Television

It was the monoculture all along. Marvel’s WandaVision debuted on Disney+ on January 16th, timed perfectly for a pandemic-pummeled nation fresh from an assault on its Capitol so outlandish it could’ve been pulled from MCU outtakes. WandaVision was a turducken of cultural comfort food, a loving tribute to sitcom history with supernatural mystery and superheroics bubbling underneath: “a combination of Nick at Nite and Marvel,” in the words of series director Matt Shakman, all of it driven by themes of grief and loss that also fit its era all too...

Products featured are independently selected by our editorial team and we may earn a commission from purchases made from our links; the retailer may also receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. What will moviegoing look like post-vaccine? We might soon have a better idea. Where May served as something of a dry run for whether or not audiences turn out via films like Wrath of Man and A Quiet Place Part II, June looks like the main event thanks to In the Heights, F9, and a new Pixar movie....

John Oliver has some important thoughts on the current state of cereal, which he shared in a clip on Last Week Tonight. “I’m aware that there is a lot going on in the world right now,” Oliver says in the clip. “But instead of focusing on any of that I’d like to raise a subject that is near and dear to my heart. And that is: There simply aren’t enough cereals.” He adds, “And to be clear, I don’t mean in a food shortage short of way, like we’re running...

This column contains spoilers for the finale of Mare of Easttown, available now on HBO and HBO Max. For a show whose characters seemed congenitally incapable of smiling or experiencing joy, Mare of Easttown inspired a lot of amusing side discussions among its audience. There was the analysis of all the thick DelCo accents, with some viewers offering up their own versions. There were screencaps and GIFs of Kate Winslet as Mare eating hoagies and cheesesteaks and spray cheese, and loving tributes to Evan Peters making himself the King of...

Gavin MacLeod, the actor who starred on the classic sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show and captained The Love Boat, has died at the age of 90. MacLeod’s nephew Mark See confirmed the actor’s May 29th death to Variety. While no cause of death was provided, See noted that MacLeod’s health had declined in recent months. Ed Asner, MacLeod’s castmate on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, tweeted following news of the actor’s death, “My heart is broken. Gavin was my brother, my partner in crime (and food) and my comic...

Here’s the thing about reality TV: It’s not supposed to be great. Sure, there are quality reality shows; they’re the same six that get nominated for Outstanding Competition Program at the Emmys every year. But in a certain strata of the genre — the kind populated with Real Housewives and 90-day fiancés, where no glass of rosé goes untossed and no table unflipped — the race to the bottom isn’t just the point, it’s the entire business model. This is anti-prestige television, designed to make us all feel a little...

Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and BTS had their appearances in Friends: The Reunion edited out of the HBO Max special upon its release in China this week. In the special, Bieber shows up as “Spudnik” during a Friends-inspired fashion show, Lady Gaga performs “Smelly Cat” with Lisa Kudrow and BTS members discussed how watching repeats of the sitcom helped them learn English. All of those moments, plus other scenes that referenced the show’s LGBTQ legacy  — in total, six minutes of footage — were removed from the Chinese version of...

Products featured are independently selected by our editorial team and we may earn a commission from purchases made from our links; the retailer may also receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Before the rise of meme culture, podcasts and Comments by Celebs, there was Friends, a show that came about during the rise of the internet but earned its buzz the old-fashioned way, with laugh out loud moments and cliffhanger storylines that left millions of viewers tuned into their TV sets every week. It’s been nearly 30 years since...

HBO Max has shared the first teaser trailer for its Gossip Girl reboot, which arrives on the streaming service almost a decade after the cult series’ run on the CW ended. While the preview focuses on the new group of young New York elites — played by Jordan Alexander, Eli Brown, Thomas Doherty, Tavi Gevinson, Emily Alyn Lind, Evan Mock, Zion Moreno, Whitney Peak, and Savannah Lee Smith — there is one returning cast member from the original series: Kristen Bell, who served as the mysterious narrator of Gossip Girl...

Midway through Friends: The Reunion, the six Friends stars are sitting on the recreated set of Monica and Rachel’s apartment, recalling the strange moment in their lives when Friends exploded from successful sitcom into world-dominating pop-culture phenomenon. “No one was going through what we were going through,” observes David Schwimmer. “Our family couldn’t relate. Our friends — our closest friends — couldn’t relate. They were there for us, but the only people who really knew what it was like were the other five.” Besides unwittingly quoting the show’s theme song,...

Products featured are independently selected by our editorial team and we may earn a commission from purchases made from our links; the retailer may also receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Fans of the hit sitcom Friends can catch up with all the stars of the show with the Friends reunion special airing on HBO Max. Monica (Courteney Cox), Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), Joey (Matt LeBlanc), Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Ross (David Schwimmer) are all heading back to the Friends Warner Bros. studio lot for the HBO...

In Rolling Stone‘s new video franchise, Best Lines, actors share their favorite — or most memorable — lines across a career-spanning interview. In our debut episode, we dive into Rob McElhenney‘s favorite “Mac” lines from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and wrap up with a memorable moment from the pilot of Mythic Quest. It’s Always Sunny — starring Rob McElhenney’s Mac, Glenn Howerton as Dennis, Charlie Day as Charlie, Kaitlin Olson as Dee, and Danny DeVito as Frank — started out as a scruffy DIY project and ended up the...

Related: How to Watch Every Episode of Friends Online for Free When Friends premiered on NBC, the cast had no idea whether it would even be picked up for additional episodes. Most of them had been struggling in Hollywood for years, and this new show about six twentysomethings in New York City felt like it might be just another pilot that went nowhere. “Everyone was kind of keeping their distance and not really investing too much emotionally,” David Schwimmer would recall on Oprah a year later. “There’s also the reality that any...

Weekend Update covered the week’s big news and gave the spotlight to two potentially departing cast members during Saturday Night Live‘s Season 46 finale. “Well, it’s last Weekend Update, and I have to say, I think the country is in a better place than when we started this season,” co-anchor Colin Jost said to open the segment. “In September, there were headlines like ‘Will the president destroy democracy?’ and now I’m seeing headlines like ‘Will this be the most turnt-ass summer ever?'” “Who can forget that time when the president...