Everything we canât stop loving, hating, and thinking about this week in pop culture.
[Manage newsletters]( [View in browser]( [Image] with Kevin Fallon Everything we canât stop loving, hating, and thinking about this week in pop culture.
This week: - WeCrashed, the 497th tech scam show this month. - An absolutely perfect show we have discovered. No notes. - An absolutely perfect show that was canceled. Many notes. - Lady Gaga wins an award, and it is perfect. - Gabrielle Union speaks against Disney, and is perfect. It Is Time to Do a Scam My whole adult life, I have worked, like a schmuck. Never once did it cross my mind to do a little hustle. Run a little scam. Pull off a little con, channel my inner girlboss, lie to investors, or even bother to figure out what, technically, investors are or how they work. I did my little job for my little bit of money to pay for my little things, like a damn loser. At least thatâs how Iâm starting to feel in the wake of a horrific bullying campaign waged by Hollywood. Series after seriesâ[nearly a half-dozen in the last month](âhave premiered dramatizing with breathless awe the stories of [visionary millionaires and billionaires]( who are mythologized for their big dreams and the financial windfall they made a reality. Sure, they were, overwhelmingly, controversial crooks and frauds in the end. But for a while, they were also, and some still are, filthy rich. Titans of industry. Heroes. Messiahs, even. Some of these people are facing prison time and copious lawsuits. But most of them are just living their lives, rich as all hell, despite getting caught fooling us all. I think at one point we might have thought of this glut of programming as cautionary tales, yet the more of them I see, the more Iâm convinced that theyâre aspirational. Become obscenely wealthy by making it all up as you go? Sounds a little stressful, but fun! I wanna do some swindles. The latest entry in this canon is WeCrashed, the new Apple TV+ series about [WeWork founder Adam Neumann](, his wife Rebekah Neumann, née Paltrow (cousin of [Queen GOOP](), and the [spectacular rise and fall]( of the shared workspace corporation, for which the journey from a $47 billion valuation to near-bankruptcy was so rapid and shocking itâs as if someone had slingshot the company directly into the sun. Itâs one of those truth-is-stranger-than-fiction, canât-make-this-shit-up stories that is so outrageous and unique that it makes perfect sense why someone would want to make a splashy TV show about it. Except for the fact that our society is such that it isnât outrageous or unique at all, to the point that there are so many TV series coming out about similar stories that the reaction to them, at this point, is exhausted apathy instead of the intrigue youâd expect. The story of Anna Delvey, the fake German heiress, was so mind-boggling that none other Shonda Rhimes tried her hand at adapting it [for Netflix with Inventing Anna](. The dramatic explosion of Elizabeth Holmesâ Silicon Valley stardom, detonated by scandal and fraud, is so juicy that there are plans to follow up [Huluâs recent The Dropout]( with a movie about her, this one set to star Jennifer Lawrence. [Netflixâs Bad Vegan]( follows a famous New York restaurateur who stole from employees to finance a lavish lifestyle. [Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber]( made its Showtime debut last month, and will tackle other tech giants in future seasons. And letâs not forget about all the documentaries, too. What person with a Netflix subscription wasnât obsessed [with The Tinder Swindler](? And remember that [recent LuLaRoe moment](, with competing docs vying for our attention? That was reminiscent, too, of the [Fyre Festival documentary]( arms race, with both Netflix and Hulu pushing out their buzzy offerings about that shitshow. And now thereâs WeCrashed, which has some of the juiciest, TV-ready source material, but, premiering after all those other shows, no new perspective to offer on the phenomenon of the disgraced CEO or commentary on how weâve created a culture that fosters such corporate scandals. In fact, its biggest shortcoming is how straightforward it is in its telling, making the gamble to let the storyâs salacious details speak for themselves. Unfortunately, that doesnât impress 2022âs scam-happy viewers. Lying about billions of dollars that were never really there? Honey, weâve seen that. What else you got? What WeCrashed has is Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway in the leading roles, joining the red carpet of A-listers who have signed on to these projects, including Amanda Seyfried (The Dropout), Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Uma Thurman (both of