This Is A Gardening Show (2026)

These are six short segments on gardening and the natural world. They feature children, they could be watched with children, and the language is at a sixth grade level, and they are hosted by a comic (Zach Galifianakis) so they aim to not just educate but to also entertain. Each episode opens with intentionally silly interviews with elementary aged children, and after that, Galifianakis marches off to meet an expert. This is where the meat of the gardening information happens. He visits a sun-dappled tomato farm and learns about the types of tomatoes that are most likely to survive the climate crisis. He goes to an apple orchard and learns about how to grow and nurture apples. He meets a composting expert, who is filled with such joy about her job that it’s hard not to hang on her every word. There is a lot of How To and Why here, but hidden in plain sight is the warning. Time and time again, Galifianakis states that “the future is agrarian”, because humankind cannot possibly maintain its unsustainable march of consumption unless it learns to grow its own food. It’s clearly a cause he passionately believes in, but he knows how to force you to listen. You show them how much fun it is, and how rewarding it can be to eat things that you grew yourself. And he is not aiming it at adults--he is seducing the kids.

Emily In Paris (2020)

 I guess I should start off by saying that we watched this during the pandemic, a time when we cannot travel.  Once we can go back to international travel, France is on our list of first possible destinations, but Paris is really not.  There are great museums but for the most part I like France outside the larger cities.  I like regional France, where it is part of the culture to grow food and make jam and to savor the attainable rather than to reach for the best.  Just as I don't get the hustle and bustle and shopping aspect of New York, I do not get it about Paris either.  I do the cultural tour of each and enjoy, but it is not my favorite.

So, that is to say that all the snobby things about Paris and the French that are portrayed in the most exaggerated manner in this series worry me not at all.  This is not an accurate rendition of life in Paris, but rather a culture clash played out in a very amusing way.  It is American culture and values juxtaposed with the French counterpart.  It is youth culture and values meets the way we have always done things.  And it is how to make the old ways hip again.  I would recommend it as escapist  television, and hope there is a season 2.