Plus, Succession, The Little Mermaid, and SNL musical guests, ranked

View this email online by Linda Holmes Welcome! It was the week when another Barbie trailer arrived. It was the week when we learned that there's no business that won't at least try for a second chance. And it was the week when another season of Survivor came to a close. Let's get to it. The simple pleasures of 'Platonic' Some of Seth Rogen's best chemistry with women has bloomed in properties that pair him with someone whose vibes are, or can be rendered as, vaguely patrician. Katherine Heigl in Knocked Up, Charlize Theron in Long Shot, and Michelle Williams twice, in Take This Waltz and The Fabelmans. And now Rose Byrne twice -- or thrice, in Neighbors/Neighbors 2 and the new Apple series Platonic, created by Francesca Delbanco and Nicholas Stoller, who previously teamed on Friends from College. In Platonic, Rogen plays Will, a brewpub owner and beer genius who long ago had a falling-out with his best friend Sylvia, played by Byrne. Sylvia took exception to the woman Will wanted to marry, and they fell out of touch. But now that he's divorced, they break their years-long silence and start hanging out again. Will is a spirited and bar-oriented guy who is approaching middle age with the questionable help of his friends -- business partners Andy (Tre Hale) and Reggie (Andrew Lopez), and employee Omar (Vinny Thomas). Sylvia, on the other hand, is a stay-at-home mom (having left a legal career) with three kids and an adoring if slightly stiff husband Charlie. (Charlie is played by Luke Macfarlane, the co-lead of Bros as well as a goodly number of Hallmark movies, who is one of our current masters of bringing shape, personality and warmth to what could be thankless roles of lovable boyfriends and husbands.) The renewal of their friendship is bumpy and complicated, but also, in some ways, exactly what they need. Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen in Platonic / Apple TV+ Elements of Platonic, including the title, suggest that perhaps it's a love-triangle story about the threat that a relationship that is supposedly scrupulously platonic presents to a mature marriage, but it's hardly that at all. It does explore some thorny questions about the emotional real estate that close friends can occupy in the lives of married people, and about how the confidences shared with friends and with partners are different. What it doesn't do is tease much in the way of romantic or sexual chemistry between Will and Sylvia. What they are to each other is complicated, but not quite like that. Still, while it certainly has emotional ideas that it's playing with, Platonic is mostly happy to be its truest self: a broadly goofy comedy in which a lot of really game actors have a lot of fun. Yes, it's about the ennui of middle age, and yes, it's about aspects of intimacy, but a lot of it is also about things like ... a group of drunk friends going out in the street in the middle of the night to hurl electric scooters like it's an Olympic event. Or an accidental act of property damage that leads to a long night of desperate searching for help that takes characters to weird corners of their personal and professional communities. The supporting cast shows up in spades: not just the brewpub friends, but strong turns from Carla Gallo as Sylvia's friend Katie, Janet Varney as Charlie's colleague Vanessa, and Guy Branum as Charlie's work friend Stuart. (Full disclosure: Branum is a friend to both me and the PCHH podcast, so you don't have to take my word for it, but his particular take on a husband's work friend is marvelously specific and fresh.) There's nothing wrong with a high-concept comedy or dramedy, or with a great show that mines its laughs from the same parts of life that horror and misery come from: your Only Murders in the Building, your Barry, and your many lesser imitators that have gone for "black comedy" and landed on "non-comedy." But alongside the sparkling Abbott Elementary and some other nice network efforts, what a pleasure to see this team deliver a sturdy vehicle for jokes, for physical comedy, for silliness both familiar and less so, and for Rogen's wackiness to perhaps be turned down 10 percent and Byrne's turned up 10 percent, so that they meet in the middle, less opposites than complements. Newsletter continues after sponsor message We Recommend I am currently listening to the audiobook of the Jenny Jackson book Pineapple Street, about a wealthy Brooklyn family, and it is very engrossing. (This is a book that comes from a division of Penguin Random House; a different division publishes my books.) Also recently in my book-listening ears: Adam Sternbergh's twisty, complicated The Eden Test, about a couple who gets in way over their heads on a marriage retreat undertaken to reconnect them. Eric Deggans shared some thoughts about the future of Max as it took over some of the branding from the former HBO Max. What We Did This Week Ben Wang and Michelle Yeoh in American Born Chinese / Disney + I recapped episode 9 of Succession's final season, "Church and State." Aisha wrote a review of the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. She also discussed it with Stephen and Marc Rivers in our Friday episode. Aisha also spoke to Kristen Meinzer and Regina Kim about the Netflix show XO, Kitty. Glen checked in with Walter Chaw and Mallory Yu about the Disney+ adaptation of the graphic novel American Born Chinese. Ann Powers joined Aisha to talk about the legendary, unforgettable Tina Turner. Stephen completed one of his biggest projects of every year: his ranking of all the season's Saturday Night Live musical guests. Stephen also talked to Ann Powers (two PCHH intersections with Ann in a week!) and Ari Shapiro about the new Kesha album Gag Order. What's Making Us Happy Every week on the show, we talk about some other things out in the world that have been giving us joy lately. Here they are: Marc Rivers: You're The Worst Aisha Harris: 60 Songs That Explain the '90s Stephen Thompson: Little Moon winning the Tiny Desk Contest Stream your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+. Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free episodes. What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: pchh@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? 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