We’ve been watching “The Americans,” the FX series about two Soviet intelligence agents posing as a married-with-children couple to spy on the American government. Spoiler: this is not a documentary about Donald J. Trump and family. It’s set in the early ’80s. Therein lies the charm, I guess. It seems almost quaint to imagine the Russians bothering with deep-cover agents when they’ve pretty much got the run […]
Peace through television
I haven’t posted for — what, five months now? — because every time I have an idea it somehow ends up with the phrase “that fucking Trump.” The original idea could be about television or books or movies, or gardening or the importance of regular oil changes, and still those words keep forcing themselves forward in the first paragraph. But I’m past it now. I figure it’s […]
‘Star Trek’ saw it coming
You run out of metaphors to explain Trump. In the shit-hits-the-fan scenario, is Trump the fan, or is he the shit? In the Hitler scenario, is Trump really Hitler, or is he Mussolini’s feckless brother Doug? In the comet-destroys-Earth scenario, is Trump the comet, or is he just a guy on his toilet, tweeting out his reactions to “Fox and Friends”? The thing about history is that […]
Maya and Marty
I’m not sure why NBC’s “Maya and Marty,” NBC’s latest stab at the timeworn variety-show format, is getting crappy reviews. I’ve watched two episodes now and I’m ready to call it the best thing on network TV. Maya Rudolph and Martin Short are both gifted comics, both at their best when skewering self-absorbed celebrities. They do that a lot here. If this piece, “My New York — […]
A long trek with Tolstoy
I’ve spent the last couple of months reading “War and Peace.” Here’s my review: It’s pretty long. I started the book as sort of a lenten exercise. Instead of giving up something I loved, like wine and sloth, I decided to take on something laborious — not really realizing that this particular labor would take a lot longer than the 40 days of Lent. Surprisingly though, one […]
Holiday Bill is back
By the way, if you haven’t seen “A Very Murray Christmas” yet on Netflix, we here at the Warehouse have given it four stars and demand that it be required holiday viewing for aging misanthropes everywhere. There’s something about Bill Murray’s face: Etched with disbelief at the way things have turned out, but with some ghost of hope behind those faded eyes. That’s why he was perfect […]
Somethin’ from the oven
I’ve come to hate reality TV, and by now I’m about half sick of cooking shows. So I’m trying to decide why I’m such a big fan of “The Great British Baking Show.” I’d say it was the British accents, for which I’m a sucker — but then Gordon Ramsay has one and his over-bleeped culinary combats (in their endless iterations) have grown tiresome. I think it’s […]
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