Another deep cut, and today we go into the stories of television; how they make us feel, the stories they tell, and the stories we tell ourselves about watching tv.  Up next a review of The Diplomat, A new Netfilx show about the politics of relationships and the inter-workings of governments.  Flip from the deep to the silly, and we will introduce you to The Savannah Bananas and finish the letter with tunes and what a rockstar may have had for a last meal.

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We had an interesting conversation in the office today; some of us watch reality TV, and some of us watch action and science fiction.  When we dispensed with judgmental sarcasm and name-calling, we tried to dig a little deeper.

On the plus side, defenders of reality TV, especially soap opera-esc reality TV, watch it to escape because it is a form of entertainment where bullets aren't ripping through people or stories that involve abuse or neglect.  Stupid rich people being mean to each other can be as mind-numbing as TV can get.  If you can listen to someone who enjoys this, you have to see the comparison to another person who can watch fake action movies and TV where someone gets shot, blown up, or hit every 5 minutes.  The debate begins when one of the watchers tries to defend by saying the good people usually win and the wrong people all die.  The other side simply says, no one dies on my shows.

It's strange to be a person who can watch adventure and science fiction rooting for the heroes to eventually win and being uncomfortable, even anxious, if the wrong people are too bad, or worse, look like they will win.  If you avoid mean people in real life, you don't want to watch them on TV.  Ted Lasso has become a phenomenon over the last several years, it's not void of mean people, but the mean people don't win.  Watching the show to see how true hearts work together to win is deep for many people. 

We could not declare any winners in the "who watches more crap tv" debate, but we were open to listening to another person with different tastes in entertainment.  We did decide that watching terrible people do terrible things to each other (reality tv) doesn't make you want to act like a terrible person any more than watching action movies makes you want to punch people.  Although if that were the case, most of Gen-X would have jumped off that Wile E. Coyote cliff long ago.

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The new Netflix series The Diplomat has gotten decent buzz over the past few months.  One of the reviews we listened to mentioned a scene where Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) puts her armpit into Hal Wyler's (Rufus Sewell) face to determine if she smells.  A scene that shows the intimacy of a relationship, even amid a high-stakes political drama. 

In this article in The Atlantic, Sophie Gilbert looks into where the show is going, what it get's right, and where the unknowns remain.  The dynamics of a power couple, both with high-ranking positions in different areas, is entertainment.  Gilbert highlights the shows dialogue; people who crave power often need more diplomacy to lead with it.  Unfortunately, we've no shortage of ruthless power hogs who never intend to govern or lead. 

Great leaders and diplomats understand that they don't have to like or, at times, agree with the people they lead.  The same goes for long relationships and marriages.  You don't have to like every situation, but you have to listen and lead.

In a double shot of stories from The Atlantic today, we have a crazy story about what we could not develop a good description for.  According to the story, the Savannah Bananas are an exhibition baseball team.  It looks like part; circus, dance, globetrotter, and costume brigade set on a baseball diamond.  We congratulate the creativity and unique way to bring fun back to a large group of people.  This is a see-it-to-believe-it type of story.

Yesterday we brought you a story about Mark Hoppus of Blink 182 and The Cure.  Today we bring you a rare video of Blink 182 playing a cover of The Cure song A Letter To Elise.  A true masterpiece, especially when you see Robert Smith watching from the side of the stage.

Dylan-esq words meet punk rock music.

Click on the Apple Music image to listen to the song on Apple Music or on the Spotify Image to listen to Spotify.

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Thank you for spending a few minutes with us. Here’s one for the road!

With A Shout newsletter is written by Johnny Christian with the support of a thousand idea bits and the help of many people.

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