Great And Uncomfortable Moments At The Olympics

Plus: 'Shrek' 20 years later, more 'Ted Lasso,' and what in the world is making us happy

View this email online by Linda Holmes Welcome! It was the week when Scarlett Johannson sued Disney over the money she says she lost when Black Widow was released at home simultaneously with theaters. It was the week when we all held our breath until Bob Odenkirk felt better. And it was the week when LeVar Burton finally hosted Jeopardy! Let's get to it. Opening Argument: Great And Uncomfortable Moments At The Olympics It's impossible to argue with people who conclude that incidents leading up to the Tokyo Olympics -- which feature everything from athletes who aren't allowed to compete to athletes who are allowed to compete to acute unsafe conditions to chronic unsafe conditions -- make them a challenge to watch ethically, at the very least.  At the same time, I've always loved watching people who may have only a short window of prominence to make a dream come true that they've spent their lives on. I've always liked the feeling of being immersed in a sport I know I won't be able to remember the rules to in four years, even though this year, I can describe violations easily. (I remember almost nothing about what I was talking about in this piece about curling.)  My solution this year has been a different viewing experience. I've watched almost none of the highest-profile coverage, the NBC prime-time stuff. Instead, I've been trying to meet a simple goal: Watch some of everything. I've watched some gymnastics and tennis, sure. But I've watched some table tennis, judo, taekwondo, kayak slalom, archery, canoeing, volleyball (regular and beach), 3x3 basketball ... I even learned that dressage is fancy horses who dance. (Fancy horses! Who dance! I saw a horse dance to an orchestral arrangement of "Radio Ga-Ga"!) Most of this, I've done using the NBC Sports App, beamed to my big television via my Apple TV. This means that a lot of it is live, and it means that a lot of it doesn't use U.S.-based announcers. I've heard Australians and Brits, I'm pretty sure I've heard New Zealanders, and there's a Scottish guy who announced a Vietnam-Israel taekwondo match that I watched. Thus, I freed myself from the two things I dislike the most about traditional Olympic coverage: the way it's condensed and the focus on Americans.  When you watch live, you just ... watch. What happens, happens. Even watching the women's team final in gymnastics -- something the prime-time coverage would give you -- when there was a long delay, you just waited. What's more, although I watched the app's main coverage where they choose one apparatus to show when all are in use, you can choose a split screen with four boxes showing all four gymnasts who are competing at the same time.  And there's no reason why, in a sport like table tennis, anybody would be focused on U.S. athletes. The big action turned out to be between China and Japan when I followed some mixed doubles: I saw the Chinese team, Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen, crush a French team to the point where they looked unstoppable, but that Chinese team wound up winning silver, upset by Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito of Japan, who won gold. When I looked and saw that final score and said out loud, "Oh, wow!", about a sport I have never followed before, I thought, "This is why I still like the Olympics."  There's still a lot of groan-worthy commentary -- one NBC piece I did hear started with the observation, "At the Olympics, there are the people we will always remember, and the people we can never forget" -- and none of the ethical problems that lie within the national and international Olympic systems have been resolved. But for me, at the moment, this is the best I have been able to do to bring myself some of the pleasures of this ritual without diving headfirst into too many of its worst impulses.  Newsletter continues after sponsor message We Recommend: Myth & Mogul: John DeLorean: This Netflix documentary series looks back at the rise and fall (really big rise, really big fall) of the man who became best known for his criminal trial and his commitment to car doors that opened upward. It makes for an interesting study of the kind of rich person we had a few decades ago, when a rich person could still run out of money, before being rich meant having billions of dollars and no chance of ever running out of money.  The Weight Of Gold: This HBO documentary actually premiered last summer, but I want to recommend it again. It’s about the grave mental health risks of Olympic training and participation, and it makes it seem all the more necessary for athletes to start prioritizing their own well-being. It’s a very rough sit — content warnings for suicide and other mental health problems — but everyone from Michael Phelps to Sasha Cohen to Apolo Anton Ohno has wisdom to impart about how gold medals come with a lot of strings attached. You can stream it wherever you get HBO.  Small Town News: KPVM Pahrump: I’m not sure this unscripted HBO show about an independently owned Nevada TV station entirely works all the time; they’re going for a kind of “can-do community spirit” vibe, and for a workplace comedy feel, and some of what’s going on is really pretty sad. But there are some people who are definitely, as we say, “characters,” and some I certainly rooted for. It starts Monday night, August 2.  What We Did This Week: Courtesy of Dreamworks Animation On Monday, we shared an encore episode in which, at a live show, Glen and Stephen and I talked to Audie Cornish about some of our favorite summer stories. On Tuesday, Glen and Daisy Rosario chatted about Wellington Paranormal. On Wednesday, Glen chatted with Aiden Thomas, Loan Le and Gabby Rivera about diving into young adult fiction.    On Thursday, Stephen and Aisha talked to Cyrena Touros -- and Stephen wrote a lovely essay -- about Shrek.  And on Friday, Aisha talked with Kristen Meinzer and Vincent Schilling about the new film Jungle Cruise.  Glen wrote about Masters Of The Universe: Revelation.  And my second recap of the second season of Ted Lasso is available for your enjoyment.  What's Making Us Happy!! Every week on the show, we talk about some other things out in the world that have been giving us joy lately. Here they are: What's making Aisha happy: "Wild Side," by Normani (feat. Cardi B) What's making Kristen happy: Schmigadoon! What's making Vincent happy: The Cleveland Guardians Stream your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: pchh@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? 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