The Chosen
Christian media has a track record of creating hopelessly bad productions, but Dallas Jenkins' TV series is a cut above.
Television
Squid Game Is a Bloody Commentary on Consumer Debt
Would you risk your life to write off your loans?
Legends of the Hidden Temple: the Reboot Nobody Asked for or Wanted
This Nickelodeon nostalgia is strictly for the millennials—and nobody else.
For Halloween, CBS Unearths CSI: Vegas to Stalk the World Once More
Also, a sitcom about ghosts!
La Brea Is a Sucking Sinkhole of a Sci-Fi Mystery Show
Both literally and in terms of quality
The Wonder Years Is a Remake Actually Worth Your Attention
In an era of cynical nostalgia-fueled reboots, a racial reframing creates a new experience.
Our Kind of People Serves Up an All-Too-Familiar Class War Soap Opera
Fox drama doesn’t rise—or sink—to the right level for the genre.
Primetime Television Struggles to Launch a New Fall Season
There are only a dozen new shows hitting the airwaves this month.
Strong Talent Elevates the Despair Porn of American Rust
Prestige television flogs another round of working-class misery.
Documentary on CIA's Hunt for Bin Laden Doesn't Truly Pull Back the Curtain
As the 20th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, prepare for the many, many looks back.
Bo Burnham: Inside
The Netflix comedy special deals with the loneliness brought on by the pandemic.
40 Ways Things Are Getting Better
"What has gotten materially better in America in, say, the last twenty years?" So! Much!
Steve Martin, Martin Short Take Comedic Aim at Crime Podcasts in Only Murders in the Building
Selena Gomez is all grown up and hilarious.
Cancel Culture Is Ruining Jeopardy!
The unexpectedly acrimonious search for a new host is undermining Alex Trebek's legacy.
The Chair Makes Comedy Out of College's Absurd Status Quo
Sandra Oh leads Netflix's satire on the state of academia today.
Governments Love a Media Cartel—As Long as They're in Control
Friday A/V Club: Some people are against concentrated media power. Some just want to bend it to their will.
Nicole Kidman Leads Nine Perfect Strangers Through Tense New Age Melodrama
David Kelley brings another Liane Moriarty book to life.
Howard Mortman: Why Does Congress Pray Every Day?
The When Rabbis Bless Congress author and C-SPAN honcho on a weird political tradition and the glorious death of legacy media
Transportation Murder Mystery Departure Provides One Last Chance to Enjoy Christopher Plummer
Two seasons of Canadian suspense drama are available on NBC streaming service Peacock.
Enjoy the Quirky Moodiness of Amazon's Costume Drama The Pursuit of Love
Sly humor prevents this book adaptation from becoming stuffy.
I Trapped the Devil Is as Unclever as Its Title
No, there isn’t really much more to this deservedly forgotten film.
The End Offers Doom and Gloom Without Respite
There is more to Showtime's The End than the ways and means of self-destruction, but perhaps not much.
Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Dull platitudes about diversity from the Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Satire Is as Rich as the Clientele in HBO's The White Lotus
High-class characters plunge into low-class shenanigans at Hawaiian resort.
Independence May Not Bring Glory to All American Spinoff
Elsewhere, Netflix is going to the cats and dogs.
CNN Memorializes America's Trashiest Romance Writer
Jackie Collins was a pop culture force to be reckoned with in the 1980s.
GB News Stands Up to U.K. Cancel Culture and Wins
Advertisers found that appeasing an illiberal mob wasn’t a safe choice after all.
It's Time for Television To Get Super Weird for the Summer
Two shows offer two different versions of hell, one more literal than the other.
CW's The Republic of Sarah Is No Free State Project
Anarchy in New Hampshire? Unfortunately, not quite.
The One Where Friends Has a Reunion Episode
Also: A strange, 50-year-old George Romero public service movie is unearthed.
Lisey's Story: Bad Stephen King Book Gets Terrible Apple TV Adaptation
Talented actors like Julianne Moore, Joan Allen go to waste
Forget the May Network Sweeps and Turn to Streaming for Hot, New TV
The Bite and Halston feature the skilled producers and actors you're often not seeing on television these days.
WandaVision
The show perfectly encapsulates the feelings of grief, confusion, and isolation born of the pandemic.
AMC, Amazon Offer Up Television Adaptations of Two Hot Books
Too Close and The Underground Railroad provide wildly different experiences.
Chinese Immigrants in the Deep South Struggle and Thrive in PBS Documentary
A tale of heartbreak and tenacity in post-Reconstruction Mississippi.
A Child's Loss Fuels Mysterious, Riveting The Drowning
A mother goes to extreme lengths to try to prove her son’s still alive.
HBO Documents the Tragic Tale of Lucy, the Chimp Raised Like a Human
An experiment to see if nurture could overcome nature did not end well.
Spy City Lives Up to Its Name with Complex Cold War Intrigue
AMC+ thriller takes viewers to paranoid, dangerous '60s Berlin.
America's History of Racial Violence Collides with Horror Tropes in Them
If you miss Lovecraft Country, Amazon has an alternative.
The Expanse
People are people and politics is politics, no matter how far you get from planet Earth.
Rebel Yells, But You're Likely to Yawn in Response
New ABC show wastes Katey Sagal’s massive talents.
G. Gordon Liddy: The Hollywood Years
Friday A/V Club: How a Watergate burglar spent the '80s
Tina Turner's Powerhouse Career Recounted in HBO Documentary
Also: Cancel culture knives are out for The United States of Al. It doesn’t deserve them.
The Snyder Cut of Justice League Is an Internet Fan Theory Come to Life
It’s a victory for fans made possible by the evolution of streaming technology.
HBO Takes a Deep Dive into the Wild Corners of QAnon
Documentary series Q: Into the Storm delves into the Trump-era conspiracy.
Andra Day Shines in a Confused Interpretation of The United States vs. Billie Holiday
What we know about Holiday’s mistreatment is compelling enough without muddling her history.
History of Swear Words
The most interesting aspect of the series is how it unintentionally reveals our conflicted relationship with profanity.
