This week:
- How did Gilded Age get this popular?
- The surprising TV show I’m obsessed with.
- The only set photos I want to see.
- A Passion of the Christ…sequel?
- Mariah Carey, forever perfect.
The Gilded Summer
What will become of the Clock Twink?
Will divorced women be allowed at the ball?
Is anyone willing to be sober for a good cause?
And, of course, is Railroad Daddy dead?
Thus are the lingering questions heading into Sunday night’s season finale of The Gilded Age, the HBO drama that has, to the surprise of many, become the hottest show of the summer. Its viewership keeps growing, and, buzz-wise, it’s all everyone I know is talking about.
I put some skepticism on the surprise nature of that coronation. The Gilded Age, the period soap opera now in its third season, is from the creator of Downton Abbey. There was a time when everyone and their mother was obsessed with Downton Abbey (and usually watched it with their mothers). Why would we be shocked that this show that is essentially a New York-set recreation of that series would become so popular?
It’s been a slow burn to be sure. Season 1 was probably cursed by those Downton comparisons. It was opulent—Costumes! Sets! Weird accents! Roughly 550 cast members!—but it was also unsure. Viewers expected high stakes to accompany such high production, yet the biggest drama famously centered around whether a character played by Christine Baranski was going to cross a street.
But as the series has gone on, that peculiar nothingness has become its beloved calling card. The intensity with which stars like Baranski, Carrie Coon, Cynthia Nixon, and Louisa Jacobson would play such inanity—while bedecked in their geegaws—transformed the series from curious to delightful.
Doubling down on the appearance of gravity while the characters debated social mores hypnotized audiences into buying in. A show that was essentially ignorable in its first season became the ultimate television success story: one that was incessantly memed.
Season 3 has also been a remarkable pivot for the series. It’s become not just a show that people think is pretty, yet silly. It became, as I can attest to in speaking with friends and critics who have dutifully watched all three seasons, a show that is actually good.
That shouldn’t sound like as much of a trophy as it is, but there has been a marked shift in The Gilded Age. This season has featured storylines with real, riveting emotional stakes, in a way that didn’t exist before.
Ada’s (Cynthia Nixon) journey through immense grief following the death of her husband and triumphant rise to Lady of the House has been captivating. There is so much chemistry between Marian (Louisa Jacobson) and Larry (Harry Richardson) that there’s finally reason to care about a romance storyline on this show. The marrying off of Gladys (Taissa Farmiga) to the Duke (Ben Lamb) was legitimately traumatizing to watch, but has paid off in spades with surprising emotional nuance.
Watching Bertha (Carrie Coon) and George (Morgan Spector) be at odds is like watching Tyson and Holyfield in a match: thrilling, spectacular, yet so upsetting in the end. And don’t get me started on how many tears I’ve shed over the Clock Twink and Very Sad Gay Son.
We’re at a time when the “hottest shows” are either streaming ones that barely hide their salacious pandering (The Hunting Wives), are watched more because of name recognition than anything else (The Last of Us), or are so niche that I don’t believe anyone outside of people in the industry actually watch them (The Studio). But The Gilded Age has a mass appeal that throws back to a different era of television. I think that’s why it’s caught on to the extent that it has.
It’s always been a comfort watch. Because we’ve all seen Downton Abbey, we knew the whole “rich people in fancy costumes deal with privileged problems while adorable downstairs people serve them” conceit. We tuned in for pretty outfits and brainless drama we could tune out from and scroll through Instagram. But this season has shrewdly nudged the show from purely a comfort watch to something buzzy, raising the emotional stakes of its storylines and ending several episodes with shocking twists and cliffhangers.
Only when brothers are having sex on The White Lotus do viewers spend an entire week buzzing about what happened on a TV show on Sunday nights. But during this season of The Gilded Age, we’ve gossiped about Oscar’s lover being hit by a carriage, Marian breaking off her engagement, Gladys’ horrifying wedding, and the fate of Railroad Daddy. Being a Gilded Age fan used to be passive. Now we’re invested.
With the show ending this week, and And Just Like That following suit the week after, we’re staring down the barrel of a buzzless end of the summer when it comes to TV programming. At least we’ll always have this photo:
Even I Am Surprised I’m Obsessed With This Show
Curiosity got the better of me this week. After seeing her positively everywhere—even Oprah interviewed her!—I finally asked myself, who is this Leanne Morgan person? I pressed play on her new Netflix series, Leanne, and two nights of bingeing nothing else later, am obsessed with her.
You’re either a Reba person, and are evangelical about how great that show was. Or you’re not and have no clue why people with “good taste” are such fans of a mediocre family sitcom. I’m the former, and will not apologize for it. (Did I have the DVDs in a box set in college? Not no…)
Leanne is basically Reba 2.0. It turns out that’s exactly what we need right now, or at least I do. The show is shockingly earnest, in a way that few sitcoms are allowed to pull off. It’s unapologetically Southern, which is a blast to watch. And Morgan, with the aid of sitcom vets like Kristen Johnston and Celia Weston around her, is a perfect leading lady. She mugs with outlandishly goofy faces, delivers a tirade like an expert, and gives us the catharsis of a good cry each episode.
Will the show win any awards? No. Did I watch the entire series with a polite grin on my face, perfectly content? Yes, and sometimes that matters more.
Enough With the Filming Photos
If I have to see one more photo of Anne Hathaway crossing the street, I’m going to scream.
Based on the paparazzi and fan photos of The Devil Wears Prada 2 filming, my assumption is that the plot of the sequel revolves solely around characters running out of office buildings to get into Ubers.
The excitement for a movie in production is justified. And it’s a blast that it’s shooting in New York; I walked past the cast shooting on the steps of the Museum of Natural History recently and got a chill. But the photos have been relentless.
I intended this to be a rant about banning those photos and footage. And then I started seeing clips of the new Spider-Man movie filming on my timeline and changed my tune.
It’s so cool. Imagine just walking down the street, and then a truck with Tom Holland doing a stunt in Spider-Man costume speeds by. Or a stunt double is doing the actual web swings. This footage is so cool!
Workshopping Some Title Ideas
Mel Gibson announced this week that he is splitting his planned The Passion of the Christ sequel into two parts. It begs the questions: Sequel???!!! And, of course, what will the titles be?
I have some suggestions.
Jesus 2: Electric Boogaloo. Jesus: For Good. 2 Jesus 2 Passionate. Jesus: Fury Road. The Dark Jesus. Jesus: Maverick. I Still Know What You Did Last Easter. Jesus! Here We Go Again.
Mel, I just ask for credit.
Another Mimi Gem
Mariah Carey is the best interview. She’s the worst interview, actually, because she rarely says anything of real meaning—except for the one time she said that people should date me. But the hilarity of the nothingness has become iconic. For example, here is her after being asked—or, more accurately, told for the first time—that Katy Perry went to space:
“I think I’ve done enough.”
More From The Daily Beast’s Obsessed
This is the period drama everyone should be watching. Read more.
Not even Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment is safe from the And Just Like That reign of terror. Read more.
Tamra Judge, the longest-running Real Housewife, spills all. Read more.
What to watch this week:
Platonic: Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne are TV’s best comedy duo. (Now on Apple TV+)
Sketch: The closest thing we’ve had to an ’80s Spielberg movie in a long time. (Now in theaters)
Weapons: It’s a great weekend at the movies, as this thriller proves. (Now in theaters)
What to skip this week:
Wednesday: Even less kooky and spooky than last season, if you can believe. (Now on Netflix)
The Pickup: Eddie Murphy, who is your agent? (Now in theaters)
