Welcome to Turn and Smile
A weird thing happened in the early days of television.
Actors wanted their faces and names front and center. Shows wanted to signify who was the cast.
Opening sequences started giving the main cast a moment where they individually were showcased in front of the camera by giving a turn… and a smile.
It was a quick and easy way for everyone to get what they wanted. The audience learns who is important to the show, and the show filled its credit obligations to the cast.
This extremely common trope only got more pronounced in the 1980s and 1990s.
Any other context and this slow turn and smile might be creepy. Who are you looking at, Jodie Sweetin? You’re on the phone!
So we decided that this would be the perfect name for our project.
Who are we?
We are Mason (as in the jar), and Larissa (Live from Canada). We are long-term friends who connected over a mutual disdain of Ricky Gervais, and a shared obsession with all things film and TV. One of us is currently unpacking a lot of unresolved childhood trauma, and the other has two Masters degrees.
Larissa has two Masters degrees.
When she’s not here recounting the latest Taylor Sheridan shenanigans, is venting about Canadian politics, entrepreneurship, and her English Bulldog.
If you are interested in hearing more from , follow him to learn about how not removing Diversity, Equity, and Diversity (DEI) measures can help make the world a marginally better place.
Why subscribe to Turn and Smile?
We started Turn and Smile because TV deserves more respect. The talent, the writing, the performances—this is where culture is being made. And honestly, we’ve been watching, dissecting, and debating it for most of our lives. Now we’re just doing it with a mic (okay, a newsletter).
Sunday nights, we give you a full picture of what’s on—across all platforms, not just cable. Thursday nights, we serve up sharp, witty commentary on what’s actually worth watching. No fluff. No film snobbery. Just real talk about great TV.
Subscribe if you love TV. Subscribe if you hate scrolling aimlessly. Subscribe if you want to hear what two media nerds from Vancouver really think.
Because we were tired of half-baked TV guides and critics who only care about film, and we think you might be too.
TV is having a moment. We’re here to help you catch it—with a turn, and a smile!
