"Emerald Fennell is adopting Wuthering Heights." It is early and no reason spellchecker would catch this. Also "Wuthering Heights" would make an amazing character name. A bitchy stepdaughter and Emerald's character has to deal with her.
My issue is Margot Robbie is way too old to play Cathy. Cathy & Heathcliff only make sense if they're teens. I already dislike this novel (the story is told TWICE removed). The only way this works for me is if Emerald imagines the nanny or housekeeper rolling her eyes as she tells the story or the visitor is an idiot who doesn't understand the story and Emerald fixes it all. Yeah I hate Wuthering Heights. I love Jane Eyre a lot. So much. And I suspect I would like Charlotte Bronte way more than Emily with her bizarre method of telling a love story. Or maybe it is an anti-love story. It was a bold choice to make ever character unlikeable or lacking personality.
It took me an embarrassingly long time to find the typo in that first sentence - I work as a proofreader. Clearly I needed more sleep or more caffeine this morning.
Robbie really has grown into a formidable actress, but you're right--the story starts when they're children, and they can't be more than in their early twenties when it ends. Also, am I the only one that doesn't find Elordi charismatic?
I agree about the charisma, but I thought he was very good in Priscilla as an extremely problematic, but compelling romantic partner. I actually just recommend that movie all around (with the trigger warning of abusive relationships). However, I believe Coppola deliberately shot him so his entire body was never in the same frame as Cailee Spaeny (so he's literally looming over her the entire time), so it could be Coppola and her cinematographer doing more of the work there.
Edited to add: Yes they are both too old (especially Margot, girl, I love you, but you usually make smarter production decisions than that!) even if Fennell is planning to spend the majority of time focusing on when Cathy returns (or Heathcliff returns? I don't know, even 12 year old me was like oh no this is not a good relationship, so one of the few 19th century romances I have never reread, and this is coming from someone who still likes most of Jane Eyre).
I haven’t been following all along, but if you haven’t already, I recommend you dive into the Mütter Museum gift shop. It’s Philadelphia’s medical history museum— fascinating collection and fun gift shop.
I was just thinking last night it was time for a gift shop review (heading to LA for the weekend and telling a friend we at least have time to stop into the Huntington Gift Shop....). I need that Corsair keychain, even though I would rather a different plane.
I liked the surf show- it was def a one-eye, do chores during commercials and don't sweat being back smack on time show. But the scenery is lovely and since the Olympics I've been obsessed with surfing. I'm gonna give the show a chance for a slow burn.
Just because the HI-Surf/Baywatch reminded me, but for a mildly entertaining evening, I recommend the Baywatch documentary on Hulu, which didn't need to be four episodes. It's heavily skewed toward people who were willing to be interviewed/wanted to get more attention, but is interesting nonetheless. And trying to explain to my 20-year-old the cognitive dissonance of Hasselhoff performing at the fall of the Berlin Wall was something.
Are we going to get a review of Dr Odyssey? I know Jessica mentioned going on Extra Hot Great to talk about it but I was hoping we could get something here as well. I'm hoping it's entertaining because it's Pacey!
Thank you for the Doug and Carol gif, they are my all time OTP. I remember when I started watching ER live in the 4th season after finding reruns on TNT that all I wanted was for them to end up happy together.
I have never cared for Wuthering Heights (I know everyone is supposed to be terrible and unsympathetic, I know, but they annoy the hell out of me), but I know in my heart and soul that Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi are miscast. Too old, too white (re: Heathcliff) and too modern. Jacob Elordi would barely make an acceptable Edgar Linton, never mind a good Heathcliff.
I understand why Emerald wants to work with both of them. And for purely shallow reasons they're both at peak beauty (and will probably stay there for a few years).
But there are also other Victorian/Edwardian novels. North & South. George Sand (can a French writer be Victorian?), Ella Hepworth Dixon wrote a novel about women surviving without the support of a man, George Eliot. I admire Austen and the Brontes but they weren't the only women writing.
