Overcompensating, Amy Poehler and my latest reality TV obsession
This week: something to watch, something to read and something to listen to.
Ok, let’s catch up:
And Just Like That has returned for its third season and along with it comes the endless chatter, memes and recaps. Based on the first two episodes, it seems that the creators have taken on some of the, ahem, feedback from the audience. They’ve ditched a few side characters and, as The Guardian writes, the women “are no longer trying to be anything other than themselves: absurdly rich New Yorkers in their 50s”.
Just when you finally got the tune of ‘Defying Gravity’ out of your head, the Wicked: For Good trailer has dropped. This is Part 2 of the Wicked series and comes out in cinemas on 21 November. What will this year’s ‘holding space’ viral moment be?
Our queen Taylor Swift has bought back the original recordings of her first six albums, making her the owner of all the music she’s ever made. I’ll just let that sit there.
Call Her Alex, a docuseries on the podcaster Alex Cooper will drop on Disney+ this week. The two-parter follows Alex’s rise ‘from a 24-year-old woman with a sex and dating podcast to the CEO of a media empire in just six years’. I’ll be tuning in.
📺 Overcompensating
On Prime Video.
Overcompensating is a comedy series about a closeted college freshman, Benny, who navigates relationships, sex, fraternities and pretending to have a crush on Megan Fox. While the show has a slightly hazy time period (is it 2015 or 2025?), I don’t think it matters because either way, it is totally nostalgic for 90s kids. The soundtrack features Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj and pre-Brat Charli XCX, and Benny’s sexual awakening comes in the form of Brendan Fraser in George of the Jungle.
The show’s creator, Benito Skinner, is a talented writer and comedian who is known for his viral videos. He gained a following posting on TikTok as Benny Drama and has managed to expertly translate that humour to the screen. This is also a sign of the direction media seems to be going: amass the followers and then you might get an opportunity in Hollywood, rather than the other way around (see the controversy around Luke Bateman).
The cameos in Overcompensating are impressive: Charli XCX is both an executive producer and star, along with Jonah Hill, Kaia Gerber and Bowen Yang. The series is 8 episodes, each about 30 minutes. We need more of this type of TV, please!
🎧 Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler is a good hang.
This is something we already assumed, but her new podcast Good Hang with Amy Poehler is proof. She is a great interviewer and has an easy rapport with her guests.
I’ve been impressed by the way that Amy embraces Gen Zs and millennials. She loves TikTok, she is always trying to learn new things and she pulls up her friends when they are being a little too stuck in their ways. While it is always a blast to hear the SNL cast reminisce, I am enjoying the way that she mixes things up. One week, she’ll interview Paige DeSorbo and Hannah Berner from the Giggly Squad podcast (icons to 30-something women), and the following week she might interview Michelle Obama or Jack Black. Consistently good each week.
📚 Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
Great Big Beautiful Life is the latest release from bestselling author Emily Henry (Beach Read, Book Lovers). Alice Scott is a journalist who is invited to interview a celebrity heiress who disappeared from public view 30 years ago. There’s just one catch: the brooding, Pulitzer Prize-winning Hayden Anderson also got the call up. Now they have to compete for the job.
Emily Henry writes romance really well and has a trusted formula. The other part of the story involves flashbacks to the famous celebrity’s family in the style of Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and just doesn’t quite work. In saying that, if you want a book that you can speed through with a bit of hot and heavy romance, this is the one for you.
Currently…
👑 Obsessed with: Summer House. A jam-packed reality drama about a group of friends who go to the Hamptons every weekend. Being the self-proclaimed Bravo expert that I am (Real Housewives is my specialty subject), it was embarrassing to admit I’d never watched Summer House. Alas, this has now been rectified and I am a whole new person. Pro tip from my Bravo friends: start watching at season 3.
🎬 Watching: The Phoenician Scheme (in cinemas now). The latest Wes Anderson film has all the trimmings: humour, absurdity, perfectly straight lines, a star-studded cast. The newcomer actress Mia Threapleton (Kate Winslet’s daughter) is a scene stealer.
📚 Reading: The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden, a debut novel that was shortlisted for the Booker Prize last year. Set in the Netherlands in 1961, it is the story of Isabel, a young woman who lives alone in her late mother’s country home until she has an unexpected guest come to stay.
📰 Reading: this article on male friendship in the New York Times last week. A journalist writes about how his friendships changed after marriage and kids and the way the ‘manosphere’ has replaced a lot of that intimacy.
🎬 Watching: Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning. It’s a no from me. I know, I know, Tom Cruise does his own stunts. Very impressive etc. But 2 hours and 50 minutes is just too long for any movie and it felt like they were trying too hard to recreate the good old days.
Great post, Laz. The note on people building followers as a path into big time media is really interesting. It’s like personal brand has overtaken anything that a movie or production company can give you?
A big beautiful edition of Laz’s List! Overcompensating does sound right up my alley, but how will I have time between all the summer house episodes I need to catch up on!