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MTV White People 101
MTV’s documentary points out some facts about race that might seem obvious until you realize that for many Americans they’re not.
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HBO The Slow Creep of Uncanny Television
From True Detective to Hannibal, contemporary TV is suffused with elements of the bizarre, surreal, and absurd.
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NBC Universal The Evolution of TV's ‘Very Special Episode’
Family sitcoms once embraced the preachy format to teach teens about important social issues, but more subtle, complex storytelling has since taken over.
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HBO True Detective Season Two: Pimps, Vultures, and Plastic Surgery
After last week’s climactic shootout the dream team was dissolved, but a state’s attorney has plans to get the band back together.
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Amazon Diversity Comes to the Emmys, Slowly
The TV industry’s annual awards list recognized some worthy new programming and a more diverse slate of actors.
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FX The Grumpy, Irrelevant Ranting of Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll
Denis Leary’s new FX series dates itself with clichéd diatribe about the state of contemporary music, and isn’t helped by its creaky, sexist antihero.
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Netflix The Miracle in Orange Is the New Black's Season 3 Finale
A trip to a lake makes for one of the loveliest TV scenes ever.
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HBO True Detective Season Two: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
A disorienting series of clues led the team to a dramatic face-off outside a Vinci warehouse.
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Showtime Masters of Sex Jumps Into the Free Love Era
The Showtime drama about two pioneering sex researchers leaps into the mid-60s for its third season.
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JoJo Whilden / Netflix Runaways and Creeps: The Week in Pop-Culture Writing
Highlights from seven days of reading about entertainment
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SundanceTV Rectify Is Still Television’s Quiet Triumph
SundanceTV’s Southern Gothic drama is entering its third season of critical acclaim and low ratings, but its against-the-odds existence bodes well for the industry.
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Glyn Lowe / Flickr Cable's Battle for Shark Supremacy
The much-loved and much-mocked Discovery TV event is being challenged by Nat Geo Wild—for viewers, for branding, and for sovereignty of the deep.
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Comedy Central Key & Peele and Hannibal Buress Highlight Comedy Central's Evolution
Wednesday night’s lineup features a fifth season from the engaging double act and a new show from the emerging star, representing the network’s renewed ambition and patience.
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Lacey Terrell / HBO The Unbearable Darkness of Prestige Television
Critically acclaimed genre series such as Game of Thrones and True Detective are using bleak self-seriousness to distance themselves from their lowbrow roots.
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Dana Edelson / NBC Outrageous Humor Is an American Tradition
In the 1970s, Saturday Night Live and National Lampoon helped define groundbreaking, subversive comedy that wasn’t afraid to infuriate its audience.
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HBO True Detective Season Two: Fathers and Sons
The show reveals what happened to Ray, while Bezzerides and Woodrugh investigate the mayor, and Frank indulges in some amateur dentistry.
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Warner Bros Is American Literature Too Dark for TV?
The executive producer of Masterpiece says Jane Austen works a lot better on screen than Hemingway does.
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Netflix The Tao of Orange Is the New Black
Throughout season three, the Netflix show has fashioned an unmistakeable philosophical thesis: All humankind is fundamentally flawed, but kindness can save us.
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HBO True Detective Season 2: Enter Birdman
The second episode of the new season was a slow burner with a dramatic twist.
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ABC The Modern Family Effect: Pop Culture’s Role in the Gay-Marriage Revolution
TV has convinced America that same-sex couples can be just like straight ones. What’s next?
