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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom\u003c/em> was August Wilson’s first Broadway hit—and a preamble to his cycle of award-winning plays about the African-American experience across the 20th Century that included \u003cem>Fences\u003c/em> and \u003cem>The Piano Lesson\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now \u003cem>Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom\u003c/em> is the first of the late playwright’s works to be adapted for Netflix\u003cem>—\u003c/em>premiering Dec. 18.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ord7gP151vk\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.centertheatregroup.org/programs/students/learn-about-theatre/august-wilson-monologue-competition/august-wilson-biography/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wilson\u003c/a> was a little-known poet when the play opened at Yale Repertory Theater in the \u003ca href=\"https://yalerep.org/productions/ma-raineys-black-bottom-8/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">spring of 1984\u003c/a>. Sitting in the theater, Wilson told me the story came to him one day when he was listening to a recording of Ma Rainey singing the title song.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt privileged to be listening to her sing,” Wilson recalls. “I thought, ‘How did this record get recorded?’ And ‘What was the price that was paid?’ I know those things are paid for in blood, sweat and tears.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom\u003c/em> takes place in a Chicago studio on the day in 1927 when the song was recorded. The Netflix adaptation preserves Wilson’s dialogue, with added musical numbers bookending the script.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the surface, the story is about the economic exploitation of the early black performers. Rainey was called “The Mother of the Blues.” But Wilson didn’t write a biography. He said he avoided doing research—and he created fictional musicians for her band—so that he could deal with larger issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>George C. Wolfe directed the film and says all of the characters have come to Chicago from the South. “In the South, Black people could create, and nurture, and support themselves and their own communities,” Wolfe says. “When they came North, if they wanted to achieve anything, they had to come into contact with the White power structure. And by virtue of coming into contact with the White power structure, their power was in essence nullified.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13890666\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13890666\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/mrbb_unit_09839_r_custom-c6a835c81318f84994fa7913fb82b2d8b9320bb5.jpg\" alt=\"Viola Davis as Ma Rainey in the film adaptation of 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.'\" width=\"200\" height=\"218\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/mrbb_unit_09839_r_custom-c6a835c81318f84994fa7913fb82b2d8b9320bb5.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/mrbb_unit_09839_r_custom-c6a835c81318f84994fa7913fb82b2d8b9320bb5-160x174.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Viola Davis as Ma Rainey in the film adaptation of ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.’ \u003ccite>(David Lee/ Netflix)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ma Rainey is the title character, played in the film by Viola Davis, but the central drama belongs to a sideman in her band, the ambitious young cornetist, Levee, played by Chadwick Boseman in his final performance before he died of cancer this past summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end of the story, Levee is lied to, cheated, and broken. He says God has turned his back on him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was talking with someone today,” Wilson said in 1984, “and [what’s] very strange is that if God is white, as Christ is often portrayed—and people actually believe that—and you look around in your life, you have white men oppressing you. Everywhere you look. Every contact you have with white men is a negative contact, then I don’t see how you can worship a God made in that image.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson grew up poor in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. His father was a white baker who was mostly absent from his family of six kids. So Wilson identified with his African-American mother and he drew on his experiences for all of his plays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I do is I go inside myself,” Wilson said. “There’s a landscape there. Sometimes there’s a terrifying landscape. And I start walking there. My baggage is the small imperial truths which I have accumulated from my life experience. You never know what you’re going to confront. But if you’re writing seriously out of the core of yourself, then very oftimes you confront things which are frightening. And you wrassle with them and deal with them and hopefully after you have walked through that landscape you’ve come out with something that—a larger something, be it truth or not. That is both illuminating even as it’s blinding. And then you say you’ve got a play.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it’s the character of Levee who carries that story in \u003cem>Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom\u003c/em>, says Wolfe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13890667\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13890667\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/mrbb_unit_14123_r_custom-433cbdccdeb557d64052ea8e30eff25b95aca07d.jpg\" alt=\"Michael Potts as Slow Drag, Glynn Turman as Toldeo, Colman Domingo as Cutler, and Chadwick Boseman as Levee.\" width=\"200\" height=\"133\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/mrbb_unit_14123_r_custom-433cbdccdeb557d64052ea8e30eff25b95aca07d.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/mrbb_unit_14123_r_custom-433cbdccdeb557d64052ea8e30eff25b95aca07d-160x106.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">L-R: Michael Potts as Slow Drag, Glynn Turman as Toldeo, Colman Domingo as Cutler, and Chadwick Boseman as Levee. \u003ccite>(David Lee/ Netflix)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Levee is this bright, promising future—but [are] the pain and the scars and the sins of the past going to keep Levee from realizing all the bright promising future that he has before him?” Wolfe asks. “And that’s America. Is America ever going to deliver on its possibility when it is forever haunted by its un-owned sins of the past?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wolfe expects the film to strike a chord with today’s audiences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would be lovely one day if it was a lovely piece of nostalgia about the difficult, complicated racial equation of 1927. But that’s not going to happen for a while,” says Wolfe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the half century between when the play is set and its 1984 premiere, Wilson said the move towards racial equality had stalled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not certain we’re making progress. I don’t believe that we can make progress in America until Blacks are allowed their cultural differences,” Wilson said. “I don’t see how we can make progress until white America recognizes and accepts the fact that Black Americans are not the same as white Americans.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>August Wilson died in 2005. \u003cem>Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom\u003c/em> is the first in a planned series of Wilson’s plays to be adapted for Netflix.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=%27Ma+Rainey%27s+Black+Bottom%27+Shines+A+Light+On+August+Wilson%27s+Vision&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom\u003c/em> takes place in a Chicago studio on the day in 1927 when the song was recorded. The Netflix adaptation preserves Wilson’s dialogue, with added musical numbers bookending the script.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the surface, the story is about the economic exploitation of the early black performers. Rainey was called “The Mother of the Blues.” But Wilson didn’t write a biography. He said he avoided doing research—and he created fictional musicians for her band—so that he could deal with larger issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>George C. Wolfe directed the film and says all of the characters have come to Chicago from the South. “In the South, Black people could create, and nurture, and support themselves and their own communities,” Wolfe says. “When they came North, if they wanted to achieve anything, they had to come into contact with the White power structure. And by virtue of coming into contact with the White power structure, their power was in essence nullified.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13890666\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13890666\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/mrbb_unit_09839_r_custom-c6a835c81318f84994fa7913fb82b2d8b9320bb5.jpg\" alt=\"Viola Davis as Ma Rainey in the film adaptation of 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.'\" width=\"200\" height=\"218\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/mrbb_unit_09839_r_custom-c6a835c81318f84994fa7913fb82b2d8b9320bb5.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/mrbb_unit_09839_r_custom-c6a835c81318f84994fa7913fb82b2d8b9320bb5-160x174.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Viola Davis as Ma Rainey in the film adaptation of ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.’ \u003ccite>(David Lee/ Netflix)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ma Rainey is the title character, played in the film by Viola Davis, but the central drama belongs to a sideman in her band, the ambitious young cornetist, Levee, played by Chadwick Boseman in his final performance before he died of cancer this past summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end of the story, Levee is lied to, cheated, and broken. He says God has turned his back on him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was talking with someone today,” Wilson said in 1984, “and [what’s] very strange is that if God is white, as Christ is often portrayed—and people actually believe that—and you look around in your life, you have white men oppressing you. Everywhere you look. Every contact you have with white men is a negative contact, then I don’t see how you can worship a God made in that image.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson grew up poor in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. His father was a white baker who was mostly absent from his family of six kids. So Wilson identified with his African-American mother and he drew on his experiences for all of his plays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I do is I go inside myself,” Wilson said. “There’s a landscape there. Sometimes there’s a terrifying landscape. And I start walking there. My baggage is the small imperial truths which I have accumulated from my life experience. You never know what you’re going to confront. But if you’re writing seriously out of the core of yourself, then very oftimes you confront things which are frightening. And you wrassle with them and deal with them and hopefully after you have walked through that landscape you’ve come out with something that—a larger something, be it truth or not. That is both illuminating even as it’s blinding. And then you say you’ve got a play.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it’s the character of Levee who carries that story in \u003cem>Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom\u003c/em>, says Wolfe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13890667\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13890667\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/mrbb_unit_14123_r_custom-433cbdccdeb557d64052ea8e30eff25b95aca07d.jpg\" alt=\"Michael Potts as Slow Drag, Glynn Turman as Toldeo, Colman Domingo as Cutler, and Chadwick Boseman as Levee.\" width=\"200\" height=\"133\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/mrbb_unit_14123_r_custom-433cbdccdeb557d64052ea8e30eff25b95aca07d.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/mrbb_unit_14123_r_custom-433cbdccdeb557d64052ea8e30eff25b95aca07d-160x106.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">L-R: Michael Potts as Slow Drag, Glynn Turman as Toldeo, Colman Domingo as Cutler, and Chadwick Boseman as Levee. \u003ccite>(David Lee/ Netflix)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Levee is this bright, promising future—but [are] the pain and the scars and the sins of the past going to keep Levee from realizing all the bright promising future that he has before him?” Wolfe asks. “And that’s America. Is America ever going to deliver on its possibility when it is forever haunted by its un-owned sins of the past?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wolfe expects the film to strike a chord with today’s audiences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would be lovely one day if it was a lovely piece of nostalgia about the difficult, complicated racial equation of 1927. But that’s not going to happen for a while,” says Wolfe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the half century between when the play is set and its 1984 premiere, Wilson said the move towards racial equality had stalled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not certain we’re making progress. I don’t believe that we can make progress in America until Blacks are allowed their cultural differences,” Wilson said. “I don’t see how we can make progress until white America recognizes and accepts the fact that Black Americans are not the same as white Americans.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>August Wilson died in 2005. \u003cem>Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom\u003c/em> is the first in a planned series of Wilson’s plays to be adapted for Netflix.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=%27Ma+Rainey%27s+Black+Bottom%27+Shines+A+Light+On+August+Wilson%27s+Vision&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "NPR Critics Pick Their Favorite TV From a Strange 2020",
"headTitle": "NPR Critics Pick Their Favorite TV From a Strange 2020 | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>It has been a momentous year for everything we consider TV.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A pandemic, civil rights reckoning, streaming war and presidential election shook up the industry in a dozen different ways. It blurred lines between genres, platforms and story forms, while also encouraging us to develop our own, deep rabbit holes of favorite media. So when our team of four critics sat down to figure out what we liked most onscreen this year, we each had a lot of stuff on our lists no one else did. [aside postid='arts_13890197']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why our list crosses a lot of boundaries, including projects technically released as feature films. It’s a powerful example of how much quality entertainment was available this year, even after coronavirus lockdowns shut down productions and upended release schedules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In alphabetical order, here’s our best of 2020—and we know it’s a long list, so you can use these alphabetical links to skip around: \u003ca href=\"#B\">B\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#C\">C\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#D\">D\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#F\">F\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#G\">G\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#H\">H\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#I\">I\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#J\">J\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#L\">L\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#M\">M\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#N\">N\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#O\">O\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#P\">P\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#Q\">Q\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#T\">T\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#W\">W\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Better Call Saul, Season 5 \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(AMC, Amazon Prime rental, earlier seasons on Netflix)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This outstanding FX series long ago rendered pointless any comparisons to \u003cem>Breaking Bad\u003c/em>, of which it is technically a prequel. The story it’s telling is so very much its own—by turns gritty and funny, melancholic and viciously violent. In its penultimate season, the transformation of Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) into Saul Goodman—a criminal lawyer who’s actually a \u003cem>criminal\u003c/em> lawyer—is just about complete. We finally saw the series’ two disparate plot threads—Jimmy’s and Mike’s (Jonathan Banks)—come together, a richly satisfying consummation for those viewers who’ve complained about the series’ pacing, and who’ve longed for those two characters to share the screen. The fact that it’s all set against the very real, and immensely worrying, potential downfall of the show’s beating heart—Rhea Seehorn’s astonishing performance as Jimmy’s girlfriend Kim—invests us that much deeply in the show’s dangerous and duplicitous world. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon, Aisha Harris, Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Black Is King\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (Disney+)/\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Between the World and Me\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (HBO and HBO Max) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a year that saw lots of reflection on systemic racism and police brutality, these two films offered emotional, effective meditations on Black joy and pain in very different ways. \u003cem>Black Is King\u003c/em> is Beyoncé’s “visual album,” loosely inspired by \u003cem>The Lion King\u003c/em> story, using arresting images and banging tunes to portray the peoples of the African diaspora rediscovering their heritage as leaders and royalty. \u003cem>Between the World and Me\u003c/em> is a different kind of tone poem, centered on passages read by performers like Oprah Winfrey from Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book, which was written as a letter to his teen son. It explores the dangers Black people face from police brutality and the joy which comes from Black love and achievement, perfectly presenting the duality of African American life. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>BoJack Horseman, Season 6, Part II \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(Netflix)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After five-plus seasons watching a washed-up sitcom horse wrestle with drug addiction, narcissism, childhood traumas and the traumas he inflicted upon others, BoJack Horseman’s story came to an end that was as satisfying as one could hope. What the show did best (besides insanely clever animal puns and skewering Hollywood) was really question and challenge the arc of redemption for people (or horses) who have caused an immeasurable amount of pain to others. Right up to its final moments, the writers and animators didn’t let up, remaining as inquisitive and creative as ever. — \u003cem>Aisha Harris\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Boys State\u003c/em>\u003c/strong> \u003cstrong>(Apple TV+)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Set at Boys State in Texas, a program where high school boys run for office and form a mock government, this is a documentary not for the faint of heart. It shows kids whose approach to politics is already hardened, already combative beyond the substance of it. Combative for its own sake. While there are moments that show the promise of young activists and idealists, there are also dark signs that a lot of kids who have grown up in our fractured and nasty political climate have learned plenty from the politicians who have endeavored at every turn to make it worse. — \u003cem>Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Class Action Park\u003c/strong>\u003c/em> \u003cstrong>(HBO Max)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This documentary functions, at one level, as a document laying out the details of a very specific time and place: Action Park in New Jersey, famous for being the amusement park where kids got hurt. But with the help of excellent input from Class Action Park patrons and comedian Chris Gethard, it turns into a consideration of nostalgia more generally, and of what it means to know you had a great time doing something that was a very bad idea. — \u003cem>Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Da 5 Bloods \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(Netflix)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spike Lee’s usage of Marvin Gaye’s \u003cem>What’s Going On?\u003c/em> album is divine; his nods and references to everything from \u003cem>The Treasure of the Sierra Madre \u003c/em>to \u003cem>Rambo \u003c/em>are thoughtful and layered; Chadwick Boseman, in one of his final roles, is a powerful and spiritual presence. But this movie belongs to Delroy Lindo, who cuts an imposing and indelible figure as Paul, a Vietnam War vet worn down by unresolved guilt, wrecked by bitterness, sadness and fear. He finds shades to play with in every feeling and thought, giving one of the great performances in recent memory. — \u003cem>Aisha Harris\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>David Byrne’s American Utopia \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(HBO and HBO Max) \u003c/strong>[aside postid='arts_13890048']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a year when we were starved for good feelings, a year when mere happiness felt like ecstatic joy, and real ecstatic joy—like that on glorious display on a Broadway stage by a barefoot David Byrne and a cadre of musicians in matching gray suits—could leave you breathless, swooning and profoundly grateful. Directed by Spike Lee, the theatrical concert film spans Byrne’s musical career but—as with any production associated with Byrne—it leaves plenty of room to get enthusiastically weird. Wireless technology allows the musicians to roam the stage, and they do so in lock-step choreography, like the hippest high school marching band imaginable. A special treat for longtime Talking Heads fans: We finally get the live version of “Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)” that we didn’t know we’ve been aching for, all this time. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>First Cow \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(Showtime, DIRECTTV, and numerous rental sites) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s astounding how much suspense director Kelly Reichardt is able to derive from the act of milking a cow. In early 19th-century Oregon Territory, skillful cook Otis “Cookie” Figowitz (John Magaro) befriends King-Lu, an enterprising Chinese immigrant (Orion Lee) and outlaw. Together, they conjure up a successful business at a market outpost selling oily cakes to hungry traders; the recipe requires a very scarce commodity around those parts: cow’s milk. It’s one-part heist film and another part buddy adventure, with a tender—and often humorous—friendship at its center. — \u003cem>Aisha Harris\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The Flight Attendant\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (HBO Max)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on the novel by Chris Bohjalian, this smart, taut HBO Max thriller stars Kaley Cuoco as, well, a flight attendant who wakes up after a night of partying and realizes something very, very bad happened while she was asleep. Part mystery, part drama about the aftereffects of a traumatic childhood, and part dark comedy, it was one of the most pleasant surprises of the year, impressing with its razor-sharp tone, supporting performances (Zosia Mamet is tremendous as Cuoco’s best friend), and heartfelt work from Cuoco. — \u003cem>Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The Forty-Year-Old Version \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(Netflix) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Radha Blank’s debut as a feature film director, writer and star is an engaging portrait of an artist at an existential crossroad, professional and personal. This is a refreshingly specific mid-life crisis, one borrowing from Blank’s own life as a born-and-bred New York writer and rapper known as RhadaMUS Prime. It’s funny and poignant, and the banter and characters feel real and alive. Radha the character may lack confidence at times, but real-life Radha the filmmaker is very self-assured. — \u003cem>Aisha Harris, Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The Good Place, Season 4 \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(NBC, Netflix, Amazon Prime) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The road to this perfectly poignant finale wasn’t smooth. Much of seasons 3 and 4 lacked the bite of the earlier seasons, and as the gang fought to prove that there was a fundamental glitch in the sorting of heaven and hell, it felt almost like Mike Schur and his team were spinning wheels. But they stuck the landing anyway, bringing back some of that subversiveness by daring to suggest there can come a point when you feel as though you’ve done all you wanted to do in (the after)life and it’s time to move on. It’s a dark thing to contemplate, but it’s also honest. — \u003cem>Aisha Harris\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The Great \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(Hulu)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Billed as “An Occasionally True Story,” this series about young Catherine (Elle Fanning) and her ill-fated marriage to Emperor Peter of Russia (Nicholas Hoult) is stuffed with gleefully ahistorical elements that’ll send students of Russian history into aneurysms. Fanning is terrific as an idealistic (and self-satisfied) would-be social reformer, while Hoult’s Peter is a nightmare—a sociopathic boor poured into a pair of tight leather pants. \u003cem>The Great \u003c/em>was created by Tony McNamara, based on his 2008 play. McNamara went on to co-write 2018’s \u003cem>The Favourite\u003c/em>, and if you’ve seen that film, you know what to expect here—yes, bustles and corsets, wigs and snuffboxes, but also crisp ripostes, lacerating insults and dialogue that sizzles with withering wit. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Harley Quinn\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (DC Universe and HBO Max) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given the sheer tonnage of live action superhero shows on TV, it’s notable that the most gonzo, subversive, hilarious, action packed, explicit and entertaining take on the DC comics universe is actually this animated series. Originally created for the streaming service DC Universe, it now lives on HBO Max, where \u003cem>Big Bang Theory\u003c/em> alum Kaley Cuoco voices the Joker’s former girlfriend as an unpredictable, profanity-slinging romantic who resists the ex who exploited her. It’s a comedy of sorts where even Batman is a bit of a doofus, featuring Harley leading a team of misfit baddies who struggle for recognition as Gotham City’s leading villains, redefining adult-oriented superhero stories in the process. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The Haunting of Bly Manor \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(Netflix)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first installment of this Netflix series\u003cem>, The Haunting of Hill House\u003c/em>, was packed with plenty of good, ghostly scares—but it lagged in the middle, and whiffed the ending. With \u003cem>The Haunting of Bly Manor\u003c/em> creator and showrunner Mike Flanagan hasn’t simply found a new author to riff on (Henry James, instead of Shirley Jackson) he has seriously course-corrected. Though it parcels out the scares more thinly than \u003cem>Hill House \u003c/em>did, \u003cem>Bly Manor\u003c/em>‘s story is tighter, and it nails the all-important dismount in a sincere, humane and bittersweet way that directly addresses the nature, and the purpose, of grief. It’s not overtly tidy or dully expositional—yet it feels, in the best way, inevitable. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>I Hate Suzie\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (HBO Max) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This British series—just eight episodes, as is their wont—stars the great Billie Piper as an actress whose nudes end up on the Internet after her phone gets hacked. She then proceeds to make a series of \u003cem>wildly\u003c/em> terrible decisions to deal with it—or \u003cem>not\u003c/em> deal with it, as the case may be. It won’t be for everyone. Think of it as the anti-\u003cem>Ted Lasso—\u003c/em>there’s little here that’s comforting or warm. Try it on for size: Watch the first episode, in which a huge crowd comes tromping through her home for a photo shoot just as she’s first finding out about the leaked nudes. She keeps trying to find some privacy—and keep her husband from finding out—in a long stretch of tense, claustrophobic, downright nightmarish scenes, many of which take place entirely in a tight close-up of Piper’s face as she attempts to keep from panicking. If it grabs you, you’ll watch the rest of the episodes through your fingers—but you will watch them, compulsively. