TV
Dear Television is Jane Hu, Evan Kindley, Lili Loofbourow, and Phillip Maciak. This season, they'll be posting weekly letters about AMC's "Mad Men." While this is not a full recap, there are still plenty of spoilers. Read the last installment here. READ MORE >>
Michael Scott’s departure from “The Office” two years ago felt like the series’ natural endpoint. It was sweet and sentimental, gently poking fun at one of show’s basic conceits: that an unseen film crew had spent nearly a decade chronicling daily life at a Scranton paper-supply company, and the resulting documentary is what we are watching. READ MORE >>
What’s Not Wrong With Network TV
Three critics find the bright spots in a medium in transition
This is the week of the television industry’s “upfronts,” during which the (now-ratings-challenged) major networks announce their lineups for next season. It’s also season finale time for Fox’s “New Girl,” one of the few recent network series to become a breakout hit. Not a bad occasion, then, to assess the state of the broadcast sitcom. READ MORE >>
Dear Television is Jane Hu, Evan Kindley, Lili Loofbourow, and Phillip Maciak. This season, they'll be posting weekly letters about AMC's "Mad Men." While this is not a full recap, there are still plenty of spoilers. Read the last installment here. READ MORE >>
Dear Television is Jane Hu, Evan Kindley, Lili Loofbourow, and Phillip Maciak. This season, they'll be posting weekly letters about AMC's "Mad Men." While this is not a full recap, there are still plenty of spoilers. Read the last installment here. READ MORE >>
The Reality TV Family Tree
Breaking down America's favorite television genre, in all its twisted glory
The 1973 PBS Documentary "An American Family" is often described as a precursor to modern reality television, which is fitting since the genre has come to resemble a family itself: multigeneratonal, competitive, filled with weirdos. Two relatively reality-free decades passed between the staid, observational PBS show and its surly spawn—the more manufactured, melodramatic MTV productions, "The Real World" and "Road Rules." They, in turn, kicked off the insane explosion of drunken, bug-eating, celebrity-fueled antics we see today. READ MORE >>
Christopher Guest Was Not Made for TV
What makes his films so good is what hurts 'Family Tree'
Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries are small, perceptive oddities, so unblinkingly committed to the worlds they investigate that the comedy can seem almost accidental. This is Spinal Tap (1984) spoofs the pretensions and ambitions of aging rockers with mortal seriousness. Waiting for Guffman (1996) does the same for a community theater ensemble in small-town Missouri. Best in Show (2000) makes tightly-wound dog owners into fully likeable monsters. READ MORE >>
Liz Meriwether is trying to figure out the best way to make READ MORE >>
Dear TV: 'Mad Men' Season Six: Episode 6, Post 2
Was this the jokiest episode of 'Mad Men' yet?
Dear Television is Jane Hu, Evan Kindley, Lili Loofbourow, and Phillip Maciak. This season, they'll be posting weekly letters about AMC's "Mad Men." While this is not a full recap, there are still plenty of spoilers. Read the last installment here. READ MORE >>
Dear Television is Jane Hu, Evan Kindley, Lili Loofbourow, and Phillip Maciak. This season, they'll be posting weekly letters about AMC's "Mad Men." While this is not a full recap, there are still plenty of spoilers. Read the last installment here. READ MORE >>
