http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/03/arts/2-tv-shows-4-books-and-7-viral-videos-for-your-long-weekend.html 2016-09-05 09:54:48 2 TV Shows, 4 Books and 7 Viral Videos for Your Long Weekend Summer’s almost over. Here’s a cultural diet for the last lazy hours of the season. === Summer’s almost over. Here’s a cultural diet for the last lazy hours. Ask a comedian: Happiness isn’t funny, romantic happiness least of all. Rhea Butcher and Cameron Esposito, comedians and real-life spouses, play versions of themselves at an early stage in their careers. Ms. Esposito is the established comic, building her profile one podcast and hosting gig at a time. Ms. Butcher is the neophyte, telecommuting as a graphic designer by day, working on her act by night. It’s not supposed to work — two ambitious women sharing a life while trying to get ahead in a competitive field (one that’s even tougher for lesbians). And the series is sharp, without preachiness, on the casual sexism of the comedy business. But mainly, “Take My Wife” is in the mold of recent comedies — like “Difficult People,” “You’re the Worst” and “Catastrophe” — that present two main characters as happy-warrior allies against the world. The stars share an upbeat appeal, and the vibe is cheerfully laid-back. At a half-dozen episodes, it’s a fizzy, summer six-pack you could easily down over a Labor Day weekend. JAMES PONIEWOZIK The rising tide of high-quality television doesn’t lift all boats. Participant Media recently announced it would shut down its three-year-old cable channel, Pivot, one of the multitude of outlets scrambling to build a reputation for original programming. Pivot made quirky, interesting choices: the unsettling Arctic murder mystery “ This summer, Pivot showed, to very little notice, “ The sentimentality never gets overpowering, thanks to a cast that includes Toby Jones as an overextended banker and Shabana Azmi as an overbearing Pakistani matriarch. Running a brisk three hours without commercials, the show is available for streaming at Amazon, iTunes and Vudu. MIKE HALE This summer, when not working, I mostly read cookbooks (all hail J. Kenji López-Alt) and the backs of cereal boxes. I did consume two not-new books, or rather they consumed me. These are the books I’ve been hand-selling to my friends for the past month. The first is “ The second is As the end of summer approaches, my instincts are Janus-faced, half-oriented toward the future, half-focused on the past. The nostalgist in me wants nothing more than to re-experience the wonder of Simone Biles The future-oriented part of me is focused on the presidential election, which at least has united the country in one respect: No matter who we’re voting for, we’re doing so in a state of utter moral panic. For a sensitive, decidedly non-hysterical explanation of this year’s politics of disruption, I’d suggest One final note: All summer long, Emelyn Rude’s “Tastes Like Chicken: A History of America’s Favorite Bird” has sat alluringly on my desk. Though I haven’t yet had a chance to settle into it, a quick scan suggests it’s a lively one. Ms. Rude had me at the opening paragraph, when a serious scholar from her student days casually told her: “A chicken is an incredible piece of technology.” And a delicious one at that. Did you know this country consumes more than 8.6 billion chickens in the course of a year? Bonus feature: The book contains fowl-related recipes throughout the ages, including one for chicken soup circa 1390. A salve for the soul, even then. JENNIFER SENIOR This summer, one name loomed over internet culture. Harambe’s fatal encounter, Among them: Four baby pandas conspire to The genre has also been revived by videos that take humans out of the equation entirely. There are no fingers to point in the case of a Perhaps sweeter still is the emerging micro-genre of animal-on-human revenge. In “