It’s going to be OK.

by Therese Odell, posted in Uncategorized

It’s Wednesday, January 20, 2021, and Joe Biden is the 46th President of the United States.

Joe Biden is the President, Kamala Harris is the Vice President — the first woman, the first Black person, the first Asian person to hold the office, and you guys, I am an emotional mess, in an entirely good way.

As soon as Kamala Harris began taking her oath of office, the tears started flowing, and they did not stop until after Biden had taken his oath. I cried, overwhelmed by Harris’ historic moment and this moment for all women, but mostly I cried out of relief. The past four years have been so unimaginably hard, and now we are on the other side, but without 400,000 of our fellow Americans.

The inauguration itself was a lovely, inspiring event. Lady Gaga sang the National Anthem beautifully and made a clear reference to the siege of the Capitol — and its abject failure; Jennifer Lopez, a Latina, sang “This Land is Your Land,” a poignant and symbolic choice; Garth Brooks sang “Amazing Grace,” and Amanda Gorman, the 22-year-old poet laureate with Presidential ambitions of her own, read a powerful poem she finished following the events of January 6.

We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it,

Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.

And this effort very nearly succeeded.

But while democracy can be periodically delayed,

It can never be permanently defeated.

Finally, President Biden gave a beautiful, personal speech, reminding us that “democracy has prevailed” and urging America to come back together to conquer the many challenges — the virus, economic disruptions, fake news, fucking racist fascists who are infected with brain worms — that we must confront. “To overcome these challenges, to restore the soul and secure the future of America, requires so much more than words and requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy: unity.”

Today, I removed the Biden/Harris sign from my front yard, 78 days after Election Day had come and gone. We originally had two signs — if you look carefully in the bottom left of the photo above, you will see two thin metal wires where a sign once was until some neighbor, petulant about Trump’s loss, took it. It was a small thing, just a sign, and I wasn’t that upset, frankly. But it is also why I left the other sign up for so long: to serve as a reminder of reality. You can steal my sign, but your guy still lost in an honest, fair, democratic process, and nothing — not even an unprecedented act of violence against our government — was going to change that. Let’s hope that after today, my neighbor and the 74 million other Americans who voted for Trump will get over their anger, reject the divisiveness that they’ve been fed for the past four years, and join the rest of us in reality.

I’m hopeful. It might be naive, but I feel hopeful for the first time in four years.

Going Viral

With over 400,000 Americans dead, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris paid tribute yesterday at the Lincoln Memorial, illuminating 400 lights, each representing over 1,000 deaths. It was simple, it was beautiful, and it was cathartic.

And one of the first executive orders that President Biden will sign today will “require masks on federal property, renew emphasis on biodefense and reengage with other nations trying to conquer the global health crisis.” It feels so good to have a serious grown-up in charge.

Here in Texas, the numbers are beginning to spiral out of control, notably in the border cities. We’re averaging somewhere around 20,000 new cases every day, and we’re third in total deaths, behind New York and California.

Al Roker received the vaccine on The Today Show yesterday.

Disney’s Chairman, Bob Iger, and CEO Bob Chapek took home less money last year for some reason. You should definitely feel bad that Iger only made $21 million last year, instead of the $47 million he made the year before.

The reason there was no new This Is Us episode this week: COVID-related production delays.

Here’s the weirdest COVID headline I’ve seen yet: “Australian Open players in quarantine accused of feeding mice in their hotel rooms.”

All Other TV News

Don’t lose any sleep over Netflix having to compete with all these new streaming services: they just topped their 200 millionth subscriber.

In other Netflix news: the “shuffle play” feature will launch sometime later this year for you sociopaths who just want to put what you watch in the hands of A.I. This is how the Terminator begins, FYI.

Netflix is having to fight porn sites that are illegally stealing Bridgerton‘s sex scenes. I mean, I think that says a lot about the steaminess of the sex scenes — if you were wondering.

Country star Eric Church and R&B singer Jazmine Sullivan will sing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl, and H.E.R. will sing “America the Beautiful.”

The Euphoria special, “Fuck Anyone Who’s Not A Sea Blob,” is going to premiere early on HBO Max. It will debut there on Friday, and air on HBO on Sunday.

Well, this is horrific: Ariel Robinson, who won Worst Cooks in America back in August, has been charged with killing a child.

Renewals

Cancellations

In Development

Casting News

Mark Your Calendars

  • Pixar Popcorn will debut on Disney+ on Friday.
  • Axios will return on HBO on January 31.
  • Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready returns on Netflix on February 2.
  • Possessions will debut on HBO Max on January 28.
  • Nadiya Bakes will debut on Netflix on February 12.
  • Bucket List will premiere on Crackle on February 1.

R.I.P.

Don Sutton, Hall of Fame pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers

Anthony Rhulen, Founder and CEO of FilmEngine Entertainment

Harry Brandt, Model and son of supermodel Stephanie Seymour

WATCH THIS

The Inauguration: The big three networks will all host news specials looking back at Joe Biden’s inauguration earlier in the day. 7 p.m., ABC, CBS, NBC

Celebrating America: Tom Hanks hosts a special celebrating the inauguration of Joe Biden and finally moving past the darkest chapter in American history in my lifetime. Performances by Bruce Springsteen, Foo Fighters, and John Legend. 8 p.m., ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC

Riverdale: Betty and Jughead’s investigation leads them to an underground for red-band screenings. Hey, remember this whole plotline from last season which had to just be up and abandoned because of a global pandemic? Yeah. Season premiere.  7 p.m., The CW

Nancy Drew: Nancy and her friends are still reeling from seeing visions of their deaths in the season premiere. 8 p.m., The CW

Late Night:

  • Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Martin Scorsese, Fran Lebowitz, Hunter Schafer, Playboi Carti
  • Late Night with Seth Meyers: Chris Hayes
  • The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Jon Lovett, Jon Favreau, Tommy Vietor, Peter CottonTale, Chance the Rapper, Cynthia Erivo, the Chicago Children’s Choir, Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, Kofi Lost
  • The Late Late Show with James Corden: Dakota Johnson, AJR
  • Jimmy Kimmel Live: John Oliver
  • The Daily Show: The Daily Social Distancing Show
  • Conan: Max Greenfield
  • Watch What Happens Live: Meredith Marks, Heather Gay
  • A Little Late with Lily Singh: Karamo Brown

WEDS. 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC The Inauguration of Joseph R. Biden
(new)		 Celebrating America
(new)		 The Conners
(new)		 Call Your Mother
(new)
CBS One Nation: Indivisible
(new)		 Celebrating America
(new)		 Magnum P.I.
(repeat)
CW Riverdale
(new)		 Nancy Drew
(new)		 Local
FOX The Masked Dancer
(new)		 Name That Tune
(new)		 News/Local
NBC The Inauguration of Joseph R. Biden
(new)		 Celebrating America
(new)		 Chicago P.D.
(repeat)

One thought on “It’s going to be OK.”

  1. I teared up a bit. Our daughter is about to be two and the word we brought her into was not what I had hoped. I felt a little of that light come back into the country today.

    Then I saw a bunch of posts of QAnon whacks finally putting it together that they had been hoodwinked and it was a delicious cherry on top.

    Reply

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