Everything Is Content - Alix Earle's Reality TV Debut, SNL UK Returns & Is Glastonbury Too Expensive Now?

Episode Date: September 11, 2026

Hello EICowboys…It’s Beth and Ruchira steering good ship EIC this week as Oenone is taking a little break. Ruchira is turbo jet-lagged, and Beth is in a post-Cornwall haze… perfect podcasting conditions all round tbh. We catch up about Ruchira’s trip to the Big Apple and Beth has FINALLY seen The Odyssey. Was her teenage classist self impressed with Nolan’s interpretation of Homer’s epic? We fill you in on all the news from a week FULL of pop culture news and give you a hopeful look ahead at the TV coming our way this autumn that will hopefully keep the SAD at bay. And a new reality TV family has hit the scene - The Earles… 25-year-old American social media celebrity Alix Earle and her family star in new Netflix reality series Earle Meets World. Do we have space in our hearts for a new reality family or are they 20 years too late? As always, leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts - it’s the best way you can support our independent podcast. Enjoy the episode, and we’ll see you next time. Love, O, R, B x swyfthome.com/pages/eic-podcast Follow us: Instagram TikTok  Substack LINKS:Cat Cohen - Broad Strokes Emily Wilson · An Uncomplicated ManGloria Steinem, Personification of the Feminist Movement, Dies at 92 - The New York Times'SNL UK' Adds 'Big Boys' Actor Freddie Meredith To Season 2 CastGlastonbury confirms ticket sale dates - and highest ever price - BBC NewsEarle Meets World Is a Bleak Portrait of the New American Dream - The Cut Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is brought to you by Swift for furniture that looks and feels great. I'm so excited we're partnering with Swift. I got their model 08 sofa bed in Umba two years ago and honestly, girls, it has changed my entire life. I used to have this old air bed. It was so sad. It was so depressing. Friends would come over.

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Me too. And Swift furniture is also perfect for renters because you don't need any special drills or tools to assemble anything and so the pieces take minutes to put together. And we have a special 10% off code for you too. Just head to swifthome.com forward slash pages forward slash EIC dash podcast. That's Swift, SWYFT to unlock your exclusive discount code. Do not worry. We'll leave the link in the bio and you'll even get an email with the pieces we handpicked when you sign up. I'm Beth. I'm Rijera. And this is Everything is Content. The podcast that follows wherever pop culture leads. We're the umbrella of content keeping you mostly dry during the discourse

downpour. This week on the podcast, we're catching up after Routure's trip to the Big Apple, discussing some of the biggest headlines from the week before diving into a brand new influence-affronted reality TV show. You can follow us on Instagram and TikTok and Substack at Everything Is Content Pod for behind-the-scenes content and a chance to get your opinions included in future episodes. And on Substack, for longer form content, lists and even deeper dives. We'll add the link in the show notes or you can find us by searching everything is content pod on substack. See you over there. So we are obviously without an only stay who is on a little break. We do miss her very much. We will do it best without her. I'm quite tired. I went to Cornwall

over the weekend. Rocheria, you've come back from America. So whether we will do a good job is anyone's guess. Are you like turbo jet lagged right now? I am. I am scared what's going to come out of my mouth during this record. So I generally woke up like a few hours ago and I was like, oh, God. I don't feel awake at all. So good luck to us. Good luck to listeners. Good luck to us all, really. I had an amazing time. Jetlag is a devil, to be quite honest. I'm sure you've got jet lag too. I mean, Cornwall is not nearby. The Cornish coast. We're practically neighbors. That's right by New York. Yeah. That was a five hour journey. We got off the train my boyfriend was like, Like, sort of feels like a, like a international flight.

It feels like a kind of transatlantic. And I was like, they are about that long. Yeah, they are to be there. Slightly less harrowing. When did you get back? So I got back at half midnight last night. And you know when you see news stories saying travel chaos, blah, blah, blah. And you're like, thank God it wasn't me.

It was me this time. So essentially, Heathrow couldn't. have or release any flights because of, I think it was air traffic control issues. And the whole airport was completely down for the day. We were mid-flight when all of this was going down. A passenger who'd bought Wi-Fi was asking the stewardesses what was going on. And they were like, excuse me? I don't know what you're talking about, to be honest. And then you could see just everything transforming during the flight. And then the pilot explained everything, I think, hours before we were meant to land. And they said we should be landing in Heathrow, all good.

An hour before landing, they said, we're actually going to Dublin. We're going to land in Dublin. And then my partner was watching, you know, the screens where you can see what's happening. We were circling Dublin six times. Oh my God, not doing the Ui's round Dublin. Literally round and round and round we go, carousel. And then we start moving in the direction of Heathrow and we land in Heathrow. And then it's 20 minutes before we're landing. The pilot's like, yeah, we are actually going to London now. So they were telling us everything like 45 minutes after the screens were showing us what was going on and people were panicking. It was not good. So what did you do in New York? Because it's kind of, in my mind, it's sort of that perfect time

of year, but maybe it wasn't where it's just like not the summer heat. Because I've been in August before and been like, that's too much. September, because they have, they do have seasons there. September to me, scream, September and maybe April, very early May screen. Like, the perfect time to go. What did you do and was the weather pretty gorgeous? So no to the last one. I thought the exact same thing. We planned September because I thought it would be light jacket weather. It would be pumpkin spice lattes. It would be walks in Central Park. It was actually 30 degrees on some days and then torrential waiting on the others. So it was the best of times. It was, you know, some interesting weather times. But I had such a good trip. We walked around loads.

We got up to like 30K steps every day, which I love. I love a city break where you are just walking from A to B and just like discovering things on the way. So we did a lot of mooching. We saw a show that I really want to bring up because I imagine it will come to the UK at some point. If it doesn't, I do think if you're ever in New York, you have to see it. Kat Cohen's Broad Strokes. Do you know anything about this? Is Kat Cohen a comedian?

Yes. A stand-up. community, but this is drama. This is not stand up. It's a comedy musical, which I, hearing that was so put off, and I was wrong, by the way, I don't know why. Something about comedy musical to me feels like it's going to be really just in your face, theatrical, just a bit much. What actually this show was, was her story of having a stroke in her 30s, which sounds really, really dark, but what she does brilliantly is finds the tragedy, finds the humor in the darkness, and then also has these really quippy songs which break up the tension. You know, that sounds

really, really grim. But actually, I came out of it feeling this like wild level of catharsis on her behalf. And also, I was so impressed with the ambition of the show and also just her level of talent for being able to pull it all together and pull it off. I think she's so wildly talented. feels so inspired to do something on that level one day, I hope. And it's already got rave reviews in New York. So that's why I think it's going to come to London at some point. I know Cat Cohn stand up and appearances on various kind of top comedy podcasts and have always just been like, yes, absolutely fantastic. But it's sort of ties and I guess what we're talking about with old Amanda Knox in our conversation about what is funny, what is comedy,

what is potentially kind of like what I'm going to see when you're expecting. a laugh a minute. I mean, it sounds fantastic. And you obviously went the we as you and Mr. Ruchera. Yeah, exactly. We did. And he liked it too. And there was a few jokes about, you know, straight men in the audience having to clap harder, things like that. And I appreciate that. I do. I like it when, you know, there's a little roasting to the person next to you, if they're a man. I like it. But before we do more New York stuff, I have to know what did you do in Cornwall. How was it? It was lovely. So we went down to Falmouth for my partners. a friend of his was getting married and went down nice and early, so had a few days there.

