The Atlantic

A Masterpiece of Cringe

Entertainment musts from Kate Cray
Source: Courtesy MGM

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.

Welcome back to The Daily’s Sunday culture edition, in which one Atlantic writer reveals what’s keeping them entertained. Today’s special guest is our associate editor Kate Cray. Kate edits for our Family section; she’s also reported on what semi-retirees know about work-life balance and made the case against the fun fact.

Kate is watching a therapy-centered reality show that’s more like a documentary, exercising great patience in the lead-up to Olivia Rodrigo’s D.C. concert next summer, and reminiscing on the joy—and secondhand embarrassment—of seeing Bottoms in theaters.

First, here are three Sunday reads from The Atlantic:


The Culture Survey: Kate Cray

One of my; I’d been curious about her future profession, and she knows the thrill I get from analyzing strangers’ interpersonal dynamics. I went in expecting reality TV, but what I got was closer to a documentary. The show simply records the psychologist Orna Guralnik’s sessions with clients over the course of their treatment. There are no producer-provoked theatrics, but there don’t need to be. The tension that can arise after decades of marriage (or even just years together) is more than enough.

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