6 Romantic Shows Explained as Taylor Swift Eras
Plus, Laura Dern's new age-gap romance with a Hemsworth!
How to help with hurricane relief.
All of our best middle-aged white-lady actors are hopping on a trend: Starring in schmaltzy romances with much younger men.
A MILF-aissance, if you will!
There seems to be a taste right now for these age-gap or “May-December” romances. [An odd phrase that seems to suggest one person in the spring of their life and the other at the absolute calendar end of their numbered days.]
I’m all for it, in theory! But the rate of success has been very hit-and-miss. I loved May December with Julianne Moore, but that was no romance — it focused a biting lens on perversion and sorrow and exploitation. But when others opted for light and romantic, I found less success: I was turned off by the relationship in The Idea of You with Anne Hathaway. I couldn’t get through A Family Affair with Nicole Kidman.1 I thankfully missed Home Again with Reese Witherspoon.
So I was very curious if Laura Dern’s “Eat Pray Love”-esque entry into the MILF Pantheon would make an impression.
Not so much! I neither hated nor loved Netflix’s Lonely Planet, which stars Dern as a writer on a retreat in Morocco alongside one of the “other” Hemsworth brothers, Liam, who you might remember from Hunger Games or as Miley Cyrus’ ex-husband.
“Neither dull enough to be painful nor fun enough to be engaging,” says Angie Han in The Hollywood Reporter. It’s another deeply mediocre Netflix movie with that vaguely AI veneer — but I’m not totally knocking it. It was enjoyable enough to watch all the way through and to have on while you’re making dinner or doing dishes or folding laundry or scrolling TikTok for more unhinged Beyonce kill list theories.
If I were to name any Taylor Swift Eras to this, it would be Folklore or Evermore. Pretty sure that “neither dull enough to be painful nor fun enough to be engaging” was my exact review of those albums! Sorry to my woodland girlies!
Anyways, have you watched? What’s the latest folding-laundry TV you’ve enjoyed?
I reviewed “Starting 5” for The Pulse this week!
Scroll down to the What We’re Watching section for my starry-eyed review.
[Still not used to that New York Times byline!]
6 romantic shows on TV right now — explained as Taylor Swift Eras
Romance is back! And why not explain six different romantic TV shows as if they are friends I forced into a personality test, but the typology system isn’t Myers-Briggs or the Enneagram or the Zodiac but Taylor Swift? [For those somehow uninitiated, each Swift era corresponds to one of Swift’s 11 albums.] 2
I don’t recommend all of these shows, but I have watched at least a few episodes of all of them, which is enough for me to be a know-it-all.
Nobody Wants This: “Lover” Era
About the show: Kristen Bell and Adam Brody star in this rom-com about a dirty-mouthed podcaster falling in love with a rabbi. One of the best romcoms I’ve seen in a while! I loved the honest, if a bit too simplified, exploration of faith and how our deepest convictions affect our partnerships. Also, it’s gone viral, so I’m sure you’ve either watched it or thought about it!
This is hands-down the best show on this list if you’re looking for a feel-good romance.
Taylor Swift Era: “Lover.” The falling-for-your-longterm-relationship album! The “I know I’m a lot, but you still love me!” album.
Lyrics that describe this show:
“I want to drive away with you. I want your complications, too.”
“He got that boyish look that I like in a man.”
“Can I go where you go? Can we always be this close, forever and ever?”
Colin from Accounts: “Reputation” Era
About the show: This is a rom-com for people who think rom-coms are saccharine and unrealistic — a rom-com for cynical grownups! The premise is that two people who don’t know each other, and neither of whom is going to win Person of the Year Award, are thrown together when they are involved in a car accident that injures a dog, and they can’t just leave the dog, so they go in together on taking care of the dog. Sparks of every kind ensue.
Taylor Swift Era: “Reputation.” This show is about two adults who act out and get b****y, but who learn how to cooperate. Reputation is about someone who has left people-pleasing behind and demands to have love and life on her own, often b****y, terms.
Lyrics that describe this show:
“My reputation’s never been worse, so you must like me for me.”
“Here's a toast to my real friends. They don't care about the ‘he said, she said.’"
Tell Me Lies: “TTPD” Era
About the Show: There’s guilty pleasure like, “so bad it’s good.” And there’s guilty pleasure like, “If my parents ever ask me if I watch this, I — an adult woman — will look them in the eyes and lie to their faces.” Can’t live in a world where my honorable parents know this about me!
