I guess … I guess we just talk about TV stuff now?

by Therese Odell, posted in Uncategorized

It’s Thursday, and I don’t know if you still need cute animals now that we have adults running things again, but this stoat — he represents how I’m feeling right now:

Political Crap

Let’s talk.

You might have noticed yesterday that I, for the most part, avoided all discussion of Donald Trump. I wanted yesterday to be about President Biden and Vice President Harris and their historic moment, and I didn’t want to talk about the “witless ape’s” graceless exit from the White House, I didn’t want to talk about his pardons (SORRY, JOE EXOTIC), I didn’t even want to talk about the countless crying Qanoners who were left stunned that their fantasies about Donald Trump mass-arresting child-eating Democrats on the inaugural stage didn’t actually come true yesterday. I didn’t want any of his disgusting orange stain tainting what was a happy moment, a day when we could all collectively breathe long and deep, knowing that things were going to be set straight again.

Did I leap out of bed yesterday so that I could watch him fly away from the White House and watch his criminal children weep because the grift is over and Daddy didn’t pardon any of them? OH ABSOLUTELY.

INJECT THAT SHIT STRAIGHT INTO MY VEINS.

But he’s gone now, and I have to figure out going forward how politics will play into this blog.

I started FoolishWatcher as purely a TV blog — a place to put my recaps, recommendations, and some TV news. But then Donald Trump, a reality TV game show host and culture warrior, was elected President of the United States and he barged into my space. It was impossible to NOT write about him when he was busily attacking the free press, threatening to use the government against TV networks he was displeased with, starting wars with the NFL and NASCAR for attempting to be sensitive to racial issues, and screaming grievances about everyone form Morning Joe to Saturday Night Live. I couldn’t NOT write about him as long as I was writing about television because he just wouldn’t stay out of television news.

I suspect this won’t be as much of a problem with President Biden and Vice President Harris. And while it’s undeniably true that I am aligned with their politics and therefore less inclined to criticize them the way that I went after President Dumpster Fire, the truth is, I just don’t expect them to be making as much television news in the coming four years. Why would they when they have their hands full with cleaning up the mess the former Vulgarian-in-Chief left behind?

I could be wrong! President Biden might decide to start a fight with the ladies of The View and attack This is Us for being set in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh instead of his hometown of Scranton. But it’s highly unlikely.

And so, with a sense of great relief, I anticipate backing away from the political a little bit. There will certainly still be some news here and there: Fox News and its stable of monsters still exist, and they are still spinning insane conspiracy theories and trying to make trouble for the incoming administration. And there are questions about Trump’s future: maybe he’ll start his own party, maybe he’ll spend every morning calling in to Fox & Friends to go on endless tirades, maybe he’ll start his own news network as a way to worm his way back into all of our lives and suck attention away from the actual President. But I doubt politics will be the daily drumbeat here the way it had been when President Arrest Him Already was in the office.

That said, I hope those of you who came here for my daily rants about Trump will stick around for TV news and gossip. It might not be as loud or cathartic, but it will be a hell of a lot less exhausting, I promise.

Going Viral

One year ago today, America reported its first COVID case. Yesterday marked the highest number of deaths from COVID in the United States. According to The COVID Tracking Project, 4,409 people died.

President Biden reinstated America’s ties to the World Health Organization — THANK GOD — and Dr. Fauci has already told them that we stand ready to tackle this pandemic with the rest of the world. WHY WAS THIS SO HARD?

Biden also signed executive orders to outline a federal response to the virus and vaccine.

Biden advisers said they were stunned by the vaccination plan — or the lack of one — that it inherited from the Trump administration, and said the Trump team failed to share crucial information about supplies and vaccine availability.

“What we’re inheriting is so much worse than we could have imagined,” said Jeff Zients, the new White House Covid-19 response coordinator, adding, “The cooperation or lack of cooperation from the Trump administration has been an impediment. We don’t have the visibility that we would hope to have into supply and allocations.”

The Biden team said it had identified 12 “immediate supply shortfalls” that were critical to the pandemic response, including N95 surgical masks and isolation gowns, as well as swabs, reagents and pipettes used in testing — deficiencies that have dogged the nation for nearly a year. Jen Psaki, the new White House press secretary, told reporters on Wednesday evening that Mr. Biden “absolutely remains committed” to invoking the Defense Production Act, a Korean War-era law, to bolster supplies.

