was very generous of him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ivHf4ODMi4\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>King knows that representation matters. He was born in Harlem in 1969 and grew up in an Atlanta suburb, where his father was a pediatrician and his mother wrote novels and poetry. While studying political science at Vanderbilt, a friend suggested he become an entertainment lawyer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Growing up in Decatur, Georgia in a middle class family, I just didn’t know what an entertainment lawyer did,” he says. “But I watched this television show with my mother called \u003cem>L.A. Law\u003c/em>, and I remember there was this one Black character on the show played by Blair Underwood. He’s this charismatic African American attorney at the firm and he stood up for himself and he was just the man.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>King was inspired to study at Howard University School of Law. After graduating in 1997, he packed up a U-Haul truck and moved to Los Angeles with a few hundred dollars to his name. His ten-year plan to lead his own entertainment and media company began in the mailroom of the famed William Morris agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I looked at the agency world as as the perfect launching ground to get my feet wet, to build relationships, to understand the industry,” King says. [aside postid='arts_13892167']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even as a trainee in the mailroom, King brought in new clients, like hip-hop star Missy Elliot. He got to know the company’s CEO; he networked at conferences and wrote reports on cultural trends such as hip-hop, and on the viewing patterns and revenue potential of Black, Latino and Asian audiences. King moved up quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I got promoted, it was the first time in, I believe, 101 years, [for an] African American to go from the mailroom to film and television agent, at least in the Beverly Hills office,” says King. “I was very good at being an agent, and I broke tremendous ground. I became the first Black partner in the history of Hollywood when William Morris and Endeavor merged.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As an agent, King grew an impressive roster. Among his clients: Oprah, Janet Jackson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Tyler Perry, who he signed before anyone else in Hollywood knew who he was. King introduced Perry to studio executives and got them to see Perry’s plays. King also helped set up a deal at Lionsgate for Perry’s first film, \u003cem>Diary of a Mad Black Woman\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everyone was like, oh, my God, I can’t believe this five million dollar movie made fifty million at box office and sold millions and millions and millions of DVDs,” he says. “And that was just the launch of this incredible franchise and business.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>King also helped Perry set up a new business model for syndicating TV projects, starting with \u003cem>Tyler Perry’s House of Payne\u003c/em>. With Perry’s lawyer, King structured what was called the “10-90” distribution deal, designed to maximize profitability: an arrangement where a network test runs ten episodes of a new television series. If it does well, the network then orders 90 more episodes and guarantees the entire 100-episode package will be sold for syndication.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My nickname was 2005,” King recalls. That was the year, his fifth as an agent, he not only struck gold with Tyler Perry, but he also brought in filmmaker Craig Brewer, whose film \u003cem>Hustle and Flow\u003c/em> was a big seller at the Sundance Film Festival. King began repping the film’s star, Terrence Howard, who earned an Oscar nomination. And he began representing Prince.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>King says as an African American man, he had to make ten times as many phone calls as his colleagues representing white movie stars and filmmakers. And he did a lot of educating about the value of diversity. [aside postid='arts_13819809']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The leaders at the top of William Morris and, frankly, the senior chairman level of a lot of the studios that I would interface with, they would usually get it,” King says. “A lot of times, you find it’s the people in the middle that are less visionary. And so, yeah, of course, there were moments where I would be discussing things or bringing up concepts and meetings and literally got laughed at. And then a few years later, I was running the meetings because I was generating ten times more revenue than they were.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2015, after nearly 20 years at William Morris, King took a leap of faith. He left the agency to create MACRO with his wife Stacey and a few partners. They launched a month before the #OscarsSoWhite movement began, and hit it out of the ballpark with the first film they produced, \u003cem>Fences\u003c/em>. The film’s star Denzel Washington earned an Oscar nomination, and co-star Viola Davis won Best Supporting Actress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj-ZYPVRQbc\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then Mary J. Blige was nominated for another MACRO film, \u003cem>Mudbound\u003c/em>. Since then, MACRO has produced other films, including \u003cem>Just Mercy\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Sorry to Bother You\u003c/em> and the series \u003cem>Gentefied\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Raising Dion\u003c/em>. Earlier this year, King’s company inked a first-look deal with Warner Brothers to develop and package features.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>King says up to 70 per cent of his team leaders are women, and everyone at his company is encouraged to present ideas. He says MACRO’s mission is to present a new paradigm in the media landscape, to disrupt the way things have always been done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is not just about building an entertainment and media brand that will be around for generations,” he says. “This is also about lifting culture. It’s about creating opportunity. It’s about making our world better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>King says his empire in Hollywood has only just begun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was edited for radio by Nina Gregory and adapted for the Web by Mandalit del Barco and Petra Mayer.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27This+Is+About+Lifting+Culture%2C%27+Says+History-Making+Producer+Charles+D.+King&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The film \u003cem>Judas and the Black Messiah\u003c/em> has already made history at the Oscars. It’s the first Best Picture nominee with an all-Black producing team, which includes two Kings and a Coogler: Ryan Coogler, Shaka King and Charles D. King, who brings a new vision for Hollywood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>King has always had an eye for spotting talent, and he knows diverse audiences are thirsty for their stories to be told in Hollywood. It’s why he created his own multiplatform company, called MACRO, “to focus on telling stories from and about people of color, ” he says. “There were just not enough of these types of movies.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>King remembers the phone call he got from his good friend Ryan Coogler, whose superhero movie \u003cem>Black\u003c/em> \u003cem>Panther \u003c/em>was a hit. He says Coogler was ready to produce a film about a real life Black Panther leader. “He said, hey, there’s this incredible script written by Shaka King about Fred Hampton,” King recalls. “And I’d like to see if you and MACRO would be interested in collaborating on it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were just blown away by the story,” he says, a story examining the work and life of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, and the FBI informant who infiltrated the Chicago chapter of the Black Panther Party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a producer, King helped develop the script for \u003cem>Judas and the Black Messiah\u003c/em>; he was on the set and he was intensely involved with the film’s release and marketing. Writer/director Shaka King says Charles King’s support was crucial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He committed 50 per cent of the budget before we even went out to a studio, which is incredibly rare, which also gave us just a certain level of autonomy,” says Shaka King. ” If he had put in less money, the studio would have had more control … I think one of the reasons [Charles] wanted to put up 50 per cent was because he wanted to make sure that I got to make the movie that I wanted to make, which was very generous of him.