By Emma Chance | TV | January 29, 2025 |
Scam Goddess - Hulu
I’ve been a casual fan of Laci Mosley and her podcast “Scam Goddess,” in which she deep dives into historical and contemporary scams and the scammers who scam them, for years now. At least once a week, I think of something she tweeted in, like, 2018, asking, basically, “What ever happened to Toyotathon?” (I spent many minutes Googling and can’t find it, but I swear it exists, and I once actually had it printed out and magnet-ed to my fridge). Anywho…her new Hulu show of the same name and same premise is a witty delight and you should watch it.
The Curious Case Of… - Max
For fans of The Curious Case of Natalia Grace and Unsolved Mysteries, this one is a bite-sized investigative documentary series detailing true crime and pop culture crime cases that don’t warrant more than an episode. The first episode explores the downfall of Jackass’s own Bam Margera and questions the conservatorship system à la Britney Spears. Very timely + not that deep = satisfying.
Selling the City - Netflix
“Not another real estate show!” you cry. I get it. But the thing I love about these lux real estate reality shows is how unreal they are. It’s like Housewives on crack—the agents wear unwearable couture outfits to go sit in an open-concept office and pretend to clicky-clack on their keyboards for a few hours, then drive their Bugattis to multi-million dollar mansions (or, in this case, high rise penthouses) and bitch about each other. This exact scenario is so far from anything my life will ever be that I find it entertaining and comforting, okay? Selling the City, though, has the extra spice of the leading woman, Eleonora Srugo, maybe being a supervillain for the ages? She’s so intense about being self-made and loving New York and female empowerment and stuff that for, like, five minutes there I thought to myself, “Do I like this woman?” But I also fear her, you know? Is this my gay awakening or is she just a really scary lady and probably a bad person? You be the judge.
Sold On SLC - Peacock
While we’re on the subject of real estate reality shows, here’s one where there’s no question about the people being bad, and you can shake your head at them a bunch, and the houses aren’t even that great either. This is just the latest in Utah and Mormonism’s takeover of the reality verse and the results are lukewarm, but I’m seated nonetheless. More to come on this at a later date if I can find the motivation to think deeply about these sad people.
Baylen Out Loud - Max
If you ever find yourself missing the days of cable and flipping through the channels to end up on a cozy couch show on TLC, this one’s for you. Baylen is a 20-something woman living with a severe case of Tourettes Syndrome, and the show documents her struggles to come of age and attain independence in the wake of that. It’s a comfy family show bringing awareness to a common and yet misunderstood condition, and I have nothing sarcastic or funny to say about it because Baylen does all of that work for me.
Deal Or No Deal Island - Peacock
I’ve resisted Deal Or No Deal Island up to this point, but y’all know I tune into anything