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BELIEVE

THE UNTOLD STORY BEHIND TED LASSO, THE SHOW THAT KICKED ITS WAY INTO OUR HEARTS

Solid arts reporting, and excellent fodder for Lasso fans.

Behind the scenes of the soccer-themed TV show that became a surprise pandemic-era sensation.

When it debuted in August 2020, Ted Lasso might have easily been missed in the ocean of streaming content—a dramedy about a British soccer team had little obvious appeal to American viewers. But for a nation that was housebound and weary of Covid-19 and divisive politics, the show’s title hero (played by Jason Sudeikis) proved a balm. Also weary of Tony Soprano–style antiheroes, people eagerly embraced Lasso’s emphasis on openheartedness, optimism, and good humor. This comprehensive but unfussy history by Egner, the New York Times’ TV editor, covers the show’s entire run, from its origins in jokey promos for NBC Sports’ Premier League broadcasts to its much-debated third (perhaps final) season, where Egner is among those who disliked the bloated scripts and questionable plot turns. Striving to go beyond straightforward hagiography, Egner catches up with just about every relevant figure on the show, arguing that the show’s animating spirit of optimism was reflected in its leads—Sudeikis was processing a messy split with his partner, Olivia Wilde, and Hannah Waddingham (who played the team’s owner) was looking for a role that would keep her in England, where her daughter was recovering from an illness. “Every time a joke would come up that was rooted in sarcasm, or cynicism, or apathy towards someone else’s story, just cut it out,” Sudeikis says, which proved a winning strategy as the show gathered a mountain of Emmy nominations (20 in its first season alone). But Egner emphasizes the idea that staying positive, like staying in the Premier League, requires constant practice and doesn’t always turn out as planned.

Solid arts reporting, and excellent fodder for Lasso fans.

Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024

ISBN: 9780593476062

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024

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A WEALTH OF PIGEONS

A CARTOON COLLECTION

A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.

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The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.

Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.

A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.

Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Celadon Books

Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020

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DIDION AND BABITZ

A cheeky, gossipy dual biography.

A study of two writers uncomfortably entwined.

After Eve Babitz (1943-2021) died, her biographer Anolik came upon a letter from Babitz to Joan Didion (1934-2021) that startled her. Filled with “rage, despair, impatience, contempt,” it read like a “lovers’ quarrel.” “Eve was talking to Joan the way you talk to someone who’s burrowed deep under your skin, whose skin you’re trying to burrow deep under.” That surprise discovery suggested a “complicated alliance” between the two. In sometimes breathless prose, with sly asides to the “Reader,” Anolik draws on more than 100 interviews with Babitz and many other sources to follow both women’s lives, tumultuous loves, and aspirations before and after they met in Los Angeles in 1967, sometimes straining to prove their significance to one another. “Joan and Eve weren’t each other’s opposite selves so much as each other’s shadow selves,” she asserts. “Eve was what Joan both feared becoming and longed to become: an inspired amateur.” At the same time, “Joan was what Eve feared becoming and desired to become: a fierce professional.” Didion had just won acclaim for Slouching Towards Bethlehem when Babitz, newly arrived from New York, began socializing with her and her husband, John Gregory Dunne. The reticent Didion and the sensual, energetic Babitz could not have been more different, and Anolik clearly prefers Babitz. “I’m crazy for Eve,” she admits, “love her with a fan’s unreasoning abandon. Besides, Joan is somebody I naturally root against: I respect her work rather than like it; find her persona—part princess, part wet blanket—tough going.” Their relationship—hardly a friendship—fell apart in 1974 when Didion and Dunne were assigned to edit Babitz’s autobiographical novel, Eve’s Hollywood. Babitz, resentful of Didion’s attitude and intrusion, “fired” her, pursuing her writing career on her own. Didion soared to literary fame; not, alas, Babitz.

A cheeky, gossipy dual biography.

Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024

ISBN: 9781668065488

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Scribner

Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024

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