SUMMARY KEYWORDS

drink, alcohol, people, craving, unpleasant feeling, day, thinking, moderation, wine, wears, brain, problem, feel, alcohol withdrawal, life, stop, anxious, moderate, alcoholic drink, called

SPEAKERS: Casey McGuire Davidson + Alysse Bryson

00:02

Welcome to the Hello Someday Podcast, the podcast for busy women who are ready to drink less and live more. I’m Casey McGuire Davidson, ex-red wine girl turned life coach helping women create lives they love without alcohol. But it wasn’t that long ago that I was anxious, overwhelmed, and drinking a bottle of wine and night to unwind. I thought that wine was the glue, holding my life together, helping me cope with my kids, my stressful job and my busy life. I didn’t realize that my love affair with drinking was making me more anxious and less able to manage my responsibilities.

In this podcast, my goal is to teach you the tried and true secrets of creating and living a life you don’t want to escape from.

Each week, I’ll bring you tools, lessons and conversations to help you drink less and live more. I’ll teach you how to navigate our drinking obsessed culture without a buzz, how to sit with your emotions, when you’re lonely or angry, frustrated or overwhelmed, how to self soothe without a drink, and how to turn the decision to stop drinking from your worst case scenario to the best decision of your life.

I am so glad you’re here. Now let’s get started.

I’m jumping in before the episode today because I wanted to let you know that if you haven’t checked out some of the free resources on my website, you are missing out on some great support that could be helping you on your journey to drink less and live more. If you go to HelloSomedayCoaching.com you can grab the free 30-day Guide to Quitting Drinking. Over 10,000 women have downloaded the guide and it is really comprehensive what to expect on day three and day five, what to shop for, how to get ready to quit drinking, what you might feel on day 16, tips and tricks and resources to tap into. You can just go to my website, enter your email address and it will be sent right to you. 

Also at HelloSomedayCoaching.com you can sign up for my completely free 60-minute masterclass, Five Secrets to Taking a Break from Drinking, even if you’ve tried and failed before. These are the mindset shifts that I go through with my private coaching clients when we first start working together. And if you’ve been stopping and starting with drinking, take 60 minutes out of your day to watch this, it will help. You can sign up for a time that works for you. And if you don’t end up being able to make that time a recording of this session will be sent to you. 

And if you’re ready to make this whole quitting drinking thing easier or take a longer break from alcohol, I want you to check out my signature online sober coaching course, The Sobriety Starter Kit®. It will help you move from day five and day 10 to 45 and 60 to six months and beyond by building not only your sober foundation and sober muscles, but life skills that will serve you well for the rest of your life. If you want to learn more about it, just go to sobrietystarterkit.com. And now let’s jump into the episode.

Today we’re talking about the best movies, TV shows and documentaries that feature addiction recovery and mental health storylines. And I think that’s so important because so many shows on TV and movies glamorize drinking, and show the characters drinking all the time. Years ago, the most popular TV shows like Friends and Seinfeld, the characters seemed to bond more in coffee shops than in wine bars. 

 

But these days, whether it’s scripted or reality, TV shows women drinking either at bars or parties or more often as soon as they walk in the door and take off their heels. And I’m not only thinking of the reality shows like The Bachelor and Real Housewives, but also Jane Fonda in Grace and Frankie, Meredith Grey and her love of tequila on Grey’s Anatomy, Olivia Pope in Scandal where the New York Times actually noted that Olivia is “part of the powerful women who enjoy red wine” TV Trend, along with The Good Wife’s Alicia Florrick, House of Cards’ Claire Underwood and pretty much everyone on Cougartown. In fact, in the show Dead to Me, with Christina Applegate, Vulture wrote that “the best supporting character in Dead to Me is the amount of wine that Jen and Judy drink. Another article said “Wine is such a big part of Dead to Me that it should probably get some cast credit for how often it appears on the screen.” 

 

And a lot of these show us the alcohol women drink as a signifier for the kind of women they are. And show alcohol is a key ingredient in gatherings, in fun, in romance. They normalize daily drinking and binge drinking, which can be really problematic and triggering when you’re trying to stop. Today we’re talking about where you can find compelling TV shows and movies and documentaries with addiction recovery and mental health storylines. 

 

I want to introduce my guest, Alysse Bryson, she’s the founder of The Sober Curator, a resource for those seeking content related to recovery or a zero proof lifestyle that strives to show that sobriety and life without alcohol do not have to be boring. She’s a strong woman in recovery, an innovative media maven, a marketing guru, and gal about town. This sober gal has a humorous outlook on life, combined with a fierce determination to succeed. Alysse, thank you so much for being here.

 

06:11

Thank you for having me. I’m really excited to be here and talk about my favorite things, movies and TV shows and documentaries, because I cannot get enough of that content.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  06:22

Yeah, I love it. And I have to say I was preparing for this interview and started binging Single Drunk Female, which I love. I cannot believe I didn’t watch it earlier. Over the past couple days. I’ve watched seven episodes out of 10 in season one, and I’m so sad. It’s going to be over but I was like, Excuse me. I have to prepare for my interview. Please don’t talk. Yeah, please.

 

06:47

This is a lot of tough work. Tough work over here. Just watching. This

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  06:51

is so funny. And so good. Well, and when

 

06:55

you emailed me last night to prepare for today’s talk, and some of the ones that you sent over that were not on my list. I was like, Well, what is this? I need to go watch this. I actually watched The Spectacular Now last night that has, what’s his name? The hottie that’s in the new Maverick movie.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  07:12

Oh my god. I can’t think of it. But I love hotties.

