"A stream of women slowly trickles in, group by group. The mood abruptly changes when the TV screens flicker on to a clip of sparkling water. The bar cranks up the volume, a wistful three notes plays over the speaker, the brief theme song of what has become a show so popular that sports bars in Manhattan are throwing watch parties for women who, like me, are years older than the show's protagonist."
"I have a confession: When I first watched The Summer I Turned Pretty upon the series's release on Amazon in 2022, I only got through two episodes. I quickly deemed the show too cringe-inducing to handle. I believed I had grown out of love triangles driven by hormones and a lack of a fully developed prefrontal cortex. Growing up had taught me there were much, much more important choices to make in life than who you take to debutante ball."
On a Wednesday night in a Financial District sports bar, men in button-up shirts crowd tall tables while multiple baseball games play on TVs. A stream of women arrives and the mood shifts when the screens show a sparkling-water clip and the show's wistful three-note theme. The show's fandom prompts Manhattan sports bars to host watch parties for women older than the protagonist. Initial dismissal of the series gives way to immersion in the fictional beach town of Cousins and heavy social-media engagement. Prime reported 25 million worldwide viewers tuned into the third season's premiere, a 40% increase from the second season.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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