We Didn't Want to Write This

Another day of gun violence ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

September 11, 2025

Good evening, Meteor readers,

Last night, I held my daughter a little longer than usual, to which she said, “Get off, mama.” But I clung to her tiny frame like a life raft. When the days are particularly dark and the rhetoric unbearable, sometimes the only thing that feels manageable is a hug. It is a crushing weight to try to prepare my daughter for a world so violent, so numb to the murder of children, so uncaring to little brown girls that look like her.

There is a lot to be said about the shooting of Charlie Kirk yesterday, and certainly in the days to come, you’ll hear it. Some of it you may agree with, some will challenge your way of thinking, and some will be nonsense. But people will talk about him. They will remember him. They will memorialize him. They will reference him in the ongoing conversations about gun policy and political violence.

And they will forget the everyday people who have been gunned down in the streets walking to work, walking to school. Going home. Those murders are political too. They matter. They are an eternal reminder that America values the right to own a gun over the right to live safely. So today my heart is with every person who continues to ask why wasn’t my child’s murder enough to change everything. Why didn’t they care when it was one of us?

In community,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

Rinse, repeat: It was another horrific, predictable Wednesday in America. How so? Well, there were two school shootings, although most headlines were accorded to one of them. The first was captured in a gruesome video that went viral and looped over and over in the social media feeds of most people I know, who had not intended or wanted to view an assassination on X. (We will not be linking to a murder clip here.) It also unfolded at the exact moment that its target—the MAGA political activist Charlie Kirk—was answering a question about gun violence in America while visiting Utah Valley University.

The other shooting took place at Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Colorado, where the gunman died of self-inflicted injuries and two students were wounded. One of them remains in critical condition at a local hospital.

President Trump—a close confidante of Charlie Kirk’s and the beneficiary of Kirk’s alarmingly successful crusade to convert college-aged men in particular to the Republican cause—ordered flags be flown at half-staff.

(VIA GETTY IMAGES)

Good. Lower the flags, not for Kirk, but for the rest of us, who are grieving what has been made normal here. It is tragic that we live in a place where one school shooting interrupts another. It is unspeakable that an eighth grader at Evergreen told local news he’d just moved to the area a few months ago and didn’t think “this would happen so soon.” So soon. It is insane, not normal, diseased.

We should be tearing our clothes. We should be in mourning over the decisions that have brought us here. The flags should be at half-staff until something changes. But of course, the people with the power to do that—the people lowering the flags, the people calling for a moment of silence on the House floor—are the same people who could pass legislation literally today to mitigate this. These people could make it harder to get a souped-up hunting rifle so that what happened to Charlie Kirk doesn’t happen to their colleagues or their children or our colleagues or our children.

You should know: Utah, where Charlie Kirk was killed, voted to relax gun laws on college campuses just a few months ago. In August, KSL NewsRadio published a headline that reads: “Students and Faculty at University of Utah Can Now Open Carry with a Permit.”

It was an astounding, sickening day. It was just another afternoon in this heartbreaking country.

— Mattie Kahn

AND:

A number of HBCUs were put on lockdown or given shelter-in-place orders today after receiving direct "terroristic threats.” Among the schools targeted were Spelman College, Clark Atlanta, Hampton University, Virginia State, Bethune-Cookman University, Southern University, and Alabama State. While the source or sources of the threats is still unknown, there have been calls for “retribution” from far-right figures in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s death, with some going so far as to claim the left has started a Civil War.
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Your new Bachelorette has been announced, and holy soda pop, it’s a strong choice.
Yes, please do throw money at this problem: Melinda French Gates is investing $100 million in women’s health, telling Fortune that women have been asked “for far too long to deal with a lot of pain and suffering.”
Riz Ahmed in a modern retelling of Hamlet set in London’s South-Asian community? “Never doubt I love.”
Speaking of love, it has left the building for Shaun White and Nina Dobrev, who have called off their engagement. My plan to become the first Mrs. Shaun White continues apace.
Move over Labubu. The Sapo Concho is here.

Oh, and the Emmys Are Still Happening

BY REBECCA CARROLL

SIRI, PLAY ALL OF THE LIGHTS (VIA GETTY IMAGES)

Yep, the world is burning, but Hollywood is still giving out little gold statuettes to the kids at the popular table. And this year’s Emmys, which air this Sunday, actually feel important, especially as the Trump administration continues to make drastic cuts to and place restrictions on funding for the arts and creative institutions. So if giving out awards at a sparkly, red-carpet event reminds us of how important the arts are in this particular moment, I’m all in. Also, who am I kidding? I’m always all in. I live for an awards show.

I’m going to limit my predictions to the main categories, and rate accordingly.