 

07:15

He’s a good looking fella. Let me look up – what is his name? Let’s just look up The Spectacular Now. Should have had this ready to go in my notes. The cast. Alright, I’m searching for Miles Teller. He’s in the new Top Gun: Maverick movie. Have you seen that yet? 

 

Oh, yeah. Yeah, okay. I’ve seen it four times. And full disclaimer, it has nothing to do with addiction or mental illness. Other than the fact that I’m addicted to the movie and I’ve seen it four times already. The guy who plays Goose’s son.

 

07:59

Yeah, yeah. Rooster, the hottie with the mustache? Yep. Yep. Yeah. When I saw that he was in this movie. We sent over the list. I was like, Oh, I like him. And I like her. So I actually watched it last night.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  08:11

And what did you think?

 

08:12

It reminded me a lot of how I drank at that age. So I think they were like, what early 20s? It looked like I think they were out of or were they still in high school? 

 

I feel like they were in high school. If they weren’t, well, that’s still how I drank. 

 

Yeah, still how I drank. 

 

Yeah, I think, yeah, the fact that alcohol was such a social lubricant in all situations, and so easily accessible, right, even by underage minors. 

 

That was my experience, too. Yeah, absolutely. I wanted to

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  08:45

talk to you about this, because I know you are all about curating all the best things in alcohol free life, in sobriety. And you told me you were putting together this list, and I loved it. Because I’m on some of these secret groups and people, the non drinking Facebook groups, people are always asking what they should watch. Tell me what your favorites are. Like if someone was just coming and saying, all right, I want to watch some new movies on this. What? Which ones would you recommend?

 

09:18

Okay, that’s really that’s a good – I’m gonna have to really think about my answers here. I haven’t broken out – the list has over 75 movies, TV shows or documentaries, and I have them broken out into those three categories, movie, TV series, or documentary. I have to then talk about favorites in each category. Because for me to talk like my favorite. I’m just gonna give a nod to 28 Days with Sandra Bullock because it’s a classic, right? It’s definitely one that was out when I was in early recovery. And I recently celebrated 16 years. So I’ve been doing this for a little bit now. 

 

And when I first got sober, to be honest with you, there was not a lot of representation. And of alcoholism and addiction in a positive way. Yeah. In TVs and movies like we’re starting to see it now, right like with what you just talked about Single Drunk Female. Like I wish a show like that had existed when I first got sober. But when I first got sober I was still binge watching Sex in the City and drooling over their cosmopolitans, right. And as far as like, my favorite movies, I actually really, really love – I really love Flight with Denzel Washington. I found so many parts of that movie just had the addiction, how strong of a hold it has over someone, especially when faced with like a big life changing – like he’s about to go to court, he needs to like straighten up and fly right. No pun intended. And yet he’s still like, can’t say no to the bottle. I felt like that movie really spoke to me. I saw it multiple times. I think he did an amazing job at really embracing that character.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  11:01

And Denzel is just amazing to watch. Always.

 

11:05

I mean, he’s just amazing. I also love the new Star Is Born with Lady Gaga. I saw that also multiple times. 

 

And that is Bradley Cooper, right. 

 

Yeah, it was Bradley Cooper. Yeah. And he is sober. And I think that he played the role of an alcoholic, especially one with that kind of fame and notoriety access when it comes to when you’re famous like that, like you everything rolls your way because everybody wants a piece of the limelight. Right. And I felt like that movie was very sad, but very well done in the reality of – even though he had everything going for him. It’s still that pull to the bottle was so strong. It was so strong. And he had so many people taking care of him. 

 

Right. And

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  11:57

like, being a mother enabling him. 

 

Yeah, yeah. One of the things I loved about that is so two things, both movies that you mentioned, one, Denzel Washington actually gave up alcohol in 2014. He said, “I’ll put it this way. When you’re toasted, you need a day to recover, you get a hangover. So that’s two days out of your life.” He said, “I don’t have time to waste.” And I love that. And then also Bradley Cooper, he – he is sober and got sober, fairly young. But I love that in The Hangover, everybody that movie is all about drinking and all about portraying drinking is super fun. And I thought it was interesting that he was sober in that. I mean, it depicts the blackouts and the really bad parts of being drunk as well. But does it in a very funny way where they’re glamorizing it, but in A Star Is Born I absolutely agree. I think that is a really great movie. And the other thing I loved about that movie was, Bradley Cooper got singing lessons and advice for drinking on the road and the band by Jason Isbell, who is one of my favorite singers who is also sober. I just think it was a really cool connection and very authentic.

 

13:19

Yeah, I mean, the amount of research that goes into filmmaking and TV show making like, those details don’t just happen by accident, right. There’s a lot of time and effort and my background, I actually worked for a TV station for the last six years. I love when I see that the attention to detail is so interwoven throughout a story script, and that they’re really, really trying because that’s what attracts – people love stories, right? People love storytelling and the identification process that happens. And I think the more that we’re seeing, not just the stereotypical things play out in film and TV shows, but we’re starting to see real characters. 

