The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
b-side
Thursday, December 5, 2019 — 5B

B-SIDE: TV/FILM CROSSOVER

Comedians Tina Fey and Amy Poehler began their 
night as hosts of the 2015 Golden Globes with a joke 
that would define popular media in the 2010s: “Only at 
the Golden Globes do the beautiful people of film rub 
shoulders with the rat-faced people of television.” 
This line, while intended to poke fun at the persistent 
belief that film is a higher and more prestigious art 
form than television, actually exposes a recent trend 
that has made this belief obsolete. The Golden Globes 
aren’t the only place where faces from both film and 
TV cross paths; in fact, the worlds of the two mediums 
have become so enmeshed that the distinction between 
movie star and TV actor is no longer clear-cut. 
In a decade where streaming services like Netflix 
and Hulu dominate cable television, the idea that TV 
has no artistic value has faded away almost entirely. 
When sitcoms and procedurals were the most popular 
shows on television, it was easy to say that the medium 
may not be as impactful or meaningful as cinema. 
However, with billions of dollars spent every year on 
original content for streaming services, television has 
evolved far beyond its small-time roots. 
While bitingly funny, Fey and Poehler’s suggestion 
that the worlds of film and TV are overlapping fails to 
acknowledge that, in the past ten years, these worlds 
have become nearly identical. Rather than pushing 
“serious” actors to film, renowned television series 
have pulled top-billed names into the TV industry 
and made the careers of countless new stars. With 
the stigma towards TV as a lower-budget medium 
effectively erased, talent has sprawled across its native 
platforms. 
In fact, the Golden Globes are the perfect 
representation of how the film and TV industries have 
intersected. The award show, which has categories for 
film and TV productions, has seen steady ratings in a 
time where more niche award shows like the Emmys 
and the Oscars have experienced a significant decrease 
in ratings over the past few years. The Golden Globes 
have also been lauded for their commitment to coming 
through on promises of diversity on-screen and 
on-stage.

The blurring of lines between TV and film has 
opened doors for new stars and new representation that 
was previously unseen in the nearly all-white films and 
shows before the 2010s. While minorities and women 
are still underrepresented in pop culture, the push for 
more varied stories and faces to tell those stories has 
intensely affected both industries. By acknowledging 
the growing similarities between the forms of media, 
the quality of TV shows and films has responded to 
the other’s respective success with more thought for 
the consumer. As the demand for representation has 
increased, each platform has raced to make that goal 
a reality.
While there is still much work to be done in 
improving the entertainment industry as a whole, it is 
undeniable that the reactions of TV and film producers 
will be similar. With content and public interest 
becoming more closely aligned, the two formats will 
continue to merge as reflections of the calls for social 
change in popular media. Soon, it won’t be just the 
Golden Globes where TV and film are in the same room 
together. It’ll be in every aspect of their production and 
use.
— Anya Soller, Daily Arts Writer
In sum: The 2010s have been a decade of convergence 
for television and movies. “Movies,” here, means 
specifically the Scorsese-would-spit-on-their-graves 
type, all the “Potters”, and Marvels, and “Star Wars” 
and “Jurassic Parks.” The “television” I’m referencing 
is not the latest CBS sitcom — not “God Friended Me,” 
not “Man with a Plan.”
The convergence of movies and television has 
been brought on by that other class of TV, those 
script-driven-dramas that aim to rise to a higher 
artistic occasion, reckoning themselves serious and 
important, and receiving crucial praise that would 
validate them as such. High-brow television has, as 
Richard Brody put it in his recent New Yorker article 
on the 27 best movies of the decade, taken the place of 
the “so-called mid-range drama for adults,” filling the 
niche in entertainment for script-driven narratives, 
often “(subtracting out any) discernable directorial 
originality or inventiveness.”
At the same time, movies have stolen a core tenet of 
the television show: the serialization. Every single one 
of the top twenty movies in the box office this decade, 
as well as the most profitable film from each year 
this decade (minus 2014’s ticket-stub crown going to 

