Current Obsessions: 'Sinners,' 'Turning Point: The Vietnam War,' 'Murderbot,' 'Becker,' and 'Doctor Who'
Things move so fast these days. It’s nice to sit down and track what you’ve been focusing on.
Dang it,
In last week’s inaugural installment of this weekly document of my current obsessions, I forgot a big one.. a little thing called Conan O'Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
Any of my fellow Team Coco-heads should definitely check it out. I could feel the love in Kennedy Center radiating out of my TV screen and coming to a head with Conan’s historic worst cosmic timing for every great achievement. I mean, seriously. First The Tonight Show and now winning a prestigious award as the president strips it for parts? I’ve written about my love of Conan and what I think makes his work tick before on this newsletter, so I’ll just drop a link to that and stop my yammering here.
I do this because writing helps me remember. Things move so fast these days. It’s nice to sit down and track what you’ve been focusing on.
And this week, I’ve obsessed over…
FILM: Sinners
Finally got to see this last weekend. It’s not a perfect film, but it gets a whole lot right. Perhaps I just feel that way because —
There’s something special happening now as Black directors in my age range like Misha Green (Lovecraft Country), Ryan Coogler (Sinners), Malcolm Washington (The Piano Lesson), and RaMell Ross (Nickel Boys) tackle subjects about Black life in the 1930s through the 1960s. And much like the melodic transcendence of time and space explored in Sinners there is a vibrant dialogue between past, present, and future in each of these works.
I instantly considered this with the first live action shot of Sinners. It reminded me of imagery of the great Gordon Parks in his feature film debut, The Learning Tree — which is fitting, because were it not for Parks shattering box office records bringing the original Shaft to life, there’d be a much different road for Coogler to walk on now.
DOCU-SERIES: Turning Point: The Vietnam War
Feels silly to admit it, but watching season 2 of Andor has enhanced my viewing experience of documentaries about actual war. The Turning Point series of docs on Netflix are constructed in a similar fashion to Tony Gilroy’s take on that galaxy far, far away. I don’t claim to understand much of Tony Soprano’s psyche, but the older I get, the more I identify with his need to sit in front of a TV and watch The History Channel.
TV: Murderbot
Man, this show is fun. It almost shouldn’t work as well as it does.
TV: Becker
Reruns of Becker on PlutoTV have become my go-to background television. I remember my grandpa used to watch this show in his room, and it’s funny finally being old enough to get the jokes and understand the characters.
TV: Doctor Who (Season 2 / 2025)
It brings me great pleasure to say that so called “season 2” of the new Doctor Who starring Ncuti Gatwa is actually… really good. I enjoyed many of the sci-fi mystery elements of the first season, but it was definitely a rocky road for the characters. Something is really clicking this season, and I love it! I might start seeing an actual doctor now!
Damn, that’s a lot of TV. I should pick up a book next week.