 

I want to give you an example of this to put it in context. Okay, let’s go back to Single Drunk Female, because you were just binge watching that one. I love that there’s Victor in that show. Who is it’s not about her in early recovery, or just getting out of treatment or her blackout. She’s 10 years in the future. She’s a sponsor. She has a girlfriend or a wife. I can’t remember the situation. But she’s doing very well in her career. She owns her home, right? She has her shit together. Like, that’s who I want to identify with. I want to see more storylines, with TV shows and movies, where the characters are in long term recovery. Right? I don’t always want to see, I mean, I am a sucker for before and after. I’m not gonna lie, right? But I also want to see more stories like so you’re sober now what like what happens? Because we get sober for a reason. Everybody has their own motivation, but usually it’s because they want a better life. Right? They don’t. They don’t like the consequences that have been coming their way. Yeah,

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  14:58

I completely agree. I mean, I love that character of her sponsor, just super impressive. Absolutely has her shit together. I also love in Single Drunk Female, like, she comes home from rehab and her mom’s like drinking wine in front of her and sort of justifying, well, I don’t have a problem. Everybody likes wine. I like it every night like, this isn’t a big deal. And just sort of navigating every awkward situation and people trying to say the right thing or not are trying to figure out what to do on St. Patty’s Day. And of course, the guy in Single Drunk Female is so cute, of course, hoping they’re gonna hook up. But it’s a great story. And what I like about it too, is the guardian actually wrote an article called The Rise of Sober Curious TV. And if you think back five or 10 years ago, there was nothing like this in terms of what was out there. And they write about both Single Drunk Female, but also The Flight Attendant. And showing that like, female, sobriety can be a source of great TV, not only the story of them drinking, right, because we see that a lot. But afterwards, like in The Flight Attendant, I think in season two she’s maybe made it one year sober, and is living her life in LA. And of course, there’s always drama and everything else, but it’s really great to see.

 

16:26

Yeah, 100%. And I think that, for us to get more of what we want, like we have to be watching these films and shows like it’s our responsibility. They’re only going to make more of what people watch and consume and what they talk about, right? And what makes headlines. And it’s really important that we do support that, that are speaking to us in this way, that more and more films and storylines will be, will be made. 

 

Yeah. Yeah, I’ve got to ask you them back. Okay, before we switch over to TV show or documentary favorites. What’s a favorite movie for you? 

 

Well,

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  17:02

I love 28 Days, too. I mean, I love Sandra Bullock. And it was just a good entertaining movie. I have to say one that hits close to home and actually hit way too close to home for me. I watched it when I was still drinking. And I was like when you sort of look away because you’re like, yikes. This could be me in 5-10 years, is When A Man Loves A Woman with Meg Ryan and Andy Garcia. In theory, she has her like whole life together. A husband, a house, two beautiful kids, and just drinking with her young daughters at home and her husband’s sort of trying to take care of her own enabling her and on vacation in Mexico. I mean, I actually went on my honeymoon right at a resort right next to that resort where they went in that scene with the plunge pools. We ate dinner there. And it all just hit so close to home for me it was so well acted and yet sad and tragic, but like not your typical story. So and then her coming out of being sober and trying to renegotiate all of those relationships and ya figure it out. And that one was really close to home. I liked Rachel Getting Married with Anne Hathaway.

 

18:22

I did too. And I don’t always love Anne Hathaway in everything. Sometimes she gets on my nerves a little bit. Sorry, Anne, I still appreciate your work for sure. But in this one, I felt like she really did like she I mean, she clearly did her research in taking on that persona, because like, it was just hard to love that character because she was just so self centered to the extreme. 

 

Right? Yeah, it’s just all about her all the time. Yeah. Which is usually at the root of addiction.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  18:56

Yeah. And I never saw Smash, but I was curious what you thought of it. When I was doing research? I was like this challenge. Like, I’d love…

 

19:04

Yeah, you have to see Smash. I only saw it, Smashed came out I think it was 2012. Okay, but I only discovered a few years ago, when I first launched the Sober Curator. It was one that I was like, Oh, this movie got by me. So I’m gonna go watch it. And then why don’t write a review on it. So it was one of the first reviews I did on the site. And it was heartbreaking. But it’s got the guy from the younger guy from Breaking Bad in it, who I just think is adorable. Yeah. And I think you said, I think you pointed out that the people that made Smashed also made The Spectacular Now. 

 

Yes, we talked about. 

 

Yeah, I just thought it was really really well done. And a really good portrayal of what happens that just because we get sober doesn’t mean that life is easy, right? Yeah. And it’s been a while since I’ve seen it but I remember thinking this is one I would definitely watch again.

Hi there. If you’re listening to this episode, and have been trying to take a break from drinking, but keep starting and stopping and starting again, I want to invite you to take a look at my on demand coaching course, the sobriety starter kit.

 

The sobriety starter kit is an online self study sober coaching course that will help you quit drinking and build a life you love without alcohol without white knuckling it or hating the process. The course includes the exact step by step coaching framework I work through with my private coaching clients, but at a much more affordable price than one on one coaching. And the sobriety starter kit is ready, waiting and available to support you anytime you need it. And when it fits into your schedule. You don’t need to work your life around group meetings or classes at a specific day or time.

This course is not a 30 day challenge, or a one day at a time approach. Instead, it’s a step by step formula for changing your relationship with alcohol. The course will help you turn the decision to stop drinking, from your worst case scenario to the best decision of your life.

You will sleep better and have more energy, you’ll look better and feel better. You’ll have more patience and less anxiety. And with my approach, you won’t feel deprived or isolated in the process. So if you’re interested in learning more about all the details, please go to www.sobrietystarterkit.com. You can start at any time and I would love to see you in the course 

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  19:57

Yeah. And what I love about it too, in reading about it, why I want to see it because I hear a lot of my clients, their spouses, their drinking, buddy. That’s what they do together. And sort of the synopsis of the movie is a married couple whose bond is built on a mutual love of alcohol, get their relationship put to the test when the wife decides to get sober and I think just so many people have that experience.

