Eliana Willis

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    How ‘Discoshow’ Spun Las Vegas Into Funkytown

    When the lights go off, “Discoshow” builds ecstatic abandon.“They captured it,” said Cynthia Ameli, 66, a retired pharmacist. The party fervor, the unsinkable disco spirit. “I used to work till midnight on Fridays, get dressed at the pharmacy, and go out and dance until 6 a.m.”With Gloria Gaynor’s anthem “I Will Survive” as soundtrack, and Gothic cathedral windows projected on the screens, the audience finds liberation. Eyes shining, singing along, hands over chests, together in every beat. More

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    ‘Nobody Wants This’ Review: Resuscitating the Rom-Com

    Kristen Bell and Adam Brody star in a Netflix series whose familiar rhythms and punchlines are exactly the point.Recent high-profile attempts by streamers to resuscitate the feature-length romantic comedy with brand-name performers like Anne Hathaway, Nicole Kidman and Brooke Shields have all had the same problem: They were awful. The dead touch of cringey mediocrity could be felt immediately. You could hear the flatline alarm in the background.Primed for disappointment by those films, you feel the difference right away with the new Netflix romantic comedy series “Nobody Wants This”: It’s not bad. The jokes land. The story hums along. The people in it are real-ish — they may do cartoonish things, but they are not cartoons. Kristen Bell and Adam Brody, who play the central couple, are charming and work well together. Care has been taken in the depiction of a swoony, twilight Los Angeles that calls back to an indeterminate earlier era of the rom-com — the ’70s, the ’90s, somewhere in there.Created by Erin Foster, an actress and writer and a daughter of the music-business titan David Foster, “Nobody Wants This” (premiering Thursday) succeeds by keeping faith with its genre. It is not a nostalgic curio — the characters and the rhythms of their interactions feel up-to-date, at least by mainstream Hollywood standards — but there is a comforting continuity with things you have seen and liked before. Familiar moves are executed with confidence and a certain amount of style.That smooth rom-com fluency, and the feeling it inspires that here is something we have been missing, is the most notable thing about “Nobody Wants This.” The story, inspired by Foster’s own experiences as a podcaster and as a participant in the Los Angeles dating scene, is serviceable, largely rom-com standard but with a few wrinkles.Bell plays Joanne, who works a bad-girl, more-sarcastic-than-thou persona while apparently making a living doing a sex-and-relationships podcast with her sister, Morgan (Justine Lupe). At a dinner party, Joanne, who is not in any way religious, meets cute with her temperamental opposite, Brody’s Noah, a serious, soulful, inordinately considerate guy who happens to be a rabbi. (He is sometimes called the hot rabbi, reminiscent of Andrew Scott’s hot priest in “Fleabag.”)They are completely wrong for each other, as everyone else in the show loudly and insistently tells them (hence the title). Morgan, a serial dater herself, is anti-Noah because she is afraid of losing her sister, not to mention being one-upped by her; adding a layer of complication, Morgan is also convinced that if Joanne finds happiness, it will ruin their podcast.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    ‘Freaks and Geeks,’ TV’s Least Likely to Succeed, Won by Losing

    The high school cringe comedy was the undersung member of the Class of ’99. But its influence is everywhere.By the 25th reunion, you get a good sense of how time has treated a graduating class. This is certainly true of TV’s Class of ’99.There, in the center of the room, is “The West Wing,” that popular class president among dramas, holding court and reliving its glory days (even if some of its youthful luster is gone). There’s “The Sopranos,” the brooding film student that went on to big things, still exuding a sense of artsy danger. There are “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and “Family Guy,” still turning out new episodes, like classmates who stuck around and joined the faculty.And who’s that off in the corner? Oh, right: “Freaks and Geeks.” Weird, funny kid, never quite fit in. Used to hang out on the smoking patio, played a lot of Dungeons & Dragons. Whatever happened to them?In its freshman (and only) year, “Freaks and Geeks” spent a lot of time getting stuffed into lockers (or, at least, stuffed by NBC into undesirable time slots). An offbeat teen series about burnouts and nerds at a Michigan high school in the 1980-81 school year, it arrived on Sept. 25, 1999, with the praise of critics and a niche sensibility.That combo, in the days of mass network TV, tended to mark a new series as Least Likely to Succeed, and NBC axed it midyear. The complete season aired in 2000 on Fox Family Channel, a cable destination one step up from a test pattern.But like the homeroom wallflower who blossomed late, this bittersweetly brilliant one-season wonder aged well, into something influential, groundbreaking and — dare I say it — cool.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    ‘Freaks and Geeks’ at 25: ‘It Was Slipping Away the Entire Time’

