Be Kind. Please Rewind: An Ode to the VCR
Like Netflix, the VCR diluted and transformed the film itself.
television
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Sense and Sensibility at the World Cup
I've sworn, after learning about the latest kleptocrat billionaire to buy a club, or scrambling from the clash between hooligans and riot police, or hearing a homophobic chant rise up from the stands, I would give up on the game. Anyone with sense would.
‘Black Mirror’ Season 5 Should Be Its Last
It makes perfect sense that 2019 — the last year of the decade — should also be the last year for one of the 2010s' best shows. To continue would be a disservice to viewers.
Never Ending Endings in ‘The Avengers: Endgame’ and ‘Game of Thrones’
In both The Avengers: Endgame and Game of Thrones, the key conflicts are not between good and evil, as one might think, but between the beginnings and endings of their stories.
Quinlan Miller’s ‘Camp TV’ Could Use Some Levity
Under the aegis of fluidity, Quinlan Miller advances a trans-conscious viewpoint in Camp TV that happily takes a pick-ax to more basic gender studies approaches to pop media.
The One About the One About ‘Friends’
Kelsey Miller's I'll Be There for You, on the production and cultural legacy of Friends, is a must-read for fans and anyone interested in understanding TV culture over the past 20 years.
A Stranger Thing: Shannon Purser on ‘Sierra Burgess Is a Loser’
Shannon Purser discusses her debut role in film, Sierra Burgess Is a Loser, catfishing, and the unrealistic expectations imposed on today's youth.
Chris Stamey’s Homage to the New York Music Scene of the ’70s
A Spy In The House of Loud works best on quiet stages, taking singular trips down clearly paved roads with definite endings.
Sound and Silence in FX’s ‘The Americans’
Quiet on the set! Nathan Barr's Emmy-nominated theme song -- and his at times chilling soundtrack for this tale of Russian spies in America during the Cold War -- is now available on CD.
‘Homey Don’t Play That’: A Tale of Emmy-winning Black Comedy Sitcom ‘In Living Color’
Comedy is a cruelly subjective art form, and not much of it survives outside of its time frame.
Morgan Neville on the “Radical Kindness” of ‘Mr. Rogers Neighborhood’
Eschewing nostalgia, Morgan Neville of Won’t You Be My Neighbor is far more interested in Fred Rogers’ ideas than his biography.
Outrageousness Takes a Holiday in ‘Archer S8: Dreamland’
This may be a clever homage to classic hard-boiled detective fiction from the '40s, but Archer in Dreamland is not the wild man we've come to love/hate.