My degree is in English literature with a verrrrrry strong focus on the Victorian era. You’ve picked some good ones! If we’re going for that era, though, I’d love to see The Return of the Native. Eustacia Vye and Clem are underrepresented.
I am hardly well versed but honestly I think audiences would embrace new voices. The Bronte's are famous and deserve their status is strong but there are so many more stories.
To use a pop culture reference, look how well Marvel did with Iron Man, and the Guardians. Hardly famous figures at first.
To be fair, something very odd is entirely possible with Emerald Fennell! Also, I forgot to say thank you for the Gift Shop pick this post as the Area 51 badge is absolutely being bought for a friend of mine for Christmas!
Before I became a librarian, I was a pharmacy technician working in 4 different states. I have seen some things when it comes to the opioid crisis. It's a complex and systemic issue, and I just can't with any form of media that flattens out the issue and makes people like corporate lawyers scapegoats. It's low-hanging fruit and lawyers do not have the ability to prescribe controlled substances. That Matlock twist took me out, and I don't know if I can continue with it despite my love of Kathy Bates.
Can confirm that the National Atomic Testing Museum is fascinating and disturbing. There's an unexpectedly great film on the detonation of a nuclear bomb. Unexpected because it has some surprises in it I am not going to spoil. There's also a Robbie the Robot in the lobby. And yes, the gift shop was surprising in its lack of toys.
I just wanted to thank you for your Spam Museum post. I dragged my husband and tween / teen kids to the museum this past summer. Everyone was deeply skeptical, but it turned out to be a total delight. And the gift shop was perfection. Highly recommend!
Ooh, as a museum nerd I can be helpful! Being a Smithsonian affiliate means your museum has access to some professional development programs and, I think, there are reciprocal benefits for people who are members of similarly-affiliated museums. So they’re not Smithsonian museums per se, more like… they’re friends? Whatever, it’s weird.
For the next Enter Through the Gift Shop, I would like to recommend the Museum of Flight in Seattle. My husband is a pilot and he could have spent the entire day there (and nearly did), but it was still interesting for me and my son, both non-pilots. It's so big you have to cross the street to see the whole thing. And of course, there's a nice restaurant and gift shop! https://www.museumofflightstore.org/
My folks went there when they were in Seattle, and they loved it! My dad especially loved the flying car. He was sad the gift shop didn’t have a toy version he could get my then two-year-old son. He was like “They had everything else!!”
Here's the problem with lifeguard shows: the whole purpose of lifeguards is to watch for, and then rescue, people in the process of drowning. Which would certainly be dramatic, but it's dramatic in a scene-that-acts-as-a-meet-cute-for-potential-love-interests way. (See also: teenagers-pretending-to-drown-so-their-crush-can-rescue-them way.) Basically, once you've seen one rescue, you've seen 'em all. It might work as the basis of one episode (although I think even that's a stretch) but it's too one-note to sustain an entire series.
We need a lifeguard show set in a water park, where there are different dangers like hitting your head on a water slide or kids getting rowdy in the lazy river.
Thanks for these great reviews! I haven't had time to watch past season 1 of EIP but have it on my list, so I am holding on to the recaps until I am caught up. But I can't wait to read them. I may pass on most of the shows in this recap, but thank you for reminding me about Elspeth!! I saw the pilot and was charmed and then forgot about it...
There's an SNL skit just waiting to be done featuring Cathy on ice skates. IYKYK.
"Emerald Fennell is adopting Wuthering Heights." It is early and no reason spellchecker would catch this. Also "Wuthering Heights" would make an amazing character name. A bitchy stepdaughter and Emerald's character has to deal with her.
My issue is Margot Robbie is way too old to play Cathy. Cathy & Heathcliff only make sense if they're teens. I already dislike this novel (the story is told TWICE removed). The only way this works for me is if Emerald imagines the nanny or housekeeper rolling her eyes as she tells the story or the visitor is an idiot who doesn't understand the story and Emerald fixes it all. Yeah I hate Wuthering Heights. I love Jane Eyre a lot. So much. And I suspect I would like Charlotte Bronte way more than Emily with her bizarre method of telling a love story. Or maybe it is an anti-love story. It was a bold choice to make ever character unlikeable or lacking personality.
