Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

In my day, never was longer.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

Come on, man.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

So many bastards, so little time.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

You are here: Home / Medium Cool / Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Optimism

Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Optimism

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In case you’re new to Medium Cool, BGinCHI is here once a week to offer a thread on culture, mainly film & books, with some TV thrown in.

Tonight’s Topic: Optimism

In this week’s Medium Cool, let’s talk about optimism.

We watched a lot of good movies and TV in 2020, but one show that has stayed with me, far exceeding my expectations, is the series “Ted Lasso.” Its premise, and opening episode, seems to promise just another comedy, with a quirky set-up and lightning-fast humor. But as it develops, it’s much more. It’s about basic kindness, treating people as you’d like to be treated, following your desire, and becoming a better human being. Amongst all the TV about violence, crime, and serial killers, it gave me hope for the value of humanity.

With the new administration, despite the pandemic and other woes, it’s possible to look forward hopefully for a change. Beyond the political, what piece of art or entertainment makes you optimistic?

*Ted Lasso is on AppleTV+

 

Reader Interactions

116Comments

  1. 1.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    man, everybody’s raving about Ted Lasso. I hate to sign up for another streaming service– purely a psychological block– but I think I’ll give it a shot.

  3. 3.

    BGinCHI

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: We bought the AppleTV 4k when we cut the cord over the summer, and it came with a year of the service for free.

    Some good content there. That new Asimov series coming out at some point too, which I hope is good.

  4. 4.

    Felanius Kootea

    I liked the Mandalorian because Grogu/Baby Yoda and the reminder of the need to stay vigilant and not relax too much because evil seems to be defeated.

    Reposting this from the thread below because it kind of fits better here even if it isn’t particularly optimistic (there is a redemption arc in the film, but yeah Boko Haram):

    On a completely different topic, last year the first Nigerian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscars (Lionheart) was disqualified for having too much English language dialogue. This year Nigeria has a new Best International Film Oscar entry, “The Milkmaid,” which follows one Nigerian woman’s journey after her village is overrun by Boko Haram-style insurgents and she and her sister are captured.

    The story is very well done and the cinematography is great (shot entirely in a part of rural Nigeria that I have never been to). The dialogue is in Hausa, which means most Nigerians have to follow it via subtitles (it’s one of three major indigenous languages but not one of the Nigerian languages I speak). It’s the first time I’ve seen the Boko Haram insurgency taken on by the Nigerian film industry. It’s already won the 2020 Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Picture. I can’t wait for it to be available on streaming services.

  5. 5.

    cope

    We got a free year of Apple TV+ when we bought our new iMac and just last night, my wife and I burned through the first three episodes of Ted Lasso. There were some tech hurdles getting logged in through the creaking Apple TV 2 on our living room set but once I sorted that out, smooth sailing. I think my next big purchase will be to upgrade the Apple TV itself.

    As for Ted Lasso, I read a great description of it being like the anti-Schitt’s Creek in that the latter was about unlikeable people surrounded by likable ones while Ted is about a likable guy surrounded by unlikeable people.

    Also too, scheduled for our second vaccine shot next Saturday. There’s a good source of optimism for you.

  6. 6.

    BGinCHI

    We started this series on Netflix last night called “Teenage Bounty Hunters.” Recommended by lots of people. I was skeptical, but first episode was fast, savage, and funny.

    Kind of like “Buffy” but without the supernatural and with more satire of sanctimonious rich evangelicals.

  8. 8.

    schrodingers_cat

    I  have been streaming Top Chef and Battlestar Galactica. My Twitter feed gives me hope. I have linked with many people who are trying to counter BJP and their poisonous propaganda.

  9. 9.

    BGinCHI

    @cope: Yay on the vaccine!

    And that’s a great description of TL. What works so well is Ted never letting them get him down. He’s like an optimism juggernaut. At first I thought it was just supposed to be funny, but then it became clear it was something bigger and more interesting.

  10. 10.

    NeenerNeener

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Ted Lasso is very entertaining. After I finished binging it I talked my sister into putting the Apple TV app on her firestick so she can watch it.

     

    Cope:  I got a free AppleTV+ from Directv when they started their streaming service 3 years ago. I think it’s a version 4. I hated the remote so much I unhooked it from the tv and put the AppleTV+ app on a Roku and a Fire TV.

  11. 11.

