I am significantly more psychologically unwell when I am not in the middle of a good book or a good TV series.
I haven’t read a good book or started a fun new TV show for weeks and this weekend I was too fragile even to to read the Sunday supplements properly. I had to leave the kitchen and sit in the garden with my head between my knees.
Then my friend Simon came round and watched the second half of The Talented Mr Ripley with me and said, “You might like Hacks? It’s on Amazon Prime.” I was a bit sceptical as I never like the same books or TV shows as Simon. I’m not going to say “He likes science fiction,” because whenever I say that he says, increasingly alarmed, “I don’t only like science fiction!” He once gave me a book as a present, I think it was the House of Mirth, and the letters were so tiny and close together and I didn’t understand what was going on. I lay on the sofa, fifteen pages in, with the book tented over my face thinking a) Simon doesn’t understand me and b) why don’t I understand this book?
But I was desperate! Any recommendation would do. I tried the third series of Derry Girls, which was alarming. I was a massive fan of the first two series but something has gone seriously awry with both the acting and the writing in this one. Then I tried Hullraisers, which means well but is a bit mums-gone-mad-same-same. Then I scrolled through a load of old films and realised I’d never seen The Talented Mr Ripley and you know the rest.
I fired up Hacks and it’s just absolutely and completely terrific and I don’t understand why I haven’t heard of it until now. It’s won 3 Emmys so far and needs more. The premise is: venerable old comedienne Deborah Vance, (think Joan Rivers), must team up with young millennial/Gen Z cancelled comedian Ava, played by an actress who looks so much like she could be a cousin of Emily Blunt, but isn’t. The writing is superb, cliché-free and new, the characters are subtle. The dynamics are real. I feel alive again.
How about you? How is your psychological state at the moment? How could it be improved? Please leave a comment in the handy box below.
Discovered ‘Roar’ today. It’s a must!
Hacks is fantastic and S2 is coming out soon.
If you love Tina Fey 30 rock type humor check out a show she produced called Girls5Eva
It also contains the best song and video ever: “New York Lonely Boy” about pretentious big city kids
Such clever lyrics:
His pants are always spiffy, only sibling is the city
His playground is the lobby, has a palate for wasabi
The Strand is his Disney Land
(I will be singing this all day 😂)