Slate’s Culture Gabfest on HBO’s Getting On, the hoaxy saga of Elan Gale and Diane in 7A, and the 100th anniversary of the crossword puzzle with guest Will Shortz.
Slate’s Culture Gabfest on HBO’s Getting On, the saga of “Diane in 7A,” and the crossword puzzles with Will Shortz.
Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 272 with Stephen Metcalf, John Swansburg, and Julia Turner with the audio player below.
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On this week’s episode, the critics discuss Getting On, a new HBO comedy set on an extended care hospital wing. Do the show’s representation of the elderly pose a departure from the bumbling, slapstick seniors of network TV? Next, the gabbers discuss one’s right to privacy in the Twitter age. Inspired by the faux Twitter feud between Elan Gale, a producer of The Bachelor, and “Diane,” an anonymous—and perhaps apocryphal—passenger on Gale’s Thanksgiving flight, the critics wonder: Should all our public experiences be open to Twitter-criticism? And finally, the Gabfest welcomes Will Shortz, editor of the New York Times crossword, to celebrate the puzzle’s 100-year history. Guard your ulnae and hide your etui. The critics get Shortz’s take on crosswordese.
BuzzFeed’s promotion and later debunking of the Elan/Diane saga.
This podcast was produced by Chris Wade. Our intern is Anna Shechtman.