Welcome to Thursday. We both watched the new Lindsay Lohan Christmas movie last week and oof. Even for two people who love a cheesy holiday film, this was rough. Don’t worry, Lindsay, we’ll always remember Camp Walden.
Next week, the team is taking off for Thanksgiving, but a Sunday Edition will hit your inboxes as scheduled. Happy Turkey Day in advance! We’re thankful for our readers :)
In today’s edition:
The Crown
The White Lotus
Sex Lives of College Girls
Below Deck Adventure
— Jess Spoll and Jenni Cullen
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Where we each choose a recent-ish show to review and feature.
If you’d watch a Succession x Downton Abbey crossover, try…The Crown
Keywords: historical drama, British aristocracy, intimate
Watch if you like: The Empress, Downton Abbey, Peaky Blinders
Jenni’s Rating: A-/B+
Not everyone is loving the latest season (released on Netflix last week), but that doesn’t change the fact that The Crown is an impeccable series of television. Based on an award-winning play, this plush historical drama chronicles the life of Queen Elizabeth II from the 1940s to modern times. The first season begins with an inside look at Elizabeth’s ascent to the throne at the age of 25. As the series moves through the decades, it spotlights the family intrigue, royal romances, and political rivalries that helped to shape the end of the 20th century.
While The Crown is by no means a documentary, its plot is inspired by and drawn from historical events, which somehow renders the story — chronicling the detailed lives and inner workings of the royal family — extra engrossing to the gossip-loving part of my brain. It is also an excellently produced show; the attention to detail is absurdly good, the cinematography is beautiful, and the actors are all fantastic. Every two seasons, the main cast is swapped out for older actors as their characters age. This practice means we get to witness the prowess of talent like Helena Bonham Carter, Matt Smith, Olivia Colman, Claire Foy, Gillian Anderson, Dominic West, and so many more — all in the same series.
My opinion of the show wobbles ever-so-slightly from season to season (hence the wishy washy rating), but overall, The Crown is a solid series, and I always come back for more.
Length: 50-min runtime; 5 seasons / 50 episodes
Watch on: Netflix
If you haven’t already seen The White Lotus, then you’re making a mistake
Keywords: satire, drama, dark comedy
Watch if you like: Succession, Big Little Lies, The Resort
Rating: A+
The most awarded show at the Emmys this year is back for a second season, and if you haven’t already watched the first, do that ASAP. The White Lotus is an anthology series, so while it’s not strictly necessary to watch it before the currently airing season, I still recommend that you do. There is one character, played by Jennifer Coolidge, that does bridge the two different storylines.
Both seasons are set at a White Lotus Resort (the first in Hawaii, the second in Sicily), both start with a cryptic scene involving a dead body, and both feature a handful of privileged, wealthy vacationers played by a slew of noteworthy actors (Connie Britton, Sydney Sweeney, and Aubrey Plaza, to name a few). But the real underlying thread that ties everything together is the biting satire of the privileged elite. On the surface it may seem to be a whodunnit, due to the whole dead-body-in-the-first-scene thing, but you eventually realize that’s not really the point of the show.
Director and showrunner Mike White has created a masterpiece with The White Lotus. The writing is so brilliant in its nuance and layering, the cinematography is clean and appealing, and the score does such an incredible job of infusing dread and anxiety throughout that I can’t help but point it out to my boyfriend at least 5 times per episode. It’s as close to a perfect show as I can imagine, and I’m enjoying this sophomore season as much as the first.
Length: 60-min runtime, 2 seasons / 9 episodes (new S2 episodes come out each Sunday)
Watch on: HBO Max
This popular shows came back with new episodes. Here’s what we think, and where you can watch them.
The Sex Lives of College Girls
Keywords: comedy-drama, friendship, witty
Watch if you like: Never Have I Ever, Sex Education, Crashing
Jenni’s Rating: B
Season 2 of The Sex Lives of College Girls (TSLCG) premiered today, and I wish it were already 5:00pm so I could quit working and watch the first episode. Written and produced by Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble, this show revolves around a group of four young women that are randomly assigned to the same freshman suite at Essex College, a fictional prestigious liberal arts school in Vermont. Think Gilmore Girls season 4, if it had given equal time to all of Rory’s roommates and ignored Stars Hollow entirely. Each of the girls in TSLCG is unique, three-dimensionally written, and ‘real’ feeling…at least in the context of a television show. You can count this as another refreshing, funny, sometimes moving, often awkward series from Mindy Kaling.
I didn’t know if I was going to enjoy this show initially, and thought it might be more of a background watch, but I was very pleasantly surprised by the first season. While, true to its title, the main characters’ romantic and other extra-curricular pursuits are often front and center, I’d warn you to not let that influence you too much; this show is more multifaceted than a carousel of college sexual escapades. Watching four very different, well-defined characters navigating their studies, relationships, identities, and new levels of freedom is extremely entertaining. The rapid-fire dialogue and ample pop-culture references (see: earlier Gilmore Girls comp) don’t hurt either. If you like female friendship and addictive college comedies, definitely give The Sex Lives of College Girls a try.
— Jenni
Length: ~40-min runtime, 2 seasons / 12 episodes (new S2 eps out on Thursdays)
Watch on: HBO Max
Where we give takes on docs & reality TV and give ‘unscripted’ shows a time to shine.
Below Deck Adventure
Reality Genre: drama
Watch if you like: Selling Sunset, Summer House, The Real Housewives
Below Deck Adventure is the newest entry in a franchise that now includes 4 spinoffs and a total of 21 seasons. If you’ve never watched any of the Below Decks, they all follow the same general premise: we follow a crew working aboard a superyacht as they cater to rich guests who have chartered the vessel. It’s a typical reality-drama show in that the entertainment comes from the interpersonal dynamics of the main players, in this case, the yacht’s employees or “yachties.” But the unique appeal of the show comes from watching people enjoy beautiful far-reaching locations, engage in fun activities, and experience a vacation unlike one that most of us ever will.
While the previous entries in the franchise have featured tropical locales, the newest is set in the frigid waters of Norway. Rather than jet skiing and paddle boarding, The Mercury’s guests go caving, mountain climbing, and rappelling. Other than the change of scenery, the show follows the same basic formula as always. Some of the crew members are experienced, some are useless, some get along, and others despise each other instantly. Normally, there’s at least one yachtie that I really like and can relate to; my biggest annoyance so far with Adventure is that I find all of the crew members to be fairly unlikeable. But it, along with all of the Below Decks, are still my absolute favorite shows to watch in the background while doing mindless tasks.
— Jess
Length: 45-min runtime, 3 episodes available with a new one each Wednesday
Watch on: Bravo / Peacock
Your shows, returned:
The Sex Lives of College Girls, Season 2: Premieres November 17 on HBO Max
Dead to Me, Season 3: Premieres November 17 on Netflix
Gangs of London, Season 2: Premieres November 17 on AMC/AMC+
The Great British Baking Show: Holidays: Premieres November 18 on Netflix
Ziwe, Season 2: Premieres November 18 on Showtime
Below Deck, Season 10: Premieres November 21 on Bravo/ the next day on Peacock
Upcoming new releases:
1899: Premieres November 17 on Netflix
Fleishman Is in Trouble: Premieres November 17 on Hulu
Leopard Skin: Premieres November 17 on Peacock
Welcome to Chippendales: Premieres November 22 on Hulu
Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin: Premieres November 23 on Peacock
Shaq: Premieres November 23 on HBO Max
Wednesday: Premieres November 23 on Netflix
Echo 3: Premieres November 23 on Apple TV+
Criminal Minds: Evolution: Premieres November 24 on Paramount+