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/6ivHf4ODMi4'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/6ivHf4ODMi4'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>King knows that representation matters. He was born in Harlem in 1969 and grew up in an Atlanta suburb, where his father was a pediatrician and his mother wrote novels and poetry. While studying political science at Vanderbilt, a friend suggested he become an entertainment lawyer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Growing up in Decatur, Georgia in a middle class family, I just didn’t know what an entertainment lawyer did,” he says. “But I watched this television show with my mother called \u003cem>L.A. Law\u003c/em>, and I remember there was this one Black character on the show played by Blair Underwood. He’s this charismatic African American attorney at the firm and he stood up for himself and he was just the man.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>King was inspired to study at Howard University School of Law. After graduating in 1997, he packed up a U-Haul truck and moved to Los Angeles with a few hundred dollars to his name. His ten-year plan to lead his own entertainment and media company began in the mailroom of the famed William Morris agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I looked at the agency world as as the perfect launching ground to get my feet wet, to build relationships, to understand the industry,” King says. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even as a trainee in the mailroom, King brought in new clients, like hip-hop star Missy Elliot. He got to know the company’s CEO; he networked at conferences and wrote reports on cultural trends such as hip-hop, and on the viewing patterns and revenue potential of Black, Latino and Asian audiences. King moved up quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I got promoted, it was the first time in, I believe, 101 years, [for an] African American to go from the mailroom to film and television agent, at least in the Beverly Hills office,” says King. “I was very good at being an agent, and I broke tremendous ground. I became the first Black partner in the history of Hollywood when William Morris and Endeavor merged.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As an agent, King grew an impressive roster. Among his clients: Oprah, Janet Jackson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Tyler Perry, who he signed before anyone else in Hollywood knew who he was. King introduced Perry to studio executives and got them to see Perry’s plays. King also helped set up a deal at Lionsgate for Perry’s first film, \u003cem>Diary of a Mad Black Woman\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everyone was like, oh, my God, I can’t believe this five million dollar movie made fifty million at box office and sold millions and millions and millions of DVDs,” he says. “And that was just the launch of this incredible franchise and business.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>King also helped Perry set up a new business model for syndicating TV projects, starting with \u003cem>Tyler Perry’s House of Payne\u003c/em>. With Perry’s lawyer, King structured what was called the “10-90” distribution deal, designed to maximize profitability: an arrangement where a network test runs ten episodes of a new television series. If it does well, the network then orders 90 more episodes and guarantees the entire 100-episode package will be sold for syndication.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My nickname was 2005,” King recalls. That was the year, his fifth as an agent, he not only struck gold with Tyler Perry, but he also brought in filmmaker Craig Brewer, whose film \u003cem>Hustle and Flow\u003c/em> was a big seller at the Sundance Film Festival. King began repping the film’s star, Terrence Howard, who earned an Oscar nomination. And he began representing Prince.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>King says as an African American man, he had to make ten times as many phone calls as his colleagues representing white movie stars and filmmakers. And he did a lot of educating about the value of diversity. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The leaders at the top of William Morris and, frankly, the senior chairman level of a lot of the studios that I would interface with, they would usually get it,” King says. “A lot of times, you find it’s the people in the middle that are less visionary. And so, yeah, of course, there were moments where I would be discussing things or bringing up concepts and meetings and literally got laughed at. And then a few years later, I was running the meetings because I was generating ten times more revenue than they were.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2015, after nearly 20 years at William Morris, King took a leap of faith. He left the agency to create MACRO with his wife Stacey and a few partners. They launched a month before the #OscarsSoWhite movement began, and hit it out of the ballpark with the first film they produced, \u003cem>Fences\u003c/em>. The film’s star Denzel Washington earned an Oscar nomination, and co-star Viola Davis won Best Supporting Actress.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/jj-ZYPVRQbc'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/jj-ZYPVRQbc'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Then Mary J. Blige was nominated for another MACRO film, \u003cem>Mudbound\u003c/em>. Since then, MACRO has produced other films, including \u003cem>Just Mercy\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Sorry to Bother You\u003c/em> and the series \u003cem>Gentefied\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Raising Dion\u003c/em>. Earlier this year, King’s company inked a first-look deal with Warner Brothers to develop and package features.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>King says up to 70 per cent of his team leaders are women, and everyone at his company is encouraged to present ideas. He says MACRO’s mission is to present a new paradigm in the media landscape, to disrupt the way things have always been done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is not just about building an entertainment and media brand that will be around for generations,” he says. “This is also about lifting culture. It’s about creating opportunity. It’s about making our world better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>King says his empire in Hollywood has only just begun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "A Ruthless Ranking of the 25 Best Muppets, According to NPR Listeners",
"headTitle": "A Ruthless Ranking of the 25 Best Muppets, According to NPR Listeners | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>When we asked our trusty \u003cem>Pop Culture Happy Hour\u003c/em> listeners to vote for the Best Muppet, we knew they’d come through. Over 18,000 votes were cast; over 150 different Muppets received votes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes. Some brave, beautiful, misguided soul voted for \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKSGF4Ufso8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">H. Ross Parrot\u003c/a>. As \u003cem>Best \u003c/em>Muppet. That is a thing that happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Someone else—you can always count on PCHH listeners to bring the deep, \u003cem>deep \u003c/em>cuts—cast a single vote for\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bfdaR4xMeU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Delbert the La Choy Dragon\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But naturally enough, votes accreted around the Muppets with greater notoriety. (Sorry, Ma Otter, it’s not your time.) On Friday’s episode of Pop Culture Happy Hour, we reveal the top ten vote-getters, so stop reading now if you want to listen and be surprised.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here, though, we’ll tick off your top 25.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We established some ground rules, of course. Which made our daily PCHH Zoom call a place where the thorniest philosophical questions of our time were pondered: Should Statler and Waldorf be considered separately, or as a pair? What about Bert and Ernie? Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s where we landed:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Any Muppet from any property or era was eligible, including \u003cem>The Muppet Show, Muppet Babies, Fraggle Rock, Sesame Street, Labyrinth\u003c/em>, etc.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>We counted all variations of a Muppet character in a group. Thus, Gonzo the Great and Gonzo from \u003cem>Muppet Babies\u003c/em> both count as Gonzo.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Some Muppets were counted as a set, like Statler and Waldorf.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Others were counted individually, most notably Beaker and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, as well as Bert and Ernie. The Fraggles of \u003cem>Fraggle Rock\u003c/em> were also counted individually.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>We disqualified other puppets that are NOT Muppets, including Yoda (he’s really, really not a Muppet, guys, look it up) and the cast of \u003cem>Avenue Q\u003c/em>.