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>I May Destroy You\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (HBO and HBO Max)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michaela Coel’s series about a woman exploring the aftermath of a sexual assault shone a spotlight on Coel’s own acting, writing, and in some cases directing. It also became a broader examination of ethics in sex and relationships, from the traumatic to the questionable to the unkind. The supporting cast and dizzying structural turns made the HBO show one of the most exciting of 2020. — \u003cem>Linda Holmes, Aisha Harris, Eric Deggans, Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The Invisible Man \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(HBO, HBO Max and numerous rental sites)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elisabeth Moss stars as a woman who begins to fear she’s crazy when she keeps sensing her dead abusive husband everywhere. From there, the film becomes a consideration of paranoia, trauma and ultimately the desire to reclaim a connection to reality that’s come undone as a result of repeated, relentless gaslighting. — \u003cem>Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(Netflix)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Point of order: This comedy special debuted on Dec. 25, 2019—after we made our annual list—so it slides in here on a technicality. But it certainly belongs—no comedy special has won me over so hard, so completely. Mulaney’s idiosyncratic sensibility might seem an odd fit for what is essentially an extended riff on old children’s television programming, but it works seamlessly here. That’s a product of the writing, which is wry but never cynical, but it’s also an outgrowth of the casting. These kid actors aren’t pushing it—they easily find Mulaney’s particular comedic frequency, and stick to it. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The Last Dance\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (Netflix) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Basketball legend Michael Jordan looms over every frame of this revealing documentary series first shown on ESPN, and not just because it expertly documents his final championship season with the Chicago Bulls in 1997-98. It’s an incisive look at how that team became a world-crushing, pop-culture-dominating force, with special detail on how Jordan built his legend. Other stories also resonate: How Dennis Rodman nearly committed suicide before he joined the Bulls; how teammate Scottie Pippen was continually underpaid; how Jordan was merciless about pushing his teammates and cultivating grudges to boost his performance. Jordan was involved as a producer and had to approve use of the Bulls’ behind-the-scenes footage, giving him even more control. But despite his influence, this miniseries offers a never-before-seen look at a once in a generation team. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Lovecraft Country\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (HBO and HBO Max) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Packed to bursting with symbolism, special effects, allegory, social messages, reinvented horror tropes and enough plot to require a YouTube explainer for every episode, this audacious take on Matt Ruff’s 2016 novel is a lot. But its story, placing a Black family at the heart of a pitched battle with a white family of witches in the Jim Crow-era 1950s, is a marvel of ambition and craft. Comparing the horrors of racism to the supernatural horrors found in novels by H.P. Lovecraft—himself an infamous xenophobe and racist—reinvents the genre in unexpected ways. And the work of executive producer/writer/director Misha Green to showcase the power of Black love and family in a series dropping during the summer’s reckoning over systemic racism and police brutality, was exquisitely perfect timing. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans, Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Lovers Rock \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(Amazon Prime) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This entry in Steve McQueen’s excellent \u003cem>Small Axe \u003c/em>anthology series will surely make you want to seek out its soundtrack, which is bubbling with classics of the reggae subgenre from which it gets its title. But as you follow these young West Indian Londoners mingling, dancing, flirting and rebuffing aggressive strangers at a lively house party on one evening in 1980, it will also transport you to a realm of beauty and intimacy. It’s a musical reverie that manages to capture the exultation of the arrival of the weekend, and the sanctity of Black community. — \u003cem>Aisha Harris \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Mucho Mucho Amor\u003c/em>\u003c/strong> \u003cstrong>(Netflix)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Netflix presented this documentary about legendary astrologer Walter Mercado to an audience that included both people who grew up watching him on television every day and people who knew him hardly at all. It told a story that was alternatively sad and stirring, but it ultimately gave the man his due as a legend who was part of the lives of many families and who found himself poorly treated by some of those close to him. — \u003cem>Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The New Pope \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(HBO and HBO Max) \u003c/strong>[aside postid='arts_13890093']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The New Pope\u003c/em>, like \u003cem>The Young Pope\u003c/em> before it, is all about jockeying for a very earthly kind of power behind the scenes of the Vatican. The vaguely odd, singular tone of that first series persists, as does the many Italian actors’ tendencies to emphasize words that native English speakers wouldn’t necessarily emphasize, and insert long, meaningful pauses (creator Paolo Sorrentino loves his pauses) where native English speakers wouldn’t. It all adds to the sense that you’re watching the show from across a vague, yet palpable cultural divide—the ecclesiastical drama as Mentos commercial. Despite the title change and the swapping out of Jude Law’s Pius XIII for John Malkovich’s Sir John Brannox, Sorrentino’s camera still tracks slowly and languidly through immense arched hallways, vaulted rooms and lush gardens, pausing to alight upon small, telling details. Malkovich revels in his portrayal of Brannox as a louche, mascara-wearing British fop who flounces through life—a man who can be counted upon to find the nearest chaise in any room and recline upon it as if he has just been roughly flung there. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Normal People\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (Hulu)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Sally Rooney novel about two young students who fall in love and watch their lives intersect over many years was a hit, and adapting it into a limited series was a challenge since it’s so reliant on the interiority of the lead characters. But leads Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal brought their scenes together an intimacy and grace that kept the wide-ranging story in focus. — \u003cem>Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>On The Record \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(HBO Max)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Making a documentary about the reckoning over sexual harassment in music would have been too broad an assignment for any filmmaker. So it makes sense that this one is narrower: It is primarily about allegations against hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, and even more specifically about Drew Dixon, an A&R executive who says she saw her career founder after being assaulted by Simmons. — \u003cem>Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Ozark, Season 3\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (Netflix) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critics who dismiss this drama about a family juggling internal drama and FBI scrutiny while laundering money for a Mexican drug cartel in the Ozarks (some have dubbed it “Breaking Bad: The Family Edition”) have missed the point. Especially in this year’s powerhouse third season, Ozark raised its game, adding Janet McTeer as a domineering cartel lawyer and Tom Pelphrey in a shamefully under-recognized turn as the bipolar brother of matriarch Wendy Byrde, played by Laura Linney. Pelphrey was heart-rending as the only person who saw how terrible the Byrdes’ activities were, despite his mental illness. And the show’s ability to keep viewers invested in Jason Bateman’s numbers whiz, patriarch Marty Byrde—no matter who he gets killed or rips off—is nothing short of amazing. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>P-Valley \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(STARZ) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In lesser hands, Uncle Clifford (Nicco Annan)—the towering, flamboyant non-binary strip club owner whose drawl kind of sounds like Katt Williams—could have easily turned out to be little more than sassy caricature. But Katori Hall’s soapy melodrama about a rural Mississippi town and its colorful inhabitants takes its characters seriously, and over the course of this crackling first season they emerge more unique and interesting than their “types” might initially suggest. The show also brings a new level of respect to the artistry and precision of pole dancing—among the highlights are those extensive routines backed by dirty, thumping Southern hip-hop. — \u003cem>Aisha Harris\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The Queen’s Gambit\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (Netflix) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before I saw one scene of chess play, I was all in for a miniseries showing a talented, self-possessed woman mastering a game dominated by men in the 1950s and ’60s, knocking them off like clay pigeons on her way to the world championship. But this series, crafted by Scott Frank based on a 1983 novel, also plays like a superhero origin story. In a magnetic performance, Anya Taylor-Joy brings liquid eyes and an inscrutable manner to chess prodigy Beth Harmon, who must overcome substance abuse, the influence of her suicidal mom and a sexist world to reach her goals. Toss in a period-specific, lavish production and direction that actually makes chess look interesting, and you have the ingredients of a modern TV masterpiece. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Ted Lasso\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (Apple TV+) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Saturday Night Live\u003c/em> alum Jason Sudeikis is funny, bumbling and occasionally heartbreaking as Ted Lasso, a stupendously optimistic American college football coach hired to lead a Premiere League soccer team in England. The owner is actually trying to sabotage the team by hiring Lasso, who knows nothing about soccer—or “football,” as they call it in Britain. But she doesn’t realize his true superpower is that he’s so gosh darned nice. It may sound a little hokey, but \u003cem>Ted Lasso\u003c/em> somehow builds a wonderful comedy around the healing power of niceness—deflating any hokum with a well-timed joke or two. And considering how tough 2020 has been, we all could use a lot of that message right about now. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans, Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Tiger King\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (Netflix) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The subjects of this docuseries became the butt of a thousand punchlines, as viewers dug into the tawdry tale of Joe Exotic—a publicity-seeking, pistol-packing character running a private zoo in Oklahoma who was convicted of paying a hitman to murder his longtime nemesis, self-styled animal conservationist Carol Baskin. Still, the series itself is an amazing achievement, exploring the eccentric and often exploitive underworld of exotic animal collectors and conservationists. Joe Exotic was the show’s unstable center, given to stunts like running for president and participating in an unofficial, three-way same sex marriage. But the show also featured footage filmed over years, as directors caught crucial moments on film and climbed inside the heart of a devastatingly dysfunctional subculture. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Time \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(Amazon Prime) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a profound sadness at the core of Garrett Bradley’s arresting documentary about Fox Rich, a Louisiana woman who spent decades tirelessly contesting her husband Robert’s 60-year prison sentence for a crime they both committed out of economic desperation. But there’s also a sense of optimism humming beneath it all, particularly in how Rich’s story unfolds on screen: via footage from approximately 100 hours of daily video diaries she made of herself and their children over the years, in the hopes of eventually having the opportunity to show it all to Robert. Bradley and editor Gabriel Rhodes take this treasure of a time capsule and turn out an absorbing masterpiece. — \u003cem>Aisha Harris\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>What We Do In The Shadows, Season 2 \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(FX and FX on Hulu)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As great as the first season of this modern-day-vampire mockumentary series was, it had trouble stepping out of the long … well, \u003cem>shadow\u003c/em> of the 2014 film on which it was based. That’s not to say there weren’t plenty of creative additions—Mark Proksch’s cardigan-clad “energy vampire” Colin Robinson, for example, the embodiment of all things evil … and beige. But in the second season, a stronger, more linear plot involving the show’s secret weapon (Harvey Guillén as Guillermo, the Staten-Island-based vampires’ long-suffering thrall/assistant who discovers as dark, hilarious truth about himself) leaves the viewer with the impression that the show has clicked into its groove. And speaking of groove: If the show did nothing but grace us with the presence of the marvelous Matt Barry at his bombastic best here playing the preternaturally self-impressed vampire Lazlo, it would be enough. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=NPR+Critics+Pick+Their+Favorite+TV+From+A+Strange+2020&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It has been a momentous year for everything we consider TV.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A pandemic, civil rights reckoning, streaming war and presidential election shook up the industry in a dozen different ways. It blurred lines between genres, platforms and story forms, while also encouraging us to develop our own, deep rabbit holes of favorite media. So when our team of four critics sat down to figure out what we liked most onscreen this year, we each had a lot of stuff on our lists no one else did. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why our list crosses a lot of boundaries, including projects technically released as feature films. It’s a powerful example of how much quality entertainment was available this year, even after coronavirus lockdowns shut down productions and upended release schedules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In alphabetical order, here’s our best of 2020—and we know it’s a long list, so you can use these alphabetical links to skip around: \u003ca href=\"#B\">B\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#C\">C\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#D\">D\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#F\">F\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#G\">G\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#H\">H\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#I\">I\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#J\">J\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#L\">L\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#M\">M\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#N\">N\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#O\">O\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#P\">P\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#Q\">Q\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#T\">T\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"#W\">W\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Better Call Saul, Season 5 \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(AMC, Amazon Prime rental, earlier seasons on Netflix)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This outstanding FX series long ago rendered pointless any comparisons to \u003cem>Breaking Bad\u003c/em>, of which it is technically a prequel. The story it’s telling is so very much its own—by turns gritty and funny, melancholic and viciously violent. In its penultimate season, the transformation of Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) into Saul Goodman—a criminal lawyer who’s actually a \u003cem>criminal\u003c/em> lawyer—is just about complete. We finally saw the series’ two disparate plot threads—Jimmy’s and Mike’s (Jonathan Banks)—come together, a richly satisfying consummation for those viewers who’ve complained about the series’ pacing, and who’ve longed for those two characters to share the screen. The fact that it’s all set against the very real, and immensely worrying, potential downfall of the show’s beating heart—Rhea Seehorn’s astonishing performance as Jimmy’s girlfriend Kim—invests us that much deeply in the show’s dangerous and duplicitous world. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon, Aisha Harris, Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Black Is King\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (Disney+)/\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Between the World and Me\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (HBO and HBO Max) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a year that saw lots of reflection on systemic racism and police brutality, these two films offered emotional, effective meditations on Black joy and pain in very different ways. \u003cem>Black Is King\u003c/em> is Beyoncé’s “visual album,” loosely inspired by \u003cem>The Lion King\u003c/em> story, using arresting images and banging tunes to portray the peoples of the African diaspora rediscovering their heritage as leaders and royalty. \u003cem>Between the World and Me\u003c/em> is a different kind of tone poem, centered on passages read by performers like Oprah Winfrey from Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book, which was written as a letter to his teen son. It explores the dangers Black people face from police brutality and the joy which comes from Black love and achievement, perfectly presenting the duality of African American life. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>BoJack Horseman, Season 6, Part II \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(Netflix)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After five-plus seasons watching a washed-up sitcom horse wrestle with drug addiction, narcissism, childhood traumas and the traumas he inflicted upon others, BoJack Horseman’s story came to an end that was as satisfying as one could hope. What the show did best (besides insanely clever animal puns and skewering Hollywood) was really question and challenge the arc of redemption for people (or horses) who have caused an immeasurable amount of pain to others. Right up to its final moments, the writers and animators didn’t let up, remaining as inquisitive and creative as ever. — \u003cem>Aisha Harris\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Boys State\u003c/em>\u003c/strong> \u003cstrong>(Apple TV+)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Set at Boys State in Texas, a program where high school boys run for office and form a mock government, this is a documentary not for the faint of heart. It shows kids whose approach to politics is already hardened, already combative beyond the substance of it. Combative for its own sake. While there are moments that show the promise of young activists and idealists, there are also dark signs that a lot of kids who have grown up in our fractured and nasty political climate have learned plenty from the politicians who have endeavored at every turn to make it worse. — \u003cem>Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Class Action Park\u003c/strong>\u003c/em> \u003cstrong>(HBO Max)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This documentary functions, at one level, as a document laying out the details of a very specific time and place: Action Park in New Jersey, famous for being the amusement park where kids got hurt. But with the help of excellent input from Class Action Park patrons and comedian Chris Gethard, it turns into a consideration of nostalgia more generally, and of what it means to know you had a great time doing something that was a very bad idea. — \u003cem>Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Da 5 Bloods \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(Netflix)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spike Lee’s usage of Marvin Gaye’s \u003cem>What’s Going On?\u003c/em> album is divine; his nods and references to everything from \u003cem>The Treasure of the Sierra Madre \u003c/em>to \u003cem>Rambo \u003c/em>are thoughtful and layered; Chadwick Boseman, in one of his final roles, is a powerful and spiritual presence. But this movie belongs to Delroy Lindo, who cuts an imposing and indelible figure as Paul, a Vietnam War vet worn down by unresolved guilt, wrecked by bitterness, sadness and fear. He finds shades to play with in every feeling and thought, giving one of the great performances in recent memory. — \u003cem>Aisha Harris\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>David Byrne’s American Utopia \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(HBO and HBO Max) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a year when we were starved for good feelings, a year when mere happiness felt like ecstatic joy, and real ecstatic joy—like that on glorious display on a Broadway stage by a barefoot David Byrne and a cadre of musicians in matching gray suits—could leave you breathless, swooning and profoundly grateful. Directed by Spike Lee, the theatrical concert film spans Byrne’s musical career but—as with any production associated with Byrne—it leaves plenty of room to get enthusiastically weird. Wireless technology allows the musicians to roam the stage, and they do so in lock-step choreography, like the hippest high school marching band imaginable. A special treat for longtime Talking Heads fans: We finally get the live version of “Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)” that we didn’t know we’ve been aching for, all this time. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>First Cow \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(Showtime, DIRECTTV, and numerous rental sites) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s astounding how much suspense director Kelly Reichardt is able to derive from the act of milking a cow. In early 19th-century Oregon Territory, skillful cook Otis “Cookie” Figowitz (John Magaro) befriends King-Lu, an enterprising Chinese immigrant (Orion Lee) and outlaw. Together, they conjure up a successful business at a market outpost selling oily cakes to hungry traders; the recipe requires a very scarce commodity around those parts: cow’s milk. It’s one-part heist film and another part buddy adventure, with a tender—and often humorous—friendship at its center. — \u003cem>Aisha Harris\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The Flight Attendant\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (HBO Max)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on the novel by Chris Bohjalian, this smart, taut HBO Max thriller stars Kaley Cuoco as, well, a flight attendant who wakes up after a night of partying and realizes something very, very bad happened while she was asleep. Part mystery, part drama about the aftereffects of a traumatic childhood, and part dark comedy, it was one of the most pleasant surprises of the year, impressing with its razor-sharp tone, supporting performances (Zosia Mamet is tremendous as Cuoco’s best friend), and heartfelt work from Cuoco. — \u003cem>Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The Forty-Year-Old Version \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(Netflix) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Radha Blank’s debut as a feature film director, writer and star is an engaging portrait of an artist at an existential crossroad, professional and personal. This is a refreshingly specific mid-life crisis, one borrowing from Blank’s own life as a born-and-bred New York writer and rapper known as RhadaMUS Prime. It’s funny and poignant, and the banter and characters feel real and alive. Radha the character may lack confidence at times, but real-life Radha the filmmaker is very self-assured. — \u003cem>Aisha Harris, Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The Good Place, Season 4 \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(NBC, Netflix, Amazon Prime) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The road to this perfectly poignant finale wasn’t smooth. Much of seasons 3 and 4 lacked the bite of the earlier seasons, and as the gang fought to prove that there was a fundamental glitch in the sorting of heaven and hell, it felt almost like Mike Schur and his team were spinning wheels. But they stuck the landing anyway, bringing back some of that subversiveness by daring to suggest there can come a point when you feel as though you’ve done all you wanted to do in (the after)life and it’s time to move on. It’s a dark thing to contemplate, but it’s also honest. — \u003cem>Aisha Harris\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The Great \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(Hulu)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Billed as “An Occasionally True Story,” this series about young Catherine (Elle Fanning) and her ill-fated marriage to Emperor Peter of Russia (Nicholas Hoult) is stuffed with gleefully ahistorical elements that’ll send students of Russian history into aneurysms. Fanning is terrific as an idealistic (and self-satisfied) would-be social reformer, while Hoult’s Peter is a nightmare—a sociopathic boor poured into a pair of tight leather pants. \u003cem>The Great \u003c/em>was created by Tony McNamara, based on his 2008 play. McNamara went on to co-write 2018’s \u003cem>The Favourite\u003c/em>, and if you’ve seen that film, you know what to expect here—yes, bustles and corsets, wigs and snuffboxes, but also crisp ripostes, lacerating insults and dialogue that sizzles with withering wit. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Harley Quinn\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (DC Universe and HBO Max) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given the sheer tonnage of live action superhero shows on TV, it’s notable that the most gonzo, subversive, hilarious, action packed, explicit and entertaining take on the DC comics universe is actually this animated series. Originally created for the streaming service DC Universe, it now lives on HBO Max, where \u003cem>Big Bang Theory\u003c/em> alum Kaley Cuoco voices the Joker’s former girlfriend as an unpredictable, profanity-slinging romantic who resists the ex who exploited her. It’s a comedy of sorts where even Batman is a bit of a doofus, featuring Harley leading a team of misfit baddies who struggle for recognition as Gotham City’s leading villains, redefining adult-oriented superhero stories in the process. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The Haunting of Bly Manor \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(Netflix)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first installment of this Netflix series\u003cem>, The Haunting of Hill House\u003c/em>, was packed with plenty of good, ghostly scares—but it lagged in the middle, and whiffed the ending. With \u003cem>The Haunting of Bly Manor\u003c/em> creator and showrunner Mike Flanagan hasn’t simply found a new author to riff on (Henry James, instead of Shirley Jackson) he has seriously course-corrected. Though it parcels out the scares more thinly than \u003cem>Hill House \u003c/em>did, \u003cem>Bly Manor\u003c/em>‘s story is tighter, and it nails the all-important dismount in a sincere, humane and bittersweet way that directly addresses the nature, and the purpose, of grief. It’s not overtly tidy or dully expositional—yet it feels, in the best way, inevitable. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>I Hate Suzie\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (HBO Max) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This British series—just eight episodes, as is their wont—stars the great Billie Piper as an actress whose nudes end up on the Internet after her phone gets hacked. She then proceeds to make a series of \u003cem>wildly\u003c/em> terrible decisions to deal with it—or \u003cem>not\u003c/em> deal with it, as the case may be. It won’t be for everyone. Think of it as the anti-\u003cem>Ted Lasso—\u003c/em>there’s little here that’s comforting or warm. Try it on for size: Watch the first episode, in which a huge crowd comes tromping through her home for a photo shoot just as she’s first finding out about the leaked nudes. She keeps trying to find some privacy—and keep her husband from finding out—in a long stretch of tense, claustrophobic, downright nightmarish scenes, many of which take place entirely in a tight close-up of Piper’s face as she attempts to keep from panicking. If it grabs you, you’ll watch the rest of the episodes through your fingers—but you will watch them, compulsively. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>I May Destroy You\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (HBO and HBO Max)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michaela Coel’s series about a woman exploring the aftermath of a sexual assault shone a spotlight on Coel’s own acting, writing, and in some cases directing. It also became a broader examination of ethics in sex and relationships, from the traumatic to the questionable to the unkind. The supporting cast and dizzying structural turns made the HBO show one of the most exciting of 2020. — \u003cem>Linda Holmes, Aisha Harris, Eric Deggans, Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The Invisible Man \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(HBO, HBO Max and numerous rental sites)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elisabeth Moss stars as a woman who begins to fear she’s crazy when she keeps sensing her dead abusive husband everywhere. From there, the film becomes a consideration of paranoia, trauma and ultimately the desire to reclaim a connection to reality that’s come undone as a result of repeated, relentless gaslighting. — \u003cem>Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(Netflix)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Point of order: This comedy special debuted on Dec. 25, 2019—after we made our annual list—so it slides in here on a technicality. But it certainly belongs—no comedy special has won me over so hard, so completely. Mulaney’s idiosyncratic sensibility might seem an odd fit for what is essentially an extended riff on old children’s television programming, but it works seamlessly here. That’s a product of the writing, which is wry but never cynical, but it’s also an outgrowth of the casting. These kid actors aren’t pushing it—they easily find Mulaney’s particular comedic frequency, and stick to it. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The Last Dance\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (Netflix) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Basketball legend Michael Jordan looms over every frame of this revealing documentary series first shown on ESPN, and not just because it expertly documents his final championship season with the Chicago Bulls in 1997-98. It’s an incisive look at how that team became a world-crushing, pop-culture-dominating force, with special detail on how Jordan built his legend. Other stories also resonate: How Dennis Rodman nearly committed suicide before he joined the Bulls; how teammate Scottie Pippen was continually underpaid; how Jordan was merciless about pushing his teammates and cultivating grudges to boost his performance. Jordan was involved as a producer and had to approve use of the Bulls’ behind-the-scenes footage, giving him even more control. But despite his influence, this miniseries offers a never-before-seen look at a once in a generation team. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Lovecraft Country\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (HBO and HBO Max) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Packed to bursting with symbolism, special effects, allegory, social messages, reinvented horror tropes and enough plot to require a YouTube explainer for every episode, this audacious take on Matt Ruff’s 2016 novel is a lot. But its story, placing a Black family at the heart of a pitched battle with a white family of witches in the Jim Crow-era 1950s, is a marvel of ambition and craft. Comparing the horrors of racism to the supernatural horrors found in novels by H.P. Lovecraft—himself an infamous xenophobe and racist—reinvents the genre in unexpected ways. And the work of executive producer/writer/director Misha Green to showcase the power of Black love and family in a series dropping during the summer’s reckoning over systemic racism and police brutality, was exquisitely perfect timing. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans, Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Lovers Rock \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(Amazon Prime) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This entry in Steve McQueen’s excellent \u003cem>Small Axe \u003c/em>anthology series will surely make you want to seek out its soundtrack, which is bubbling with classics of the reggae subgenre from which it gets its title. But as you follow these young West Indian Londoners mingling, dancing, flirting and rebuffing aggressive strangers at a lively house party on one evening in 1980, it will also transport you to a realm of beauty and intimacy. It’s a musical reverie that manages to capture the exultation of the arrival of the weekend, and the sanctity of Black community. — \u003cem>Aisha Harris \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Mucho Mucho Amor\u003c/em>\u003c/strong> \u003cstrong>(Netflix)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Netflix presented this documentary about legendary astrologer Walter Mercado to an audience that included both people who grew up watching him on television every day and people who knew him hardly at all. It told a story that was alternatively sad and stirring, but it ultimately gave the man his due as a legend who was part of the lives of many families and who found himself poorly treated by some of those close to him. — \u003cem>Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The New Pope \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(HBO and HBO Max) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The New Pope\u003c/em>, like \u003cem>The Young Pope\u003c/em> before it, is all about jockeying for a very earthly kind of power behind the scenes of the Vatican. The vaguely odd, singular tone of that first series persists, as does the many Italian actors’ tendencies to emphasize words that native English speakers wouldn’t necessarily emphasize, and insert long, meaningful pauses (creator Paolo Sorrentino loves his pauses) where native English speakers wouldn’t. It all adds to the sense that you’re watching the show from across a vague, yet palpable cultural divide—the ecclesiastical drama as Mentos commercial. Despite the title change and the swapping out of Jude Law’s Pius XIII for John Malkovich’s Sir John Brannox, Sorrentino’s camera still tracks slowly and languidly through immense arched hallways, vaulted rooms and lush gardens, pausing to alight upon small, telling details. Malkovich revels in his portrayal of Brannox as a louche, mascara-wearing British fop who flounces through life—a man who can be counted upon to find the nearest chaise in any room and recline upon it as if he has just been roughly flung there. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Normal People\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (Hulu)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Sally Rooney novel about two young students who fall in love and watch their lives intersect over many years was a hit, and adapting it into a limited series was a challenge since it’s so reliant on the interiority of the lead characters. But leads Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal brought their scenes together an intimacy and grace that kept the wide-ranging story in focus. — \u003cem>Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>On The Record \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(HBO Max)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Making a documentary about the reckoning over sexual harassment in music would have been too broad an assignment for any filmmaker. So it makes sense that this one is narrower: It is primarily about allegations against hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, and even more specifically about Drew Dixon, an A&R executive who says she saw her career founder after being assaulted by Simmons. — \u003cem>Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Ozark, Season 3\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (Netflix) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critics who dismiss this drama about a family juggling internal drama and FBI scrutiny while laundering money for a Mexican drug cartel in the Ozarks (some have dubbed it “Breaking Bad: The Family Edition”) have missed the point. Especially in this year’s powerhouse third season, Ozark raised its game, adding Janet McTeer as a domineering cartel lawyer and Tom Pelphrey in a shamefully under-recognized turn as the bipolar brother of matriarch Wendy Byrde, played by Laura Linney. Pelphrey was heart-rending as the only person who saw how terrible the Byrdes’ activities were, despite his mental illness. And the show’s ability to keep viewers invested in Jason Bateman’s numbers whiz, patriarch Marty Byrde—no matter who he gets killed or rips off—is nothing short of amazing. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>P-Valley \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(STARZ) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In lesser hands, Uncle Clifford (Nicco Annan)—the towering, flamboyant non-binary strip club owner whose drawl kind of sounds like Katt Williams—could have easily turned out to be little more than sassy caricature. But Katori Hall’s soapy melodrama about a rural Mississippi town and its colorful inhabitants takes its characters seriously, and over the course of this crackling first season they emerge more unique and interesting than their “types” might initially suggest. The show also brings a new level of respect to the artistry and precision of pole dancing—among the highlights are those extensive routines backed by dirty, thumping Southern hip-hop. — \u003cem>Aisha Harris\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>The Queen’s Gambit\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (Netflix) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before I saw one scene of chess play, I was all in for a miniseries showing a talented, self-possessed woman mastering a game dominated by men in the 1950s and ’60s, knocking them off like clay pigeons on her way to the world championship. But this series, crafted by Scott Frank based on a 1983 novel, also plays like a superhero origin story. In a magnetic performance, Anya Taylor-Joy brings liquid eyes and an inscrutable manner to chess prodigy Beth Harmon, who must overcome substance abuse, the influence of her suicidal mom and a sexist world to reach her goals. Toss in a period-specific, lavish production and direction that actually makes chess look interesting, and you have the ingredients of a modern TV masterpiece. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Ted Lasso\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (Apple TV+) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Saturday Night Live\u003c/em> alum Jason Sudeikis is funny, bumbling and occasionally heartbreaking as Ted Lasso, a stupendously optimistic American college football coach hired to lead a Premiere League soccer team in England. The owner is actually trying to sabotage the team by hiring Lasso, who knows nothing about soccer—or “football,” as they call it in Britain. But she doesn’t realize his true superpower is that he’s so gosh darned nice. It may sound a little hokey, but \u003cem>Ted Lasso\u003c/em> somehow builds a wonderful comedy around the healing power of niceness—deflating any hokum with a well-timed joke or two. And considering how tough 2020 has been, we all could use a lot of that message right about now. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans, Linda Holmes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Tiger King\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> (Netflix) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The subjects of this docuseries became the butt of a thousand punchlines, as viewers dug into the tawdry tale of Joe Exotic—a publicity-seeking, pistol-packing character running a private zoo in Oklahoma who was convicted of paying a hitman to murder his longtime nemesis, self-styled animal conservationist Carol Baskin. Still, the series itself is an amazing achievement, exploring the eccentric and often exploitive underworld of exotic animal collectors and conservationists. Joe Exotic was the show’s unstable center, given to stunts like running for president and participating in an unofficial, three-way same sex marriage. But the show also featured footage filmed over years, as directors caught crucial moments on film and climbed inside the heart of a devastatingly dysfunctional subculture. — \u003cem>Eric Deggans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Time \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(Amazon Prime) \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a profound sadness at the core of Garrett Bradley’s arresting documentary about Fox Rich, a Louisiana woman who spent decades tirelessly contesting her husband Robert’s 60-year prison sentence for a crime they both committed out of economic desperation. But there’s also a sense of optimism humming beneath it all, particularly in how Rich’s story unfolds on screen: via footage from approximately 100 hours of daily video diaries she made of herself and their children over the years, in the hopes of eventually having the opportunity to show it all to Robert. Bradley and editor Gabriel Rhodes take this treasure of a time capsule and turn out an absorbing masterpiece. — \u003cem>Aisha Harris\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>What We Do In The Shadows, Season 2 \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>(FX and FX on Hulu)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As great as the first season of this modern-day-vampire mockumentary series was, it had trouble stepping out of the long … well, \u003cem>shadow\u003c/em> of the 2014 film on which it was based. That’s not to say there weren’t plenty of creative additions—Mark Proksch’s cardigan-clad “energy vampire” Colin Robinson, for example, the embodiment of all things evil … and beige. But in the second season, a stronger, more linear plot involving the show’s secret weapon (Harvey Guillén as Guillermo, the Staten-Island-based vampires’ long-suffering thrall/assistant who discovers as dark, hilarious truth about himself) leaves the viewer with the impression that the show has clicked into its groove. And speaking of groove: If the show did nothing but grace us with the presence of the marvelous Matt Barry at his bombastic best here playing the preternaturally self-impressed vampire Lazlo, it would be enough. — \u003cem>Glen Weldon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=NPR+Critics+Pick+Their+Favorite+TV+From+A+Strange+2020&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Watch Leonard Nimoy Scare the Crap Out of America Over the Y2K Bug",
"headTitle": "Watch Leonard Nimoy Scare the Crap Out of America Over the Y2K Bug | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Looking forward to this year’s New Year’s Eve? No. Of course you’re not. The only way we’re allowed to celebrate the end of this most heinous year is to stay in, and do what we’ve been doing for the rest of 2020—Netflix and binge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as you spend Dec. 31 hanging out indoors, with bad hair and 10 lbs. of shelter-in-place weight, just know that things could be infinitely worse. How, you ask? Well, for one, you could also have Leonard Nimoy in your face telling you planes are going to start falling out of the sky at midnight. For that is exactly what he was doing 21 years ago when “\u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/congressional-report/105th-congress/house-report/827/1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Year 2000 problem\u003c/a>” (as one Congressional report called it) already had much of America in a panic. [aside postid='arts_13874920']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nimoy’s 1998 instructional video, \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482640/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>The Y2K Family Survival Guide\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, is now a perfect (and hilarious) relic of the time. The hour-long exploration of the impending Y2K disaster is soundtracked by non-stop doom synthesizer, and awash with very confidently-stated conjecture. (The disaster is “inevitable,” according to one pundit here.) Happily, the film is now available on YouTube for your viewing pleasure—which is handy, given that a \u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Y2K-Family-Survival-Guide-VHS/dp/6305300224\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">VHS copy\u003c/a> is currently for sale on Amazon for $98.89. (Frankly, that’s not even overpriced. Nimoy’s over-earnest musings and his guests’ hyperbolic ramblings make it worth every penny.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How fragile do we find ourselves against the juggernaut of our own inventions?” Nimoy queries. “We recall the fate of Atlantis … Have we allowed our own highly advanced technological innovations to far outpace our human abilities to control those innovations?” (\u003cem>The robots are going to kill us and we have only ourselves to blame!\u003c/em>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nimoy, in full Spock mode, then launches into a laundry list of everything that could possibly go wrong if computer systems reach the year 2000 and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/Y2K-bug/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">incorrectly register the year\u003c/a> as 1900. Dramatically interspersed with the sounds of happy crowds counting down to midnight (no, really), Nimoy utters the longest sentence ever committed to videotape. It goes like this:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>In dead of winter, at the stroke of midnight, January 1st, 2000, elevators may stop, heat may vanish, credit cards and ATMs may cease to function, airplanes and trains may come to a halt, telephones and televisions may not utter a sound, water delivery systems may not deliver water for cooking, drinking or bathing, streetlights, stoplights, lights in buildings everywhere may flicker out, hospitals, clinics, pharmacies may be unable to provide proper medical care, banks and stock markets around the world may suffer some form of meltdown, and nuclear power plants may cease to generate the electricity we need for all aspects of our daily lives.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>(“May” being the key word here. He could just as accurately have said “may not.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Nimoy seems perfectly sensible here next to the ramshackle team of featured pundits. Most of them lack credibility, and the film knows so, noting: “There are no Y2K experts because nothing like this has ever occurred before in the history of humankind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Three of these commentators are an absolute dream every time they show up. One guy (who never even gets a formal introduction) is interviewed in front of a wall of large containers labeled ‘Future Food’ and ‘Preparedness Mart.’ He advises: “The people that are going to get a gun and a year’s supply of food and run to the mountains will find a lot of other people with guns in the mountains,\u003cem> in a bad mood\u003c/em>. So it’s best to stay in your community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sure, Bob. That sounds right. [aside postid='arts_13879872']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there’s Ted Knight, a British ex-Special Forces guy who describes himself as “a family safety preparedness consultant.” Initially, Knight makes himself useful, offering tips about food, water, toilets, lights, medication, cash, heirlooms and important paperwork. He advises people to stock up on puzzles (\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13879872/dont-worry-your-new-jigsaw-puzzle-obsession-is-perfectly-normal\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">hello, 2020!\u003c/a>\u003c/em>) and even manages to utter the sentence “Need for flushing water is number two” without snickering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Knight also has a brain that seems prone to malfunctioning. He adopts a deeply authoritative manner before uttering this absolute twaddle:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Y2K is a computer problem but it’s going to face the individual with their own reality. Whatever that reality is, it’s going to face you, face-to-face with a mirror, and in that mirror is going to be you.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Sure, Ted. Whatever you say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My other favorite white guy here (for there are many) is a pastor who seems doggedly determined to leverage Y2K to get more people into his congregation. “If the immediate response is to buy machine guns and camouflage and lock ourselves off from our neighbors,” he says, “well what’s happening is, what’s in the human heart is boiling to the surface. That’s why Christians have got to challenge that whole mentality.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, directly after Ted Knight has been very firm about needing to stock up on enough food and water for six weeks, the pastor pops back up and announces: “There’s no way any one family could lay aside enough food, enough resources to survive this thing on their own.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sure, Pastor Stephen. Everyone needs to go to your church. [aside postid='arts_13884491']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watching the \u003cem>Y2K Family Survival Guide\u003c/em> in 2020, in the middle of a global pandemic, is extraordinary on a number of levels. It’s a trip back to a simpler time when reasons to worry were so thin on the ground that we actively invented them. It’s a reminder that, actually, (most) Americans are much better at keeping calm and carrying on than we were given credit for 21 years ago. And, most of all, it’s proof that 2020 isn’t the scariest New Year’s Eve in recent memory. (The acoustic ballad about “perpetual night” that closes the \u003cem>Y2K Family Survival Guide\u003c/em> really solidifies the overall vibe.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enjoy the surreal magnificence for yourself, in full, below. Then enjoy your New Year’s Eve, safe and indoors (and minus a basement full of guns and dehydrated food).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEhEQEG43RU\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Think New Year's Eve 2020 is lousy? Allow Leonard Nimoy to whisk you to 1999, when the world was about to end.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Looking forward to this year’s New Year’s Eve? No. Of course you’re not. The only way we’re allowed to celebrate the end of this most heinous year is to stay in, and do what we’ve been doing for the rest of 2020—Netflix and binge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as you spend Dec. 31 hanging out indoors, with bad hair and 10 lbs. of shelter-in-place weight, just know that things could be infinitely worse. How, you ask? Well, for one, you could also have Leonard Nimoy in your face telling you planes are going to start falling out of the sky at midnight. For that is exactly what he was doing 21 years ago when “\u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/congressional-report/105th-congress/house-report/827/1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Year 2000 problem\u003c/a>” (as one Congressional report called it) already had much of America in a panic. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nimoy’s 1998 instructional video, \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482640/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>The Y2K Family Survival Guide\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, is now a perfect (and hilarious) relic of the time. The hour-long exploration of the impending Y2K disaster is soundtracked by non-stop doom synthesizer, and awash with very confidently-stated conjecture. (The disaster is “inevitable,” according to one pundit here.) Happily, the film is now available on YouTube for your viewing pleasure—which is handy, given that a \u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Y2K-Family-Survival-Guide-VHS/dp/6305300224\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">VHS copy\u003c/a> is currently for sale on Amazon for $98.89. (Frankly, that’s not even overpriced. Nimoy’s over-earnest musings and his guests’ hyperbolic ramblings make it worth every penny.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How fragile do we find ourselves against the juggernaut of our own inventions?” Nimoy queries. “We recall the fate of Atlantis … Have we allowed our own highly advanced technological innovations to far outpace our human abilities to control those innovations?” (\u003cem>The robots are going to kill us and we have only ourselves to blame!\u003c/em>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nimoy, in full Spock mode, then launches into a laundry list of everything that could possibly go wrong if computer systems reach the year 2000 and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/Y2K-bug/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">incorrectly register the year\u003c/a> as 1900. Dramatically interspersed with the sounds of happy crowds counting down to midnight (no, really), Nimoy utters the longest sentence ever committed to videotape. It goes like this:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>In dead of winter, at the stroke of midnight, January 1st, 2000, elevators may stop, heat may vanish, credit cards and ATMs may cease to function, airplanes and trains may come to a halt, telephones and televisions may not utter a sound, water delivery systems may not deliver water for cooking, drinking or bathing, streetlights, stoplights, lights in buildings everywhere may flicker out, hospitals, clinics, pharmacies may be unable to provide proper medical care, banks and stock markets around the world may suffer some form of meltdown, and nuclear power plants may cease to generate the electricity we need for all aspects of our daily lives.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>(“May” being the key word here. He could just as accurately have said “may not.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Nimoy seems perfectly sensible here next to the ramshackle team of featured pundits. Most of them lack credibility, and the film knows so, noting: “There are no Y2K experts because nothing like this has ever occurred before in the history of humankind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Three of these commentators are an absolute dream every time they show up. One guy (who never even gets a formal introduction) is interviewed in front of a wall of large containers labeled ‘Future Food’ and ‘Preparedness Mart.’ He advises: “The people that are going to get a gun and a year’s supply of food and run to the mountains will find a lot of other people with guns in the mountains,\u003cem> in a bad mood\u003c/em>. So it’s best to stay in your community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sure, Bob. That sounds right. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there’s Ted Knight, a British ex-Special Forces guy who describes himself as “a family safety preparedness consultant.” Initially, Knight makes himself useful, offering tips about food, water, toilets, lights, medication, cash, heirlooms and important paperwork. He advises people to stock up on puzzles (\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13879872/dont-worry-your-new-jigsaw-puzzle-obsession-is-perfectly-normal\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">hello, 2020!\u003c/a>\u003c/em>) and even manages to utter the sentence “Need for flushing water is number two” without snickering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Knight also has a brain that seems prone to malfunctioning. He adopts a deeply authoritative manner before uttering this absolute twaddle:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Y2K is a computer problem but it’s going to face the individual with their own reality. Whatever that reality is, it’s going to face you, face-to-face with a mirror, and in that mirror is going to be you.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Sure, Ted. Whatever you say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My other favorite white guy here (for there are many) is a pastor who seems doggedly determined to leverage Y2K to get more people into his congregation. “If the immediate response is to buy machine guns and camouflage and lock ourselves off from our neighbors,” he says, “well what’s happening is, what’s in the human heart is boiling to the surface. That’s why Christians have got to challenge that whole mentality.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, directly after Ted Knight has been very firm about needing to stock up on enough food and water for six weeks, the pastor pops back up and announces: “There’s no way any one family could lay aside enough food, enough resources to survive this thing on their own.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sure, Pastor Stephen. Everyone needs to go to your church. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watching the \u003cem>Y2K Family Survival Guide\u003c/em> in 2020, in the middle of a global pandemic, is extraordinary on a number of levels. It’s a trip back to a simpler time when reasons to worry were so thin on the ground that we actively invented them. It’s a reminder that, actually, (most) Americans are much better at keeping calm and carrying on than we were given credit for 21 years ago. And, most of all, it’s proof that 2020 isn’t the scariest New Year’s Eve in recent memory. (The acoustic ballad about “perpetual night” that closes the \u003cem>Y2K Family Survival Guide\u003c/em> really solidifies the overall vibe.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enjoy the surreal magnificence for yourself, in full, below. Then enjoy your New Year’s Eve, safe and indoors (and minus a basement full of guns and dehydrated food).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>If you have the sense you’re seeing fewer women on TV than you encounter in everyday life, a new study by the Nielsen company may offer an explanation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study is titled \u003ca href=\"https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/about-us/diversity-and-inclusion/inclusion-analytics/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">“Being Seen On Screen: Diverse Representation and Inclusion on TV.”\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers at Nielsen, the company which also provides TV viewership ratings, looked at the top 100 TV shows each in broadcast, cable and streaming, excluding sports, movies and animated shows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an analysis of diversity and inclusion among those 300 programs in 2019, Nielsen found women, Native Americans and Latinx people were among the most underrepresented groups relative to their numbers in the general population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, women make up 52 percent of the U.S. population, but they show up onscreen 37.9 percent of the time, according to Nielsen’s study. It uses a metric called “share of screen”—the percentage of time members of specific groups appear as recurring cast members—to measure how often TV viewers actually see these types of people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The numbers get worse for women over age 50. This group is 20 percent of the population, but only gets 8 percent of screen time. Men over age 50, who are 17 percent of the population, get a 14 percent share of screen time—closer to their actual numbers in real life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Latinos and non-white Hispanics were among the most underrepresented non-white racial groups—a trend also noted in other studies about \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/08/06/338324139/why-arent-top-films-diverse-as-the-real-world-they-miss-hispanics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">diversity in Hollywood.