Bridgerton & All the Returning Shows

The boys (all your favorite shows) are back!

Need to find out where he got this spray tan. (Bridgerton Season 3, photo by Liam Daniel, courtesy of Netflix)

This weekend, my wonderful friend Marianna had a Nancy Meyers-themed bachelorette getaway in the Catskills. We all dressed up and celebrated our Nancy Meyers favorites: Father of the Bride, The Parent Trap, The Holiday, Something’s Gotta Give. [Imagine having written all those hits!? Nancy must sleep like a baby knowing she gave us both Franck Eggelhoffer and Mr. Napkin-Head!]

I highly recommend chill bachelorette parties in your mid-30s! In your mid-30s you get to skip the small talk. Instead of screaming platitudes about the weather at each other in a standing-room only club, you get to wear your jammies and discover the deepest fears and hopes of a woman you only met an hour ago. I LOVED IT. I went to bed at 3am both nights and felt more spiritually refreshed than I have in ages. It was very this:

And, speaking of comfort and familiarity and safety — in honor of Bridgerton’s return, this week we’re digging into all the returning television coming out this summer! Shows we know and love that are coming back for another round.

And, for your question this week: Do you have a Nancy Meyers favorite? Who is the best character in the Nancy Meyers-verse? [My favorite NM movie is Father of the Bride and my favorite NM character is the mom in Parent Trap.] Let’s dive in!

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In the News

Prince William was named the THIRD hottest man in the UK¹, behind Tom Holland and ahead of Cillian Murphy and Idris Elba. I thought we were doing bad over here in America, but y’all are on some batshit crazy pills over there in the UK!

Ayo Edebiri and Jeremy Allen White were seen with the cast of The Bear at a baseball game, but the fact that Jeremy has his arm around Ayo gently patting her back has sent my end of the internet into VIOLENT TURMOIL.

A rash of new AI announcements came out last week from Google and ChatGPT, most notably that they rolled out their AI “companion” bringing us all one step closer to “Her” and our permanent residence in the uncanny valley. [The “uncanny valley” is a term that describes the feeling you get when you see something that LOOKS human but is not quite human. So like, when you hear ChatGPT speak or you look directly into Tom Brady’s eyes.]

The Cannes Film Festival is happening! Which means a lot of six-minute standing ovations for mediocre films and red carpet fashion.

A Gollum movie is in the works!? Why they would take the most boring part of the Lord of the Rings films and making a whole movie about it I do not know. But the Reddit theory is that it is secretly more of an Aragorn project.

Which leads me to ask: Who would you cast as a young Aragorn right now? How about James Mcavoy?? Too old? How about Aaron Taylor-Johnson??

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Returning Shows We Love! Category 1: Mass market, main-event shows

The blockbusters of the television screen, returning for subsequent seasons.

Bridgerton Season 3 — Netflix

• Release Date: Part 1 (episodes 1-4) out now; Part 2 (episodes 5-8) June 13

Dearest Gentle Reader, I fear that Bridgerton has not been good since the first season. Season 2 was an airbrushed snoozefest with questionable acting, and the Charlotte season was better but so repetitive I couldn’t get through it.

Despite my lackluster enthusiasm for the franchise, I was still excited to sit down and revisit “the ton.” After all, it’s Bridgerton! A sweet little fast-melting confection. A cultural event! I, much like the Dowager Viscountess Violet Bridgerton, hate to miss a party. [Plus, it’s billed as the Nicola Coughlan season, and I’ll watch anything she’s in after meeting her in Derry Girls.]

Anyways. I’ve only watched two of the four episodes out now so this may be premature, but nothing is really popping for me. Nicola is great but they’re letting her down. Feels like we’re going through the motions. Bridgerton is fun because it’s escapist and airbrushed to within an inch of its life beautiful and clever and stylish and very sexy. This season is a bit lacking on all those fronts so far. Even the sex seems more perfunctory than an actual part of the story; you can almost hear the writers ticking off the “Jonathan Bailey sex scene” box. Just meeting a per-episode quota, folks! I know some people will say, “That’s fine by me!” and I hate to sound like the Catholic Church, but I prefer my TV sex to have a point to it.

So far, Season 3 is basically about Colin Bridgerton coming back from getting his buccal fat removed his “tour of the Mediterranean,” and acting exactly like your friend who studied abroad in Europe and came back pronouncing croissant “cwahsaaahn.” The same things happen that happen in all Bridgertons which is to say, mostly nothing beyond the ingénue dashing out of balls crying.

