We all have our comfort foods. Mine are probably mashed potatoes and my Mom’s meatloaf, or perhaps her barbecue chicken. She also makes an incredible chicken casserole. Pretty much anything she cooks or bakes is comfort food, I suppose.
But what happens when comfort foods collide with comfort television? That’s the case with Audre Myers‘s review of a beloved Netflix series.
I won’t spoil the scones any further. Here’s Audre on The Great British Baking Show:
We’re pro-spooky stuff here at The Portly Politico, and perhaps the greatest example of syncretic spookiness is the Netflix series Stranger Things, an amalgamation of 1980s nostalgia, John Carpenter, Stephen King, and every other significant sci-fi horror franchise of that glorious decade (and beyond).
Talk about a lightning-in-a-bottle cultural phenomenon. The series is the kind that is profoundly a product of the age of streaming, yet it hearkens back to the horror miniseries of the 1980s and 1990s—rich, multi-episode arcs; tight story construction; and satisfying pay-offs that reward loyal viewing. I also appreciate that the show doesn’t overstay its welcome with bloated seasons. The Duffer Brothers tell the story they want to tell without stretching their material thin.
Ponty sent me this epic review of the first four seasons of the show (the fifth and, it seems, final season is coming soon), and it’s surely his reviewing magnum opus. Audre Myers wrote her own review of the series last year, which overlaps somewhat with Ponty’s, but they both bring different insights into the show.
I don’t have much left to add that Ponty hasn’t said better. With that, here is Ponty’s series review of Stranger Things:
Our dear Audre Myers certainly has a niche—competition shows based on obscure crafts. This week’s installment of Myersvision is no different.
But the craftsmanship (and craftwomanship) here involves bending heavy metal (the actual material, not the music) to the artists’ wills. It’s a fiery example of forging life and art from inorganic, heavy matter.
I’d like to say I could forge my own metallic coffee cup from leftover aluminum cans (I think my neighbor can do that), but I possess no such skills. The ability to smith my own nails with casual disdain is another casualty of our modern age (or, perhaps, my own unwillingness to learn blacksmithing when nails are in ready abundance at the hardware store).
Regardless, it’s always a treat to watch master craftsman at work, and Audre really captures the spirit and beauty of that process in this review.
With that, here is Audre’s review of the Netflix series Metal Shop Masters:
Audre Myers is perhaps my most Anglophilic contributor, probably even more Anglophilic than Ponty, and he’s actually from England!
As such, it was only a matter of time before she graced us with a delightful, tea-and-crumpety BBC dramady about rediscovering lost love in old age.
There’s something befuddlingly adorable and quintessentially English about two stodgy geezers falling in love. Perhaps it’s the notion that we can always recapture some sliver of our misspent youths when in the throes of being in love. Nothing quite so takes us back to the possibilities (and follies) of youth quite like tumbling head-over-heels for someone else, especially when they tumble into you, willingly and excitedly.
Two fogies canoodling also gives us some hope that it’s not too late for us after all—gulp!
With that, here is Audre’s review of Last Tango in Halifax:
Good ol’ Audre Myers—if it weren’t for her and Ponty, I’d have to actually write something now and then!
Audre e-mailed me about a month ago asking if she could could contribute reviews of television (i.e., Netflix) series, not just films. Naturally, I agreed—enthusiastically!
Since then, she’s been churning out these little gems on the regular, and there are more on the way. I dubbed the series Myersvision, and this Sunday we’re looking back at the first three installments:
Happy Sunday—and Happy Viewing!
—TPP
Other Lazy Sunday Installments:
This time of year seems dedicated to the sweetest of pastimes: baking. We all love toothsome sweets, and the triple threat of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas provides an ample casus belli for our bellies to consume large quantities of goodies.
But some take their passion for baking to another level entirely. For those of us who view baking as popping break-and-bake cookies into the oven and setting a timer, we can’t comprehend how bakers are able to do that with sugar, flour, and water.
Baking combined with engineering is the premise for the show Audre Myers is reviewing this week. If you want a cake with the structural integrity of an earthquake resistant building, then this series is where you’ll find it.
With that, here is Audre’s review of Baking Impossible:
Reality television certainly has its low points: randy twenty-somethings hooking up in the hot tub; grown people humiliating themselves for cash; Sanjaya on American Idol.
Despite the format’s reputation for racing to the bottom, it does work well to highlight higher pursuits. There are so many unusual and intriguing jobs and skills out there, and there is a deep satisfaction—and profound fascination—that comes from witnessing a master practice his craft.
Such is the case with this week’s edition of Myersvision, in which regular reader and contributor Audre Myers shares with us a show about the intense, difficult, beautiful craft of glass-blowing.
With that, here is Audre Myers’s review of the Netflix series Blown Away:
Sometime last week Audre Myers, a regular contributor of movie reviews and delightful miscellany to this site, sent me an e-mail asking if she could submit reviews of entire series of shows, not just movies. Audre actually did just that some time ago when she submitted a review of a season of Stranger Things, which I highly recommend you read.
Regardless, I of course told her yes—enthusiastically! I have a pretty open submission policy here, and I’d let an author as seasoned as Audre write about paint drying (she could probably make it entertaining!). Naturally, a Netflix series fits the bill.
Thus, I’m dubbing Audre’s Netflix/television reviews “Myersvision,” since I have a mania for turning everything into a series. Whenever Audre sends these along, I’ll schedule them under that title.
For the first installment, we have a review of a cooking show featuring the best of the best—not just self-promoting nuisances like on Chopped from Food Network (although they make some pretty awesome stuff on that show, too, there’s just usually one or two contestants who are ostentatiously self-confident and, therefore, annoying). I think readers will appreciate the twist to this show’s grand prize.
With that, here is Audre’s review of the Netflix series The Final Table:
The Portly Politico 