What to Watch This Week With Kate Casey
January 13-20, 2025
Good morning from Southern California.
I join you in complete disbelief and anguish over what has happened this week in Los Angeles. Sixteen lives were lost, communities decimated, and with little to no containment fires continue to burn across the region. The long-term impacts of this disaster will be felt for years to come, undoubtedly impacting mental health, and leaving thousands without a home or community to return to.
I know multiple families who have lost their homes. More than 105,000 are under current evacuation orders. The terror they are experiencing is paralyzing. Several families have relocated to our community, and we have welcomed them with open arms. Several students will start at our schools tomorrow, and we anticipate more to come.
Tragedy is the great equalizer; it strips away the layers we build around ourselves creating solidarity where division once existed. There are so many light holders providing comfort, hope, and guidance amidst this devastating situation. It is my hope that all the victims will receive the financial and emotional support they need.
If you are eager to help those in need, here are several resources.
May heart is with you,
Kate
Here is the list of what to watch this week:
Documentaries:
An Update on Our Family (HBO and Max) explores the complex world of family vlogging – a popular and potentially lucrative phenomenon in which parents post a steady stream of lifestyle videos on their social media channels to be consumed by loyal subscribers. The content often cultivates a sense of community and attachment for devoted viewers and can generate income for the vloggers. Through the lens of one family’s story and the sudden online disappearance of their adopted son, the series raises questions about what motivates vloggers to expose their home lives to the world and examines the wider issues that emerge when parents make their family life public.
Inspired by a New York Magazine article by Caitlin Moscatello, the series dives into the popular practice of family vlogging and the rise and fall of Ohio-based vlogger parents Myka and James Stauffer, who gained massive popularity through their widely watched YouTube channels that had a combined following of roughly one million subscribers by 2020. The Stauffers were known for their honest and revealing portrayal of the highs and lows of parenting young kids. In 2017, the then-parents-of-three adopted a two-and-a-half-year-old boy from China and named him Huxley, documenting the entire adoption process and subsequent family adjustments to a new family member. Voracious followers kept up and Huxley himself became an audience driver for their channel. One day, three years later, Huxley mysteriously stopped appearing on the Stauffer’s page, sparking a whirlwind of online speculation about his whereabouts.
Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy (Peacock) tells the story of Sean Combs’ early years and his decades-long transformation to Puffy and then to Diddy, with crucial insight into the forces that shaped the man and may have made him a monster and sheds light on his childhood, rise to fame, and recent criminal allegations, challenging viewers to rethink everything they thought they knew about him. (January 14)
Here Come the Irish (Peacock) airs their seventh and final episode following the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team, exploring their lives on and off the field. (January 16)
SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night (Peacock) spotlights different elements of the show’s history and legacy, exploring the intricacies of the legendary sketch comedy series. (January 16)
Reality Television:
Shark Tank (ABC) airs a new season. This is Mark Cuban’s finale season. (January 17)
Baylen Out Loud (TLC) follows the journey of Baylen Dupree, a young woman living with an extreme case of Tourette Syndrome. (January 13)
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace (ID Discovery) will tackle truly shocking, bizarre cases filled with twists, turns, and access to unbelievable firsthand accounts. (January 13)
