Television

Arts & Culture | Television
Even the TV Characters Know It’s Time to Riot

The rise of radical politics in shows like “Andor” offer me a surprising source of hope.

Feb 1, 2023
Arts & Culture | Television
Learning to Take Risks Like the Queer Pirates in ‘Our Flag Means Death’

Love and connection require emotional risk. After the harrowing nature of the last three years, I needed ‘Our Flag Means Death’ to remind me.

Jan 9, 2023
Arts & Culture | Television
What “The Mindy Project” Did (and Didn’t Do) for Brown Girls on TV

The critiques Mindy Kaling received shaped the representation we see on-screen today as much as her successes did.

Jan 5, 2023
Arts & Culture | Television
Wednesday Addams Is the Ultimate Outcast

Wednesday Addams does not want to play with you.

Dec 8, 2022
Arts & Culture | Television
TV Recaps Taught Me How to Write Criticism

They provided a blueprint by showing the critical apparatus in a container transparent enough that I could see the inner workings.

Dec 6, 2022
Arts & Culture | Television
Chris Farley Taught Me to Laugh and to Grieve

Only now, with my adult eyes, am I able to perceive the pathos in his performances and the potential he never had the chance to fulfill.

Dec 1, 2022
Arts & Culture | Television
Why Pop Culture Loves the Toxic Drama Teacher Trope

There is a great tradition of depicting the archetype of the unbridled, emotionally exploitative acting teacher.

Nov 29, 2022
Arts & Culture | Television
‘Bad Sisters’ Captures the Intensity of Having and Being a Sister

My sister is not my best friend. She is my sister. Those are fundamentally different relationships.

Nov 1, 2022
Arts & Culture | On Writing | Television
Is Everything Really Copy? Let’s Talk About Memoir and Reality TV

Nora Ephron said, “Everything is copy.” But in a memoir, much like in reality TV, art cannot represent life exactly. People are characters, snapshots of their “real” selves.

Oct 25, 2022
Arts & Culture | Television
The One With the Offensive Joke About Intersex People

Like any sitcom created before the mid-aughts—around the time Hollywood started doing the bare minimum to give space to marginalized people—‘Friends’ has not aged well.

Sep 20, 2022