whom are in Super Pumped). Their characters, Adam Neumann and his wife, Rebekah, are, in the grand tradition of these showsâ central figures, absolute weirdos. They are totally bonkers. If thereâs a selling point to WeCrashed, itâs Leto and Hathaway having a blast getting to be so diabolically peculiar. Well, at least Hathaway is having fun. Leto is performing whatever intense facsimile of enjoyment that he is capable of. They get to [mess around with accents]( and voices; Neumann is Israeli-American, a dialect that Leto approximates far more convincingly than his Waluigi impersonation in House of Gucci, while Hathaway lowers her voice to that woo-woo yogi register that wellness enthusiasts love to employ. Neumann was a striking presence, at 6-foot-5 with envy-inducing long hair and a propensity for walking around barefoot. He mystified people with his fawning speeches, typically served as a finely-chopped buzzword salad that was ultimately meaningless. Rebekah saw opportunity in the way people admired him, and encouraged not just the expansion of WeWork to dorm living and private schools for children, but into a spiritual and enlightenment space in which they could both share the spotlight. Their enigmatic love story is the backbone of WeCrashed. Itâs when the series diverges from that and goes back to the whole business aspect of things that things revert to feeling uninspired. Iâm not sure what there still is to say about these people. Each of the series hits the same notes, the same beats, and the same references. Did you know that Steve Jobs started Apple in a garage? I did, because all 47 of these shows mention it. (Seyfried as Holmes even has a poster of Jobs on her bedroom wall where a teen idol would be.) All of these characters are driven by delusion and entitlement as much as they are by deep conviction in their ideas. Take a shot every time someone uses the word âdisrupt,â and down your drink any time a companyâs finances are fudged. Thereâs a documentary about WeWork [called WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn]( that, at a quarter of WeCrashedâs running length, is much more worth your time. In it, journalist Derek Thompson says, âIt was a period where you were rewarded if you could articulate a vision of your company that wasnât just going to make money, it was going to change the world.â Turns out not everyone is equipped to do that, though theyâll certainly run with the flattery if given the chance. âIf you tell a thirtysomething male that heâs Jesus Christ, heâs inclined to believe you,â one business professor says in the film. And therein lies my bitterness when it comes to these shows. Why isnât anyone telling me Iâm Jesus Christ? Not only do I often replace the water I should be drinking with lots of wine, but I would like to be very rich and donât mind fooling some people in suits into thinking I can change the worldâthough I absolutely could notâin exchange for some checks. Some critics of this genre are put off by the way the narratives unfold. You watch these CEOs build their companies from the ground-up against all odds, so that when they become desperate enough to lie and defraud, you almost hope they pull it off. I donât necessarily root for it so much as Iâm perhaps jealous of it. I guess thatâs my takeaway from these series. Itâs time to do some scams. I Present to You Is It Cake?, the Next Television Masterpiece This week, like every week lately, was overwhelming. Weâre humans. We feel deeply. We need to unwind. And, as we all know, watching TV is self-care. You can keep your meditations, your healthy snacks, and your argument that exercising helps clear the mind. None of that holds a candle to eating a bag of chips in the corner of your couch while watching several hours of television. You can trust me on this. Few experts are as experienced in this particular practice. As a leading mind in this field, I can tell you there are different levels to unwinding. Sometimes, catching up on the [Oscar-nominated drama]( you missed hits the spot. Fulfilling. Cultured. Yay! Sometimes you need something more formulaic, like a good [episode of Law & Order: SVU](. There are times when you need a good distraction, for example a [Real Housewives]( or a [Bachelor](. And other times you need to watch something so mind-numbingly dumb that it hypnotizes you into turning your brain off completely. Allow me, then, to recommend the new Netflix series, Is It Cake? Several times an episode, the series asks the question, âIs it cake?â Two bowling balls appear identical, but one, inexplicably, is a baked dessert. Time to cut into both and ask, âIs it cake?