Phillip Maciak

Articles

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  Magic (Half) Hour: On "Reservation Dogs"

  For Dear Television, Phillip Maciak writes about FX's Reservation Dogs, the best show of 2021, and the greatness of half-hour TV

  Phillip MaciakDec 29, 2021

  • Dear Television

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  Bloodsuckers, Bad Readers: "Midnight Mass" and "What We Do in the Shadows"

  For Dear Television, Phillip Maciak thinks about What We Do in the Shadows and what Midnight Mass is doing on Netflix

  Phillip MaciakOct 22, 2021

  • Dear Television

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  Elizabeth Ito’s Neighborhood: “City of Ghosts” and the Rise of Netflix Animation

  Phillip Maciak explores the extraordinary niche that “City of Ghosts” occupies in Netflix’s varied animated programming.

  Phillip MaciakJun 24, 2021

  • Television

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  Dark Night Rises: Ed Simon’s Alternative History of Pittsburgh

  Phillip Maciak reviews Ed Simon's An Alternative History of Pittsburgh, a panoramic narrative of the city from Belt Publishing

  Phillip MaciakJun 5, 2021

  • History

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  Close Magic: Derek DelGaudio's Illusions of Other People

  For Dear Television, Phillip Maciak sobs his way through the magic of pre-pandemic closeness in Derek DelGaudio's Hulu film In and Of Itself.

  Phillip MaciakApr 1, 2021

  • Dear Television

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  Dance Yourself Clean: Lovers Rock x The Crown

  For Dear Television, Phillip Maciak explores the two Londons, the two lovers, and the two dance sequences of Lovers Rock and The Crown.

  Phillip MaciakDec 29, 2020

  • Dear Television

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  L.A. Hallucinations: The Spiritualism of "Better Things"

  Phillip Maciak on friendly ghosts, ordinary hauntings, and why Pamela Adlon's Better Things is the best show on television.

  Phillip MaciakAug 26, 2020

  • Dear Television

• Process Stories, or Who Loves the Sixers?

  Phil Maciak considers Yaron Weitzman's "Tanking to the Top," the mythology of Sam Hinkie's Process, and his own life in exile as a Sixers fan.

  Phillip MaciakApr 13, 2020

  • LARB Ball

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  Dear Television vs The Psychometric Personality Quiz

  We took that Psychometric Statistical "Which Character" Personality Quiz, and we're not happy. And, come to think of it, who are *we* at all?

  Jane Hu, Jorge Cotte, Phillip Maciak, Sarah MesleApr 7, 2020

  • Dear Television

• The Year in Yelling: "Catastrophe," "Marriage Story," "Moonstruck"

  Phillip Maciak, for Dear Television, considers the year in culture by way of three arguments: from Catastrophe, from Marriage Story, and from Moonstruck.

  Phillip MaciakDec 30, 2019

  • Dear Television

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  Big Little Lies, "The End of the World"

  This week on Dear Television, Phil Maciak asks why the third episode of the second season of Big Little Lies won't follow the money.

  Phillip MaciakJun 25, 2019

  • Dear Television

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  Big Little Lies, "What Have They Done?"

  For Dear Television, Phil Maciak considers season two of Big Little Lies, and what director Andrea Arnold has in store for people with kitchens like that.

  Phillip MaciakJun 10, 2019

  • Dear Television

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  Game of Thrones: Season 8, "The Bells"

  For Dear Television, Aaron Bady, Sarah Mesle, and Phil Maciak consider the relative madness of the queen(s) on Game of Thrones.

  Aaron Bady, Phillip Maciak, Sarah MesleMay 13, 2019

  • Dear Television

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  Game of Thrones: Season 8, "The Long Night"

  Dear Television's Aaron Bady, Sarah Mesle, and Phil Maciak reluctantly celebrate all the characters who survived "The Long Night," they guess.

  Aaron Bady, Phillip Maciak, Sarah MesleApr 29, 2019

  • Dear Television

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  Can Ghosts Buy Drugs? The Haunting of Hill House (Eps. 6-10)

  Dear TV on the baffling televisual end to a very happy Haunting of Hill House.

  Jane Hu, Phillip MaciakNov 7, 2018

  • Dear Television

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  The Shirley Jackson 5: The Haunting of Hill House (Eps. 1-5)

  Dear TV, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within

  Jane Hu, Phillip MaciakOct 25, 2018

  • Dear Television