Television

"Life doesn't imitate art, it imitates bad television." —Woody Allen

Dilettantes and Connoisseurs: The Public Intellectual in the United States
On the evolution of the figure of the public intellectual in the internet age.
Robert DaselerSep 13, 2020
Absent Center: Netflix's "Dark" and Time Travel as White Privilege
Namrata Verghese asks why everybody on Netflix's mind-bending time travel series Dark is white and why whiteness structures even its alternate worlds.
Namrata VergheseSep 7, 2020
- Television
Basketball Was Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience
TV scholar Michael Z. Newman reflects on the similarity between the NBA bubble at Disney World and the classic form of the sitcom.
Michael Z. NewmanAug 18, 2020
- LARB Ball
- Television
The Jordan Rules, Recycled
ESPN’s documentary “The Last Dance” is an “untold story” we’ve all heard a million times.
Hal SundtAug 15, 2020
Like Proper Sexual: On Too Hot to Handle
Philippa Snow binges the reckless hearts and alarmist boomerisms of Netflix's reality dating sensation Too Hot To Handle.
Philippa SnowAug 7, 2020
- Television
Brokering Suitability: On "Indian Matchmaking"
Rijuta Mehta considers the reality TV tropes, documentary pretense, and pervasive purity politics of Netflix's newest dating show.
Rijuta MehtaJul 31, 2020
- Television
Our Story Is the American Story: A Conversation with Renee Tajima-Peña and Geeta Gandbhir
The producers of “Asian Americans” reflect on the making of their groundbreaking documentary series.
Anouk YehJul 23, 2020
"Visible: Out on Television": an LGBTQ TV Roundtable
A group of TV scholars consider Apple TV+'s new docuseries, "Visible: Out on Television," and the narratives of history and visibility it tells.
Alfred L. Martin Jr., Beck Banks, Hollis Griffin, Julia Himberg, Lauren Herold, Maria San Filippo, Mayra BottaroJun 23, 2020
- Gender & Sexuality
- Television
Time Machine: Excerpts from "Time Tells"
Masha Tupitsyn considers the passage of time, Felicity, and stand-up comedy
Masha TupitsynJun 7, 2020
- Television
Laguna Revisited
Sara Davis revisits an early reality TV classic
Sara DavisJun 6, 2020
- Television
Do Black Lives Matter to Westworld? On TV Fantasies of Racial Violence
Hope Wabuke considers the violence against black children at the heart of HBO's Westworld and whether the show will ever have something to say about it.
Hope WabukeJun 4, 2020
- Television
Dance Routines, Pandemic Routines: Ryan Heffington's "SWEATFEST"
Media Studies scholar Kristen Warner and dance scholar Clare Croft consider the queer, quarantied embodiments of Ryan Heffington's Instagram dance class.
Clare Croft, Kristen WarnerJun 1, 2020
- Music
- Television