So I thought I'd never been to Falmouth. Turns out I had. So I went, oh, well, I've done this one before. But it is a lovely little seaside town. I do have one gripe, though. I somehow managed to come down from Wales, where I live, to London, where I don't live, without a bra, which you will obviously be like, you know, you've seen my breasts. You know, like, they do need some support. I would, like, I've got, I've not got jugs, but I've got knockout. You've got to support the knockers. I'm wearing, and Ruchere, you can see this. This kind of like, it's got an insert in it.

It's got cups in it. So I wore this down. So I just didn't think. Got here, realized, I promised I didn't have a bra. Almost immediately went down to Cornwall and I went, it's fine. I'll get one there. Not a shop in Falmouth that I could find sold even a T-shirt bra. I couldn't believe it.

I was like, what about the forgetful medium to big busted women that come here? Yeah. So I'm sorry, tourist board of Cornwall. I can't give it five stars because I was traipsing about. In the end, I had to buy two bikinis from Mountain Warehouse that were on sale. I was like, I'm desperate at this point. So it was a great time, but it was beset by Booby Tragedy. But yeah, Cornwall is lovely.

I said on my Instagram story, I was joking. I was like, I can see why so many rich people want a second home here. And a few people are like, no, we hate the second homes. I was like, no, me too. I don't even have one home, but it was beautiful. Went to Flushing. They've also got Flushing in New York, don't they? They do.

Yeah. I feel like, I guess because of my... America was New England. Loads of the names, more than I even know, are really English names that have just been moved over, I guess. They've nicked it, I mean, including New, yeah, New York. We've got York, they've got New York. Get a life, get a personality.

Did you do anything that wasn't like uber cultural? Did you go to Eminem World or trying to think what the other, like, really? Because obviously I happened to Eminem World. No, I didn't go Eminem World this time, but I did go to Carrie Bradshaw's apartment. and knowing that the guy who lives there hates tourists, I went, took a few pictures, ignored the kind of maybe bristly energy of somebody who doesn't want people to loiter around there.

I ignored it. Not that I saw him, I just am aware of it because he's spoken out numerous times about that. I also took a picture on the Met Steps. Any Gossip Girl fans will understand the huge cultural significance of that. I think that was it really. It was mostly just honestly eating so much good food. don't come for me, Italians, but I think New York pizza is better than Italian pizza. I think it is the best pizza in the world. And I don't say that lightly. I was having an out-of-body

experience with every bite. And I thought, it can't get better than this. It actually cannot. What else did you eat? Because I, yeah, I love to come to New York and just eat around. Last time I was there, I tried grips for the first time. And I've seen crits a few more times. Let me Google this before I get it wrong. I mean, I had it as a breakfast food. Sounds like sand. It's a type of porridge that's made from. horsley ground, dried corn or hominy, which I've never heard of that. I think I just had like your run of the middle plain grits. And they were sort of gritty, but very, very nice. Had them with like eggs and bacon. But I feel like I'm missing. I had biscuits. I feel like whenever I go to

the US, I try and add to my roster one of their, the foods over here, we'd go, oh, that looks bit weird. And obviously we are the nation of eating slop. So what we're talking about. We cannot talk. And so I'm already, and then I obviously went last year. I think a year ago I was in Tallahassee in Florida. I was talking to something about the other day because they asked me where I was, God, this episode's going all over the place when Charlie Kirk died a year ago. And I said, I was actually in a hot tub in Florida of all places. And I added so many good American foods there. But I do feel like there's something about New York. And it must be it's just this like wonderful cultural boiling pot. You can eat so well there. But I do sort of love a New York diner.

The way I was trying to keep a neutral expression when you said where you were at that given point. Thank God we're not filming. I know. I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. Yes, yes, yeah. It's interesting. I've got no opinion about this. We'll not weigh down.

Not anything. I think that was the best thing about it, having so much good Mexican food, Ecuadorian food, Latin American food. We also had Indian food there, and there was a rumor that I heard, New York doesn't have good Indian food because it doesn't have the same amount of Indian population

that London has or the UK has, so it doesn't have that scene in the same way. But it's not true. The food was really, really good. So can squash. that one. Also getting really into all of the wild matcha and coffee culture. So obviously in the UK you have all of these coffee brands having like viral drinks coming out every few weeks or months, whatever. It is so much wilder in New York. It feels like every place is competing for the

drink and it will be something like mango biscuit, matcha, blah, blah, blah, like cold foam, pecan, crunchy banana, blah, blah, blah, whatever. And just really getting into that and just basically consuming maybe inordinate amounts of sugar every single day. It was so good. And cookies as well, so many cookies. Oh, I love a cookie. But do you actually mean a cookie or have you become American and you mean biscuit? No, I actually do mean a cookie cookie. We've not lost to her folks. No, not yet. But what have you been loving from the world of culture?

Because I really need some recommendations. Now, I'm knuckling back into the UK and I have a little a mild level of depression again. Well, listen, the one I've got is one you've seen. But do you know what? This actually, I think we'll talk a bit more about this, but the TV that is coming up this autumn, and I sent a link, but it was some time ago, I think got buried from The Guardian. There are so, so many good TV shows. I think it will deal with your post-holiday blues. It will deal with the general SAD that I think we all suffer from. There are so many good shows coming up. Oh, good. Which I'm really, really excited for. There's a new sound. new Sally Rooney. There's a new Sharon Hogan, commonly confused one another, that's coming up. I think in a few weeks. We've got celebrity traitors. We've got, again, I don't know when that is, but that'll be quite soon. We've got SNL coming back. We've got a few good things that I know listeners, don't worry, we'll watch the lot of them. Oh, that is music to my ears. I forgot SNL is coming back and I saw a picture of, I think it's week two and week three. I don't know what week one the shakeup is.

but one of the weeks of two and three has Jamie Demetriot as host. And I think that will be such a spectacular episode. I find him so funny. I love him. I recently rewatched his Netflix special, which I just think it was one of the strangest and most brilliant things. A lot of the sort of recurring comedy characters, or not comedy characters, sorry, comedy actors and performers are in it alongside him.

