Hello hello,
My youngest son recently swallowed a penny, and I can’t help but think what a universal, parental experience it is to wait for a coin to pass through the GI tract (how odd). On the day of the incident, Leo and I locked eyes from across the room. He raised the penny between his little, pudgy fingers for me to see, and he said, “I’m gonna eat this.” True to his word, he swallowed it without so much as a grimace. Then the waiting began. What’s extra fun is needing to tell the other caretakers in his life that we’re collectively on poop-watch. His daycare teacher was nonplussed when I asked her to check his Pull-Ups very carefully that day (I mean, she’s seen it all, right?) Luckily, we retrieved the penny three days later, and no medical intervention was required. I commiserate with everyone currently waiting for a coin to pass. God speed.
Season 7 of the Revisionist History podcast is here, and there are some must-listen episodes. Episode 3 – In Triplicate will shock no one if you’ve been following the Purdue Pharma / Sackler family saga at the core of the opioid crisis… (Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe is a must read), but it’s still super interesting. As a former federal government employee, I appreciate the insight into how oversight programs can empirically improve outcomes:
https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/revisionist-history/in-triplicate
The episode I’m actually here for is this one:
https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/revisionist-history/when-will-met-grace
When Will Met Grace. Whoa – what a great exploration of a seemingly benign endeavor that had a monumental impact. The episode explores the impact of the TV show Will & Grace which debuted on NBC in September 1998. First of all, Malcolm examines the correlation between TV consumption in the 1980’s/1990’s and political affiliations. Bottom line- the more TV people watched, the more centrist their political leanings became. This makes sense in a pre-Netflix era when 50 million Americans watched an episode of Friends and went to work the next day to bond over it. The shared experience of a TV show (one that you couldn’t pause or easily record) united otherwise very different people. So enter Will & Grace. Initially, the show couldn’t please anyone – the GLAAD organization felt it didn’t go far enough to fully represent the gay lived experience, and the NBC executives initially felt it was too progressive. Kudos to the show’s creators who navigated this very fine line. Ultimately, the punch line is that before Will and Grace, there was something like 25% support for same sex marriage in America. After the show’s 11 season run, there was over 50% support for same sex marriage. While no one can deny that there are many factors that could have contributed to the country’s shift regarding same sex marriage, Will & Grace played a significant part in bring that shift to fruition.
It makes me wonder about the current “golden era of TV” (I only know this is a thing people are saying these days because it’s been referenced in my podcasts. I am sadly oblivious to great TV shows now, but I am keeping a list of shows to watch when my kids leave the house…) We can all scroll the endless lists of spectacular, niche shows on multiple streaming services that serve up content which directly aligns with our individual values/views/perspectives. On one hand, this is so important for representation in entertainment and the opportunity to find community on the screen. On the other hand, have we lost something here? These days, 3 – 4 million viewers (simultaneously) of a top streaming TV show is deemed remarkable…aka gone are the days that 80 million of us walk into work ready to bond over an episode of Cheers regardless of our views on abortion or immigration or student loan forgiveness. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t believe that ignorance is bliss. I think we’re collectively a better-informed population, but we’re a population that doesn’t first connect on what we have in common; rather, we focus on how we’re different, and maybe, in the past, TV helped us recognize each other’s humanity first.
After listening, I personally land here: expanded representation in entertainment is long overdue/crucial and the shared experience of old-school TV did a lot of good for the country. Why do we have to choose?
Still thinking about all of this…
-Jessica