Just Some Stuff for Sunday: Tina Fey, The Lost Saucer, and Mr. Achievement
Stuff I liked the week of April 28, 2025
Good morning, Sunday Stuffers! It’s time for me to share the stuff I read, listened to, or watched this week that brought me a little joy or comfort.
My beloved Seattle Mariners are in first place, and May is the best time of year for yards in the PNW. Everything is popping!
Now let’s get to it:
The Four Seasons on Netflix. Tina Fey decided to remake Alan Alda’s 1981 film albeit as a Netflix series with a Gen X twist. I saw The Four Seasons in the 6th grade with my mom and my best friend Carla. I remember desperately wanting to see this movie about three middle aged couples even though I was 11. I think that tells you a lot about what kind of kid I was. I also really liked Carol Burnett. This remake breaks the story into eight 30-minute episodes, and Fey sticks pretty close to the general plot — three middle aged couples who routinely vacation together go through relationship growing pains when one of the couples gets a divorce.
The awesome cast of The Four Seasons The Four Seasons is funny, warm, wistful and, if you’re of a certain age, very relatable. The casting is also wonderful. Will Forte is a national treasure, and I’m glad to see Kerri Kenney-Silver showing her range. Micheal Ian Black pays tribute to her career in a recent Substack post.
The Pitt on MAX. I’m a little late to this new medical show even though everyone told me how great it was. In my defense, Scott and I watched the first episode and it was a little intense and graphic, so we waited until we were finished with a few other intense and graphic shows we were already watching. I can only handle so much blood and drama in one day. I don’t have any new hot take on this show that others haven’t shared. It’s just really really good TV. But maybe don’t start it while you’re eating dinner.
The Mind of “Severance” by Mary Gallagher in Western Washington University’s Window Magazine. As a Western alum, I receive Window Magazine twice a year. It’s a really well done publication produced by Western’s Office of University Communications and Marketing. The latest issue featured Dan Erickson, creator and executive producer of the hit show Severance, and also an English degree holding Western alum! The idea for Severance got its start in Old Main, a building where Scott and I both worked and attended many classes. Western — nestled all the way up in Bellingham, WA — doesn’t have a lot of famous alumni graduates (Death Cab’s Ben Gibbard got his BS in Environmental Chemistry and that’s pretty much the list), so I like having this paper thin connection to one of the most interesting shows of the last several years. My outie drank New York Seltzers and watched General Hospital in the Viking Union.
RIP Ruth Buzzi. Brilliant comedian Ruth Buzzi was a fixture of my childhood, and I’m glad she enjoyed a good long career and retirement. She was best known for her work on Laugh-In, but any Gen Xer has fond memories from her fine work with Jim Nabors (and Dorse) on Sid and Marty Kroftt’s The Lost Saucer. Can you believe that show only lasted 16 episodes in 1976? But it aired forever in daily reruns on The Kroftt Supershow, which is why we all love her in it still.
Goldie Hawn paid tribute to her Laugh-In friend and co-star Here’s yet another installment in my effort to revisit songs, bands, or music videos from the ‘80s and early ‘90s that merit a closer look. This week I was listening to “Mystery Achievement,” a lesser known tune from The Pretenders’ 1980 brilliant debut album, and I wanted to share that I always thought Chrissie was saying, “Mr. Achievement.” Now I ask you to listen to this song and tell me that Mr. Achievement doesn’t make more sense. I stand by my misheard lyric. I’m sharing a video of The Pretenders performing it live a few years ago. Chrissie Hynde is a marvel.
