I voted on Monday. I had to. I needed to feel like I was done with the whole process. In my mind, now all the political ads are in the Charlie Brown teacher's voice instead of the nails on the chalkboard annoyance I had before 9:23 AM on Monday.
There was one other time where I had that bliss, that feeling of being liberated from the entire process. That was when I was watching "I Am The Ambassador." I was so in tune with the short series, I blogged about it in "I Am The Ambassador" Lands On Nextfix & Our Binge List. It now appears that CNN.com has found the Netflix series. This Denmark reality television series may be the break from American politics we need, even though he's an ambassador from America.
It's Rufus Gifford — or "Rufus," as everyone here seems to know him.
Gifford is the US ambassador to this little near-utopic nation, which is consistently ranked as one of happiest, best-educated and greenest places on Earth. The 40-something diplomat has found himself the unlikely star of a Danish reality TV show called "I Am the Ambassador."Gifford's dog, Argos, and husband, Stephen, are fixtures of the six-episode program, which entirely lacks the drama of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" or the wine-glass-throwing of "The Real Housewives" series. For proof, look no further than the first episode's description, which says, "The embassy hosts a barbecue for the ambassador's birthday, and Rufus and Stephen throw a party. Rufus and the Danish defense minister talk terrorism." You might think that last sentence — and "terrorism" — means there's going to be some tension in the episode, some looming threat. You'd be wrong. There's basically no drama here, no plot twist, no ex-boyfriend coming to sabotage the couple's marriage, no slurry, vendetta-carrying party crashers. – CNN.com
I was excited to watch "I Am The Ambassador" mainly because it was going to be a break from American politics, but it seems CNN.com thought it might be too much of a break.
Gifford is the inoffensive, big-smiling, gay, golden-retriever-walking anti-Trump.Sadly, he's exactly the kind of public figure who wouldn't interest Americans much these days.…
That Danes appreciate a candid, no-frills look into the life of an innocuous US ambassador is telling. They're capable of showing interest in people who aren't screaming for attention and trying to engineer their own plot twists. I hope that after the 2016 election has settled we Americans can say the same.
But like me, you may not finish the entire series. (It's on Netflix and iTunes.)There's simply not enough tension to keep it moving. – CNN.com
I made it through the season and it was so very therapeutic. Give "I Am The Ambassador" a try and you'll be wishing that our American politicians could be like this at home. The series is about 10 hours long total so it's much shorter that restarting "Game of Thrones" and it is not as stressful.
Think of it as therapy for what we have been through in this past year or so. And if you don't want to try "Ambassador" as a stress reliever, go and vote early. It did wonders for me.
And Rufus and Steve, happy belated wedding anniversary.
h/t: CNN.com