Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 402 with Stephen Metcalf, Wesley Morris, and Julia Turner with the audio player below.
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This week on Slate Plus, the gabbers speak about the universal dilemma of breaking up with your cable company. Is live sports the only thing keeping us from cutting the cord? Is the patchwork quilt of your own tailored streamed TV worth it?
On this week’s Slate Culture Gabfest, the gabbers discuss Shane Black’s The Nice Guys. Is this funny movie funny smart or funny stupid? Next up, Wesley Morris’ piece for the New York Times Magazine, “TV’s Dwindling Middle Class,” and the classlessness of contemporary TV shows. Finally, Aisha Harris joins us from her moving van to talk about creating Slate’s black film canon and appreciating the work of black directors.
Links to some of the things we discussed this week follow:
- Inherent Vice
- Chinatown
- Ishtar
- Ron Rosenbaum’s article on the creative mind of Jack Nicholson
- Lethal Weapon
- Tatum O’Neal in Paper Moon
- Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
- Get Shorty
- Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
- Cheers
- Roseanne
- Orange Is the New Black
- Law and Order
- Breaking Bad
- Mr. Robot
- The Apprentice with Donald Trump
- The Mysteries of Laura ’cause America loves its Debra Messing
- The Office
- Undercover Boss
- Wesley’s piece for the New York Times Magazine, “TV’s Dwindling Middle Class”
- The critics’ suggestions can be found on Slate’s “The Black Film Canon”
- The British Film Institute’s once-a-decade best film list
- The American Film Institute’s 100 Years … 100 Movies list
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And by the new podcast Dog Smarts. Each episode features leading researchers and academics that tackle questions of language, memory, intelligence, and even love as they pertain to our dogs. Subscribe to Dog Smarts on iTunes now.
And by Open Account, a podcast that gets personal about making, losing, and living with money. Created by Umpqua Bank and hosted by SuChin Pak, download and subscribe to Open Account wherever you get your podcasts.
Endorsements:
Julia: Frank Lloyd Wright’s labyrinthine home and studio in Oak Park, Illinois.
Wesley: Theater in New York, especially The Humans and Shuffle Along. Universal endorsement of homemade fruit pie!
Stephen: Dame Iris Murdoch’s writing and reading Graham Greene as an adult.
Outro: “Sweetback’s Theme” by Melvin Van Peebles
You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.
This podcast was produced by Ann Heppermann. Our intern is Lizzie Fison.
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