And it is just so, so funny. it sort of follows in from birth to death in a weird way. Anyway, it's great. And I actually do want to re-watch that before the SAD really takes hold. But yeah, I'm very excited. I feel that I have to tell you that I, what I've been loving is a Richura special. It's Bandapump Rules. For some reason, at age 33, in the year of 2026, I have decided to watch.

I've tapped back in about season three. Oh. So do you know what's? Could you say off the top of you had the storylines of season three? Is that when Jacks Taylor is dating Billy? Is that... No, not Billy, sorry. Who's the...

Brittany? Oh, oh, wow, it's Brittany era. No, actually, I think Brittany comes towards the end. I don't think he's really dating... Well, he's dating someone in this, but we don't really meet her because I think he's just too busy chasing on her. That sounds about right. I was thinking there is a weird bit of law where basically there is a girl that he starts dating

who just newly joins Sir. and she's also in Gossip Girl as the person who Dan first moves on from Serena with after they have the big breakup in series two. I know this is so pointless to bring up, but I'm just hoping there's maybe one person listening to this who cares. That goes, oh my God, that's a combination of two of my interests. Well, it's so interesting because they are all wanting to be actors, actresses, performers. And you go, oh my, this is what L.A. used to be. I mean, it still is, but you probably wouldn't. It's an interesting path to take there.

Yeah. So it's Sandoval and Ariana. I mean, it's crazy watching that, knowing how that all ends. Kristen's about to get fired. James is there, terrifying little imp running around Sir and Pump. And yeah, so I've blitzed through that and now I'm on season five. And it's the most, I mean, sorry listeners, you don't care about this, but we will move on in a second. But Jacks has just revealed that his partner, Brittany, who I know, I think they go on to get married and have a child and then it all falls apart.

Yeah, yeah. His partner Brittany maybe had a little late night rendez with Christian. Kristen, he's the OG cast member. And the way it's being handled, I mean, it's so stressful because obviously she's like, whether this happened or not, please can you not tell the TV? And he's like, it happened. There's one line that I cannot get enough of, and it's Lisa Vanderpump, the sort of matriarch

of the show and the owner of the restaurant and bars where they all work. In her talking head, there's this moment where she says, well, if it was, I'm trying to get the voice right, it was anyone else. I wouldn't believe it. But Kristen, chowing down on Kentucky muffin. and it is in this prim British accent, the way that she sort of almost like it revolts her to say, she's like Kentucky muffin,

oh, I'm living my best life watching this, but I do feel like I'm watching the Titanic before the Titanic sinks because I know the scandalful drama that is coming many seasons down the road. Oh, God, it's Shakespearean. Oh, I'm so excited for you. I'm also deeply worried for you because there's so much coming. And also if you want a third dimension to the show, there is a spin-off from Vanderpump Rules called The Valley.

And this is real dark shit, by the way. This is like, I need intervention for why I'm watching this show. It is so bad. And it's basically Brittany, after she's left Jacks now, all of her friends, Kristen's in it, all of their kind of, you know, L.A. Valley friends and their families. It's like bottom-tier reality TV. but it continues the stories from the show, some of them. Oh God, I'm never leaving the house until next spring.

That's fine. It doesn't matter. I've got a book to write. I've got a podcast to record and I've got my beloved evil L.A. cast members to watch. So that is fantastic. Oh, good luck to you. What have you been loving if you indeed have been managing to love anything besides concrete jungle where dreams are made of anything, which Janani was here.

She's actually quite good at singing. That was great. On the plane over to NYC, I watched The Brutelist, which I'd only been putting off because it is a three-hour film and it has an actual intermission baked into the film, which I find hilarious, especially as somebody who's watched multiple Bollywood films that are three-hour longs. It reminds me of that. To have a baked-in intermission is really special, guys. You need to appreciate it. And my goodness, it is such a good film. I can see why it was an Oscar winner nominee, whatever. It just is so beautiful to look at. And Adrian Brody is really, really spectacular. The story is so epic. It's also really tragic, but it is an incredible film. Have you seen this? I've not seen this. I think I mean, I'm an Adrian Brody Truther in that I can't deny he's so so talented, but he's just quite annoying. Oh, a thousand percent. But I don't, I think I'm often with the Oscar winners. I mean, it took me quite a long time to watch, well, many of them. It just, It just doesn't happen to me the year of, and apparently not the next year either, but maybe 2027.

Tell us a little bit more about the three hours we can expect. So Adrian Brody's character essentially has been displaced because of the Holocaust. He is a Jewish man who basically has entered the US to go live with. I can't remember if it's a friend or a cousin, essentially just somebody who has emigrated to the US and successfully made a life for himself and married a woman. he joins him and life in the US is really tough. It's very cruel. It's not welcoming to many of these displaced Jewish people who've essentially gone through the most traumatic, unbelievable experiences that anyone could ever endure in their life. It is just a really, really difficult setup. He is a really talented architect and you don't really understand this until it kind of is

pulls out of him through various scenarios and you realize that because of the situation, that he's been forced into because of this horrendous genocide. He has kind of lost the craft and he's doing construction work. A lot of the artistry that he is capable of is not really being utilised. And this rich benefactor takes him in. And what you see from that point onwards is a very tricky scenario of highs and lows. And although he builds beautiful works, it's not the easiest environment and it's not exactly as straightforward as a wonderful rich man paving the way for this man to do his work as you'd believe. Yeah, as weird as Adrian Brody wants to behave in public and in life. He books great jobs and he does a great job at those jobs. He's really good,

isn't he? And I know people already know about this, but his art, do you know about his problematic, by problematic, I mean terrible art? Yes, I was going to say, God, I do know about his art. I've seen him posed in front of a few canvases in my time. I'm thinking of Maggie from the Simpsons with her eye exed out, graffiti, his tag all over it. He did one with gum where he's stuck, there's like a gum buffet and then he stuck chewed up gum all over it and it's something like that. Something about Starbucks. I mean, I know they sell for like frightening six figures sums, but they are, as a non-art expert, just absolutely awful. Artist objective, but I also, I struggle, I really do struggle to see what people are seeing in that. To me, there's some,

there's some things you can be black and white about, but come for me later. Yeah, we'll post someone on Instagram if we remember, but do just Google Adrian Brody art and make your own mind up. I mean, maybe we're wrong in the people spending 500 grand on a picture of an old coffee cup covered in graffiti and with a sad face on it is actually fantastic. And on that note, do you have anything else to add to the pile? Oh, I mean, frustratingly, what I actually need to talk to you about is The Odyssey because I finally have seen it. I went to see it a couple of weeks ago. I saw it in IMAX. I mean, maybe not full IMAX. I saw it in some kind of max. Oh, wow. Okay. Some kind of maxy. It's anyone's guess what that actually means. I certainly,

I've given up trying to understand what the IMX thing is. I was happy by that point to watch on an Apple Watch. My partner was like, no, we're going to see it on IMAX. This is the closest. This is the biggest or whatever I can find. So we went, Swiss cottage, glass wine. I, the film started and I was thrown back in my seat. He's got that volume mark, his name, Chris Manolan. He went to crank it. I was reaching for my loop earplugs. I was like, I cannot believe you've been allowed to do this, Christopher Island. But once I sort of got used to the perforations of my eardrums, I had a great time. I had a really good time watching The Odyssey. And I think my top line would be, this is a film with far more right than it has wrong.

