series Archives - Keeping up with Everything but the Joneses with Terri

Terri Harrah 12/11/2025

As we watch the Democratic Party continue to be hijacked by the Far Left, the Golden Globes just announced their nominees, including a brand-new category for streaming podcasts. And, shocker, the micro-bubble of Hollywood’s elite—obsessed with staying safely left and never “seemingly” to offend anyone—left out the major players who actually dominate the medium. Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro, & Megyn Kelly, who did not have a chance in this highly censorious pearl-clutching new wave of extremism.

Megyn Kelly respectfully declined an invitation to meet with the shiny-new Dick Clark Productions 400 voters who now run the outcome of the Golden Globe nominees. Ben Shapiro campaigned with the same intensity he talks with (which is saying something), and still got iced out. Tucker Carlson? Also missing—either he lightly declined, or they just pretended he did not exist, as they do with the rest of America. Flyover states much? And the most significant omission of all: Joe Rogan.

And the irony? These people who scream about moral ideological superiority, and ring kissing are the ones doing the most of it. To be considered for this category, one had to meet with the voters; this was a mandatory sit-down.

So, who made the Best Podcast category?

We’ve got Dax Shepard as the resident Armchair Expert, whose pro-vaccine interview with Prince Harry contained more misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine than facts. Neither has recanted their misinformed statements. These two actually criticized Joe Rogan for his COVID-19 vaccine information. Joe turned out to be right. It makes you wonder if Dax or Prince Harry received any compensation from Pfizer or others. Not an accusation, just a wonder.

Next, we’ve got Call Her Daddy, a popular relationship and human sexuality show. I have to admit, the only time I watched this show was when Alex interviewed Kamala Harris. It was kind of a non-interview for me; I thought it would reveal more about Harris, but all it did was circle identity politics ad nauseam.

The Mel Robbins podcast is next, and I will give credence as she is singlehandedly resuscitating the nation with Alanon ideas wrapped in her Let Them theory. It takes an entire podcast and book to unwind the insanity people have created in their own lives over the last 6 years. And so many need this help!! So thank you, Mel, and I really love how you have repackaged common sense. I hope this gets the win out of all of them.

I never knew Amy Poehler had a podcast, so there is that. I have also never watched the last two, SmartLess with Jason Bateman & NPR’S Up First. It is safe to assume these shows are not threatening to the sensitivities of the Hollywood elite.

I speak with at least a tiny sliver of authority here. I’ve worked in the film industry, and my husband previously worked on the music for the Golden Globes over our combined twenty-plus years. It used to mean something. It used to be a place where different ideas and perspectives were not only allowed but actually valued, where art would stretch us and open our minds to new points of view, not corral us into the dead-end cul-de-sac of appeasing groupthink politics. But like everything the modern left touches, the Golden Globes have been boiled down to one microscopic point of view, at least in the podcasting realm, where they seem to be slipping further and further behind the culture.

And yet—shockingly—there are a few bright spots. It is not All Bad!!

Where the Golden Globes got it right this year: Billy Bob Thornton’s well-deserved nomination for his performance in the hit series Landman. Thornton’s gritty turn as Tommy Norris is filled with dread, depression, sweeping family issues with a doggedness not seen in a while.

Next, the Globes also gave nods to Billy Crudup for The MOURNING Show—yes, spelled MOURNING, the way it actually feels to watch that show. Crudup gives a wildly emotionally layered and fun performance inhabiting Cory Ellison. I have a review of this show coming shortly. Following is Michelle Williams, who was excellent in Dying for Sex. This is a rough watch if you or anyone you know has cancer, but Michelle’s performance is so human and real that it could be worth a binge. Have the ice cream handy and a box of Kleenex. I sobbed. Rhea Seehorn’s nomination for Pluribus is hopeful, and a shout-out to Kathy Bates for Matlock.

Lastly, a definite shout-out to Leonardo DiCaprio in One Battle After Another—another rare moment where the Globes actually made narrative sense. You can read my critique of that here. DiCaprio is unlike anything I have ever seen him in. Benecio Del Toro is also very deserving of his nomination. Now for Seth Rogan, I am so glad he received some nod. Getting a Best Actor for Television & Musical Comedy nod is great, but The Studio is his baby. He created the show, and if you haven’t watched it yet, go now! It truly gives the most heightened reality of working in the film industry and all the chaos that ensues.

