Mike O'Connell

For the past week or so my newsfeed has been abuzz with word about the holiday movie this year, Happiest Season. Produced by Hulu and available for streaming on said site, the film offers a host of A and B-list stars doing typical rom-com things in typical 21st-century fashion. That is, half the characters are gay and half are unhip, unwoke bitter clingers.
Never mind the stereotypes, the movie’s actually pretty great. Totally predictable? Yeah, at every turn. Still enjoyable though.
Most “debate” surrounding the film concerns its protagonist’s choice of suitor at the conclusion. Like, they were surprised. (Spoiler alert: it’s the second-billed actor!) A little something about romantic comedy films… the two main characters get together at the end. Have these people never seen a rom-com before?
Even in the most woke of times there are some formulas you just don’t mess with.

Hail to the @#$%!

Yup, that’s four victories in a row for my hometown gridiron squad, and first place in the NFC Least!

All of this and a new Taylor Swift album?

Heaven. Can. Wait.

Still haven’t hit the ground yet from celebrating Monday afternoon’s victory. That would be my hometown pro football team’s win over the previously-unbeaten Pittsburgh Steelers.

It’s three W’s in a row for the burgundy and gold, also known as “Football Team” on most electronic displays.

Division title is in sight!

I asked my students today to give me a number as far as how old they thought “old” was.

There answers did not impress me.

No doubt the best part of my Thanksgiving weekend was spending time with my family and being thankful for, you know…

The new reboot version of Saved by the Bell!

Oh damn this show is good, surprisingly good, and kudos to the folks at Peacock TV who were nice enough to let me watch the first “season” (10 episodes) for free.

Note to self: cancel 7-day “free trial” to Peacock Premium Wednesday.

The new Saved works the same way that Fuller House worked five years ago. Take an admittedly silly family comedy from 30 years ago and tow a line between keeping the campy goodness of the original and lampooning it for all its worth. That’s actually the best part of Saved: making fun of itself, and making fun of, well, things that should be made fun of. Whereas your typical ’90s program took political correctness a bit too far, the new Saved has no such problem. Mostly it’s calling white people out on their silliness. Yeah, I kept thinking to myself oh crap that’s me.

The show really does introduce some thought-provoking topics a la its predecessor (and every show about teenagers), and lets one think about social issues in an honest way. It’s sort of a socially-conscious South Park, without the potty language and gratuitous violence. It’s obviously geared more toward adults than to kids, though hardly adult in a seedy way. It’s for grownups who’ve got kids, who need to laugh a little and think back on their high school days and, well, laugh a little.

Yeah, that’s me.

So thankful.

#blessed