“American Sniper”), has been a remake or a franchise 
film. If it’s true that there’s been a resurgence of box 
office numbers, if it’s true that people are getting back 
to the theaters, it’s cinematic, extended universes and 
nostalgia trips that are putting butts into seats.
The decade-long period that 
started in the mid-2000s and ran 
through the middle of the 2010s, 
often called the Golden Age of 
Television, was headlined by 
television shows that aimed to 
reach past what was narratively 
expected of them, working with 
literary aspirations, even, in some 
cases. As Adam Wilson noted in 
his reflective essay in Harper’s on 
the many Golden Ages of television 
earlier this fall, critics aren’t 
afraid to pass around the idea of 
the visual medium as a literary 
one, pulling a quote from writer 
Brett Martin, who called “The 
Wire” “one of the greatest literary 
accomplishments of the early 
twenty-first century.” If you ask 
the average, avid fan of television, 
you’ll hear that it’s TV, not cinema, 
that’s taken the seat as the rightful 
artistic heir to the novel, the play, 
the poetic epic — not that there 
needs to be a successor, not that it 
was necessarily going to be cinema 
in the first place.
What does it say that the evolution of each of these 
forms — of television and of movies — seems to have 
come at the hands of the other? More so in the past 
decade than ever before, industry creativity and talent 
has been pumped into prestige dramatic television, 
with every studio, cable channel and streaming service 
looking for their spiritual successor to “The Sopranos” 
and “The Wire.” Just so, we’ve seen Hollywood rear its 
ugly (and obviously profit-driven) head — the advent 
of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the sequel-

storm that followed, making explicitly clear what 
the industry values: Selling tickets at any cost, even if 
that means the end product tends toward unoriginal, 
repetitive, increasingly vapid. Hollywood’s major 
model to this end has been to franchise everything, 
to jam anything they can into a 
cinematic, extended, multi-movie 
universe. All of a sudden, the slate 
at your local multi-plex begins to 
resemble the schedule of a cable 
television channel. Installment 
after installment after installment 
of stories that seem like they’ll 
never advance, nevermind end.
***
Throughout 
this 
decade, 
streaming services like Netflix, 
Hulu and Amazon Prime have 
further blurred the line between 
television and film, releasing 
Oscar-contending 
features 
directly onto laptops and living 
room televisions, a type of direct, 
front-facing 
access 
with 
the 
content that used to be reserved for 
TV. Big name directors like Noah 
Baumbach, Alfonso Cuarón, Bong 
Joon Ho and Martin Scorsese 
have turned to Netflix to make 
movies, in many cases bypassing a 
theatrical release wholesale.
Just a few weeks ago, the 
Department of Justice released a statement declaring 
that they would be terminating the Supreme Court 
decision from 1948 which broke up vertical integration 
— the monopolies that studios like Paramount had — in 
the entertainment industry. The historic Paramount 
decision prohibited studios from owning their own 
theaters, creating competition by ensuring that each 
local theater, maybe the only one in a city or region, 
wasn’t showing movies made by only one company. 
The timing of the DOJ’s decision comes with more 
than a hint of irony.

The crossover of the decade: 2020 in film and television

HBO

As we move into 
the next decade, 
I can’t help but 
believe that 
cinema — in the 
Scorsese-would-
NOT-spit-on-
their-graves sense 
— will be further 
banished from 
the studio system.

B-SIDE: TV NOTEBOOK

Ranking television shows is an impossible task, one that’s only gotten more difficult 
as there are fewer and fewer shows that everyone watches. There is little difference 
between number five and number three, so I am opting to chronologically rank them 
instead. Binge-watching television shows, as opposed to viewing them week-to-week, 
makes it harder to recall the details as you don’t have any time to process. As we near the 
end of the decade, here is a list of the shows no one should forget.
5. “30 Rock” (2006-2013)
Available on Hulu
138 Episodes
Bizarre, hilarious and witty. Loosely based on Tina Fey’s experience as a head writer 

