TV Tuesdays Free Talk

Unless someone is very close and present in my life, I don't usually care about deaths. But James Van Der Beek's death hit hard and I'm still trying to understand why. I am not grieving as if he was a close friend, but I am definitely experiencing this way more intensely than any other celebrity.

Maybe Dawson (his most famous character) had an influence on me that I never realized.

Like me, he was a movie buff who loved Spielberg and went to film school. Like me, he was oblivous of his surroundings, socially incompetent and a cronic overthinker. He spent his teenage years in an intermittent relationship with Joey (Katie Holmes), and, to my dismay, that is when the similarities end.

I did not watch Dawson's Creek in full in the 1990s, but the little I watched made a huge impact on me. I wrote about it before, and going back to it now is both comforting and unsettling. The shots of the lake, the bucolic atmosphere. The constant references to films from the 1980s and before. It's a powerful nostalgia bomb I can't resist right now.

Thank you for that, James.

Started Taskmaster: Series 19 tonight and its gold so far.

I did 14 before this and wasn't feeling it for the first half, but then it all came together and was super good. What a wonderful show.

I've been rewatching Shōgun this past week. I forgot how long each episode is but man, what a series. I have never really watched historical dramas before but I love Shogun's cinematography and the acting from the cast. I look forward to the second season of the show. I was a little skeptical when they first announced in 2024 that a 2nd and 3rd season had been greenlit but it seems like the writers have control to also just end things after season 2? I don't have any sources for that unfortunately.