Best Drama

Should win: The Pitt, because despite its clear echoes of ER, it’s got a heart of gold, resurrected the career of Noah Wyle (one of our last good white men standing), and features a truly inclusive and diverse cast of characters who are all fully developed and nuanced.

Will win: Severance, because it's the best show in this category. There’s literally nothing wrong with it—it’s stylistically vivid, flawlessly written, and ingeniously cast.

Personal fave: Paradise. While the apocalyptic premise of Paradise is, in turns, cheesy and terrifying, Sterling K. Brown—along with a very solid supporting cast, which includes the excellent James Marsden and Julianne Nicholson—grabs us in the gut from episode one, and after that, it’s just impossible to look away.

Best Comedy

Should win: The Studio should win because it’s a bold, original, and cringeworthy send-up of Hollywood sent from the actual heavens. It took me a few episodes to get into it, but then I realized that the key to enjoying this show is to give in to the cringe and let go of the silly notion that people in Hollywood are just like us. They’re not. They’re a different breed, and I love that for them.

Personal fave: Only Murders in the Building. Selena Gomez, Martin Short, and Steve Martin walk into a building—I mean, the rest writes itself.

Will win: The Studio, if only because Hollywood wants us to think that it's self-aware.

Best Limited Series

Should, and will, win: Adolescence is my fave and will win. It deserves to win because, for starters, each of the four episodes in the series was shot in one take. That’s not only unheard of, but also logistically challenging. And yet each presents as seamless. And then, with that in mind, the chemistry between the actors feels so organic, it’s almost uncomfortable to watch. That’s good TV.

ONE OF THE LAST GOOD WHITE MEN NOT NAMED PAUL RUDD. (VIA GETTY IMAGES)

Best Actor, Drama

Should win: Sterling K. Brown (Paradise) should win and is also my fave, because he carries a frame with such heft and dedication. You can see his artistry at work, while also believing that he is wholly the character he’s depicting. That’s what acting your ass off looks like.

Will win: Adam Scott (Severance), and that is absolutely fine, because he makes a nonsensical character make perfect sense.

Best Actress, Drama

Should win: Britt Lower (Severance) should win, and is also my fave. The red hair, the simultaneously robotic and fluid movement of her body, the blue pencil skirt, the Mensa IQ-level vibe—it’s all riveting.

Will win: Kathy Bates (Matlock) and listen, if I am in the new prime of my career at 77, then praise be.

THE WINNER IN OUR HEARTS (VIA GETTY IMAGES)

Best Actor, Comedy Series

Should win: Seth Rogen (The Studio) should and will win. I came late to the Rogen party. I always found him kind of dopey and disconsolate. But then I realized that his talent as an actor is his precision at playing dopey and disconsolate. He’s also fantastic in the highly underrated Platonic, with the true gem of an actress, Rose Byrne, and that gives him added appeal.

Personal fave: My forever fave is Martin Short. I have loved him since I was a teenager, watching him on Saturday Night Live. He is brilliant, a consummate performer, and one of the funniest people on the planet. He manages to make the fairly repetitive nature of Only Murders in the Building (I mean, maybe move out if everyone’s getting murdered?) feel fresh every season.

Best Actress, Comedy Series

Should win: Jean Smart should and will win. Smart, who, like Deborah Vance, the character she plays on Hacks, has been in the business for decades, brings a kind of sad, driven beauty to the role that might otherwise elude a less seasoned actress. You hate Deborah, then root for her, and then ultimately, you just feel for her. Also, Designing Women anyone? IYKYK.

Personal fave: My fave is Ayo Edebiri (The Bear), because her kind of funny is subtle and intellectual and Black and authentic. It’s a killer combo that I’ve not really seen in the latest crop of actors.

Best Actor, Limited Series

Should win, personal fave, and will win: Stephen Graham (Adolescence) should win, is my fave, and will win, because Holy God, he is just so good in this series. As the father of a boy who may or may not have committed murder, Graham is utterly saturated with palpable grief over his failed self-expectations as a parent. It’s a raw, quiet, beautiful, and devastating performance.

Best Actress, Limited Series

Should win: Cate Blanchett (Disclaimer) should win, because she never gets it wrong. I’m not even a massive fan: I find her slightly precious in interviews, but ever since I first saw her in the 1997 Gillian Armstrong film Oscar and Lucinda, I have found her to be so elegantly reliable as an actress. And in Disclaimer, as a journalist with a dark secret potentially about to be revealed, she pivots from fear to rage to vulnerability with the ease of a dancer.

Will win, and personal fave: Michelle Williams (Dying for Sex) will win and is my fave, because she has something special. In her 2017 Oscar-winning performance in Manchester By the Sea, she managed to embody what it looks like to keep functioning when the small lives that came from her body are dead. As Molly, in Dying for Sex, she taps that same artery of despair while continuing to breathe in full, deep breaths.