Before I end this rant, it would be a huge oversight not to mention Ali Larter, who plays Angela Norris—the sharp, unpredictable, and often riotously compelling ex-wife of Tommy on Landman, a HUGE oversight by the Golden Globe voters, HUGE MISTAKE! She’s an absolute force on screen and brings a dangerous, unpredictable energy to the show as she steals scene after scene!!!

Terri Harrah 12/7/2025

Today I’m talking about the series Dark Matter on Apple TV+. I started watching it because of the talented Joel Edgerton (a current Golden Globe nominee) and Jennifer Connelly, who has been an icon since Labyrinth & was brilliant in A Beautiful Mind (where she met her husband, Paul Bettany). Joel Edgerton is one of those rare quadruple-threat artists — writer, producer, director, actor — who is consistently excellent in everything he does. If you haven’t seen his Australian indie work, put that on your list.

In Dark Matter, Edgerton plays Jason Dessen, a physicist and family man, and Jennifer Connelly plays Jason’s wife Daniela Dessen, a talented artist. They have a teenage son, Charlie, played beautifully by Oakes Fegley. The supporting cast — Alice Braga, Jimmi Simpson, Dayo Okeniyi — all add depth, but the heart of the series is this family and the choices that shaped them.

The premise is gripping: Jason is abducted one night and wakes up in an alternate version of his life — a reality where he never married Daniela, never became a father, and instead poured everything into scientific ambition. In this other timeline, the love and family he could have had simply don’t exist. And when this alternate version of Jason realizes what he missed, he tries to steal the life of the Jason who did choose love.

This whole “what if” concept is something very human. What if I had turned left instead of right in 2000? Some people are more concerned with this idea than others, but it is the human condition to ponder “What If’s.”

And it hit me personally.

I’ve been in a committed, monogamous relationship for 25 years. And anyone who’s done that kind of long haul knows: it changes you. Raising kids, staying through the hard seasons, showing up when it’s uncomfortable — it softens you. It grows you. It pushes you out of self-focus and into something bigger. That’s what happened to me. I’m a better person because of the path I chose — and watching Dark Matter show both versions of Jason, the one with family and the one without, felt unusually honest and real and a much-needed element to entertainment. Family is good, and choosing to have children is good. Staying is good.

It actually reminded me so much of one of my all-time favorite films: The Family Man with Nicolas Cage.

Both stories ask the same question:

What if you had taken the other path — the road you didn’t choose?

And who would you have become?

If The Family Man is the emotional blueprint, Dark Matter is the high-concept, quantum-physics version of it. Both explore identity, love, and how relationships reshape who we are at our core.

This show also does not feel politically ideological. There’s no heavy-handed messaging, no cultural agenda being shoved in your face, no “here’s the moral you MUST take from this.” And I cannot tell you how refreshing that is. There is a very subtle and positive message of love and the simple choice of family, your special place in the world, being the things you have overcome with your very specific loved ones, and the security of this trust, and memory building events that truly create our realities.

Dark Matter lets the story breathe; it lets these ideas unfold. It allows the characters to be human, and it trusts the audience to think for themselves. The Art Direction is not to be underestimated here either; the subtle differences created to guide the viewer into the correct reality are masterfully painted.

If I were rating it, I’d give it four stars. I’d go five, but there are a few confusing parts — moments where my husband and I literally paused and looked at each other like, “Wait… who brought that box?” or “How did THAT version get here?” But even with that, the writing is strong, the acting is phenomenal (especially the multiple-version performances), and you will not be disappointed. I am leaving a lot out to avoid spoilers.

What a fun gig for the actors — playing different shades and versions of themselves. They handle it beautifully. There is some violence, but nothing worse than most dramas, and probably not something young kids should watch. But overall? This is absolutely a must-watch. It’s thoughtful, emotional, well-acted, and refreshingly free of ideological noise.