"Love Story" Is a Forgettable Elegy for Gen X

"On his podcast "This Is Gavin Newsom," the Democratic governor of California has made it a goal to rigorously engage with the opposition. But he is acceding, appeasing, as he nods and "mm-hmm"s in response to guests such as Steve Bannon and Ben Shapiro, ideologues who come on the show to discuss the machinations of MAGA. And so the podcast's producers, perhaps intuiting that the dialogue experiment with conservatives is failing, occasionally slot in friendlier agents of power, Hollywood types,"

"Last summer, Newsom interviewed the television producer and showrunner Ryan Murphy, a beneficiary of the California Film Commission's tax-credit program. Showrunner is a scant identifier for Murphy, who, next to Taylor Sheridan and possibly Tyler Perry, cuts, rather, the figure of a streaming imperialist, endlessly iterating formulaic soaps about gender and power in the country. On the podcast, Newsom asked Murphy about the upcoming entrant in his "Love Story" anthology series."

The FX series concentrates tightly on the romance between John F. Kennedy, Jr., and Carolyn Bessette, excluding the contemporary drama that links the Kennedys to larger cultural forces. Gavin Newsom's podcast "This Is Gavin Newsom" attempts engagement with political opponents but often shows the host acceding through nods and "mm-hmm"s to ideologues like Steve Bannon and Ben Shapiro. Producers intermittently insert Hollywood figures to shift conversation toward state policies and film incentives. Ryan Murphy, a beneficiary of California Film Commission tax credits, is portrayed as a streaming imperialist who recycles formulaic soaps about gender and power. Murphy's "Love Story" episode will dramatize Kennedy Jr. and Bessette, who died in a 1999 plane crash and were cremated, their ashes scattered in the Atlantic, creating a sense of disappearance.

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