Premiering on Sunday night, October 27, HBO’s “Mrs. Fletcher” is a limited series told in seven half-hour episodes about a college-bound young man (Jackson White) coming of age and his mother (Kathryn Hahn) coming of middle age. Like “The Leftovers” it’s based on a novel by Tom Perrotta, and also like “The Leftovers” it was created by the author himself. But do critics admire this adaptation as much as they did Perrotta’s last one?
As of this writing the series has a MetaCritic score of 72 based on 10 reviews counted: seven positive, three mixed. The consensus on Rotten Tomatoes is similar. They rate movies and TV shows on a pass/fail scale, and they score it 77% fresh based on 13 reviews — 10 of which are positive. So most critics are admiring of it, but even more so of the woman who plays the title character.
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As of this writing the series has a MetaCritic score of 72 based on 10 reviews counted: seven positive, three mixed. The consensus on Rotten Tomatoes is similar. They rate movies and TV shows on a pass/fail scale, and they score it 77% fresh based on 13 reviews — 10 of which are positive. So most critics are admiring of it, but even more so of the woman who plays the title character.
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- 10/27/2019
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
Hooray! “BoJack Horseman” finally received its first Emmy nomination this year for Best Animated Program. It’s been a longtime coming for this Netflix series after being overlooked for the previous four seasons. To celebrate this great achievement, we invite you to think back on the great moments from this show that wonderfully skewers Hollywood and enjoy this ranking for the 40 greatest episodes of “BoJack Horseman,” ranked worst to best.
The offbeat show takes place in a world where humans coexist with anthropomorphic animals. The titular character (Will Arnett) is a washed up sitcom actor from the 1990s who, while seemingly having everything he could want, is still profoundly unhappy and is constantly trying to turn that around. His agent, Princess Carolyn (Amy Sedaris), is a cat who constantly puts the needs of others before her own and is also BoJack’s on-again off-again lover. He begins to work on...
The offbeat show takes place in a world where humans coexist with anthropomorphic animals. The titular character (Will Arnett) is a washed up sitcom actor from the 1990s who, while seemingly having everything he could want, is still profoundly unhappy and is constantly trying to turn that around. His agent, Princess Carolyn (Amy Sedaris), is a cat who constantly puts the needs of others before her own and is also BoJack’s on-again off-again lover. He begins to work on...
- 8/28/2019
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
Aidy Bryant stars in the Hulu comedy series “Shrill” as Annie, an overweight woman reclaiming her self-worth. Based on a memoir by Lindy West, it’s a feminist story that might especially resonate at a time when the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have shed light not just on sexual harassment, but also the myriad other ways women are demeaned and disadvantaged. And now a few of the Expert TV journalists we’ve polled think she’ll be nominated for an Emmy.
Eric Deggans (NPR), Matt Roush (TV Guide Magazine) and Glenn Whipp (La Times) are currently betting on Bryant to earn a bid for Best Comedy Actress, which would be the first nomination in this category for both Bryant and the streaming service. And it doesn’t hurt that the actress is already a two-time nominee. In 2014 she contended as a songwriter for “Home for the Holiday (Twin Bed),” which...
Eric Deggans (NPR), Matt Roush (TV Guide Magazine) and Glenn Whipp (La Times) are currently betting on Bryant to earn a bid for Best Comedy Actress, which would be the first nomination in this category for both Bryant and the streaming service. And it doesn’t hurt that the actress is already a two-time nominee. In 2014 she contended as a songwriter for “Home for the Holiday (Twin Bed),” which...
- 6/6/2019
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
Later this year, The New York Times will launch a new website entitled Watching, which is intended to serve as a recommendation resource for all things television and film, according to the company.
The site will kick off with a newsletter in coming weeks that will cover the best streaming content available on a weekly and nightly basis. Watching will also ultimately feature tools that guide users to “the best streaming content distilled from among the hundreds of scripted shows now released each year,” according to the Times.
The vertical will be helmed by the Times' TV editor Gilbert Cruz, and the newsletter written by former Vulture reporter Margaret Lyons.
Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.
The site will kick off with a newsletter in coming weeks that will cover the best streaming content available on a weekly and nightly basis. Watching will also ultimately feature tools that guide users to “the best streaming content distilled from among the hundreds of scripted shows now released each year,” according to the Times.
The vertical will be helmed by the Times' TV editor Gilbert Cruz, and the newsletter written by former Vulture reporter Margaret Lyons.
Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.
- 3/10/2016
- by Geoff Weiss
- Tubefilter.com
The New York Times will launch a new website, called Watching, focused on television and film. Television editor Gilbert Cruz will edit the new site, which plans to include entertaining movie and TV recommendations and a set of tools intended to guide users to the best streaming content. Margaret Lyons will write a newsletter in the coming weeks before the site’s launch, alerting subscribers to the best new weekly and nightly streaming content. Watching also plans to provide essential information on where and how to watch particular programming. Also Read: Keith Olbermann Moving Out of His Donald Trump-Owned Building Nyt Beta,...
