Recent articles
July 16, 2026
Will Ferrell’s Lackluster Golf Comedy ‘The Hawk’ Is No ‘Talladega Nights’: TV Review
I am a child of the 2000s (and specifically San Diego), which is to say that the work of Will Ferrell (and specifically “Anchorman”) is deeply important to me. Star vehicles like “Step Brothers” an...
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July 12, 2026
J.K. Simmons Crime Drama ‘The Westies’ Is a Flat Take on New York’s Irish Mob: TV Review
The construction of the glass box where Hillary Clinton would eventually concede the 2016 election may not sound like the stuff of riveting television. And sure enough, it isn’t — at least in “The ...
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July 9, 2026
Jennifer Garner’s Beachy Limited Series ‘The Five-Star Weekend’ Has Big Names and Refreshingly Modest Stakes: TV Review
This is going to sound like an odd way to praise a television show, but it’s how I feel, so here goes: I’m so glad “The Five-Star Weekend” doesn’t have a dead body. Ever since “Big Little Lies” sta...
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July 1, 2026
‘Legally Blonde’ Prequel Series ‘Elle’ Is Often Well-Executed, If Mostly a Rehash: TV Review
The Amazon Prime Video show “Elle” is billed as a prequel series to the 2001 novel turned hit movie “Legally Blonde,” but its eight episodes play more like a remake. Sure, “Elle” turns back the clo...
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June 30, 2026
Louis C.K. Re-Enters the Mainstream With Caustic Netflix Special ‘Ridiculous’: TV Review
As Louis C.K was publicly accused of sexual misconduct, subsequently confirmed that “these stories are true,” partially retreated from public life and gradually returned — a trajectory that began w...
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June 25, 2026
‘The Bear’ Ends Its Run With Renewed Focus, but Not Quite Redemption: TV Review
“You did this,” Donna Berzatto (Jamie Lee Curtis) kvells to her daughter Natalie (Abby Elliott), offering praise in the middle of a particularly stressful day. (Though in this family, all days are ...
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June 24, 2026
Larry David’s Obama-Produced Sketch Show ‘Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness’ Puts ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ in Period Drag: TV Review
“Curb Your Enthusiasm” may be over, but some of its concepts seem to still be knocking around in Larry David’s head. The principle that “Happy New Year!” is a sentiment that expires on Jan. 7, for ...
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June 19, 2026
Netflix’s Spanish Resort Drama ‘Oasis’ Is More ‘Elite’ Than ‘The White Lotus’: TV Review
If I were to tell you the new Netflix series “Oasis” begins with a flash-forward to a shocking crime at a luxury resort, your eyes might glaze over faster than I could say “The White Lotus.” The ob...
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June 17, 2026
‘Widow’s Bay’ Star Matthew Rhys on That Devastating Finale Reveal and Grilling Creator Katie Dippold About Season 2: ‘What’s Gonna Happen?!?!”
SPOILER ALERT: The following article contains plot details from “We Hope You Enjoyed Your Time!,” the Season 1 finale of “Widow’s Bay,” now streaming on Apple TV. The curse was coming from inside t...
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June 17, 2026
Juicy Hong Kong Hulu Drama ‘The Season’ Is a Spiritual Successor to ‘Crazy Rich Asians’: TV Review
One of the more baffling mysteries in modern entertainment is why the 2018 blockbuster “Crazy Rich Asians,” a rom-com that grossed $239 million worldwide on a $30 million production budget, didn’t ...
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June 15, 2026
‘House of the Dragon’ Cranks Up the Action in a Less Sleepy Season 3: TV Review
“If this be victory,” a character on “House of the Dragon” reflects while gazing out at a corpse-strewn battlefield, “I hope I never see another.” That line is essentially the thesis statement of t...
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June 8, 2026
Jemaine Clement and Nicola Walker Are Hilarious as Best Friends at War in Hulu’s ‘Wrong-Com’ ‘Alice and Steve’: TV Review
The Hulu series “Alice and Steve” has many aspects of a romantic comedy: witty banter, protagonists with quirky creative jobs and a set piece centered on a dinner party. But the namesake characters...
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June 7, 2026
‘Interview With the Vampire’ Transforms Into ‘The Vampire Lestat’ for a Gloriously Glam Season 3: TV Review
Throughout the third season of AMC’s “Interview With the Vampire,” characters speak with equal parts dread, anticipation and awe of something called the “Great Transformation.” The phrase has its o...
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June 1, 2026
The Series Finale of ‘Euphoria’ Let the Characters Down: TV Review
SPOILER ALERT: The following piece contains plot details from “In God We Trust,” the series finale of “Euphoria,” now streaming on HBO Max. Throughout its third — and now confirmed to be final — se...
