Television

The Powerful, Unlikely Force Shaping Modern TV

In a Hollywood-worthy plot twist, television writers are embracing fan theorists who try to “solve” their shows.

• Shirley Li
• August 9, 2022

Everyone Loses on Jeopardy Eventually

I did it, and I feel great.

• Adriana E. Ramírez
• July 30, 2022

The Dirtbag Is Back

A returning cultural archetype is indifferent to power and extremely adept at enjoying meaninglessness. What a relief.

• Adrienne Matei
• July 26, 2022

Why Did We Buy What Victoria’s Secret Was Selling?

The brand sold itself using an upside-down logic: that women need to suffer to be deemed desirable.

• Sophie Gilbert
• July 26, 2022

You’ve Never Seen Anything Quite Like The Rehearsal

Nathan Fielder’s superpower is pushing any situation into its most awkward territory. In his new series, he goes a step further.

• Shirley Li
• July 16, 2022

‘Netflix Thinks Exactly Like an Old Movie Studio’

In a year of falling subscriber numbers and shaky stock prices, the streaming service is doubling down on expensive, risky blockbusters.

• David Sims
• July 14, 2022

TV’s Best New Show Is a Study of Masculinity in Crisis

The new FX/Hulu series The Bear brilliantly analyzes the ways in which male-dominated environments are set up to fail.

• Sophie Gilbert
• July 13, 2022

Stranger Things Isn’t TV. It’s Something Else.

The escapist sweep of the Netflix show’s story keeps clashing with its winking plunder of archival pop culture.

• Sophie Gilbert
• July 6, 2022

The Older Woman Comes of Age

In a new comedy, Emma Thompson plays a woman who finally sees her body, the actor says, “as her home.” Her victory, in a post-Roe world, takes on the dimensions of tragedy.

• Megan Garber
• July 5, 2022

What a Story of 1970s Abortion Activism Can Teach Us Today

For the Jane Collective, organizing safe abortions in pre-Roe America didn’t just serve people in need—it also protected a more hopeful future.

• Sophie Gilbert
• June 30, 2022

What This Is Going to Hurt Leaves Out

And what the AMC black comedy about a British obstetrician illuminates about women’s health

• Sophie Gilbert
• June 23, 2022

The Delightful Pretentiousness of Irma Vep

HBO’s wonderfully smart new series may be the most meta show on TV right now.

• Shirley Li
• June 9, 2022

Stranger Things Won’t Save Netflix

If anything, the hit show’s triumphant return is only further proof of the streamer’s unsustainability.

• Shirley Li
• June 2, 2022

When Stranger Things Finally Gave Its Villain a Voice

A (spoiler-filled) close read of the show’s new Season 4 monster

• Shirley Li
• May 27, 2022

What Hacks Understands About the Myth of Self-Betterment

The HBO Max show’s second season is refreshingly free of easy epiphanies and life lessons.

• Shirley Li
• May 24, 2022

How Hulu’s Conversations With Friends Got Sally Rooney So Wrong

The novel is darkly observant of Millennial malaise. The TV adaptation is a different story.

• Shirley Li
• May 19, 2022

The Frenetic Basketball Nostalgia of Winning Time

Three basketball-loving writers discuss the first season of HBO’s controversial series about the 1980s Lakers.

• Kevin Townsend, David Sims, Ross Andersen, and Vann R. Newkirk II
• May 15, 2022

Heartstopper and the Era of Feel-Good, Queer-Teen Romances

More stories about young people in love are embracing sweetness and looking beyond straight audiences.

• Shirley Li
• May 11, 2022

Why the Puzzle-Box Sci-Fi of Severance Works

Where Lost and Westworld spun out, the Apple TV+ show’s contained world succeeds.

• Kevin Townsend, Sophie Gilbert, David Sims, and Spencer Kornhaber
• May 8, 2022