I was kind of going in there thinking I'm taking myself to see this. Well, actually, my boyfriend page. I'm going to see this, but I'm also bringing along with me my teenage classicist. self. I was very moved by it. I think there were some bits where I think I just, I liked the changes. I think I was, it tickled me to see what was different and what he'd kept the same from the text, what he'd borrowed from elsewhere. Obviously, I knew already that the Trojan horse was in this, because I'd seen that pop corn bucket and that scene everywhere. And that's not in the Odyssey. And he sort of borrowed from the Inead, the Iliad, other Greek tragedies. And I just thought, that is a nerd.

And I love a nerd. So I really enjoyed that. That tickled me, and I'm sure for even nerdier nerds than me, they had a great time going, oh, that character is only in the any end or that character's in the early end or whatever else. Before we get on to some criticisms, I quite like that they made, I didn't listen to spoiler, it's been up long enough. I was very moved by Nolan's Odysseus being kind of this pained and introspective war veteran. I think it was very interesting to have this guy on his way home and not just thinking of home, but also being like, hmm, the perils and the morality of being.

a warmonger. What does that mean? Like, he's decidedly not a Greek hero. Because I was thinking on the way in and also when it was announced, I was like, they can't make this guy Odysseus. They cannot have. I mean, people were flinching in my screening. There's a bit where puppies are being thrown off off a cliff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Kind of prophetic. And I also just think because yeah, he just doesn't want to keep those dogs. But I was like, they cannot have Odysseus. Elisius canonically throws, or orders rather, a baby to be thrown off the tree. And he just doesn't the Trojan walls. So it won't grow up and seek revenge. I'll say, he can't have that. He hangs the maids at the end. He can't. I mean, also, I think what audiences would have really not enjoyed

of Odysseus, which I do is he's a shaggar. A lot of the time when he's on his voyage home, he's not forced to stay in a place for many years with a woman. He chooses to. He's like, all right, then love just one more. And then I get back to the misses. I didn't love how they kind of desexed Odysseus, but, you know, it definitely made more sense than him being like a real lover boy, if that makes sense. But I just, yeah, I really, I think writing him as this faithful husband was very wise by Nolan and having him kind of reflect and encourage the audience to reflect on like what war is, not just this inevitability, but also this kind of like a society wide breaking of all the covenants that we all claim to live by, or at least they all claim to live

by I thought he is read. This man knows his onions. He has read his text. So I really like that. But I do want to say he does not know what to do with women. I really agree with Emily Wilson. That's the actresses. I mean, they did a great job with what they had to work with, but it wasn't enormous. Like did you come up thinking, because it's tough with Penelope because she is a very, she's strong and she is, I mean, it's Anne Hathaway. So she really commands the scenes that she's in. But I I came out thinking she was a bit wet. She was a little bit too devoted to absent husband over the other interesting things that could have sprung up in her personality over his 20 year absence when her house is full of nasty, nasty suitors. I do agree with that take that Nolan

is not the best at writing women. I don't have any pushback to that. That is just true for me. And I do agree. And even Lupita in it, I found a little bit frustrating because there was a a little dangle of her story, what happened to her sister and then her own traumatic experience, the scarring of her face. It's difficult because it's such an unwieldy story. And I think I said this last time, there's so many aspects to it. But obviously when you make a film, you make choices. The choice was to centre this almost every man, anti-hero and make that story about the difficulties of resolving his crimes and coming back home and a homecoming. And because the story is so faithful to that being the driving force, it feels so powerful because it's the most simplistic, but it's the most

powerful singular story. It's the hero's journey. But it's so difficult because there's so many amazing pieces in that film that you almost wish there was like a Beatles-esque five film about the different characters, you know? But I loved your take. I agreed with so much of that and I'm so glad you liked it because I feel like since I've come out and given it five stars and stood ten toes down on this. So many people have been like, it was all right. Or, you know, there's so many issues with the film, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, which I think is great. I love when people can have a good argument about it at the pub. That is wonderful. But I'm also like, did I miss something? I adored it. Yeah, I just think visually and sonically, you can't argue with his choices. And I do, you know,

criticize the characters and even the dialogue. I mean, the dialogue is functional in Nolan with occasional bangers. I was a bit like, you've got all of these absolutely fantastic, you know, translations of this will bring you to your needs. They're so, so beautiful. And you know, there's a bit where he's just like, fuck off. He's like, I've got to wait for my dad. And I was like, oh, God, can I go there? Chris of Nolan. We're just, we're going to talk about this later. But yeah, visually and sonically, it's just, it's a, it is an odyssey. I think it was absolutely delicious. I wrote down a few lines from Emily Wilson's. I mean, Emily Wilson's review of this has been pretty lambasted as well. But I like that she, she also stands 10 toes.

down. In the thing, she goes, yeah, it was pretty nice to learn that he had used my, he'd drawn to my translation, he'd read it, and sort of praised it. She went, my books are selling like hotcakes now, but I'm about to slag this film off. I just thought, God, that's, yeah, you've got integrity, which is a word I forgot last week. She wrote, of Lupita, mesmerizing for the few minutes she gets on screen, and I would have loved to see her evocation of the cleverness, deceitfulness, and insights of these mythical ladies, but the script only allows for a set of all too brief tableau of female victims, the bereaved mother, the abused wife. I thought that was pretty on the nose.

And I think that was probably, you know, Emily Wilson is the person to criticize for a misuse or at least like an underuse of these amazing female characters and some of them mythological, some of them literally gods. Another thing I really liked was she wrote, Charlize Theron's Calypso looks gorgeous, but she's never angry, never funny, not skilled in rhetoric and never consumed by lust for her Scragly mortal victim.

She's an unpaid therapist, soothing the soul of the bedraggled PTSD-ridden Odysseus with drugs and graciously listening to his disjointed tale of woe, which I was like, oh, that's quite a mic drop. And I did think something about, I love Charlize thereon, but something about her character, I thought, should have been an email, she should have been taken out of the mango summer beachwear that she was wearing.

But, you know, it functions. She in the tail, they have a much more, you know, they do have a real love of her and it's not the lotus, has come earlier and he doesn't tell his story to her. He tells it to this kind of banquet hall. I liked that he tells it to this one woman is the wrong word. Obviously it's Calypso, but tells it to this one woman. And I, you know, I just wasn't quite sure what she was doing there, but happy to see her. Yeah, I agree. And also somebody made the point that she looks like the CEO of a startup in what she's wearing. And I do really see that. I was like, I know it's an interpretation, but it feels

funny when everyone else is wearing slightly more traditional dress for it to be so, I don't know, so instabadi, coded. It's confusing. Would you eat the lotus flower? Because I watched that and I was like, it doesn't seem that bad. I would eat a few.

