The following essay is by comedian and pop culture critic Jolenta Greenberg. Click on the player above to hear the audio version.
It’s hard to recommend what to watch instead of the Super Bowl because, in my opinion, basically anything is better. My idea of a day of TV entertainment is not a bunch of heteronormative superhumans hurting each other.
Why not culturally enrich your life instead of watching people beat each other up? If you’re determined to spend this Sunday in front of a TV, I have three alternative suggestions for you:
1. Hannibal Buress
Watch the new Hannibal Buress comedy special, Comedy Camisado. It was released on Netflix today and it will definitely keep you laughing. Even if you don’t know Hannibal by name, you likely know his work because he’s secretly everywhere. He was a writer for “Saturday Night Live” and “30 Rock,” and he currently plays Ilana Glazer’s love interest on Comedy Central’s “Broad City.”
Buress made waves in 2014 when he began openly talking about the sexual allegations against Bill Cosby during a stand up set. In a nutshell, he’s credited for breaking the news. Netflix says he will be addressing Cosby more during the special, and once it airs, he plans on putting that material to bed, so get it while it’s hot.
2. ‘Stark Trek’ or ‘Hoarders’
Is comedy not your thing? Fine by me, don’t laugh. Watch a TV marathon instead.
Based on my extensive research, there are only two marathons worth watching this Sunday. A&E is airing a “Hoarders” marathon—you can get lost in the dark crevices of mental illness and watch individuals overcome their own berries with “Hoarders.”
Or you can get lost in the final frontier: Space! BBC America has a “Star Trek: The Next Generation” marathon for all you nerds out there. Watch the adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew as they fight battles with The Borg. Those battles have real strategy, strength, and cunning involved, something that’s way cooler than watching mere mortals battling over a pigskin.
3. The ‘Roseanne’ Collection
Still not satisfied? Need more Americana on your Super Bowl Sunday? I’ve got the perfect thing for you: Roseanne! The Roseanne Collection, which contains the first 50 episodes of the iconic american sitcom, is on Netflix waiting for you. Roseanne is American values in action. It’s filled with a lot of working class, funny American family values. It’s essentially football with more laughing and less brute force, sexism, and violence.
The first season is centers around Roseanne’s struggle to make ends meat at her factory job. When her manager raises the quotas for her team, she and her group of girlfriends have to decide whether or not they should stick up for themselves or keep their heads down and be grateful for a paycheck. Now that is a much more classic American struggle than football.
Any way you slice it, do yourself a favor and watch something with a plot that may enrich your life.
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