Unmissable Election Day Viewing Ideas! You Won’t Believe What’s on the List!

Introducing Screen Gab, the newsletter designed to inspire or comfort you as the day of the election approaches.

This week, Screen Gab’s editor, Matt Brennan, proposes we revisit the timeless insights of historian Howard Zinn, whose viewpoints inform the documentaries “You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train” and “A People’s History of the United States.”

In this 155th issue, we recommend re-watching “The West Wing” and to not forget “The Daily Show” election special. Additionally, we engage in a baseball dialogue with the director of Netflix’s new documentary series “The Comeback.”

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Must Watch

Suggestions from the film and TV experts at The Times

‘The Daily Show Presents a Live Election Night Special’ (Comedy Central, simulcast)

If you, like me, have been anxiously scrolling and watching clips and political news nonstop (and if you’ve been able to avoid it, kudos on preserving your sanity), you’re likely contemplating what to watch on election night to keep up with the races. I usually switch between networks, but I always take a moment to watch “The Daily Show.” This year’s election-night episode, “Indecision 2024: Nothing We Can Do About It Now,” marks 24 years of the “Daily Show” special, which began during Jon Stewart’s inaugural stint on Comedy Central’s satirical news program. It feels like we’ve been here before not just because Stewart has returned as host, but because there’s a high likelihood that we’ll have another 2000 scenario, where we won’t know the presidential race’s outcome until after election day. (Remember the hanging chads?) At the very least, the show provides an hour to mock the maps, magic walls, and needles that will inevitably dominate the night. And Stewart, who plans to continue his once-a-week hosting duties through 2025, can help us make sense of the aftermath once we know who triumphs. —Maira Garcia

DIG DEEPER: For more in-depth election coverage, check out these 10 documentaries, series, and specials

‘The West Wing’ (Max)

People are resorting to all sorts of methods to stay composed during this particularly tense presidential election. I’m sure yoga and sage burning offer some solace, but I’ve decided to rewatch “The West Wing.” Now in its 25th year, Aaron Sorkin’s office drama delivers a comforting blend of nostalgia — remember when broadcast networks could win Emmys for best drama? — and political aspiration. Was there ever a White House run by a small group of quick-witted, loyal aides with no ambition beyond serving their incredibly intelligent economist president and the public? Not at all. But is it still deeply gratifying to watch a remarkable group of writers, directors, and actors try to convince us otherwise? Absolutely. However, it’s also a bit melancholic. “The West Wing” was succeeded by the darker (but undeniably entertaining) visions of “24,” “Scandal” and “Veep,” along with the rise of the antihero. “West Wing” was often sharp and certainly partisan — it was largely a centrist Democrat’s dream — but it was never politically spiteful. Which makes it even more of a revelation, 25 years later, than when it first aired. —Mary McNamara

Keep Up

All you need to know about the film or TV series everyone’s discussing

In the documentaries “You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train” (2004) and “A People’s History of the United States” (2015), both available on Kanopy, scholar Howard Zinn reclaims the original meaning of radicalism: Identifying the root of the problem.

Born in Brooklyn to working-class immigrant parents and raised in a series of cold water flats, Zinn — shipyard organizer, Air Force veteran, civil rights activist, antiwar protester, university professor, public intellectual — didn’t so much escape poverty and injustice as spend a lifetime challenging their sources, ultimately crafting a survey of the American experience from the viewpoint of its “rabbits,” not its “hunters.” First published in 1980, “A People’s History” positioned sit-ins and wildcat strikes at the core of our national narrative, interpreting such direct action — even when unsuccessful — as evidence of opposition to capitalism, militarism, and white supremacy that had been frequently omitted from the story. “I start from the supposition that the world is topsy-turvy, that things are all wrong,” Zinn, who died in 2010, once depicted the perspective that led him to write history from below: “That the wrong people are in power, and the wrong people are out of power.” Consequently, his work enlightened readers to the role played by class conflict, racial injustice, gender inequality, and imperial power in a country whose history has traditionally been portrayed as a triumphal procession.