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>We also disqualified human actors in Muppet movies, like Jason Segel, Tim Curry, Michael Caine, and Charles Grodin.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>So here they are, the Top 25 Best Muppets, according to the discerning, and impassioned, Pop Culture Happy Hour audience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>25. Count von Count\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ultimate Order Muppet. Nice to see the Count showing up here, repping \u003cem>Sesame Street \u003c/em>(he’s one of only 10 \u003cem>Sesame Street\u003c/em> Muppets to make the top 25, surprisingly enough). (Justice for Prairie Dawn, by the way.) He always scared the hell out of me — I didn’t care for those bats forever flitting around his widow’s peak, or for his ability to call forth thunder and lightning—but if you were a kid prone to obsessive behavior, you likely saw, in his compulsion to apportion the chaotic world around him into neat, quantitative chunks, a kindred spirit. — \u003cem>Glen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>24. Dr. Teeth \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It pleases me that this talented musician, he of the brightly decorated tour bus and the funkiest and furriest band, made it onto the list. Honestly, it took a while for me, as a young person, to truly appreciate the groovy greatness of Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem (one of the great band names). There’s a way in which the group calls gently to hippies, cool cats, and maybe even (gasp) stoners, that doesn’t matter to little kids but is a little bit funny when you’re older. Plus, particularly in \u003cem>The Muppet Movie\u003c/em>, Dr. Teeth is a key part of the winking, knowing, audience-acknowledging part of Muppet lore. He leads the band. He provides the hot tunes. The doctor is always in. —\u003cem> Linda\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>23. Bert \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His saddle shoes. His paperclip collection. His love of pigeons, and of the letter W. His bold, if defiantly out-of-step sartorial sensibility (a turtleneck under a v-neck? Why not?) His embrace of rules and order. His simultaneous fondness for, and exasperation with, his less uptight other half. Let’s face it—Bert was the very first nerd millions of us ever encountered. With a thunderbolt of recognition, we saw ourselves in his pained glares, heard ourselves in his monotone staccato laughter. He showed millions the path to fully embrace—nay, to positively \u003cem>exalt \u003c/em>in—our dorkiest, most basic selves. Other nerds in mass media would come later, of course. But he was our first. — \u003cem>Glen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biAMh-xdvJc\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>22. Elmo \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elmo gets a bad rap for the same reasons Barney the Dinosaur did at the height of his fame: Parents find him overly cloying and oversaturated. Ground Zero for this animosity has to be \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2017/12/25/573365529/remembering-that-must-have-toy-from-past-christmases\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tickle Me Elmo\u003c/a>, of course. By the mid-’90s, I had graduated from the streets of sesame to the green slime of Nickelodeon, so I was a bit too old to get wrapped up in the craze, but I have vivid memories of the parodies and news reports of grown adults fighting each other to get their hands on the toy. And for a time, I had to live with one of those bad boys, courtesy of my little sister. (It was just as annoying and creepy as a toy can get.) Then came The Takeover a.k.a. the recurring segment “Elmo’s World,” and this furry monster—who refers to himself in the third Muppet—became inescapable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And yet… here he is, sliding into the Top 25 on this list, presumably voted on by adults rather than 5-year-olds who wouldn’t know any better. There are two reasons for this, I think. For one, if you were a millennial like myself, you probably have fewer negative memories of him than those who were exasperated parents or childcare workers at the time of Peak Elmo. But also, in this era of social media, Elmo remains one of the\u003ca href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/elmo-rise\"> most\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://giphy.com/search/elmo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> memeable\u003c/a> of all Muppets. In fact, he’s transcended \u003cem>Sesame Street \u003c/em>to become arguably\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/TheDillonOne/status/1376323244828024837\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> at his best\u003c/a> in meme form. That’s gotta count for something, I guess! — \u003cem>Aisha\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>21. Scooter \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A late-’70s shortstop whose batting average generally hovered around .200, Mario Mendoza provides the origin point for the term “The Mendoza Line,” which refers to that hazy boundary separating “just good enough to stay employed” from “not good enough.” From this moment forward, let that line be renamed “The Scooter Line,” which separates the great Muppets—your Ernies, your Sams the Eagle, your Snuffleupagii—from, well, Elmo. (Note: This analogy falls apart when you scroll further up, because Bert, Dr. Teeth, and the Count are all awesome.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seriously, how did Scooter come in at No. 21? \u003cem>Scooter\u003c/em>?! The guy who only got his job at The Muppet Theatre because his uncle J.P. Grosse owned the venue? The guy whose signature catchphrase involved the number of seconds before actual entertainment was to take place? Is it because Scooter’s glasses double as his actual eyeballs? Is \u003cem>that\u003c/em> how we’re measuring quality these days? \u003cem>—Stephen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>20. Snuffleupagus\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Painfully shy. Soulful and sweet. With an eyelash game that Bianca Del Rio would envy. Snuffy began life as Big Bird’s best friend, whom the adults of Sesame Street considered imaginary. This frustrated Big Bird, but in their defense, Snuffy did tend to ditch Big Bird, suddenly, repeatedly, like Big Bird was Commissioner Gordon and Snuffy some kind of fuzzy pachydermic Batman. Eventually, the folks at Children’s Television Workshop realized that having adults roll their eyes at Big Bird’s stories of Snuffy maybe wasn’t sending kids, you know, the \u003cem>best \u003c/em>message? On YouTube you can watch the moment, in 1985, when the adults finally see Snuffy, and it? Is weird. And not a little sinister: Big Bird and Elmo conspire to trap Snuffy, forcing him to stick around (trigger warning: Elmo abuse), and when the adults finally apologize to Big Bird for doubting him all these years, he’s … kind of a jerk about it. — \u003cem>Glen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BtemfoJ-WI\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>19. Sweetums\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People sometimes forget about Sweetums, which is consistent with the way he’s left behind in \u003cem>The Muppet Movie \u003c/em>and has to chase the group all the way to Hollywood. All he wants is to be included! All he wants is to be in the movie! He’s fundamentally a big lug with a heart of gold, and he could also protect you in the event of a bar fight. It seems only right that he and Snuffy are next to each other on this list, because they’re both big and furry, but Sweetums, for all his might of body and mildness of soul, plays a unique role in Muppet World. He represents the idea of the benevolent super-monster: the scary thing that’s less scary once you look at it up close. — \u003cem>Linda\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>18. Ernie \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Quite simply, Ernie should be much higher than this. “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh85R-S-dh8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rubber Duckie\u003c/a>“! “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIq8jLj5TzU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">I Don’t Want to Live on the Moon\u003c/a>“! The\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pigcahytIH8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> innocent chaos\u003c/a> he wields upon the uptight Bert! He’s a wild one, but he’s also incredibly endearing; why else would Bert put up with this madness for so many years? Surely he’s earned enough \u003cem>Sesame Street \u003c/em>royalties at this point to be able to afford a studio apartment for himself, yet he knows—and we all know—that Ernie is a lovable sweetheart who just wants to enjoy life. #JusticeforErnie. — \u003cem>Aisha\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>17. Sam the Eagle\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’d have liked to see Sam roosting in a higher perch on this list, but apparently not all of us so deeply empathize with the big, dour lug. It’s not his politics we identify with, necessarily, nor his default moral outrage. No, some of us just respond to his whole vibe, which I will herewith attempt to distill to its essence: I never know what’s going on, and I never understand what anyone’s talking about, but if I did? I wouldn’t like it. —\u003cem> Glen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>16. Pepe the King Prawn \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some might scoff at the presence of Pepe on any list of Greatest Muppets. Not me, though I’m admittedly surprised this Spanish lothario was able to find his way into the Top 25, and above the likes of Bert and Ernie to boot. Maybe it’s all those years serving as the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VPu841BmOs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">spokes-shrimp\u003c/a>” for the fast-food chain Long John Silver’s? Or perhaps it’s because he was\u003ca href=\"https://slate.com/culture/2015/11/pepe-the-king-prawn-on-the-muppets-is-the-best-part-of-the-disappointing-new-show-video.