I'd have a little bit. I'd have them on deck for maybe when you're a bit hung over and you've got the beer fear. I'd have a little nibble. But I do think after what he'd been through, I'd like to think I'd be having that. Yeah, as right. As happily as he was.

And especially like you're waking up, yes, you've got Anne Hathway at home, but you don't really remember her. You've got Charlize Theron on the beach. I think I'd be happy as Larry, sunbathing with my gorgeous nymphie wife. But that's just me. I'm built different, obviously, than Odysseus. And Penelope is a baddie. She is the queen. I just sort of wish. I wish she'd been given more. I kind of, to round off on a serious note, I do, I think in Nolan's Odyssey, she's sort of a. approaches this self-actualized, complicated, powerful character that she is, even in some of the less woke, will we say, translations of, you know, the really stuffy male academics who have translated this, who had no problem calling the female maids, you know, things and slaves and really not giving a shit, you know, narratively what's going on with them. Even in those translations,

very often she is pretty complicated. She's strong. She's physically, you know, she's written sometimes as being sort of kind of broad and thick fingered. And she's not this just dainty, wife waiting next to the throne. And I do, you know, she sort of yells at Telemachus and says like, empty throne is it, my love? Explain why my gorgeous ass has been sat here for 20 years. You cheeky little shit bag or whatever she says to him. She is kind of, she's not just longing, pining for her man. And I think considering the modern makeover that Odysseus gets, where he does not even remotely cheat on her, he's a really kind of sensitive soul. He's been therapistized. I just kind of wish that he'd given Penelope the same treatment.

and lent into that friction of being like devoted wife in an era where devoted wives are the standard where women are really subjugated when she's literally surrounded on all sides by the sort of same, the kind of cowardly men that wouldn't go to war and do war crimes, but are doing these sort of Zeus's law war crimes in her home. Like, I just thought, Christopher Nolan let me in that writer's room. I've got some suggestions. But anyway, I actually did love it and I am so glad that I got to, I've been able to just talk about it. Thank you so much. Listeners and you, Ritira, for indulging me. No, I've been waiting for this day, so for it to be today, what joy. When you are exhausted from travel, you're seeing shapes. And I'd actually just like to talk about the ancients.

Oh, you're a patient person. So this week, there were too many potential topics to choose from. So instead, we're going to first go on a little tour of the headlines that really stood out to us. So first up, a listener called Sarah actually got in touch early last Friday to let us know that renowned journalist, author and feminist advocate Gloria Steinem had died age 92. A statement was released by her foundation stating that Gloria passed away peacefully at her home in New York, surrounded by some of the many who loved her. Described by the BBC as a powerful icon of America's feminist movement with a career that changed the lives of generations of women. In 1963, she went undercover as a Playboy Bunny before publishing an article, exposing the mistreatment and exploitation of the other women working at the New York Playboy Club. She was also an outspoken advocate for abortion access, saying her, quote,

life as an active feminist only really began after she covered an abortion speakout for New York magazine in 1969. She also said of her own abortion. It is supposed to make us a bad person, but I must say, I never felt that. I used to sit and try and figure out how old the child would be, trying to make myself feel guilty. But I never could. I think the person who said, Honey, if men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament, was right. Speaking for myself, I knew I was the first time I had taken responsibility for my own life. I wasn't going to let things happen to me. I was going to direct my life, and therefore it felt positive.

Widely credited as a major figurehead and architect of second wave feminism, Steinem was critical of pornography, apartheid, the Vietnam War and Bill Clinton, and a vocal advocate for same-sex marriage. And in the latter part of her life and career, she also expressed unequivocal support for trans people. So RIP, Gloria Steinem. In music news, Glastonbury organiser, Emily Evis, has announced that next year's headliners have been booked. Madonna's name has been flying around after the release of her album, Confessions 2 in July, but Evis has now squashed that rumor.

Quote, it's definitely not Madonna, I'll tell you that, she said, but refuse to give any hints. Other rumours include Taylor Swift and Harry Styles. Also, it has been confirmed that prices will be rising to £400. To repeat a phrase that someone said that I say too much, worth, fall in a round. I actually don't hate me. I was going to bring that up in my what I've been loving this week. I was like, I've been loving the comment that you can't last week on the episode saying that you keep saying it. It made me laugh so much because I was thinking, I was like, yeah, I've really adopted woof into my, it's the new egregious for me. And I'm, I'm loving it, I'm holding it tight because I know, give it a fortnight and I'll go, not saying woof again.

I'll say me out, but not worth. So yes. But this one I think. listeners is 400 quid. I mean, maybe it's not. This is the eternal debate with Glastonbury tickets, isn't it? Is 400 pounds worth or is it really good deal for what you actually get? It's hard, isn't it? When I learned it was going up to 400 pounds, I had a visceral. Oh, that is so much money and it does feel the level of access to Glastonbury just goes higher and higher and higher. And I totally appreciate prices are going up. Inflation is going up. It's harder to keep live events going. I really understand that the context and the climate of keeping a festival like Glastonbury going is harder than ever before. But there is just something that irks me

about how much money it now takes to experience something like that. I just can't apply for tickets next year in that case. That's how I feel. And if I feel like that, I'm sure so many people hearing that news would feel like that. But when I went on Reddit, and I guess it will be Glastonbury's biggest fans because it was on their own particular subreddit. People weren't even commenting on the price. They were just saying how excited they were that it's back. So it also feels like there will be a small portion who are pushed out, but it won't really affect the demographic of people who are staunch attendees every year, for example. What do you think? Well, there's definitely that case of people going, courts, a middle class, rich people festival.

And sure, anyone who is rich middle class and wants to go to this and never has any problem, you know, the money won't matter will continue to go. So many people go to this festival and so many of them are not high-earning lovies. But I do, I think it's about what it represents to you. If you go to Glastonbury and you treat it as that, you've got a week's holiday and you really can do be there for basically a week. You've spent that on the tickets, the open ability to bring in all your food and drinks, which I know a lot of people do. That's the cost of a holiday for a week, in many cases less than. Like people will spend up to a grand maybe and have the time of their lives.

It's about what it's worth to you and how much you're able to rinse from it. I mean, I'm kind of a delicate little flower. I'm not able to go, I've seen this person, I've seen this person, I've seen this person. I've stayed out on like clubbing, basically getting this whole like amazing nightclub experience and then I've, you know, gone again the next day. Which if you're able to do that and you enjoy it, I do think it's fantastic value for money. But for me, it would be like spending all that money on seeing a few,

choice artists and coming home and having a bit of a bit of a wobbler. I think I've realised, and Ninoi posted about this on her stories, she was like, I'm not really a festival girly. I thought I was, I tried to be. I'm just not really a festival girlie. Obviously, if Emily Evis is listening and she wants to helotrop to us in and to perform and stay in a teepee, forget what I just said. But I just, it's quite peaceful to realise this about myself.

