The BBC and the fine art of waiting

Plus: Pinocchio, John McEnroe, and kid bakers [View this email online]( [Pop Culture Happy Hour]( by Linda Holmes Welcome! It was the week when [Operation London Bridge]( went into effect. It was the week when [spitting (or not)]( at a film festival became a hot topic. And it was the week when Benoit Blanc [showed up again]( just for a minute or two. Let's get to it. Opening Argument: The BBC and the fine art of waiting By the time I turned on BBC World News on Thursday afternoon Eastern time, they were already wearing dark clothes; they had already put the black banner at the top of the web site. But they were saying only that the queen was comfortable at Balmoral, that the family was coming, that the doctors were concerned about her health. They'd already gone to special coverage, stopped the other programming, and devoted themselves only to this. When I first started watching, they were following the plane carrying members of the royal family as it landed, speculating about who was on it, trying to catch a glimpse. They were looking at pictures of Prince Edward and his wife Sophie inside a car, talking about the two looking "somber." (To me, they just looked like they were riding in a car.) They were explaining what was going to happen if, in fact, the queen were to die. They were discussing the fact that they might be waiting for Harry to arrive before making any "announcement." The tone was so sad, the preparations so clearly underway, it was hard not to suspect they already knew they were in the middle of executing a coverage plan they'd been developing for literally decades. Pool/Getty Images By this time, it was past 6:00 PM in London, about a half-hour before the announcement of her death. Later, we were told she had died in the afternoon, meaning that in all likelihood we had been waiting not to see what would happen, but to see when they would announce what had already happened. It's a thing live television and radio calls for at times, this talking and talking and waiting, maybe for a press conference that's late, maybe waiting for updates on a rapidly developing story, maybe for the moment when you can break the news that will probably be the most closely watched of your career. In this case, it meant being watched by an enormous audience while you figure out things to say. (It's a common enough problem that the Aaron Sorkin comedy Sports Night had an episode where a boxing match that had been allotted an hour and a half of coverage ended in a few seconds and there were 89.5 minutes more to fill.) Here, it meant nodding toward people's desire to know what was going to happen (thus: noting the somber faces in the car) without saying what was going to happen (thus: "comfortable at Balmoral") while likely knowing what was going to happen. It meant not saying anything tacky, nothing too trivial, nothing anyone would think was in poor taste, all while talking and talking and talking about nothing except the story that could not be candidly explained yet and following a very specific protocol in framing her life and her death. When they finally announced that she had died, they said it several times in a row, as if anticipating that people might not be sure they had really heard it. As the planning called for, they cut to a portrait of her and played "God Save The Queen." And then they said it a couple more times: Buckingham Palace had announced her death. Buckingham Palace had announced her death. I have to imagine there were vaults of material to be used to hold the air while all this waiting went on. Hour one, hour two, hour three, maybe day two, day three, day four, who knows? As it turned out, it wasn't all that long; people speculated it could go on for days or weeks, but it didn't; it was only hours. Those hours weren't particularly exciting television, but perhaps they were the buffer that prepared that part of the population that was going to be devastated by her death for what was coming; the somber tone without the actual breaking of the news. Death can be sudden; news sometimes is not. --------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter continues after sponsor message --------------------------------------------------------------- Listen to the Podcast Sponsor-Free Support your favorite pop culture junkies AND listen without sponsor interruptions with a subscription to [Pop Culture Happy Hour+]( Learn more and sign up at [plus.npr.org/happy](. [Learn More]( We Recommend If you've been following tennis over the last few weeks, maybe you want to reach back to one of the guys who never, never felt welcome at Wimbledon. If so, you can check out the Showtime documentary McEnroe, which examines the man's career, his famous meltdowns, and his rivalry with Jimmy Connors. I'm a little hesitant to recommend the comedy-action-drama series Wedding Season on Hulu, because I haven't seen how it ends. But the story of a man who goes on the run with a woman suspected of poisoning a bunch of her in-laws at her wedding has some flair and some nice performances. If you're awaiting the return of The Great British Baking Show to Netflix (like I am), two pieces of news: First, the new series starts on Friday, September 16. Second, get thee to the streamer and check out Junior Baking Show, 15 episodes of which await you. The kids are great and sweet, and their creations actually seem like things that kids that age might plausibly turn out, which is not true of every similar program. What We Did This Week HBO Glen continued recapping House of Dragons for your enjoyment with [episode 3](. I was [delighted to sit down]( with Bilal Qureshi and Roxana Hadadi to talk about the luscious 1991 romance Mississippi Masala on the occasion of its Criterion release. Stephen [was joined by]( Kathryn VanArendonk and Amil Niazi to discuss Bluey, the show parents and kids can't stop talking about. Roxana Hadadi and I also [talked this week]( about the Netflix comedy-drama Mo, an appealing story based on the comedy of Mo Amer. Kristen Meinzer [joined me to talk]( about the pop-culture representations and impact of Queen Elizabeth II. And Glen and Aisha talked to Margaret Willison and Christina Tucker [about the new]( Pinocchio on Disney+. What's Making Us Happy (and other show notes): Every week on the show, we talk about some other things out in the world that have been giving us joy lately. Here they are: - What's making Christina Tucker happy: [The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin]( - What's making Margaret H. Willison happy: [Leading another Jane Austen pilgrimage]( - What's making Aisha Harris happy: [Bad Sisters]( - What's making Glen Weldon happy: [Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Stream your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. [Find a Station]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+](. Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free episodes. What do you think of today's email? 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