Television

The Appearance of Light: On Barry Jenkins’s “The Underground Railroad”
On “The Underground Railroad,” illumination travels across media, refracting and shapeshifting....
Jorge CotteJun 24, 2021
- Television
Blue Skies Again: Streamers and the Impossible Promise of Diversity
Kristen Warner explores the “illusion [of] the democratizing, diverse ideal of streaming.”...
Kristen WarnerJun 24, 2021
- Television
Streaming Enthusiasm and the Industrious Family Drama
Michael Szalay on what the rise of streaming platforms and their dark family dramas tell us about the US flagging empire....
Michael SzalayJun 23, 2021
- Television
Cobra Kai, the Twilight of American Empire, and the Allure of Paramilitary Violence
Albert Wu and Michelle Kuo explore how Cobra Kai manages to tackle American empire, wealth disparity, and rising fascism without cynicism....
Albert Wu, Michelle KuoJun 8, 2021
- Television
Queer Girls in The Wilds: Refusing White Feminism's Settler Colonial Fantasy
Hannah Manshel and Margaret A. Miller explore the various colonial and anti-colonial valances of Amazon's The Wilds....
Hannah Manshel, Margaret A. MillerMay 22, 2021
- Television
Breaking the Waves: Britney Spears and Lars von Trier in Lockdown
Philippa Snow watches Hulu's Framing Britney Spears and a few other films about the destruction of women at the hands of hateful men....
Philippa SnowMay 18, 2021
- Television
Seven Plus Seven Plus Me: The Up Series Under Lockdown
In the wake of Michael Apted's passing, Claire Marie Healy revisits the director's most lasting monument: the sprawling, poetic Up series....
Claire Marie HealyApr 21, 2021
- Television
Anthony and Carmela Get Vaccinated
Peter Coviello misses his family in New Jersey — and everything else in the pandemic year — through a full rewatch of The Sopranos....
Peter CovielloApr 19, 2021
- Television
Negative Space: Close Reading Trauma Porn
Maya Gurantz dissects the structure and comes to terms with the compulsive appeal of streaming abuse documentary series....
Maya GurantzApr 15, 2021
- Television
Negotiating the Generic Closet in the Writers' Room
In an excerpt from The Generic Closet: Black Gayness and the Black-Cast Sitcom, Alfred L. Martin Jr. explores the politics of writers' rooms....
Alfred L. Martin Jr.Apr 7, 2021
- Television
Disney's Disembodied Black Characters
From The Princess and the Frog to Soul, Hope Wabuke asks why can't Disney let Black characters play Black characters?...
Hope WabukeMar 23, 2021
- Television
No Witness: "Warrior" and the Histories of Anti-Asian Violence
Min Hyoung Song considers the nineteenth-century world of Cinemax's martial arts series Warrior in light of contemporary Anti-Asian violence....
Min Hyoung SongMar 22, 2021
- Television
Nostalgia for Nostalgia: BTS on American TV
In the wake of their spectacular Grammy performance, Michelle Cho reads the ultra-mediated nostalgia of Korean pop group BTS on American TV....
Michelle ChoMar 16, 2021
- Television
The Political Economy of Chappelle’s Redemption Songs
Matt Seybold on what Dave Chappelle's return tells us about celebrity and corporate power....
Matt SeyboldFeb 19, 2021
- Television
Listening for the Caribbean on "The Crown"
Sasha Ann Panaram seeks out the easily skipped, potentially transgressive soundtrack playing at the edges of Netflix's The Crown....
Sasha Ann PanaramFeb 16, 2021
- Television
Bad Form: Sexual Abuse and Ambiguity on "A Teacher"
Anna Krauthamer explores the rigid oscillation between the stark content warnings and ambiguous aesthetics of FX on Hulu's A Teacher....
Anna KrauthamerFeb 9, 2021
- Television
Speculative Fictions: Finance, Excess, and HBO's Industry
Jorge Cotte explores the fraught speculations of HBO's series Industry alongside the recent GameStop stock trading frenzy....
Jorge CotteFeb 2, 2021
- Television
Pilot Episode: On the Greatness of Kaley Cuoco
Philippa Snow writes in praise of Kaley Cuoco's stunning, elastic, fleet-footed performance in the HBO Max thriller The Flight Attendant....
Philippa SnowJan 26, 2021
- Television
This Should Be a Movie: “American Utopia,” the Concert Film, and Extending a Terrific Moment
Sara Black McCulloch considers the nature of the concert film — its scope, its liveness, and its political commitments....
Sara Black McCullochDec 30, 2020
Shondaland’s Regency: On “Bridgerton”
Patricia A. Matthew examines the multicultural Regency era of Shonda Rhimes's new Netflix series Bridgerton....
Patricia A. MatthewDec 26, 2020
- Television
Call Me By No Name: On "Rebecca"
Tania Modleski watches new Netflix's adaptation of Rebecca and tracks the puzzling misreadings and misleadings of its source material....
Tania ModleskiDec 23, 2020
- Film
- Television
Wrapped in Plastic: On Courtenay Stallings’s “Laura’s Ghost”
Sophia Stewart reviews “Laura’s Ghost,” a feminist-ethnographic collection revisiting the gender politics of “Twin Peaks,” the series and the film....
Sophia StewartNov 3, 2020
- Film
- Television
The Long Cable Box-Step Orgy: Rewatching "The Deuce"
Matthew Tchepikova-Treon returns to the under-appreciated institutional melodrama of David Simon's The Deuce one year later....
Matthew Tchepikova-TreonOct 28, 2020
- Television
The Disciplined Work of Being a Human Being: A Conversation with Actress and Artist Sheila Vand
Erik Morse interviews Iranian American actress and performance artist Sheila Vand....
Erik MorseSep 25, 2020
- Film
- Television