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> the best thing\u003c/a> about that ill-advised primetime sitcom \u003cem>The Muppets\u003c/em>? — \u003cem>Aisha\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>15. Janice \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fer sure, yes, this ranking makes sense. I’m convinced we all wish we could be just a little bit like Janice: kind of aloof to everything going on around her, and thus eternally chill. — \u003cem>Aisha\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRgNW1Xp-JI\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>14. Big Bird \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For a lot of us—especially if we were pre-Elmo kids—Big Bird was one of the founding Muppets of our minds, even though unlike most of the group, he walked around on two legs. There’s something about his name, Big Bird, that speaks profoundly to how sweet and simple the connection is between little kids and this naive, sometimes confused soul. He’s just this… really Big Bird. He walked a lot of kids through their first \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxlj4Tk83xQ&ab_channel=TVBumpersCommercials\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">experience with death\u003c/a> when Mr. Hooper died, and he eventually demonstrated that he had been right all along about his very real, very mammoth friend Snuffy. Trust in Big Bird. —\u003cem> Linda\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>13. Oscar the Grouch \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of what happened on \u003cem>Sesame Street \u003c/em>was upbeat and colorful. So there’s something so delightfully rebellious and brilliant about the inclusion of a grungy, curmudgeonly green monster who literally lives in a garbage can and sings \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxgWHzMvXOY&ab_channel=SesameStreet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">“I Love Trash.”\u003c/a> It’s great to show the power of hugs, but it might be just as important to underscore that not everyone is a hugger, and you can make a guy part of your community even though he doesn’t give you a lot to work with. —\u003cem> Linda\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxgWHzMvXOY\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>12. Rizzo the Rat \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I suspect that Rizzo landed this high—above Big Bird!—thanks to millennials whose Muppet references are more about the later films like \u003cem>Muppet Treasure Island \u003c/em>and \u003cem>The Muppet Christmas Carol\u003c/em> than they are about \u003cem>The Muppet Show\u003c/em>, where Rizzo showed up fairly late in the series run as the leader of a gang of rats running wild in the theater. Rizzo started out small but went on to pop up in several of the films, always retaining his identity as a somewhat sketchy but basically decent pal, especially to Gonzo. I’m not so much a Rizzo girl myself, but to all of you who are: I respect your dedication to this little rat. —\u003cem> Linda\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>11. Cookie Monster\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The amazing thing about Cookie Monster is that he never ate a cookie. All Cookie Monster does is mouth the cookie until it flies into pieces. What Cookie Monster is about is the \u003cem>desire\u003c/em> for the cookie. The \u003cem>passion\u003c/em> for the cookie. The \u003cem>thrill\u003c/em> of the cookie. In this way, Cookie Monster is a perfect encapsulation of the preschool id: hungry, needy, hyper, and eternally hopeful that this time, there will be a snack. He should really be in the top ten, you guys. Even if only for \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye8mB6VsUHw&ab_channel=SesameStreet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">“C Is For Cookie.”\u003c/a> — \u003cem>Linda\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>10. Statler and Waldorf\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was inevitable so many would vote for this curmudgeonly duo because they represent the viewer’s id so explicitly.\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mreHiXkWB-s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Why do they always come here\u003c/a>? I guess we’ll never know. But we are all Statler & Waldorf—sitting in that balcony while cracking wise at all those corny puns—and Statler & Waldorf are us. — \u003cem>Aisha\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14njUwJUg1I\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>9. Swedish Chef \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many Muppets contain multitudes; Swedish Chef does not. He’s your classic Chaos Muppet—all \u003cem>hurr-guh-durr\u003c/em> and knives sticking into walls and fish flying to and fro, with human hands, no less, and without your romantic subplots or hazy origin stories or bittersweet pining for adventure and meaning. He’s the hilarious, Muppety, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN1hL9cn7s0&ab_channel=TheGilsonStation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">“Bork! Bork! Bork!”\u003c/a> embodiment of what every little kid wants to be doing in the kitchen at all times. \u003cem>— Stephen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>8. Miss Piggy\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Who among the Muppets can say that they’ve been presented with an award for being a feminist trailblazer while being \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biyv8kmKwEE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">interviewed by Gloria Steinem\u003c/a>? Heck, who among us \u003cem>humans \u003c/em>can say they’ve been so honored? Well, Miss Piggy can. Because she is the epitome of chutzpah, glamour, and narciss\u003cem>—\u003c/em>er, self-confidence. I truly hope this most fabulous swine doesn’t get wind of our list, because the last thing we’d want is an angry email (or\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkFHdbpVpC8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> karate chop\u003c/a>) from her publicist for not having ranked her higher. Piggy should at least crack the top five of Greatest Muppets, “\u003cem>moi\u003c/em>” who has given us one of culture’s most storied\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2DELDQAXT8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> on-again/off-again romances\u003c/a>; this\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbbNHyjgjw4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> amazingly awkward Larry King interview\u003c/a>; and “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK52qGcpdzo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Snackersize\u003c/a>.” — \u003cem>Aisha\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>7. Fozzie Bear \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fozzie Bear’s dreams of comedic greatness are unattainable, his optimism smacks of desperation and delusion, his jokes (such as they are) exist mostly to provide opportunities for Statler and Waldorf to perform windmill dunks at his expense, and his signature catchphrase (“wocka wocka wocka!”) is a tragic cry for validation. He’s all sweaty effort, all the time, in that way that so many of us get when we’re pursuing the acceptance of others. So how do you make Fozzie lovable without also making him… deeply sad?