WHY, AGAIN, WAS THIS SO HARD?

Interesting: Amazon has sent a letter to President Biden offering to help with the vaccine rollout however they can. While this is helpful, it’s not going to go over well with the crazies.

Arnold Schwarzenegger received the vaccine at Dodger Stadium yesterday and had a very intelligent response to anti-vaxxers’ bullshit.

The Glastonbury Festival has been canceled for the second year in a row.

The Television Academy is indicating that all “For Your Consideration” events will be virtual this year, suggesting they aren’t expecting things to be entirely back to normal by the late summer.

This is interesting data on how the virus has impacted the cost of apartments across the country. If you can work from anywhere, why would you pay exorbitant rent to live in an excessively expensive city?

All Other TV News

A few more TV-related inauguration stories from yesterday:

Al Roker went on a Wawa run to get snacks to try to lure President Joe over during the parade, and y’all! It worked! Al Roker got a fist bump from President Biden yesterday, just like he did in 2013 and it was such a pure moment!

Either The Simpsons predicted what Vice President Kamala Harris would wear while being sworn in or Vice President Harris’ designer (Christopher John Rogers who is a graduate of the art college where my son is currently studying #mombrag) was inspired by Lisa Simpson. I guess we’ll never know.

TCM ran a bunch of movies with the name “Joe” in the title yesterday as a nod to President Biden. Four years ago, they trolled Trump by airing The Fountainhead and Elia Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd.

And then there was last night’s Celebrating America primetime special. The highlights included John Legend’s performance of “Feeling Good”:

(Related happy ending story: Chrissy Teigen — who had been blocked by President Twatter — is one of the few accounts now followed by @POTUS.)

And Katy Perry’s “Firework.” Was she dressed like a 1960s couch? Yes. Was the whole thing cheesy and predictable? YES, BUT IT WAS ALSO PRETTY WONDERFUL AND I WON’T APOLOGIZE:

The lowlight? Jon Bon Jovi’s “Here Comes the Sun.” This Twitter user nailed it:

Oh no a bunch of dudes are mad that Queen Latifah — a 50-year-old Black woman — is playing The Equalizer instead of an old White guy. Oh no.

Sorry, there is no Suite Life with Zack and Cody reboot in your immediate future. (But let’s revisit this when that sweet Riverdale money dries up, Cole.)

Hey, The Boys comic fans: The “Herogasm” story will make an appearance in the upcoming third season.

A little television history for you: Orson Wells made a TV pilot in 1958, which he intended to be part of an anthology series. The episode was called “Fountain of Youth,” it aired only once, the series was not bought, and yet the episode won a Peabody Award — the only unsold pilot to do so. You can watch it here.

Renewals

  • Bridgerton has officially been renewed for a second season on Netflix.
  • Master of None has been renewed for a third season on Netflix which is interesting since the last season debuted in 2017.
  • Sandition has been renewed for a second season on ITV.

Cancellations

  • Year of the Rabbit‘s renewal has been reconsidered. There will not be a second season after all.

In Development

Casting News

Mark Your Calendars

  • Euphoria‘s special episode “Fuck Anyone Who’s Not A Sea Blob,” will premiere on HBO Max tomorrow before airing on HBO on Sunday.
  • Fake Famous will debut on HBO on February 2.

R.I.P.

Ben Halpern, TV and film publicist

WATCH THIS

Walker: Texas Ranger Cordell Walker returns home to Austin after being undercover for two years in the series premiere of this reboot — sort of — of Walker, Texas Ranger. 7 p.m., The CW

Young Sheldon: College orientation doesn’t go according to Sheldon’s plan in the winter premiere. 7 p.m., CBS

B Positive: Gina undergoes a psych evaluation in the winter premiere. 7:30 p.m., CBS

Legacies: Field day! Season premiere. 8 p.m., The CW

Mom: Jill goes to extremes to fix her relationship with Andy. Winter premiere. 8 p.m., CBS

The Unicorn: Wade introduces Shannon to his friends in the winter premiere. 8:30 p.m., CBS

grown-ish: Zoey balances work life and her personal life in the season premiere. 7 p.m., Freeform

Gomorrah: Third season premiere of the Italian mob drama HBO Max

Perfect Life: Three Spanish women in their thirties search for their place in the world in this new series. Series premiere. HBO Max