for “Saturday Night Live,” “30 Rock” follows Fey’s character, Liz Lemon, as the head 
writer and showrunner of the NBC sketch comedy show “TGS with Tracy Jordan.” 
She supervises the cast and crew, which includes her best friend Jenna Maroney (Jane 
Krakowski, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”), the difficult-to-manage Tracy Jordan 
(Tracy Morgan, “Green Eggs and Ham”) and network executive Jack Donaghy (Alec 
Baldwin, “Saturday Night Live”). Episodes often feature arguments between Donaghy’s 
conservative views against Lemon’s liberal ones, Maroney’s attempts to become a film 
star, Jordan’s poor behavior and their romantic and personal lives. It is extremely 
reflexive, making jokes about NBC and even satirizing Comcast’s acquisition of it.
4. “The Office” (2005-2013)
Available on Netflix
201 Episodes
Based on the British show of the same name, “The Office” is a mockumentary-style 
sitcom that depicts the everyday lives of office employees in Scranton, Pennsylvania at 
the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. It employs a huge ensemble cast, most 
notably Steve Carell as Michael Scott, the well-intentioned yet often misunderstood 
regional manager who frequently ends up annoying his employees. The first season 
was met with mixed reviews but was followed by several seasons of critical acclaim. 
Although the final two seasons did not feature Carell (resulting in a large dip in quality), 
the show will always be remembered for being one of the first comedies in the United 
States without a laugh track to have solid ratings. There may never be a character like 
Michael Scott on television again, so get your last couple re-watches through because 
the show is heading to NBC’s own streaming platform in January of 2021. Until then, 
“The Office” remains Netflix’s most streamed show.
3. “Parks and Recreation” (2009-2015)
Available on Netflix
125 Episodes
“Parks and Rec” is often compared to “The Office,” and people will get in heated 
debates about which show is better (I am, personally, Team Leslie). This mockumentary-
style political satire sitcom stars Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, the deputy director of the 
Parks and Recreation Department in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana alongside 
her best friend Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones, “Angie Tribeca”). Additionally, it features a 
strong supporting cast that includes Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza and Chris 
Pratt.

Laugh, TV is funny

JUSTIN POLLACK
Daily Arts Writer

B-SIDE: COMMUNITY CULTURE NOTEBOOK

I come from a family of five: a brother, a sister and two moms. 
“Two moms” is an interesting way to express the different and 
historically complicated relationship of being raised by a lesbian 
couple, though “two moms” is how I have always described my 
family situation. This is often followed by “oh, you have a step-
mom.” Nope. “Your dad remarried?” Wrong again. “Then were 
you adopted?” Sperm donor.
It took some time before I was able to comprehend why my 
situation was so confusing. To be raised by an openly gay couple 
is rare. Alix, the co-writer of this piece, is the first person I have 
ever met who shares this experience. Rare experiences make for 
interesting writing, and I am happy to share as we reminisce on 
the decade and the legalization of gay marriage that came with 
it.
One question I often receive, as a heterosexual male, is what 
it was like to be void of fatherly influence in my upbringing. My 
response to this, for the majority of my life was, “Well, I have 
uncles and grandfathers,” which is a response I regret to have 
ever given out. The question itself is problematic, for what is 
fatherly influence? Is it knowing how to play football? My mother 
taught me how to throw a tight spiral. Is it having some older 
representative of male anatomy? My parents are both physicians 
— they know more about male anatomy than most dads.
I call my brother my brother and my sister my sister even 
though we share no genetic connection. I call them my brother 
and my sister because we grew up together, under the same roof, 
calling the same people our parents. I call both my parents mom, 
because that is who they have always been to me and my siblings.
This is not in defense of gay marriage, because we have 
nothing to be defensive of. My family and I lack anything to be 
sorry for, we bear no burdens for having lived the way we always 
have. Gay marriage should have never have had to be legalized, 
because it never should have been illegal in the first place. I 
was provided a safe home, a childhood I am fond of, a space for 
creativity and freedom of ideas. My lesbian parents raised three 
children and did a fine job doing so. We are all healthy, in a good 
state of mind, with goals and aspirations: I’m not sure what else 
a straight family could provide.
For years, I was silent at school about our family situation, 
especially since my siblings and I grew up in a fairly conservative 
area. After the legalization of gay marriage, it felt as though 
there was some national recognition of our family after years of 
rejection and fear of exile.
The legalization of gay marriage meant a great deal for my 
family, though it was more symbolic of national and political 
acceptance. My parents had been together for over twenty years 
and had raised three children before their partnership was 
legally recognized. In this sense, the act was more an affirmation 
than a permission slip, but it was celebrated nonetheless.
In 2015, my mother proposed to my other mother at our family 
home, despite already having been together for twenty years. 
There are many stories like my parents’ because the legalization 
was a chance to renew an already solid partnership, in a bond 
familiar to those who had disavowed them for millennia.
— Zachary M.S. Waarala, Daily Arts Writer 
***
Growing up with lesbian moms meant that there was a routine 
of phrases I had plenty of practice saying. “Yes, I really have four 
moms.” “No, they are not in a polygamous relationship.” “No, 
I’m not adopted, I had a sperm donor.” “No, I don’t really care 
to meet him.” The list goes on. I’ve told the story of my familial 
life so often, I could say it in my sleep. My parents are lesbians. 
When I was three they separated and each met new partners. 
My two lesbian mothers multiplied into four and boom, I have 
four moms.