It took me an embarrassingly long time to find the typo in that first sentence - I work as a proofreader. Clearly I needed more sleep or more caffeine this morning.
Same, I was like, "DID I MISSPELL WUTHERING?!?!" MY GOSH. It's only Tuesday, Lemon. - J
Sorry! I should have been more precise.
No, it was good for me to have to find it myself!! - J
Robbie really has grown into a formidable actress, but you're right--the story starts when they're children, and they can't be more than in their early twenties when it ends. Also, am I the only one that doesn't find Elordi charismatic?
I don’t either. His SNL episode didn’t do much for me, and that’s usually how I decide whether I like celebs I haven’t seen in other realms.
I agree about the charisma, but I thought he was very good in Priscilla as an extremely problematic, but compelling romantic partner. I actually just recommend that movie all around (with the trigger warning of abusive relationships). However, I believe Coppola deliberately shot him so his entire body was never in the same frame as Cailee Spaeny (so he's literally looming over her the entire time), so it could be Coppola and her cinematographer doing more of the work there.
Edited to add: Yes they are both too old (especially Margot, girl, I love you, but you usually make smarter production decisions than that!) even if Fennell is planning to spend the majority of time focusing on when Cathy returns (or Heathcliff returns? I don't know, even 12 year old me was like oh no this is not a good relationship, so one of the few 19th century romances I have never reread, and this is coming from someone who still likes most of Jane Eyre).
I haven’t been following all along, but if you haven’t already, I recommend you dive into the Mütter Museum gift shop. It’s Philadelphia’s medical history museum— fascinating collection and fun gift shop.
It’s on the list!
I have the conjoined gingerbread man cookie cutter from here! It gets real weird every family cookie day.
We have the brain ice cube trays!
I was just thinking last night it was time for a gift shop review (heading to LA for the weekend and telling a friend we at least have time to stop into the Huntington Gift Shop....). I need that Corsair keychain, even though I would rather a different plane.
I liked the surf show- it was def a one-eye, do chores during commercials and don't sweat being back smack on time show. But the scenery is lovely and since the Olympics I've been obsessed with surfing. I'm gonna give the show a chance for a slow burn.
Don’t get your hopes up for much actual surfing! The second episode had none. It was just sloooooooow discussions about rescuing people. -H
Just because the HI-Surf/Baywatch reminded me, but for a mildly entertaining evening, I recommend the Baywatch documentary on Hulu, which didn't need to be four episodes. It's heavily skewed toward people who were willing to be interviewed/wanted to get more attention, but is interesting nonetheless. And trying to explain to my 20-year-old the cognitive dissonance of Hasselhoff performing at the fall of the Berlin Wall was something.
Are we going to get a review of Dr Odyssey? I know Jessica mentioned going on Extra Hot Great to talk about it but I was hoping we could get something here as well. I'm hoping it's entertaining because it's Pacey!
Thank you for the Doug and Carol gif, they are my all time OTP. I remember when I started watching ER live in the 4th season after finding reruns on TNT that all I wanted was for them to end up happy together.
Definitely! It hasn’t started yet but we will totally talk about it. -H
I have never cared for Wuthering Heights (I know everyone is supposed to be terrible and unsympathetic, I know, but they annoy the hell out of me), but I know in my heart and soul that Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi are miscast. Too old, too white (re: Heathcliff) and too modern. Jacob Elordi would barely make an acceptable Edgar Linton, never mind a good Heathcliff.
I agree that they’re both very very odd picks, unless Emerald is in fact doing something odd with it. -H
I understand why Emerald wants to work with both of them. And for purely shallow reasons they're both at peak beauty (and will probably stay there for a few years).
But there are also other Victorian/Edwardian novels. North & South. George Sand (can a French writer be Victorian?), Ella Hepworth Dixon wrote a novel about women surviving without the support of a man, George Eliot. I admire Austen and the Brontes but they weren't the only women writing.