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May 29, 2026
Allison Janney and Andrew Rannells Make for a Graceful Two-Hander About Grief in HBO Movie ‘Miss You, Love You’: Review
“Miss You, Love You” — a feature written and directed by Jim Rash (auteur of “The Way, Way Back,” and also the comedic genius behind Dean Pelton on “Community”) that premiered at Sundance earlier t...
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May 29, 2026
Netflix Reality Show ‘Calabasas Confidential’ Fails to Find the New Kardashians: TV Review
The Los Angeles suburb of Calabasas — tucked into the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains on the San Fernando Valley’s far western edge — is, in many ways, ground zero for reality TV as we know...
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May 29, 2026
The Series Finale of ‘Hacks’ Showed What the Rest of Season 5 Was Missing
SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from the series finale of “Hacks,” now streaming on HBO Max. In the closing minutes of “Hacks,” Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbin...
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May 28, 2026
Linda Cardellini on Pulling Off Her ‘Impossible’ Role in ‘DTF St. Louis’: ‘Everybody Longs for Some Kind of Intimacy’
Linda Cardellini broke out at the turn of the millennium as the face of teenage angst in Judd Apatow’s “Freaks and Geeks,” a slice-of-life NBC series about high schoolers in suburban Michigan. A qu...
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May 22, 2026
‘Big Mouth’ Creators Take Their Signature Raunch to the Animal Kingdom With Follow-Up ‘Mating Season’: TV Review
Late in the first season of the Netflix animated comedy “Mating Season,” the protagonists — beta bear Josh (Zach Woods), randy raccoon Ray (Nick Kroll), Sapphic fox Penelope (Sabrina Jalees) and si...
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May 20, 2026
Apple TV’s Cam Boy Crime Comedy ‘Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed’ Loses Sight of Its Juicy Hook: TV Review
Watching the premiere of “Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed,” Apple TV subscribers may get a distinct sense of déjà vu. Just last month, the streaming service premiered “Margo’s Got Money Troubles,” a li...
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May 14, 2026
‘Yellowstone’ Spinoff ‘Dutton Ranch’ Cuts and Pastes the Taylor Sheridan Tentpole Into Texas: TV Review
The first contemporary “Yellowstone” spinoff, “Marshals,” kept the Montana setting but switched genres from big-budget soap opera to humble broadcast procedural. The second, “Dutton Ranch,” maintai...
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May 11, 2026
‘The Comeback’ Didn’t Earn a Happy Ending — But It’s Still Nice to Get One
SPOILER ALERT: The following piece contains plot details from the series finale of “The Comeback,” now streaming on HBO Max. Five minutes before the credits roll, “The Comeback” is set to end on a ...
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May 8, 2026
Apple TV Israeli Thriller ‘Unconditional’ Gets More Absurd (and Enjoyable) As It Goes: TV Review
Despite what the obligatory disclaimer before each episode may say, the Israeli thriller “Unconditional” — which aired on Keshet 12 in its country of origin last month before coming to Apple TV in ...
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May 7, 2026
Steve Coogan and Tom Burke Excel as Undercover Agents in Netflix War on Drugs Drama ‘Legends’: TV Review
In the parlance of undercover operatives, a “legend” is the false identity one concocts to infiltrate a criminal network. “Your legend has to come from you, or it won’t work. Your legend has to be ...
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May 4, 2026
Netflix’s ‘Lord of the Flies’ Adaptation Is a Harrowing Watch With a Stellar Young Cast: TV Review
“The Lord of the Flies” is the kind of show you praise by emphasizing how hard it is to watch. Adapted from William Golding’s classic 1954 novel by Jack Thorne (co-writer of “Adolescence”), directe...
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April 29, 2026
Apple TV Horror Comedy ‘Widow’s Bay’ Walks a Tonal Tightrope to Bewitching Effect: TV Review
The blend of horror and comedy — two genres driven by tension that culminates in a cathartic payoff — has thrived in recent years at the box office, championed by auteurs like Jordan Peele and Zach...
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April 23, 2026
‘Stranger Things’ Animated Spinoff ‘Tales From ’85’ Is a Depressing, Cynical Retread: TV Review
Most spinoffs expand their flagship shows in a direction. That direction could be forward, following a beloved character past the events of the original story, á la “Frasier”; it could be backward,...
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April 20, 2026
Animated Comedy ‘Kevin’ Is an Enjoyably Chaotic Feline Coming-of-Age: TV Review
Over eight seasons on Netflix, the animated series “Big Mouth” made raunchy humor out of anthropomorphizing human emotions. Starting with the Hormone Monster, who personified the raging id of puber...
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April 17, 2026
‘The Pitt’ Season 2 Didn’t Have a Defining Disaster — and Proved It Doesn’t Need One
Just two seasons into its run, “The Pitt” is already playing with audience expectations. The real-time medical drama debuted to acclaim when it began an old-fashioned, week-by-week rollout in Janua...
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