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nielsen found this disparity was consistent across broadcast, cable and streaming services, drawing a total 5.5 percent of screen time, though they are 18.8 percent of the population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Native Americans’ share of screen time was less than one quarter of their presence in the population, totaling just .4 percent across broadcast, cable and streaming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Black people—whose depictions in media became a focus of concern amid the worldwide reckoning over civil rights this summer—were actually slightly overrepresented with 18.1 percent of screen time, while comprising 14 percent of the population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nielsen found a TV landscape where representation has risen for some groups, as the number of media platforms continually increase and viewers look for content that tells their stories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But overall, many groups who are marginalized in the real world remain underrepresented in media depictions—especially on cable TV, where white characters got 88 percent of screen time, despite comprising 60 percent of the population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study doesn’t offer many clues as to why the diversity issues play out the way they do. Nielsen, which sells its ratings services to media companies, didn’t name specific shows or media platforms which may be among the worst offenders or best performers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But company officials said the study does indicate areas where inclusion and diversity work should be focused, as the audience demands media depictions which better reflect the world they live in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The content we consume should reflect the growing diversity of our country, and we know that diverse audiences look for diverse content,” wrote David Kenney, Nielsen CEO and Chief Diversity Officer, in the study’s foreword. “As our nation’s demographic become more diverse, the call for more authentic content, reflecting real people and real life, is louder than ever.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=More+Evidence+TV+Doesn%27t+Reflect+Real+Life+Diversity&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The numbers get worse for women over age 50. This group is 20 percent of the population, but only gets 8 percent of screen time. Men over age 50, who are 17 percent of the population, get a 14 percent share of screen time—closer to their actual numbers in real life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Latinos and non-white Hispanics were among the most underrepresented non-white racial groups—a trend also noted in other studies about \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/08/06/338324139/why-arent-top-films-diverse-as-the-real-world-they-miss-hispanics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">diversity in Hollywood.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nielsen found this disparity was consistent across broadcast, cable and streaming services, drawing a total 5.5 percent of screen time, though they are 18.8 percent of the population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Native Americans’ share of screen time was less than one quarter of their presence in the population, totaling just .4 percent across broadcast, cable and streaming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Black people—whose depictions in media became a focus of concern amid the worldwide reckoning over civil rights this summer—were actually slightly overrepresented with 18.1 percent of screen time, while comprising 14 percent of the population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nielsen found a TV landscape where representation has risen for some groups, as the number of media platforms continually increase and viewers look for content that tells their stories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But overall, many groups who are marginalized in the real world remain underrepresented in media depictions—especially on cable TV, where white characters got 88 percent of screen time, despite comprising 60 percent of the population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study doesn’t offer many clues as to why the diversity issues play out the way they do. Nielsen, which sells its ratings services to media companies, didn’t name specific shows or media platforms which may be among the worst offenders or best performers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But company officials said the study does indicate areas where inclusion and diversity work should be focused, as the audience demands media depictions which better reflect the world they live in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The content we consume should reflect the growing diversity of our country, and we know that diverse audiences look for diverse content,” wrote David Kenney, Nielsen CEO and Chief Diversity Officer, in the study’s foreword. “As our nation’s demographic become more diverse, the call for more authentic content, reflecting real people and real life, is louder than ever.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=More+Evidence+TV+Doesn%27t+Reflect+Real+Life+Diversity&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Spoilers ahead for Season 1 of \u003c/em>Industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An exceptionally bleak finance drama is not necessarily what many of us, myself included, may be itching to consume in 2020, the Year of Bleak. HBO’s \u003cem>Industry\u003c/em> follows a group of young grads competing to prove they are the “right fit” for permanent positions at the fictional London bank Pierpoint & Co., and in the premiere episode one of those grads literally works himself to death, succumbing in an office bathroom stall after staying up for days and taking a lot of drugs to complete a project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His demise looms over the entire eight-episode season, now streaming on HBO Max, and the writers are not at all subtle in conveying the significant moral (and mental health) compromises each character makes. 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This creates an inherent chip on her shoulder, a personal arc she must contend with while fighting through this high-stakes program, not unlike, say, the brilliant, real-life Black women depicted in the 2016 biopic \u003cem>Hidden Figures\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The thing about \u003cem>Industry\u003c/em>, though, is that it dares to call into question whether or not this protagonist (or anti-hero?) is actually underestimated unjustifiably. What if she’s not really \u003cem>as good \u003c/em>as the others, much less twice as good? Harper’s default mode is guarded and wary, and from the very first episode, it’s clear she has at least one glaring skeleton in her closet—she didn’t exactly graduate from that “s*** uni”—for personal reasons only partially explained in a later episode—and so she summons an ex to create a fake transcript for Pierpoint & Co. She can be timid and hesitant, stammering and shaking when dealing with shrewd, high-powered clients (and potential clients), giving off the impression she has no idea what she’s doing. Her uber bro-y boss and mentor Eric (Ken Leung), who also happens to be an American, chastises her for being too “quiet and nice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She takes this criticism to heart. Harper can also be dangerously impulsive, flouting workplace etiquette and going behind managers’ backs with risky moves which threaten the bank’s longstanding accounts. She spends the fourth episode a jittery mess, attempting to cover up an error that could put Pierpoint & Co. at a significant loss. (As someone whose eyes glaze over at the mere mention of dividends and short-selling, I won’t even pretend to understand the details of how this happens, but the extreme close-ups on Harper’s frightened face and the desperation in her voice effectively translate the DRAMA.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a rookie move, but it’s what Harper does next that transports her from the realm of relatively innocent precocious go-getter to a baby \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/opinion/viola-davis-how-to-get-away-with-murder.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Annalise Keating\u003c/a>—messy, conniving, and brutal in her quest for survival. Trying to buy time to fix it before Eric finds out, she bribes the older, white lower-level employee who discovered her mistake with an offer to help him move to the front office, in exchange for his keeping quiet for just a few hours more. “You’re offering \u003cem>me\u003c/em> a job?” he scoffs, insulted by her hubris. “Do you even know how long I’ve worked here?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As he begins to walk away, she blurts out, “Just f****** help me!” And then, she switches gears and gets vulnerable, begging him to save a young person who is only four months into her career. He reluctantly agrees to hold off on informing Eric.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a brilliantly staged power play on the part of the script, one of many scenes in which Harper oscillates between seemingly internalizing her imposter syndrome and showing off the calculated confidence of \u003cem>Succession\u003c/em>‘s Shiv Roy. She possesses a keen ability to exhaust every possible tactic in order to keep her head above water. She knows how to subvert and manipulate others’ expectations of her, even if the execution is haphazard and erratic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbM84z4XYgc\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such faux pas and dastardly tactics would in all likelihood be career suicide for a real Black woman at her level within the corporate space; as Harper tells a white colleague in her program, “I’m not allowed to make any mistakes, people like \u003cem>you \u003c/em>are allowed to make mistakes.” Yet curiously, she stays afloat, scolded by whichever boss or mentor uncovers her latest rash act of deception, and then sent on her way to woo the next client. The things she’s able to get away with might require some suspension of disbelief, but this is an office drama set firmly in the present, where the managers and executives tacitly acknowledge the media’s reporting in recent years on hostile work environments for women, people of color and queer people. They are, for the most part, fully aware of optics and afraid of negative press, and this certainly plays a part in their repeatedly giving Harper the benefit of the doubt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This tension lives fascinatingly at the center of Harper’s narrative. With every higher-up she encounters, she asks some version of the same question: “Do you think I deserve to be here?” The responses are telling—in most cases, they evade the question; once, the editing does the evading for them, letting it linger ominously by ending the scene soon after it’s asked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But both the question and non-answers are moot points. “Deserve” is a loaded term, one that’s too easily leveraged against people who look like Harper, to imply that the only reason they’ve made it into these lily-white spaces is because of a hand-out as a diversity hire. It ignores the fact that every other person in Harper’s program got there for a reason other than just talent or hard work; they have connections, they went to top schools, they come from wealth, or some combination of all three.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To have a Black woman find her own way there by pluck and deceit, and not necessarily by being the “best” or the “brightest” is a bold move, and challenges the viewer’s allegiance to her. She’s a risk-taker and unrelenting salesperson, the kind of individual who corners clients in the bathroom or in the audience during their niece’s school play in order to show initiative. It’s the kind of behavior usually celebrated and admired in the Old Boys Club corners of business, and the same mindset Eric ascribes to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in 2020, in a post-#MeToo and so-called racial reckoning era, corporations have to at least seem like they care about changing the culture. Daria (Freya Mavor), the vice president of consumer portfolio sales, just might actually be the real deal on this front, and attempts to take Harper under her wing so as to convince her she can succeed without being underhanded and resorting to “text-book narcissism.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s easy to imagine a script where Harper chooses to align herself with Daria and learns to rise in the ranks via more ethical and equitable manners than Eric’s tactics. But Daria’s motivations aren’t so clear-cut, either, and some of her actions done under the pretense of “protecting” Harper seem more self-serving than genuine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harper can sense this and resists Daria’s tutelage, even as Eric makes her uncomfortable with his abusive language and disturbing outbursts. He gets her in a way Daria never can: together they are two American minority outsiders at a London bank, who both “come from nothing” and have beaten the odds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In episode four, Eric is unfazed upon learning about Harper’s fake transcript. Merely by being at Pierpoint, he boasts, outsiders like them “intimidate people.” “Hunger is not a birthright,” he adds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Is Harper good at what she does? Well, she’s definitely hungry. And selfish, cagey, enigmatic, precocious, insecure, rash, inexperienced, astute, analytical, strong-willed. She’s a Black female TV character who’s not easy to love or easy to categorize, yet is compelling because each of her actions are at least understandable, if destructive. Annalise Keating would be proud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=HBO%27s+%27Industry%27+Features+The+Most+Fascinating+Character+On+TV+Right+Now&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Spoilers ahead for Season 1 of \u003c/em>Industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An exceptionally bleak finance drama is not necessarily what many of us, myself included, may be itching to consume in 2020, the Year of Bleak. HBO’s \u003cem>Industry\u003c/em> follows a group of young grads competing to prove they are the “right fit” for permanent positions at the fictional London bank Pierpoint & Co., and in the premiere episode one of those grads literally works himself to death, succumbing in an office bathroom stall after staying up for days and taking a lot of drugs to complete a project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His demise looms over the entire eight-episode season, now streaming on HBO Max, and the writers are not at all subtle in conveying the significant moral (and mental health) compromises each character makes. In between all of the befriending, flirting, hooking up, snorting coke, backstabbing and sucking up to bosses, this sprawling bunch of hot overachievers wrestles frequently with the selling of their souls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But what ultimately makes creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay’s series so arresting is one bought soul in particular: Harper (Myha’la Herrold), a young woman who is every bit an outsider amongst her peers—a Black American who went to a “s*** uni[versity],” as one grad puts it. Harper is the embodiment of the old adage handed down to generations of Black youth everywhere, “You must be twice as good as any white person in order to succeed,” and she knows it. This creates an inherent chip on her shoulder, a personal arc she must contend with while fighting through this high-stakes program, not unlike, say, the brilliant, real-life Black women depicted in the 2016 biopic \u003cem>Hidden Figures\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The thing about \u003cem>Industry\u003c/em>, though, is that it dares to call into question whether or not this protagonist (or anti-hero?) is actually underestimated unjustifiably. What if she’s not really \u003cem>as good \u003c/em>as the others, much less twice as good? Harper’s default mode is guarded and wary, and from the very first episode, it’s clear she has at least one glaring skeleton in her closet—she didn’t exactly graduate from that “s*** uni”—for personal reasons only partially explained in a later episode—and so she summons an ex to create a fake transcript for Pierpoint & Co. She can be timid and hesitant, stammering and shaking when dealing with shrewd, high-powered clients (and potential clients), giving off the impression she has no idea what she’s doing. Her uber bro-y boss and mentor Eric (Ken Leung), who also happens to be an American, chastises her for being too “quiet and nice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She takes this criticism to heart. Harper can also be dangerously impulsive, flouting workplace etiquette and going behind managers’ backs with risky moves which threaten the bank’s longstanding accounts. She spends the fourth episode a jittery mess, attempting to cover up an error that could put Pierpoint & Co. at a significant loss. (As someone whose eyes glaze over at the mere mention of dividends and short-selling, I won’t even pretend to understand the details of how this happens, but the extreme close-ups on Harper’s frightened face and the desperation in her voice effectively translate the DRAMA.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a rookie move, but it’s what Harper does next that transports her from the realm of relatively innocent precocious go-getter to a baby \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/opinion/viola-davis-how-to-get-away-with-murder.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Annalise Keating\u003c/a>—messy, conniving, and brutal in her quest for survival. Trying to buy time to fix it before Eric finds out, she bribes the older, white lower-level employee who discovered her mistake with an offer to help him move to the front office, in exchange for his keeping quiet for just a few hours more. “You’re offering \u003cem>me\u003c/em> a job?” he scoffs, insulted by her hubris. “Do you even know how long I’ve worked here?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As he begins to walk away, she blurts out, “Just f****** help me!” And then, she switches gears and gets vulnerable, begging him to save a young person who is only four months into her career. He reluctantly agrees to hold off on informing Eric.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a brilliantly staged power play on the part of the script, one of many scenes in which Harper oscillates between seemingly internalizing her imposter syndrome and showing off the calculated confidence of \u003cem>Succession\u003c/em>‘s Shiv Roy. She possesses a keen ability to exhaust every possible tactic in order to keep her head above water. She knows how to subvert and manipulate others’ expectations of her, even if the execution is haphazard and erratic.\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/PbM84z4XYgc'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/PbM84z4XYgc'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Such faux pas and dastardly tactics would in all likelihood be career suicide for a real Black woman at her level within the corporate space; as Harper tells a white colleague in her program, “I’m not allowed to make any mistakes, people like \u003cem>you \u003c/em>are allowed to make mistakes.” Yet curiously, she stays afloat, scolded by whichever boss or mentor uncovers her latest rash act of deception, and then sent on her way to woo the next client. The things she’s able to get away with might require some suspension of disbelief, but this is an office drama set firmly in the present, where the managers and executives tacitly acknowledge the media’s reporting in recent years on hostile work environments for women, people of color and queer people. They are, for the most part, fully aware of optics and afraid of negative press, and this certainly plays a part in their repeatedly giving Harper the benefit of the doubt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This tension lives fascinatingly at the center of Harper’s narrative. With every higher-up she encounters, she asks some version of the same question: “Do you think I deserve to be here?” The responses are telling—in most cases, they evade the question; once, the editing does the evading for them, letting it linger ominously by ending the scene soon after it’s asked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But both the question and non-answers are moot points. “Deserve” is a loaded term, one that’s too easily leveraged against people who look like Harper, to imply that the only reason they’ve made it into these lily-white spaces is because of a hand-out as a diversity hire. It ignores the fact that every other person in Harper’s program got there for a reason other than just talent or hard work; they have connections, they went to top schools, they come from wealth, or some combination of all three.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To have a Black woman find her own way there by pluck and deceit, and not necessarily by being the “best” or the “brightest” is a bold move, and challenges the viewer’s allegiance to her. She’s a risk-taker and unrelenting salesperson, the kind of individual who corners clients in the bathroom or in the audience during their niece’s school play in order to show initiative. It’s the kind of behavior usually celebrated and admired in the Old Boys Club corners of business, and the same mindset Eric ascribes to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in 2020, in a post-#MeToo and so-called racial reckoning era, corporations have to at least seem like they care about changing the culture. Daria (Freya Mavor), the vice president of consumer portfolio sales, just might actually be the real deal on this front, and attempts to take Harper under her wing so as to convince her she can succeed without being underhanded and resorting to “text-book narcissism.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s easy to imagine a script where Harper chooses to align herself with Daria and learns to rise in the ranks via more ethical and equitable manners than Eric’s tactics. But Daria’s motivations aren’t so clear-cut, either, and some of her actions done under the pretense of “protecting” Harper seem more self-serving than genuine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harper can sense this and resists Daria’s tutelage, even as Eric makes her uncomfortable with his abusive language and disturbing outbursts. He gets her in a way Daria never can: together they are two American minority outsiders at a London bank, who both “come from nothing” and have beaten the odds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In episode four, Eric is unfazed upon learning about Harper’s fake transcript. Merely by being at Pierpoint, he boasts, outsiders like them “intimidate people.” “Hunger is not a birthright,” he adds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Is Harper good at what she does? Well, she’s definitely hungry. And selfish, cagey, enigmatic, precocious, insecure, rash, inexperienced, astute, analytical, strong-willed. She’s a Black female TV character who’s not easy to love or easy to categorize, yet is compelling because each of her actions are at least understandable, if destructive. Annalise Keating would be proud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=HBO%27s+%27Industry%27+Features+The+Most+Fascinating+Character+On+TV+Right+Now&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Ken Jennings: Who is 1st 'Jeopardy!' Guest Host?",
"headTitle": "Ken Jennings: Who is 1st ‘Jeopardy!’ Guest Host? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Former\u003cem> Jeopardy!\u003c/em> champion, author and know-it-all kind of guy, Ken Jennings, will be the first guest host of the long-running trivia game show, officials said Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Jeopardy/status/1330996342865293313\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">announcement\u003c/a>, two weeks after much-loved host Alex Trebek died of pancreatic cancer on Nov. 8, explained that “a series of interim guest hosts from the Jeopardy! family” will take over the show, which Trebek hosted from 1984 until earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will resume production on 11/30,” the show’s official Twitter account said, noting that additional guest hosts will be announced at a later time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/Jeopardy/status/1330996342865293313\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jennings responded to the tweet with one of his own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There will only ever be one Alex Trebek, but I’m honored to be helping Jeopardy! out with this in January,” he \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/KenJennings/status/1331003293674323970\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wrote\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jennings made show history after winning 74 straight games in 2004 and into 2005. The record-breaking streak earned him $\u003ca href=\"https://6abc.com/alex-trebek-jeopardt-jeopardy-tournament-james-holzhauer-back-on/5705003/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">3,370,700\u003c/a>. (Brad Rutter is the highest money winner of all time across any television game show, with total \u003cem>Jeopardy! \u003c/em>winnings of $4,688,436, according to \u003ca href=\"https://6abc.com/alex-trebek-jeopardt-jeopardy-tournament-james-holzhauer-back-on/5705003/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ABC News\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Years later, Jennings \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/01/13/132902908/are-you-smarter-than-a-computer-the-size-of-10-refrigerators\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">took on Watson\u003c/a>, an IBM supercomputer the size of 10 refrigerators. In the televised version of man versus machine, machine won.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Alex believed in the importance of \u003cem>Jeopardy!\u003c/em> and always said that he wanted the show to go on after him. We will honor his legacy by continuing to produce the show he loved,” executive producer Mike Richards said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trebek’s more than three decades at the helm of the program earned him a spot in the \u003cem>Guinness Book of World Records\u003c/em> for most game show episodes hosted by the same presenter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A permanent replacement host for Trebek has yet to be named.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=Ken+Jennings%3A+Who+Is+1st+%27Jeopardy%21%27+Guest+Host%3F&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Former\u003cem> Jeopardy!\u003c/em> champion, author and know-it-all kind of guy, Ken Jennings, will be the first guest host of the long-running trivia game show, officials said Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Jeopardy/status/1330996342865293313\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">announcement\u003c/a>, two weeks after much-loved host Alex Trebek died of pancreatic cancer on Nov. 8, explained that “a series of interim guest hosts from the Jeopardy! family” will take over the show, which Trebek hosted from 1984 until earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will resume production on 11/30,” the show’s official Twitter account said, noting that additional guest hosts will be announced at a later time.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Jennings responded to the tweet with one of his own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There will only ever be one Alex Trebek, but I’m honored to be helping Jeopardy! out with this in January,” he \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/KenJennings/status/1331003293674323970\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wrote\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jennings made show history after winning 74 straight games in 2004 and into 2005. The record-breaking streak earned him $\u003ca href=\"https://6abc.com/alex-trebek-jeopardt-jeopardy-tournament-james-holzhauer-back-on/5705003/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">3,370,700\u003c/a>. (Brad Rutter is the highest money winner of all time across any television game show, with total \u003cem>Jeopardy! \u003c/em>winnings of $4,688,436, according to \u003ca href=\"https://6abc.com/alex-trebek-jeopardt-jeopardy-tournament-james-holzhauer-back-on/5705003/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ABC News\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Years later, Jennings \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/01/13/132902908/are-you-smarter-than-a-computer-the-size-of-10-refrigerators\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">took on Watson\u003c/a>, an IBM supercomputer the size of 10 refrigerators. In the televised version of man versus machine, machine won.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Alex believed in the importance of \u003cem>Jeopardy!\u003c/em> and always said that he wanted the show to go on after him. We will honor his legacy by continuing to produce the show he loved,” executive producer Mike Richards said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trebek’s more than three decades at the helm of the program earned him a spot in the \u003cem>Guinness Book of World Records\u003c/em> for most game show episodes hosted by the same presenter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A permanent replacement host for Trebek has yet to be named.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=Ken+Jennings%3A+Who+Is+1st+%27Jeopardy%21%27+Guest+Host%3F&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "‘Dolly Parton’s Christmas On the Square’: A Minute-By-Minute Analysis",
