Notes on Pop Culture: Hillz Yeah!, Plus Trailers for 'Veep' & 'The Newsroom'

Hillary Clinton's Got Game

I first saw it last week, the internet meme based on a single photo of Hillary Clinton on a government plane, using her cell phone while wearing sunglasses. The meme was given a simple name, "Texts from Hillary" where people imagined what our Secretary of State would've texted to the likes of President Obama, Vice President Biden, Mitt Romney, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, actor Ryan Gosling and comedian Jon Stewart.

This week, Madam Secretary responded to the internet sensation with a genuine message of her own: "Thanks for the many LOLZ. Hillary 'Hillz.'"

Oh yes. She did.

Her reply was the subject of a Maureen Dowd column in the New York Times about how Clinton has gone from being a member of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuit crowd, to radiating cool.

Season 1 Trailer

Season 1 Trailer 2

HBO's 'Veep' Trailers

Speaking of politicians . . . have you seen the trailers for HBO's upcoming comedy Veep starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus?

Louis-Dreyfus' Vice President Selina Meyer reminds me of some kind of weird blend of Parks & Recreation's Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler, without the wide-eyed naivete), Tina Fey's version of Sarah Palin and Louis-Dreyfus's recent character, Christine Campbell (from The New Adventures of Old Christine), with a dash of the intelligent irreverence of Showtime's Episodes thrown in. Can't wait.

Season 1 Trailer - A Changed Man

'The Newsroom' Trailer

Also promising, the promo for HBO's new show The Newsroom, which premieres on June 24, from the mind that brought you The West Wing, Aaron Sorkin.

Looks fabulous. Hope it does not disappoint.

Image credits: Texts from Hillary.

Why Do I Like 'New Adventures of Old Christine' But Not 'Cougar Town?'

That's the subject of this week's pop culture & politics column over on Mommy Track'd: How I can find Julia Louis-Dreyfus' kooky, desperate, fortysomething divorced mom on The New Adventures of Old Christine charming but be repelled by Courteney Cox's kooky, desperate, fortysomething divorced mom on Cougar Town. (I also looked at how other divorced moms in their late-30s/40s are portrayed on TV on Brothers & Sisters and Private Practice.)

I think part of the problem is that when I watched the satirical Cougar Town pilot episode (other than loathing the name), I felt as though this was a show about a man's perspective on what life is like for a divorced woman in her 40s, and that she's mocked for being in her situation. Old Christine, on the other hand, takes a woman's perspective and frames Louis-Dreyfus' oddball behavior into a Lucille Ball-type depiction of slapstick humor. Put more simply: When I watched Cougar Town I cringed. When I watched Old Christine's premiere, I laughed.

This clip from the Old Christine premiere reminded me of something you might have seen on I Love Lucy. Christine (Louis-Dreyfus) couldn't get comfortable on an airplane and the airline attendant wouldn't give her a pillow, so she took matters into her own hands:



When I saw this scene from Cougar Town (which came after a scene where Cox was examining her body in the bathroom mirror and finding it lacking in the sexy department), I wasn't laughing.



What do you think of depictions of divorced, fortysomething moms on TV? About Cougar Town, New Adventures of Old Christine?