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Coming to a screen near you, the Obamas on Netflix — and they’re getting a jump on Trump TV

Ellen E Jones
Ellen E Jones

What is the proper order of career moves in a Great American Life Story? Stripper, reality TV star, then platinum-selling rapper? Or model turned reality TV star, turned momager and Insta-influencer? Or is it snake-oil salesmen, then reality TV star, followed by US President? There are many roads to Successville USA, but all pass through the reality TV truck stop at one point or another.

At least that’s what I’m deducing from the Obamas’ multi-year and (likely) multi-million-dollar production deal with Netflix. Barack’s out-of-office profile has so far been limited to an occasional interview with Prince Harry, a select few public speaking engagements and some comparatively restrained tweets to his 103 million Twitter followers.

This Netflix deal will give him the means to communicate directly and intimately with a 125 million (and growing) subscribers worldwide. If you don’t see the political play in that, then you probably haven’t binge-watched enough House of Cards.

The most obvious clue that the Obamas intend to use this new platform to do more than supplement their retirement income is in the name: Higher Ground Productions. It’s a call back to Michelle Obama’s speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, in which she advised her fellow Democrats to practise dignified restraint in the face of an unscrupulous opponent. Two years on, the sad ineffectiveness of “When they go low, we go high” as a political strategy seems well proven.

Still, the Obamas’ move into television suggests, if not a total relinquishment of the moral high ground, then at least a new willingness to sally forth into the cultural lowlands. After so many years of rising above the fray, they’re poised to get grubby on Trump’s turf.

TV is very much Trump’s turf. In a documentary I was watching on Netflix (where else?) the other night, an assortment of NYC real-estate investors, business reporters and recently ousted White House ethics officials weigh in on the Donald they knew. Whatever his blindspots in business, they conclude, here is a man who truly understands the power of TV as a promotional tool.

Remember, it was The Apprentice (and certainly not any actual business success) that so successfully established his deal-maker image with the US electorate. In office he’s had no policy adviser as trusted as Fox News, and it’s still rumoured that this whole presidency is merely a soft launch for the real venture: Trump TV.

In that case, it looks like the Obamas have got the jump on Trump. Netflix’s statement is vague on the kind of programming we can expect (“including the potential for scripted series, unscripted series, docuseries, documentaries, and features”), but they won’t do anything as obvious as Fox and Friends for progressives.

Lifestyle programming, interspersed with a few worthy docs for credibility, seems more likely. The aspirational-yet-adorbs Obama marriage is already only a few licensing deals short of brand status. Meanwhile Melania can barely bring herself to hold hands with her husband in public. Come back Richard and Judy, all is forgiven.

Gardening is too slow for the tattoo set

Those tattooed guys who used to be in bands? They’re all getting serious about cooking, bread-making and baking now, taking tips from Mary Berry. Saturday night cocktails with the girls at a bar? That’s now Sunday afternoon crafting at the WI.

Even dozing in a comfy chair has been upgraded to “mindful meditation” and made the subject of a series of classes at £15 a pop. Is there any pursuit of late middle-age that the young and hip won’t co-opt for themselves? Well, maybe just one: gardening.

It certainly helps that most young Londoners can’t afford the rent on a place with a living room, let alone some outdoor space, but the real reason for the lack of rock ’n’ roll gardeners is more complex. The pleasures of horticulture are far too slow and subtle to satisfy a generation used to the instant gratification of on-demand TV and same-day delivery. There is no app that will rid your lawn of cat poo or ensure your hollyhocks bloom.

Perhaps that’s one reason why the Queen chose a visit to the Chelsea Flower Show as her first post-wedding engagement. After all the excitement of #HazzaLovesMeg2018, maybe she just needed a calm moment far, far away from anyone under the age of 40.

*Solo: A Star Wars Story is full of eye-catching turns from hot new screen stars (Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Donald Glover, Alden Ehrenreich) but it’s starlet-turned-stalwart Thandie Newton as no-nonsense Val who commands attention.

Thandie Newton as Val in Solo: A Star Wars Story (Jonathan Olley)
Thandie Newton as Val in Solo: A Star Wars Story (Jonathan Olley)

Newton’s complexion may be ageless but these days her performances emit the liberated attitude of a woman with decades in the screen trade to look back on. As her character Maeve, a robot sex slave gone rogue, says in this week’s Westworld: “I told you I found a new voice. Now we use it.”