"headTitle": "‘Dolly Parton’s Christmas On the Square’: A Minute-By-Minute Analysis | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Not content with co-funding a vaccine in the middle of a pandemic—no, really, that’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/11/21/fact-check-dolly-parton-donated-modernas-covid-19-vaccine-studies/6373339002/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a thing\u003c/a> she just did—Dolly Parton just finally put out a seasonal television event that she appears in for longer than five minutes. (It’s a Christmas miracle!)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Naturally, I felt compelled to watch \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.netflix.com/title/81128934\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Christmas on the Square\u003c/a>\u003c/em> and report back, minute-by-schmaltzy-minute, for all those (like me) who love Dolly Parton but passionately hate musicals. Now at least you’ll know exactly what you’re dealing with. (And yes, that means spoilers…)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:01:\u003c/strong> The movie opens with our hero, Dolly Parton, dressed like she’s down on her luck and asking for “Change” in the town square. She remains nonchalant despite being under attack from what looks like a rogue team of fireflies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-13889590\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Dolly-homeless-800x447.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"447\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Dolly-homeless-800x447.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Dolly-homeless-1020x570.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Dolly-homeless-160x89.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Dolly-homeless-768x429.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Dolly-homeless.png 1234w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:02:\u003c/strong> The opening musical number is like an over-zealous Old Navy commercial—full of colorful sweaters, a spectrum of ages, and what can only be described as multicultural scissor kicking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13889596\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889596\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Old-Navy-1-800x447.png\" alt=\"Here, the Old Navy Dancers stop and openly gawk at a passing woman, like it's the 1950s and casual street objectification is still in style.\" width=\"800\" height=\"447\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Old-Navy-1-800x447.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Old-Navy-1-1020x570.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Old-Navy-1-160x89.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Old-Navy-1-768x429.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Old-Navy-1.png 1101w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Here, the Old Navy Dancers stop and openly gawk at a passing woman, like it’s the 1950s and casual street objectification is still in style.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:03:\u003c/strong> One man just sang to his daughter about thermal underwear and I have questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:04:\u003c/strong> A silver fox with ‘Martin Sheen in \u003cem>Grace and Frankie\u003c/em>’ energy just showed up. Someone at Netflix is pushing this particular old man aesthetic \u003cem>hard\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13889598\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889598\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/mses-800x743.jpg\" alt=\"(L) Real Martin Sheen, in 'Grace and Frankie'; (R) Fake Martin Sheen in 'Christmas on the Square.'\" width=\"800\" height=\"743\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/mses-800x743.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/mses-1020x947.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/mses-160x149.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/mses-768x713.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/mses-1536x1426.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/mses-2048x1901.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/mses-1920x1782.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L) Real Martin Sheen, in ‘Grace and Frankie’; (R) Fake Martin Sheen in ‘Christmas on the Square.’\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:05:\u003c/strong> “To the best Christmas gift we’ve ever given each other,” toasts a man named Pastor Christian who’s giving off distinctly gay vibes. Is the gift Dior? Tiffany? Cartier? Nope! “Getting fertility treatments is better than anything that comes with paper!” grins his wife. Did \u003cem>not\u003c/em> see that coming. On account of the gayness, you see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13889597\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889597\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/grimace-800x399.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"399\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/grimace-800x399.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/grimace-1020x508.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/grimace-160x80.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/grimace-768x383.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/grimace.png 1076w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Is this, or is this not, the face of a gay man trying to pretend to be in love with a woman?\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:06:\u003c/strong> Town villain Regina (Christine Baranski) just rhymed “pastor” with “disaster” and I didn’t hate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:06:\u003c/strong> Regina is selling the town to a conglomerate named (say it out loud so I know you get it) “Cheetah Mall.” (Oh dear God.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:07:\u003c/strong> Jenifer Lewis just showed up as local hairdresser, Margeline, and for the first time I have hope that I might get through this movie, sanity intact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13889602\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889602\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Hair-1-800x443.png\" alt=\"Jenifer Lewis singing in her salon.\" width=\"800\" height=\"443\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Hair-1-800x443.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Hair-1-1020x564.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Hair-1-160x89.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Hair-1-768x425.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Hair-1-672x372.png 672w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Hair-1-1038x576.png 1038w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Hair-1.png 1095w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sing it, Jen.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:07:\u003c/strong> “The higher the hair, the closer to the North Pole!” yells one of Margeline’s dancing boy-stylists. Dolly Parton definitely produced this musical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:09:\u003c/strong> Normal banking business is occurring while three randos casually tap dance in front of the tellers. (You don’t get \u003cem>this\u003c/em> at the Civic Center Chase branch…)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889601 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/tapping-800x441.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"441\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/tapping-800x441.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/tapping-1020x563.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/tapping-160x88.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/tapping-768x424.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/tapping.png 1104w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:10:\u003c/strong> Everyone demonstrates that they’ve been served eviction papers by \u003cem>walking with purpose\u003c/em> and also \u003cem>singing while frowning\u003c/em>. In all fairness to Regina, it would be exhausting to live in the same town as any of these people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:12:\u003c/strong> Gay Pastor and his wife are singing a love song (to each other, surprisingly) in the square. Even while holding hands, singing “I love you,” and wrinkling their noses at each other, they have all the sexual chemistry of a tortoise trying to hump a rock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-13889603\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.33.19-PM-800x410.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"410\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.33.19-PM-800x410.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.33.19-PM-160x82.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.33.19-PM-768x394.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.33.19-PM.png 1016w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:21:\u003c/strong> Margeline gives Regina bad hair in a fit of revenge for what she’s doing to the town. Dolly Parton definitely produced this musical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:22:\u003c/strong> Turns out that Fake Martin Sheen is Regina’s childhood sweetheart, Carl. Regina tells him to “just sign the deal,” and he replies, “Why didn’t you return my calls?” Probably because of your inability to stay on topic, Carl?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:23:\u003c/strong> Okay, so this is also totally off-topic, but there’s a guy who keeps showing up in the background that I like to call The Extra Extra. He chews the scenery like he hasn’t eaten for months and \u003cem>Christmas on the Square\u003c/em> is an all-you-can-eat buffet. Here’s what he looks like literally all of the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13889614\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889614\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Extra-Extra-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Extra-Extra-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Extra-Extra-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Extra-Extra-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Extra-Extra-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Extra-Extra-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Extra-Extra-2048x2048.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Extra-Extra-1920x1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A collection of the Extra Extra’s finest moments.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:24:\u003c/strong> Regina says Fake Martin Sheen’s shop “isn’t even a general store anymore,” but rather a place filled with “broken dolls and broken dreams.” This prompts Fake Martin Sheen to start singing about random items in his store. It’s hard to focus on what he’s saying though because his hair looks \u003cem>amazing\u003c/em>. Dolly Parton definitely produced this musical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889604 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.37.35-PM-800x500.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.37.35-PM-800x500.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.37.35-PM-160x100.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.37.35-PM-768x480.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.37.35-PM.png 810w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:29:\u003c/strong> Panhandler Dolly Parton tells Regina, “I’m gonna get change out of you, one way or the other!” If you’ve ever wanted to see a human woman flog to death the double meaning of the word ‘change,’ \u003cem>Christmas on the Square\u003c/em> is definitely the movie for you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:31:\u003c/strong> Regina can’t get her lights to turn on at home. Naturally, this prompts shimmering, dressed-in-all-white Dolly Parton to magically appear in her living room \u003cem>sitting on a cloud\u003c/em> and singing. Because—surprise!—she’s not really a panhandler, she’s an angel. (Way to steal the entire plot line of \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0654961/?ref_=ttep_ep15\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Episode 15 of \u003cem>My So-Called Life\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, guys.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889605 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/88531c6727732489fcab88437e422bd6e5-christmas-on-the-square-08.2x.rhorizontal.w700-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/88531c6727732489fcab88437e422bd6e5-christmas-on-the-square-08.2x.rhorizontal.w700-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/88531c6727732489fcab88437e422bd6e5-christmas-on-the-square-08.2x.rhorizontal.w700-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/88531c6727732489fcab88437e422bd6e5-christmas-on-the-square-08.2x.rhorizontal.w700-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/88531c6727732489fcab88437e422bd6e5-christmas-on-the-square-08.2x.rhorizontal.w700-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/88531c6727732489fcab88437e422bd6e5-christmas-on-the-square-08.2x.rhorizontal.w700.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[Also: Dear PG&E, if you could just figure out how to create floating cloud Dolly Parton holograms and stick them in the homes of everyone dealing with a mandatory power outage, Californians would hate you much less. Just a thought.]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:33:\u003c/strong> Dolly is singing a moving ballad about lighting lamps. She does this while circling the room on her cloud. It is as brilliant and unintentionally hilarious as it sounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:37:\u003c/strong> During a church meeting, the entire town fantasizes about torturing and killing Regina. Lyrics include: “Maybe we’ll trip her / Maybe we’ll strip her (Oh Lord, don’t do that!) / Maybe we’ll just throw her on the griddle!” Yes, yes. Let’s get our church group together and cook this woman alive shall we?!\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13889606\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889606\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Church-murder-800x462.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"462\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Church-murder-800x462.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Church-murder-160x92.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Church-murder-768x444.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Church-murder.png 962w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">These people are plotting the death of a human being. Including that l’il Fred Savage/Ralph Macchio hybrid in the middle there.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:43:\u003c/strong> Random townspeople keep getting up in church and sing-speaking their thoughts. It turns out that when this guy in the middle (↓) isn’t singing about thermal underwear and premeditated murder, he foin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-13889607\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.53.50-PM-800x451.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"451\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.53.50-PM-800x451.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.53.50-PM-1020x574.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.53.50-PM-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.53.50-PM-768x433.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.53.50-PM.png 1053w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:46:\u003c/strong> Everything happening in this church suddenly reminds me of the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AjkUyX0rVw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">We Are The World\u003c/a>” video from 1985. Partially because everyone on screen just started holding hands and swaying awkwardly. And partially because I now know how Bob Dylan was feeling when he was caught on camera doing this:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJymBJ_5iUg\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:48:\u003c/strong> Regina pays a visit to the local tavern, the Jolly Lamplighter. Eight-year-old daughter of Sexy Singing Guy offers Regina a whiskey. Regina says, “Aren’t you a little young to be a bartender?” The child replies, “I’m an old soul.” Seems legit. Nothing to see here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13889619 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-6.55.20-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"792\" height=\"458\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-6.55.20-PM.png 792w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-6.55.20-PM-160x93.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-6.55.20-PM-768x444.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 792px) 100vw, 792px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:50:\u003c/strong> Kid Bartender has a minor existential crisis in song form over her dead mom, before breaking the news to Regina that Regina’s cruelty is, in a roundabout way, responsible for her mom’s death. Regina goes home and has a flashback about her own dad. There are lamps involved. It is hard to care about any of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:56:\u003c/strong> I’ve just noticed that Regina’s personal assistant is played by \u003cem>So You Think You Can Dance\u003c/em> Season 5 winner, Jeanine Mason. We come to find out that Jeanine’s character is also an angel in training. Which conveniently makes space for a gratuitous ballet practice scene in which Angel (did I mention Dolly Parton’s character is literally named Angel?) makes her dance. The ballet is, like, totally a metaphor, you guys, and not at all just an excuse to give Jeanine a dance solo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889609 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.07.19-PM-800x442.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"442\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.07.19-PM-800x442.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.07.19-PM-1020x564.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.07.19-PM-160x88.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.07.19-PM-768x425.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.07.19-PM-672x372.png 672w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.07.19-PM.png 1103w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1:04:\u003c/strong> Time for a fairly insufferable 1970s high school dance flashback where Young Regina dances with a dude wearing the worst shirt in history and somehow gets pregnant from doing so. Regina’s dad, fearful of the judgment of the townspeople, forces her to give up the baby. That’s why, all these years later, Regina is dead inside and mad at the whole town. This guy’s shirt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13889610\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889610\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.18.02-PM-800x538.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"538\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.18.02-PM-800x538.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.18.02-PM-160x108.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.18.02-PM-768x517.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.18.02-PM.png 847w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">I just asked my mother and she told me that at no point, even during the 1970s, was this shirt acceptable.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1:08:\u003c/strong> Kid Bartender has been in an accident so half the town goes and stands in the hospital parking lot looking sad. Regina finds herself inspired to pray and offers to give up her life in exchange for Kid Bartender’s. (Holy crap, that must have been a good drink.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1:14:\u003c/strong> Regina goes to see Fake Martin Sheen and asks for a lantern that belonged to her father that he’s been hoarding. He’s like, “Sure, whatever, one less thing to pack, ya bish.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1:18:\u003c/strong> Dolly Parton sings a heartfelt ballad about how magic (and psychic!) angels are, and runs around doing good deeds. She wakes Kid Bartender up in the hospital! And then she impregnates Gay Pastor’s wife! (Which is handy since he probably wasn’t up to the task of DIYing that whole sitch.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13889611\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889611\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.35.58-PM-800x468.png\" alt=\"In Dolly Parton Christmas movies, you can get pregnant when she looks at you through a window.\" width=\"800\" height=\"468\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.35.58-PM-800x468.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.35.58-PM-160x94.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.35.58-PM-768x449.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.35.58-PM.png 994w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This is how you get pregnant in Dolly Parton Christmas movies.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1:22:\u003c/strong> Regina finds a bible hidden in her dad’s lantern and it tells her that the child he forced her to give up for adoption is, in fact, Gay Pastor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1:27:\u003c/strong> Regina breaks the news to Gay Pastor that he is her son. She says: “It’s written in a bible so it must be true.” What super-fun logic to still be carrying around in 2020!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1:30:\u003c/strong> Gay Pastor breaks the news about his long-lost mom to the church congregation. As he leads Regina up the aisle, Dolly Parton sprouts wings and sings high above the altar. This movie is completely out of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13889612\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 787px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13889612\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.39.03-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"787\" height=\"437\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.39.03-PM.png 787w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.39.03-PM-160x89.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.39.03-PM-768x426.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.39.03-PM-672x372.png 672w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 787px) 100vw, 787px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">K.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1:34:\u003c/strong> Regina announces that she’s not selling the town after all and she promises to keep everyone’s rents low. This prompts the Old Navy dancers to strike up the scissor kicks once again and backflip their way back to the square.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1:36:\u003c/strong> Jeanine from \u003cem>So You Think You Can Dance\u003c/em> becomes an angel and hangs out with Dolly at the top of a clock tower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13889613 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.47.44-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"626\" height=\"502\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.47.44-PM.png 626w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.47.44-PM-160x128.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 626px) 100vw, 626px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The End.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square’ is streaming right now on \u003ca href=\"https://www.netflix.com/title/81128934\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Netflix\u003c/a>. Those of you who like Jesus and/or weed will like it better than the rest of us.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Angel Dolly! An 8-year-old bartender! An entire church of aspiring murderers! 'Christmas on the Square' is completely bananas. ",
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"description": "Angel Dolly! An 8-year-old bartender! An entire church of aspiring murderers! 'Christmas on the Square' is completely bananas. ",
"title": "‘Dolly Parton’s Christmas On the Square’: A Minute-By-Minute Analysis | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Not content with co-funding a vaccine in the middle of a pandemic—no, really, that’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/11/21/fact-check-dolly-parton-donated-modernas-covid-19-vaccine-studies/6373339002/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a thing\u003c/a> she just did—Dolly Parton just finally put out a seasonal television event that she appears in for longer than five minutes. (It’s a Christmas miracle!)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Naturally, I felt compelled to watch \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.netflix.com/title/81128934\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Christmas on the Square\u003c/a>\u003c/em> and report back, minute-by-schmaltzy-minute, for all those (like me) who love Dolly Parton but passionately hate musicals. Now at least you’ll know exactly what you’re dealing with. (And yes, that means spoilers…)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:01:\u003c/strong> The movie opens with our hero, Dolly Parton, dressed like she’s down on her luck and asking for “Change” in the town square. She remains nonchalant despite being under attack from what looks like a rogue team of fireflies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-13889590\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Dolly-homeless-800x447.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"447\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Dolly-homeless-800x447.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Dolly-homeless-1020x570.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Dolly-homeless-160x89.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Dolly-homeless-768x429.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Dolly-homeless.png 1234w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:02:\u003c/strong> The opening musical number is like an over-zealous Old Navy commercial—full of colorful sweaters, a spectrum of ages, and what can only be described as multicultural scissor kicking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13889596\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889596\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Old-Navy-1-800x447.png\" alt=\"Here, the Old Navy Dancers stop and openly gawk at a passing woman, like it's the 1950s and casual street objectification is still in style.\" width=\"800\" height=\"447\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Old-Navy-1-800x447.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Old-Navy-1-1020x570.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Old-Navy-1-160x89.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Old-Navy-1-768x429.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Old-Navy-1.png 1101w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Here, the Old Navy Dancers stop and openly gawk at a passing woman, like it’s the 1950s and casual street objectification is still in style.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:03:\u003c/strong> One man just sang to his daughter about thermal underwear and I have questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:04:\u003c/strong> A silver fox with ‘Martin Sheen in \u003cem>Grace and Frankie\u003c/em>’ energy just showed up. Someone at Netflix is pushing this particular old man aesthetic \u003cem>hard\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13889598\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889598\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/mses-800x743.jpg\" alt=\"(L) Real Martin Sheen, in 'Grace and Frankie'; (R) Fake Martin Sheen in 'Christmas on the Square.'\" width=\"800\" height=\"743\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/mses-800x743.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/mses-1020x947.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/mses-160x149.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/mses-768x713.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/mses-1536x1426.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/mses-2048x1901.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/mses-1920x1782.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L) Real Martin Sheen, in ‘Grace and Frankie’; (R) Fake Martin Sheen in ‘Christmas on the Square.’\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:05:\u003c/strong> “To the best Christmas gift we’ve ever given each other,” toasts a man named Pastor Christian who’s giving off distinctly gay vibes. Is the gift Dior? Tiffany? Cartier? Nope! “Getting fertility treatments is better than anything that comes with paper!” grins his wife. Did \u003cem>not\u003c/em> see that coming. On account of the gayness, you see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13889597\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889597\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/grimace-800x399.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"399\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/grimace-800x399.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/grimace-1020x508.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/grimace-160x80.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/grimace-768x383.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/grimace.png 1076w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Is this, or is this not, the face of a gay man trying to pretend to be in love with a woman?