    To twist a famous line from Jean Renoir’s “The Rules of the Game,” the awful — and hilarious — thing about high school is this: Everyone has their reasons. All adolescents are worlds unto themselves, whether they’re jerks, jocks, stoners, smart kids or underachievers. Each is an entire cosmos of yearning and hurt trapped inside a juvenile body.Perhaps no television show has ever done as much to document those reasons as the short-lived NBC series “Freaks and Geeks.” Set in Michigan in 1980, it followed the misadventures of the siblings Lindsay and Sam Weir (Linda Cardellini and John Francis Daley) and their respective crews of burnouts and dweebs.Afflicted with poor ratings, “Freaks and Geeks” was canceled after just one season. But it has lived on, first in fans’ memories and then on DVD and streaming, to be discovered by new viewers who embraced its zits-and-all depiction of adolescence and were thrilled by early sightings of future stars like Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jason Segel and Busy Philipps.“Freaks and Geeks” premiered on Sept. 25, 1999. On the occasion of its 25th anniversary, The New York Times spoke with veterans of the show, including the creator Paul Feig and the writer-executive producer Judd Apatow, about an experience that, like adolescence, was sometimes painful and embarrassing, but was nonetheless imbued with a kind of magic. These are edited excerpts from the interviews.‘We were a bunch of nerds.’A writer-director has many memories about the agonies of adolescence and decides to make a TV show about them.Paul Feig, left, based “Freaks and Geeks” on his adolescent experiences, and Judd Apatow, right, quickly signed on to produce.Jason Merritt/Getty ImagesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    5 Books to Read After Watching ‘Nobody Wants This’

    These romance novels feature cross-cultural connections, charming banter and plenty of heart.There’s a long history in Hollywood of cross-cultural rom-coms — films and TV shows such as “Keeping the Faith,” “Bend It Like Beckham” and “The Nanny” that mine clashing traditions to find hilarity and heart. Colliding heritages naturally lend themselves to moments of comedic gold: Just think of a nonplused Andrea Martin in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” reassuring John Corbett’s vegetarian leading man, “That’s OK: I make lamb.”The series “Nobody Wants This,” which premieres on Netflix on Sept. 26, is the latest entry into this oeuvre. Joanne (Kristen Bell) is an agnostic, sex-positive podcast host with a history of toxic relationships; Noah (Adam Brody — Mr. Chrismukkah himself, no stranger to interfaith high jinks) is a pot-smoking rabbi with a fiercely protective mother who spends his free time playing basketball with the Matzah Ballers. Their story is as much about the universal awkwardness and hilarity of a budding romance as it is about the complex differences in their worldviews.Interfaith and cross-cultural romances are nothing new in the literary sense, either. If you’re craving more stories about clever people drawn together by chemistry and circumstance who also face the difficult work of navigating disparate backgrounds, these romance novels have got you covered.I think hot rabbis may be the new hot priestsThe Intimacy ExperimentBy Rosie DananNaomi Grant is a bisexual adult film actress with a master’s degree who runs a successful online sex-ed platform; she wants to expand into live seminars, but she’s having trouble finding an institution to support her. Enter Ethan Cohen, an unconventional (and very attractive) straight rabbi who invites Naomi to teach a course on human sexuality and relationships at his synagogue — a gamble aimed at reaching more young Jewish people and saving his dwindling congregation.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Desi Lydic Ridicules Trump for Demanding Harris’s ‘Burger Certificate’

    “This isn’t the kind of thing you would lie about,” Lydic said. “It’s not like sex with a porn star while your wife is pregnant.”Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Salty BehaviorAt a rally this week, former President Donald Trump continued to question Vice President Kamala Harris’s experience of working at a McDonald’s in her youth.Desi Lydic called it “ridiculous that Trump is asking to see Kamala’s burger certificate.”“This isn’t the kind of thing you would lie about. It’s not like sex with a porn star while your wife is pregnant.” — DESI LYDIC“But look, I get why he’s suspicious — if she had ever worked at any McDonald’s between the years 1960 and last week, he probably would have seen her. Or maybe this whole thing is just a ploy for him to get free food: ‘You worked at McDonald’s? Prove it. Make me seven Big Macs!’” — DESI LYDIC“So, Trump’s new conspiracy theory is that Kamala Harris never worked at McDonald’s when she was young, which to him is basically stolen valor: ‘How dare you disrespect our men and women in uniform. Those people served with honor and with extra ketchup packets if you ask.’” — DESI LYDIC“At the same rally, Trump also claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris lied about working at a McDonald’s and said that he would go to the restaurant chain in the next two weeks to see, ‘what her job really wasn’t like.’ And even — even if she can provide proof that she worked there — he’s still probably going to go to McDonald’s in the next two weeks.” — SETH MEYERS“Did Trump just talk himself into getting hungry? ‘She never worked over the piping hot fries, so crispy and salty, each bite a perfect — we should go to McDonald’s. Let’s go to McDonald’s.’” — DESI LYDICThe Punchiest Punchlines (Golden Guys Edition)“Tonight was the second episode of ‘The Golden Bachelorette.’ It was pretty slow. The first hour was just the remaining guys in the house watching the new ‘Matlock’ reboot.” — JIMMY FALLON“Tonight, the golden guys had to decide who’d sleep on the top bunk, which was not as easy as it sounds. Some of them snore, some of them have bad knees, one of them sleeps naked, and they all wake up a lot of times to go pee. So there a lot of logistics going into putting five guys in one bedroom. They’re lined up outside the men’s room like it’s a Lakers game at 4 a.m.” — JIMMY KIMMELWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    The Nation’s Politics Are Dramatic. Now Its Dramas Are Political.

