James as Himself

In which I have a long weekend alone, and spend it with Paul Reubens (and writing)

Here is my single resolution for 2026.

I will write six episodes of ‘The Troupe’ by the end of this year

But you might not hear much of the detail of that for a while…

Despite the shift towards writing The Troupe as a novel, for now, I’m planning to keep the resolution the same.

It’s been a strange week of freedom to create and watch, and I think I’ve used it well. But it’s proof that there is still a creative drive there, when the time is available. This is a very positive thing for my mindset!

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Fancy Falls This Week

Tuesday - Too Tired for TV, Who Even Am I?

Last night The Televigion Wife was out seeing a friend, I did bedtime for The Televigion Daughter then drafted this week’s post. When TTW returned, she suggested a Ted Lasso and I said no!

I remain pretty exhausted by hayfever (and life in general) so made a likely sensible decision to read more of The Secret Commonwealth in bed.

This book is really speaking to me about the value of stories and imagination, outside of the oppression of organised religion, and is clearly related to everything I read in Phillip Pullman’s essays on writing earlier this year.

The sequence last night where Giorgio Brabandt spoke to Lyra about The Secret Commonwealth (meaning the supernatural, monsters and unusual creatures) and how people might judge her if she talks about it too loudly, was very inspiring for Fancy Falls.

So, no TV was the right choice. I’m stunned.

Wednesday - Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappyness Ep2 (HBO Max)

A mixed bag again, with two sketches that went on too long (Lewis and Clark, and the Great Depression bread line) but the third sketch of Washington talking about not running for a third term, and a non-veiled discussion of Trump and the ways democracy can be exploited was laugh out loud funny, and also incredibly sad. Partly for how awful a situation the US is in, and partly for Rob Reiner’s excellent George Washington reminding me what a talent we lost.

Wednesday - Ted Lasso S3 Ep6 - Sunflowers (AppleTV)

This might be my favourite episode of Ted Lasso ever, very funny and brilliantly put together, holding multiple similar streams in conversation with one another. Also, I don’t believe there was any Keeley as she was off seeing the Aurora Borealiest event ever.

Roy and Jamie was a lovely breaking down of their walls, the rest of the Richmond players worked out some joy for themselves, Beard was addressed but not focussed on, and Ted allowed himself to start working again and not coasting. And then there was Rebecca’s delightful houseboat encounter. A genuinely touching meet-cute, beautifully played by both actors. It all felt thematically relevant and focussed.

Great job, team!

Wednesday - Theroux and Buxton on Social Media

From the latest episode with Louis Theroux on The Adam Buxton Podcast

“Social media is an insecurity generation machine”

“It encourages you to compare your insides with other people’s outsides”

Intended to keep you addicted and feeling bad, hoping to be like the successes you see.

Thursday - Long Weekend Alone

The Televigion Wife and The Televigion Daughter have just left (at 9.10am) for a long weekend visiting family in the Northeast of England. I can’t join them as I’m on call and one of their destinations doesn’t have the strongest WiFi, nor do I have any holidays left to take.

So I’ll have no baths or bedtimes to do, and have the potential of a late night and lie-in or two, to fit my old pre-family habits. TTW mentioned I will likely spring awake at 7.15am regardless...

I am planning to start making some notes for The Troupe as a novel, likely the TV monsters that will make up the Fancy Falls pantheon.

Thursday - Reflection

Your reaction to life dictates how you see it. A sadness can be overcome. And jealousy and anger are never the right choice or motivation.

So next time I’m feeling jealous, think of what I have, and what I’m actually frustrated by.

Then move on, and make things I want to make, for no-one but me.

Thursday - Weapons (Sky Cinema)

I finally got round to finishing this, after a brief aborted attempt during a lunchtime when the sun was so bright through the curtains I couldn’t see a thing. Not ideal circumstances for a slow-build horror, so my first evening alone was a better choice.