\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:06:\u003c/strong> Town villain Regina (Christine Baranski) just rhymed “pastor” with “disaster” and I didn’t hate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:06:\u003c/strong> Regina is selling the town to a conglomerate named (say it out loud so I know you get it) “Cheetah Mall.” (Oh dear God.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:07:\u003c/strong> Jenifer Lewis just showed up as local hairdresser, Margeline, and for the first time I have hope that I might get through this movie, sanity intact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13889602\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889602\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Hair-1-800x443.png\" alt=\"Jenifer Lewis singing in her salon.\" width=\"800\" height=\"443\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Hair-1-800x443.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Hair-1-1020x564.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Hair-1-160x89.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Hair-1-768x425.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Hair-1-672x372.png 672w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Hair-1-1038x576.png 1038w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Hair-1.png 1095w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sing it, Jen.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:07:\u003c/strong> “The higher the hair, the closer to the North Pole!” yells one of Margeline’s dancing boy-stylists. Dolly Parton definitely produced this musical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:09:\u003c/strong> Normal banking business is occurring while three randos casually tap dance in front of the tellers. (You don’t get \u003cem>this\u003c/em> at the Civic Center Chase branch…)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889601 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/tapping-800x441.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"441\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/tapping-800x441.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/tapping-1020x563.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/tapping-160x88.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/tapping-768x424.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/tapping.png 1104w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:10:\u003c/strong> Everyone demonstrates that they’ve been served eviction papers by \u003cem>walking with purpose\u003c/em> and also \u003cem>singing while frowning\u003c/em>. In all fairness to Regina, it would be exhausting to live in the same town as any of these people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:12:\u003c/strong> Gay Pastor and his wife are singing a love song (to each other, surprisingly) in the square. Even while holding hands, singing “I love you,” and wrinkling their noses at each other, they have all the sexual chemistry of a tortoise trying to hump a rock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-13889603\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.33.19-PM-800x410.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"410\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.33.19-PM-800x410.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.33.19-PM-160x82.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.33.19-PM-768x394.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.33.19-PM.png 1016w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:21:\u003c/strong> Margeline gives Regina bad hair in a fit of revenge for what she’s doing to the town. Dolly Parton definitely produced this musical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:22:\u003c/strong> Turns out that Fake Martin Sheen is Regina’s childhood sweetheart, Carl. Regina tells him to “just sign the deal,” and he replies, “Why didn’t you return my calls?” Probably because of your inability to stay on topic, Carl?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:23:\u003c/strong> Okay, so this is also totally off-topic, but there’s a guy who keeps showing up in the background that I like to call The Extra Extra. He chews the scenery like he hasn’t eaten for months and \u003cem>Christmas on the Square\u003c/em> is an all-you-can-eat buffet. Here’s what he looks like literally all of the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13889614\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889614\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Extra-Extra-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Extra-Extra-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Extra-Extra-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Extra-Extra-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Extra-Extra-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Extra-Extra-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Extra-Extra-2048x2048.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Extra-Extra-1920x1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A collection of the Extra Extra’s finest moments.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:24:\u003c/strong> Regina says Fake Martin Sheen’s shop “isn’t even a general store anymore,” but rather a place filled with “broken dolls and broken dreams.” This prompts Fake Martin Sheen to start singing about random items in his store. It’s hard to focus on what he’s saying though because his hair looks \u003cem>amazing\u003c/em>. Dolly Parton definitely produced this musical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889604 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.37.35-PM-800x500.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.37.35-PM-800x500.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.37.35-PM-160x100.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.37.35-PM-768x480.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.37.35-PM.png 810w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:29:\u003c/strong> Panhandler Dolly Parton tells Regina, “I’m gonna get change out of you, one way or the other!” If you’ve ever wanted to see a human woman flog to death the double meaning of the word ‘change,’ \u003cem>Christmas on the Square\u003c/em> is definitely the movie for you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:31:\u003c/strong> Regina can’t get her lights to turn on at home. Naturally, this prompts shimmering, dressed-in-all-white Dolly Parton to magically appear in her living room \u003cem>sitting on a cloud\u003c/em> and singing. Because—surprise!—she’s not really a panhandler, she’s an angel. (Way to steal the entire plot line of \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0654961/?ref_=ttep_ep15\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Episode 15 of \u003cem>My So-Called Life\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, guys.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889605 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/88531c6727732489fcab88437e422bd6e5-christmas-on-the-square-08.2x.rhorizontal.w700-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/88531c6727732489fcab88437e422bd6e5-christmas-on-the-square-08.2x.rhorizontal.w700-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/88531c6727732489fcab88437e422bd6e5-christmas-on-the-square-08.2x.rhorizontal.w700-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/88531c6727732489fcab88437e422bd6e5-christmas-on-the-square-08.2x.rhorizontal.w700-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/88531c6727732489fcab88437e422bd6e5-christmas-on-the-square-08.2x.rhorizontal.w700-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/88531c6727732489fcab88437e422bd6e5-christmas-on-the-square-08.2x.rhorizontal.w700.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[Also: Dear PG&E, if you could just figure out how to create floating cloud Dolly Parton holograms and stick them in the homes of everyone dealing with a mandatory power outage, Californians would hate you much less. Just a thought.]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:33:\u003c/strong> Dolly is singing a moving ballad about lighting lamps. She does this while circling the room on her cloud. It is as brilliant and unintentionally hilarious as it sounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:37:\u003c/strong> During a church meeting, the entire town fantasizes about torturing and killing Regina. Lyrics include: “Maybe we’ll trip her / Maybe we’ll strip her (Oh Lord, don’t do that!) / Maybe we’ll just throw her on the griddle!” Yes, yes. Let’s get our church group together and cook this woman alive shall we?!\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13889606\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889606\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Church-murder-800x462.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"462\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Church-murder-800x462.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Church-murder-160x92.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Church-murder-768x444.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Church-murder.png 962w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">These people are plotting the death of a human being. Including that l’il Fred Savage/Ralph Macchio hybrid in the middle there.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:43:\u003c/strong> Random townspeople keep getting up in church and sing-speaking their thoughts. It turns out that when this guy in the middle (↓) isn’t singing about thermal underwear and premeditated murder, he foin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-13889607\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.53.50-PM-800x451.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"451\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.53.50-PM-800x451.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.53.50-PM-1020x574.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.53.50-PM-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.53.50-PM-768x433.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-4.53.50-PM.png 1053w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:46:\u003c/strong> Everything happening in this church suddenly reminds me of the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AjkUyX0rVw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">We Are The World\u003c/a>” video from 1985. Partially because everyone on screen just started holding hands and swaying awkwardly. And partially because I now know how Bob Dylan was feeling when he was caught on camera doing this:\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/cJymBJ_5iUg'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/cJymBJ_5iUg'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:48:\u003c/strong> Regina pays a visit to the local tavern, the Jolly Lamplighter. Eight-year-old daughter of Sexy Singing Guy offers Regina a whiskey. Regina says, “Aren’t you a little young to be a bartender?” The child replies, “I’m an old soul.” Seems legit. Nothing to see here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13889619 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-6.55.20-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"792\" height=\"458\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-6.55.20-PM.png 792w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-6.55.20-PM-160x93.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-6.55.20-PM-768x444.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 792px) 100vw, 792px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:50:\u003c/strong> Kid Bartender has a minor existential crisis in song form over her dead mom, before breaking the news to Regina that Regina’s cruelty is, in a roundabout way, responsible for her mom’s death. Regina goes home and has a flashback about her own dad. There are lamps involved. It is hard to care about any of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>0:56:\u003c/strong> I’ve just noticed that Regina’s personal assistant is played by \u003cem>So You Think You Can Dance\u003c/em> Season 5 winner, Jeanine Mason. We come to find out that Jeanine’s character is also an angel in training. Which conveniently makes space for a gratuitous ballet practice scene in which Angel (did I mention Dolly Parton’s character is literally named Angel?) makes her dance. The ballet is, like, totally a metaphor, you guys, and not at all just an excuse to give Jeanine a dance solo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889609 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.07.19-PM-800x442.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"442\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.07.19-PM-800x442.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.07.19-PM-1020x564.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.07.19-PM-160x88.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.07.19-PM-768x425.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.07.19-PM-672x372.png 672w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.07.19-PM.png 1103w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1:04:\u003c/strong> Time for a fairly insufferable 1970s high school dance flashback where Young Regina dances with a dude wearing the worst shirt in history and somehow gets pregnant from doing so. Regina’s dad, fearful of the judgment of the townspeople, forces her to give up the baby. That’s why, all these years later, Regina is dead inside and mad at the whole town. This guy’s shirt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13889610\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889610\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.18.02-PM-800x538.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"538\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.18.02-PM-800x538.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.18.02-PM-160x108.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.18.02-PM-768x517.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.18.02-PM.png 847w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">I just asked my mother and she told me that at no point, even during the 1970s, was this shirt acceptable.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1:08:\u003c/strong> Kid Bartender has been in an accident so half the town goes and stands in the hospital parking lot looking sad. Regina finds herself inspired to pray and offers to give up her life in exchange for Kid Bartender’s. (Holy crap, that must have been a good drink.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1:14:\u003c/strong> Regina goes to see Fake Martin Sheen and asks for a lantern that belonged to her father that he’s been hoarding. He’s like, “Sure, whatever, one less thing to pack, ya bish.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1:18:\u003c/strong> Dolly Parton sings a heartfelt ballad about how magic (and psychic!) angels are, and runs around doing good deeds. She wakes Kid Bartender up in the hospital! And then she impregnates Gay Pastor’s wife! (Which is handy since he probably wasn’t up to the task of DIYing that whole sitch.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13889611\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889611\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.35.58-PM-800x468.png\" alt=\"In Dolly Parton Christmas movies, you can get pregnant when she looks at you through a window.\" width=\"800\" height=\"468\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.35.58-PM-800x468.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.35.58-PM-160x94.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.35.58-PM-768x449.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.35.58-PM.png 994w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This is how you get pregnant in Dolly Parton Christmas movies.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1:22:\u003c/strong> Regina finds a bible hidden in her dad’s lantern and it tells her that the child he forced her to give up for adoption is, in fact, Gay Pastor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1:27:\u003c/strong> Regina breaks the news to Gay Pastor that he is her son. She says: “It’s written in a bible so it must be true.” What super-fun logic to still be carrying around in 2020!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1:30:\u003c/strong> Gay Pastor breaks the news about his long-lost mom to the church congregation. As he leads Regina up the aisle, Dolly Parton sprouts wings and sings high above the altar. This movie is completely out of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13889612\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 787px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13889612\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.39.03-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"787\" height=\"437\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.39.03-PM.png 787w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.39.03-PM-160x89.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.39.03-PM-768x426.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.39.03-PM-672x372.png 672w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 787px) 100vw, 787px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">K.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1:34:\u003c/strong> Regina announces that she’s not selling the town after all and she promises to keep everyone’s rents low. This prompts the Old Navy dancers to strike up the scissor kicks once again and backflip their way back to the square.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1:36:\u003c/strong> Jeanine from \u003cem>So You Think You Can Dance\u003c/em> becomes an angel and hangs out with Dolly at the top of a clock tower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13889613 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.47.44-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"626\" height=\"502\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.47.44-PM.png 626w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/Screen-Shot-2020-11-23-at-5.47.44-PM-160x128.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 626px) 100vw, 626px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The End.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square’ is streaming right now on \u003ca href=\"https://www.netflix.com/title/81128934\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Netflix\u003c/a>. Those of you who like Jesus and/or weed will like it better than the rest of us.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Who could’ve predicted chess sets might become as difficult to find as toilet paper during the early weeks of the pandemic? Not Gerrick Johnson. The toy analyst with BMO Capital Markets found himself stymied while searching for a particular Cardinal chess set a few weeks ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was sold out everywhere I went,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sales of chess sets have skyrocketed, says Mary Higbe, director of marketing at Goliath Games. The company sells six different kinds of chess sets, including those familiar red-boxed Pressman sets you’ve probably seen in the toy aisle at Walmart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our October sales for chess were up 178% over the same period last year,” Higbe says. That’s a big increase. But something else unexpected happened at the end of the month. Now, she says, “our chess sales are up \u003cem>1,048%.\u003c/em>”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every so often a game comes along that captures the popular imagination. In November 2020, that game is chess. The reason? A Netflix period drama that debuted in late October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDrieqwSdgI\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ever since \u003cem>The Queen’s Gambit\u003c/em> launched, our chess sales have increased triple digits,” marvels Elizabeth LoVecchio, vice-president of marketing at Spin Master. The huge toy company has a division of classic games—such as chess, checkers and backgammon—that owns about 70% of the market share in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>LoVecchio says sales of these games started spiking back when people first hunkered down last spring and played games with people in their bubbles to keep themselves entertained. But what’s happening with chess sales since \u003cem>The Queen’s Gambit \u003c/em>is “unprecedented—and we anticipate our sales rising further,” she adds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chess set sales are rising in the secondary market as well. eBay registered a 215% increase in chess set and accessory sales since \u003cem>The Queen’s Gambit\u003c/em> hit Netflix, with shoppers seeking out wooden chess sets nine times more than plastic, electronic or glass ones, according to an eBay spokesperson. Toy analyst Gerrick Johnson now warns that demand will outstrip supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Six months ago, a year ago, these retailers weren’t saying, let’s load up on chess sets,” he notes. “Good luck finding a chess set this holiday!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both LoVecchio and Higbe agree a chess shortage may be added to 2020’s woes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oh, for sure. I believe it,” Higbe says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chess has long been alluring, even dramatic. But \u003cem>The Queen’s Gambit \u003c/em>makes it seem accessible, Higbe adds. And that just adds to the appeal of a game that’s both eminently affordable and pleasingly different every time you play it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have to have patience. You have to really think about strategy. You have to plan ahead,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Valuable skills for playing chess—and getting through the dark few months before us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13889573\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889573\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/tqg_102_unit_01575rc-dcc43554f1f93051bfcc1f4d356e6ea0d29e807a-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Beth (Anya Taylor-Joy) destroys an opponent (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) in 'The Queen's Gambit.'\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Beth (Anya Taylor-Joy) destroys an opponent (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) in ‘The Queen’s Gambit.’\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=Can%27t+Find+A+Chess+Set%3F+You+Can+Thank+%27The+Queen%27s+Gambit%27+For+That&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/CDrieqwSdgI'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/CDrieqwSdgI'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>“Ever since \u003cem>The Queen’s Gambit\u003c/em> launched, our chess sales have increased triple digits,” marvels Elizabeth LoVecchio, vice-president of marketing at Spin Master. The huge toy company has a division of classic games—such as chess, checkers and backgammon—that owns about 70% of the market share in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>LoVecchio says sales of these games started spiking back when people first hunkered down last spring and played games with people in their bubbles to keep themselves entertained. But what’s happening with chess sales since \u003cem>The Queen’s Gambit \u003c/em>is “unprecedented—and we anticipate our sales rising further,” she adds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chess set sales are rising in the secondary market as well. eBay registered a 215% increase in chess set and accessory sales since \u003cem>The Queen’s Gambit\u003c/em> hit Netflix, with shoppers seeking out wooden chess sets nine times more than plastic, electronic or glass ones, according to an eBay spokesperson. Toy analyst Gerrick Johnson now warns that demand will outstrip supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Six months ago, a year ago, these retailers weren’t saying, let’s load up on chess sets,” he notes. “Good luck finding a chess set this holiday!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both LoVecchio and Higbe agree a chess shortage may be added to 2020’s woes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oh, for sure. I believe it,” Higbe says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chess has long been alluring, even dramatic. But \u003cem>The Queen’s Gambit \u003c/em>makes it seem accessible, Higbe adds. And that just adds to the appeal of a game that’s both eminently affordable and pleasingly different every time you play it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have to have patience. You have to really think about strategy. You have to plan ahead,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Valuable skills for playing chess—and getting through the dark few months before us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13889573\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13889573\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/tqg_102_unit_01575rc-dcc43554f1f93051bfcc1f4d356e6ea0d29e807a-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Beth (Anya Taylor-Joy) destroys an opponent (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) in 'The Queen's Gambit.'\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Beth (Anya Taylor-Joy) destroys an opponent (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) in ‘The Queen’s Gambit.’\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=Can%27t+Find+A+Chess+Set%3F+You+Can+Thank+%27The+Queen%27s+Gambit%27+For+That&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Pressure to Attend Thanksgiving? Send Your Family This Rachel Maddow Clip",
"headTitle": "Pressure to Attend Thanksgiving? Send Your Family This Rachel Maddow Clip | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching. And, this year, despite 253,000 dead Americans, clear \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/holidays/thanksgiving.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">warnings from the CDC\u003c/a>, and more than a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">million new U.S. coronavirus cases\u003c/a> a week, many of us are still fielding Thanksgiving invitations. Or, rather, trying to fend them off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saying no to spending holidays with family is tough on any normal year. But for those of us facing down multiple relatives who \u003cem>are\u003c/em> willing to travel, \u003cem>are\u003c/em> willing to break household pods and \u003cem>are\u003c/em> willing to eat maskless around a table without quarantining first, being the only one to say “no” can invite a lot of judgment and gaslighting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enter Rachel Maddow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last night, the MSNBC anchor shared an anecdote that should be enough to turn anyone off from travel and socializing for the forseeable future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Broadcasting from home, Maddow shared the information that, two weeks ago, her partner of 21 years, Susan Mikula, tested positive for COVID-19. Maddow described nights spent awake, calling doctors over and over, and fighting to keep Mikula breathing. She described trying to care for the love of her life without physically being in the same room. Based on her delivery, the experience has left Maddow rattled and reevaluating priorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Believe me, whatever you have calculated into your life as acceptable risk, inevitable risk, something that you’re willing to go through because, statistically, hey, it probably will be fine, I’m just here to tell you to recalibrate that,” she warned. “Frankly, the country needs you to recalibrate that because there’s no room for you in the hospital anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maddow expressed some understanding for those who take risks with their own welfare in order to snatch a tiny slice of normal life back. But she also explained that, unfortunately, that’s not how coronavirus works. “I’m guessing that you might be willing to risk yourself. Especially after all these months and all this time. It’s so frustrating, right?” she said. “You don’t get to just say, ‘I’m willing to get this thing and play the odds.’ You don’t get that choice. It won’t necessarily be you. It’ll be the person you most care about in the world. How can you bear that?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maddow’s monologue is an important and timely reminder about why we all retreated into social pods back in March—and why we should still be staying in them. “All you can do is move heaven and Earth to not get it and not transmit it,” Maddow concluded. “This thing is scary as hell. Whatever you have been doing to risk getting it, don’t.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You—and the relatives you think need to hear it—can listen to Maddow and Mikula’s story in full below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/MaddowBlog/status/1329613581621612551\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching. And, this year, despite 253,000 dead Americans, clear \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/holidays/thanksgiving.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">warnings from the CDC\u003c/a>, and more than a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">million new U.S. coronavirus cases\u003c/a> a week, many of us are still fielding Thanksgiving invitations. Or, rather, trying to fend them off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saying no to spending holidays with family is tough on any normal year. But for those of us facing down multiple relatives who \u003cem>are\u003c/em> willing to travel, \u003cem>are\u003c/em> willing to break household pods and \u003cem>are\u003c/em> willing to eat maskless around a table without quarantining first, being the only one to say “no” can invite a lot of judgment and gaslighting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enter Rachel Maddow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last night, the MSNBC anchor shared an anecdote that should be enough to turn anyone off from travel and socializing for the forseeable future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Broadcasting from home, Maddow shared the information that, two weeks ago, her partner of 21 years, Susan Mikula, tested positive for COVID-19. Maddow described nights spent awake, calling doctors over and over, and fighting to keep Mikula breathing. She described trying to care for the love of her life without physically being in the same room. Based on her delivery, the experience has left Maddow rattled and reevaluating priorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Believe me, whatever you have calculated into your life as acceptable risk, inevitable risk, something that you’re willing to go through because, statistically, hey, it probably will be fine, I’m just here to tell you to recalibrate that,” she warned. “Frankly, the country needs you to recalibrate that because there’s no room for you in the hospital anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maddow expressed some understanding for those who take risks with their own welfare in order to snatch a tiny slice of normal life back. But she also explained that, unfortunately, that’s not how coronavirus works. “I’m guessing that you might be willing to risk yourself. Especially after all these months and all this time. It’s so frustrating, right?” she said. “You don’t get to just say, ‘I’m willing to get this thing and play the odds.’ You don’t get that choice. It won’t necessarily be you. It’ll be the person you most care about in the world. How can you bear that?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maddow’s monologue is an important and timely reminder about why we all retreated into social pods back in March—and why we should still be staying in them. “All you can do is move heaven and Earth to not get it and not transmit it,” Maddow concluded. “This thing is scary as hell. Whatever you have been doing to risk getting it, don’t.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You—and the relatives you think need to hear it—can listen to Maddow and Mikula’s story in full below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Let's Talk About That Reconciliation During the 'Fresh Prince Reunion Special'",
