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Netflix · 2020 · Series

Bridgerton

The end is marriage, which is right. The method is gossip and appetite.

Would you still put it on?

A London season, a marriage plot, and appetite dressed as the entire point of courtship.

Scan to open.

What it really is

Courtship aimed at marriage is closer to the standard than a dozen shows that treat a vow as a lifestyle option. Give Bridgerton that. Then take it back, gently. The season it sells is a sport of appetite, scandal, and bodies, and the work of an actual house — money earned, children raised, a name kept — is wallpaper.

It is a confection. Eat a confection on purpose, not as dinner. If you watch it, watch the difference between wanting someone and being fit to keep a life with them. The show knows the difference in flashes and then throws a ball to make you forget. You do not have to forget.

Live historically

Plan one evening that is actually courtship: a walk, a conversation, no performance for strangers.

From the desk of Living Historic.

The eight

  1. Industry

    3/10

    Nobody works, except the servants the camera forgets.

  2. Household

    6/10

    Marriage is the goal, not the joke. Fidelity is at least a question.

  3. Piety

    2/10

    The season is a market. Reverence would slow the dresses.

  4. Courage

    5/10

    A few characters risk reputation for love. That is not nothing.

  5. Republic

    4/10

    Society here is a rumor mill, not a set of duties.

  6. Temperance

    2/10

    Lust is the engine and the reward. It catechizes.

  7. Truth

    4/10

    Gossip is the narrator. A good name is a toy.

  8. Stewardship

    4/10

    An heir matters. What the heir is for does not.

Also on the desk

Network analytics

Compare

Network analytics

Ten shelves, one board. The meter is counted from the titles on this desk. Money and audience stay on each company's page, and only where a filing exists.

Network

Genre

On the Living Meter, Hallmark leads at 73. Play is last at 39. Hallmark, Kindle, Acorn, Apple, Play do not publish an audience this desk will chart.

  1. 01Hallmark8 measured. 6 at 70 or above. 0 under 40. Weakest: Piety.Private · Private · no public audience count73
  2. 02Kindle12 measured. 8 at 70 or above. 1 under 40. Weakest: Piety.Public parent · Nasdaq: AMZN · no public audience count71
  3. 03YouTube8 measured. 2 at 70 or above. 0 under 40. Weakest: Piety.Public parent · Parent: Nasdaq: GOOGL65
  4. 04Acorn8 measured. 1 at 70 or above. 0 under 40. Weakest: Piety.Public parent · Parent: Nasdaq: AMCX · no public audience count63
  5. 05Hulu8 measured. 3 at 70 or above. 1 under 40. Weakest: Piety.Public parent · Parent: NYSE: DIS62
  6. 06Disney+8 measured. 2 at 70 or above. 0 under 40. Weakest: Piety.Public parent · NYSE: DIS59
  7. 07Prime Video8 measured. 0 at 70 or above. 1 under 40. Weakest: Piety.Public parent · Nasdaq: AMZN54
  8. 08Netflix41 measured. 6 at 70 or above. 16 under 40. Weakest: Piety.Public parent · Nasdaq: NFLX48
  9. 09Apple33 measured. 3 at 70 or above. 16 under 40. Weakest: Piety.Public parent · Nasdaq: AAPL · no public audience count43
  10. 10Play34 measured. 3 at 70 or above. 20 under 40. Weakest: Piety.Public parent · Parent: Nasdaq: GOOGL · no public audience count39