And... It’s better than the director’s previous film Barbarian for me, I think? Slightly better put together in terms of a believable world (within the confines of an overtly supernatural film) and with a better, less cliché-ridden villain. But by the OTT ending (as Wendy mentioned in a previous comment) I couldn’t take it seriously at all. When it all comes down to loudly shouting minions and squirm-inducing visual moments, it left me with a feeling of ‘fine, this is what it wants to be’.

Sinners is the better 2025 horror film for me, with a better thrust to the whole thing. Even if the intriguing folk-horror vibes of Weapons are closer to my heart than boring old vampires.

Thursday - The Hawk (Netflix)

A new Will Ferrell sitcom, with ten 30 minute episodes and I haven’t read a single review?

I’m starting it now to avoid having my assessment sullied by any online takes I come across...

Ooh this is a slog. Netflix ads at 18mins in and I’m tired of the schtick already. Slow and boring and why should we care about the character?

Yep, given up.

Thursday - Pee-Wee as Himself (Sky Docs)

A two part documentary from 2023 about Paul Reubens and his character Pee-Wee Herman, as inspired by the mention on the latest Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast episode.

I remember seeing at least one Pee-Wee Herman film as a younger person, but with no context for who he was. A megastar in the US I guess, but maybe more niche here in the UK?

I also remember being aware of the scandal of him performing a lewd act in public, which I imagine the documentary will get to.

But the first half of episode 1 is very interesting about his beginnings in performance art and drag, through to The Groundlings and TV work. My experience of improv has always felt like either horrendous showing off, or a useful rehearsal room tool to build something solid and better, but the ideal of play and fun and finding characters with like-minded people is nice. I imagine that The Groundlings was just as competitive and nasty and self-obsessed as all improv groups can be, without the rose tint we view it though here.

I shall continue tomorrow.

Friday - Pee-Wee as Himself (Sky Docs) - Night 2

It’s a well constructed documentary to build up to that first live Pee Wee Herman show - which is essentially just a pantomime for Americans.

Makes me feel all the feelings about finding a group of like-minded people again, but needing a spark of something unique to make the output stand out.

[After Episode 1, just starting Episode 2] - I think what I love is that it’s a conversation between director Matt Wolf and Paul Reubens as to what the whole film is. From a man who has had walls up his whole life to achieve what he wanted to artistically, it’s brave to (sometimes) bring them down. But also to show that the natural inclination is for them to be up!

[After Episode 2] - It’s a hard watch with major events I knew were coming, and no real response from Paul himself, as covered in the documentary. What it isn’t, is a puff piece. It’s an insightful and keenly crafted film about a fascinating man. And contains a struggle for artistic control that is thematically relevant. I’m very impressed.

Friday - Ann Droid Eps1-3 (iPlayer)

A new sitcom about robot assistant Linda bought for elderly mother Sue by her son, from Diane Morgan and Sarah Kendall.

I was worried for the first 10-15 minutes, with no laughs and the annoyingly inept son Michael grating on me¹. But then Linda meets another robot in the charity shop and their silly playfulness brings it all up a notch or ten.

And in fact, after the dull setup first half, it’s funny and touching. If a tad predictable.

Sarah Kendall’s line at the end “Yeah I know, I’ve been listening” really made me laugh. Great character reaction to puncture the potentially saccharine moment.

I’m officially in, after episode 1!

[Episode 2] Off to a great start too, fun incidental details of robots and Richard Osman titles, and cracking line deliveries from Diane Morgan.

[Episode 3] - Roxie, played by Nicole Sadie Sawyerr, is just as good as Diane Morgan’s Linda. Lovely stuff.

Saturday - Day Off Alone

It’s a different world of being alone without the structure of work. I’m pleased that I slept about an hour later than normal, got up and cleaned the house, then prepared to get on a bus and go out. In my younger and worse days, I’d have been slumped in front of TV for far too long, eventually thought about cleaning, do that and realise it was a bit late to start writing and then watch a film or three.