"headTitle": "Let’s Talk About That Reconciliation During the ‘Fresh Prince Reunion Special’ | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The unspoken rules of gathering the cast of a beloved TV show for a reunion special are familiar: Gin up the nostalgia and warm, fuzzy feels. Montages and clip reels highlight the memorable onscreen moments from years past, as everyone jovially reminisces about the time spent playing and creating together on set. If a key member is absent because of behind-the-scenes drama or personal setbacks, try to avoid acknowledging they were ever a part of the show in the first place, and/or gloss over any tensions that might spoil the lovefest. Put on a happy face.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003cem>Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Reunion Special\u003c/em>, now on HBO Max, follows this rule faithfully for more than half of its run time. Will Smith, Alfonso Ribeiro (Carlton Banks), Tatyana Ali (Ashley Banks), Karyn Parsons (Hilary Banks), Joseph Marcell (Jeffrey, the butler), Daphne Maxwell Reid (Aunt Viv #2) and DJ Jazzy Jeff sit on a recreation of the Banks family mansion set, recounting audition stories and favorite scenes in honor of the 30\u003csup>th\u003c/sup> anniversary of the hit sitcom’s premiere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghMFFe2Q9hA\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But then, right around the 45-minute mark (and immediately following a genuinely moving tribute to the late James Avery, who played the show’s indelible patriarch, Uncle Phil), this \u003cem>Fresh Prince \u003c/em>reunion dispenses with rules and pleasantries to address the giant elephant in the room—the \u003ca href=\"https://www.huffpost.com/entry/janet-hubert-will-smith-feud-fired_n_3249314\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">highly publicized fallout\u003c/a> between Smith and Janet Hubert, who was unceremoniously replaced by Reid in her role as Aunt Viv in the show’s final three seasons. For the first time in 27 years, Smith and Hubert come together to clear the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It felt like I couldn’t celebrate 30 years of \u003cem>Fresh Prince\u003c/em> without finding a way to celebrate Janet,” Smith tells his castmates, before showing them, and us, video of their pre-taped meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What’s most striking about their exchange is how familiar Hubert’s story is for women in the workplace. During Season 3 when she became pregnant, she says, she was facing challenges in her personal life (her then-husband was abusive and unemployed), which indirectly bled into how she approached her work on set. Hubert says this led to the much more powerful Smith painting her on set and in the media as someone who was “difficult” to work with, and that she was told he was responsible for her being forced out. When she was offered a new, restrictive contract—she would only work two and a half months out of the year, her salary would be cut, and she would be prohibited from accepting other jobs outside of \u003cem>Fresh Prince—\u003c/em>she refused to accept the offer. [aside postid='pop_108150']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hubert points out that she was never “unprofessional” on set, only more reserved. It’s hard to hear such a revelation and not think of the many ways in which this echoes the corporate mindset of bosses who tout the workplace and colleagues as “family” so as to ignore the fact that, for their employees, this is their livelihood; they deserve to be paid a living wage, to have lives outside of work, to just be human. Smith and his other co-stars talk a lot about how much they enjoyed their experience on \u003cem>Fresh Prince \u003c/em>and how it didn’t feel like they were doing a job so much as they were part of a tight-knit family. That’s a heartwarming and admirable kind of environment to exist in, but it’s rarely the reality for everyone. And it doesn’t leave room for accepting that it’s OK to treat your job like it’s actually a job, too—especially if your mental health and well-being outside of work is suffering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hubert is candid and specific in how this mischaracterization of her attitude and work ethic tarnished her career, particularly as a dark-skinned woman: “Calling a black woman difficult in Hollywood is the kiss of death.” The actress Mo’Nique, among many others, can certainly attest to this, having said she’s been blackballed in the industry since refusing to campaign for \u003cem>Precious \u003c/em>without the promise of additional pay. (“We got labeled as ‘difficult’ because I said one word, and that was: ‘No,'” she \u003ca href=\"https://deadline.com/2019/02/steve-harvey-and-monique-get-into-tense-exchange-1202557010/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">told Steve Harvey last year\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Smith’s part, he admits he was neither “sensitive” nor “perceptive” to Hubert’s troubles during her pregnancy, and seems genuinely contrite for how he treated her. He also notes that at the time he was still very young and immature, and that now, having been married with kids of his own, he’s grown to understand what she was up against at that time in her life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as Hubert gently but sternly notes, the damage was done, and while Will was able to move forward and achieve greater and greater success post-\u003cem>Fresh Prince\u003c/em>, she’s never had that chance. “You took all that away from me with your words. Words can kill.” It’s a harsh reminder of the power of perception, and how so many men are able to wield that power swiftly and devastatingly against women who don’t bend to their will.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s deep sadness to be felt in the profound loss, both for Hubert’s career and for the later seasons of \u003cem>Fresh Prince. \u003c/em>Her performance as Aunt Viv was groundbreaking in its depiction of a woman who looked like her possessing a range of emotions and attitudes on TV in that era. Hubert could easily glide between saucy and elegant and righteous, often in a single scene. [aside postid='pop_104883']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As unsettling as the circumstances of this conversation are, its existence here is also refreshing. For all of the enduring popularity of \u003cem>Fresh Prince\u003c/em> and the general goodwill Smith has managed to maintain in the decades since becoming one of Hollywood’s biggest movie stars, Hubert’s departure has long loomed over the show’s legacy. To address it so directly is a smart P.R. move on Smith’s part—if there’s any actor working today who exudes the need to please crowds and be liked by everyone, it’s him—but it also feels like exactly what Hubert needed in order to provide closure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while they may never share the same strong ties as Smith has with the rest of his co-stars, she at least she seems at peace. For those few moments, funnily enough, the special feels like an actual family reunion with real stakes, as the estranged relatives awkwardly and uncomfortably confront one another, let it all out, and, finally and cathartically, reach reconciliation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=Let%27s+Talk+About+That+Reconciliation+During+The+%27Fresh+Prince+Reunion+Special%27&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The unspoken rules of gathering the cast of a beloved TV show for a reunion special are familiar: Gin up the nostalgia and warm, fuzzy feels. Montages and clip reels highlight the memorable onscreen moments from years past, as everyone jovially reminisces about the time spent playing and creating together on set. If a key member is absent because of behind-the-scenes drama or personal setbacks, try to avoid acknowledging they were ever a part of the show in the first place, and/or gloss over any tensions that might spoil the lovefest. Put on a happy face.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003cem>Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Reunion Special\u003c/em>, now on HBO Max, follows this rule faithfully for more than half of its run time. Will Smith, Alfonso Ribeiro (Carlton Banks), Tatyana Ali (Ashley Banks), Karyn Parsons (Hilary Banks), Joseph Marcell (Jeffrey, the butler), Daphne Maxwell Reid (Aunt Viv #2) and DJ Jazzy Jeff sit on a recreation of the Banks family mansion set, recounting audition stories and favorite scenes in honor of the 30\u003csup>th\u003c/sup> anniversary of the hit sitcom’s premiere.\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/ghMFFe2Q9hA'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/ghMFFe2Q9hA'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>But then, right around the 45-minute mark (and immediately following a genuinely moving tribute to the late James Avery, who played the show’s indelible patriarch, Uncle Phil), this \u003cem>Fresh Prince \u003c/em>reunion dispenses with rules and pleasantries to address the giant elephant in the room—the \u003ca href=\"https://www.huffpost.com/entry/janet-hubert-will-smith-feud-fired_n_3249314\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">highly publicized fallout\u003c/a> between Smith and Janet Hubert, who was unceremoniously replaced by Reid in her role as Aunt Viv in the show’s final three seasons. For the first time in 27 years, Smith and Hubert come together to clear the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It felt like I couldn’t celebrate 30 years of \u003cem>Fresh Prince\u003c/em> without finding a way to celebrate Janet,” Smith tells his castmates, before showing them, and us, video of their pre-taped meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What’s most striking about their exchange is how familiar Hubert’s story is for women in the workplace. During Season 3 when she became pregnant, she says, she was facing challenges in her personal life (her then-husband was abusive and unemployed), which indirectly bled into how she approached her work on set. Hubert says this led to the much more powerful Smith painting her on set and in the media as someone who was “difficult” to work with, and that she was told he was responsible for her being forced out. When she was offered a new, restrictive contract—she would only work two and a half months out of the year, her salary would be cut, and she would be prohibited from accepting other jobs outside of \u003cem>Fresh Prince—\u003c/em>she refused to accept the offer. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hubert points out that she was never “unprofessional” on set, only more reserved. It’s hard to hear such a revelation and not think of the many ways in which this echoes the corporate mindset of bosses who tout the workplace and colleagues as “family” so as to ignore the fact that, for their employees, this is their livelihood; they deserve to be paid a living wage, to have lives outside of work, to just be human. Smith and his other co-stars talk a lot about how much they enjoyed their experience on \u003cem>Fresh Prince \u003c/em>and how it didn’t feel like they were doing a job so much as they were part of a tight-knit family. That’s a heartwarming and admirable kind of environment to exist in, but it’s rarely the reality for everyone. And it doesn’t leave room for accepting that it’s OK to treat your job like it’s actually a job, too—especially if your mental health and well-being outside of work is suffering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hubert is candid and specific in how this mischaracterization of her attitude and work ethic tarnished her career, particularly as a dark-skinned woman: “Calling a black woman difficult in Hollywood is the kiss of death.” The actress Mo’Nique, among many others, can certainly attest to this, having said she’s been blackballed in the industry since refusing to campaign for \u003cem>Precious \u003c/em>without the promise of additional pay. (“We got labeled as ‘difficult’ because I said one word, and that was: ‘No,'” she \u003ca href=\"https://deadline.com/2019/02/steve-harvey-and-monique-get-into-tense-exchange-1202557010/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">told Steve Harvey last year\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Smith’s part, he admits he was neither “sensitive” nor “perceptive” to Hubert’s troubles during her pregnancy, and seems genuinely contrite for how he treated her. He also notes that at the time he was still very young and immature, and that now, having been married with kids of his own, he’s grown to understand what she was up against at that time in her life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as Hubert gently but sternly notes, the damage was done, and while Will was able to move forward and achieve greater and greater success post-\u003cem>Fresh Prince\u003c/em>, she’s never had that chance. “You took all that away from me with your words. Words can kill.” It’s a harsh reminder of the power of perception, and how so many men are able to wield that power swiftly and devastatingly against women who don’t bend to their will.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s deep sadness to be felt in the profound loss, both for Hubert’s career and for the later seasons of \u003cem>Fresh Prince. \u003c/em>Her performance as Aunt Viv was groundbreaking in its depiction of a woman who looked like her possessing a range of emotions and attitudes on TV in that era. Hubert could easily glide between saucy and elegant and righteous, often in a single scene. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As unsettling as the circumstances of this conversation are, its existence here is also refreshing. For all of the enduring popularity of \u003cem>Fresh Prince\u003c/em> and the general goodwill Smith has managed to maintain in the decades since becoming one of Hollywood’s biggest movie stars, Hubert’s departure has long loomed over the show’s legacy. To address it so directly is a smart P.R. move on Smith’s part—if there’s any actor working today who exudes the need to please crowds and be liked by everyone, it’s him—but it also feels like exactly what Hubert needed in order to provide closure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while they may never share the same strong ties as Smith has with the rest of his co-stars, she at least she seems at peace. For those few moments, funnily enough, the special feels like an actual family reunion with real stakes, as the estranged relatives awkwardly and uncomfortably confront one another, let it all out, and, finally and cathartically, reach reconciliation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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=Let%27s+Talk+About+That+Reconciliation+During+The+%27Fresh+Prince+Reunion+Special%27&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "'I'm Happy to Eat the Cakes': Matt Lucas Joins the 'Bake Off' Tent",
"headTitle": "‘I’m Happy to Eat the Cakes’: Matt Lucas Joins the ‘Bake Off’ Tent | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Some day, historians will look back on this time and ask how Americans kept their cool during a pandemic, a recession, and a stressful presidential race. Those historians may be surprised to find the coping mechanisms included a British reality TV show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Great British Bake Off\u003c/em>—or \u003cem>The Great British Baking Show\u003c/em>, as it’s technically called in the U.S.—does not have backstabbing alliances or obstacle courses. It’s just home cooks in a big white tent baking cakes, pastries, and biscuits—that is, cookies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The show’s 11th season is now on Netflix. Produced in the midst of the pandemic, with its bakers and hosts living in their very own \u003cem>Bake Off\u003c/em> bubble—and with a new cohost, comedian Matt Lucas, best known in the U.S. for the sketch show \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4960364\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Little Britain\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I did not imagine that I’d become a television host,” Lucas says, “and I had never even seen the show until I went really to try out for it … I got this call on the Friday saying, ‘Would you test for the \u003cem>Bake Off\u003c/em>?’ And I said, ‘I’ve never seen the\u003cem> Bake Off\u003c/em>. I know it’s really, really popular, but I mainly watch soccer and documentaries.’ So my agent said, ‘Well, look, just watch an episode tonight and if you like it, you can test on Tuesday.’ And so I went for dinner with my family, and then I came home and I put on an episode—and then another one, and then another one. I thought, ‘Wow, this show’s brilliant!'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtRWldtxuiI\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>Interview Highlights\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On his host audition\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audition was mad. So I went to a garden center and went up to people and interviewed them about which sort of horticultural accessories they were buying … one of those sort of half indoor-half outdoor garden centers. And people were saying to me, ‘Well, what have you got in your garden?’ And I said, ‘Well, I don’t have a garden. I don’t have any outside space where I live.’ And they were saying, ‘You don’t really know much about horticulture, do you?’ And I said, ‘I know absolutely nothing about it.’ And people were saying, ‘Well, why are you hosting this program about gardening?’ I said, ‘Well, I don’t know. It’s been very quiet lately.’ And people were telling me, ‘Oh, you’ve really come down, your career’s really [come down].’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I didn’t really appreciate it quite at the time, but it’s the highest rated show in the U.K. at the moment. It’s such a big show here that they need to audition very many people to find out who’s going to get the job of host. And they want to keep that process as secret as possible. And so I think people just thought I was mad. Why was I wandering around the garden center when I didn’t know anything about gardening?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On his responsibilities as host—including calling out the remaining time in a challenge—and how he sees his role.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, our real job, I think, is to launch the challenges and to look after the bakers—and the bits they tend to show in the final program are when we’re cracking jokes—reminding them that they know what they’re doing, and they’ve done it many times before, and they’re going to be fine. They just need to do what they do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On what it was like to be in the quarantine bubble\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a bit like being on a kind of summer camp, you know, and we had activities in the evening, Prue, who’s one of the judges, did some did flower arranging classes. And I did bingo. I don’t know if you call it bingo in the U.S., but … I called out bingo and Paul Hollywood, who’s the other judge, he had his incredible pizza oven brought down from his home. And he had a couple of evenings where he cooked sort of 150 pizzas for everybody … how lucky am I to not only have one of the greatest jobs in television, but also one of the only jobs in television right now? This show was made in the summer. We went before any other show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On making fun of the judges, and whether he ever gets told to tone it down\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Very occasionally. I go a bit too far and everyone laughs and Prue laughs. And then she says, ‘I’m laughing, but that’s not going in the show.’ But both of them have a great sense of humor. And they were both very generous in that regard. And also, I was the new boy. So I was kind of finding out where the boundaries are. And they would play jokes on me, too. And it was good for putting the bakers at their ease. You know, they come in and they were so tired and they were so stressed and, you know, they might be real dad jokes that me and [co-host] Noel make, but the bakers would come up to us afterwards and they said, ‘Thank you so much for making me laugh. It really put me at my ease.’ So, you know, it has a purpose to it. It’s not just us showing off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On some unwelcome visitors in the tent\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a whole ecosystem, a wonderful community of flies and bugs and wasps and bees and hornets, and they gather—there’s not much you can do—they gather in, you know the pointy roof of the tent? There’s a couple of those points, and they gather up in those points. And at the end of filming every day, they … pull down the sides of the tent and release a smoke bomb to encourage the insects to leave. And they all do leave. And then it’s really hot in the morning, and people are cooking with sugar, and they all just return.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On whether he himself can bake\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Absolutely not. I once tried to bake a cake, but already I started tampering with the recipe and the cake, I mean, talk about soggy bottom. I mean, this cake was just—if you had to give it a name, you’d call it wet egg cake. I mean, that’s all it was. It was inedible, and I didn’t go anywhere near it. But it’s interesting because the thing about baking is, it’s science. And when you get a recipe, particularly an old recipe, there will be a reason why you should put it in at exactly that temperature for exactly that amount of time, at exactly that spot in the oven. It’s really interesting to see how successful you can be by just following a recipe. Having said that, I still haven’t followed any recipes myself. I’m happy to eat the cakes, but I’m not a great baker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On the best thing he ate during the taping\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Do you know, I don’t want to give anything away. There’s a jelly art design round, and that was not only a feast for the eyes, but there were some really, really delicious cakes in that round. It was the moment where everybody upped their game. And it’s really impressive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was produced for radio by Mallory Yu, edited by Sarah Handel and adapted for the Web by Petra Mayer\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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%27m+Happy+To+Eat+The+Cakes%27%3A+Matt+Lucas+Joins+The+%27Bake+Off%27+Tent&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Some day, historians will look back on this time and ask how Americans kept their cool during a pandemic, a recession, and a stressful presidential race. Those historians may be surprised to find the coping mechanisms included a British reality TV show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Great British Bake Off\u003c/em>—or \u003cem>The Great British Baking Show\u003c/em>, as it’s technically called in the U.S.—does not have backstabbing alliances or obstacle courses. It’s just home cooks in a big white tent baking cakes, pastries, and biscuits—that is, cookies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The show’s 11th season is now on Netflix. Produced in the midst of the pandemic, with its bakers and hosts living in their very own \u003cem>Bake Off\u003c/em> bubble—and with a new cohost, comedian Matt Lucas, best known in the U.S. for the sketch show \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4960364\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Little Britain\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I did not imagine that I’d become a television host,” Lucas says, “and I had never even seen the show until I went really to try out for it … I got this call on the Friday saying, ‘Would you test for the \u003cem>Bake Off\u003c/em>?’ And I said, ‘I’ve never seen the\u003cem> Bake Off\u003c/em>. I know it’s really, really popular, but I mainly watch soccer and documentaries.’ So my agent said, ‘Well, look, just watch an episode tonight and if you like it, you can test on Tuesday.’ And so I went for dinner with my family, and then I came home and I put on an episode—and then another one, and then another one. I thought, ‘Wow, this show’s brilliant!'”\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/LtRWldtxuiI'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/LtRWldtxuiI'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>Interview Highlights\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On his host audition\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audition was mad. So I went to a garden center and went up to people and interviewed them about which sort of horticultural accessories they were buying … one of those sort of half indoor-half outdoor garden centers. And people were saying to me, ‘Well, what have you got in your garden?’ And I said, ‘Well, I don’t have a garden. I don’t have any outside space where I live.’ And they were saying, ‘You don’t really know much about horticulture, do you?’ And I said, ‘I know absolutely nothing about it.’ And people were saying, ‘Well, why are you hosting this program about gardening?’ I said, ‘Well, I don’t know. It’s been very quiet lately.’ And people were telling me, ‘Oh, you’ve really come down, your career’s really [come down].’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I didn’t really appreciate it quite at the time, but it’s the highest rated show in the U.K. at the moment. It’s such a big show here that they need to audition very many people to find out who’s going to get the job of host. And they want to keep that process as secret as possible. And so I think people just thought I was mad. Why was I wandering around the garden center when I didn’t know anything about gardening?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On his responsibilities as host—including calling out the remaining time in a challenge—and how he sees his role.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, our real job, I think, is to launch the challenges and to look after the bakers—and the bits they tend to show in the final program are when we’re cracking jokes—reminding them that they know what they’re doing, and they’ve done it many times before, and they’re going to be fine. They just need to do what they do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On what it was like to be in the quarantine bubble\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a bit like being on a kind of summer camp, you know, and we had activities in the evening, Prue, who’s one of the judges, did some did flower arranging classes. And I did bingo. I don’t know if you call it bingo in the U.S., but … I called out bingo and Paul Hollywood, who’s the other judge, he had his incredible pizza oven brought down from his home. And he had a couple of evenings where he cooked sort of 150 pizzas for everybody … how lucky am I to not only have one of the greatest jobs in television, but also one of the only jobs in television right now? This show was made in the summer. We went before any other show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On making fun of the judges, and whether he ever gets told to tone it down\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Very occasionally. I go a bit too far and everyone laughs and Prue laughs. And then she says, ‘I’m laughing, but that’s not going in the show.’ But both of them have a great sense of humor. And they were both very generous in that regard. And also, I was the new boy. So I was kind of finding out where the boundaries are. And they would play jokes on me, too. And it was good for putting the bakers at their ease. You know, they come in and they were so tired and they were so stressed and, you know, they might be real dad jokes that me and [co-host] Noel make, but the bakers would come up to us afterwards and they said, ‘Thank you so much for making me laugh. It really put me at my ease.’ So, you know, it has a purpose to it. It’s not just us showing off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On some unwelcome visitors in the tent\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a whole ecosystem, a wonderful community of flies and bugs and wasps and bees and hornets, and they gather—there’s not much you can do—they gather in, you know the pointy roof of the tent? There’s a couple of those points, and they gather up in those points. And at the end of filming every day, they … pull down the sides of the tent and release a smoke bomb to encourage the insects to leave. And they all do leave. And then it’s really hot in the morning, and people are cooking with sugar, and they all just return.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On whether he himself can bake\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Absolutely not. I once tried to bake a cake, but already I started tampering with the recipe and the cake, I mean, talk about soggy bottom. I mean, this cake was just—if you had to give it a name, you’d call it wet egg cake. I mean, that’s all it was. It was inedible, and I didn’t go anywhere near it. But it’s interesting because the thing about baking is, it’s science. And when you get a recipe, particularly an old recipe, there will be a reason why you should put it in at exactly that temperature for exactly that amount of time, at exactly that spot in the oven. It’s really interesting to see how successful you can be by just following a recipe. Having said that, I still haven’t followed any recipes myself. I’m happy to eat the cakes, but I’m not a great baker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On the best thing he ate during the taping\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Do you know, I don’t want to give anything away. There’s a jelly art design round, and that was not only a feast for the eyes, but there were some really, really delicious cakes in that round. It was the moment where everybody upped their game. And it’s really impressive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "A Tale of 2 Star Wars Holiday Specials: 2020 (LEGO) Vs. 1978 (Oh, No)",
