tv shows about food 'for breakfast'
i love food and i love tv, what better a pair for this first edition of the ‘for breakfast’ newsletter
On the menu today are a selection of TV shows I love that all have to do with food in some fashion. The picks range from a drama about teenage girls stranded in the wilderness scrounging for their next meal to a comedy following washed up Hollywood actors slinging hors d'oeuvres to make ends meet.
After my passion for just *watching* things I also have a passion for food and it’s super fun when the two overlap. To me, food is the great uniter; I can’t help but love scenes that are set in dive bars or cheap diners or over a weeknight dinner. I hope you end up watching and loving at least one of these shows (especially what’s for dinner), and that you’ll have a little more appreciation for the food you see served, hunted, or shared on screen.
The goal of the ‘for breakfast’ newsletter is to break off a piece of the media landscape and give you an easy way to find stuff you love and consume it in a way that works for you. Not to sound like a professor, but I implore you to check out links when I leave them! Anything with a ** you should check out AFTER watching the show.
for breakfast: Party Down
Before Adam Scott was Emmy-nominated for Severance, he played the beloved role of Ben Wyatt on Parks and Recreation. Before there was Parks and Rec, there was Party Down.
I chose this 2009 comedy for breakfast because it takes the lowest amount of effort to get into with the highest likelihood of enjoyment. We follow a group of depressed cater waiters waiting to quit their day jobs and hit it big as actors. Before that can happen each episode has the crew at a different party. This new episode, new venue format allows the show to commit to its bits while not getting bogged down by any particular setting. The flexibility to see our characters at a pre-school auction, a sweet sixteen, or an orgy night means the show is really light on its feet. Not all comedies are created equal, and despite me craving more Adam Scott after Severance I was never going to make it through 124 episodes of Parks and Rec.
Party Down is a real breeze and a delight to get through. It’s equal parts cynical, sincere, surprisingly sexy, and downright hilarious with the comfort-show qualities of The Office balanced with the edge you get from Always Sunny. Nonetheless, even if you don’t like comedies, you’ll like this show.
[Party Down is streaming on Hulu]
Years after its brief two-season run, Party Down is getting a revival guest starring Quinta Brunson!
for lunch: Yellowjackets
If I had nickel for every show I watched and enjoyed through Amazon Prime about teenage girls surviving in a remote location after a mysterious plane crash, I’d have two nickels.
The now Emmy-nominated Yellowjackets splits itself over two timelines. Through both you learn that this show is less about food and more about lack thereof, hunger. In the 80s we watch a high school girl’s soccer team navigate the aftermath of a gruesome plane crash that leaves them stranded in the Canadian wilderness. Accordingly, our teenage ensemble faces starvation which brings out their worst, most primal instincts and at the same time lust and love are just as prominent of motivations that keep the show bouncier and more soapy where it needs to be. This hunger then ages with our characters into the present-day where themes of repression and trauma facilitate dynamic roles for the show’s older set of actresses. These women portray mothers and wives who can be sexy and vulnerable and violent; Queer women who can be conniving and powerful and deeply flawed.
I recommend Yellowjackets for lunch because it scratches a lot of itches. It has the mystery of Lost, the suburban drama of Big Little Lies, and even the feminine horror elements of Jennifer’s Body. Yellowjackets is gripping and layered enough in its mystery for immersion and theorizing, but still light enough to turn your brain off and enjoy an epic, satisfying binge.
[Yellowjackets is streaming on SHOWTIME]
Great essay about trauma plots in fiction
Interview with music supervisor, Jen Malone, about Yellowjackets, Euphoria, and being a “Television Tastemaker”
**Podcast recapping the season finale with a great discussion about serialized TV dramas
for dinner: The Bear
I used to work in a Chili’s, so a show about a dysfunctional kitchen with a mentally ill chef who you kind of have a crush on seemed right up my alley.
I’ll cut to the chase: The Bear is not simply dinner, it is a five-course meal. The show follows a chef who after running Michelin-star kitchens finds himself back in Chicago taking over his family’s restaurant in the wake of his older brother’s death. Over its eight-episode debut season it’s funny, it’s chaotic, it’s hard to swallow, it’s emotionally devastating, and it’s a visual feast that deserves your undivided attention. If there is one takeaway you have from reading this it is that you must watch The Bear. Do it tonight. Do it now! It’s some of my favorite TV I’ve seen this year and you will probably feel the same way.
[The Bear is streaming on Hulu]
This show is a bit of a phenomenon and that’s with good reason. I’m no arbiter of hype, but I’d say The Bear deserves it. When something gets so big and catches on so well and so quickly, it feels hard to get an actual grip on it. Instead of adding to the praise or trying to come up with any hot takes outside of just recommending that you watch the show, I’m going to leave some supplementary materials: my favorite criticism, behind the scenes, profiles, and podcast episodes that have helped make the hype around the show a bit more fun and a lot more accessible.
in order from least to most time you’ll need for it:
All about the food on the show
How authentic is The Bear to life in a kitchen?
A profile on the amazing, talented, show-stopping Ayo Edebiri
A different profile on White Boy of the Month, Jeremy Allen White (who happens to also be amazing and talented and show-stopping)
**A dialogue about the show’s strengths and weaknesses, particularly whether or not it leans into the trope of the “tortured male genius”
**A podcast recapping and discussing the season
That’s the first issue of ‘for breakfast’! If you’ve made it this far I appreciate you greatly and subscribe if you’re interested in more. I have lots of plans for future versions that will cover a lot more than just TV, so stick around :))
omg i just started watching the bear last night and now i’m seeing it everywhere
all of these are on my watchlist!!