Television

The Secret Lives of Teenage Sidekicks

Mindy Kaling’s Never Have I Ever joins a handful of new coming-of-age films that break with history to put young women of color at the center of the story.

• Hannah Giorgis
• 6:00 AM ET

25 Half-Hour Shows to Watch Now

If your attention span is frazzled, explore the compact joys of the 30-minute format.

• Sophie Gilbert
• May 24, 2020

What The Great Reveals About Trump’s Pandemic Denial

Hulu’s new satire may be set in 18th-century Russia, but it understands the theatrical and nearsighted politics of the current moment.

• Shirley Li
• May 21, 2020

An Old-School Crime Drama That’s Thoroughly Modern

Hightown deepens the procedural genre by expanding its focus beyond a singular murder to the opioid epidemic at the edges of its story.

• Sophie Gilbert
• May 18, 2020

The Sitcom Dad Who Made Grouchiness Into an Art Form

The actor Jerry Stiller, who died yesterday at age 92, was unforgettable as the irascible Frank Costanza on Seinfeld.

• David Sims
• May 12, 2020

The SNL Season Finale Doesn’t Sugarcoat Pandemic Anxiety

Unlike its previous at-home episodes, last night’s show embraced the existential crisis of the moment.

• Shirley Li
• May 10, 2020

Hollywood Fails to Sell Its Own Fairy Tale

Ryan Murphy’s Netflix show presents a fantasy in which marginalized people get to make the film they want. But the fun thought exercise curdles into earnest nonsense.

• Shirley Li
• May 10, 2020

Upload Satirizes a Capitalist Heaven

The Amazon show is one of several recent works in which the afterlife darkly mimics earthly existence.

• Sophie Gilbert
• May 7, 2020

The Times Have Changed. Seinfeld Hasn’t.

There’s something soothing about watching a comedian who has been telling the same jokes for decades.

• David Sims
• May 7, 2020

Westworld Never Fixed Its Villain Problem

The dark side of big data is a fascinating subject for TV to tackle. It just doesn’t make for a great antagonist.

• David Sims
• May 5, 2020

Foodie Culture as We Know It Is Over

A wave of culinary experts is responding to the pandemic with an accessible and empathetic approach to home cooking—and audiences can’t get enough.

• Hannah Giorgis
• May 5, 2020

The Irresistible Intimacy of Normal People

The Hulu adaptation of Sally Rooney’s hit novel ushers an addictive, messily human portrayal of young love to the small screen.

• Sophie Gilbert
• April 30, 2020

The Mythos of Michael Jordan Continues

With its deep archival footage of the Bulls legend, The Last Dance was always going to be epic. Now it needs to fill the void of sports writ large.

• Danny Chau
• April 27, 2020

What Kenya Barris Doesn’t Understand About #BlackAF

The Netflix show tries to expound on his personal narrative in a satirical context, but it just repeats all of the same notes from Black-ish.

• Shamira Ibrahim
• April 26, 2020

20 Undersung Crime Shows to Binge-Watch

Propulsive thrillers, slow-burn procedurals, and more for your every quarantine mood

• Sophie Gilbert
• April 23, 2020

We’re Living in Phyllis Schlafly’s America

A striking new miniseries reveals the conservative author’s deep impact on contemporary politics.

• Sophie Gilbert
• April 17, 2020

The Woman Who Is Remaking AMC

“The least safe thing to do is something safe,” says Sarah Barnett, the unconventional TV executive behind Killing Eve, which is back for a third season.

• Sophie Gilbert
• April 13, 2020

The Surreal Comforts of the SNL Quarantine Episode

Hosted by COVID-19 survivor Tom Hanks and filmed remotely, the show’s latest broadcast is a cultural document of the times.

• David Sims
• April 12, 2020

Quibi Is a Vast Wasteland

Hollywood’s short-form entertainment app slices and dices the traditional mediocrity that the internet has allowed viewers to escape from.

• Spencer Kornhaber
• April 11, 2020

The Magicians Is Your Next Great Escape

If you’re looking for something to binge-watch, you won’t regret diving into Syfy’s darkly subversive fantasy series.

• Sarah Stankorb
• April 8, 2020