Will women watch the frothy, sugary Bridgerton on Netflix? [LaineyGossip]
Perez Hilton was banned from TikTok, oh noes. [Jezebel]
Shawn Mendes says he’s all worked up about his gay rumors. [Towleroad]
Graham Norton gave away a big Wonder Woman: 1984 spoiler. [JustJared]
Timothee Chalamet kept it cute on SNL. [GFY]
Spike Lee’s Inside Man is, imo, his most perfect film. [Pajiba]
Tessa Thompson is gorgeous, even when she’s wearing bike shorts. [Tom & Lorenzo]
Rupert Everett is still friends with “whiny old barmaid” Madonna. [Dlisted]
Photos from the pandemic frontlines. [Buzzfeed]
Sharon Osbourne was hospitalized with Covid. [Seriously OMG]
i watched the trailer yesterday and was definitely intrigued. not sure it’s binge-worthy yet but i’ll check it out. glad to see so many people of color in the trailer as well as the leading man because we did exist back then and were apart of civilized society!
But a part of British nobility, though? Were they? Genuine question! There is at least one very famous African in Russian nobility/literature, but I don’t know of any in Britain. Would love to be educated – if there were any, they must have had one heck of a story.
Check out the movie “Belle” featuring Gugu Mbatha-Raw.
Dido Elizabeth Belle and Queen Charlotte are two examples that come to mind.
I don’t know enough (anything really) about British nobility to say whether it’s realistic to have people of color portray them, but it’s not like I expect realism in other aspects of the show. So I guess I’m in the ‘who cares if this detail is realistic’ camp.
It’s no more fiction to have Black/POC characters in a story about British nobility than it is to have attractive actors and actresses playing them. We all know British nobles (and many others) were often a pack of filthy, unattractive, slack jawed, inbred, mouth breathing cretins.
It is fiction and I am glad that someone has finally started letting us be a part of fiction. People can suspend reality for all types of things in film and theater but rarely the existence of black people. Let’s just for once let us play a roll in make believe.
I loved the movie Belle
reminded me of Reign
I love that my most adored period films are casting POC even if at the time they weren’t regularly in these fancy pants society situations. Adds to the films instead of takes away IMHO and makes me more inclined to watch them. Who wants to watch the same ten white British actors in 2020… Diversify!!! I love it.
Since if anyone reads the social history of the times, they would have all been stinky and dirty and looking nothing like the typical visuals anyway, they are 100% not realistic historically, so go for it and make it more inclusive.
I just watched David Copperfield with Dev Patel and Rosalind Eleazar in the leads, and it was A true delight! Not one second made me think… you know I wish they were white. 🙂
I’ll check out Bridgerton.
Tessa is STUNNING. She kind of reminds me of Lisa Bonet in those photos, just effortlessly cool.
I can’t wait. I read The Duke and I as prep for the show 🙂
…aaaaand Mitch McConnel has congratulated Biden. Anybody else want some popcorn while we wait for Trump’s “stab-in-the-back” Twitter meltdown?
He was waiting for the Ok from Putin …
Oh my, how I loved reading Georgette Heyer’s Recency romances! I will definitely check it out.
Yes! This looks like a Harlequin Regency brought to the screen and I can’t wait!
They are based on a romance novel series by Julia Quinn
Thanks for that information Heather! I know I have read a couple of her books and they were pretty good.
I read the original novels years ago and there is a lot of potential with this. I also am intrigued by the colour blind casting which adds another great element to this. I think they are doing one season per novel and there are eight in the series. I seem to recall liking the first four the best because it think that’s when they get to revealing the identity of Lady Whistledown. In any case I think we can trust Shonda to have done something interesting with these stories.
Yes! I think the casting and the costuming show that Shonda & her fellow producers really understand the regency romance genre. Regencies are not true “historical fiction,” they’re a sort of ahistorical fantasy era that is created by authors to add context & plot to the central couple’s stories. There are certain plot devices that work in a regency that just don’t work in a contemporary, like “dishonoured woman caught smooching man must now marry stranger.”
I am really interested to see how viewers who have never read a Regency romance react to this series, if they go in to it expecting a historical fiction period romance-drama.
I’ve just bought a bundle of the first three for my kindle and plan to get reading. I’m a huge Jane Austen fan so very much looking forward to this.
I will definitely watch (at least give it a try) as I am a sucker for period pieces.
I love that Graham Norton “leak”… reminds me of the Family Guy episode with WW and Superman. He flies up (she’s in a “sitting position”) and it turns out she’s IN the invisible plane, on the loo! She get up, flushes and walks to the front of the plane and he cracks: “You didn’t wash your hands. Aren’t you going to wash your hands?” 😄
I’ll try it. The novels were mostly dialogue, so I imagine they adapt well to the screen.