    Narya

    The Good Place. I finally saw the last season a couple of weeks ago, and it has stuck with me like few things have. (I was a philosophy major so…) It is complex and kind and funny. And kind, did I mention that? That is optimistic to me.

  12. 12.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Narya: I was thinking of The Good Place. and I’ll throw in a plug for Defending Your Life, the Albert Brooks movie I think the Good Place owes more than a bit to

  13. 13.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Narya: It’s one of the few comedies that isn’t unkind to -any- of the characters.  I mean, that really, really, really stood out to me, as I watched it.  It’s just unfailingly kind, and -yet- rollickingly funny.

  14. 14.

    WaterGirl

    @NeenerNeener: What didn’t you like about the remote?  I LOVE the remote on my version 4 apple TV.  It’s a tiny little silver thing.  I have been thinking of upgrading to the latest Apple TV, which is why I am wondering about the remote.

  16. 16.

    AM in NC

    Ted Lasso, Call the Midwife, and the Great British Baking Show have helped get me through COVID funk because they are all optimistic shows populated by good people/characters.  Was not expecting much from Ted Lasso, and was very pleasantly surprised!

  17. 17.

    Raven

    The weirdest national anthem since the 98 Music City Bowl. Not quite Hendrix at Woodstock but pretty close!

  18. 18.

    Brooklyn Dodger

    We’ve been watching 30 Coins (HBO) – horror/mystery and Spanish-style slapstick rocked by some great character actors.

    My mom in law got her first vaccine today so we’re happy.

  20. 20.

    RSA

    Thanks for the interesting topic! I think you’re onto something with the recommendation of Ted Lasso: sports movies are often inspirational, ending on a note of optimism.

    Breaking Away is a good example of an optimistic movie, for me.

  21. 21.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    @Baud:

    There’s too many streaming services imo. With the new Star Trek shows, they’re only on CBS All Access in the US. Everywhere else? On Netflix.

    As for a series that always makes me feel optimistic, it’s Star Trek of course! Even at it’s darkest, it’s always been a beacon of hope for what people can aspire to be; to be the better angels of our nature

  22. 22.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Raven: I liked it, and you know there’s gonna be some RW bitching about that, which I will also enjoy

    kinda fits in with the thread, forward looking and non-traditional and whatnot

    I don’t know if it was the NFL or CBS who made that call, kind of unexpected either way

  28. 28.

    NeenerNeener

    @WaterGirl: I hated that my fingers slid around on the thing without hitting the right button, and that it had to be charged with a proprietary cable that I was always losing. Apple’s obsession with making things paper thin went too far with that remote.

  29. 29.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @AM in NC: Another vote for the Great British Baking show. Everyone on that show is nice, even Paul Hollywood sometimes. Mary Berry always finds something nice to say about a bake. And Sue and Mel’s humor is growing on me (very English). I also like all the different Brit accents and the multi-cultural bakers. One season a woman of Palestinian background won, headscarf and all.

  36. 36.

    MomSense

    We watched Finding Forrester the other night and it was such an interesting friendship the two main characters develop.  It’s not one sided.  Both characters help each other to face loss and to get unstuck.

  37. 37.

    Mike in NC

    New season 4 of “Gomorrah” is coming to HBO Max shortly. Gritty crime drama about rival gangs in Naples. It used to stream on Netflix.

  38. 38.

    AM in NC

    @Phylllis: I just discovered this show about a month ago and have binge watched 7 seasons so far.  I run hot bath and have a ‘Calgon Take Me Away” vibe going. It is to die for.

  40. 40.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Baud:

    LOL, no. PornHub got cut off from credit card processing services for hosting revenge porn recently, I think. Was making a tongue-in-cheek reference to that

  42. 42.

    AM in NC

    @zhena gogolia: Haha!  I didn’t even think about that aspect.  Having had 2 myself I just kind of gloss over the labors and focus on the stories.  Not all happy all the time, but still a lot of people trying to help a lot of other people during really difficult/significant times in their lives.

  43. 43.

    dexwood

    Screwball comedies always leave me feeling optimistic and cheered. Whatever craziness unfolds, it’s a all good in the end. Marx Brothers movies, too. No matter the insanity, you feel good when the credits roll.

  44. 44.

    Raven

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: We were at the Music City Bowl and if was Bama vs Virginia Tech. IIt was Larry Carlton, Steely Dan’s sometime lead player. When he started I looked at my wife and said “these people are going to go nuts”. “Jazz musician Larry Carlton performed the traditional pre-game playing of the national anthem, but his rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner did not meet with the crowd’s approval, and he was booed” . That is an understatement!