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The secret lies, at least in part, in the aforementioned optimism: Fozzie is a dreamer, and a sweetly soulful one at that. If you can’t be great, being liked is a hell of a consolation prize. \u003cem>— Stephen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>6. Grover \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’d have thought everyone’s lovable furry pal would have made the Top 5 easy, but this is still a perfectly respectable showing. What’s not to love? He’s cute and he knows it, but there’s so much more to him than that. He’s put in time in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIucCUyZF0g&ab_channel=SesameStreet\">food-service industry\u003c/a> (relatable!), he’s gotten his cardio in teaching us the difference between near and far (selfless!), and he’s also, not for nothing, a superhero. And if all that weren’t enough, his masterwork, \u003cem>The Monster at the End of This Book\u003c/em>, introduced successive generations to poststructuralist metanarrative; he’s a li’l fuzzy blue Michel Foucault, is what he is. — \u003cem>Glen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIucCUyZF0g\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>5. Rowlf\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The people have spoken; the people are wrong. Both of these things can be true. Come on, Rowlf in \u003cem>fifth \u003c/em>place? Below the jamoke at No. 4? The one-note placeholder at No. 3? Pshaw. Rowlf belongs atop this chart, bestriding it like a fuzzy brown floppy-eared Colossus, for several(!) manifold(!) \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/03/29/982279931/our-favorite-muppets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reasons I enumerated on our “Favorite Muppets” \u003c/a>episode, but essentially: He rejects and transcends the reductive Chaos Muppet/Order Muppet binary. He can often seem like the only adult in the room (and when Kermit is in said room, that’s saying something), but his vibe is different from that of the frog.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Where Kermit is always a real Dr. Buzzkill, a square, a narc, Rowlf is part of the game. He’s preternaturally chill; he can hang. Add that to the fact that \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ7nowJ87HU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">with numbers like “You and I and George,” in which he mixes humorous stories with song\u003c/a>, he’s bringing cabaret to the children. That’s iconic, that’s queer energy; Rowlf is the best Muppet, hands down, paws up. — \u003cem>Glen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>4. Beaker \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Yiddish words \u003cem>schlemiel\u003c/em> and \u003cem>schlimazel\u003c/em> aren’t just colorful language we remember from \u003cem>Laverne & Shirley\u003c/em> reruns; they’re also deeply useful phrases used to signify oafish incompetence and a tendency to encounter misfortune, respectively. The general device folks use to tell the words apart is that a schlemiel is the waiter spilling the soup in your lap (Grover, perhaps?) and a schlimazel is the unfortunate soul onto whom that soup is spilled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poor, pitiful, shrieking Beaker is \u003cem>The Muppet Show\u003c/em>‘s great schlimazel—and thus a vessel through which we could compartmentalize the most put-upon moments of our youth. We’d come home from a school day in which our lunch tray got knocked out of our hands, or maybe we racked ourselves sliding down that awful rope in gym class, and there was Beaker, embodying our awkwardness, our victimhood and our pain alongside Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, himself an avatar for an unfeeling God. \u003cem>—Stephen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>3. Animal \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No Muppet captures pure Muppet-ness quite like Animal. The drummer for the Electric Mayhem is really just a skinny body topped with a head like a pink firework, the long hair (fur?) blossoming from his head above a single heavy, dark, fluttering eyebrow. All he has to work with is his giant mouth and that line of eyebrows, and yet you can tell when he’s happy or excited (which is usually) or disappointed (sometimes) or exhausted (he’s the Muppet most likely to pant). Given to phrases like “That’s my kind of woman” and “eat drums,” Animal can’t really be called a sophisticate. But perhaps his function is to remind us that there is a place for a pure, growling… well, animal. And if you’ve never seen him accompany \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_IpgKzy75E&ab_channel=till90s\">Rita Moreno’s rendition of “Fever,”\u003c/a> I have to tell you that you’re really missing out. —\u003cem> Linda\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_IpgKzy75E\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>2. Gonzo\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anyone who’s ever felt like a weirdo or an “other”—or, to quote \u003cem>The Great Muppet Caper\u003c/em>, a “whatever”—knows where Gonzo is coming from, even if his own origin story has been circuitous and slow to unfold. A dapper Chaos Muppet capable of bearing serious emotional weight, Gonzo is an entertainer \u003cem>and\u003c/em> an artiste: an avant-garde daredevil whose act might cite poetry or shoot him out of a cannon, or somehow combine the two. He’s also, like our listeners’ No. 1 Muppet, a serious romantic leading man—just ask the chickens. \u003cem>—Stephen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1. Kermit\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Look, it’s hard—and uncouth—to rank our friends. But if one of your friends ran a hit TV show, starred in a string of successful movies, stormed the pop charts with a song \u003ca href=\"https://www.nme.com/news/music/library-of-congress-to-add-kermit-the-frogs-the-rainbow-connection-to-archives-of-important-recordings-2907621\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">so indelible\u003c/a> it just got named to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry, and launched memes that came to signify everything from unbridled enthusiasm to \u003ca href=\"https://www.bustle.com/p/what-is-the-kermit-sipping-tea-meme-a-history-of-this-muppets-shade-69015\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">staying above the fray\u003c/a>, you’d be pretty psyched about that friend, no?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A model of spare and efficient design, Kermit the Frog is a wonder of unadorned expressiveness, with a face that can speak volumes and spark laughter through the simple clenching and curling of fingers. The guy has it all: He’s a leading man and lust object (to Miss Piggy, at least), an exasperated workhorse who toils to keep the lights on, an earnest striver who pines for a place in the world. He’s an avatar of gentle grace; of goodness; of weary bafflement. He’s our friend. \u003cem>—Stephen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13895141\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13895141\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/1634675a_wide-484c99bff19d9c85263dab0f0b46a73539252fec-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Kermit the Frog in 'The Muppets Take Manhattan.' Kermit has been in a class of his own since many of us were itty bitty babies. Maybe even longer.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Seen here in ‘The Muppets Take Manhattan,’ Kermit the Frog has been in a class of his own since many of us were itty bitty babies. Maybe even longer. \u003ccite>(Moviestore/Shutterstock)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=A+Ruthless+Ranking+Of+The+25+Best+Muppets%2C+According+To+Listeners&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Nearly 20,000 votes later, here's your top 25 list of the best muppets of all time. ",
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"title": "A Ruthless Ranking of the 25 Best Muppets, According to NPR Listeners | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When we asked our trusty \u003cem>Pop Culture Happy Hour\u003c/em> listeners to vote for the Best Muppet, we knew they’d come through. Over 18,000 votes were cast; over 150 different Muppets received votes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes. Some brave, beautiful, misguided soul voted for \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKSGF4Ufso8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">H. Ross Parrot\u003c/a>. As \u003cem>Best \u003c/em>Muppet. That is a thing that happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Someone else—you can always count on PCHH listeners to bring the deep, \u003cem>deep \u003c/em>cuts—cast a single vote for\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bfdaR4xMeU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Delbert the La Choy Dragon\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But naturally enough, votes accreted around the Muppets with greater notoriety. (Sorry, Ma Otter, it’s not your time.) On Friday’s episode of Pop Culture Happy Hour, we reveal the top ten vote-getters, so stop reading now if you want to listen and be surprised.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here, though, we’ll tick off your top 25.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We established some ground rules, of course. Which made our daily PCHH Zoom call a place where the thorniest philosophical questions of our time were pondered: Should Statler and Waldorf be considered separately, or as a pair? What about Bert and Ernie? Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s where we landed:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Any Muppet from any property or era was eligible, including \u003cem>The Muppet Show, Muppet Babies, Fraggle Rock, Sesame Street, Labyrinth\u003c/em>, etc.