Naturally, at a brisk 78 and 90 minutes, respectively, “You Can’t Be Neutral” and “A People’s History” merely skim the surface of events like the Jamestown settlement or the Ludlow Massacre. (Ken Burns, take note: The survey text is begging for the “Civil War” treatment.) The films instead concentrate on Zinn’s conceptual advancements, particularly his comprehension that the government, the law, the police, and other significant institutions in American life are officially or unofficially owned by, and act in favor of, wealthy, influential interests — who then regard the decisions of those institutions as sacrosanct. Zinn proposed that moral indignation and grassroots resistance to those interests were the only sources of real social change; to remain silent in the face of the establishment was to tacitly endorse it. “I don’t believe it’s possible to be neutral,” he declared. “The world is already moving in certain directions, and to be neutral, to be passive, in a situation like that is to collaborate with whatever’s going on.” — Matt Brennan

Guest Appearance

A weekly conversation with actors, writers, directors, and others about their current projects — and what they’re watching

When the Dodgers were leading the Yankees 3-0 in the World Series earlier this week, fans of the trailing team and staunch supporters of their main rival, the Boston Red Sox, could find common ground: “The Comeback” was the only historical example the Yankees could draw hope from. Netflix, which is currently streaming a new docuseries with the same title, couldn’t have timed it better. Colin Barnicle’s three-part deep dive into the Red Sox’s monumental victory over the Yanks in the 2004 American League Championship Series, a prelude to their first World Series title in 86 years, is irresistible to those, like me, who witnessed our team “reverse the curse” in real time — and a reminder for everyone else that baseball is a game of miracles. Barnicle recently joined Screen Gab to discuss his memories of ‘04, what he’s been watching, and more. —Matt Brennan

What have you watched recently that you’re recommending to everyone you know?

I just saw Jason Reitman’s film “Saturday Night,” which was fantastic. I’m not a “Saturday Night Live” enthusiast or anything, but it had all the elements I thoroughly enjoy — compelling characters with high stakes — and it really let you into that experience of striving to achieve something you’re passionate about and yet uncertain of the result. On the documentary side, “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” (VOD) and “The Greatest Night in Pop” [Netflix] are two brilliantly executed pieces where you follow the characters through the story, instead of the other way around.

What’s your go-to “comfort watch,” the film or TV show you return to again and again?

If “Raiders of the Lost Ark” [Prime Video, Paramount+] or “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” [VOD] are on, I’m watching. But at night, after my wife and I put the children to bed, we’re putting on “Seinfeld” [Netflix]. The entire concept of no good deed goes unpunished, trying to force an outcome, it never gets old and it’s always hilarious.

What’s your most vivid personal memory of the Sox’s championship run in 2004?

It’s the first time I’d ever taken a picture with my cellphone. A year earlier, my father took my younger brother, Tim, and I to Yankee Stadium for Game 7 and the Red Sox lost. It was heartbreaking. Tim was crying his eyes out — maybe I was too — and my father leaned down and hugged my brother and said, “I can’t believe I did this to you.” He’d passed on to him something that didn’t love him back: the Red Sox. A year later, we were there again. Same seats, same Game 7, and the Red Sox won and in the chaos of the moment, Tim and I snuck onto the field and Tim ran the bases. He was 11, barely made it around, out of breath as he rounded third base to home and he shouted, “I can’t believe it” and I pulled out my cellphone and took a picture. It’s on the wall at my parents’ house right when you walk in the door.

Between “The Comeback” and “This Is a Robbery,” your two most notable series to date have focused on Boston-centric subjects. What’s a Boston story you’d still like to tell, if you could do anything?

Boston is a city made up of neighborhoods. Each one has their own story. The old saying used to be that you either had a priest, a cop, a criminal or all three in your family and this in a place with the best higher education, best hospitals and an outsized influence in politics. There’s no shortage of good stories in Beantown. You can never limit it to just one. That’s the best part.