 

20:26

Yeah, absolutely. Another one that I love that I actually don’t it’s an older one but Gia with Angelina Jolie. Her performance there of the real life model Gia is I mean, it is. It is heartbreaking. It is a hard, that one is a hard one to watch. But just like her kind of stellar performance in Girl Interrupted. Angelina Jolie really brings it home with the character and Gia like yeah, phenomenal. Yeah, phenomenal.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  20:59

Yeah. I kind of like the lighter, less tragic movies. I mean, that’s just me. I haven’t watched this one yet. But the description sounds really good. I don’t know if you’ve seen it Burnt with Bradley Cooper. 

 

I have not seen that one yet. 

 

In that one. It says a heated chef who destroyed his career with drugs and diva behavior, but cleans up and returns to London, determined to redeem himself by spearheading a top restaurant. I like the redemption stories. I like to see what happens after they decide to get sober.

 

21:34

Right, because I think that’s a great point, right? Like, yes, we all know the stereotypical blackout drinker drug addict story, we know that story doesn’t end well. Right. But what do they do after they pick themselves back up? Those are the just like you said, those are the stories that I really, I find those really hopeful, right, yeah.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  21:56

And you know, it’s funny not to go back to Single Drunk Female, but just because I just keep talking about it. That’s why so many places where I laughed, like where she was like, she meets this guy who’s also in sobriety in recovery. And he recognizes her apparently they hooked up. Yeah, Thanksgiving, and she has no recollection of it. And then she’s walking through New York and like being like, oh, yeah, I threw up there. Or she has like a zero rating for or like a 1.7 rating from Uber and Lyft. No rideshare will pick her up like that. She’s just funny. And I was saying how blackout drinker where people were always telling me what happened. And I’m like, oh, so I just, I was laughing because some of this stuff is really funny. Looking back at it.

 

22:48

I actually just had an experience over the weekend here in Seattle, we had recovery day at the Mariners game. So it was just a section of the ballpark, where if you bought a ticket, you sat in this section with people that were all recovering out loud, right? All walks of life, always passive ways of recovery. And I was volunteering at this event. And this couple was also volunteering at the event. And they came up to me and they were like, “Oh, we remember you before you got sober. We’re so glad to see you here.” Like you really need to be here. Right? I was just wild because they used to be my bartenders, like back in the day. I was just like, I’m so glad we’re all here. Right? It was just really it was. It was crazy. But yes, those kinds of little things that are funny, like, not everybody may appreciate the humor in a tour of all the places that you puked in the city, but like, I’ve got one of those, right? Like, you’ve got brown, good Brown, we got one of those, like, if we can’t laugh, then write a

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  23:50

cry. So I would rather laugh. 

 

Yeah, one of my favorite stories is I literally puked on myself on the way home from a business trip with my coworker in the car, like in the morning, actually, they were really sick. And I was like, Oh, my God, I just couldn’t – you’re driving to LAX. And I was just feeling ill and like rolling down the window. And like, Dear God, please let me get there. You know, you’re just like, please, please, please. Yeah. And I just threw up, and I didn’t have anything. And I was like, talking to my husband afterwards. And I was like, you don’t think he’s going to tell anyone, do you? And he was like, you threw up on yourself? Like we were both directors. And I was here to tell everybody tell you what, it was like maybe he’s gonna think I’m pregnant. That wouldn’t be better. And he was like, You were drinking with him last night. I was like, there’s zero way to spin this one.

 

24:45

I’ve got, I’ve got a shame story for you since you just shared one, I’ll go vulnerable. I was a freshman in college and just started at a university and it did not take very long to find the party group and we would all been drinking and we were going to an underage dance club. And I, this was back in the late 90s, right, I was wearing white denim shorts and like a cut off and on top because I live in Seattle. Yeah, and Doc Martens, right and my huge hair. And we pulled up to the parking lot to go to this underage dance club. And I really had to go to the bathroom. And I knew I wasn’t gonna make it through the line into the club. So, and I didn’t, I really didn’t, I didn’t care about peeing outside. But I didn’t want to get anything on my white shorts because we were about to go into like a club where it would like show and glow and whatever. When my drunken stupor and this is my first night out with all my new friends, right? I was like, I know, I’ll take my shorts off, and I’ll go over here and pee, and then I’ll come back and I’ll put my shorts back on, which probably would have worked except I was so drunk. I took shorts off and then I proceeded to pee right on top of them.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  25:55

Oh my god. Did you remember it?

 

26:00

Yeah. Yeah, I had to go back to the dorm. I couldn’t, I couldn’t go. I definitely couldn’t go into the club with pee soaked white shorts. Yeah, that’s that. I mean, walking to the dorm and just underwear. It was so embarrassing.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  26:12

Yeah. That makes me think of another story. But I’m not going to tell it because we need to go back to the movies and TV and movies. 

 

Yeah, okay. Well, we’ve talked about some movies, but, and I know we keep talking about Single Drunk Female. But what about other TV shows do you have? Because there’s a lot that I love. Like, This Is Us on NBC with Kevin?

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  26:33

Well, first of all, everyone’s addicted to This Is Us. Yeah, there’s that, it’s so good. But yeah, talk about that storyline.

