Netflix
The New Yorker Interview
Mo Amer Has Survived by Being Funny
The comedian discusses flying in Jimmy Kimmel’s jet, beefing with Jerry Seinfeld, and the “weight” of talking about Palestine on his new standup special, “Wild World.”
Critic’s Notebook
The Flawed Heart of “Adolescence”
The creators of the British miniseries think of the contemporary English boy as a fragile creature, abandoned by society.
On Television
The Parental Panic of “Adolescence”
The Netflix series, about a thirteen-year-old killer, attempts to grapple with the crisis facing boys today—but its true sympathies lie with the baffled adults around them.
Cultural Comment
The Cancer Scams That Foreshadowed MAHA
Long before R.F.K., Jr., promised to “Make America Healthy Again,” wellness influencers were peddling a seductive promise of purity to the desperately sick.
On Television
“Mo” ’s Urgent, Uneven Homecoming
Mohammed Amer’s unlikely comedy about a family of Palestinian refugees in Houston returns for a season that’s sillier, sadder, and timelier than ever.
The Sporting Scene
Jake Paul Gave Mike Tyson a Senseless Beating
The YouTuber turned boxer triumphed over the legend of Iron Mike, and, less impressively, the man himself.
The New Yorker Interview
Rachel Bloom Has a Funny Song About Death
In her new Netflix special, the comedian turns a tragic life episode into a riotous study of motherhood, mortality, and the meaning of pet heaven.
On Television
Nicole Kidman Gives Us What We Want in the Silly, Soapy “The Perfect Couple”
The Netflix murder mystery recalls a time when TV wasn’t supposed to be art.
The Front Row
“Rebel Ridge” Is a Police Drama with a Difference
Jeremy Saulnier’s action film spotlights a young marine veteran’s resistance to corrupt and abusive officers in a small Southern town.
Infinite Scroll
“Emily in Paris” in the Late Streaming Era
Over four seasons, the Netflix series has hollowed out along with the streaming industry that spawned it.
The Political Scene Podcast
How the Reality-TV Industry Mistreats Its Stars
Lawsuits and the labor movement come to reality TV, by way of the Netflix hit “Love Is Blind.”
Cultural Comment
The Salacious Glossiness of Netflix’s Prince Andrew Drama, “Scoop”
Rufus Sewell and Gillian Anderson star in a re-creation of an infamous BBC interview that feels like a hallucinated episode of “The Crown.”
Culture Desk
The Heartbreak of an English Football Team
The Netflix series “Sunderland ’Til I Die” serves as a thesis both for fandom and for the inevitability of its disappointments.
Critics at Large
What Is the Comic For?
Standup comedy has long been an art of public transgression—but, in the age of the culture wars, do audiences want to be challenged, or affirmed?
The Front Row
Wes Anderson’s Roald Dahl Quartet Abounds in Audacious Artifice and Stinging Political Critique
Four new short films make clear how crucial the author’s work has been in the development of Anderson’s art.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
David Grann on Turning Best-Sellers Into Movies
The author of “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “The Wager” on his reporting process and adapting his work to the screen. Plus, Richard Brody makes the case for keeping your DVDs.
Cultural Comment
Hollywood’s Slo-Mo Self-Sabotage
Since the streaming era, movies and television feel less special, labor conditions have plummeted, and turbulent mergers and layoffs call into question which legendary institutions will still stand in another ten or twenty years.
Notes on Hollywood
“Orange Is the New Black” Signalled the Rot Inside the Streaming Economy
The innovative and daring show was a worldwide hit for Netflix, but some of the actors say that they were never fairly compensated.
On Television
Comic High Jinks and Repressed Despair in Netflix’s “Beef”
The drama, starring Steven Yeun and Ali Wong, is a study of male loneliness—a familiar theme in prestige TV that finds renewed urgency in an Asian American context.
On Television
Chris Rock’s Live Experiment in Saving Face
“Everybody fucking knows. . . . I got smacked, like, a year ago,” the comedian finally says at the end of his Netflix special, as if that’s not the reason we’re all here.