This is a preview of our pop culture newsletter The Daily Beast’s Obsessed, written by senior entertainment reporter Kevin Fallon. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox each week, sign up for it here.
This week:
- Devouring every detail of Funny Girl drama.
- We need to talk about this Queer as Folk scene.
- A really good, really timely podcast from Katie Couric.
- Naked Christopher Meloni. That’s all.
- Star Wars and Smash Mouth, together at last.
Why Weren’t More People Talking About Queer as Folk?
It’s taken me a while to finally watch it, but I recently binged the new Queer as Folk reboot that launched on Peacock last month. There are a lot of things to celebrate. It’s so inclusive. There are lots of hot sex scenes. It’s a lovely tribute to the queer culture in New Orleans.
But there are two major talking points that I don’t think people made enough of a deal about when it premiered, which I shall remedy now.
First of all, Jesse James Keitel, who plays the trans high school teacher, Ruthie, gives an astonishing performance. Where has all the buzz been about her? She’s incredible in this series.
Second of all, and perhaps most importantly, were we aware that there is a scene in which Kim Cattrall has a lesbian awakening while being finger-banged in a bathroom? As in, almost exactly the same scene that is so notorious featuring Cynthia Nixon and Sara Ramirez in And Just Like That…?
Given all the attention that And Just Like That… scene got and all the ink spilled discussing Cattrall’s absence from the series, I would have thought that a scene in Queer as Folk that is essentially the same as the Miranda-Che one would be all that people would be talking about.
I haven’t stopped thinking about it. Can we all watch Queer as Folk so I have someone to discuss this with?
A Really Good and Timely Podcast
It is thrilling to live at the evolutionary moment when human brain matter is, apparently, transforming into worms. At least that’s what I have to tell myself in order to stomach things like major news sources despicably platforming the skepticism over whether the story about the 10-year-old who was raped and had to cross state lines for an abortion was real.
It might be trite to say, but it’s a reminder to me of why it’s important to keep sharing stories and keep engaging with content that spotlights what is happening with reproductive rights as the human crisis it is.
Katie Couric in 2022.
Mike Coppola/Getty Images for VarietyA really good podcast that does just that is Katie Couric’s six-part series Abortion: The Body Politic, which just premiered its final episode. It’s a look at the history and future of abortion access in the U.S., attempting to understand how we got here and what happens next. Episodes find Couric traveling to abortion clinics on the Missouri-Illinois border, now that Missouri has some of the strictest abortion laws in the country; interviewing the last living Roe v. Wade prosecutor; and speaking with activists like Gloria Steinem and Busy Philipps.
It’s a really comprehensive podcast, but it never loses the humanity in its breadth, especially because of the very personal, emotional stories that are peppered throughout of people talking about their experience with abortion, including several harrowing pre-Roe accounts.
Christopher Meloni’s Peloton Ad
Peloton, the company with the most chaotic marketing plan in the business—never forget that Chris Noth ad—just released a new campaign featuring Christopher Meloni using its app while completely naked.
It’s fun that Christopher Meloni is so in on the joke of the internet thirsting after him, though I imagine it’s not too laborious to be in on a joke when the joke is: “I’m really hot.” The ad also was a reminder that I once published in this very newsletter a post titled, “It’s Time We Fully Appreciate Christopher Meloni’s Juicy Ass.” Inexplicably, I’m paid for this, folks.
I Can’t Stop Watching This Video
The internet is a mystifying place. I don’t know why, for example, someone decided to make a video of various characters from the Star Wars franchise singing “All Star” by Smash Mouth one word at a time. But I’m glad they did.
What to watch this week:
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris: This is the gay cinephile event of the summer. (Fri. in theaters)
The Rehearsal: Nathan Fielder’s latest experiment is alternately excruciating and brilliant. (Fri. on HBO)
The Gray Man: Chris Evans, Ryan Gosling, and Rege-Jean Page are in a movie together. Put it on mute and enjoy. (Fri. in theaters)
What to skip this week:
Persuasion: Sometimes, things are too clever for their own good. (Fri. on Netflix)
Where the Crawdads Sing: The off-screen drama with its author is way juicier. (Fri. in theaters)