- 3/10/2016
- by Brian Flood
- The Wrap
Welcome back to Stay Tuned, Vulture's TV advice column. Each Wednesday, Margaret Lyons answers your pressing television questions. To submit your own Qs, please email staytuned@nymag.com, leave a comment, or tweet @margeincharge with the hashtag #staytuned. My favorite shows are low-concept, human ones that make me cry: Six Feet Under, Friday Night Lights, Parenthood (Boy Meets World also holds a special place in my tear ducts). I've been somewhat emotionally satiated by comedy/dramas like Transparent, Looking, BoJack, Enlightened, Please Like Me, You're the Worst, Cucumber/Banana. I just have not been able to find more dramas that give me that gut-wrenching, squee-inducing, choked-up feeling that I would get on an episodic basis with the above shows. It feels like dramas these days are too concept-driven for their own good. I love the payoff on an emotional investment; prime-time soaps and dramas lately feel too rushed to earn...
- 2/10/2016
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
Welcome back to Stay Tuned, Vulture's TV advice column. Each Wednesday, Margaret Lyons answers your questions about your various TV triumphs and woes. Need help? Have a theory? Want a recommendation? Submit a question! You can email staytuned@nymag.com, or tweet @margeincharge with the hashtag #staytuned. Today, in honor of the Netflix revival, a special edition, all about Gilmore Girls. Like a lot of dedicated TV-watchers, I can tell when there is a changing of the guard. We all know the doom of West Wing season five or the painful spiral of Dexter. As someone who is now precious with TV time, is season seven a must-watch? I've completed season six. I assume the "revival" will be accessible for all, but especially rewarding for those who watched every season. —CollinI answered a similar question back in 2014, but in the wake of revival news, let's revisit this: Should you watch season seven?...
- 2/3/2016
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
Welcome back to Stay Tuned, Vulture's TV advice column. Each Wednesday, Margaret Lyons answers your questions about your various TV triumphs and woes. Need help? Have a theory? Want a recommendation? Submit a question! You can email staytuned@nymag.com, or tweet @margeincharge with the hashtag #staytuned. I love political TV shows and since this is an election year and the news coverage is non-stop I have turned into a political junkie. I need more. Are there are fictional political shows you can recommend? Aside from The West Wing (obvi) or current shows like Veep, Alpha House, and House of Cards, are there any overlooked series or TV movies I should be watching? I'm a Huge Jack & Bobby fan but it is so hard to find, so any other recommendations would be greatly appreciated! — ChrisOh, Jack & Bobby — that was a fun one. If you like that mid-2000s vibe,...
- 1/27/2016
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
Welcome back to Stay Tuned, Vulture's TV advice column. Each Wednesday, Margaret Lyons answers your questions about your various TV triumphs and woes. Need help? Have a theory? Want a recommendation? Submit a question! You can email staytuned@nymag.com, or tweet @margeincharge with the hashtag #staytuned. I've just started watching Nurse Jackie on Netflix. I'm about five episodes into season one, and while I'm enjoying it, I'm not totally hooked yet. Should I take the plunge? With seven seasons ahead of me, is it worth my time, or will it lead to heartbreak and regret? Still recovering from Lost, Dexter, Weeds, etc. —ClaireMy favorite season of Nurse Jackie is season six, and I like season seven a lot, so I encourage you to see it through. But I'll also tell you the show changes a lot over its lifespan — and depending on which aspects you like, your mileage will vary.
- 1/20/2016
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
Welcome back to Stay Tuned, Vulture's TV advice column. Each Wednesday, Margaret Lyons answers your questions about your various TV triumphs and woes. Need help? Have a theory? Want a recommendation? Submit a question! You can email staytuned@nymag.com, leave a comment, or tweet @margeincharge with the hashtag #staytuned. What are your favorite shows that deal primarily with college? I don't mean shows that started in high school and end in college, but shows that started in college and then maybe transitioned to the real world. My picks are A Different World, Greek, and Fresh Meat. I'm tempted to include Skins and My Mad Fat Diary, but they have different meanings for college and university across the pond. What shows do you think I'm missing besides Apatow's Undeclared? —MaryssaThe only major college show that's missing from your list is Felicity, and maybe Community, though I wouldn't really group Community...
- 1/13/2016
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
Here we go: Golden Globes 2016, with its hour-plus of red-carpet fawning and three-hours-plus of Ricky Gervais divisiveness. Tonight's entertainment potential is more than just a single screen can contain, which is why our Margaret Lyons and Kyle Buchanan will be live-tweeting all night — discussing the show, assessing the winners, and responding to your questions. That is, if you have questions. Maybe everything that happens tonight will make complete sense.
- 1/11/2016
- by Vulture Editors
- Vulture
Guess who's coming back for this Sunday's Golden Globes? Well, yes, Ricky Gervais, but also Vulture! Starting Sunday at 6:30 p.m. Est, our staff will be diligently covering Hollywood's most foreign-press-ish awards ceremony, both at Vulture.com and also at @Vulture. Margaret Lyons and Kyle Buchanan will be handling live-tweeting duties, while the rest of us mouth-breathers will be giving you all the GIFs, galleries, and video clips you can handle, and none that you can't. We swear. You trust us, right? The Vulture Golden Globes party: Where no one will care if you get broccoli stuck in your teeth!
