Content Consumed: Always Sunny’s new season, Niall Horan’s new album, and more
Hey, folks! I hope you’re having a good Monday. In today’s edition of Content Consumed, we’re talking about:
🍀 It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia sticks to the formula with Season 16
🎧 Niall Horan’s new album The Show is so sweet
🎯 Read of the week: What about American literature set in Russia?
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Same old, same old (and I love it)
There’s something to be said for consistency and comfort. Especially when it comes to favorite television shows.
Why would I want Always Sunny to do something totally new and original when they have a formula that works?
Sunny is back with Season 16, with two new episodes airing last week. There are changes, sure, from earlier seasons. After all, we’re looking at actors in their mid-forties who started making this show in their mid-twenties. One of the funnier bits of commentary I saw on this topic was someone who tweeted something along the lines of: “Rob McIlhenney is so rich, ripped, and famous now that Mac looks like… Hollywood Mac.”
But for the most part, these characters haven’t changed. Charlie and Frank are still co-dependent, even after Charlie found his real (now dead) father in Ireland last season. Dee is delusional, Dennis is psychopathic, and Mac is… I don’t really know. Mac is an entirely different character than he was in the first five-or-so seasons, and that’s something viewers have to accept.
In the season premiere, we’ve got a classic Sunny-style scheme—selling inflatable furniture. Some bits go too far, like Dee gluing her hand to stuff. Then in the second episode, gun fever’s still too hot and Frank ends up shooting everyone. Another classic Sunny plot.
So, yeah: nothing surprising here. Just as I had hoped. Enough laugh-out-loud moments to make any Sunny fan happy.
Niall Horan’s new album could be cringe—but it’s sweet
Welcome to The Show. That’s the name of One Direction’s cheeky Irish member Niall Horan’s new album. It’s his third solo album since 1D, and critics agree that it’s the best of the three.
It’s only 30 minutes long with 10 tracks total. A slow swooning song or two, of course. But mostly fun, consistent bops.
Not as powerful or as unique as Harry Styles’ best, of course (and yeah, it’s unfortunate that Niall will never be able to escape comparisons to other 1D bandmates like superstar Harry). Lovey-dovey, loose singer-songwriter pop. Niall has an easy voice that adapts to whatever rhythm he’s given.
It’s all so sweet! He’s just a charming lad with lots of love to give and an actual passion for his music. My favorites from the album: “Heaven”, the first track and the most blissed-out, and “Meltdown”, a romantic indie track with a catchy-as-hell chorus.
Read of the week: How do we handle new Russian literature and art?
Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert just pulled her new novel from production indefinitely.
Why? Because the book is set in Russia. 20th-century Siberia, more specifically, following a Russian family that has removed themselves from society in the 1930s to try to resist the Soviet government.
“I have received an enormous, massive outpouring of reactions and responses from my Ukrainian readers,” Gilbert said in a video posted on Instagram, “expressing anger, sorrow, disappointment and pain about the fact that I would choose to release a book into the world right now — any book, no matter what the subject of it is — that is set in Russia.”
In my personal opinion, this feels absurd. If the book is not actively promoting the current Russian government, its values, and the war in Ukraine… I don’t understand the issue.
Thus, the question posed: how do we handle Russian art and literature as the war in Ukraine rages on? The answer can’t be bombarding authors like Gilbert with one-star Goodreads reviews.
Read on about the debate here.
And that’s it for today! Thanks for reading!
Cheers,
Casey
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