My degree is in English literature with a verrrrrry strong focus on the Victorian era. You’ve picked some good ones! If we’re going for that era, though, I’d love to see The Return of the Native. Eustacia Vye and Clem are underrepresented.
I am hardly well versed but honestly I think audiences would embrace new voices. The Bronte's are famous and deserve their status is strong but there are so many more stories.
To use a pop culture reference, look how well Marvel did with Iron Man, and the Guardians. Hardly famous figures at first.
Apparently, RotN was a movie with Catherine Zeta-Jones in 1994. Frankly, that’s excellent casting, as far as Eustacia goes. But I never saw it.
To be fair, something very odd is entirely possible with Emerald Fennell! Also, I forgot to say thank you for the Gift Shop pick this post as the Area 51 badge is absolutely being bought for a friend of mine for Christmas!
Before I became a librarian, I was a pharmacy technician working in 4 different states. I have seen some things when it comes to the opioid crisis. It's a complex and systemic issue, and I just can't with any form of media that flattens out the issue and makes people like corporate lawyers scapegoats. It's low-hanging fruit and lawyers do not have the ability to prescribe controlled substances. That Matlock twist took me out, and I don't know if I can continue with it despite my love of Kathy Bates.
Right? I think they had a decent show without it. They didn’t need it. -H
Geiger counters and Area 51 make me think of Agent Mulder, who hopefully is out there somewhere bopping his head to Taylor Swift’s “Down Bad”…
Can confirm that the National Atomic Testing Museum is fascinating and disturbing. There's an unexpectedly great film on the detonation of a nuclear bomb. Unexpected because it has some surprises in it I am not going to spoil. There's also a Robbie the Robot in the lobby. And yes, the gift shop was surprising in its lack of toys.
I just wanted to thank you for your Spam Museum post. I dragged my husband and tween / teen kids to the museum this past summer. Everyone was deeply skeptical, but it turned out to be a total delight. And the gift shop was perfection. Highly recommend!
Ooh, as a museum nerd I can be helpful! Being a Smithsonian affiliate means your museum has access to some professional development programs and, I think, there are reciprocal benefits for people who are members of similarly-affiliated museums. So they’re not Smithsonian museums per se, more like… they’re friends? Whatever, it’s weird.
For the next Enter Through the Gift Shop, I would like to recommend the Museum of Flight in Seattle. My husband is a pilot and he could have spent the entire day there (and nearly did), but it was still interesting for me and my son, both non-pilots. It's so big you have to cross the street to see the whole thing. And of course, there's a nice restaurant and gift shop! https://www.museumofflightstore.org/
Thank you for the suggestion, I am always taking them! - J
My folks went there when they were in Seattle, and they loved it! My dad especially loved the flying car. He was sad the gift shop didn’t have a toy version he could get my then two-year-old son. He was like “They had everything else!!”
In the vein of Jobs I Am Not Qualified for But Want Anyway, the New England Aquarium is hiring for a penguin manager. Who wouldn’t want that?
You would DEFINITELY come home smelling like fish every day, but I think I could handle that.
Oh! I want to manage the penguins!!
Here's the problem with lifeguard shows: the whole purpose of lifeguards is to watch for, and then rescue, people in the process of drowning. Which would certainly be dramatic, but it's dramatic in a scene-that-acts-as-a-meet-cute-for-potential-love-interests way. (See also: teenagers-pretending-to-drown-so-their-crush-can-rescue-them way.) Basically, once you've seen one rescue, you've seen 'em all. It might work as the basis of one episode (although I think even that's a stretch) but it's too one-note to sustain an entire series.
We need a lifeguard show set in a water park, where there are different dangers like hitting your head on a water slide or kids getting rowdy in the lazy river.
That might need to be a more intentional sitcom.
Ooh, this feels like a teen show!
Thanks for these great reviews! I haven't had time to watch past season 1 of EIP but have it on my list, so I am holding on to the recaps until I am caught up. But I can't wait to read them. I may pass on most of the shows in this recap, but thank you for reminding me about Elspeth!! I saw the pilot and was charmed and then forgot about it...