  48. 48.

    karen marie

    Have you all watched Uncle? I’m in love with Nick Helm.

    He is also in another Britcom called Loaded that I thought was quite entertaining. Both Uncle and Loaded are (or were) on Netflix.

    Helm did a “reality” show (Eat Your Heart Out) where he visits (and eats at) restaurants in the UK and around Europe that I enjoyed a lot (because I have a massive crush on Nick Helm?). I’ve seen a few episodes on youtube but they’re not official, so a bit messy. I’m seeing it’s now up on Amazon with a new name – Comfort Eating. If you like slightly overweight comedians named Nick, I recommend it!

    I succumbed to peer pressure last night and began watching Bridgerton. It’s very entertaining!

  49. 49.

    mali muso

    We are enjoying the latest season of the French comedy series “Call My Agent” (Dix Percent en francais) on Netflix. It’s upbeat, snarky and fun. Just to make things more interesting, we not only watch in French but put the subtitles in French as well. Listening to rapid fire Parisian is a great challenge. Lol

  52. 52.

    There are those who call me...tim... (Still posh)

    @Narya: I’m this close to starting Good Place again. Quite agree on that. Wish Kimmie Schmidt were still around. Or is it? Dammit!

  53. 53.

    Tony Jay

    I’m loving ‘Staged’ on the BBC. David Tennant and Michael Sheen playing David Tennant and Michael Sheen using Zoom meetings as the medium. 15 minute episodes, numerous international guest-stars, frequently hilarious and often very touching.

  56. 56.

    MattF

    Was poking around this afternoon, ended up watching reviews and analyses of The Queen’s Gambit. This analysis compares it with classical myths and prototypes– ‘The Heroine’s Journey’. How an introvert and prodigy finds and exercises her true power.

  58. 58.

    UncleEbeneezer

    We absolutely adored Sex Education on Netflix.  Such a great comedy.  Incredibly funny, the young actors are all superb, and the show is very inclusive/progressive.  Warning though: the central premise has a very Ross and Rachel, will-they-won’t-they sort of thing which can be incredibly frustrating at times.  But the characters are really wonderful.  Even the people you shouldn’t root for, you kinda end up rooting for.  Really a most fantastic show.  Right up there with the Queen’s Gambit, for our fave series in recent days.

  59. 59.

    Elizabelle

    @Felanius Kootea: 

    Glad you reposted about The Milkmaid. When it lands on a US streaming service, please let us know. Maybe we could even do a thread about it, if there is enough interest. Thank you.

  68. 68.

    AM in NC

    @UncleEbeneezer: I second Sex Education. Husband and I both really liked it. Amazingly frank discussions of adolescent (and adult) sexuality done with a surprisingly light touch and great (but not cruel) humor. So many good performances too!

  69. 69.

    Benw

    In the 2-3 years before COVID my wife and I were lucky to discover and mix of new and older rock/metal bands who have been putting out fantastic music and putting on shows where you can rock your ass off and sing along with every lyric. In no particular order: Royal Tusk, SMKC, Brkn Love, The Glorious Sons, Dirty Honey.

    The thing that makes me optimistic is the kids in the scene now have jettisoned toxic gatekeeping and are just sincere awesome people! The kids are pretty alright

  71. 71.

    Miss Bianca

    @Narya: Loved The Good Place. Oddly, I was reminded of it strongly the other day, because I have just started watching The Prisoner (the original one with Patrick McGoohan), and the minute I saw The Village I thought, “man, the writing and design team from The Good Place must all have been fans of this show!”

  72. 72.

    Yutsano

    This has to be The Princess Bride for me. It’s not quite the perfect movie but it is really damn close! And I still miss Andre.

  76. 76.

    Miss Bianca

    @Phylllis: We stalled out on Season 6 or 7, I forget which, because it looks like our library system doesn’t have any of the newer seasons in. I will look for them now, because I too love Call the Midwife – besides the studies of just some great, salt-of-the-earth characters, I love how it foregrounds women’s experiences – both the midwives and the new mothers and the whole drama of giving birth. It’s such a primal part of the human experience and it’s almost never dramatized in its own right.

    ETA: Ah – it was Season 8, I think, that was our last one, and Season 9 is now available in the system. Woot!

  77. 77.

