PopRocks: Bits and Bobs

This is a guest post by Gila Drazen.

Hi, gang! Thanks to all of you who commented (either here or via email) about who are the most visible Jews in television. I got answers including the fictional (Cristina Yang, Grey’s Anatomy, and Leonard Wolowitz, The Big Bang Theory) and the semi-fictional (Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm). Now, I have to admit I don’t watch some of these shows, but based on these recommendations I just might start. (If anyone has advice on how to keep my DVR from exploding, I’d love to hear it.) If you have further thoughts, let me know!

Yes, this is a question we will address again in other areas of our popular culture – if you’d like to be thinking in advance of your answers, that’d be great!

I’m not going to lie – I’m thrilled that Tuesday was Election Day here, if only because that means the campaign commercials will stop. Honestly, I think electoral politics show us at our worst, and the fact that the election is over means that we can get to the important business of this time of year – toy commercials.

Bits and bobs for the week:

  • Ivanka Trump got married. Ivanka Trump is now a Jewish married lady. While I will admit that this may be a bit out of the purview of my official scope, I thought her dress was beautiful. I also thought that I would plotz from seeing the word huppah in publications like Us Weekly and People (apparently, it had flowers and crystals on it).
  • The revival of Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs (on Broadway) is closing.
  • Jon Gosselin and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach had a sit-down on “the responsibility of fame.” This makes me feel . . . even less whelmed than I was last week.
  • Sesame Workshop is producing a new version of Shalom Sesame. This is exciting for many reasons (anybody remember Bonnie Franklin selling “Deisat Dag?”), not the least of which is this news is being announced right before Sesame Street‘s 40th birthday (November 10th, just like me!). Enjoy this Sesame Crunch (all right, it’s my favorite Passover candy; what do you people want from me?):

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk3hwAGID3I

Coming soon:

  • New York, I Love You (particularly the bit about Natalie Portman as a Hasidic bride)
  • What I’m sure will be a series on my attempts to find Michael Showalter and interview him about Wet Hot American Summer (to help us think of warmer times as the winter sets in)
  • Gila’s gift guide for the pop-culture junkies in your life

Got something you’d dig to read in PopRocks? Let me know! Have a great week!