Television

Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2016 novel The Underground Railroad depicts both the savage reality of American slavery and the danger of escaping it. Much like Gulliver’s Travels, the story takes its fugitive protagonist, Cora, on a fantastical tour through different states via a literal locomotive. Each stop along the way features horrors reminiscent of real-life atrocities. South Carolina is host to a Tuskegee-like experiment on supposedly free Negroes. North Carolina resembles both Nazi Germany and the early Oregon Territory, outlawing the existence of black people altogether. It is a world...

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. Could there be better news for Friends fans? This week, members of the Friends cast, including Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer and Matthew Perry all shared the teaser for the much-anticipated Friends: The Reunion special, which is finally happening on May 27th on HBO Max. The special arrives almost 17 years since the...

In the final episode of Netflix’s Halston, the iconic fashion designer, played by Ewan McGregor, asks his assistant to sum up what the critics are saying about his latest collection. She suggests they are disappointed with where his career has gone, given that, “at one point, you reinvented women’s fashion — wrapped a woman in a feeling, in your taste.” This is an eyebrow-raising comment, not because it’s an inaccurate summation of Halston’s impact in his field, but because Halston the miniseries has done such a poor job of dramatizing...

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Season Two of The Circle. Of all of the contestants on Season Two of Netflix’s The Circle, no one is perhaps as devious as Courtney Revolution. A 28-year-old podcaster who hosts the entertainment podcast Overheard in the Pantry, Courtney entered the game by winning people over with his infectious personality, his Taylor Swift T-shirts, and ceaselessly delightful turns of phrase (yes, “What in the intergalactic flawlessness is this, honey?” merch is forthcoming). But the blocking of his ally Savannah, as well as his role as...

Late in the premiere of the new Starz dramedy Run the World, Ella (Andrea Bordeaux) reveals to her old friend Sondi (Corbin Reid) that her on-again, off-again ex Anderson (Nick Sagar) is back in town. Sondi, exasperated, suggests she may have to have sex with Anderson herself to understand what Ella sees in him. “He’s my Big!” Ella explains — as in Mr. Big, the on-again, off-again lover of Carrie Bradshaw on Sex and the City. Like Carrie, Ella is a writer living in Manhattan (Harlem instead of the Upper...

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. On an overcast Thursday evening in April, Sam Jay settles into a booth at New York’s storied Comedy Cellar. She’s wearing a sweatshirt featuring a photo of Kobe Bryant clutching the 2001 NBA Finals trophy, and her short hair is hidden under a fitted Lakers cap. It’s dim and the bar hasn’t opened yet, but Jay asks a...

Amazon Prime Video has released a new trailer for its new young adult thriller series, Panic, set to premiere May 28th. The show is based on Lauren Oliver’s bestselling novel of the same name, and is set in a small Texas town where each summer, high school graduates compete in a series of intense challenges, believing that winning the competition is the only way to escape their dead-end home. After some changes are made to the competition, however, the game grows increasingly dangerous, but the prize money also goes up....

Norman Lloyd, who starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s Saboteur and portrayed Dr. Daniel Auschlander on NBC’s St. Elsewhere, died on Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles, as Variety reports. Lloyd’s friend, producer Dean Hargrove, confirmed his death to Variety. He was 106. The Hollywood veteran’s eight-decade career spanned theater, radio, film and TV, where he served in a variety of roles including director and producer. While his own name may not be widely recognized, he was deeply respected within industry circles and he worked with some of the most renowned...

Netflix has released the trailer for Part 2 of Lupin, the French thriller series that has become a runaway hit for the streaming platform. The remaining five episodes of the series drop June 11th. With Assane Diop’s quest for revenge against Hubert Pelligrini in shambles, and his son kidnapped, the wanted thief must now think up a new plan to expose Hubert’s crimes, while Hubert tries to lure Assane back into his trap with a symphony performance hosted by his foundation. Plus the trailer hints at many more high-speed car chases...

Elon Musk, self-proclaimed “The Dogefather,” discussed Dogecoin and cryptocurrency in general on Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update. Playing financial expert Lloyd Ostertag — although the character was basically just the Tesla mogul himself — Musk explained of cryptocurrency, “They’re a type of digital money, but instead of being controlled by a central government, they’re decentralized using blockchain technology, and lately, prices have been soaring for cryptos like Bitcoin, Ethereum and especially Dogecoin.” Co-anchor Michael Che then asked, simply, “What is Dogecoin?” “Well it actually started as a joke based on...

Again and again throughout Barry Jenkins’ adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Underground Railroad, the Oscar-winning Moonlight director will pause the story to present a tableau of his huge cast of black characters. These shots are stunning in their composition, as if Jenkins and cinematographer James Laxton are painting an entirely different vision of American history than the one you most commonly find in textbooks and on museum walls. It’s an appropriate touch for a story that weaves in agonizingly real details from our horrible past of racist...

Grimes appeared as Princess Peach in a Saturday Night Live sketch where Wario, played by host Elon Musk, is on trial for Super Mario’s murder. “Tune into SNL tonight to watch me try acting,” Grimes teased earlier in the day prior to her partner’s controversial hosting gig. In the sketch — a nod to the news that Nintendo was allegedly killing off its chief mascot —  Wario is accused of murdering Mario. However, the villain’s defense attorney (played by Mikey Day) exposes that Mario’s brother Luigi (Kyle Mooney) and longtime...

Dogecoin had a rough night, and so did comedy. Elon Musk was one of the most anticipated Saturday Night Live hosts in recent years, just because his booking was so divisive and derided. Many fans were openly hoping for a live-from-New-York disaster. But instead, it turned out to be a snoozy stroke session, framing Musk as a lovably zany sitcom boss — what a character! It was in no way terrible enough to be funny-terrible. It was just a 90-minute suck-up infomercial for the Tesla mogul and his brands, especially...

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. Since the launch of the MCU, Marvel has gotten moviegoers and TV viewers to career about characters they might previously have known much about. Sure, Iron Man wasn’t exactly obscure in 2008, but he wasn’t exactly Spider-man, either. The project’s success has paved the way for characters known only to dedicated comics readers to get some time in...