    There are those who call me...tim... (Still posh)

    Frank Turner, Brit singer/ songwriter. Little Changes, Don’t Worry, Get Better, Be More Kind. Dude has survived some crap, apparently. Also, Danish hard rockers Volbeat. All the songs have this triumphant tone, even the sad ones. For Evigt.

  79. 79.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Pat Mahomes is a bad hombre

     

    Now you got him…. whoops…. now you don’t

  80. 80.

    prostratedragon

    I see there are a lot of other Call the Midwife and Star Trek (no surprise there) fans here. Comedies aren’t necessarily optimistic, but some that I think are, and that I enjoy, include Groundhog Day/em>, Born Yesterday, and the third one that has slipped my mind.

    Not an outright comedy but very optimistic, in fact full of misplaced optimism all things considered, is Metropolis. Maybe just very premature optimism. Also in this category is A Raisin in the Sum, either the Poitier or Glover version. And despite some horrors, The Night of the Hunter is very optimistic about the ability to survive, and the willingness of others to help.

  81. 81.

    dm

    Two things that surprised me by leaving me feeling optimistic, despite the fact that they are about climate change are Kim Stanley Robinson’s New York 2140 and The Ministry of the Future.

    New York 2140 is set in a Venice-like New York, where the streets of lower Manhattan have been flooded by rising sea-levels.  The buildings down there have sealed their lower floors and basements, and put greenhouses on their roofs and along their upper floors to provide fresh produce for the residents.  There are vaporettos plying the “canals”, young kids surviving by scavenging among collapsing, flooded, buildings.  Despite the desperate situation, I left the book with the feeling, “By God, they’re going to make it!”

    Also, it’s a love-letter to New York.

    As to The Ministry of the Future, it seems strange to say that a book that opens with a heat-wave that kills 20 million people is “optimistic”, but that horrific occurrence is what makes enough of the world finally start to do what needs to be done. Part of the book’s optimism comes from a belief that people really are pretty good, when you get down to it, and really can get it together to do what needs doing, and to social-engineer solutions (major readjustments of capitalism, basically) that drag the recalcitrant and the special interests into doing what’s needed for the world.  I guess it’s optimistic because it climbs out of the slough of despond in which it opens.

    As long as I’m talking about climate optimism, this isn’t fiction, but non-fiction: Saul Griffith of Rewiring America talks about how climate change is not an engineering problem (we know how to do what’s needed), it’s a political problem, and that the political problem can be hacked: https://www.saulgriffith.com/talks — The talk on Ezra Klein’s podcast is good, as is his 2015 talk to the Long Now Foundation (I haven’t seen his other stuff).  In addition to being optimistic (he didn’t used to be), he’s a pretty entertaining speaker.

  84. 84.

    Kattails

    “I’ll take a glass of that 42-year-old scotch.” “Oh, no, we don’t have any of that here tonight.” “OK I’ll take four 8-year-olds and a 10-year-old.” “Oh, aye, that adds up.”

    And Hillary Hahn playing Mendelssohn.  Just mesmerizing. wonderful over the shoulder shots.

  87. 87.

    eddie blake

    @zhena gogolia:

    trek definitely is all about optimism.

    the movie that always brings me hope and makes me proud to be an american is the right stuff. BRILLIANT adaptation of wolfe’s book. slyly funny. overwhelmingly optimistic. sometimes you can see very clearly when you’re looking towards the stars.

  88. 88.

    Miss Bianca

    Speaking of “optimism”…every year, it seems, and at the same time of year as well (ie, sometime between Thanksgiving and New Year), it’s become a tradition at the Mountain Hacienda to binge-watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. I mean, it’s got it all – epic stakes, good triumphing over evil (even at terrible cost), the little guys being the real heroes…everything works for me: the score, the design, the scenery, dear sweet jumping Jesus…the cast, the integration of the CGI with the live action. Do I have quibbles? Sure – I wouldn’t be a real jackal otherwise. But damn…all you gotta do to get the waterworks flowing is to sit me down with Theoden’s speech to the Rohirrim before they ride into battle with the Orcs – “FORTH, EORLINGAS!”…and then just go on from there.

  90. 90.

    There are those who call me...tim... (Still posh)

    @Benw: I don’t know what I’ve been doing with my ears all these years, but I heard Little Changes twice in a week in my local grocery (really!) I thot it was Guster at first. Googled the lyrics, took it from there. Taking him song by song, and he nails me everytime.