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>We counted all variations of a Muppet character in a group. Thus, Gonzo the Great and Gonzo from \u003cem>Muppet Babies\u003c/em> both count as Gonzo.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Some Muppets were counted as a set, like Statler and Waldorf.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Others were counted individually, most notably Beaker and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, as well as Bert and Ernie. The Fraggles of \u003cem>Fraggle Rock\u003c/em> were also counted individually.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>We disqualified other puppets that are NOT Muppets, including Yoda (he’s really, really not a Muppet, guys, look it up) and the cast of \u003cem>Avenue Q\u003c/em>.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>We also disqualified human actors in Muppet movies, like Jason Segel, Tim Curry, Michael Caine, and Charles Grodin.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>So here they are, the Top 25 Best Muppets, according to the discerning, and impassioned, Pop Culture Happy Hour audience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>25. Count von Count\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ultimate Order Muppet. Nice to see the Count showing up here, repping \u003cem>Sesame Street \u003c/em>(he’s one of only 10 \u003cem>Sesame Street\u003c/em> Muppets to make the top 25, surprisingly enough). (Justice for Prairie Dawn, by the way.) He always scared the hell out of me — I didn’t care for those bats forever flitting around his widow’s peak, or for his ability to call forth thunder and lightning—but if you were a kid prone to obsessive behavior, you likely saw, in his compulsion to apportion the chaotic world around him into neat, quantitative chunks, a kindred spirit. — \u003cem>Glen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>24. Dr. Teeth \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It pleases me that this talented musician, he of the brightly decorated tour bus and the funkiest and furriest band, made it onto the list. Honestly, it took a while for me, as a young person, to truly appreciate the groovy greatness of Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem (one of the great band names). There’s a way in which the group calls gently to hippies, cool cats, and maybe even (gasp) stoners, that doesn’t matter to little kids but is a little bit funny when you’re older. Plus, particularly in \u003cem>The Muppet Movie\u003c/em>, Dr. Teeth is a key part of the winking, knowing, audience-acknowledging part of Muppet lore. He leads the band. He provides the hot tunes. The doctor is always in. —\u003cem> Linda\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>23. Bert \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His saddle shoes. His paperclip collection. His love of pigeons, and of the letter W. His bold, if defiantly out-of-step sartorial sensibility (a turtleneck under a v-neck? Why not?) His embrace of rules and order. His simultaneous fondness for, and exasperation with, his less uptight other half. Let’s face it—Bert was the very first nerd millions of us ever encountered. With a thunderbolt of recognition, we saw ourselves in his pained glares, heard ourselves in his monotone staccato laughter. He showed millions the path to fully embrace—nay, to positively \u003cem>exalt \u003c/em>in—our dorkiest, most basic selves. Other nerds in mass media would come later, of course. But he was our first. — \u003cem>Glen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/biAMh-xdvJc'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/biAMh-xdvJc'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>22. Elmo \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elmo gets a bad rap for the same reasons Barney the Dinosaur did at the height of his fame: Parents find him overly cloying and oversaturated. Ground Zero for this animosity has to be \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2017/12/25/573365529/remembering-that-must-have-toy-from-past-christmases\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tickle Me Elmo\u003c/a>, of course. By the mid-’90s, I had graduated from the streets of sesame to the green slime of Nickelodeon, so I was a bit too old to get wrapped up in the craze, but I have vivid memories of the parodies and news reports of grown adults fighting each other to get their hands on the toy. And for a time, I had to live with one of those bad boys, courtesy of my little sister. (It was just as annoying and creepy as a toy can get.) Then came The Takeover a.k.a. the recurring segment “Elmo’s World,” and this furry monster—who refers to himself in the third Muppet—became inescapable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And yet… here he is, sliding into the Top 25 on this list, presumably voted on by adults rather than 5-year-olds who wouldn’t know any better. There are two reasons for this, I think. For one, if you were a millennial like myself, you probably have fewer negative memories of him than those who were exasperated parents or childcare workers at the time of Peak Elmo. But also, in this era of social media, Elmo remains one of the\u003ca href=\"https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/elmo-rise\"> most\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://giphy.com/search/elmo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> memeable\u003c/a> of all Muppets. In fact, he’s transcended \u003cem>Sesame Street \u003c/em>to become arguably\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/TheDillonOne/status/1376323244828024837\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> at his best\u003c/a> in meme form. That’s gotta count for something, I guess! — \u003cem>Aisha\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>21. Scooter \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A late-’70s shortstop whose batting average generally hovered around .200, Mario Mendoza provides the origin point for the term “The Mendoza Line,” which refers to that hazy boundary separating “just good enough to stay employed” from “not good enough.” From this moment forward, let that line be renamed “The Scooter Line,” which separates the great Muppets—your Ernies, your Sams the Eagle, your Snuffleupagii—from, well, Elmo. (Note: This analogy falls apart when you scroll further up, because Bert, Dr. Teeth, and the Count are all awesome.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seriously, how did Scooter come in at No. 21? \u003cem>Scooter\u003c/em>?! The guy who only got his job at The Muppet Theatre because his uncle J.P. Grosse owned the venue? The guy whose signature catchphrase involved the number of seconds before actual entertainment was to take place? Is it because Scooter’s glasses double as his actual eyeballs? Is \u003cem>that\u003c/em> how we’re measuring quality these days? \u003cem>—Stephen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>20. Snuffleupagus\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Painfully shy. Soulful and sweet. With an eyelash game that Bianca Del Rio would envy. Snuffy began life as Big Bird’s best friend, whom the adults of Sesame Street considered imaginary. This frustrated Big Bird, but in their defense, Snuffy did tend to ditch Big Bird, suddenly, repeatedly, like Big Bird was Commissioner Gordon and Snuffy some kind of fuzzy pachydermic Batman. Eventually, the folks at Children’s Television Workshop realized that having adults roll their eyes at Big Bird’s stories of Snuffy maybe wasn’t sending kids, you know, the \u003cem>best \u003c/em>message? On YouTube you can watch the moment, in 1985, when the adults finally see Snuffy, and it? Is weird. And not a little sinister: Big Bird and Elmo conspire to trap Snuffy, forcing him to stick around (trigger warning: Elmo abuse), and when the adults finally apologize to Big Bird for doubting him all these years, he’s … kind of a jerk about it. — \u003cem>Glen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/_BtemfoJ-WI'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/_BtemfoJ-WI'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>19. Sweetums\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People sometimes forget about Sweetums, which is consistent with the way he’s left behind in \u003cem>The Muppet Movie \u003c/em>and has to chase the group all the way to Hollywood. All he wants is to be included! All he wants is to be in the movie! He’s fundamentally a big lug with a heart of gold, and he could also protect you in the event of a bar fight. It seems only right that he and Snuffy are next to each other on this list, because they’re both big and furry, but Sweetums, for all his might of body and mildness of soul, plays a unique role in Muppet World. He represents the idea of the benevolent super-monster: the scary thing that’s less scary once you look at it up close. — \u003cem>Linda\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>18. Ernie \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Quite simply, Ernie should be much higher than