BUSTLE UP

‘The Gilded Age’ Is the Silliest, Most Serious Show on TV

Everything we can’t stop loving, hating, and thinking about this week in pop culture.

This week:

Everyday I’m Bustlin’

I think I would have made an excellent society woman during the Gilded Age.

After four seasons now of watching HBO’s The Gilded Age series, I’ve transitioned from surprise to acceptance of how much the show and these characters resonate with me.

I, too, will take any minor grievance and volcanically overreact to it, amplifying a nuisance or slight so small as to be akin to an irritating buzzing fly to seismic significance. Some might call that petty. Others might say it’s grouchy. I scoff at those notions. I am a part of behavioral tradition immortalized by Christine Baranski and Carrie Coon on this show. I am a 2026 Gilded Age lady.

The Gilded Age, which returns Sunday, has fascinated critics throughout its run. Everything happening on it seemed so…silly. Yet, from the writing to the set design and costumes, all that silliness is given such gravitas.

From Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes, it relocates many of the themes and hallmarks of that show stateside, where, in New York City, changing cultural attitudes and economic progress create tension between those whiteknucking on to the ways of the past and those who see the train speeding towards the future and want to be on board.

The Upstairs/Downstairs dynamic between the wealthy society folk and the servants who tie their corsets and serve their tea also follows Downton’s lead: On The Gilded Age, the peek into the lives of servants is as fascinating as it is endearingly banal.

The pendulum doesn’t so much as swing between the mundane and the intensely consequential as it wildly careens from one extreme to the other.

Part of the fan experience of being a Gildedhead is being amused by and lovingly mocking the ridiculous plots that are treated with utmost seriousness. Never forget when the climax of one season involved whether or not Christine Baranski was going to cross the street. Last season ended with a tear-jerking triumph: a divorced lady was allowed at a party. But it works because of the care the writers and actors put into making those low stakes seem so real that you feel the same emotional turmoil the characters do when luncheon isn’t properly served to an esteemed guest.

But the show doesn’t only dilly-dally between minor assaults on social politeness. It will weave in shocking trauma: devastating deaths, aching romantic strife, villainous blackmail, and harsh truths about race, class, and sexuality at the time. One would expect a debilitating case of whiplash from such highs and lows; that The Gilded Age pulls it off is what makes it so singular.

I expect fans to be delighted by the new season. The President of the United States, James Garfield, is coming to dinner. A new villain arrives in a Ladies’ Home Journal reporter. Train Daddy continues to be hotly toxic (if ya know, ya know), while the Clock Twink continues his Pretty Woman glow-up. Larry Russell is shirtless! Phylicia Rashad and Audra McDonald continue to spar! Pirates of Penzance is opening on Broadway! What’s not to enjoy?

Moreover, Baranski continues her reign as TV’s most compelling actor. Who else, after expressing her opinion that charity work on the Lower East Side, while admirable, is dangerous, could so perfectly deliver the line: “That’s all very well for Jesus. He didn’t have to make his way back to the Upper East Side.”

The Gilded Age does its Gilded Age thing. This season, it does that really well. That’s the best endorsement I can give: If you liked this show before, you’ll love it now.

What Does ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ Really Mean?

People’s Sexiest Man Alive announcement day always enthralls me. Throngs of people on social media will do things like passionately argue that a man who looks like Noah Wyle is a deformed troll who lives under a bridge.

The star of The Pitt is this year’s pick for the title. There are people who are angry because they disagree with his alleged politics. There are fans of other celebrities who are angry because the subject of their big crushes wasn’t chosen. And, sure, there are people for whom Wyle just doesn’t do it. (Baffling.)

With the rare exceptions of when People actually does get it right, like when the mag chose Jonathan Bailey, Michael B. Jordan, and Idris Elba, this uproar happens every year. There’s still, amazingly, the lingering assumption that Sexiest Man Alive is some objective coronation, that there’s a merit-based selection system happening. In reality, People editors and publicists are in negotiations based on who has something to promote and what they can offer the magazine in terms of access.

And, yes, there are plenty of sexy men who just plain don’t want the title and have turned it down.

Is it a little preposterous that, in a year when the zeitgeist has never been hornier thanks to them, one of the Heated Rivalry boys wasn’t selected? Sure, but let’s not act as if we’ve progressed so much that People would choose gay men two years in a row. Dr. Robby would have to bring in a crash cart to revive me from that shock.

Everybody Should Want This (Har-Har)

The new season of Netflix’s Nobody Wants This did something incredible for a TV show: It let its main characters be happy.

The romantic comedy, now in its third season, fell prey last year to the most exhausting thing a series could do: Have a couple cycle through the same breakups and reunions over and over again for the same reasons, like they’re stuck in a building’s revolving door they can’t escape from.

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Don’t worry, I’m not going to spoil anything significant. But it did it hit me most of the way through the season that, first of all, I was enjoying the episodes far more than I did the last outing, and the reason for it: I just got to watch a couple in love, well, be in love.

Sure, there was tension and growing pains—this is still a TV show; it has to have plot—but it was mostly just…nice. Kristen Bell and Adam Brody have amazing chemistry, and Brody’s Rabbi Noah was manufactured by the television gods to make you swoon. The series still had plenty of drama, but the love? That was, not to be corny, kind of just a beautiful experience to see.

‘Make It So’

There are celebrity deaths that can really rock you, and for a lot of people, that’s the case with the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart.

He didn’t just embody two of the most iconic characters in two of the most indelible franchises in pop-culture history, with Star Trek and X-Men; he did so with grace and a respect for what they mean to fans that was, it might sound strange to say, comforting. Or reassuring.

His talent was undeniable in any role he took on, whether on stage or on screen, and his work was remarkable in its diversity and range. He epitomized class, but, as I learned spending some time with him at interviews and in green room ones, he had a wily streak, too, always tipped off when he’d flash a mischievous grin.

Case in point: This hilarious appearance he made on the Ricky Gervais series Extras, which I’ve watched several times the last few days. He’s so good.

More From The Daily Beast’s Obsessed

Comedian Heather McMahan told me a story about getting mistaken for being MAGA that had me in stitches. Watch here.

I talked with the leading men of Ghosts and Eternally Yours about their shows’ Halloween specials. They’re hilarious together. Read more.

I went deep with Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Whitney Rose on her “hilling journey.” Read more.

What to Watch This Week:

The Only Living Pickpocker in New York: Spoiler alert: It’s not me! (Now in theaters)

Cupertino: I’ve been having a ball watching this new series from the Good Wife team. (Now on CBS and Paramount+)

The Gilded Age: Hold onto your bustles because we are so back! (Sun. on HBO)

Nocturne: Apple TV’s new thriller features an unsettling, must-see Stephen Graham performance. (Now on Apple TV)

What to Skip This Week:

The Mosquito Bowl: I guess now we know why they waited so long to screen this one. (Now in theaters)

All’s Fair: Kim Kardashian’s lawyer cosplay returns. That reads a threat. (Wed. on Hulu)

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Kevin FallonEditor-at-Large, Obsessed

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