This show is about college students in 2008, which is exactly when I was in college. Other than that, it is wholly unlike my Christian college experience, in that basically all they do is drink and hook up. Every character, when given an array of choices, will make the absolute most toxic one available to them. They are all horrific to each other. It’s Gossip Girl but in college and way more explicit sex.
Taylor Swift Era: “The Tortured Poets Department,” emphasis on the “tortured.” TTPD corresponds with Taylor’s very brief situationship with problematic pop-rockstar Matt Healy, for whom her loins were burning. The vibes are: Toxic, sad, miserable, mentally UNWELL. But also: Sexy.
Lyrics that describe this show:
“You tried to buy some pills from a friend of friends of mine. They just ghosted you; now you know what it feels like.”
“Were you sent by someone who wanted me dead?”
“Old habits die screaming.”
“Everything comes out teenage petulance.”
Taylor and this show were really going through it.
Emily in Paris: “1989” Era
About the show: This is a rom-com between a woman and a city and several hot men. As it should be! I refused to watch this for years because I thought it was for uneducated boors who hadn’t read War & Peace by the time they were 16. Then I remembered those people were having fun and partying when they were 16 and I decided Emily and Paris might be worth a shot. It’s just as dumb and fun as they say!
Taylor Swift Era: “1989.” Fun! Europe! Pop! Fa$hion! Dating Harry Styles! 1989 is the album when Taylor “officially” went pop, and it’s the first album she left her childhood innocence vibe behind and opted for strident, confident beats. Very Emily finding herself in Paris.
Lyrics that describe this show:
“The players gonna play play play play play. And the haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate. Baby, I’m just gonna shake shake shake shake shake. Shake it off. Shake it off.”
“You got that James Dean daydream look in your eye. And I got that red lip classic thing that you like… We never go out of style.”
“The lights are so bright, but they never blind me.”
Heartstopper: “Fearless” Era
About the show: I’ve only seen Season 1 of this show, but it gave me actual butterflies. I felt like I was 15 years old again [reading War and Peace] and all the cynicism had drained from my body. This show is so sweet, innocent, imaginative, loving. It follows two English schoolboys who fall in love and also deal with family, bullying, homophobia, the works. Olivia Colman is in it.
Taylor Swift Era: “Fearless.” Fearless is Taylor’s second album and her most innocent, vulnerable, tender. The Taylor in “Fearless” is a little girl you want to wrap up and protect from harm. Just like the boys on this show.
Lyrics that describe this show:
“Hey Stephen, boy, you might have me believing I don’t always have to be alone.”
“I don’t know how it gets better than this. You take my hand and drag me head first, fearless.”
“Dreaming ‘bout the day when you wake up and find that what you’re looking for has been here the whole time.”
One Day: “Red” Era
About the show: There is a big spoiler I can’t say. But this is a lovely-witty-charming-intense-sad British romance based on a book [and a miserably bad Anne Hathaway movie] about an unlikely couple whose sparkly relationship builds over years as they keep running back into each other. It’s not always a strong script, but the two leads are what made the show worth it. They’re so charming.
Taylor Swift Era: “Red.” This album is about the heat of real love and the wounds of real loss. It’s the most high-highs and low-lows while also being sparkly.
Lyrics that describe this show:
“Tonight I’m gonna dance for all that we’ve been through. But I don’t wanna dance if I’m not dancing with you.”
“And I never saw you coming, and I’ll never be the same.”
That’s all for this week! I’d love to hear your thoughts or opinions! Seen any of these? Love? Hate? Did I totally miss on an Era? Drop a heart or a comment, or share with a friend! 💜
Though I am very much looking forward to her upcoming A24 erotic thriller “Babygirl” with the guy from Triangle of Sadness.
My first idea for this was to match each show with which Bennet sister from Pride and Prejudice would watch it. I know Lydia would absolutely DEVOUR Tell Me Lies! (FWIW, the others would be: Nobody Wants This = Lizzie. One Day = Jane. Emily in Paris = Kitty. Colin From Accounts = Mary if she were funny. Heartstopper = Georgiana (not a Bennet, I know).)
Also this line killed me: “May-December romances [an odd phrase that seems to suggest one person in the spring of their life and the other at the absolute calendar end of their numbered days].” 🤣🤣
Dayummm this was so good!! How you do that?! The eras are PERFECTly selected and described! 🤩