- 1/8/2016
- Vulture
Welcome back to Stay Tuned, Vulture's TV advice column. Each Wednesday, Margaret Lyons answers your questions about your various TV triumphs and woes. Need help? Have a theory? Want a recommendation? Submit a question! You can email staytuned@nymag.com, leave a comment, or tweet @margeincharge with the hashtag #staytuned. What do you recommend for people who like good comedy but not prestige drama? I have no shame about my distaste for prestige drama, but recommendations are harder to come by when you can't handle the violence of The Wire or Game of Thrones and you find Mad Men and Downton Abbey boring. My comedy tastes to tend fall into a few categories: dark (Dead Like Me, You're the Worst), absurd (Don't Trust the B—, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Broad City), gentle (Raising Hope, Black-ish), satirical (Better Off Ted, Veep), or combinations thereof (dark/absurd = Archer, gentle/satirical = Parks and Rec). What...
- 1/6/2016
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
Welcome back to Stay Tuned, Vulture's TV advice column. Each Wednesday, Margaret Lyons answers your questions about your various TV triumphs and woes. Need help? Have a theory? Want a recommendation? Submit a question! You can email staytuned@nymag.com or tweet @margeincharge with the hashtag #staytuned. Am I missing out by not watching animated shows? I know they can't be lumped together just because they're animated, but I've never been into animation on the whole and worry I'm unfairly discounting some good stuff. I've never tried Archer, Rick & Morty, and other shows people rave about. Recently I watched BoJack Horseman, though, and loved it — the character development is so well done, and the women on the show had their own interesting story arcs. I've never been into the "everything stays the same" mode a lot of animated shows use. Is BoJack just super great? What else am I missing?...
- 12/30/2015
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
Welcome back to Stay Tuned, Vulture's TV advice column. Each Wednesday, Margaret Lyons answers your questions about your various TV triumphs and woes. Need help? Have a theory? Want a recommendation? Submit a question! You can email staytuned@nymag.com, leave a comment, or tweet @margeincharge with the hashtag #staytuned. So … what am I gonna watch with the fam over Christmas? — Ti know, right? Here's the most important thing: Do not attempt to watch fancy, gripping television in a family-group setting over a holiday. There's a time and place for that, and it is not when some people will be tending to food prep, some people perhaps tending to child care, some people shushing one another, some people dozing, and some people asking "who's he again? Is that Mustache Good or Mustache Bad?" Here be dragons. Watch those shows you've been saving on your own time, that way no one...
- 12/23/2015
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
Amazon would like one order of all of the shows, please. Deadline reports that the site has picked up seasons for five of its six fall pilots, among them, Tig Notaro's One Mississippi, which was Margaret Lyons's pick from the pack. Written and executive-produced by Notaro and Diablo Cody and executive-produced by Louis Ck, One Mississippi is a semi-autobiographical account of Notaro's return home after her mother died and she was diagnosed with cancer. It also stars Casey Wilson, Noah Harpster, John Rothman, and Beth Burvant.Amazon's other selections are Good Girls Revolt, a 1969-set drama about feminism starring Anna Camp; Patriot, a political thriller with Terry O'Quinn; Highston, a comedy starring Lewis Pullman and his group of imaginary celebrity friends; and Z, a TV biography series with Christina Ricci as Zelda Fitzgerald. Amazon extended the option for its sixth pilot, Edge, a Western from Shane Black and Fred Dekker,...
- 12/18/2015
- by Jackson McHenry
- Vulture
Netflix is getting amazing reviews for its new true-crime docuseries Making a Murderer, including a rave from our own Margaret Lyons. The series follows Steven Avery, who was arrested for rape, exonerated, and then arrested again for murder. Perhaps trying to capitalize on that strong buzz, the streaming network is doing something out of the ordinary — at least for Netflix: It’s posted the first episode of the ten-part series on YouTube, making it available to watch for free even for folks who don’t have a subscription. Netflix is no doubt hoping those who sample on YouTube will get hooked into the story and sign up for a 30-day trial at the end of the first episode. (There’s even a link to Netflix’s sign-up page at the end of the video.) Check out episode one of Murderer below, and if you get hooked, don’t say we didn’t warn you.
- 12/18/2015
- by Josef Adalian
- Vulture
This month Vulture will be publishing our critics’ year-end lists. Last week's lists included albums, art, and video games. This week we've covered comedy — sketches, specials, and podcasts — plus Margaret Lyons's top shows, Bilge Ebiri's top movies, and music videos and memes. Now it's on to late-night clips, comic books, graphic novels, and album reissues. This year was the year publishers could no longer ignore the diversity of comic readership. Marvel and DC, the two primary publishers of mainstream superhero comics, both attempted massive overhauls of their titles — which included long-awaited strides toward appealing to wider audiences, sometimes with mixed results. Taken in conjunction with the vast output of other such publishers as Boom! Studios, Oni Press, Image, and Valiant, we’re left with a year where, more than ever, there were comics being made for every type of reader. It’s impossible to narrow all the quality...