 

26:42

So yeah, we’ve got Kevin is the addict in that situation. And that show was I don’t know how many seasons, they have like out five, maybe six. I should know that I just, I worked for an NBC station. But we also know that in the storyline, Kevin’s dad who passes away when he’s like 18. And for those of you that have never watched This Is Us, it’s a storyline between three kids and a mom and her husband, but the husband passes when the kids are like, I don’t know 16. And the story jumps from present day back to when they were kids to present day to back to when they were kids. And it’s a different ages of whatever and he’s an alcoholic in the storyline. And his dad was an alcoholic. We see the genealogy of the disease come through in that storyline. And then as the seasons in the show progress, Kevin ends up like reuniting with his uncle, his dad’s brother, who’s an alcoholic, right and alcohol use disorder whichever it is more comfortable for you. And it just kind of shows how that storyline interweaves throughout all these different years and how it affects the mom and how it affects the brother and sister and like and the girlfriend and like all the players right? Because what we know to be true that addiction and mental illness don’t just affect the person who’s going through it truly it’s a family thing right and I think This Is Us does a good job of showing all the layers that go with that. 

 

Yeah, and I love

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  28:11

that they that they approach that from someone who seemingly had it all, you know, right because his good luck with movies, good looking, had a girlfriend at the time he went back to alcohol and pills like loving family, all of that just to kind of show that it’s not your stereotypical person who struggles with alcohol.

 

28:31

Yeah. And then you talked about The Flight Attendant. I love The Flight Attendant with Kaley Cuoco. You know, it’s a very extreme show that pushes the boundary of the imaginations but there’s a lot of real life to it too. And I actually worked for the, for the airlines. I went to the International Air Academy when I was 19. And worked for airlines. And that is, its alcohol abuse disorder is very prevalent in a lot of industries, but very much in the travel industry, specifically with people that flight attendants and pilots and whatnot, because you’re like in a different hotel every night, hotel bars, you can get away with anything, right? Nobody’s gonna know who you are or where you’re from. Yeah.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  29:18

One of the shows I liked and it was one you didn’t have on your list, but it’s, it’s a show that’s been pretty hot over the past couple years. It’s All American, which is, I mentioned, I love teen dramas teen coming of age. And it’s also about football. So it’s got the inner city kid going to the rich area. It’s got relationships, it’s got sports, all the good stuff. But there is the daughter of the football coach who has a lot of money. She has a twin brother, she has all this stuff. And they sort of reveal after you get to know her that she was addicted to alcohol and pills to get her where sort of feeling invisible to her parents and her brother, even though she was like the all star student. The part I liked about the storyline is she had a near overdose. She went to rehab, and then she comes home and they act like she’s fixed. Like, they don’t ever need to talk about it again, like, it’s all good. And the second time, like on her one year anniversary, when she drinks again, they finally get to, oh, it wasn’t just the drinking in the pills. It was the family dynamic. And that’s something we’ve never talked about, and that we need to talk about, we actually need to not pay more attention to you, but sort of fix some of the unresolved things that have just been part of the way the family operates. And I thought that was and plus, she’s really smart. And it’s really interesting, and it’s just a great show.

 

30:53

I’m gonna, I’m gonna have to check that one out. I think you’ve convinced me, Casey, that to my playlist. All right,

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  31:00

Tell me how you like it.

 

31:02

I will. Another one that I love is Loudermilk. It takes place in Seattle, of course, I like it because it takes place in Seattle. And it’s a group of predominantly men that are in this group that they call “sober friends” that meet in a church. I don’t know if it’s like trying to, like knock off of a 12 step type vibe or not. But he’s like the group, the group leader, and he’s in recovery, and it’s predominantly men, but there’s a gal that ends up in their circle. And it’s, it’s really more about this kind of group of misfits, right. But it’s got all of the it’s more I find it more on the comedy humor side than on the dark dramaturgy side. I guess maybe there’s a dramedy, and it has three seasons, I think. And the episodes are pretty short, which I like so it’s not like a huge time commitment. But if I’m not there, there were one or two episodes that I cried at but I laughed more than I cried watching that movie, or that TV series, which I think is available on Amazon. I thought that one was good. 

 

Dope Sick that came out on Hulu about a year ago now with Michael Keaton was incredibly hard to watch because it’s based on all real life, true, true things that happen around “Big Pharma”. And he, you know, the award that he won for being the best actor in that series hands down he deserved. The series was incredibly hard to watch. A year ago when it came out. I had a club on Clubhouse and we would every week we would all log on and talk about that week’s episode because that was just like so intense right? And it was so aggravating to like see like what you know, how the opioid epidemic like how it took off basically because of greed of “Big Pharma” and that one was not warm and fuzzy not did not laugh but I still think it’s really important work because so hopefully some people watch that that just thought they were watching the new hit series on Hulu and then maybe they were educated on you know, on on on what’s really gone down in ways that maybe they didn’t realize well I’m

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  33:14

it’s timely and understanding what’s in the news right in terms of “Big Pharma” getting sued and being held accountable for trying to get people addicted to their products. That was really damaging.

 

33:29

Another one that I like is Flack. Have you seen Flack?

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  33:33

No. Is that, oh no, that’s Flaked. Okay,

 

33:38

that’s great. I also like Flaked. I have not finished like, it did not hold me long enough to bench through it. Yeah. But Flax has Anna Paquin. Oh, yeah. From Trueblood it’s her and these two other women are in basically a PR firm in London. The fashion I mean, oh, the fashion I’m here for the fashion. I’m super interested in this now. They’re yeah, all their clients are like bougie celebrities or really, really well off people that basically your pet paying them to fix their problems, right. And Anna Paquin’s character is pretty much a raging alcoholic like, and she has all kinds of consequences. And she does attempt sobriety at different parts of the storyline. And I don’t want to give away too much for people who haven’t seen it. But I mean, you’ve got London, you’ve got celebrities, and each episode kind of has its own storyline but then there’s things happening that weave it all together, right. I love that show. I learned it now some people might find it triggering I have you heard that and when we do reviews for shows or TVs or even documentaries at the sober curator, we try to put in the notes like how triggering something was, and again, we can’t predict in the LBL but some shows like Euphoria, for example, will have more triggering than others. Right?

