Your Weekly Joy: September 4, 2021
Here's what you should be watching, reading, and listening to this week.
I’ve needed some joy this week. I’ve been wrestling with some anxiety stuff (big surprise, there), and so I’ve been turning to the screen and the written word to find a bit of escape. I’ve also been visiting my folks back in West Virginia, so my media diet has been a bit different than usual (though not in a bad way!) In fact, I’ve reconnected with some of my favorite fan objects of earlier years, and I’m happy to be able to share all of them with you.
Watching Joy
Murder, She Wrote
Since I’m visiting my parents for the week, I’m sort of at their mercy when it comes to what to watch on television. Fortunately for me, my mom has been something of a Murder, She Wrote kick lately, so I’ve been treated to the mystery-solving adventures of one Jessica Fletcher. This show is one of those that I characterize as pure comfort. Yes, the episodes almost always feature a murder, but there’s something undeniably appealing about Angela Lansbury’s turn as JB Fletcher that stands the test of time. Yes, the show is very much a product of its time—in some ways it’s the 1980s/1990s show—but somehow its appeal endures. It’s the perfect thing to watch when you just want to get away from the real world.
Barnwood Builders
As a general rule, I don’t spend a lot of time watching the DIY Network (that’s more of my partner’s bailiwick). However, while I’ve been home, I’ve been watching quite a lot of one of their most popular and long-running shows, Barnwood Builders. The series focuses on a group of West Virginians who specialize in tearing down old barns and related structures and reusing them in subsequent projects. I usually have an aversion to seeing West Virginians in television—because they tend to conform to all of the stereotypes that most people have—but these gents somehow manage to be both charming and incredibly watchable. It’s a fun show, and I think I might even watch it once I get back to my home base back in Maryland.
Last of the Summer Wine
When I was growing up, my mom and I spent every Saturday morning watching the British sitcoms broadcast on the local PBS station. One of those was Last of the Summer Wine, one of the longest-running sitcoms in television history. Set in a small village in northern England, each episode focuses on the adventures of three elderly men, as well as their fellow townspeople. Though it went off of the air in 2010, it has a profound charm that endures today, and it’s a reminder of why, in some ways, the Brits always manage to do TV better.
As Time Goes By
Another of the series that mom and I watched a great deal was As Time Goes By, starring the divine Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer as two people who rekindle a romance after many years spent apart. It’s a series that doesn’t lean too heavily into uproarious laughter (though it does have many funny moments). For me, it’s primary charm stems from the obvious chemistry between Dench and Palmer, who ably convey just how much these two people love one another, even as it manages to capture the absurdities of everyday life.
Reading Joy
Daughters of Chivalry: The Forgotten Children of Edward I (by Kelcey Wilson-Lee)
Even those that don’t consider themselves history buffs are no doubt familiar with King Edward I of England, known to many as Longshanks. He is, after all, the villain in the iconic epic film Braveheart, in which he does everything in his power to destroy the Scottish rebellion led by Mel Gibson’s William Wallace. In Daughters of Chivalry, Wilson-Lee focuses on the lives of his five daughters, all of whom inherited their father’s independent streak and his refusal to follow the rules. Some married and some pursued lives as nuns, but all of them were very aware of their power and position and did everything they could to live their lives on their own terms.
“The New Puritans” (by Anne Applebaum)
Now, I’m not one of those people who puts a lot of stock in the panic surrounding “cancel culture.” I tend to think that, while there might be some instances of overzealousness on the left when it comes to taking people to task for past actions or words, its impact on our culture is widely exaggerated. While I don’t agree with all of Applebaum’s points, as a whole I think that this is one of the more balanced approaches to the phenomenon that I’ve read, especially since it was published in The Atlantic, which has taken the panic over cancel culture and safe spaces to an almost absurd degree.
The ABC Murders (by Agatha Christie)
Inspired by my mom’s watching of Murder, She Wrote, I decided to start reading the works of Agatha Christie (Jessica Fletcher was inspired by Christie’s crime-solving spinster, Miss Jane Marple). Though I’ve never been a passionate fan of the mystery genre, there’s always been something peculiarly appealing about the books written by the Queen of Mystery. The ABC Murders is one of her books featuring the most famous detective in the history of the genre: Hercule Poirot, who sets out to solve a series of murders that are seemingly being perpetrated by a serial killer. Told from the point of view of his best friend, Hastings, it’s everything you could want from an armchair mystery.
Listening to Joy
Enough Wicker
It’s no secret that I’m a devout fan of The Golden Girls. In fact, it is without a doubt my favorite show of all time. Though I tend to be a bit possessive and isolationist in my fandom, I have to say that I’ve fallen in love with the podcast, “Enough Wicker,” hosted by Lauren and Sarah. In relatively short (20-30 minute) episodes, they approach the show from a scholarly perspective, unpacking the themes and issues and performances that have contributed to the series perpetual popularity with audiences of all ages. They also occasionally feature guests (myself included), and it’s always a treat to hear what others have had to say. In fact, they often allow me to see new things about the series that I’d never thought about before.
So, there you have it: your joyful recommendations for this week. It can be a bit of a bleak world out there, but hopefully watching, listening to, or reading these cultural objects will help give you something to think about and allow you at least a moment of escape.