Weekly Culture Menu 2.6.24
Sports: Real Housewives, but with uniforms.
For this week’s installment of the Weekly Culture Menu, we have a sampling of content across a variety of mediums, lengths, and sensibilities so that you can dip in and out all week. Once you subscribe, you can expect a weekly menu delivered to your inbox every Tuesday.
I’m back in New York, and boy, did I miss pizza and that New York impatience (at least a dozen people were already standing in the plane aisle before the seatbelt sign went off - no time to waste!). As it’s the Super Bowl this Sunday (or Swift Bowl for those who celebrate), we have a menu that includes a few football-inspired picks to get you in the spirit or at least aid with small talk for your Super Bowl soirée.
🍤 Amuse Bouche [ -10 mins ]
📺 Prince’s 2007 Super Bowl Halftime Show. This performance is everything you want from a Super Bowl Halftime Show. A legend at the helm, an insane medley of hits (including unexpected covers), pitch-perfect vocals, a decked-out marching band complete with choreography, AND “Purple Rain” in the literal rain… Honestly, it’s a dream.
🗞️ The Super Bowl Is an Economic Indicator by Derek Thompson. In this quick read from last year’s Super Bowl lead-up coverage, Thompson argues the Super Bowl ads are a harbinger of what’s to come with the US economy. It gives a whole new meaning to paying attention just for the commercials.
🍟 Appetizer [ -30 mins ]
🗞️ The Traitors creator on how it swallowed British TV by Josiah Gogarty. For those of you watching The Traitors (I’ve now started watching the UK version while I wait for more Bachelor Pete and Phaedra antics), this is an interview with the Dutch creator about how the show came to be. We could’ve been watching a mutiny on a ship!
📺 Never Have I Ever. If you’re in the market for a delightful 30-minute comedy, try this Mindy Kaling-created story. A welcome new take on the teen drama convention, the show centers on Devi, a teenager trying to become more popular after a traumatic personal event sets her back. But don’t be fooled by what might seem like a standard premise - Devi is something you haven’t seen before. Did I mention John McEnroe narrates it? I’m just sad there won’t be another season.
🍽️ Main Course [ 1 Hour+ ]
📺 30 for 30: The Band That Wouldn’t Die. When I attended my first USC football game as a freshman, I overheard two students engaged in some fierce gossip. But it wasn’t about what happened at a party the night before - they were talking about the sanctions that had befallen the football team. And that’s when the sports thing clicked for me - it’s all just stories. The Davids vs. the Goliaths, the salacious scandals, the crushing defeat of a loss, and the triumph of human spirit against all odds - it’s basically Real Housewives, but in uniforms. After that, I was all in and rarely missed a game. The documentary series 30 for 30 does a great job telling those stories - chronicling interesting people and events from sports history. To keep it football-themed this week, check out the Barry Levinson-directed “The Band That Wouldn’t Die” about the Baltimore Colts band rallying together to bring a new NFL team to the city after the Colts organization moved the team to Indianapolis. Other football-related favorites include “You Don’t Know Bo,” “The Best That Never Was”, and “Trojan War.”
There are many football classics (Rudy, Remember the Titans, Any Given Sunday, Friday Night Lights, Varsity Blues - to name a few), but here are a few other favorites:
🎬 Heaven Can Wait. This one is a wild ride - but I’m kind of into it. It’s that classic, overly complicated 70’s movie premise with gaping holes and very little character development (people just ask people to marry them on day two; that’s how it works), but you still can’t help but be charmed. This quirky comedy stars Warren Beatty (AKA one of the subjects of Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” - my Roman Empire) as a backup Rams football quarterback taken to the afterlife prematurely. Unable to inhabit his former body, he’s returned to earth in a greedy millionaire’s body whose wife attempted to murder him. Hijinx ensue. He might be vain, but Beatty is real charming in this film, and it genuinely includes one of the most unhinged boardroom monologues I’ve ever seen. Also, the film received nine Oscar Nominations - what a time to be alive. Special shout out to the murderous wife’s wardrobe - she slays (figuratively and literally). For further reading, one of the movie’s co-writers, Elaine May, has a fascinating career and redemption arc.
🎬 Silver Linings Playbook. Since this film came out, Director David O. Russell’s legacy has become complicated (to say the least), but it remains one of my favorite football-related movies. I can’t help but feel nostalgic for this early Jennifer Lawrence career moment (she won an Oscar!) and the beginning of Bradley Cooper as the prestige actor and auteur he is today. The movie is about a man (Cooper) who desperately wants to rekindle his marriage after spending time in a psychiatric facility, but his plans are complicated after an acquaintance (Lawrence) offers to help win his wife back in exchange for participation in a dance competition. Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver also play Cooper’s Philadelphia Eagles-obsessed family - where the football comes in! The movie feels like an homage to old Hollywood conceits (we just have to dance it out!), but it also talks frankly about mental illness in a somewhat revolutionary way for the time and provides insight into the role of sports in a community. It's worth a rewatch for this scene alone.
🎬 Steel Magnolias. It’s a stretch to call this one football-related, but a memorable and funny scene occurs in a football locker room, so we’ll count it. The movie has an absolute murderers’ row of a cast, including Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, early career Julia Roberts, Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah, and Olympia Dukakis! It tells the story of the friendship between a group of women in a small Louisiana town. I won’t say too much, but this is the movie to watch if you need a good cry. A really, really good cry. Just thinking about Sally Field in this movie is enough to give me a lump in my throat.
🧁Dessert [ -1 hour ]
🎧 Prestige Podcast True Detective Coverage. If you’re watching the new season of True Detective, I highly recommend The Prestige TV’s weekly coverage as supplemental material. The podcast provides a thoughtful and entertaining breakdown of potential theories and connections to the show's first season. At the very least, you won’t have to travel through the night country alone!
🎧 The Taylor Swift Super Bowl Conspiracy Theory. There's nothing like a good conspiracy theory to stir up conversation at a Super Bowl party. Start at 10:45 for a brief explainer of a theory circulating the internet around Taylor Swift, a rigged Super Bowl outcome, and the upcoming election.
Speaking of Taylor Swift, I’ll leave you with this Swiftie who refuses to let the Universal Music and TikTok battle prevent them from shimmering.
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I love the Whitney Houston national anthem at the ‘91 Super Bowl - can’t be topped!
Heaven can wait has been on my must-watch list for so long, this is my sign!!