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  35:04

Yeah, I have to say that definitely. I mean, a lot of people binge their way through early sobriety, which is a completely valid, valid way. But there are definitely shows that are super triggering. I mean, I know, like Dead To Me, I could never have watched in early sobriety just due to the amount of time they’re drinking on screen and glamorizing it and showing it as the way to bond. And, you know, there are other shows like that when you see even negative consequences. You’re just like, yikes, this is hitting a little close to home. For me. I remember reading a book in early sobriety about sort of a drunk mom. And I was like, Yeah, I can’t read this. This is like, this is upsetting to me, I’m gonna need to read something that’s a little bit lighter and fluffier, helpful or something.

 

35:57

Yeah. And you just have to know that in, right, you just have to know going in that maybe I’ll be honest with you. One of our assignments for the Sober Curators for the month of August is that we’ve all gone, we’re all going to watch the new Elvis movie, and then we’re going to in September, we’re gonna come together and record our feedback. And I went to go see the new Elvis movie last weekend. And we know how that story ends. Right. And, and I had a friend that was visiting me in town. She’s also sober. She has around 10 years sober. And we were having the best weekend like we had gone sightseeing, and we’d gone shopping and out to dinner, and we’d gone and just done all kinds of fun things. And then we went to go see Elvis and like, talk about a buzzkill. Oh, wow, we walked out of there. And I was like, I’m so depressed right now. Okay. I, so it was like one of those things where I think it was a good film. And it was, it was definitely done in a very artistic way. And there’s some important messaging are like, I kind of wish I would have really, I would have known ahead of time how depressing it was gonna be, because I would just pick a different time to watch it. Right? Yeah, because we were having like this really fun weekend and then it just kind of came to a crashing halt. Because this movie was just so dark. And Tom Hanks plays a bad guy, which is like, so confusing, right? Yeah. Yeah.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  37:21

And, and I completely get that. I mean, you have to be in the right mood for some of these. A movie that I thought was pretty fun, even though it’s not super old, I guess is Postcards from the Edge. Yeah, that was written by Carrie Fisher, I think based on her real life experience with her mom, Debbie Reynolds, her mom. But yes, for people who are way younger than us, Carrie Fisher was Princess Leia in Star Wars, but it stars Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine and Dennis Quaid, and it’s talking about as substance-addicted actress tries to look on the bright side as she’s forced to move back in with her mother to avoid unemployment. But it’s, it’s funny, it’s a funny movie, but also really definitely has a lot of this substance addiction and addiction and families and all of that in there as well.

 

38:19

I love Carrie Fisher. I actually saw her perform live in stand up before she passed. And I was, I’m a huge Star Wars nerd. And I actually just side note on Carrie Fisher, I just finished Mean Baby by Selma Blair, her memoir documentary. Yeah, realize, Oh, it’s so good. Okay, and I gotta read, I really recommend, if you like Audible and you like listening to books, Selma, it’s in her voice on Audible. And it felt like I was like listening to a movie instead of reading. It was so good. But she talks about, she talks about different struggles with addiction over the years and being famous and how that shows up. There’s also a lot of good fashion in our references, but she was really good friends with Carrie Fisher, that was something that they shared in common was recovery. And she actually one of her beings, she was married a couple different times. But she actually got married in Carrie Fisher’s backyard.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  39:16

Oh, wow. I had no idea. I love celebrity – celebrities who kill their long autobiography. I really enjoyed the audiobook of Rob Lowe’s story. I only tell my friends there’s like, great movie recaps a good amount of celebrity gossip and a great story in there. I loved that one.

 

39:38

Yeah, absolutely. Trying to think of another series that just came out a few months back was The First Lady on HBO max. And it had Michelle Pfeiffer was playing Betty Ford. Oh, wow. See, and it shows who’s the actress that plays Michelle Obama. And then there’s another, the other one is Eleanor Roosevelt. It’s following those three first lady’s obviously very different time periods, but their time in the White House, obviously we do see Betty Ford’s drinking. And like how that kind of shapes and I’ve read up on a lot of Betty, Betty Ford was phenomenal in the work that she did. She was so ahead of her time. As far as like recovering out loud in the 70s. On TV. Are you kidding me? Lady deal, like as a First Lady. That’s a huge, huge deal. And the work she’s – she then went on to do is like, is mind blowing. But Michelle Pfeiffer does a great job. I don’t know if that series is getting picked up for a second season? And if they do, will they pick up the same first wives? Or will it start with other ones? I’m not sure. But there’s not a ton of addiction in the storyline. But enough, right and enough that it could make it on the list.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  40:57

I’m looking at it right now. It looks fantastic. That is empirically items. Again, the fashion and the costumes are amazing.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  41:06

Yeah. I think another one I loved, it was, I believe, Netflix, and it was just a great series, was Queen’s Gambit. The one about chess, so well adapted. So interesting. But there were definitely quite a few scenes where she was about to stop drinking like right before, start drinking right before like, a big match. And you’re just watching her and you’re like, Oh, dear God, no, don’t do it. You know, like going down to the bar. And you’re just like, you know how it’s going to end?