I’ve got the get up and go - mixed in with a chapter of The Secret Commonwealth and the intro to Kathy Burke on The Adam Buxton Podcast over late breakfast - and know that just sitting somewhere else will help push me away from distractions.

[Update after the outing] - I made two pages of notes roughly plotting out the main timeline of The Troupe as a novel. I ate a large two scoop gelato, then it flowed out of me. I’m surprised I sat outside given hayfever - and I am feeling more tingly than usual just now - but none of the cafes or pubs felt right.

But gelato for lunch did.

The Gelato and The Setting

Saturday - Tenet (Netflix)

Inspired by Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey in cinemas, I thought it was time to watch one of the two films of his I haven’t seen, the other being Oppenheimer.

Maybe having a young child means there’s no time for very long and involved thrillers...²

This one from 2020 had very mixed reviews, but is closest to my wheelhouse of high-concept non-linear storytelling.

• I have turned on subtitles, as the voice mix is muddy! Another Nolan trait, certainly when watching at home.

• It’s just a Bond film, right? With some proper sci-fi (that would make Bond better, for me anyway). Robert Pattinson is just a slightly more involved Q I think.

• It’s all very exposition and move on. No character work or moments. That’s fine for my Saturday afternoon relax.

• I admired the idea and some of the execution, but was not wowed by it. It’s a pale imitation of the propulsiveness of Inception.

There’s a great film to be made with the idea of temporal pincer movements, and inverted fighters, but this is not it.

I wrote a sketch early in my comedy career called Backwards Sketch and the craft was admired by my fellow writers but it was never performed successfully. I think Tenet is the same.

Saturday - After Tenet

I’m sat in the kitchen deciding which novel writing/organisational software to use. I’ve opted for Anytype and I think I love it. A little daunting at first how wildly open it is, and you need to define the types of information you want to create, but it seems very customisable.

Sunday - No Plans Day

[Today is day 200 of journalling, and also of 2026]

I’m a bit worried about today becoming a lost day. I have no plans to go anywhere, no set idea of what I’m cooking for dinner and the next Doctor Who The Collection boxset ready to go in the Blu-ray player...

For now I’m reading The Secret Commonwealth in bed at 9.15am, because I can.

Options

• Have a quiet day at home, switching between writing and watching as suits my mood

• Lunch or dinner in a local pub, with my notebook with me

• Walk/bus to the next village for the coffee shops and bakeries, to get out and write again

• Binge the entire Doctor Who Boxset, eat all the cheese and crackers for three meals or more, supplemented with peanuts, Mini Cheddars and any chocolate I can find in the house and feel guilty and awful by bedtime

Let’s not do the last one³.

Sunday - Creative Groups

While watching the Doctor Who The Collection Season 25 boxset on a slow Sunday afternoon, I’ve just realised/remembered why I love behind the scenes of TV and film, and autobiographies and bloopers. It’s about groups of people, connected by a creative endeavour, talking about the joy (or otherwise) they shared. And it’s what is at the heart of The Troupe (and my previous creative focus The Secret, by way of an analogy).

Monday - His Dark Materials S2 Ep1 (iPlayer)

After a few hours upstairs at my laptop for writing, I wanted an hour or more of escapism and opted to start this.

It remains fairly slow and dull, with no spark of performance from anyone. And it is often fairly confusing when Lyra’s daemon is speaking as we selectively see his face animated (for budget reasons I would guess).

Not sure I’ll continue.

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Footnotes

1. HE’S NOT LIKEABLE, WHY IS LIKEABILITY SO HARD TO DO. Sorry for shouting, but it’s the same thing, over and over again.

2. I’ve just checked and I haven’t actually seen Dunkirk either. I clearly fell away from him earlier than I realised! (Having been a fan since Memento)

3. What actually happened - wrote a bit in the morning, went to the local shop for supplies, watched TV and napped in the afternoon, three hours upstairs after dinner honing Anytype and also ACTUALLY WRITING.