Selena + Chef: Season two. HBO Max

Late Night:

  • Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Shaquille O’Neal, Alison Brie, Pa Salieu
  • Late Night with Seth Meyers: Abby Phillip
  • The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Derek DelGaudio, Frank Oz
  • The Late Late Show with James Corden: Regina King, Quinn XCII featuring Chelsea Cutler
  • Jimmy Kimmel Live: Allison Janney, Dana Bash, Best Coast
  • The Daily Show: The Daily Social Distancing Show
  • Conan: Rachel Brosnahan
  • Watch What Happens Live: Shep Rose, Leva Bonaparte
  • A Little Late with Lily Singh: Javicia Leslie
THUR 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC Celebrity Wheel of Fortune
(new)		 The Chase
(new)		 The Hustler
(new)
CBS Young Sheldon
(new)		 B Positive
(new)		 Mom
(new)		 The Unicorn
(new)		 Star Trek: Discovery
(new)
CW Walker
(new)		 Legacies
(new)		 News/Local
FOX Hell’s Kitchen
(new)		 Call Me Kat
(new)		 Last Man Standing
(new)
NBC Mr. Mayor
(new)		 Superstore
(new)		 Law & Order Special Victims Unit
(new)		 Dateline

6 thoughts on “I guess … I guess we just talk about TV stuff now?”

  1. Like you, I am relieved and hopeful now that we have a new President, a new Administration. Finally the adults are in charge again. I am pleased with the tone President Biden is setting, one of unity and reconciliation. I hope that the Congress will take it up and help to find solutions to our problems rather than rail against personalities and causes. I hope that we can get extremism–both from the left and the right–out of the mainstream, and some of the news I read earlier today makes me think we have a chance to stuff the genie back into the bottle (and impeachment will certainly help with that). I hope that the debates and disagreements will be civil and that we can take our place again in world leadership with heads held high. I don’t think you’re going to be totally out of the political space in your blog, because as long as Fox News, OAN and their ilk are out there spewing half-baked opinions and twisted truths, you’re going to have a lot to write about. And we as Americans need to be questioning the likes of Hannity and Limbaugh on their sources and veracity. We came way too close on January 6th to losing our democracy, and it’s time for the angels of truth to start taking names and fighting back against incivility, intolerance and political manipulation for purely personal gain (I’m looking at you, Sens. Cruz and Hawley, in particular). And thanks for your writings over the last few years. You kept me (and, I hope, a lot of others) informed on some of the more obscure, less publicized happenings in the (hopefully forever ended) Era of Voldemort.

    Reply

    1. Thank you for your kind words, Lisa. We’ll see what happens. I guess I’m just so emotionally drained from the past week, month, year, four years that I was hoping to quietly close the door on political coverage and pretend I don’t have to do it anymore. But I suspect it won’t be that easy. After all, Trump has a Senate impeachment trial coming up in one week, and there won’t be any escaping that …
      Sigh.

      -T

      Reply

  2. Aloha Friend … I’ve ready you forever, first on Chron and now on FW. And your words, opinions and rants have helped me get through these last few years. Being in Hawaii, most of the time the blog is up by the time I am, and I always look forward to it. Your blog always brightens my day and helps me feel less alone, as everything you say is also how I feel. I will continue to read anything you write. I think there will always be something political here and there, especially for the next short while, and it would be awesome if you covered it. Hopefully there is no Patriot Party and the former Looser in Chief just goes away to prison, and then maybe there won’t be much left to write and we can all truly relax. Thank you. Your words are truly a part of my routine and have made a positive difference in my life.

    Reply

  3. While we can all use a reprieve from politics and hope that we can have some normalcy in that world now I did enjoy the political aspect. Mainly because I am slightly right and center and I liked hearing your well explained viewpoint. I intentionally try to stay out of a bubble. Plus you’ve been making watching The Bachelor with my wife
    so much more bearable for years. Although I still have to pour myself at least a double…..
    I’m glad that I stumbled on your blog on the chronicle years ago.
    Keep up the snarkiness!

    Reply

    1. Thanks for commenting, Jr, I’ve long enjoyed your input and insight. And thanks for being willing to expose yourself to opinions you might not always agree with. We should all be so open. And thanks for sticking with me for so long!

      -T

      Reply

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