Yeah, they even included hats for teams that have changed locations (San Diego Clippers, Vancouver Grizzlies, etc).

Anyway, the upshot of all of this is that this is a show that is almost physically hard to watch because of its dangerous cringe levels, but it is also a show about a guy who, despite everything else, is loved. It's not for everybody, but it's not against everybody either. 7/7

Nobody's more surprised than me about the fact that I think this show is actually REALLY GOOD about screens. And it's precisely because it takes very seriously the idea that WHAT'S ON the screens matters. Ron's phone, laptop, and desktop computer are basically the show's secondary antagonists. 6/x

The work is mysterious and important!

And one of the show's key insights on that front is that Ron's crisis is both personal and structural. He (we) live in a world optimized to make us go crazy, to encourage our least healthy thoughts and patterns of behavior, to turn our every step into a potential rabbit hole. 5/x

THE CHAIR COMPANY tells us, very explicitly, in its opening episode that this is a show about a guy having a midlife crisis. The show cares deeply about the texture of that crisis. Some of which takes shape as conspiratorial lore; some of which takes shape in the ways you'd expect. 4/x

This year, we have s2 of Fielder's THE REHEARSAL, and now, CHAIR CO, both shows that let go of the televisual comfort measures that even edgy series like SEVERANCE rely upon, while holding onto a kind of absurdist humanism. THE CHAIR COMPANY doesn't hate Ron; the show is WORRIED about him! 3/x

But I also understand that that flouting of convention can easily transform into a kind of contempt for the viewer. This, I think, was my complaint about Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie's THE CURSE. It was a show that seemed miserable in its hatred for both its characters and for us, as viewers. 2/x

I have a soft spot for TV series that feel *difficult* in the sense that they reject easy solutions to make themselves more watchable. THE CHAIR COMPANY, for instance, rejects the idea that the office could ever be a family, or a place for romance, or a theater for the performance of competence. 1/x

Anyway, that’s it. As I said, I’ve got something special cooking for when the City Edition hats drop this month, so, keep your eyes peeled. Trust the process.

I kind of love this. The art deco wizard/W reminds me a little of Merlin from the Sword in the Stone. “I’m going to Bermuda!” he says before he jets out the window of his turret. And that’s what the Washington Wizards will be saying, too, after the last game of the regular season. [high five] 22/x

Every Utah Jazz logo looks like the design on a can of sparkling water. This one is Grape. 21/x

I have to respect a logo that is an intensely specific homage to one single frame from the Steven Spielberg film Jurassic Park. The one where Samuel Jackson’s severed arm falls on Laura Dern and then the raptor creeps its nasty little head out from behind the breaker panel. CINEMA! 20/x

This is great, thanks!

Ask yourself, "Would Brian be more famous than Matt Yglesias if contempt were not a form of currency?" Then remind yourself that a better world begins with you

This hat justifies the entire collection. The collection, perhaps, exists to justify this one hat. It’s the reason for the season. Big letters, movement, this is a life-affirming logo. This hat is what the phrase “Generative AI” *should* mean. 19/x