📺 Ben watches bad TV, just like the rest of us

Plus: DNC policing updates from our news editor. [View this email in your browser]( [READER Logo]( Daily Reader | June 11, 2024 I’ve come to the sad conclusion that when it comes to television shows—I’m not to be trusted. Or to put it another way: even I can’t believe the dreck that I watch. This is my way of acknowledging that my wife and I are eagerly (maybe a little too eagerly) plowing our way through a preposterous new Netflix series called Eric, in which . . . Benedict Cumberbatch plays a drunken puppeteer who carries on conversations with an imaginary monster that only he can see. So everyone is constantly asking him, “Hey, man, who ya talking to?” And Gaby Hoffmann plays his hysterical wife, who’s not so hysterical that she can’t get it together to get it on with a good looking hunk in the neighborhood. Then Edgar, their ten-year-old son, goes missing. And they try to track Edgar down by luring him out of wherever he may be by creating a giant puppet named Eric who looks exactly like the imaginary monster that Cumberbatch is talking to. And . . . That’s it! I must end this plot encapsulation because I realize it’s so ridiculous that I’m losing whatever credibility I might have had with every passing sentence. And yet, having said all that, Eric is far from the schlockiest show I’ve watched in recent weeks. An honor that goes to The Gentlemen—a series so bad that, when it mercifully ended, I apologized to my wife for having brought it into our home. In my defense, it’s not like I wake each morning saying, “I’m gonna watch some really bad TV today!” It’s more like . . . It’s the end of the day. I’m tired. Looking for mindless diversion. Then I get hooked. And by the time I realize I should stop watching, I’m curious to see how it ends. And on I watch. In any event, I’m asking each and every one of you to sign a make-believe waiver, absolving me of responsibility in the unlikely event that there’s anything about this post that motivates you to do something so foolish as to start watching Eric. Now, excuse me. I’ve got another episode of Eric to watch. [Logo with text: The Ben Joravsky Show. Features man wearing a cap and headphones, and Chicago flag stars.]( 🎙 [Listen to The Ben Joravsky Show]( 🎙 ◈ Small Mercies by [Dennis Lehane](. His best novel yet. Just read it. ◈ [Deanna Isaacs]( Ghostlight, the movie. ◈ [Ben Joravsky]( (from 2000) on a showdown with Eminem. ◈ Political consultant and strategist [Kady McFadden]( on carbon capture. ◈ Journalist [Monroe Anderson]( told ya he’d get convicted . . . ◈ [Dr. Thaer Ahmad]( Gaza update. [Illinois promised to help with funeral costs for children lost to gun violence. Only two families benefitted.]( The sudden death of a child leaves families with unexpected costs. The Mychal Moultry Jr. Funeral and Burial Assistance Program is supposed to ease that burden for low-income families. by [Rita Oceguera, The Trace]( | [Read more]( → [Lee’s Unleaded Blues rises from its own ashes]( The revitalized south-side club has reopened in time for the biggest blues weekend of the year. by [Justin O’Brien]( | [Read more]( → [The Pearl Handle Band debut 40 years after breaking up]( After these outlaw rockers cut their only album in 1980, their label folded and the recording got bootlegged. But it finally has a proper release. by [Steve Krakow]( | [Read more]( → [Meet Ciera McKissick’s latest enterprise: cam.contemporarie]( The micro-gallery aims to cultivate holistic support for artists. by [Erin Toale]( | [Read more]( → ICYMI: our News Editor Shawn Mulcahy was on City Cast Chicago last week! He talks about the latest updates from law enforcement officials about the DNC, including Chicago Police Department Superintendent Larry Snelling, who assured Chicagoans that CPD is prepared for the DNC. Tribune sportswriter Shakeia Taylor also joins the show to discuss how Sky players are navigating increasingly toxic media coverage (plus, a mango warehouse in Romeoville!) [DNC POLICING UPDATES - LISTEN NOW!]( Get the latest issue of the Chicago Reader Thursday, May 30, 2024 [READ ONLINE: VOL. 53, NO. 17]( [VIEW/DOWNLOAD ISSUE (PDF)]( [Donate to the Chicago Reader.]( [Facebook icon]( [Instagram icon]( [Twitter icon]( [LinkedIn icon]( [YouTube icon]( [Website icon]( [Logo] You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from the Chicago Reader. Want fewer emails from us? [Click here to choose what you want us to send you](. Or, [unsubscribe from all Reader emails](. We’ll miss you! [Sign up for emails from the Chicago Reader]( | [Forward this e-mail to a friend]( © 2024 Chicago Reader. All rights reserved. Chicago Reader, 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 102, Chicago, IL 60616