Pop Culture Mondays/12.13.21
The “BIG IS DEAD BIG IS ALIVE!” Edition
Guys…HAPPY MONDAY. I honestly have had fever dreams the last few days ever since I saw the reboot of “Sex and the City” and I thought maybe I had COVID (I don’t) or perhaps the nerves of the impending holidays (no no I cannot wait for my presents and the food) or perhaps it was the ribs I actually broke this weekend (long story) but NOPE I really think that I am LOSING my mind thinking about all the middle-aged female characters who have been written by middle-aged white dudes and I am DONE and I think I may have broken so we will get to that but sorry PCM is late today…those damn broken ribs are really a downer. ANYWAY, as a reminder…PCM is bringing you the news/trends/viral moments you’re too embarrassed to ask about or too embarrassed to admit you KNOW about. Either way, it is chaos and fun all wrapped into one which is the best way to live tbh.
We are and always Trump-free and free of his crazy zany gun-toting disciples who have more bullets than they do IQ…by a LOT.
So grab your headphones and enjoy…BUT this is a different kind of PCM…we go deep into one post that ebbs and flows into multiple stories….
XO,
Brooke
AND JUST LIKE THAT….I DIED INSIDE:
OK, so you probably have heard SOMETHING about the drama around the Sex and the City reboot called “And Just Like That”. If you are an avid reader of PCM, you likely know more about this than you do your own children but let’s just give a quick little Cliff Notes version in case there are some who have missed this.
The ICONIC show “Sex and the City” which is the music I always always hear when you hear that HBO opening music (some here Sopranos, some here Game of Thrones…but my people? We hear SATC.) I mean…you KNOW;
This was the show we graduated into. Meaning we went from “Beverly Hills 90210” (DONNA MARTIN GRADUATES) to “Melrose Place” (DO NOT DENY THIS) to the then EVER COOL ladies of NYC. And let me be clear…I got into PR, I lived in the West Village, I spent my paycheck on Manolo Blahniks, I slept with ridiculous men SOME who even appeared on that show at some point. My girlfriends and I drank martinis and BRUNCHED and had highlights and we balked at some of Carrie’s style choices, we rooted for Charlotte to find love and family and we respected the FUCK out of Miranda, the high powered lawyer… and then SAMANTHA…she was the one who always had the wisdom, the sense of humor….the one SO many of us could relate to the most.
So here we are almost 20 years later. The women are a few years older than me. I am excited to find my ladies in this stage of life. We all heard the news that Samatha was not returning and were saddened to see the personal drama pour out into public (click here) but we were still excited. I was excited.
SPOILERS so skip the rest of you really have no idea.
The show depicted these vibrant and smart and strong women as….out of touch, vain, vapid, and in some cases alcoholic Karens who instead of being in their 50s were somewhere north of 100. And that’s not being fair to icons like Betty White who in her 90s is more with it and ON it than these ladies were. The show had been blasted for being SO white back in the day…but let’s also celebrate it for what it WAS: a show that allowed women to have sexual independence and talk openly about sex and sexuality and their bodies and their struggles and their dramas as it related to all the above. And somehow the show that we were served this past week had none of that. And you take MIRANDA, the LAWYER who was brilliant and educated and high powered and you make her into a buffoon who does not how to engage with people of color? You have Carrie Bradshaw, who told us openly about her boyfriend peeing on her in the shower, not able to talk about masturbation? And you have Charlotte demanding her daughters wear $4500 Oscar de la Renta dresses to a school piano recital? And the only sex we DID get was Miranda’s teenage son Brady BANGING his teenage girlfriend in the bedroom next to his parents but that's ok they have HEARING AIDS NOW.
I die.
Samantha’s absence was catastrophic. The excuse for her being gone was catty and not believable. This series takes place in a COVID world vs ignoring it like Succession wisely has, so they could have made that the storyline for Samantha. She had COVID or was super locked down because of her medical history…be compassionate but instead turned her into a vengeful greedy mean girl? NO.
And then every main character got a person of color friend…to make up for the lack of color before but it was like again…so forced. The NYT called it the “RACIAL BECHDEL Test” and they failed…meaning there were people of color but not with their own storylines but there primarily to fuel the main character’s story arcs.
AND THEN BIG. BIG DIES ON A PELOTON.
Look, I had just had open-heart surgery. They literally cut me open and had me on a heart and lung machine for 11 hours whilst repairing and replacing my aorta and my valve. PART of my recovery and rebound is because of exercise and PELOTON but I cannot lie, I was like OH HELL NO maybe I will never ride again. OK, so enough of me. Rather than my take…let’s see how the socials took to it. AND YES, I will watch every episode. And yes I heard from many people who liked the show THOUGH I will be honest, most of them were gay men and that makes sense. WHILE I know the show had female writers, this felt like it was guided by a man…the same man who created “Emily in Paris”…another show that’s like HUH?? SO…let’s have some shows about women made by WOMEN.
