Cutesy Gay Teen Romance Heartstopper Subverts Absolutely Nothing, and That's Great
Netflix’s latest LGBT hit would absolutely be appropriate to show in any Florida high school, or anywhere else.
Television
Serial Killer Thriller Shining Girls Lulls You to Sleep Before Blowing Your Mind
If you can get past the first few plodding, confusing hours, entertainment awaits.
61st Street Dramatizes Chicago's Brutal, Hostile Criminal Justice System
The innocent and guilty alike are ground down by cynical, self-serving officials.
The Book of Boba Fett
The Empire has dominated the Star Wars franchise's narrative, but the characters who inhabit that universe simply live their lives.
Outer Range Adds Eerie Supernatural Twist to Modern Ranch Drama
Josh Brolin stars in mysterious new Amazon Prime show.
Ozark
A show about an American heartland scourged by black-market drugs, vice, politics, and bureaucratic power
Nathan Rabin: Why Gen X Is Super Media-Literate
The Joy of Trash author talks about how D.A.R.E., bad TV, Weird Al Yankovic, and 9/11 created a generation of ironic idealists.
Nathan Rabin: Confessions of a Trash-Culture Connoisseur
Nathan Rabin celebrates The Joy of Trash—and Gen X irony and cynicism—one terrible movie, book, and TV show at a time.
A Dark Look at Modern Teen Culture Roots True-Crime Retelling of The Girl From Plainville
A character study of the Massachusetts girl who convinced her boyfriend to kill himself
The Wheel of Time
Looked at one way, it's a lesser Game of Thrones. Looked at another, it's a show about governance and social power in the absence of contemporary governmental institutions.
Minx Is a Witty Treatise on Early Feminism
The new comedy explores women's liberation, the world of publishing, and sex.
That Dirty Black Bag Shows Exactly Why Spaghetti Westerns Died
Witless plots and pointless violence aren’t nearly as enthralling these days.
The Thing About Pam Turns an Actual Murder Into a Campy Melodrama
One of Dateline NBC’s favorite true crime cases gets a wild mini-series adaptation.
This Is Us
Randall's actions hint at the dark side of people who are just trying to make things better for everyone—regardless of whether their victims want the help.
SNL to Liberals: It's OK To Question Nonsensical Mask Mandates
Mocking COVID public health theater is finally going mainstream.
Budget Horror Movie Hellbender Gives Viewers Plenty To Chew On
Watch out for those tequila worms.
Dopesick
The new Hulu miniseries promotes pernicious misconceptions about opioids, addiction, and pain treatment.
Arcane
The show details friction between the privileged innovators of a steampunk city and the impoverished slums underneath it.
Enjoy the Wild Ride of The Endgame While It Lasts
Can this crazy, fast-paced NBC crime drama actually reach its promised destination?
Impeachment: American Crime Story
Ryan Murphy's take on the Clinton impeachment has a bipartisan message about the corrupting nature of power.
Tech-Noir Thriller The Girl Before Glitches With Muddled Storytelling
Novel adaptation struggles to separate two parallel tales.
Pot Won't Be Advertised at Super Bowl, Though Players Will Probably Use It After
A proposed commercial by dispensary-locator company Weedmaps was sacked by NFL and NBC suits.
Celebrate Your Right To Ignore (or Watch) the Olympics
Born in nationalism, the Olympic games are fading into a niche entertainment option.
Jackass Embodied Gen X's Casual Indifference to Authority
Beneath all the harm, humiliation, and non-consensual hair-shaving was a love of freedom.
Reacher Drifts Onto Television, Ready To Punch Through Some Mysteries
Fans of the books will enjoy Amazon Prime’s series.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Larry David isn't afraid to lay bare how much of politics is about appeasing the masses.
The Real-World Conflicts in Yellowstone Can Be Solved by Markets, Not Drama
Media elites ignore the heartland-themed show, and the real issues behind it, at their own peril.
Succession
The show eschews simplistic political commentary, choosing instead to spoof America's self-obsessed, self-dealing elites.
For Better or Worse, Television Schedules Are Recovering from COVID
Two January premieres offer a narcodrama and a tiresomely predictable medical procedural.
Even if Modern Star Trek Doesn't Think So, the World Is Getting Better
Star Trek used to dare to say that things were getting better.
White Lotus
The true villains of Mike White's new show are two Gen Z college students practicing militant wokeness.
Foundation
The TV adaptation of Isaac Asimov's classic trilogy is still fundamentally about the ways in which politics and objective truth inevitably clash.
Glenn Garvin's Top 10 Television Shows for 2021
The pandemic wreaked havoc on schedules, but the medium’s still faring better than the movie industry.
Squid Game
The dystopian show portrays people caught up in South Korea's massive consumer debt culture.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
For the most part, the series' characters revere due process rights rather than seeing them as something to be trampled in pursuit of justice.
HBO's Station Eleven Imagines a Plague Much Harder to Recover from than COVID-19
Also reviewed: Two new NBC sitcoms, American Auto and Grand Crew
Squid Game Says More About Communism Than Capitalism
The breakout Netflix series contains critiques of a decidedly "anti-capitalist" political and economic system that's haunted the Korean Peninsula.
Familiar School Comedy Hijinks Updated for Today in Abbott Elementary
Also intact: The whipsawing between cynicism and earnestness
Is Dr. Oz Fit To Join the U.S. Senate?
The TV personality's extensive history of promoting dubious nostrums suggests that he isn't.
Spy Shows for Adults and Kids Alike Sneak onto Streaming Services
Glória and Harriet the Spy target different demographics for surveillance fun.
Dopesick Reinforces These Pernicious Misconceptions About Opioids, Addiction, and Pain Treatment
The Hulu miniseries portrays opioid pain medication as unacceptably dangerous in nearly every context.
Yellowjackets Wrings Thrills and Mystery Out of Tragedy and Survival
Showtime series follows the lives of teen girls who survived a plane crash.
Dexter Is Back, But Is He Back to His Old Tricks?
Showtime orders another round of serial killer suspense years after the original series ended.
Dead & Beautiful Stretches Vampire Metaphors to the Breaking Point
A film as lifeless as its characters
Loki
Even the most powerful cosmic demigod can be foiled by the even-more-powerful machinations of bureaucracy.
Netflix Says Algorithm Is Protected by First Amendment in 13 Reasons Why Suicide Lawsuit
Is a required content warning or algorithm change a violation of the First Amendment?
Dopesick Resurrects an Opioid Narrative That Is 'Neat, Plausible, and Wrong'
Prohibition forces doctors to cut patients off from essential pain-killing medication.
The Spinning Wheel of Confusing Television Reboots Lands on 4400
Just like the characters, this short-lived sci-fi show makes a mysterious return years later.