- 12/16/2015
- by Joshua Rivera
- Vulture
This month Vulture will be publishing our critics’ year-end lists. Last week's lists included albums, art, and video games. This week we've covered comedy — sketches, specials, and podcasts — plus Margaret Lyons's top shows, Bilge Ebiri's top movies, and music videos and memes. Now it's on to late-night clips, comic books, graphic novels, and album reissues.1. The Velvet Underground — Loaded (1970) Lou Reed’s final album with Vu was dubbed Loaded for a reason: It’s stacked with the Factory house-band version of pop hits. The band makes its intentions clear right away, too, opening with one of rock’s most crucial trilogies to date (“Who Loves the Sun,” “Sweet Jane,” “Rock & Roll”). Loaded was among the first albums to signify a weird band making a play at commercialism — a phase in many acts’ careers in the decades to come — but it’s also one of greatest entries in that particular category.
- 12/16/2015
- by Jillian Mapes
- Vulture
Welcome back to Stay Tuned, Vulture's TV advice column. Each Wednesday, Margaret Lyons answers your questions about your various TV triumphs and woes. Need help? Have a theory? Want a recommendation? Submit a question! You can email staytuned@nymag.com, leave a comment, or tweet @margeincharge with the hashtag #staytuned. Should I care if no one cares about a show I love? I love watching shows that reward me with great analysis from my favorite TV gurus. I really like Shameless, but it seems to be in a black hole of indifference in the TV Recap World, which is bull because it's awesome. Why does no one care about it? —JillI'd be more worried if it seemed like Shameless were on the chopping block, but it's had five seasons already, and its sixth starts January 10. There are clearly plenty of Shameless people out there, and those of us who love...
- 12/16/2015
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
This month Vulture will be publishing our critics’ year-end lists. Last week's lists included albums, art, and video games. This week we've covered comedy — sketches, specials, and podcasts — plus Margaret Lyons's top shows, Bilge Ebiri's top movies, and music videos and memes. Now it's on to late-night clips, comic books, graphic novels, and album reissues. One of the signs that a medium is in a healthy state is when it can produce a crop of great work from both veterans and upstarts. By that measure, it’s a good time to be reading English-language graphic novels. This year brought masterful books from beloved titans who made their bones decades ago, but it also brought wonderful material from young talents who are transcending their roots in web comics and crowdfunded self-publishing. It was also a good year for genre storytelling: Although there was terrific work in the memoir and realist veins,...
- 12/16/2015
- by Abraham Riesman
- Vulture
This month Vulture will be publishing our critics’ year-end lists. Last week's lists included albums, art, and video games. This week we've covered comedy — sketches, specials, and podcasts — plus Margaret Lyons's top shows, Bilge Ebiri's top movies, and music videos and memes. Now it's on to late-night clips, comic books, graphic novels, and album reissues.1. Stephen Colbert thanks Jon Stewart For over a decade, Jon Stewart defined how an entire generation of viewers got their news, using comedy to cut through the political rhetoric of the Bush administration and the media spin cycle. Under his tenure, The Daily Show also became a launching pad for a current crop of late-night hosts including Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, Larry Wilmore, and Samantha Bee. So, on Jon Stewart’s final day as the host of The Daily Show, it was more than appropriate that his friend and former colleague Stephen Colbert...
- 12/16/2015
- by E. Alex Jung
- Vulture
This month Vulture will be publishing our critics’ year-end lists. Last week's lists included movies, albums, art, and video games. This week we started with comedy: sketches, specials, and podcasts. Today we have Margaret Lyons's top shows and Bilge Ebiri's top movies, plus music videos and memes.1. Mad Max: Fury RoadSo much has been said about this already, but George Miller’s fourth Mad Max film really is a monumental achievement. It's not just one of the all-time-great action movies, but also a very personal film – the kind that lets its brief quiet passages speak volumes. If the first Mad Max was a gonzo gearhead exploitation flick, the second a myth, and the third a sci-fi survival tale, this new one is a rolling, subjective nightmare, complete with painted demons and body-snatching monsters and a bad guy who looks like the very face of fear. It also...
- 12/15/2015
- by Bilge Ebiri
- Vulture
This month Vulture will be publishing our critics’ year-end lists. Last week's lists included movies, albums, art, and video games. This week we started with comedy: sketches, specials, and podcasts. Today we have Margaret Lyons's top shows and Bilge Ebiri's top movies, plus music videos and memes. 1. Kendrick Lamar, “Alright” Over the summer, Slate’s Aisha Harris wondered if “Alright” could become the new Black National Anthem — and not just because the Black Lives Matter movement adopted it as an unofficial protest song. Its video contains one of the blackest moments of 2015, but it's not the one you may be thinking of, when Kendrick is gunned down by a white cop and flashes that smile, because you can kill the black body but not the black spirit. It’s when Kendrick and the rest of his Black Hippy crew are kicking it in Kendrick’s car, only for...
- 12/15/2015
- by Dee Lockett
- Vulture
This month Vulture will be publishing our critics’ year-end lists. Last week's lists included movies, albums, art, and video games. This week we started with comedy: sketches, specials, and podcasts. Today we have Margaret Lyons's top shows and Bilge Ebiri's top movies, plus music videos and memes.1. Mad Men The show nailed the trickiest feat in modern television: sticking the landing, something even some of its admirable peers couldn't quite pull off. The final half-season gave every character a send-off without betraying the show's fundamental philosophy that we all chronically repeat patterns of behavior. Mad Men managed to echo its early seasons while still moving forward, eventually ending with a finale that was tidy without being fussy — perfect enough to buy the world a Coke. 2. Transparent Since it just premiered last Friday, only the most passionate of you will have seen all of Transparent's second season at this...
