'Ted Lasso' And The Art Of The Pop-Culture Palliative

Plus: 'Old' and What's Making Us Happy This Week!

View this email online by Stephen Thompson Welcome! It was a big week for sports, as the Milwaukee Bucks claimed their first NBA title in 50 years (Fear The Deer!) and a little overseas athletic competition began to get underway in Tokyo. It was a big week for Kanye West, who went from “dropping hints” to “dropping a new album” in the span of just a few days. And it was a big week for remembering — thanks to the newly expanded three-minute trailer Glen hinted at last week — that Denis Villeneuve’s Dune remake is finally, actually, literally going to be released in just three more months. Opening Argument: Ted Lasso And The Art Of The Pop-Culture Palliative By the time you read this, season two of Ted Lasso will have kicked off on Apple TV+, giving our lives an infusion of goodwill and decency not seen since the Bucks won the NBA title on Tuesday night. (It’s been a good week, what can I say? Giannis Antetokounmpo, woooooo!) Ted Lasso’s return, coupled with its recent 20 (twenty! XX!) Emmy nominations, has had me thinking about awards shows — and, more to the point, the attributes that awards shows are there to honor. Because… okay, look, I love Ted Lasso, a lot. I’ve watched the first season several times and recommended it endlessly to friends and family and anyone else who’d listen. I think its performances are wonderful. But it’s fair to say that it’s more “feel-good” than “fall-down funny,” placing it more in line with the spirit of, say, Schitt’s Creek — which swept the Emmys’ major comedy categories last year — than with most other Emmy juggernauts of recent vintage. In the years leading up to the Schitt’s Creek sweep, Outstanding Comedy Series went to Fleabag once, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel once, and Veep three times. And, while those shows all notably differ in tone, they’re also… prestige-y and awards-friendly in various ways, and not particularly engineered to lower the viewer’s blood pressure. Schitt’s Creek and Ted Lasso, on the other hand, generate the kind of upbeat, good-natured, largely friction-free escapism that doesn’t typically translate into awards for excellence. Or at least hadn’t, much, until last year. Apple TV But think about the timing of those shows: The Schitt’s Creek finale aired in April 2020, while Ted Lasso premiered in August of the same year. Both dropped amid a worldwide pandemic, a deeply stressful extended election season and any number of other worldwide existential crises. They weren’t just funny and enjoyably crafted and festooned with fine performances; they also did a public good at the most useful possible time. All of which is to say: I wonder whether a larger trend is at work here. We’ve talked on the show about the way the Oscars, for example, tend to be outrageously skewed toward historical dramas about Thundering Men Of Importance. But what if making art that succeeds in brightening its audience’s day — making people feel more hopeful, inspired, or optimistic about the human race — were viewed as artistically equivalent to, say, Mank? Maybe that happens more often, maybe not. If it doesn’t, then I propose — hear me out on this — one more awards show. (We can subtract the Golden Globes and two others as a countermeasure, if that sweetens the deal.) Presented by the Academy for Outstanding Achievement in the Palliative Arts, the Pallies could honor the best pop-culture comfort food with the aid of host Tom Hanks and the Max Richter Orchestra. Sponsored by your favorite boxed-wine distributor and the mint-chocolate-chip frozen-yogurt bars they sell at Costco, the telecast could showcase the year’s finest work in the field of ASMR videos, sweet-natured British pottery competitions, and string-swept documentaries about Mr. Rogers. It’s the awards show that wants you to fall asleep midway through! If it’s done its job, you’ll dream of puppies till morning. Newsletter continues after sponsor message We Recommend: Album announcements and new singles abounded all week: Brandi Carlile announced a new record with the help of a suitably Carlilian power ballad, Lorde dropped another new slice of roséwave, James Blake announced his return… and then, of course, there’s Kanye. If you’re looking for a music-intensive variation on this newsletter, friends-of-the-show Lyndsey McKenna and Marissa Lorusso will help get you caught up here. In an effort to update my taste in video games — past, say, 1983 — my son has been sitting me down to play Ace Attorney on the Nintendo Switch. His theory as to why I might enjoy it has proven right on the money: It combines modern game design with the spirit of vintage text-based computer games like Zork, on which I used to waste extraordinary amounts of time trying to deduce that if you want to access a well, you need to type “prime pump” and not, you know, “use well” or whatever. Ace Attorney’s understanding of how courtroom proceedings work isn’t consistent with the legal system of any country on earth, but it’s fun. And when you’re presenting a piece of evidence, your character yells “Take that!” in a way I find enormously satisfying. When it comes to children’s programming, I’ve extolled the virtues of Miraculous: Tales Of Ladybug & Cat Noir, a French cartoon (dubbed in English on Netflix) in which a pair of Parisian teenagers named Marinette and Adrien live double lives as superheroes. (Their identities are so secret, each doesn’t know about the other; Marinette has a hopeless crush on Adrien, while Cat Noir has a hopeless crush on Ladybug. Watching them remain unaware requires a Herculean suspension of disbelief, but bear with me.) It’s very fun, very silly, very bright and colorful and ridiculous, with a supervillain — who is, dun dun dun, Adrien’s own father! — prone to some of the most ludicrously over-the-top “Gentlemen, to evil” mustache-twirling pronouncements imaginable. I can tell you it’s fun for the whole family because it’s been so fun for mine; Netflix just dropped two new hour-long specials (both aired on the Disney Channel earlier this year) in which they take the show on the road, leaving Paris for New York City and Shanghai. They’re slick but slight, which is… Miraculous in a nutshell, when you come right down to it. What We Did This Week: Phobymo/Universal Pictures On Monday’s episode, I got to talk to the great and good Maria Sherman about boy bands — and play a few favorites. On Tuesday’s episode, Linda, Daisy Rosario and Joe Reid chat about the new documentary series chronicling the life of tennis star Naomi Osaka. On Wednesday’s episode, Greta Johnsen joins Linda to discuss the AMC series Kevin Can F**k Himself, which stars Schitt’s Creek’s Annie Murray. On Thursday’s episode, Aisha, Eric Eddings and I don our most elaborately crafted prosthetic masks to explore the infinitely low stakes of Sexy Beasts. On Friday’s episode, Ayesha Rascoe and Marc Rivers help me delve into M. Night Shyamalan’s new horror thriller Old, plus What’s Making Us Happy this week. On Wednesday, I wrote about the aforementioned Brandi Carlile song for the #NowPlaying blog. On Friday, Linda returned to the world of TV recapping for the first episode of Ted Lasso’s new season. 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 Ayesha Happy: The Fear Street trilogy What's Making Marc Happy: The Committed by Viet Thanh Nguyen What's Making Stephen Happy: Remembering Biz Markie and Gift Of Gab, plus Jesse Thorn’s Gift Of Gab remembrance on Bullseye and Blackalicious’s 2002 song “Make You Feel That Way” 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? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Music, Books, Daily News and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to Pop Culture Happy Hour emails. 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