I can’t wait to watch Bridgerton! Haven’t read the books, but it’s by Shonda and I really, really love that there is a diverse cast!
Same! I only wish it were coming out BEFORE Christmas. I need a good present-wrapping show!
Im gonna be binging. Loved the trailer
I just watched the trailer for Bridgerton and I am SO IN. It’s like a more drama filled Pride and Prejudice (my all time fav) and I have high hopes with Shonda at the helm!
Oh, I’ll eat this show up. I’m a big Jane Austen lover (“Emma.” with Anya-Taylor Joy was one of my favorite movies this year), so this seems right up my alley.
Did you see Sanditon?! That was by far my favorite recent Austen.
I don’t know anything about the books but I love frothy costume dramas and used to read Regency romances in my teenage years instead of YA books. This looks like fun escapism and I like Shondaland productions.I’m intrigued by the multi racial casting, since it takes place during a historical time period when slavery was still very much a part of the British empire and colonial expansion was happening in Africa and Asia. But I digress. I love a frothy romantic drama, especially during the Jane Austin era, and can suspend disbelief for some flirting and fun.
Didn’t know anything about this one. I love a period piece. Gong to check it out.
Regarding Shawn Mendes, ” ‘I’m not gay but it’d be fine if I was gay.” is a think people who like to think like they are not homophones say. It is a second time this guy is trying to explain how being called gay is not offensive but he feels an urge to correct everyone, and I am still not getting it? Why, if you are “fine if you were gay”?. He sounds like someone who is very insecure about his sexuality at best, at worst he is a homophobe. And the eternal “I have gay/black/jewish friends” excuse….ugh.
I’ll check it out…because I can tell you one new Netflix show that is sadly not bingeworthy — Tiny Pretty Things. I had high hopes before watching the first episode — so cringe. Terrible.
Thanks for this, I am DEF watching, this is my kind of stuff!!
I binged watched Becky Sharp/Vanity Fair last weekend, 3 editions of it PBS, a 1983 version and a 2018 version produced by Amazon on Prime.
Thanks CB, you have been keeping me abreast of some good movies/shows for yrs now.
OMG I am so watching this!!!!!!!!
Inside Man was entertaining (and jodie foster looked fabulous), but 25th Hour was a much better film
Also, Bridgerton looks like a combination of To All the Boys I Loved Before and Gossip Girl and Pride and Prejudice. I am HERE FOR IT!!!!
Haven’t seen 25th hour, but Inside Man was a brilliant film and the score by Terrence. Blanchard was amazing.
I am so looking forward to Bridgerton. I am a fan of Regency romances and have read all of Julia Quinn’s novels before, and even met her at a book signing once. (Some are better than others but the Bridgertons are all great). I highly recommend the books! Also, as other comments have pointed out, romances including Regencies are already a heightened reality. If it’s possible to suspend belief and have many hot, unmarried, rich dukes and viscounts and marquesses and barons running around marrying for love and not money or power (the central conceit of a lot of romances), why not have them be of diverse backgrounds as well? Why should that be a bridge too far? Also, there were people of color in historical Britain and other European countries who were not slaves. I’m not sure how prominent most of them were, but they existed. Two examples are Dido Elizabeth (Belle, also a great movie) and Alexander Dumas (his father was a respected half Black general). And Julia Quinn is totally fine with the casting.
Anyways, I’m really looking forward to this! There’s a great Facebook group called Bridgerton (with a bee emoji) too, if you’re interested. One more note, if/ when this succeeds, hopefully this will be the trailblazer for adaptations of historical romances written in the modern era. Not that Jane Austen adaptations aren’t great, or that Outlander isn’t a good tv series. But neither of those are truly modern historical romances, which have been somewhat denigrated even though they make tons of money and are very popular. Probably because they are centered around women’s lives and written and read primarily by women.
(As you can see, I have THOUGHTS about this! LOL)
Wrote my long comment before reading Lainey’s take, and I see we made a lot of the same points on the role of it as a romance adaptation 🙂
I’ve always wanted to see a production centered around the Miss Swartz character from Thackeray’s Vanity Fair. It takes place around the same time frame. She was the mixed race West Indian heiress who was friends with Becky and Amelia. Always wanted more from the character beyond Thackeray’s stereotypes.
Have read the bridgerton series. Agree with the comment upthread re the first four books being the highlight. That said all characters are great and would be fun to watch their treatment on screen.
I don’t care if it’s historical fiction or regency romance or freaking James Bond on the moon, but I can’t wait to watch it! I am a P&P variations junkie and this TV series were totally missing from my life! Thank God that they noticed our existence and Netflix, you rock!! ❤ 👍👍