this. “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh85R-S-dh8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rubber Duckie\u003c/a>“! “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIq8jLj5TzU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">I Don’t Want to Live on the Moon\u003c/a>“! The\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pigcahytIH8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> innocent chaos\u003c/a> he wields upon the uptight Bert! He’s a wild one, but he’s also incredibly endearing; why else would Bert put up with this madness for so many years? Surely he’s earned enough \u003cem>Sesame Street \u003c/em>royalties at this point to be able to afford a studio apartment for himself, yet he knows—and we all know—that Ernie is a lovable sweetheart who just wants to enjoy life. #JusticeforErnie. — \u003cem>Aisha\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>17. Sam the Eagle\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’d have liked to see Sam roosting in a higher perch on this list, but apparently not all of us so deeply empathize with the big, dour lug. It’s not his politics we identify with, necessarily, nor his default moral outrage. No, some of us just respond to his whole vibe, which I will herewith attempt to distill to its essence: I never know what’s going on, and I never understand what anyone’s talking about, but if I did? I wouldn’t like it. —\u003cem> Glen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>16. Pepe the King Prawn \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some might scoff at the presence of Pepe on any list of Greatest Muppets. Not me, though I’m admittedly surprised this Spanish lothario was able to find his way into the Top 25, and above the likes of Bert and Ernie to boot. Maybe it’s all those years serving as the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VPu841BmOs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">spokes-shrimp\u003c/a>” for the fast-food chain Long John Silver’s? Or perhaps it’s because he was\u003ca href=\"https://slate.com/culture/2015/11/pepe-the-king-prawn-on-the-muppets-is-the-best-part-of-the-disappointing-new-show-video.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> the best thing\u003c/a> about that ill-advised primetime sitcom \u003cem>The Muppets\u003c/em>? — \u003cem>Aisha\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>15. Janice \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fer sure, yes, this ranking makes sense. I’m convinced we all wish we could be just a little bit like Janice: kind of aloof to everything going on around her, and thus eternally chill. — \u003cem>Aisha\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/zRgNW1Xp-JI'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/zRgNW1Xp-JI'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>14. Big Bird \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For a lot of us—especially if we were pre-Elmo kids—Big Bird was one of the founding Muppets of our minds, even though unlike most of the group, he walked around on two legs. There’s something about his name, Big Bird, that speaks profoundly to how sweet and simple the connection is between little kids and this naive, sometimes confused soul. He’s just this… really Big Bird. He walked a lot of kids through their first \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxlj4Tk83xQ&ab_channel=TVBumpersCommercials\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">experience with death\u003c/a> when Mr. Hooper died, and he eventually demonstrated that he had been right all along about his very real, very mammoth friend Snuffy. Trust in Big Bird. —\u003cem> Linda\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>13. Oscar the Grouch \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of what happened on \u003cem>Sesame Street \u003c/em>was upbeat and colorful. So there’s something so delightfully rebellious and brilliant about the inclusion of a grungy, curmudgeonly green monster who literally lives in a garbage can and sings \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxgWHzMvXOY&ab_channel=SesameStreet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">“I Love Trash.”\u003c/a> It’s great to show the power of hugs, but it might be just as important to underscore that not everyone is a hugger, and you can make a guy part of your community even though he doesn’t give you a lot to work with. —\u003cem> Linda\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/rxgWHzMvXOY'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/rxgWHzMvXOY'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>12. Rizzo the Rat \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I suspect that Rizzo landed this high—above Big Bird!—thanks to millennials whose Muppet references are more about the later films like \u003cem>Muppet Treasure Island \u003c/em>and \u003cem>The Muppet Christmas Carol\u003c/em> than they are about \u003cem>The Muppet Show\u003c/em>, where Rizzo showed up fairly late in the series run as the leader of a gang of rats running wild in the theater. Rizzo started out small but went on to pop up in several of the films, always retaining his identity as a somewhat sketchy but basically decent pal, especially to Gonzo. I’m not so much a Rizzo girl myself, but to all of you who are: I respect your dedication to this little rat. —\u003cem> Linda\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>11. Cookie Monster\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The amazing thing about Cookie Monster is that he never ate a cookie. All Cookie Monster does is mouth the cookie until it flies into pieces. What Cookie Monster is about is the \u003cem>desire\u003c/em> for the cookie. The \u003cem>passion\u003c/em> for the cookie. The \u003cem>thrill\u003c/em> of the cookie. In this way, Cookie Monster is a perfect encapsulation of the preschool id: hungry, needy, hyper, and eternally hopeful that this time, there will be a snack. He should really be in the top ten, you guys. Even if only for \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye8mB6VsUHw&ab_channel=SesameStreet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">“C Is For Cookie.”\u003c/a> — \u003cem>Linda\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>10. Statler and Waldorf\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was inevitable so many would vote for this curmudgeonly duo because they represent the viewer’s id so explicitly.\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mreHiXkWB-s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Why do they always come here\u003c/a>? I guess we’ll never know. But we are all Statler & Waldorf—sitting in that balcony while cracking wise at all those corny puns—and Statler & Waldorf are us. — \u003cem>Aisha\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/14njUwJUg1I'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/14njUwJUg1I'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>9. Swedish Chef \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many Muppets contain multitudes; Swedish Chef does not. He’s your classic Chaos Muppet—all \u003cem>hurr-guh-durr\u003c/em> and knives sticking into walls and fish flying to and fro, with human hands, no less, and without your romantic subplots or hazy origin stories or bittersweet pining for adventure and meaning. He’s the hilarious, Muppety, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN1hL9cn7s0&ab_channel=TheGilsonStation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">“Bork! Bork! Bork!”\u003c/a> embodiment of what every little kid wants to be doing in the kitchen at all times. \u003cem>— Stephen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>8. Miss Piggy\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Who among the Muppets can say that they’ve been presented with an award for being a feminist trailblazer while being \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biyv8kmKwEE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">interviewed by Gloria Steinem\u003c/a>? Heck, who among us \u003cem>humans \u003c/em>can say they’ve been so honored? Well, Miss Piggy can. Because she is the epitome of chutzpah, glamour, and narciss\u003cem>—\u003c/em>er, self-confidence. I truly hope this most fabulous swine doesn’t get wind of our list, because the last thing we’d want is an angry email (or\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkFHdbpVpC8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> karate chop\u003c/a>) from her publicist for not having ranked her higher. Piggy should at least crack the top five of Greatest Muppets, “\u003cem>moi\u003c/em>” who has given us one of culture’s most storied\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2DELDQAXT8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> on-again/off-again romances\u003c/a>; this\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbbNHyjgjw4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> amazingly awkward Larry King interview\u003c/a>; and “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK52qGcpdzo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Snackersize\u003c/a>.” — \u003cem>Aisha\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>7. Fozzie Bear \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fozzie Bear’s dreams of comedic greatness are unattainable, his optimism smacks of desperation and delusion, his jokes (such as they are) exist mostly to provide opportunities for Statler and Waldorf to perform windmill dunks at his expense, and his signature catchphrase (“wocka wocka wocka!”) is a tragic cry for validation. He’s all sweaty effort, all the time, in that way that so many of us get when we’re pursuing the acceptance of others. So how do you make Fozzie lovable without also making him… deeply sad?