A Year Of Shifting Enthusiasms

Plus: Harry and Meghan, WandaVision, and What's Making Us Happy by Linda Holmes Welcome! It was the week when a lot of us marked a year since we stopped going out. It was the week when Hollywood was told, again, that inclusive programming is not only good work [but good business](. And it was the week when the beloved Grey's Anatomy started signaling that it might -- might -- [be drawing to a close](. Let's get to it. Opening Argument: A Year Of Shifting Enthusiasms In July of 2020, I watched The Firm. You know, the 1993 Tom Cruise movie that came during not only Peak Tom Cruise but also Peak John Grisham? I enjoyed the way Cruise jumped out the window into a truck full of fluffy cotton, and how he beat Wilford Brimley unconscious with a briefcase. But I did not stop there. I watched The Rainmaker and The Pelican Brief and The Client (both Grishams), and Sneakers and The Fugitive and other movies I referred to as "trenchcoat thrillers." I went through another phase where I listened to Rachel Maddow's podcast Bag Man and the Watergate season of Slow Burn, and then I watched All The President's Men (again) and a big documentary series about Watergate. For maybe a week or two, I only wanted Watergate content. All the Watergate content I could lay hands on. There was the eat-the-rich documentary phase: Sour Grapes about wine fraud, various Alex Gibney documentaries about terrible people taking other people's money, and several movies about art fraud (and this was before Netflix's recent Made You Look). For a while, there were only heist/caper movies of all different kinds: To Catch A Thief, How To Steal A Million, Ocean's Eleven (again), The Sting, Inside Man. Generally defined thrillers for a while: Panic Room (which is great, and which I'd never watched), The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three (ditto), Presumed Innocent (which I hadn't seen in ages). I read 12 novels in two weeks at one point. I watched and listened to all the NXIVM stuff I could find that seemed to be well made around the time of The Vow. Other work about cults. Other work about how people come to believe in things. Some solid true-crime podcasts, which led me to some sensational true-crime podcasts that I started to feel not-great about listening to. I consumed some of the same Netflix stuff a lot of other people did, sometimes happily and sometimes not: Tiger King, Bridgerton, Firefly Lane, Ratched, The Queen's Gambit. I rewatched, too. I rewatched a bunch of Breaking Bad. Most of 30 Rock. All of Veep -- twice. I notice I steered well away from contemporary politics. Nixon, yes. 2020 ... no. Nothing about medicine. Nothing about doctors. Nothing about sickness. I knew people who threw themselves at Contagion and then at documentaries about COVID; I ran the other way like I had seen a ghost. It's been a year. There are lots of diaries and lots of milestones: a year since my last work day, my last hug, my last time in a friend's house, the last human being I touched who wasn't a doctor. But this is as good a reminder as any that while it doesn't necessarily feel like a year has passed, and while this is certainly not the only stuff I did -- I wrote, I worked, I baked, I walked the dog, I talked over the back fence to my neighbor, I built shelves and got my first Christmas tree -- I did pass that time. It was spring and then summer and then fall and winter and now it's going to be spring again. It's been a year. --------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter continues after sponsor message --------------------------------------------------------------- We Recommend: I will not tell you that Megan Nolan's novel Acts Of Desperation is a happy book; it is not a happy book. It is, however, a bracing portrait of a woman who finds herself repeating the patterns of a toxic relationship, and if you've ever been curious about the interior monologue of someone who seems driven to self-destruct, you might find it very interesting. My buddy Alan Sepinwall's podcast Too Long, Didn't Watch wrapped up its first season this week with [Paul Scheer watching (only) the first and last episodes]( of Dexter and trying to make sense of it. It's such a funny, odd concept for a show, and this is one of my favorite installments -- not surprising, since this is right in Scheer's How Did This Get Made? wheelhouse. I cooked this week out of the cookbook Indian-ish, by food writer (and past PCHH guest) Priya Krishna. Highly recommended for the good food and Priya's lively, readable style. What We Did This Week: [PCHH wandavision image]( Marvel Studios/Disney A reminder: We are doing a show about the best Muppets, and we need you to vote for which Muppet you think is best. (You can vote for up to three.) Find the poll at [npr.org/muppets](. (Obviously.) The poll will close Tuesday at 5 PM Eastern, so get ... Muppeting! Just as last week was a super-busy week, this was a little bit quieter week. Sunday night was all about Oprah's conversation with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, which I [wrote a little bit about]( and [talked about with Ari Shapiro]( on All Things Considered. Of course, we were still all talking about WandaVision on Monday, and Glen and I [had ourselves a conversation]( about it. You can also still [read my review]( or check out another take [from our friend Eric Deggans](. On Tuesday's show, we were delighted to welcome Soraya Nadia McDonald, who [talked to Aisha about Delroy Lindo]( for the second installment of our Essentials series. On Wednesday's show, I welcomed new panelist Ella Cerón and good pal Daisy Rosario [to talk about the very overstuffed Netflix series]( Ginny & Georgia. Thursday's episode [was an encore]( of the 2018 talk Stephen, Glen and I had with our friend Jesse Thorn about Antiques Roadshow. On our Friday show, Glen talks to Marissa Lorusso, E. Alex Jung, and brand new panelist Tre'vell Anderson (of FANTI!) [about the evolution of RuPaul's Drag Race](. For the music-minded among you: [Stephen talked to Bob Boilen]( over at All Songs Considered about the upcoming South By Southwest music festival. And yes -- it's virtual, but it's happening. What's Making Us Happy: Every week on the show, we talk about some other things out in the world that have been giving us joy lately. Here they are: - What's making Marissa happy: ["Be Sweet" by Japanese Breakfast]( - What's making Alex happy: [The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel]( - What's making Tre'vell happy: [The TS Madison Experience]( - What's making Glen happy: [True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee by Abraham Riesman]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Stream your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. --------------------------------------------------------------- What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: [pchh@npr.org](mailto:pchh@npr.org?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback) Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can [sign up here](. Looking for more great content? [Check out all of our newsletter offerings]( — including Music, Books, Daily News and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to Pop Culture Happy Hour emails. 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