- 12/15/2015
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
This month Vulture will be publishing our critics’ year-end lists. Last week's lists included movies, albums, art, and video games. This week we started with comedy: sketches, specials, and podcasts. Today we have Margaret Lyons's top shows and Bilge Ebiri's top movies, plus music videos and memes. 1. "Hotline Bling" Adele's sales records aside, Drake was the most important person in pop culture this year (mostly because Beyoncé didn't drop an album). There have been countless Drake memes throughout 2015, but none was bigger than those birthed from the "Hotline Bling" music video. Drake knows the internet, and he made that music video specifically for the it — because he knows that being in on the joke pays dividends. 2. Netflix and Chill When BuzzFeed hops on a meme, it can indeed go viral, as the phrase Netflix and Chill proved. Chill as a surreptitious invite for sex has been...
- 12/15/2015
- by Ira Madison III
- Vulture
Welcome back to Stay Tuned, Vulture's TV advice column. Each Wednesday, Margaret Lyons answers your questions about your various TV triumphs and woes. Need help? Have a theory? Want a recommendation? Submit a question! You can email staytuned@nymag.com, leave a comment, or tweet @margeincharge with the hashtag #staytuned. My boyfriend doesn't take quickly to new dramas. So I'm slightly nervous to show him my eternal television love, The X-Files. I showed one of the later episodes to a previous boyfriend back in the day and he wasn't super impressed, and even dissed Scully for being too dowdy! My current boyfriend, who is much better, has shown some interest in the show, but I'm wondering if it's even worth it to try (and risk being rejected)?! If so, which episodes should I start him on? How do I prevent him from being intimidated by my love for Mulder? —SaraIf...
- 12/9/2015
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
The Leftovers is one of the great dramas in American television. I don't disagree with my colleague Margaret Lyons's belief that its second-season finale makes a fitting series finale, and that if it ended here, nobody involved should feel that the series' potential hadn't been reached, or at the very least hinted at. But I still think HBO should renew it, not just as a vote of confidence in the kind of challenging popular art that built the cable channel's fortunes, but because there have got to be a lot of people working there who sense just how dazzling and special the show is, and suspect that it still has compelling stories to tell and fresh notes to strike.Sunday night’s season finale, which was directed by the great action filmmaker Mimi Leder, climaxed with members of the Guilty Remnants cult marching across the bridge into the untouched-by-the-rapture town of Jarden.
- 12/8/2015
- by Matt Zoller Seitz
- Vulture
Welcome back to Stay Tuned, Vulture's TV advice column. Each Wednesday, Margaret Lyons answers your questions about your various TV triumphs and woes. Need help? Have a theory? Want a recommendation? Submit a question! You can email staytuned@nymag.com, leave a comment, or tweet @margeincharge with the hashtag #staytuned. I've been hearing great things about Jessica Jones. Female-led and -created show, great aesthetics, cool point of view. Plus, Krysten Ritter slayed me in Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23. If it were that, I'm in. But I'm not really a superhero TV/movie fan. Sure, I like The Dark Knight and enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy, but otherwise have simply checked out for the genre. I know enough about McU from being into pop culture, but have zero investment in it. Will I like Jessica Jones anyway? How many episodes should I give it? —LeslieJessica Jones is the...
- 12/2/2015
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
At the beginning of (and throughout) every month, Amazon Prime and Amazon Instant Video add new movies and TV shows to their libraries. Feel free to note anything we've left out in the comments below — and for more comprehensive coverage of the best titles available on Amazon and elsewhere, check out Vulture’s What to Stream Now, which is updated throughout the month. A Family Affair: Transparent (Season 2) Amazon’s “damn near perfect” — per Vulture’s Margaret Lyons — original series goes into its second season as head of the family, Maura (Jeffrey Tambor), moves further along her gender transition, while the rest of the Pfeffermans continue to unravel. Always sensitive to the challenges of living truthfully, Transparent is gentle but unsparing, liable to make you belly-laugh in one moment and choke up in the next. Available December 11; first episode is already out. Eine Kleine Coming-of-Age Story: Mozart in the Jungle...
- 12/1/2015
- by Jackson McHenry
- Vulture
Welcome back to Stay Tuned, Vulture's TV advice column. Each Wednesday, Margaret Lyons answers your questions about your various TV triumphs and woes. Need help? Have a theory? Want a recommendation? Submit a question! You can email staytuned@nymag.com, leave a comment, or tweet @margeincharge with the hashtag #staytuned. I've never really seen Seinfeld. I was born in the ’90s, so I kind of missed its peak moment in culture, and while I've caught bits of reruns, it's never been enough to totally get the show or the characters. Is it the kind of show that I should watch start to finish, or is it best to watch some all-time-favorite episodes and go from there? Any recommendations? —MichelleUsually I'd say start at the beginning, but Seinfeld is so episodic, you don't really need to. I think these are the 15 you should start with. Note: I'm not saying these are...