 

41:41

Yeah. Yeah, I know. The fashion was also really good. And that’s

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  41:45

also good. You’re super into fashion is what I’m hearing

 

41:50

super into fashion. I will travel for fashion exhibits at museums like I, I’ve been to lots of fashion weeks. I’m here for it. Awesome.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  41:59

So I have a question. I’ve never really watched much of Mom. But people talk about it all the time. So what do you think of that show? That’s the one with Allison Janney. It’s the mom and the daughter. Oh, gosh, I’m forgetting her name, the actress. But they’re both in recovery.

 

42:19

Yeah, they’re both in AA. Basically Mom TV series. Let me just pull up. What’s as soon as I see her name, I’m gonna be like, Oh, yeah.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  42:29

Anna Faris. I was like, she was married to Chris Pratt,

 

42:32

I think but that’s all. Okay. Yes. And then Chris Pratt is from the Pacific Northwest. I know. I have watched episodes here and there. I was not a die hard watcher of it. I think it’s slapstick funny. I know a lot of people like it. It just wasn’t a show that drew me in to watch every single episode. But I have certainly watched episodes over the years and laughed.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  42:57

Yeah, it’s like the old school comedy like Yeah, it feels like it’s more in the, in the Seinfeld or  Friends era of like, again, like it reminded me when I watched it of like Growing Pains or The Hogan Family or something like Full House. I was like, Okay.

 

43:15

Do you remember though? Do you remember the episode of Little House in the Prairie when Charles has a drug addiction? Not Charles. Son.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  43:26

I don’t but I watched over a lot of Little House in the Prairie as a kid.

 

43:31

Was it Albert Simon anyway, it’s, you know, what if here’s what I have found with TV shows and movies. Usually, there’s a character in every single, in every single show that has some kind of a yeah, a little too close of a relationship with alcohol and drugs. Right? Yeah. Because the fact of the matter is, that is real life. Right? Yeah,

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  43:54

I heard well, I was interviewing a guest recently who’s a writer, and she said that one in 10 people struggle with alcohol abuse, but one in three sort of abuse alcohol or have a problematic relationship with it, which I believe but here’s a redeeming fact, one in 10 people are in long term recovery. It’s almost in the United States. It’s almost 24 million people in recovery, that so there’s a lot of people that are getting help. So if you feel like you’re the only one out there, you absolutely are not either if you’re struggling with alcohol, or if you’re living alcohol free.

 

44:31

Yeah, I know that we’re gonna get close to our time and I don’t, I don’t want to miss the documentary. Let’s go this call just because I think that there have been some really great documentaries done out there. One that I thought was really, really good was recently out a year or two ago. It’s Bobby Joe Under the Influence and I actually got to interview her and talk with a producer and She is in the Kansas City area. And she had a very, very, very, very hard life. I won’t go into all the details of that here. But then after she got sober, she was so moved to want to help other women that were in similar situations of her that she was in. There were drugs, prostitution, a lot of domestic violence, there’s a lot of a lot of hard topics, right. And she’s made it her life’s work to create a space for people in recovery to not just not just get recovery tools, but really wraparound services, whether they need a place too, they need community, they need a place to live, they need food, they need training. And she’s built, she’s built this basically, she’s taken over this block in Kansas City. And when her parents passed away, and she got this lump of money, she reinvested it into this first house. And then over the years, it’s grown in the development, and now it’s helping like 200-300 people at any given time or being in the program and being helped. And I just thought like, it was such a great example of a real person, not a celebrity that had this really painful past. But then not only did she turn her life around, but then she’s working to help others in whatever way that they’re needing. And I thought that one was, it was really, really well done.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  46:18

Yeah. One on your list that I was really interested in seeing was the one on Anthony Bourdain.

 

46:25

Yeah, very good. You know, I was always interested in that. Obviously, when he passed away, it was shocking. And he was such a big character, but also that he used to be an addict. And yet he was drinking in all of his documentaries and his shows and everything like that. And I just, I’m looking forward to watching that because he had such an interesting life and, and also everything that happened he was a really complicated guy.

 

46:56

I think another one that came out recently in the last two years was the Demi Lovato. I think it was a year ago, came out. At the time, when that came out. She was “California sober.” I think since then she’s now sober, sober. I don’t know, she hasn’t called me. So we’re not totally tracking on that. But I’m just what I read off the headlines. And it was really controversial, right? Because people were in an uproar over is “California sober” really sober or not? Which gets into a whole harm reduction conversation. And like, there are a lot of strong opinions and what I hope with that documentary, and there’s even Elton John makes a cameo appearance in that documentary. And you know, he’s got, I don’t know how much time he has 20, 30 years of time, a lot of time. And you know, he vocalizes his concerns around the “California sober” essentially. And what I hope is that I don’t whether you were for that documentary or against it, I don’t care. The fact of the matter, is he talking, right? Yeah. And if we’re talking, then there’s an opportunity to create change, if we’re not talking about it, and it’s a secret, and it’s just like, Oh, we don’t talk about that. Right, then nothing will change. It’ll just be the same, more of the same. And I don’t, I guess I’m of the camp of, there’s no such thing as bad press, right? Because it stirs up the conversation. And then so many people were talking about a pro or for doesn’t matter, the fact that people are talking about it, I think opens the door that a lot more people can get help. Right.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  48:30

I completely agree. I think that’s, that’s completely true. And it was interesting. You mentioned Elton John, and on your list of movies. You had Rocket Man.

 

48:40

Yeah. That was another good one. Did you see that one?

