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Our Enduring Fascination With the Kennedys

March 29, 2026·34 min·2 clips

How did a single scene in a Hulu series bring a fresh wave of business to a tiny Manhattan Indian restaurant?

A tiny restaurant sets the frame. Rachel Abrams starts in Manhattan's East Village, where Panna 2's wall of Christmas lights gives the episode a small, oddly perfect doorway into spectacle. This is not just old history. Alexandra Jacobs talks about the Kennedys as a family whose meaning keeps getting refreshed, even for people who did not live through the famous chapters. The conversation reaches William and Kate Middleton, then King Charles, the then Prince Charles, and Princess Diana, because that same mix of glamour and sadness is hard for an audience to resist. The Kennedy pull begins with promise. The guest describes a family that seemed to carry American values, expansion, and a certain version of the American dream. Their place as an ethnic group once frowned upon matters too: the story includes outsiders reaching the highest office, then becoming tied to business, romance, glamour, and success. But the shine never sits by itself. The darker pattern, which the guest calls Shakespearean, keeps dragging privilege back toward grief. Media keeps the story alive. Joe Kennedy belonged to newspapers, John Kennedy's death to television and the Zapruder film, and later generations to magazines, tabloids, the internet, and social media. Jacqueline Bouvier's work as a photographer adds one personal detail before the episode widens back out to public appetite. By the end, Abrams and Jacobs sit with the uncomfortable question: how much empathy do people have for someone born into fame and privilege? The answer stays messy, which may be why the family still holds the room.

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