â Panelists are brought on to judge. There are several cheeseburgers on pedestals. One is not beef. It is cake. How do we learn which it is? We cut into them all and ask each time, âIs it cake?â Often, these judges are in disbelief. âWait, one of these is cake?!!!?â Yes. That is literally what this show is. We ask, âIs it cake,â until we cut into the one that is. There is something so refreshing, perhaps even inspired, about something as pure and base-level as this. Nothing is overcomplicated. There is no loftier commentary or ambition here. There was simply a viral meme recently, in which talented bakers made everyday objects that looked like the real thing, only to blow peopleâs minds when it was revealed that it was actually cake. It played on the element of surprise, as well as, perhaps, peopleâs lingering trust issues. âThatâs a shoe. What is that person doing using a knife to cut into that shoe? What! Itâs not a shoe!? Itâs cake!? Wow.â Someone thought, letâs make a show about this. And thatâs what we have. We have Is This Cake? I will watch every episode. I Canât Believe My Best Friends Are Gone I have been in mourning all week. Only now do I feel strong enough to break my silence and speak on this heartbreak, pain, and extreme injustice. If you havenât heard, we lost one of the best among us this week. Pour out some lemonade, because Netflix has [canceled The Baby-Sitters Club]( after two seasons. I am bereft. [This was a perfect show](. This is me right now to every person who was involved in making it: Inspired by Ann M. Martinâs popular book series, it brilliantly filled a niche thatâs long been ignored: âstories about preteen girls that donât oversexualize or infantilize them,â as [Vultureâs Kathryn Vanarendonk wrote](. Vanarendonk interviewed The Baby-Sitters Club showrunner Rachel Shukert about the cancellation, what it means to have Netflix say âthis is a series we donât want to make more of,â and why people responded to the series in the first place. âIt seems like girls are expected to go straight from Doc McStuffins to Euphoria,â she says. Short of new episodes of the seriesâthe fact that we never got a Mallory episode is a crimeâthis interview is the best way for fans to process the news. [Read it here](. Letâs All Cry With Lady Gaga We have been writing about the 2022 awards season for what seems like three years, which does not make sense according to the laws of space and time but does feel accurate. Maybe it has to do with this daylight saving time drama everyone keeps debating, which I refuse to understand or have an opinion about. In any case, itâs almost done! One of the last precursor ceremonies before Sundayâs Oscars took place this week, the New York Film Critics Circle Awards, the only group with enough taste to give Lady Gaga the trophy for Best Actress. ([Still not over her Oscar snub](.) It turns out that, from an entertainment perspective, itâs a brilliant move to give Lady Gaga an award. Her speech was sensational. It was everything you wanted it to be. She mentioned that she was Italian roughly 93 times, as if on a dare, as well as, at one point, bringing up meatballs. But it was also quite emotional, with a lovely tribute to the strong women in her life, and also contained this line, which I loved: âThese women taught me how to have big feelings in a manâs world, and that having big feelings is beautiful.â Representation for the Big Feelings Community! [Watch the speech here](. Itâs lovely. In a Twist, Good Things Happened at an Award Show Actress and producer Gabrielle Union, who stars in Disney+âs Cheaper By the Dozen and is stepmother to a trans child, might have seemed to be in an impossible position when she was asked about the [Disney âDonât Say Gayâ bill controversy]( at the red carpet for the film. But her response, in my opinion, was perfect. âSomebody asked me, âAre you disappointed?â Iâm disappointed when my order isnât right at In-N-Out,â [she said](. âI donât even think thatâs a word that you could use for something like this, where childrenâs lives are literally hanging in the balance. We need to own that if you truly are taking stands against hate and oppression, you should not fund hate and oppression. Period. The damage is done.â Life & Beth: Amy Schumerâs semi-autobiographical show will have you seeing her in a new light. (Fri. on Hulu) American Song Contest: Kelly Clarkson hosting a TV series is my Bat-Signal. (Mon. on NBC) Atlanta: It feels like weâve lived seven lifetimes since this show last aired. Itâs finally back. (Thurs. on FX) Deep Water: I could have sworn that erotic thrillers were supposed to be erotic and/or thrilling. (Fri. on Netflix) WeCrashed: I think we could all use a little Jared Leto break. (Fri. on Apple TV+) Advertisement
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