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The secret lies, at least in part, in the aforementioned optimism: Fozzie is a dreamer, and a sweetly soulful one at that. If you can’t be great, being liked is a hell of a consolation prize. \u003cem>— Stephen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>6. Grover \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’d have thought everyone’s lovable furry pal would have made the Top 5 easy, but this is still a perfectly respectable showing. What’s not to love? He’s cute and he knows it, but there’s so much more to him than that. He’s put in time in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIucCUyZF0g&ab_channel=SesameStreet\">food-service industry\u003c/a> (relatable!), he’s gotten his cardio in teaching us the difference between near and far (selfless!), and he’s also, not for nothing, a superhero. And if all that weren’t enough, his masterwork, \u003cem>The Monster at the End of This Book\u003c/em>, introduced successive generations to poststructuralist metanarrative; he’s a li’l fuzzy blue Michel Foucault, is what he is. — \u003cem>Glen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/sIucCUyZF0g'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/sIucCUyZF0g'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>5. Rowlf\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The people have spoken; the people are wrong. Both of these things can be true. Come on, Rowlf in \u003cem>fifth \u003c/em>place? Below the jamoke at No. 4? The one-note placeholder at No. 3? Pshaw. Rowlf belongs atop this chart, bestriding it like a fuzzy brown floppy-eared Colossus, for several(!) manifold(!) \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/03/29/982279931/our-favorite-muppets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reasons I enumerated on our “Favorite Muppets” \u003c/a>episode, but essentially: He rejects and transcends the reductive Chaos Muppet/Order Muppet binary. He can often seem like the only adult in the room (and when Kermit is in said room, that’s saying something), but his vibe is different from that of the frog.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Where Kermit is always a real Dr. Buzzkill, a square, a narc, Rowlf is part of the game. He’s preternaturally chill; he can hang. Add that to the fact that \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ7nowJ87HU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">with numbers like “You and I and George,” in which he mixes humorous stories with song\u003c/a>, he’s bringing cabaret to the children. That’s iconic, that’s queer energy; Rowlf is the best Muppet, hands down, paws up. — \u003cem>Glen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>4. Beaker \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Yiddish words \u003cem>schlemiel\u003c/em> and \u003cem>schlimazel\u003c/em> aren’t just colorful language we remember from \u003cem>Laverne & Shirley\u003c/em> reruns; they’re also deeply useful phrases used to signify oafish incompetence and a tendency to encounter misfortune, respectively. The general device folks use to tell the words apart is that a schlemiel is the waiter spilling the soup in your lap (Grover, perhaps?) and a schlimazel is the unfortunate soul onto whom that soup is spilled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poor, pitiful, shrieking Beaker is \u003cem>The Muppet Show\u003c/em>‘s great schlimazel—and thus a vessel through which we could compartmentalize the most put-upon moments of our youth. We’d come home from a school day in which our lunch tray got knocked out of our hands, or maybe we racked ourselves sliding down that awful rope in gym class, and there was Beaker, embodying our awkwardness, our victimhood and our pain alongside Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, himself an avatar for an unfeeling God. \u003cem>—Stephen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>3. Animal \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No Muppet captures pure Muppet-ness quite like Animal. The drummer for the Electric Mayhem is really just a skinny body topped with a head like a pink firework, the long hair (fur?) blossoming from his head above a single heavy, dark, fluttering eyebrow. All he has to work with is his giant mouth and that line of eyebrows, and yet you can tell when he’s happy or excited (which is usually) or disappointed (sometimes) or exhausted (he’s the Muppet most likely to pant). Given to phrases like “That’s my kind of woman” and “eat drums,” Animal can’t really be called a sophisticate. But perhaps his function is to remind us that there is a place for a pure, growling… well, animal. And if you’ve never seen him accompany \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_IpgKzy75E&ab_channel=till90s\">Rita Moreno’s rendition of “Fever,”\u003c/a> I have to tell you that you’re really missing out. —\u003cem> Linda\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/b_IpgKzy75E'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/b_IpgKzy75E'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>2. Gonzo\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anyone who’s ever felt like a weirdo or an “other”—or, to quote \u003cem>The Great Muppet Caper\u003c/em>, a “whatever”—knows where Gonzo is coming from, even if his own origin story has been circuitous and slow to unfold. A dapper Chaos Muppet capable of bearing serious emotional weight, Gonzo is an entertainer \u003cem>and\u003c/em> an artiste: an avant-garde daredevil whose act might cite poetry or shoot him out of a cannon, or somehow combine the two. He’s also, like our listeners’ No. 1 Muppet, a serious romantic leading man—just ask the chickens. \u003cem>—Stephen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1. Kermit\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Look, it’s hard—and uncouth—to rank our friends. But if one of your friends ran a hit TV show, starred in a string of successful movies, stormed the pop charts with a song \u003ca href=\"https://www.nme.com/news/music/library-of-congress-to-add-kermit-the-frogs-the-rainbow-connection-to-archives-of-important-recordings-2907621\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">so indelible\u003c/a> it just got named to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry, and launched memes that came to signify everything from unbridled enthusiasm to \u003ca href=\"https://www.bustle.com/p/what-is-the-kermit-sipping-tea-meme-a-history-of-this-muppets-shade-69015\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">staying above the fray\u003c/a>, you’d be pretty psyched about that friend, no?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A model of spare and efficient design, Kermit the Frog is a wonder of unadorned expressiveness, with a face that can speak volumes and spark laughter through the simple clenching and curling of fingers. The guy has it all: He’s a leading man and lust object (to Miss Piggy, at least), an exasperated workhorse who toils to keep the lights on, an earnest striver who pines for a place in the world. He’s an avatar of gentle grace; of goodness; of weary bafflement. He’s our friend. \u003cem>—Stephen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13895141\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13895141\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/1634675a_wide-484c99bff19d9c85263dab0f0b46a73539252fec-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Kermit the Frog in 'The Muppets Take Manhattan.' Kermit has been in a class of his own since many of us were itty bitty babies. Maybe even longer.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Seen here in ‘The Muppets Take Manhattan,’ Kermit the Frog has been in a class of his own since many of us were itty bitty babies. Maybe even longer. \u003ccite>(Moviestore/Shutterstock)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=A+Ruthless+Ranking+Of+The+25+Best+Muppets%2C+According+To+Listeners&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
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"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
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"onourwatch": {
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
"airtime": "SAT 4pm-5pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/reveal300px.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/reveal",
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"rss": "http://feeds.revealradio.org/revealpodcast"
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
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