    For the second year in a row, a play about the Constitution is the most-staged in America. And a farce about a terrible president is also pretty popular.The United States is in the final stages of a dramatic election year, with an unexpected change of candidates, two assassination attempts, and a remarkably close contest. Now it turns out that many of the nation’s theaters are leaning into the politics of the moment, programming shows that explore, or mock, the state of affairs.For the second year in a row, the most-staged play in America will be “What the Constitution Means to Me,” Heidi Schreck’s look at this country’s fundamental legal document, seen through the lens of gender and autobiography. Further down the list: “POTUS,” Selina Fillinger’s farce about a group of women caught up in a male president’s scandals.An annual survey by American Theater magazine finds that there will be 16 productions this year of “What the Constitution Means to Me,” which ran on Broadway in 2019. There will be 14 productions each of “Fat Ham,” James Ijames’s Pulitzer-winning riff on “Hamlet,” and “King James,” Rajiv Joseph’s buddy drama about two LeBron James fans. And not far behind, with 13: “Primary Trust,” Eboni Booth’s Pulitzer-winning play about loneliness, kindness, and a man who loves mai tais.The survey found 11 local productions of “POTUS,” and of the musicals “Jersey Boys” and “Waitress.”The most-produced playwrights around the country will be Joseph, whose “Guards at the Taj” is also popular, and Kate Hamill, who has written adaptations of works including “Pride and Prejudice” and “Sense and Sensibility.” (The survey does not include work by Shakespeare, or productions and adaptations of “A Christmas Carol,” because those would swamp the list each year.)One striking result of the magazine’s survey: The overall number of shows being staged at nonprofits that are members of the trade organization Theater Communications Group (which publishes American Theater magazine) is continuing to fall, as cash-strapped regional theaters cut back productions to try to control costs. The survey found 1,281 productions planned this season, down from 1,560 in last year’s survey, and 2,229 in the 2019 survey, before the pandemic, according to Rob Weinert-Kendt, the magazine’s editor in chief. More

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    Roundabout, With 3 Broadway Theaters, Finds Leader in California

    Christopher Ashley, the artistic director of La Jolla Playhouse and a Tony winner for “Come From Away,” will run the large New York nonprofit.Roundabout Theater Company, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit theaters and a major player on Broadway, has chosen Christopher Ashley, a Tony-winning director who runs an influential theater in California, as its next artistic director.Ashley is a prolific director, particularly of musicals with commercial aspirations, many of which he has developed at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, where he has been the artistic director since 2007.He won a Tony Award for directing “Come From Away,” an inspirational heartbreaker about a Canadian community that welcomed thousands of passengers from flights that were grounded on Sept. 11, 2001. He received Tony nominations for directing the musical “Memphis” and a revival of “The Rocky Horror Show.” He has also directed some high-profile flameouts, including “Diana,” “Escape to Margaritaville” and “Leap of Faith.”Just last week, the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation, an offshoot of the labor union representing American directors and choreographers, announced that next spring Ashley, who is 60, will be given the organization’s Mr. Abbott Award for his contributions to the American theater.“I have loved my time at La Jolla Playhouse, and it’s a very hard place to leave, but the opportunities and possibilities of the Roundabout are impossible to deny,” Ashley said in an interview. “The possibility of programming in their five amazing spaces is exhilarating, and they have an amazing education program, and at a moment when theater is tremendously stressed, Roundabout is, and can continue to be, a real beacon.”The transition will be gradual: Ashley plans to remain artistic director of La Jolla until Jan. 1, 2026, and to start full-time at Roundabout on July 1, 2026. Scott Ellis, who is Roundabout’s interim artistic director, will continue in that role until Ashley’s arrival and the two will collaborate during the 2026-27 season.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More