*its.
Goddammit.
Is this term defined in the show?? Are there any examples given??
A few years back “Gillette” used this term in a TV add campaign and I never understood it.
I’m always a bit confused when I hear/see it.
There’s TPSTO definitions and essays about it if you just put the term into your search bar.
It is often defined as societal pressure to behave overly aggressive while suppressing other emotions, often leading to depression and other mental health issues.
Gadd was just on Fresh Air, https://www.npr.org/2026/04/30/nx-s1-5798577/richard-gadd-half-man-baby-reindeer discussing this project.
Half Man is tough material, to say the least. i get that it’s not something that you can just hang with. but neither was Baby Reindeer. i do want to see how he does with creating material that is not mined from personal history. that being said, i’m down with whatever he puts out. true, profound, artistry. we don’t see that too often.
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Lord of the Flies, screenplay by Jack Thorne (Adolescence). I’m lately wary of watching things in which people are awful to each other - thanks, World - but I thought I’d give this a shot. Turns out I remember the book pretty well despite not having read it since I was 9 or so. And I was struck by how much in common my beloved Lost has with this tale. (And also struck that I didn’t notice this before.) It’s good, is what I’m saying.
Dying for Sex with the amazing Michelle Williams & Jeni Slate. My PIC excused himself after the first or second episode, as the cancer theme was a little to close to home for him (!).
And so, I’ve been watching it on my own while he’s watching his hockey team. He’s missing out on some very funny, great writing, and some srsly kinky ish — as well as pretty sad and troubling themes beyond cancer that actually hit very close to home for me. Guess I’m made of tougher stuff 
I can’t binge Beef; it’s too stressful for me. A friend of mine teases me for my sensitivity; sure I can watch Zazie Beetz dismember people and such, but can I watch people just being cruel to each other? I guess it’s a genre thing given I also like it in political satire.
Toxic masculinity refers to particular features identified as “masculine” that do no one any good. Think “take charge of everything, especially where women are involved” and “bottle up your feelings because sharing emotions is for p*****s and f@*s". It’s not that this is all men even naturally, but that these lessons of what constitute masculinity are toxic to everyone.
Hope that helps.
Widow’s Bay with Matthew Rhys. Only two epis in, and it looks promising.
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Waiting for my partner to return from a work trip, and we’re going to start it then. We have AppleTV+ til the beginning of July, so the season should be all out by then.
We finished up Ted Lasso over the weekend. While I’ll admit the 2nd and 3rd seasons are as tightly written, and don’t have the novel surprise of S1, I still found them very sweet and generally pretty funny.
I’ve been making my way through Monarch, the series starring Kurt Russell that ties into the current Godzilla / King Kong films. It’s… fine. A lot of plot, govt orgs vs corporations vs noble scientists etc. Mostly just excuses to proceed from one “monster destroys stuff” scene to another. But that’s the point, so…
The effects are largely well done. and Russell at least seems to be having a decent time.
We tried to watch that one and absolutely hated it. Too much blabbing, not enough monster destruction.
Ted Lasso S1 was really fun & well-written, and then it completely abandoned its edge and became the equivalent of warm milk in season 2. I know it remains greatly popular, but it wasn’t for us.
The Bear Season 5 is final season. Will be out in June.
Saw something promoting a “prequel” to The Bear that I was able to find on Hulu. It’s called “Gary” and it’s about the Richie and Mikey characters taking a car trip to Gary Indiana for some reason. Watched the first few minutes and that was it for me. I was probably looking for something substantive but it was these two characters, in a car, yelling at each other. May try it again if I see some positive reactions on line. 
Hey — at least it was just the two characters yelling at each other, not the entire cast for the duration of a season 
There WERE only two characters, so………
Right. But the yelling should be pretty familiar and business as usual for anyone who watches the show.
For me the show was much more than the yelling. I’m trying to recall if you were a fan or one who lost the love after a while. Have you seen Gary?
I’m from NYC. When I moved to California I was disappointed that our local pizza guy didn’t yell four-letter words from behind the counter, so I may have a different perspective.
For us, it was almost entirely yelling as proxy for a good script or actual drama. I think we made it through the first season, despite the terribly over-the-top holiday episode, but gave up after E1 of S2. We just couldn’t care about most of the characters.
The swearing wouldn’t bother me, as I have been favorably likened to a sailor in that department more times than I can count
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I endured the full episode, but Mrs. P bailed after a few minutes of yelling. There was a bit of a shock twist at the very end but I’m not sure if this was a stand alone episode or if the consequences of the end of this episode will carry over into the beginning of the regular season episodes.
We watched that last night. You bailed too early.
