Can Avatars Ever Compete With Crock Pot Chicken?

Plus: 'The French Dispatch,' 'The Electric Company' turns 50, and what the heck is making us happy!

View this email online by Linda Holmes Welcome! It was the week when we got more confirmation that people want more representation on screen, and more confirmation that they're not getting it. It was the week when we were all reminded, some more, that if you want a book any time soon, you should order it now. And it was the week when the investigation of a preventable tragedy continued. Let's get to it.  Opening Argument: Can Avatars Ever Compete With Crock Pot Chicken? When Facebook's whole "we're changing our name and focusing on the metaverse!" presentation happened this week, there was a lot of very understandable confusion in my various social media timelines. Not the least of which was about the fact that the avatar Zuckerberg used to represent himself was so ... boring. And honestly, so familiar. As one of my Twitter correspondents noted, didn't it look kind of like Second Life, the "create your own avatar" technology now mostly remembered in pop culture (as far as I know) for its influence on weird episodes of both The Office and Law & Order: SVU? There has long been a belief on the part of some in tech that we all wanted to create lifelike versions of ourselves and then watch those versions of ourselves go skydiving or cycling through Paris or whatever. We have been promised avatars many, many times over, and it's not as if the interest in virtual reality isn't real. It very much is!  But it's hard to get around the fact that all of this is supposed to capture younger users who are interested in TikTok, and it's hard to think of anything that is more low-tech, more low-fi, more "the sheen is beside the point" than TikTok. TikTok is full of bad lighting, bad camera angles, awkward cuts, janky-looking captions, misspellings, terrible editing ... and nobody cares. It doesn't prevent anybody from acquiring followers. That's not to say there aren't people using TikTok for cool filmmaking or great-looking video; there are. But TikTok as a general marketplace of ideas is full of stuff like people dancing in their bedrooms, cleaning their sinks, showing off shoe storage, making crock-pot chicken (seriously, crock-pot chicken TikTok is ... an entire universe unto itself), and lip syncing to the sound from other people's videos (or movie dialogue, or whatever). TikTok is utter chaos; that is part of its charm. TikTok is somebody showing off shapewear, then somebody putting decals on mason jars, then somebody making candles, then somebody dancing, then somebody's kid farting, then somebody's dog falling off the sofa. TikTok is YouTube, but much much more informal and stream-of-consciousness, and think about what that means. (To be clear: I enjoy it greatly. It has recently started feeding me videos of people making dice, which I find fascinating.) I am unconvinced, given my own wanderings on TikTok, that what young TikTok users want is a clean landscape in which to imagine themselves in sweatpants and a hoodie, parasailing. Having sat down to entirely too many Zoom calls, I am unconvinced that young TikTok users -- or anybody else -- will ever be convinced to play chess or fence or eat lunch with an avatar and consider it meaningful. Will they hang out online? Of course. Do they broadly want that "I gave my avatar a mohawk!" experience that we've been hearing about for a couple of decades? Maybe they do; I am not a member of this demographic. But nothing about TikTok -- nothing! -- makes me think that the way to court those users has anything to do with hyperrealistic immersive settings in which to attend virtual concerts.  If Facebook (sorry, Meta) really wants to land those TikTok users, can I suggest they open up an entire department to create air fryer recipes? Newsletter continues after sponsor message We Recommend: There's a great piece in Vulture this week in which Craig Jenkins talks to Dave Grohl -- perhaps the most game man in pop culture -- about pain and loss, music and bands.  Elizabeth Blair did a lovely and well-deserved tribute to The Electric Company for its 50th anniversary.  The second season of HBO MAX's Love Life is out this week, and the opportunity to see William Jackson Harper (whom you may know as Chidi from The Good Place) in a straight-up romantic comedy is really, really lovely.  Happy Halloween to the best TikTok dance!  What We Did This Week: Searchlight Pictures On Monday, Aisha, Glen, Stephen and I talked about scary things that freaked us out as kids. On Tuesday, Glen and Bedatri D. Choudhury talked about Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch. On Wednesday,Glen talked to Petra Mayer and Joelle Monique about Apple TV+'s Isaac Asimov adaptation Foundation.  On Thursday, Christina Tucker and Margaret Willison joined me to talk about the very strange project that is The Morning Show. And! I recapped the most recent episode, which is a truly bizarre effort.  And on Friday, Glen, Stephen and Aisha talked about Last Night in Soho with Monica Castillo. Glen also wrote a full review, which -- as always -- I recommend.  In this week as in many weeks, don't miss Stephen over at New Music Friday. I recapped the Sibling Summit episode of Succession -- and there will be another recap on Sunday night, so come back and read! Want to be ready for a couple of things we're covering soon? Check out Colin In Black & White and Army Of Thieves, both on Netflix now! 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: What's making Monica happy: Maya and the Three What's making Aisha happy: Muppets Haunted Mansion What's making Glen happy: Lamb What's making Stephen happy: The Reveal Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to hear live radio from WBEZ (edit station). 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? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Music, Books, Daily News and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to Pop Culture Happy Hour emails. This email was sent by National Public Radio, Inc., 1111 North Capitol Street NE, Washington, DC 20002 Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy