The Best in BEVP Boob Tube: 10/9
Dedicated to those who love a decent docuseries: An unsolved murder case with echos of Serial, one about 90s fashion super models, and throwing in a sports one, for fun and games.
Disclaimer: With the recent and ongoing attacks on Israel, it’s been a challenge to muster up the creative and mental energy to think or write about non-life or death situations. That said, there’s also value in helping to get lost for a few minutes in lighter subjects, or this is what I tell myself. With this frame, please enjoy a brief reprieve from the violence, heartbreak and horror. Know that these subjects are never far from my heart, unfortunately, as a Jew and ally who stands with Israel.
This is Part 2 of a 2-parter on TV/Film recos.
For Part 1, which includes a rom-com, a true crime comedy, and two unique, independent films, see here.
The Super Models, a docuseries is streaming on Apple TV+.
“Nowadays all the magic happens in post-production. But in the 80s and the early 90s, all that magic happened exactly in the moment you heard ‘click’.” - Linda Evangelista, super model from the 90s on the art of taking a picture
Format: 4 episodes, ~ 60 minutes each
Grade: B+ (Production value is high; Mechanically each episode builds on the next telling a cohesive, tight story; 4 camera-ready beautiful beings with plenty of lived experience expressing their story on screen makes for very watchable TV)
Bottom Line: As the folklore goes and not to be confused with the opening credits for Barbie:
Long before there was Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, and Kaia Gerber, there were the “Big Five”. Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, and Claudia Schiffer, the original ’90s supermodels.
With their mile-long legs, iconic haircuts, and million-dollar faces, in the 1990s, they were some of the most recognizable women in the world.
They attained the cult of celebrity and became larger-than-life personalities who famously, “[didn’t] get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day”.
Who’s it For: 90s pop culture enthusiasts. These 4 are our generation’s (Gen Xers) Beatles per The Guardian and heck, why not?
Cindy, Christy, Naomi, Linda. For a generation of women who were teenage girls in the late 1980s and early 90s, these were our Beatles.
And so the Apple TV+ documentary The Super Models is, to a large slice of generation X, what Peter Jackson’s Get Back was to Boomers. A strangely addictive encounter with four characters who have wallpapered our lives, seen in the one way in which we have never seen them before – as regular human beings.
Premise: The docuseries follows the origin of these 4 models who represented various idealized types of feminine beauty and power. (Cindy: The Serious One/All American Girl, Naomi: The Fierce Goddess, Christy: The Classic (Demure) Earthy Beauty, and Linda: The Funny One/Chameleon) It documents the models’ friendship, how they came up at the same time in the fashion industry, attaining a loyal, paparazzi-infused following once they were all-out celebrities. And let’s not forget being cast in the iconic, Freedom! 90 video from George Michael.
Along the BTS journey, one can’t ignore the racism, misogyny and rampant sexism that crept out of every crevice of the modeling industry. It’s not so much revelatory that these elements were present at that time, but more so a testament to the strength of the models’ friendship and agency that they watched out for one another.
And you’re welcome…for the tea.
Who Killed Jill Dando?, a docuseries is streaming on Netflix.
Format: 3 episodes, ~ 45 to 50 minutes each
Grade: C+ (Compelling story, unsolved crime, cold case to one of Britain’s most famous TV personalities in history, a bit repetitive and sensationalized)
Bottom Line: Whether it was in fact Barry George, who was convicted of the crime but then the case was overturned based on the lack of scientific evidence, Serbian crime lords, or potential crime bosses that Dando’s show, Crime Watch, helped to catch, it’s unclear who is the murderer.
What is clear is that Britain’s fascination with the case and its exposure in the media (tabloids) rivaled Princess Diana’s death news story for top spot, never to be reclaimed.
What is it about a tragedy being bestowed upon a doe-eyed blonde that so captivates a public’s attention in such a gross and exploitative fashion? This is really what this series is begging us to question.
Who’s it For: Fans of true crime podcasts (My Favorite Murder), conspiracy theorists, mystery lovers
Premise: Jill Dando, a popular BBC news reporter and Britain’s “darling” from the 90s (Think: Diane Sawyer/Katie Couric type figure) died a tragic death, executed on her front steps in the middle of the day and with all the CCTV footage London has and the amount of time spent on the investigation at the turn of the century, still to this day no one is serving time for the murder.
Welcome to Wrexham, Season 2 is streaming on Hulu.
Format: 1st Season (18 episodes of around avg. 30 minutes each) 2nd Season is in progress (episodes are closer to 50 minutes each)
Grade: B (Not as compelling or fun as first season, Sophomore slump but still entertaining, too many human interest storylines, but I’m still here for the story)
Bottom Line: This is the story of the Welsh football team salvaged by two soccer/football-ignorant wealthy celebrities from North America: Ryan Reynolds, who is always a joy to watch and his sparring partner Rob McElhenney from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (season 1000) who share a vision of advancing the team and community to the National League. Check out this overly complicated pyramid system by which football teams are categorized in the U.K. It’ll make you wish you never heard anything but “Premier League” ever again when referencing U.K. soccer football.
The most fun this season can be found courtesy of Humphrey Ker and his sense of humor. Second to this is Ker’s noticeable glow up from the prior season and his fancy, stylish glasses. I can’t tell which I prefer but I’ll let you look at the ones I can find online and then you tell me.
Ker is the Executive Director of Wrexham’s football team. If he looks familiar, it’s because he’s also an actor and comedian and writer who has appeared in shows, and most recently starred in the the now cancelled American Auto, which is a really fun and stupid-smart show you should watch, so he has time for Wrexham.
Side Note: He generally pairs the brown/white glasses with a white collared shirt and lighter colored attire. And black glasses go with dark attire.
Who’s it For: Football fanatics who can stand not watching too many minutes of actual football play, Ted Lasso positivity searchers, Some Good News enthusiasts
Premise: In its second season, the team sets their sights on continuing to build up the community in Wrexham, an economically depressed area, focusing both on the mens’ and newly discovered womens’ team that plays on a pitiful pitch. With the mens’ team, they must advance to the National League in the 2022-2023 season if they carry any hope of being financially not super under water. Spoiler alert: They do advance. It’s pretty phenomenal and we [people that now follow Wrexham on Instagram] know all this going into the second season, but it’s still worth watching the ups and downs. We are here for the laughs, the tears and the unwelcome crises.
What are you all watching? Or excited to watch in the next few weeks? Are you leaning towards the scarier stuff? It’s October which I know is generally synonymous with horror movies because of Halloween. I’m looking forward to Mike Flanagan’s Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix. I so love all his stuff, but notably Midnight Mass, which is also on Netflix.
Totally Killer on Prime also caught my interest because anything Sally Draper (Mad Men reference) or Kiernan Shipka does is worth watching. I started watching but then paused it because my kids don’t do scary. The Back to the Future reference is pitch perfect.