It's Time For Niche Gossip, and a Return to the "Bar"

Welcome to a pre-Labor Day grab bag!

It’s the summer slow season, which means it’s time once again for us to pull up an imaginary barstool to the phantom bar, order a ghostly cocktail, and gossip about a bunch of pop-culture stuff and see where the wind takes us.

Drink 1: I am really into murder right now, because when I sit down with my streamers, what I really wish for are more episodes of Only Murders In The Building and The Afterparty. I’ve particularly enjoyed the runner on OMITB about the horrifying and smashy things Steve Martin might be doing in the real world when he unwittingly retreats to his anxiety headspace, and would only note that the whole shebang needs more Ashley Park. The Afterparty is kind of like The Affair but with genre parody, sharper writing, and less navel-gazing misery: It’s an Apple-produced mystery that takes the notion that we all remember events through our own specific lenses, and applies it by having each suspect recount their side of the story in a specific cinematic style. Last season, …