"headTitle": "A Tale of 2 Star Wars Holiday Specials: 2020 (LEGO) Vs. 1978 (Oh, No) | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Before we chew over the new \u003cem>LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special\u003c/em>, reader, it behooves us to embrace the historical perspective. We must cite precedent, examine trend lines, peruse the vicissitudes of causation. For only then may we place it in its rightful cultural context.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There, I said it: It is impossible to properly understand and meaningfully appreciate Disney Plus’ latest foray into the \u003cem>Star Wars\u003c/em> universe of intellectual property—a holiday special which consists of computer-animated, extruded-plastic versions of the franchise’s major and minor characters coming to understand the true meaning of friendship, togetherness, joy, the whole Hallmark Channel schmear—without first peeling the big, stinky space-onion that came before it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s right: Let’s talk Korman, you and I.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Premiere Date\u003c/strong>: November 17, 1978. A Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Outlet\u003c/strong>: CBS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Length\u003c/strong>: Two hours. No, seriously: \u003cem>Two\u003c/em>. \u003cem>Hours\u003c/em>. So apart from its various and sundry other grievous sins, it pre-empted episodes of \u003cem>both The Incredible Hulk\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Wonder Woman\u003c/em>. Imagine. The unmitigated gall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What It Was: \u003c/strong>A cynical cash-grab, for one thing. For another: A holiday special featuring the main stars of the film\u003cem> Star Wars\u003c/em> and … just … so much else. \u003cem>So \u003c/em>much else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Like What?\u003c/strong>: “Like what,” you ask. Oh, you sweet summer child. Like a lengthy interlude featuring a troupe of holographic acrobats performing a routine that’s 20 percent Cirque du Soleil, 20 percent Studio 54 and 60 percent the very concept of cocaine. Like Diahann Carroll in a spangly outfit, floating in space as she breathily seduces a pervy old Wookiee through the magic of song. Like Art Carney delivering lines like “I’ll just insert this here proton pack.” Like Jefferson Starship, randomly. Like Harvey Korman in drag as a four-armed alien hosting a cooking show. Like Harvey Korman as a malfunctioning robot attempting to explain how to assemble electronic equipment. Like Harvey Korman as a lovestruck cantina bar patron who drinks liquor via an opening at the top of his head. Like-\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ok Ok I Get The Idea\u003c/strong>: Oh, you may \u003cem>think \u003c/em>you do. I guarantee that you do not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Stars\u003c/strong>: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford show up, briefly, having not read the fine print on their contracts. Hamill and Fisher perform with gusto—Fisher even sings a song, passably enough. Ford performs with whatever the opposite of gusto is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Plot:\u003c/strong> Hoo boy. Where to begin. Chewbacca wants to get to his home planet (Kashyyyk, canonically, but an Imperial officer calls it “Kazook,” here, because if the Empire is about anything, it’s about that casual racism). His family is celebrating Life Day, the Wookiee celebration of hope and peace and what have you. We learn that Chewie lives in a bad matte painting of a treehouse with his wife Malla, his father Itchy and his son Lumpy (no word if he’s got cousins named, like, Scaly, Rashy and Irregularmoley, but we can extrapolate from the evidence presented.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also learn that Chewie’s house has a brown, suburban-key-party-chic vibe (there’s even a space-Barcalounger plopped in the center of the conversation pit). He communicates with others across the vast empty void of space via a Commodore PET that the set dresser couldn’t be bothered to snazz up, even a little. (In fact, all of the electronic equipment in the special has a very 1970s burnt-ochre Texas Instruments feel.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Imperial troops invade Chewie’s house and search it, Art Carney outsmarts them (!) and Chewie returns home. Then all the characters sort of float (I know) and walk across space (I know) into a star (don’t think about it) and gather to watch Princess Leia totally co-opt a Wookiee holiday by making it all about \u003cem>her \u003c/em>and singing a Life Day song. The End.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXcb7VPw59s\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Main Thing About It, Though:\u003c/strong> It \u003cem>drags\u003c/em>. All those nonsensical interludes—the tumbling routine, Space-Diahann, Jefferson Starship, All! The! Kormans!, oh and the cartoon that introduces the character of Boba Fett (did I mention there’s a cartoon that introduces the character of Boba Fett? because there’s a cartoon that introduces the character of Boba Fett, making this fetid debacle Canonically Important)—all of it takes forever. Plus, the scenes of Chewie’s family aren’t subtitled, so it’s just three people in furry costumes incessantly grunting and snarling at each other while gesticulating broadly. Call it Loud Mime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why Have I Never Heard Of This?\u003c/strong>: Because you … have other things going on in your life, presumably? But the real reason, of course, is that the special was immediately disavowed by George Lucas and his people (who were working on \u003cem>The Empire Strikes Back\u003c/em> at the time, and had outsourced the writing and production of the special to CBS).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(Bruce Vilanch was a co-writer of this thing, by the way. A fact that seems surprising at first and then, suddenly, completely and irrevocably not.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(If I were to tell you that another writer credited was named Mitzie Welch—and I am, I am telling you that—your reaction to the fact that someone named Mitzie was partly responsible would probably go something like, “No, yeah, I kinda figured that, somehow.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, even though George Lucas and Co. ordered that it never be broadcast again, and, further, that it be completely wiped from the Jedi Archives like some kind of cheese-tastic variety-show Kamino, bootleg copies circulated at cons, and inevitably migrated online, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hH8rxarVG8\">as is the way of such things\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Come On, It Can’t Be \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>That \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>Bad\u003c/strong>: It can be, and it is. Except … Well. Okay. If you can hold out for \u003cem>an hour and fifteen minute\u003c/em>s, you’ll come to an oasis of a sketch in which Bea Arthur (you heard me) gets a musical number. She plays the proprietor of the Mos Eisley cantina, and slows the familiar Cantina Band Song way, way down, transforming it into a tune that manages to be at once a German beerhall oompah ditty and a torch song. Seriously, she does that. Because when you hire Bea Arthur, you hire a pro who can commit to the bit, even when the bit in question is this ingloriously shambolic, and yet emerge somehow unscathed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Okay. We have sufficiently immersed ourselves in the dank backwaters of the disavowed past. You’ll want to take a quick shower to get the stink off you. But in the meantime: Onward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong> The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (2020)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Premiere Date\u003c/strong>: November 17, 2020. A Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Outlet\u003c/strong>: Disney+\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Length\u003c/strong>: 44 minutes! We’ll come back to this!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What It Is\u003c/strong>: Pretty good, is what. I mean, it’s pure fan-service and little more than that, but at the end of the day? I’m a fan, and I’m fine with getting serviced, now and again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bZxO5Dn9x0\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s trying to be a lot of things at once, admittedly: On the most basic level it’s a straight-up, full-throated holiday special for families, with messages about coming together to celebrate friendship, love, togetherness—the whole schmoopy Hallmark schmear, really.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s also a story that takes characters from the final \u003cem>Star Wars\u003c/em> film trilogy and sends them hopping through pretty much every climactic moment of the Skywalker Saga … and beyond. And it does so while gently satirizing the franchise, in much the same way the many LEGO \u003cem>Star Wars\u003c/em> games do. It even includes references to the 1978 \u003cem>Star Wars Holiday Special\u003c/em>, which, as I trust I have amply illustrated, was a fiasco, stuffed inside a debacle, wrapped in the guy who voiced The Great Gazoo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Stars:\u003c/strong> Within the reality of the special, LEGO versions of Rey, Finn, Poe, Rose, Chewie, Lando, R2-D2 and C-3PO. In our reality, however, the only actors reprising their film roles are Billy Dee Williams, Kelly Marie Tran and (wait for it) Anthony Daniels, who never turns down a gig, and bless him for it. The other characters are voiced by talented sound-alike voice-actors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Plot\u003c/strong>: Rey is training Finn to be a Jedi, while everyone else is preparing a Life Day party aboard the Millennium Falcon. Rey experiences a crisis of confidence in her mentorship abilities and leaves with BB-8 to uncover an artifact that can send her hurtling through time, so as to study other mentor-student relationships across the franchise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If that seems to you like just a flimsy excuse to have Rey meet characters from every Star Wars movie and their spin-offs, pour yourself a blue milk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Main Thing About It, Though\u003c/strong>: It’s pure fan service, yes, but what’s weird is that it’s attempting to service very different sets of fans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Star Wars \u003c/em>fandom isn’t monolithic, after all. Some fans of the original films despise the Abrams-Johnson-Abrams final trilogy, and all of its characters. Foregrounding Rey as much as this special does will likely turn those fans off, and once they see how centrally she now figures in, say, one of the most memorable moments in \u003cem>A New Hope\u003c/em>, well. That’ll send them straight to Reddit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Make no mistake: The fact that it’s all so clearly a joke, a goof, a clever meta-gag in a holiday special for kiddies—that won’t matter to these fans. They’ll be incensed, and they’ll stew, because when this particular subset of fandom is angry is when they feel most themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Me? I belong to the cohort of fans who like the final trilogy just fine, thank you very much. I would have liked it better if \u003cem>The Rise of Skywalker\u003c/em> hadn’t dropped so many threads introduced in \u003cem>The Last Jedi\u003c/em>, so imagine my surprise when \u003cem>The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special\u003c/em>, of all things, started picking them up again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Case in point: Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose. The fact that she gets more lines of dialogue in this silly thing than she did in the entirety of \u003cem>The Rise of Skywalker\u003c/em> is … well, it’s sad, frankly, but I’ll take it, because you know why? More Rose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ditto Rey training Finn—a notion that the films only feinted at, but that here drives the entire plot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some elements unique to the special also work nicely. Its version of Emperor Palpatine, for example, gets the best lines, and his persona is less that of the universe’s greatest and most terrible incarnation of elemental evil, and more that of a vain, insecure, manipulative bully—the ultimate bad boss. Which tracks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How Are The Jokes?\u003c/strong>: Good question. They’re solid, mostly. Not nearly as on point and just plain weird as they were in those first couple Lord and Miller theatrical films, though admittedly that’s a high bar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In terms of the Hit Rate of these jokes and Easter eggs (Life Day eggs, I suppose), I’d put this lower than \u003cem>The LEGO Movie\u003c/em> but a notch or two above \u003cem>The LEGO Ninjago Movie\u003c/em>. You know? Right in there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That impression is certainly bolstered by the fact that \u003cem>The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special\u003c/em> knows not to overstay its welcome. In and out, 44 minutes. Faster than the attack run on the Death Star, and more or less as successful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though would it have killed them to throw us one last bone?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>LEGO Bea Arthur\u003c/em>, guys. Come on. Big missed opportunity. Huge. I mean it was just \u003cem>lying \u003c/em>there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2020 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+Tale+Of+2+Star+Wars+Holiday+Specials%3A+2020+%28LEGO%29+Vs.+1978+%28Oh%2C+No%29&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Before we chew over the new \u003cem>LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special\u003c/em>, reader, it behooves us to embrace the historical perspective. We must cite precedent, examine trend lines, peruse the vicissitudes of causation. For only then may we place it in its rightful cultural context.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There, I said it: It is impossible to properly understand and meaningfully appreciate Disney Plus’ latest foray into the \u003cem>Star Wars\u003c/em> universe of intellectual property—a holiday special which consists of computer-animated, extruded-plastic versions of the franchise’s major and minor characters coming to understand the true meaning of friendship, togetherness, joy, the whole Hallmark Channel schmear—without first peeling the big, stinky space-onion that came before it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s right: Let’s talk Korman, you and I.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Premiere Date\u003c/strong>: November 17, 1978. A Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Outlet\u003c/strong>: CBS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Length\u003c/strong>: Two hours. No, seriously: \u003cem>Two\u003c/em>. \u003cem>Hours\u003c/em>. So apart from its various and sundry other grievous sins, it pre-empted episodes of \u003cem>both The Incredible Hulk\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Wonder Woman\u003c/em>. Imagine. The unmitigated gall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What It Was: \u003c/strong>A cynical cash-grab, for one thing. For another: A holiday special featuring the main stars of the film\u003cem> Star Wars\u003c/em> and … just … so much else. \u003cem>So \u003c/em>much else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Like What?\u003c/strong>: “Like what,” you ask. Oh, you sweet summer child. Like a lengthy interlude featuring a troupe of holographic acrobats performing a routine that’s 20 percent Cirque du Soleil, 20 percent Studio 54 and 60 percent the very concept of cocaine. Like Diahann Carroll in a spangly outfit, floating in space as she breathily seduces a pervy old Wookiee through the magic of song. Like Art Carney delivering lines like “I’ll just insert this here proton pack.” Like Jefferson Starship, randomly. Like Harvey Korman in drag as a four-armed alien hosting a cooking show. Like Harvey Korman as a malfunctioning robot attempting to explain how to assemble electronic equipment. Like Harvey Korman as a lovestruck cantina bar patron who drinks liquor via an opening at the top of his head. Like-\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ok Ok I Get The Idea\u003c/strong>: Oh, you may \u003cem>think \u003c/em>you do. I guarantee that you do not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Stars\u003c/strong>: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford show up, briefly, having not read the fine print on their contracts. Hamill and Fisher perform with gusto—Fisher even sings a song, passably enough. Ford performs with whatever the opposite of gusto is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Plot:\u003c/strong> Hoo boy. Where to begin. Chewbacca wants to get to his home planet (Kashyyyk, canonically, but an Imperial officer calls it “Kazook,” here, because if the Empire is about anything, it’s about that casual racism). His family is celebrating Life Day, the Wookiee celebration of hope and peace and what have you. We learn that Chewie lives in a bad matte painting of a treehouse with his wife Malla, his father Itchy and his son Lumpy (no word if he’s got cousins named, like, Scaly, Rashy and Irregularmoley, but we can extrapolate from the evidence presented.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also learn that Chewie’s house has a brown, suburban-key-party-chic vibe (there’s even a space-Barcalounger plopped in the center of the conversation pit). He communicates with others across the vast empty void of space via a Commodore PET that the set dresser couldn’t be bothered to snazz up, even a little. (In fact, all of the electronic equipment in the special has a very 1970s burnt-ochre Texas Instruments feel.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Imperial troops invade Chewie’s house and search it, Art Carney outsmarts them (!) and Chewie returns home. Then all the characters sort of float (I know) and walk across space (I know) into a star (don’t think about it) and gather to watch Princess Leia totally co-opt a Wookiee holiday by making it all about \u003cem>her \u003c/em>and singing a Life Day song. The End.\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/VXcb7VPw59s'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/VXcb7VPw59s'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Main Thing About It, Though:\u003c/strong> It \u003cem>drags\u003c/em>. All those nonsensical interludes—the tumbling routine, Space-Diahann, Jefferson Starship, All! The! Kormans!, oh and the cartoon that introduces the character of Boba Fett (did I mention there’s a cartoon that introduces the character of Boba Fett? because there’s a cartoon that introduces the character of Boba Fett, making this fetid debacle Canonically Important)—all of it takes forever. Plus, the scenes of Chewie’s family aren’t subtitled, so it’s just three people in furry costumes incessantly grunting and snarling at each other while gesticulating broadly. Call it Loud Mime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why Have I Never Heard Of This?\u003c/strong>: Because you … have other things going on in your life, presumably? But the real reason, of course, is that the special was immediately disavowed by George Lucas and his people (who were working on \u003cem>The Empire Strikes Back\u003c/em> at the time, and had outsourced the writing and production of the special to CBS).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(Bruce Vilanch was a co-writer of this thing, by the way. A fact that seems surprising at first and then, suddenly, completely and irrevocably not.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(If I were to tell you that another writer credited was named Mitzie Welch—and I am, I am telling you that—your reaction to the fact that someone named Mitzie was partly responsible would probably go something like, “No, yeah, I kinda figured that, somehow.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, even though George Lucas and Co. ordered that it never be broadcast again, and, further, that it be completely wiped from the Jedi Archives like some kind of cheese-tastic variety-show Kamino, bootleg copies circulated at cons, and inevitably migrated online, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hH8rxarVG8\">as is the way of such things\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Come On, It Can’t Be \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>That \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>Bad\u003c/strong>: It can be, and it is. Except … Well. Okay. If you can hold out for \u003cem>an hour and fifteen minute\u003c/em>s, you’ll come to an oasis of a sketch in which Bea Arthur (you heard me) gets a musical number. She plays the proprietor of the Mos Eisley cantina, and slows the familiar Cantina Band Song way, way down, transforming it into a tune that manages to be at once a German beerhall oompah ditty and a torch song. Seriously, she does that. Because when you hire Bea Arthur, you hire a pro who can commit to the bit, even when the bit in question is this ingloriously shambolic, and yet emerge somehow unscathed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Okay. We have sufficiently immersed ourselves in the dank backwaters of the disavowed past. You’ll want to take a quick shower to get the stink off you. But in the meantime: Onward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong> The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> (2020)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Premiere Date\u003c/strong>: November 17, 2020. A Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Outlet\u003c/strong>: Disney+\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Length\u003c/strong>: 44 minutes! We’ll come back to this!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What It Is\u003c/strong>: Pretty good, is what. I mean, it’s pure fan-service and little more than that, but at the end of the day? I’m a fan, and I’m fine with getting serviced, now and again.\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/-bZxO5Dn9x0'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/-bZxO5Dn9x0'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s trying to be a lot of things at once, admittedly: On the most basic level it’s a straight-up, full-throated holiday special for families, with messages about coming together to celebrate friendship, love, togetherness—the whole schmoopy Hallmark schmear, really.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s also a story that takes characters from the final \u003cem>Star Wars\u003c/em> film trilogy and sends them hopping through pretty much every climactic moment of the Skywalker Saga … and beyond. And it does so while gently satirizing the franchise, in much the same way the many LEGO \u003cem>Star Wars\u003c/em> games do. It even includes references to the 1978 \u003cem>Star Wars Holiday Special\u003c/em>, which, as I trust I have amply illustrated, was a fiasco, stuffed inside a debacle, wrapped in the guy who voiced The Great Gazoo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Stars:\u003c/strong> Within the reality of the special, LEGO versions of Rey, Finn, Poe, Rose, Chewie, Lando, R2-D2 and C-3PO. In our reality, however, the only actors reprising their film roles are Billy Dee Williams, Kelly Marie Tran and (wait for it) Anthony Daniels, who never turns down a gig, and bless him for it. The other characters are voiced by talented sound-alike voice-actors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Plot\u003c/strong>: Rey is training Finn to be a Jedi, while everyone else is preparing a Life Day party aboard the Millennium Falcon. Rey experiences a crisis of confidence in her mentorship abilities and leaves with BB-8 to uncover an artifact that can send her hurtling through time, so as to study other mentor-student relationships across the franchise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If that seems to you like just a flimsy excuse to have Rey meet characters from every Star Wars movie and their spin-offs, pour yourself a blue milk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Main Thing About It, Though\u003c/strong>: It’s pure fan service, yes, but what’s weird is that it’s attempting to service very different sets of fans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Star Wars \u003c/em>fandom isn’t monolithic, after all. Some fans of the original films despise the Abrams-Johnson-Abrams final trilogy, and all of its characters. Foregrounding Rey as much as this special does will likely turn those fans off, and once they see how centrally she now figures in, say, one of the most memorable moments in \u003cem>A New Hope\u003c/em>, well. That’ll send them straight to Reddit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Make no mistake: The fact that it’s all so clearly a joke, a goof, a clever meta-gag in a holiday special for kiddies—that won’t matter to these fans. They’ll be incensed, and they’ll stew, because when this particular subset of fandom is angry is when they feel most themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Me? I belong to the cohort of fans who like the final trilogy just fine, thank you very much. I would have liked it better if \u003cem>The Rise of Skywalker\u003c/em> hadn’t dropped so many threads introduced in \u003cem>The Last Jedi\u003c/em>, so imagine my surprise when \u003cem>The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special\u003c/em>, of all things, started picking them up again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Case in point: Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose. The fact that she gets more lines of dialogue in this silly thing than she did in the entirety of \u003cem>The Rise of Skywalker\u003c/em> is … well, it’s sad, frankly, but I’ll take it, because you know why? More Rose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ditto Rey training Finn—a notion that the films only feinted at, but that here drives the entire plot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some elements unique to the special also work nicely. Its version of Emperor Palpatine, for example, gets the best lines, and his persona is less that of the universe’s greatest and most terrible incarnation of elemental evil, and more that of a vain, insecure, manipulative bully—the ultimate bad boss. Which tracks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How Are The Jokes?\u003c/strong>: Good question. They’re solid, mostly. Not nearly as on point and just plain weird as they were in those first couple Lord and Miller theatrical films, though admittedly that’s a high bar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In terms of the Hit Rate of these jokes and Easter eggs (Life Day eggs, I suppose), I’d put this lower than \u003cem>The LEGO Movie\u003c/em> but a notch or two above \u003cem>The LEGO Ninjago Movie\u003c/em>. You know? Right in there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That impression is certainly bolstered by the fact that \u003cem>The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special\u003c/em> knows not to overstay its welcome. In and out, 44 minutes. Faster than the attack run on the Death Star, and more or less as successful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though would it have killed them to throw us one last bone?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"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.",
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"soldout": {
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"title": "SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America",
"tagline": "A new future for housing",
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