(OH WAIT…HBO HAS THIS with what I think is the BEST show on television right now and that is “SEX LIVE OF COLLEGE GIRLS”. In fact, before we get into the SATC commentary, let's clean our palette with this trailer and if you have not watched this show you must watch this show. And even if they call out BABY YODA as being so passe…I love them.
And PS…I have a new CHALAMET obsession and that is his sister, Pauline, one of the stars of this show. I LOVE HER.
OK, so let’s get to the dark stuff:
AND AS FOR OUR TINX who OBVIOUSLY said it best on Miranda:
OK, now let’s move on to Peloton:
Things got SO bad, Peloton had to issue a statement:
It got dark. DARK. BUT THEN…then there was light and I have NO idea what the backstory was…was this Peloton marketing? Let’s be clear…this is not their first foray into drama. From a marketing perspective, we had Peloton wife back in 2019 (3 FUCKING YEARS AGO HUH HOW???) you MIGHT remember (click here) the marketing genius behind that? BUT, that was not Peloton genius…that was RYAN REYNOLDS who jumped in and turned into a BIG moment for his gin company.
This time around it was Pelton. BUT maybe WITH Ryan Reynolds’ help? Whatever it was, in 48 hours they turned CRISIS into GENIUS and that is some brilliant marketing moves right there so BRAVO to all involved from Peloton to the instructor to Mr. Big to Ryan Reynolds voice…
#HESALIVE. It gives me chills. I loved this so much. It also made me really really want to know how it all went down like Chris Noth agreeing to it is GENIUS. God, this was all worth it tbh.
Look…you can’t win them all the time. I still think HBOMax is killing it. “Succession”?? I mean the best finale ever. And “Sex Life of College Girls” are just a couple of the amazing shows they are behind so congrats to that. (Though if you notice, no one is up in arms about “Succession” being so white and heterosexual are they? ARE THEY? NOPE.)
OK…and HERE we are…this is a story that just keeps turning into other stories LIKE I SAID IT WOULD. Speaking of “Succession”, you MAY have heard about the NEW YORKER profile of Jeremy Strong, the actor who plays Kendall Roy. You may NOT have read it? Read it. Then read it again. (YOU should MOST def subscribe to the New Yorker btw.)
So, look I don't totally disagree. I don't think of “Succession as a straight-up comedy. I don't think of it as a straight-up tragedy. It is a drama with humor…some dark humor, some light humor…but humor nonetheless. But the profile DOES make Jeremy Strong out as humorless…at least in this setting. And that seems HARD on the cast. (AGAIN, this is the take I get from reading the profile though many have said this is an unfair account.) Apparently, he makes method acting seem cute and quaint..he takes it to another level. His inspo is Daniel Day-Lewis but listen my man…I lived next door to Daniel Day-Lewis in NY and I would see him sit in the back of his townhouse with his porkpie hat and he would be deep into the thoughtful reading of a book and the man was BURNED OUT from all that methody method acting that he has QUIT acting and is a cobbler now…a cobbler who wears a porkpie hat.
But this profile made me watch this last show of the season with a totally different lens. I mean it only added to the show, but I couldn't help but wonder…how do they all get along IRL? But some stars came to his defense because at the end of the day some people saw the profile as nuanced…and others saw it as mean.
And for the last thoughts on this, I agree with this:
For more on SATC reboot:
AND JUST A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS (AND SOME DESPICABLE ONES TOO…)
I am not going to lie…that was exhausting. SO many twists and turns. And all about TV SHOWS! A few others things were talked about this past eek so quickly quickly here you go!
- BING BONG? OK it’s a long long story so read the link after I post the videos of where this viral trend came from. But in a nutshell its an ongoing thing on Sidetalk which is an Insta series. but here we have a crossover into TikTok that took TikTok by storm Her is the OG:
Here are some takes:
AND here is the origin story…I need an Adderall to get thru it tbh.
- This review of a Michelin restaurant, the ONLY Michelin-rated restaurant in this region of Italy, Lecce, is WILD. I mean WILD.
AND then follow this Tweet stream from the writer showcasing the Chef’s response:
- Are BIRDS NOT REAL?? Taylor Lorenz explores this viral phenom and it is worth the ride! Here she is explaining it:
And here is the must-read story:
- And lastly, my fave trend on TikTok at the moment:
THAT IS IT my darlings.
I hope you are ALL caught up but of course, lmk if you have any questions!! Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/brooke and COME AT ME!
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