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  48:45

I have not yet but I want to, it’s yeah, it’s on my list. And then Ray, of course, also another great documentary or movie. I love all the sort of music movies, real life interpretations of people. I just think they’re so fun. Write that one. I think I need to ask why you had it on your list.

 

49:06

This is like, this is a never ending list. I’m always like, Oh, here’s another one. Oh, here’s another one. Right. I don’t know that this list will ever be finalized. Yeah, but we are going to get a working version of it up onto the site. So at least people can have a starting point. And what I’ve done on our YouTube account is I’ve actually created a playlist of, it’s got over 50 movie trailers in it. Oh, I love dealing with addictions. You can just go to the playlist and you can check out through there and then actually watch the trailers. That’s great. That’s, we can link to that. Let’s absolutely link to that would be great to use. Finish here. Yeah. Nice. Well,

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  49:45

I love this conversation. I am a binge eater of shows. I’ve got a bunch more on my list right now which is very cool.

 

49:54

Well, if you are, if you want to watch something together, and then I go back on and we talk about it likelLike, I’m here for you, girl, I will sign up for that conversation any day. 

 

Okay, wait, there’s one on your list that I wanted to hear about. It was Spencer, about Princess Diana.

 

50:10

Mm, yeah. 

 

Tell me about that one.

 

50:15

That one addiction is she has an eating disorder. And there’s some mental illness at play. Right? And so it’s really kind of through that lens. I’m very broad. When I look at things addiction wise we can, you talk about mental health storylines as well. Yeah, absolutely.

 

50:33

And I am if there’s anything that comes out on the Royals like, I’ve seen that if there’s a podcast, I’ve listened to it, like, I cannot get enough. Yeah, of British history, just to be honest with you. But there’s a she, her story is incredibly sad, you know, a lot of depression, a lot of depression that showed itself throughout an eating disorder. I don’t know if there was alcohol and drug abuse throughout those times, but probably, and that one, that movie was Spencer was it was very artistically done. I did. It’s not what I thought it was going to be. But I was okay that I had seen it. But it’s not one that I’m going to watch, like, over and over again, that maybe some others.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  51:20

Yeah, I have to admit that I was actually, I spent a number of years as the director of entertainment marketing, both for imagery and film for celebrities at Getty Images, which is a Seattle company. I also am obsessed with all things celebrity fashion, entertainment was the only job I had before this one that all the work I did was stuff that I would do anyway, in my free time. I was subscribing to people, and that’s weekly and Entertainment Tonight. And I was like, God, this is the best job ever. I really love the Royals in the celebrity gossip. And it’s entertaining to me for that. I mean, you’re for that all day long. A Million Little Things is the other one. And I know we are in need to wrap up. But have you watched that? 

 

52:09

Have you seen it? It’s an ABC, it’s through the ABC. And it’s a group basically, the premise of that show is there’s a group of guy friends. And one guy in the group and this is the very first episode. So I’m not this is not a spoiler, he committed suicide, okay. And he takes his life and then what we see is how that plays out in the life of his wife and his kids. And then his three best friends and then and their families. And it’s – there’s four seasons, four or five seasons out. It covers a lot of different topics. But definitely there’s enough of substance abuse disorder and mental illness issues that one had to make the list. Yeah, yeah. No, that one looks really interesting to watch. If you liked this is us, then you would probably like A Million Little Things. Perfect. 

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  53:05

All right. Well, tell us a little bit about The Sober Curator and where people can find you and all the good stuff.

 

53:11

Well, you can find us at thesobercurator.com. And we are on social media on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, we’re on TikTok, but not really. We haven’t right now, like don’t go there, don’t follow us there. We do have an email newsletter as we get once we get on the other side of summer here, we will start sending out weekly emails again on a more regular basis. But really The Sober Curator, if you just come by, you know, once a week or once a month and check it out. We have new content going up all the time. We have almost 30 different contributors. Most of them are in the United States. We’ve got two in Canada, one in Mexico, one in Australia. And they’re all just working for you. We’re not even a nonprofit. We’re just people that love content. And we’re trying to curate this hub of great recovery, lifestyle content, whether you’re looking for movie and TV show reviews, like we talked about today, book reviews, podcast reviews, merchandise, N/A beverages, we’re trying to cover it and if you’re, if you check us out, and you’re like, hey, I think they are missing this, then let us know, we, you know, maybe you want to be a curator. I don’t know.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  54:19

I love that you describe it – thinking of The Sober Curator as your sober concierge. I just think that’s perfect. Yeah, yeah. And I also love you said, you aren’t in the business of telling anyone how to get sober but you are in the business of keeping any person seeking an alcohol free lifestyle, entertained and informed. I love that.

 

54:42

Yeah, that’s we really – we don’t, we don’t care. We’re not here to tell people that the only way is to sober way, right? That’s not because everybody needs to get sober. But for people that have decided that that’s their lifestyle. We just want to provide great content to feed that lifestyle.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  55:00

Yeah, I love that because you know, I feel like a lot of sobriety or when you start exploring, and it’s sort of like pulling a thread, you find one thing, and you start pulling on it. And then you find this podcast and that book and that group and that movie. But I love the idea of having it all in one place. You’re not sort of hunting and pecking and trying to Oh, I didn’t know that was out there existed. I love that you’re bringing it together.

 

55:26

Yeah. Thank you. Awesome. 

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  55:29

Well, thanks so much for joining me. This has been really fun.

 

55:33

It has been super fun. I loved being a guest. And we will get this episode up on the site along with the list. And we’ll just keep adding to it, I guess.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  55:45

Perfect. That sounds great.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  55:47