Announcing the next book club

This time: it’s TV

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Every May, the famous and beautiful Fran Hoepfner hosts a book club on her Substack. This year, it’s Lonesome Dove. I know very little about this book except that it is a Western, which reminds me: I’ve always wanted to watch Yellowstone.

Why?

I find it curious and charming that there is a hugely popular cowboy franchise on Peacock starring Kevin Costner and Harrison Ford that I’ve never actually seen or heard anyone talk about. The only thing I know about this PSYOP show is that Costner and its creator, Taylor Sheridan, who looks insane:

variety

…reportedly hate each other because Costner left unceremoniously to make Horizon. That’s hilarious! This show is something—in context and vibe—that is right up my alley. I am certain that it is bad, but that’s a huge part of why I want to watch it. It also ended earlier this year, so it’s the perfect time to go back and swallow it in one gulp.

Do I have to?

I’ve hosted a couple book clubs here, which people responded well to but have since warned me not to do again (customer’s always right). But, watching TV that’s not Sex and the City is often difficult for me and feels like homework, and writing about it for you will give me motivation to open the Peacock app on my television and get cracking. Watching Yellowstone with me is also far less of a commitment than reading a book: you can pay only half your attention (or less!), and there are only 5 seasons at 10ish episodes a pop.

For those of us reading an 800-page cowboy book, I thought it would be nice to sustain the milieu. Yet, this is merely an invitation. Half of each of my paid posts for the month of May will be about Yellowstone. If you’re not already a paid subscriber but this sounds fun to you, you can join. But if this sounds stupid and painful and you are already a paid subscriber, it will not greatly affect your enjoyment of these posts. As with my book clubs, I will also try moderately hard to make the recaps legible to those who have not seen the show, too.

When?

On May 8, the first Yellowstone recap will go out, which will probably be the only all-Yellowstone post. By then, I will ask everyone who cares to join to have watched the first season of Yellowstone. We will go from there.

Season 5 is the one without Costner, so, assuming we can get to that later: we are not watching all of Yellowstone in the month of May—after Season 1, even, I hold the power to say, “enough.” But start now, get a playback speed extension, choose Yellowstone over The Pitt and TikTok for a couple weeks, and get ahead. It will be good for you, like talk therapy, but it’s watching Yellowstone on Peacock.

What if I have already seen Yellowstone? (this one’s wishful thinking)

Email me at askclaresub@gmail.com and I’ll let you write a column.

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I’ll see you next week for normal, pre-Yellowstone free and paid posts.