- 11/18/2015
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
Welcome back to Stay Tuned, Vulture’s TV advice column. Each Wednesday, Margaret Lyons answers your questions about your various TV triumphs and woes. Need help? Have a theory? Want a recommendation? Submit a question! You can email staytuned@nymag.com or tweet @margeincharge with the hashtag #staytuned. You write a lot about getting “show divorced.” What are the grounds for show divorces? — StephYou can get show divorced for any reason at any time. A show is not a person, and while a show can harm you, you can’t harm it back. As Dear Sugar says, wanting to leave is enough. Remember to avail yourself of the trial separation, and if you don't miss the show and its affiliated chatter, well, pack its bags and kick it to the curb. But I still get this question a lot, so let’s go through the various structures that can and...
- 11/11/2015
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
From late October through mid-November, Vulture is holding a High-School-tv Showdown to determine the greatest teen show of the past 30 years. Each day, a different writer will be tasked with determining the winner of a round of the bracket, until New York Magazine TV critic Matt Zoller Seitz judges the finals on November 13. Today's battle: Margaret Lyons judges My So-Called Life versus Freaks and Geeks. After you read, be sure to visit Vulture's Facebook page to vote on which show should advance. Two perfect shows enter; only one perfect show leaves. This match-up feels particularly, gruesomely unfair — these are two shows that could credibly top any list, not just of teen or high-school series but of any TV shows of the last 30 years. But the pairing is also dead on: Freaks and Geeks and My So-Called Life are achingly similar. Wriggle into your oversize jackets, friends. That...
- 11/11/2015
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
In America, names are signifiers of where we come from and where we could go. It always made me sad that Kal Penn is actually Kalpen Modi. Mindy Kaling, Vera Mindy Chokalingam. It's the kind of sadness you grow out of as you become an adult and discover realities we must simply accept. In Hollywood, certain names can never become famous unless shorn. Aziz Ansari subverts that rule. His is the name of an Indian Muslim, hardly an obvious candidate for American leading man. The former Parks and Recreation star has talked about how even he couldn't land three-dimensional roles after sidestepping his way into hearts as Tom Haverford. As Margaret Lyons predicted, Ansari's debut on Netflix is about to become a lot of people's favorite show. Forgoing the networks opened up options: When we first meet Dev on Master of None, it's not in a position we normally see...
- 11/7/2015
- by Mallika Rao
- Vulture
The four main streaming services — Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and HBO Now — tend to add and remove content at an exhausting pace, which is why we keep track of the best options for you at Vulture’s What To Stream hub. Since it can be hard to filter through all the new information each month, we’ve compiled a list of biggest streaming news for each service here to help you prioritize.NetflixThe newest arrival from Netflix’s November offerings is Master of None, Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang’s* semi-autobiographical series about a young actor (Ansari) and his group of friends in New York. Vulture’s Margaret Lyons called Master your “next great TV love” and it’s hard to argue the point — it’s Louie meets Girls, with a bigger heart and more Uber jokes. Other recent TV additions include the charming Jane the Virgin and The Great British Baking Show,...
- 11/7/2015
- by Jackson McHenry
- Vulture
Welcome back to Stay Tuned, Vulture's TV advice column. Each Wednesday, Margaret Lyons answers your questions about your various TV triumphs and woes. Need help? Have a theory? Want a recommendation? Submit a question! You can email staytuned@nymag.com or tweet @margeincharge with the hashtag #staytuned. This fall I decided to quit Sleepy Hollow and Arrow for having terrible or not-great seasons last year in order to make room for other things (like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend!). Additionally, I have Good Wife episodes piling up on my DVR, despite my love for Alan Cumming, because I'm still wounded by the misuse of Matthew Goode last year. That said, I'm quite often a completist when it comes to shows, and I've heard noises about improvements on all three this year. Is this true? Should I give any of these another shot? —JessicaGo back to The Good Wife, absolutely. While I'm with you...
- 11/4/2015
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
Welcome back to Stay Tuned, Vulture's TV advice column. Each Wednesday, Margaret Lyons answers your questions about your various TV triumphs and woes. Need help? Have a theory? Want a recommendation? Submit a question! You can email staytuned@nymag.com or tweet @margeincharge with the hashtag #staytuned. Thanks to your recommendation, I starting watching The Great British Baking Show. It's wonderful. I find the show genuinely interesting, and as a lover of baking, I'm actually learning good techniques. But, like with every other reality show, someone goes home at the end of each show. Why? I get that there has to be a winner. But, especially as I watch kinder reality shows, it seems silly that we stick to this formula when it seems counter to the nature of the show. Why cant they pick a winner and loser at the end of each episode, but everyone still gets to stay?...
- 10/28/2015
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
One of the biggest industry takeaways from the past TV season was just how big of an audience there is for shows led by minorities, sparked in large part by the meteoric rise of Empire. For Power showrunner Courtney Kemp Agboh, however, it’s still a struggle to reach viewers outside of her show’s core black audience. On Tuesday night’s New York TV Festival panel, “Running the Show: A Big Picture Conversation on Creating for the Small Screen," led by Vulture’s Margaret Lyons, Agboh said what scares her is running a successful show that reaches millions of viewers but is still ignored by those who assume they are not the audience for it:i've been debating whether or not to say it, but the thing that actually frightens me about my show is that I wonder if it's ever going to reach the audience outside of its core demographic.