When I was in third grade, I came up with nicknames for 
all of them in order to make conversations about my moms less 
confusing when I was talking with my friends. The nicknames 
stuck and now, whenever I talk about my moms I refer to them 
as “Broken Ankle Mom” (because she had a broken ankle at the 
time), “Police Mom” (because she is a policewoman), “Taco Bell 
Mom” (she used to work at Taco Bell) and British Mom (she’s 
British).
Growing up, my familial life never seemed out of the ordinary. 
Even though there was only one other kid in my town who had 
gay parents, I didn’t feel any different. I grew up in a pretty 
conservative area, yet nobody made fun of me. At least, not to my 
face. I’m sure they might’ve said some things behind my back. In 
fact, one time in high school, a football player whispered to me, “I 
know your secret … your parents are gay.” Which I found pretty 
hilarious at the time (and still do).
The only thing I found weird was that before June 26, 2015, 
my parents were never married. My birth mother and my British 
mom were together for ten years before they separated. If they 
could have legally gotten married, they would have. Sure, all of my 
mothers acknowledged that marriage wasn’t a defining factor of 
their love. Yet, the numerous legal issues that came along with not 
being allowed to marry was quite frustrating. I remember once, 
when my Birtish mom was hospitalized, the hospital did not allow 
my policewoman mom to visit her during “family only hours.” She 
had to sit outside in the waiting room, unable to stand beside the 
love of her life during what was quite a traumatic experience. In 
the eyes of the law, they were just two women who lived together. 
It was because of this that I so desperately wanted gay marriage 
to be legalized. In fact, I even wrote a letter to President Obama 
asking him to make it legal. I still have the “letter” he wrote back 
to me framed in my childhood bedroom, complete with the ever-
personal phrase, “Dear Student of America.”
The day gay marriage was finally legalized was a visceral 
experience. I was on my first ever date with a girl when I heard 
the news. We were at the local zoo and my phone exploded with 
texts from all of my moms. I came home from my date to the 
rainbow flag flying outside of our house. Our family had always 
been valid to us, but now we were seen as valid in the eyes of our 
country. The five remaining years of the 2010s were complete 
with both sets of mothers tying the knot with one another. 
While the love between 
my 
parents 
was 
omnipresent during the 
first half of the decade, 
it was the legalization 
of gay marriage that 
made the latter half of 
the decade something 
to celebrate.
After gay marriage 
was legalized, there 
was a sense of hope 
that both Zach’s and 
my family shared. A 
hope for the future. 
A hope that families 
like ours wouldn’t feel 
the insecurity we felt. 
Because there is no 
reason to feel insecure. 
Families 
like 
Zach’s 
and mine have love at 
their core, just as other 
families do. Love that 
has always existed and 
will continue to exist, 
regardless of what any 
law could ever say.
— Alix Curnow, Daily 
Arts Writer

Growing up with multiple moms

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

ZACHARY M.S. WAARALA
Daily Arts Writer

ALIX CURNOW
Daily Arts Writer

ANYA SOLLER
Daily Arts Writer

STEPHEN SATARINO
Daily Film Editor

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

In 2015, 
my mother 
proposed 
to my other 
mother at 
our family 
home, despite 
already 
having been 
together for 
20 years.

