A Post In the Machine.

Five shows to watch right now (from a while back, which makes them cooler), best way to use Notes with me, Max-ed out stupidity and some books.

While I know that everywhere you seem to navigate on Substack these days you see mentions of the new Notes feature and you might feel either confused or just bombarded or maybe disinterested. I wanted to restate a couple of things just so we’re all clear since there’s some confusion (and some bugs to be worked out as Substack hones it). I also want to make sure I’m reaching all the people who want to use the Notes feature (it doesn’t seem that way just yet, but it’s early days).

OK, for starters, THE POST IS THE MOST. I just wanted to hammer that home. Being social is great, but the newsletter via email (or app) is the thing: Posts > Notes.

The content is king, in my book. Talking about other stuff, riffing, posting pictures, saying hello, sending links, etc. — I consider that bonus material; added value. A discussion outside of the main. But my central contribution and connection with you will come in your email box and also on your app (I’ll say it again; please try the app, it’s great).

One die-hard and dear reader just let me know she hasn’t received an email from me since late March, which is kind of shocking and obviously not ideal since I’ve had a number of posts since then. So, if you’re having this issue, make sure you didn’t toggle off the email notifications on your settings (on the Substack website and also in the app if you use that).

If everything is going smoothly getting my posts, great. As for Notes, which as I said this week (along with everyone else touting the new feature, is a lot like Twitter), may I suggest you at least familiarize yourself with how to orient to it (on the site or the app). I think it will be an excellent tool for us to connect and share things beyond regular posts.

If you subscribe to a lot of Substacks, you’ll probably want to turn off your email notifications — for Notes — in your settings. You can always just click the menu options in the upper right corner at the site or click the Notes logo on the bottom of the app to track whether I’ve sent stuff out you might be interested in.

That’s it. Pretty simple. I think the feature will be robust and helpful for everyone. Possibly even entertaining if I get the mix right. That said, it also just might be annoying. If it’s not for you (at least at this point) no worries. I think as it evolves, the kinks will work out. Here’s what I wrote earlier this week on it:

Duly Noted: LFG!

I did send a Note on Thursday about this very post you’re reading, which at the time was “upcoming.” I think it went into the ether somewhere? Hard to know. Early days. But the Note mentioned that I would be suggesting Five Shows You Should Watch Right Now — with the twist being that they were older shows you probably missed entirely. I said that No. 1 was going to be “Utopia” — which it is — but I didn’t want to drop this very obvious (to loyal readers) anvil on everybody’s head in a short Note:

I didn’t put “Patriot” as No. 1 because it’s so blatantly obvious to me that it’s beyond rankings and thus in The Hall Of Fame (first ballot!) of brilliant shows you’ve never seen. I say that for the new folks — anyone who’s been reading me knows that “Patriot” is legendary and there will be no more discussion of that. I deconstructed every episode of both seasons right here in The Box Set format that ended with this entry:

"Loaded," "Escape From Paris."

One day, everyone worthy of its gifts will have watched “Patriot” (it’s on Amazon Prime, newbies) and then they will read every single deconstruction here (plus maybe all my reviews and raves of it over at The Hollywood Reporter. I mean, shit, we should all just be marinating in its magnificence.

With that out of the way, here are the Five Shows You Should Watch Right Now — Since You Already Missed Them.

No. 1. “Utopia.” (Amazon Prime).

The BRITISH version. I can not make that clear enough, people.

The Tragedy Of Canceling the British "Utopia"