- 10/22/2015
- by Marcus Jones
- Vulture
Cops, Lawyers, Doctors — What Other Jobs Should TV Acknowledge? Your Pressing TV Questions, Answered
Welcome back to Stay Tuned, Vulture's TV advice column. Each Wednesday, Margaret Lyons answers your questions about your various TV triumphs and woes. Need help? Have a theory? Want a recommendation? Submit a question! You can email staytuned@nymag.com, leave a comment, or tweet @margeincharge with the hashtag #staytuned. Is there something wrong with me for hating George Costanza but loving Larry David? I've been told that they are both basically the same character, but something about George (or maybe Jason Alexander's portrayal of him) drives me bonkers. For the longest time, I used to avoid Seinfeld entirely, but now I just avoid most of the George-centric episodes. On the other hand, I absolutely love Curb Your Enthusiasm. Is it just the fact that Larry was allowed to be more crude on cable that makes him more likable to me? —AmandaI wonder if maybe your tastes are affected...
- 10/21/2015
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
Welcome back to Stay Tuned, Vulture's TV advice column. Each Wednesday, Margaret Lyons answers your questions about your various TV triumphs and woes. Need help? Have a theory? Want a recommendation? Submit a question! You can email staytuned@nymag.com, leave a comment, or tweet @margeincharge with the hashtag #staytuned. Say you're too sick to look at a big TV screen, or even your computer screen. What are shows that will hold up okay and not make you feel claustrophobic on a phone? Trust me, I was very sick. —Li'm not putting down the visual joys of television, but … there are plenty of shows you can watch on your phone and be just fine. Just about any sitcom will fit the bill, given how little most comedies rely on sweeping vistas, and many cartoons will also lose very little on a smaller screen. If you're feeling low and want to wallow,...
- 10/14/2015
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
What makes a comedy? Is it how much you laugh? Is it meant to delight you? And is it still funny if it makes you sad? On this week's episode of "The Vulture TV Podcast," Margaret, Matt, and Gazelle discuss the nebulous space hour-long comedies live in, and the increasingly difficult task of trying to categorize shows. We examine two of the most interesting hour-long comedies on television right now, Jane the Virgin and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, plus we take sides in the ultimate TV wars — Fitz versus Jake, Noel versus Ben, Rafael versus Michael — and suggest the fanfiction pairings of our dreams. This episode contains spoilers in the following discussions: 11:20–25:46 The pilot of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 25:47–35:59 The second-season premiere of Jane the VirginFurther reading: Margaret Lyons reviews Crazy Ex-Girlfriend; Gazelle Emami's interview with Crazy Ex-Girlfriend creator and star Rachel Bloom. Tune in to "The Vulture TV Podcast,...
- 10/14/2015
- by Gazelle Emami,Margaret Lyons,Matt Zoller Seitz
- Vulture
Welcome back to Stay Tuned, Vulture's TV advice column. Each Wednesday, Margaret Lyons answers your questions about your various TV triumphs and woes. Need help? Have a theory? Want a recommendation? Submit a question! You can email staytuned@nymag.com, leave a comment, or tweet @margeincharge with the hashtag #staytuned. How scary is American Horror Story? I'm intrigued but not sure it's for me. I don't mind being scared a little, but I don't really like horror movies and the like. Is there enough other good stuff there to make it worth watching? —SarahWe covered a very similar question here not too long ago, but this keeps coming up, so let's revisit: Is Ahs scary? Yes! Yes. American Horror Story — and this season in particular, Ahs: Hotel, is scary. The season starts tonight, and if you're at all weird about injuries to eyeballs or hands, avoid, avoid, avoid. There are also disturbing,...
- 10/7/2015
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
From using it to add personality quirks to being an irrevocable part of a character’s worldview, religion pops up on television in ways both serious and irreverent. But, surprisingly, it’s not dealt with as often as we’d expect in America. On this week's episode of "The Vulture TV Podcast," we dive into how it’s been approached over the years and emerge with a three-level system that accounts for everything from Touched by an Angel to Friday Night Lights. Then we pick up with one of the most thematically religious shows currently on TV, The Leftovers, its excellent premiere episode, and what made it so compelling. (Hint: It’s not all the mysteries.) Further reading: Margaret Lyons on The Leftovers' second season; Alyssa Rosenberg on religion on TV Tune in to "The Vulture TV Podcast," produced by the Slate Group’s Panoply, every Tuesday, on iTunes or SoundCloud.
- 10/6/2015
- by Gazelle Emami,Margaret Lyons,Matt Zoller Seitz
- Vulture
The wordless nine minutes that open the second season of The Leftovers are likely to elicit strong reactions, both among admirers and the (very vocal) cadre of viewers already disinclined to like the HBO show. Our Margaret Lyons, for one, called it “one of the most out-there ten-minute sequences in modern television, one that would be equally at home on The Twilight Zone as it would in the pages of National Geographic.” While the opening is better seen than described, the scene boils down to this: Possibly prehistoric pregnant woman leaves her home cave, gets separated from her tribe following a massive earthquake, delivers her own baby, dies a short while later from a snake bite, while her baby is rescued by another woman. We’re never told the when, where, or how of the event, but director Mimi Leder’s camerawork strongly suggests it all takes place in what...