Like, that's not who I am. I am an all-inclusive or like a kind of hide part. I'll go see, I'd go see any of the, I'd go see Madonna at Hyde Park. I think maybe she's doing. Oh, amazing. What's it called? I want to say summer in the. Oh, is it British summertime?

Something like that. I think she's doing something like that. You know when you can go and you can have like a little glass of Fizzy Rosey and then you can go home? That's unfortunately who I am, but very excited. Did you see people from abroad online were saying, oh my God, Fab, if Taylor Swift gets announced, I'll just get tickets. I'll just fly in. I was like, oh, my sweet summer children. It's like the hunger games.

But if anyone can do it, Taylor Swift fans could do it. They could bring down those walls. That's so true. Imagine if Glassonbury ends up just being like all international Taylor Swift fans and like all the other stages are just completely empty. It's a ghost town. And it's like reams of people just for that one event and then they will go home. That would be so funny.

It would be so depressing, but it'd be so funny. I mean, also we would not be safe to go. No, no. Even though I would love to. Because I would actually love to see her lives. But anyway, we will see. I'm keeping my eyes peeled. And on ticket, I will still probably get really nervous on Tickets,

even if I'm not going for them because just that pit of anxiety. Come on, guys. It's like going into battle. I knew how Odysseus felt. Oh my gosh, it's the exact same. There was controversy at the US Open last week, with influencers in attendance being accused of lacking tennis etiquette and being disruptive and disrespectful to other fans and even the players themselves.

According to reports, matches were pause due to groups of influencers loudly recording videos and using bright ringlines. Tennis start Naomi Osaka had this to say. Today, the umpire told everyone to be quiet more than over. ever heard an umpire tell a crowd to be quiet. I tell people I normally just focus on the match and the court, but there was a moment where there was people shouting and you could hear it quite clearly. I think it bothered my opponent too. I think obviously if you come to a sporting event, you have to respect the sport. I feel like it's common courtesy to read up on the sport, especially

the etiquette. It could be a good thing for people to make the sport of tennis popular to their specific audience, but I think it has to be managed a lot better, especially in the situation like my first round match. Overall, I think there are huge positives. You want people to continue to grow the for, I just think it has to be in a way that everyone knows the rules and the etiquette. So there have since been reports that Wimbledon is now banning influencers, which isn't quite the case. They simply aren't planning to follow the US Open's lead by introducing accreditation specifically for influencers and the club's conditions of entry will continue to ban items such as triphiles or large cameras. Whether they'll actually clamp down beyond this on influencers

is yet to be seen. Check and shop day is coming to an end. After 12 years, over a 100 guests and many, many, many chicken products consumed, hosting creator of the hit interview series, Amelia de Moldenberg, has announced that the series will end after, quote, a few final dates. Taking to social media, she wrote, To me, the show is my very own rom-com, and I have loved creating so many stories of you to watch. I'm so grateful to everyone who's followed me on this journey

and found some joy in these episodes. I never thought I'd stop chicken shop date. I thought maybe it would be part of me forever, and in some ways it always will. but I feel like it's now time to move on from this adventure and onto a new one. Over the last 12 years, she's interviewed everyone from Gets to Paul McCartney, Jennifer Lawrence and Louis Capaldi and Matty Healy to da-da-da-da-da-da-elmo.

SNLUK is set to return on September the 12th, e.g. literally, tomorrow evening, and will be hosted by Jurassic Park legend, Jeff Goldblum, with Irish singing and songwriting legend Seema appearing as the show's first musical guest. We also have seen this week. week, I think it was yesterday, announcement that Amelia D'Moldenberg will be, I think, episode two. And then, as you say, Jamie Demetrio, episode three, I think it's looking like it's going to be an absolute banger of a season. So this season will run for six episodes before taking a break and then returning in early 2027. If you have listened to the show for a little while, you will

know that we all watched and enjoyed and gave the first series a pretty solid racing, but Richard will you be enticed to watch the second? Yes, a thousand percent. I think the system of having a limited run and then having a break has only meant that my appetite has grown in the break. And it's been so successful in that point because all I've done is have conversations with people since talking about if they love it, what episodes they've liked, what sketches they particularly, you know, were cracking up to. I really am feeling so positively about this show and I can't wait for it to come back. What about you? A thousand percent the same. It's definitely, when I was saying earlier about the TV shows that are

coming back this autumn, that are basically responsible for propping up my mental health. This is absolutely one of it. I think I just like the idea, even if I continue to watch it on Sunday morning, I do just really like the idea of having a very funny topical show to watch. And it's sort of like seeing your old pals, isn't they? You're just like, oh, they're back again. I know that they've added one cast member. But also, and his name's Freddy. He's a stand-up comedian who I really love his stuff online. He's called, I think, at Groom of the Stool on social media. He makes really fantastic, fantastic videos.

I've never seen him do stand-up, but I don't think they've, I think they've brought on a cast member, but to my knowledge, no one has left, which I'd be very unhappy because they're all my beloved friends now. Agree. But yeah, it's definitely, it's doing a lot of heavy lifting. But I found this list that I wanted to be like, this is the TV that's coming up. Slow Horses is coming back. That Sharon Hogan show that I.

that I mentioned. Have you heard of this show where it's called Brothers, where Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey play themselves finding out that they might be brothers, which did happen in real life, which maybe you told me about this. There was sort of like their parentage. I mean, Woody Harrelson, look at his, he is one of the few celebrities. He's gone on his Wikipedia, his dad's name is in blue and it's not because he is a nepo baby. I'll say no more. It's fantastically interesting. But there was sort of a funny bit. that they did where they were like, we looked quite similar, our dad, maybe we've got the same dad, and now they're doing this kind of fictionalized fake reality thing where they might be,

anyway, I have no idea. It feels like a fever dream, but I'm absolutely going to be watching that. I think that's out this month. Bake off coming back. Are you a bakeoff girl? I'm not, I'm not, I'm not. I like when people are fans of it, but I kind of quit when it moved to Channel 4 and not for any other reason than I just moved on, I think.

What about you? Fair enough. I am a bit of a bake-off girl, and I'm very excited that it's going to be Nigella Lawson, because above all else, I'm a Nigella girl. So I am excited. We've also got new rivals in November. So I think TV-wise, we're actually going to be okay, guys. Life is worth living.