However, I can categorically proclaim, after watching two of the four episodes, that the best part of this season is the magnificent and increasingly unhinged Queen Charlotte wigs. Colin and Penelope may be letting me down, but Queen Charlotte’s wig game will keep me coming back for more!!

House of the Dragon Season 2 — MAX

• Release Date: June 16

• Season 1 Power Rankings: Premiere, Ep. 2, Ep. 3, Ep. 4 [yikes], Ep. 5, Ep. 6, Ep. 7, Ep. 8, Ep. 9, Finale.

2024 is fantasy girl summer! Let the “Who’s a Bigger Psychopath With a Dragon” Games begin! I missed you, Westeros!

I wrote power rankings for the first season, which I’m not sure I’ll have time for this go round, but I’ll just say now for posterity: Rhaenyra and Alicent’s unrealized love story will always be #1 in my heart.

The Bear Season 3 — FX and Hulu

• Release Date: June 27

• Previous Reviews: Season 1, Season 2

Release this sad man from his sad cage/refrigerator!!!! I am SO nervous about this season after the first two were so beyond all expectations. Please be good! Just don’t let Carmy and Sydney start dating, that would set women in the workplace and on TV back so many years!

Rings of Power — Prime Video

• Release Date: August 29

• Previous Review: Season 1 [in which I overshare about my LOTR obsession in high school]

I’ve been clear about the male-attractiveness axis of the Aragorn vs. Legolas aesthetic, but Sauron really said, “You can have it all!” Last season he was cosplaying as Aragorn, now he’s got a gallon-sized bottle of conditioner and that post-blowout Legolas glow.

I thought the first season of Rings of Power was kind of terrible — visually stunning but absolutely fell flat for me with the characters and storytelling. In fact, you may recall that by the finale, I ended up as a Sauron sympathizer! [Galadriel is kind of a fascist, I’m sorry!]

I would say tough look for me, but I blame Amazon. Still, I am, as they say, PRE-SEATED for this.

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Returning Shows Category 2: Slightly Niche But Still Great

Maybe not such a mass market as the shows above, but fantastic projects that I’m excited to keep watching.

Hacks Season 3 — MAX

• Release Date: Currently releasing

I have to catch up on Season 2, but this is a brilliant brilliant comedy about what it is to be a creator, to try to make it in the world, to learn to understand someone you thought you hated, generational divides, being a woman in the comedy world and more.

It’s so funny and so smart, but the vibe also makes me feel a little bit down afterwards, which is why I haven’t finished Season 2. But some say this is the best season yet.

We Are Lady Parts Season 2 — Peacock

• Release Date: May 30

This is a delightful comedy about an all-female Muslim punk band. If that didn’t sell you on it, I don’t know what to tell you. Season 1 is whip-smart, zany, hilarious, heart-warming. I’m excited to try the second season!

The Boys Season 4 — Prime Video

• Release Date: June 13

If you’re sick of superhero movies, consider this your perfect, gruesomely hilarious palate cleanser. I have yet to catch up on Season 3, but Ben and I binged the sh*t out of Season 1.

Basically it’s about if superheroes were big, bad, evil corporate villains. Fantastic writing, plot, characters, all of it. It’s super funny but also extremely dark, violent, and deals with really disturbing issues. So be ready for adult content. Totally worth it if that’s your thing.

Couples Therapy Season 4 — Showtime/Paramount+

• Release Date: May 31

This show is wild. It’s real therapy sessions. On camera. With a really compelling therapist at its center.

The realness of it makes it tough for me to take in large doses. I have to take breaks because I tend to start mentally/emotionally taking on the issues the people are sharing in their therapy. [My hypochondria extends to mental health. I will go from zero to Do I Have a Personality Disorder in two seconds.]

But it is really raw and incredible.

Doctor Who Season 14 — Disney+

• Release Date: Currently releasing

I went through a massive Doctor Who phase the first winter I lived in New York City. I watched all of the Matt Smith ones and most of the David Tennant ones and one episode with the culty-ecclesiastical-vibes guy from The Leftovers and True Detective: Night Country. If you had met me then, you would’ve thought Doctor Who was my religion and not, as it in fact became, a show I never watched again because I just eventually got distracted and there was too much of it.

Failing my own gender, I did NOT watch any of the recent ones with the female Doctor, but maybe I’ll get into this one — the first Black Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa! He is FOINE!!

That’s all for this week! What returning shows are you looking forward to? Any you think should just be done with it already? Let’s hear it!

1. What the headlines don’t say is this was the result of a niche poll run by a dating app for married people—which I can only assume means women in their 50s/60s who are bored and over it and write lengthy reddit threads about how Meghan Markle is a threat to society.