- 10/5/2015
- by Josef Adalian
- Vulture
Welcome back to Stay Tuned, Vulture's TV advice column. Each Wednesday, Margaret Lyons answers your questions about your various TV triumphs and woes. Need help? Have a theory? Want a recommendation? Submit a question! You can email staytuned@nymag.com or tweet @margeincharge with the hashtag #staytuned. What is the likelihood of a Tgit crossover episode? Would it even be any good? —TIt would be great. But there's way too much cast crossover between Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away With Murder for the crossover to ever really happen. Liza Weil alone throws the world into chaos. Some people thought McDreamy's work for "the president" last season was a prelude to a Shondaland double episode, but those people were wrong: Surely Derek would recognize his dead in-laws. Still, there's plenty of room on ABC for other crossovers. Any of the Tgit shows could overlap with Nashville, certainly. My...
- 9/30/2015
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
"The Vulture TV Podcast" wants to know: What are your favorites memories of watching television with other people? On this week’s episode, Margaret, Matt, and Gazelle remember all the times — before the days of solitary binge-watching — they did (and didn’t) enjoy the presence of others during TV time, and discuss why soapier shows often lend themselves better to a live, shared experience. Stay tuned for an extended dining metaphor about shows like Quantico and Empire that just give you the damn food. This episode contains spoilers in the following discussions: Quantico series premiere: 16:38–35:53Empire season-two premiere: 35:53–48:57Further reading: Margaret Lyons reviews Quantico; Matt Zoller Seitz on Empire's aggressive politics; Matt on the rise of fast TV Tune in to "The Vulture TV Podcast," produced by the Slate Group’s Panoply, every Tuesday, on iTunes or SoundCloud. And please send us your burning TV questions!
- 9/29/2015
- by Gazelle Emami,Margaret Lyons,Matt Zoller Seitz
- Vulture
Welcome back to "Stay Tuned," Vulture's TV advice column. Each Wednesday, Margaret Lyons answers your questions about various TV triumphs and woes. Need help? Have a theory? Want a recommendation? Submit a question! You can email staytuned@nymag.com or tweet @margeincharge with the hashtag #staytuned. As a young fan of TV drama, I was scarred by Lost, which killed off numerous likable characters for seemingly no reason and disappointed many who stuck with the show for all six seasons. What are some shows that could remedy my commitment issues, and will come to a satisfying end? — LydiaBreaking Bad will not let you down. The Shield has as good a finale as any show has ever had, though there are some story lines in the middle I don't love-love. Southland. Mad Men. Cheers and Frasier stay good the whole time. These are the biggies, which is why I recommend them...
- 9/23/2015
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
This week on "The Vulture TV Podcast," we take on the Great Muppet Debate of 2015 and wind through the rest of the upcoming fall network-tv schedule, from shows with a pulse to those that are Doa. We also process this year’s surprisingly sweet Emmy Awards, the winners we celebrated, and the ones that didn’t sit right.Further reading: Margaret Lyons on the uncynical Emmys, Nate Jones on Game of Thrones' winning night, and Matt Zoller Seitz's Muppets review. Tune in to "The Vulture TV Podcast," produced by the Slate Group’s Panoply, every Tuesday, on iTunes or SoundCloud. And please send us your burning TV questions! Tweet us @Vulture or email tvquestions@vulture.com. Vulture Insiders can exclusively submit audio questions to “The Vulture TV Podcast.” Click here to apply.
- 9/22/2015
- by Gazelle Emami,Margaret Lyons,E. Alex Jung,Josef Adalian
- Vulture
We're just an afternoon away from the 2015 Emmys, and that means it's time for you to start finalizing your awards show viewing plans. May we suggest you settle in with Vulture? The night will kick off at 6:30 with coverage of the red carpet, and really get going once the Emmys broadcast begins at 8. New York TV critic Matt Zoller Seitz will be serving as master of ceremonies in a Vulture live chat; Margaret Lyons will be weighing in on Twitter; and the rest of the crew will be hustling out posts about the most notable moments. It's the most fun* you can have without actually being in the room with us. (*Estimated; depends on how much you enjoy watching people alternately look at the TV, their computer, and two pieces of lukewarm pizza for four hours.)...
- 9/20/2015
- by Vulture Editors
- Vulture
Welcome back to Stay Tuned, Vulture's TV advice column. Each Wednesday, Margaret Lyons answers your questions about your various TV triumphs and woes. Need help? Have a theory? Want a recommendation? Submit a question! You can email staytuned@nymag.com, leave a comment, or tweet @margeincharge with the hashtag #staytuned. One of my favorite things about TV is that because it's scripted, they get the chance to think of the best timely insults (and the occasional, "The jerk store called, and they're running out of you"s). I'm with you in loving shows where people genuinely like each other, but in my friendships, that often means ribbing each other. Obviously Veep is No. 1 in this genre, and The League (when it was good) will work in a pinch. What are some other great insult-humor shows? —ZachIt's not constant insult humor, but 30 Rock has some real gems — particularly from Jack Donaghy.
- 9/16/2015
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
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