Welcome to Litsy!

Just picked up from the library and finding the essays on television programs I have watched entertaining.

Very hit and miss on this collection. There were some interesting insights, but I definitely found myself skimming/skipping over essays that focused on shows I haven‘t watched or disliked. The most interesting essay was one about the contradictions of Joan Rivers as a comic and pop culture figure. I appreciated her more general insights on the changing format of television compared to extended explorations of Lost, Buffy, and Breaking Bad.

4-9 Mar 2022 (audiobook)
Not sure why this was on my TBR list - we do not watch that much TV. Maybe it was the mention of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Yet despite having seen only a handful of the shows mentioned, I enjoyed listening to Nussbaum. I appreciate criticism and her piece on Cosby and the Me Too movement was particularly interesting. And it is amazing to think how far television as an art form has progressed in the past two decades.

Has anyone else watched Daybreak (a comedy-horror Netflix original series)?

I‘m so in love with Miss Crumble. As the only conscious adult in a sea of teens, she‘s basically lost her damn mind. They call her “the Witch of the Mall” &, maggots aside, I‘m proud to claim her as my Millennial representation.

Bonus: Matthew Broderick plays the high school principal & there are Ferris Bueller references aplenty.

It was a #cozymyastery bonanza at the #librarybooksale today.
Some for me, 2 for my sister-in-law, and a couple for a few #cozy #littens.

“Thrillingly, “Buffy” treated this one girl‘s story not as something trivial, but as a grand, oceanic metaphor. It made her story mythic, not cartoonish. Like plenty of teenagers, Buffy believed that what was happening to her was the end of the world. But she was right: her demons were real.”

Buffy “had a peculiar tonal blend, at once bleak and goofy, formulaic and anarchic. It had a fascination with sexual violence — including the threat of “nice guys,” like Xander [see: “The Pack] — but it folded those themes together with screwball banter and pop-culture references.”

Be still, my heart. 🖤

Once upon a time, my book club was supposed to read this. Then, we realized that it contained spoilers for shows we‘d never watched, so it got tabled.

I‘m just now reading the essay on Buffy the Vampire Slayer — which was, & will always remain, my favorite tv show (alongside King of the Hill, which is an altogether different bushel of [Braeburn] apples).

Who would have thought a book about tv shows could be so dense, deep, and intellectual? This is an excellent examination of our culture through the medium of television. Some shows she discussed I‘ve never seen, others a few episodes, and some I‘ve been a dedicated fan of. Spoilers are everywhere, naturally! I did stop reading the Sopranos section because I plan to watch that at some point. This has to be the best book about tv out there! 📺

This excellent writer/smart critic captured my attention even when writing about TV I hadn't seen. Nussbaum loves to dwell in the question rather than focus on the answer, which makes for thought-provoking criticism about specific shows, showrunner profiles, and essays about #MeToo and product placement. I loved her takes on Sex and The City, Jane the Virgin, and Buffy. She excells at being intellectually curious, even about TV dismissed as fluff.

"The soap, the rom com, the romance novel, and more recently, reality television... These are the genres that get dismissed as fluff, which is how our culture regards art that makes women's lives look like fun."

#AwesomeAudiobooks

What do y‘all recommend for TV? We just finished “Joe Pera Talks With You” & it‘s so wholesome & heart-warming that now nothing seems adequate.

https://www.adultswim.com/videos/joe-pera-talks-with-you

I really wasn‘t planning on checking out any more books. I really have a problem, y‘all. #libraryhaul

Ahh man.... now my TV hard drive is as full as my TBR.

#bookishproblems

I saw Emily Nussbaum speak at #p&p and picked up a copy of her book. It was amazing. The book is full of essays, some of which were already published, but which go together really well. I always trust Nussbaum about tv and this book was charming.

Ways to catch me: start with a Buffy essay

I‘m not much of a television watcher these days - for some reason multi-episode stuff isn‘t doing it for me - but I do love criticism. I‘d read ~1/3 of Nussbaum‘s essays previously so I knew I would enjoy this book immensely. Some are reviews of a show‘s season or finale, some are more of a critical look back. Two essays are completely new - in my opinion, too few. I would have loved a better balance of older pieces and new cross-topic pieces.

I have *died* (from Emily Nussbaum‘s upcoming collection of TV criticism out in June, this essay is about The Good Wife). The quote says: “Recently, I had lunch with an entirely charming TV-maker, who was educated and intelligent about many forms of television but had never watched The Good Wife, because, he admitted with a shrug, he perceived it as being “for women.” Although he was a fantastic lunch companion, he‘s dead now.” 💀