  91. 91.

    NotMax

    Brain too unfocused yet after emerging from deep nappage to get it together enough to cobble up any sort of list. Maybe later on.

    @Baud

    Ditto. Never heard of it.

  92. 92.

    FelonyGovt

    @mali muso:  I’ll second Call My Agent. Just delightful, and I’m also pleased by how much of the French I pick up (English subtitles for me, though).

    And I just loved Ted Lasso. Among other things, it’s unusual to see three dimensional female characters in a show about mens’’ sports. And it’s so upbeat.

  95. 95.

    Spanish Moss

    “The Gods Must Be Crazy”. An epic journey from the Kalahari desert to the end of the earth, with some of the funniest slapstick I have ever seen.

  96. 96.

    PJ

    I really enjoyed Ted Lasso, it was one of the bright spots of last year.

    But my favorite show of the last five years or so is Lodge 49 (just ahead of Better Call Saul), which was on AMC.   It’s set in Long Beach, CA, among the members of the Lynx Lodge (a variation on an Elks/Lions Club/Freemasons Lodge), in the wreckage of the local aerospace industry.  One one level, it’s a satire on late capitalism and the decline of the middle class and lack of meaningful work and a future, but as the show goes on, the mystical/symbolic level involving the mysteries of the Lodge, the Fisher King, the Tarot, and the nature of time and space becomes more prominent.  The writing is fantastic, it’s very funny, and the acting is great (Paul Giamatti plays a prominent role in the second season).  Despite all the defeats the characters suffer, they manage to support each other, and the show as a whole leaves you with a feeling that the goodness in people can prevail.

    Sadly, it was cancelled last year after the second season (two more were planned), but it can be streamed on Hulu right now.

  97. 97.

    Mary G

    My favorite comfort film is “What’s Up, Doc” with Barbra Streisand and the guy from Love Story.

  101. 101.

    bluefoot

    @dm: I loved “New York 2140.” Robinson can be hit or miss for me, but this one really resonated with me.  It really shows how humans can adapt – as individuals, communities and societies.  I was surprised too at how well Robinson wrote New York.  He’s a California guy, through and through. Anyway, I came away from the book thinking about possibilities for the future, which is about as optimistic as one can get.  Despite, as you say, the subject matter.

    For the last few days, I’ve been reading the Biden-Harris COVID-19 response plan, and that has been helping with the optimism.  But that’s not exactly entertainment.

  113. 113.

    Pittsburgh Mike

    Ted Lasso is more than just a story about a good person, it’s a story about who knows his strengths and weaknesses, and still does his best.

    The whole series is worth watching, but my favorite part is the dart game near the end.

    BTW, you should just sign up for Apple TV, watch what you want and then cancel it.  ATV is like $5/month, so plan your binge and you’ll be out all of $5 or $10 for this show, and The Morning Show, which is also worth watching.

    This is what we do with CBS All Access — wait until the next season of The Good Fight and then sign up.

  114. 114.

    Pittsburgh Mike

    @Miss Bianca: Ha, I love The Prisoner, but I didn’t notice the similarity between The Village and The Good Place’s town center.  Kudos!

    The bike with the #6 was the official logo of version 6 of an operating system I worked on years ago.

  116. 116.

    Pittsburgh Mike

    Also good watches:

    I’m Sorry — Netflix — just a fun show.

    Episodes — NetFlix and Amazon Prime — very funny show about British writers whose show is adapted for American TV.  Impossible to find on pirate sites, since searching for it turns up everything :-)

    Outnumbered — Amazon Prime — funniest show about family life I’ve ever seen.  Watch it now, because when it vanishes, it’s very difficult to find, since it’s BBC.

    The Man in the High Castle — Amazon.  Disturbing but ultimately somewhat optimistic show about aftermath of a WW2 where Japan and Germany win and split the US.  The book by Phillip Dick is just different.

    Catastrophe — — Amazon.  Deeply funny show about an American who gets his Irish one-night-stand pregnant and moves to the UK.

    Pulling — Amazon.  Another Sharon Horgan show.  Also very funny.

    Crashing — HBO.  With Phoebe Waller-Bridge.  Fairly weird show about a bunch of people squatting in an abandoned hospital.

    Bad Education — not sure where to watch this show (not the movie).  With Jack Whitehall.

    Derry Girls — Netflix.  Life in a girls school in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

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