It's too hot go outside anyway...
Inside The Bruderhof, BLOWN AWAY and other shows to look out for this week.
Hello,
Welcome to Worth Watching, the thing that tells you what is on all the other things. Sorry that it is later than usual this week. Blame the *heat.*
Let’s start with a few top-line thoughts:
Orange is the New Black is returning for its final season this Friday. It makes me nostalgic for the old days of Netflix, where their Originals felt more well-thought through. Although Stranger Things was a big hit recently for them recently, will any of their new shows manage to break through like this one did?
What has really annoyed me today are comments by ITV’s chief executive Carolyn McCall. In an interview with the Today programme, she said it was a “strange thing” to be asked about Sophie and Mike’s death following their time on Love Island, arguing that the media simplify links and “they did lots and lots of things after Love Island.” Yes, the media do simplify mental health issues, but calling it ‘strange’ and distancing the show from it all like this is awful.
Here are a few things to look out for this week as everybody burns:
Inside the Bruderhof (BBC One, 10.35pm Wednesday, then iPlayer) - This is one of those documentaries that opens up a subject you didn’t know even existed and it completely blows your mind. The Bruderhof are a Christian community that live life a little bit like The Amish, living in traditional clothing and essentially cut off from the outside world. This documentary focuses on the community, their religion and their beliefs. You assume that it is thousands of miles away. Actually, it’s Sussex. 300 of them live in Sussex. How did you not know?
The upsides of living in this sort of community can be feel rather tempting, even though you absolutely won’t join. There are no mobile phones! There is no internet! There are no mortgages, as everyone gets a home! Need new clothing from the 1840s? You’ve got it! It’s free! And if you want to leave, you can leave! It isn’t a cult!!!!!!!
Then, very slowly, come the bad sides. The men and women have completely different roles and the gender inequality is horrible! You’ll be cutting vegetables for life, as you can’t have any aspirations to do anything else! It’s not a democracy! No same sex marriage! Divorce is considered adultery! You will follow orders until you die!
The documentary only really scratches the surface on these issues. I would have loved something a bit more in-depth. For example, when you become an adult you’re allowed to leave for up to a year and then decide whether to commit back to the community for your adulthood, but if you have been cut off from the outside world until that point, is that fair? When everything is so divorced from modern life, is a year enough time to make up your mind about the rest of your life?
Blown Away (Netflix) - There is a competitive glass blowing competition show on Netflix. That’s right, the streaming service has completely and utterly run out of ideas already. Releasing 57576768 ‘Originals’ a week has not helped them.
Blown Away is really quite silly and worth getting stuck into. Part of it is because of the catchphrases “let’s see who is the best in glass” and “you have blown us away.” Then there is a glass blowing device called a ‘glory hole’, a word that gets mentioned by the totally serious narrator every five minutes, a word that you will not stop giggling at every time you hear it regardless of your age. They don’t even seem to know that it is a sexual innuendo. Have they Google Imaged? Please do not Google Image.
Last week I had *quite* a bit of feedback about my views on Queer Eye - In last week’s newsletter wrote about how the fourth season came around too soon and as a result it risks losing what made it special in the first place. Gareth wrote in to say: “LEAVE QUEER EYE ALONE YOU ABSOLUTE MONSTER. In a world that spits out 40+ eps of Love Island and 260 editions of Good Morning Britain every year, we deserve 16 episodes (PLUS SPECIALS) of Queer Eye to offset the hell of it all.”
Meanwhile Tarini said: “I absolutely agree with you about there being too much Queer Eye, too soon. Will still watch it because FOMO.” I’ve expanded on my thoughts about Queer Eye a little bit more in an article for The Telegraph.
Oh and avoid… The Great Hack (Netflix) - There’s a documentary about the Cambridge Analytica scandal dropping on Friday, but at two hours long it feels like a chore. It jumps to too many conclusions about how the advertising we are all subjected to can influence who we vote for, especially when it came to how Cambridge Analytica targeting potential Trump voters with ads ahead of the US Election.
It makes great points about how we are living in the age where data is a trillion dollar enterprise, and we skip all the terms and conditions, but my god when it got to the end I clapped because it had ended.
In this week’s Must Watch Podcast… we looked at the new BBC Three sitcom pilot Muzlamic (great jokes and potential in a 15 minute short), The Boys and looked back at Orange is the New Black. Also, I’ll be hosting #What2Watch with Dionne as usual tomorrow on Twitter at 8pm BST (last week we got 317,000 viewers, which is ace. Thank you for watching!).
That’s all for this week. As always, if there is a show that stands out for you, then let me know and I’ll try to include it in next week’s newsletter.
Thanks so much for reading.
Scotty x