Oh, thank you for saying that. Encyclopedia Britannica has announced that on the 1st of September, we have now entered the late 2020s. Posting on social media, they wrote, quote, trigger warning. This post contains information about the passage of time, and it seems that it was a necessary warning, with a lot of users saying that they were thrown by the news that the early and mid-2020s are forever behind us and couldn't really process it, with many people saying that living in the early COVID days had completely wrecked their perception of time. At RS Gabe One replied, quote, this is the worst tweet I've seen in the late 2020s. And someone else wrote, quote, bullshit. Does this mean I'm in my late 20s if I'm 26? To which somebody else replied, yes. Wake up, cool.

I also saw somebody colloquially used late 2020s whilst I was away and it made me feel sick. I don't think 26 is late. I think 27 is when you officially hit the late period. What do you think? I can hear cases for both. If someone said in 2024, we're in the mid-2020s, I would have gone, yeah, fair enough. and 2026, we're still in the mid, the late mid, that's fine by me. I think I don't get as freaked out by other people about stuff like this. I definitely do pretend to to fit in. You know, and people are like,

oh my God, you're closer to 50 than 21. I'm like, that's crazy. Or like, you know, and they're like, a person that was 21 in 2000 is now however old, or whatever it is. I'm a bit like, well, that is how time works. I'm not really stressing about it, but I can see what people mean when they kind of go, what do you mean it was just 2019? I don't know if that's COVID's fault or just that you do start sort of speed running time, the minute you hit your own late or mid to late 20s. You're kind of like, by this point, I've done enough years that I sort of know the rhythm of it. Obviously, when you're four years old, every year is an eternity, but you're kind of like, this will never end. I'm in the speed running bit now and I can see why people are freaked out, but I think we have to embrace it.

It's not like 2020s have been all that gorgeous. You know what I mean? Maybe we can say goodbye. So a new reality TV family has hit the scene. The Earls. Now, if you don't know who Alex Earle is, let me quickly catch you up. She is a 25-year-old American social media celebrity with around 14 million total followers. She's a pioneer of the Get Ready With Me Trend, former Dancing with the Stars contestant,

one half of an ongoing feud with Alex Cooper from Call Her Daddy, and now the focus of a brand new Netflix reality series, alongside her family, including her dad slash manager, her stepmom, and a younger sister, Ashton, who's also an influencer. Alex had this to say about the show, quote, I've shared my life for years through my own camera, but this felt like the next phase because it's a chance to go deeper, not just the highlights, but the real moments too, the vulnerable ones, the hard ones, and the fun, chaotic ones in between. It's the same authenticity people know me for, but now with a different lens, end quote.

In early episodes we see her move the last of her things out of her ex-boyfriends home in LA, travel to Paris for Fashion Week, strategise slash argue with her family about content, rehearse for the Dancing with the Stars Tour and generally try and manage the many responsibilities of being a mega influencer. The show dropped in its entirety last week and already the reviews are rolling in. Covering the show for variety, Alison Herman describes Alex's everyday life as, quote, almost painfully boring to watch. She writes, Earl meets World is packaged as a family affair in the vein of keeping up with the Kardashians with Earl's Dadager, TJ, as the Chris Jenner figure. But where the Kardashians, for all their shallowness and shameless consumerism, have a certain quotable star quality, Kim, there's people that are dying.

The Earls lack a similar spark. Alex blew up, while still a college student at the University of Miami and her signature, besides a blonde, blue-eyed beauty, is a bland neutrality that lends itself to endorsing all manner of products. She's not particularly funny, opinionated or inventive. She's just a wealthier and more conventionally attractive version of the average consumer. And for the cut, Ali Jones also draws comparisons between reality TV royalty and this new iteration, writing, quote, At least the Kardashians had fun in the beginning. Remember when Chris yelled at Kim for snapping selfies while taking Chloe to jail for violating her probation after DUI?

There is no such levity among the Earl family when something goes wrong. When Earl tells her mum that she can't post without everyone attacking her, she is ruminating on her TikTok feud with her former podcast boss, call her daddy's Alex Cooper. Her mom and the rest of her family react to this conflict with solemn terror. Earl and her family seem almost paralyzed by their luck. They know they have a golden ticket, but they're not quite sure what to do with it. In the premiere episode, Earl goes out for dinner with her friend slash social media assistant, Sally,

who self-identifies as a nepo friend. They toast with skinny, spicy margaritas to a personal, quote, rebrand, except they can't articulate what they should look like exactly. Time magazine published Judy Berman's review in which she wrote, quote, The show has all the raw material for an unscripted family drama. Somehow, though, the fireworks tend to fizzle as soon as they're lit, adding, as eager as they look to be on screen together, the Earls are, or act, too calm and consulatory to drive reality soap plots.

No one wants to look unhinged, least of all Alex, who talks about being unstable but can't risk her credibility as an entrepreneur, pitch woman and parapsotial companion to millions by getting truly ugly on camera, which is precisely what natural-born reality stars have always done. I mean, I'm thinking of Fanderpump as I'm saying this and I'm nodding my head. Richard, this was your suggestion. I have watched a few episodes, but as the reality TV scholar of the podcast, what are your opening thoughts?

I also have to bring in a House of Starcy, which came out, around the same time. And just wait with me, be patient. If you haven't watched it, you don't have to to understand the point I'm making. There is such a rise of already famous people now having reality TV shows where they're almost self-producing and that's part of the storyline. So in House of Starcy, she constantly talks about what will make good TV and she breaks the fourth wall quite a lot. In this show, it's really clear just the amount that they want this show to work by having certain storylines come through. Even, I guess, the types of conversations they're having, even the kind of arguments they're having, bringing that to the fore, talking about how the show

will make them more confrontational, it really can't hold you in the same way that a lot of the really earnest, really naive, old examples of family reality. TV like the Kardashians just kind of smash through all of our pop culture because they did not care. They did not care about fighting physical fights on TV, mind you, in some examples on the Kardashians. They did not care about airing their worst moments. They did not care about sending emails where they call their sisters trolls, ugly little trolls, and that coming out on TV and then just not speaking to each other for like weeks and then having to have that blow on TV. These are all real examples, by the way, from the Kardashians.

