Coming up on selected shorts,

fiction from writers including Simon Rich finds ways to reinvent love and parenthood.

Join me, Meg Wallitzer, alongside performers including Jason Alexander,

as we put a new spin on old conventions.

Don't go anywhere.

You're listening to Selected Shorts, where our greatest actors transport not because it's lunchtime, but because

it's a formula that's hard to improve on. Yet every year, fast food restaurants try to revolutionize

things. Two patties, garlic mayo, four bacon strips on a brioche bun, and voila, the heartstopper.

Sit down to eat one and you think, huh, this tastes a lot like last year's

beltbuster and the mega cheese before it. You know, it's a burger. And while we may not be seeking

the next big thing in fast food, I think all of us are guilty of unnecessary reinvention sometimes.

Maybe we're perfectionists who fear stagnation,

or we just want to feel like creative visionaries. Whatever the cause, it can be hard to stop

ourselves from evaluating something that works okay, even better than okay, and trying to improve

upon it, or even replace it entirely. So today, let's dive into

some fiction about just these kinds of scenarios. We'll look at that impulse to make something

better, even if there's a risk of it looking kind of the same. In a story by Simon Rich,

a technological breakthrough makes things just a little awkward.

In a piece by Tanya James, two attentive parents keep their baby safe at all costs.

And in a final story by Jess Walter, a widowed man looks for love in the least likely of places.

Our first story, as I mentioned, is by Simon Rich.

If you're a regular listener, you have heard some of Rich's very funny short stories.

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