This Day in Pop Culture for February 18

1885: Huck Finn is Published

Mark Twain’s classic novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published in the United States on this day in 1885. A direct sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, the story is narrated by Finn himself. The book is often called one of the Great American Novels.

Twain had a way of describing people and locations and offers a satire of the attitudes of the day regarding racism. The book has always been controversial. The children’s book has often been “banned” by schools as it is filled with coarse language and has often been wrongly accused of being a racist propaganda due to its use of the “N word.” (Image: Wikipedia)

2022: ‘Severance’ Surprises Everybody

Zach Cherry, Adam Scott, John Turturro and Britt Lower in *Severance (Apple TV)*

The bizarre, dystopian, science fiction, psychological thriller series, Severance confused, delighted and frightened TV audiences when the show debuted on Apple TV. Severance seemed to surprise everyone who watched the show’s first episode, and it quickly became the most-watched TV series on the streaming service. It currently holds a 95% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes and 80% on the site’s Popcornmeter.

The show centers on a small group of employees who have willingly agreed to undergo a “severance” operation which essentially turns them into two people. The employees work at Lumon Industries during the day and leave at night with no memory of what they did during that time.

It is said that Dan Erickson, the show’s creator, developed the show during a state of depression working at a door factory while also completing his master’s degree in TV writing. According to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Erickson said that he hated the job so much, he wished he could “skip the eight hours of the workday, to disassociate and just get it over with”.

Erickson submitted his script to Red Hour Productions, Ben Stiller’s production company. Stiller not only approved of the series, but he also ended up directing many of show’s episodes.

Severance stars Adam Scott as Mark S. who heads Lumon’s Macrodata Refinement department which consists of just three employees. Irving B. (John Turturro) is the company rule-follower, Dylan (Zach Cherry), is a sucker for company swag and newcomer Helly R. (Britt Lower). It doesn’t take long for these people to realize that something isn’t quite right with Lumon. They spend the most of their work day trying to figure out what’s going on which leaves the show’s viewers just as confused.

Mark’s team is managed by Deputy Manager (Seth Milchick) who in turn is under the direction of Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette).

It takes an incredibly long time for new seasons to premiere. Season 2 didn’t begin until March 2025. Season 3 won’t begin filming until mid-2026.

1678: ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ is Published

On this day in 1678, the second most popular book on many Christian’s bookshelves, Pilgrim’s Progress was published. It was written by John Bunyan (not the guy with the big blue ox) while his enjoying his stay in prison for preaching without a license.

The story, which has never been out of print, features a man named Christian who searches for truth and relief from the burden of sin strapped to his back. Along his journey, he meets a variety of people with their own issues and unique locations including the Doubting Castle, the Valley of the Shadow and Vanity Fair.