It's just, I think, having these new TV shows, which are so self-conscious, so self-produced, and they're already by famous people who have a lot to lose, it's kind of an extension of their brand. I feel like what they're wanting to do is kind of create longevity, also create jobs for their moms, their dads, their sisters, their quote-unquote Nepo friends. I really feel this desire to make it work, which makes sense. me feel sad. And I think that sadness just makes me feel quite uncomfortable watching it. It feels like you know what's going on. It's this real drive to create success for the people around them,

which is a nice hope and a nice wish, but it doesn't create good TV. Good TV is by wild people like Jacks Taylor from Vanderpump Rules. It's from people who air their worst behaviors are the worst people, to be honest. And that's not a good thing. So trying to have both ways, trying to have the brand deals like Alex L does by being this neutral face, this well-behaved, every girl that everyone likes whilst also trying to have a family reality TV that airs your worst moments while not really wanting to do that. It's a difficult place to be and I don't think it's possible. What did you think watching it? I think it gave me vibes of the Molly May documentary, which we watched two seasons out on Amazon Prime. I will say the Molly May one, I found very, very

watchable and I in fact enjoyed it and I found even as it was a PR exercise for Molly May, I thought it was well done and I got something from it. I didn't quite get anything from this, but I could see it's a similar attempt to showcase personality and to sort of embed the influencer into the culture. And she's already very much there in more of a traditional celebrity way, but to embed her and her family in the culture in the way that the Kardashians have been. And you can see it's the Kardashian. module. Okay, there's some awareness on you. There's some hype. Let's get more of a spotlight. Let's get our own show. Let's make it a family business. Let's tell the story ourselves. I think it worked

for the Kardashians. And it could work again, but I think in this case, the ingredients were a little bit stale because they are so media trained and they're internet trained and they live in the internet, but they don't live in the tabloids the same way. And the Kardashians came to this at the perfect time. Pre-internet, it worked. Or not pre-internet, but pre-internet, but pre-internet. But pre- social media, modern internet, it worked. The days of, you know, now we are post-internet, we are the days of Twitch streaming, live-streaming, get ready with me, spend the day with me culture, glimpse into the lives of very rich and well-known people. You know, I have to fire up one app, and I can see that thousands of times. I can go to their glamorous events with them. I can go

along to Botox appointment. I can go along to luxury shopping trips. I can see their drama unfold on my phone. So it felt to put it on a bigger screen, you really have to be. have to entice me with something. Personality, glimpses into the actual mechanisms of your life. I think it has to have that to be interesting, especially in the reality TV space, which it sounds very much like Stacey is adapting to that. And, you know, she's fantastic on Fandapuner, she really knows that to play the game. I just felt this was a little bit too dry for me to enjoy it. It felt much more, yeah, it just felt like a very sedate version of what you can imagine in a Molly May documentary, a Kardashian documentary,

with some of the personality. It just doesn't have the secret source. I think they maybe are 20 years too late. You know what's weird? For everything I said, I did actually get to a point of craving more episodes. I think it was by episode five that I was interested to know how certain storylines panned out.

And I wonder why that is. I'm trying to figure it out now. I think it's because the thing that did keep me interested is the stakes. knowing that she is wildly famous and also knowing that everyone in her family is pushing to all become influences in their own right. There is something kind of darkly interesting about that because it is, I'm sure, an increasingly common situation. For example, the Demilios, I know they had a show, which I never watched, about all of them and they were all

trying to be, or were, I imagine, actual content creators by that point. I think it's kind of a dark glimpse into the modern American dream, which I think somebody called it that verbatim in their review. It is the modern American dream, which is everyone in the family can just spend time together and make content. And then all it does is mean that you are liberated to live your life with each other. And then you all get all of these opportunities and you all rise with the tide of, say, Alex's fame. But the reality is it does seem quite depressing. She is having a go at her stepmom for something she posts because she worries about the backlash that she's going to get on her behalf. It's just, I don't know, there was something so depressing about, A, the amount of

pressure she feels because of her job at 25 and now how that makes her behave to her family members. She is shorter with them. She has to have these conversations about how they behave because it represents badly on her. And families are complicated. Her family is wildly complicated by the fact that her dad and her step-mom were the impact of an affair on her mum. Now they're this big blended family, which I also found really fascinating to be fair. But saying that, the fact that the internet and who can post what is a big topic of conversation between them, that I found very bleak, but also weirdly engaging. Like, it's almost like I just was morbidly fascinated in how the operation works. Her younger sister trying to be an influencer, having her dad as a dadager, who

mostly focuses on Alex, and her just kind of feeling resent, not resentful, but just feeling the lack of interest in her, all of these things, which are just horrible things for a family to be enduring, I think, personally. I found also slightly watchable, to be honest. So maybe it is if you have, if you're aware enough of how these things work and you can look, you can watch between the lines because it does feel like there's so much interesting stuff, especially with the Alex Cooper drama, which I know the series touches on towards the end, but apparently not to very much, at least not to that satisfying a degree, as in most of the stuff that we know is already out on the internet. So maybe you have to watch between the lines. I just thought, you can, you can tell that media trainer, you can tell. like you are not going to smack your sister around the face. You are not going to really drop the kind of curtain and tell us the truth here. You are going to manage this and you're going to try and make it entertaining for someone. I'm sure it has a big, big viewership. I just can't, some part of it of me, I just like, oh, I'm just bored now. I never want to be bored watching

reality TV. I can hate myself. I can be scandalised. I can feel sick, but I don't want to be bored. And things are happening. She's got on paper interesting life. She's sort of teasing all this drama. She's crying about an act. She's in Paris. She's in New York. because she's in LA. She's in these amazing restaurants. Like I thought she might as well be in like Westfield. She might as well be Coventry, Cheebly services, you know, places you're like, okay, and I'm sorry, I say Coventry because my grandparents live there not because I'm anti-coventry, but like she might as well be somewhere that I have been living a life that I have lived because I just thought, I'm not really getting much from this. And I just think it's,

it's without stakes. And I, maybe I've just been gorging too much on reality TV a la Van der Leyen Prules where they are just unhinged. Yeah. But this just felt like, yeah, rich people doing less interesting stuff with their big money than I would do. And I, you know, I wish her the best. And I didn't think that she was, she came across badly. She just didn't really come across. So that's my, my thoughts. Have you finished the series? And should I attempt another episode? I don't think so. I think you're okay to leave it. I do think if you're watching VPR alongside something like this, one thing I found with VPR is it almost enlarged my, you know, appetite for wild TV. It just, the amount it offers expands your understanding of what reality TV

can do because people are their worst selves on that show in a way that I have never seen on any other TV show in my life since. It would be especially hard watching that at the same time. This would feel like sandpaper on TV. It just wouldn't give anything. So I completely understand what you're saying. And I don't think you need to go back. back to it. One thing I will say is a tweet from Haley K. 221 fits with what I think about this. Earl Meets World is so weirdly dystopian. They're constantly obsessed with posting and what everyone thinks. The younger kids in the family are so warped already. That's what I think is intriguing me about this. It feels very modern. It feels very dystopian. The youngest kids, one of them is already doing

Get Ready With Me's and I think she's 14. The younger kids are offering advice to Alex about content she should post. Same to Ashton. It's funny, but it's also so dark and it's so fascinating to see what internet fame can do to a family, especially if all of them are interested in getting into it. I've not seen anything like it, to be honest. I agree. I think it just feels of a world that I don't want to live in. So maybe I'm hanging this one up. Go back to Sarah and Pump. Thank you so much for listening this week. If you haven't already, make sure you've listened to our latest Everything in Conversation episode where we discuss if cigarettes really are back in fashion.

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