“South Park” and the high price of free speech

With our First Amendment rights under attack, those in the best position to defend them also happen to be rich

previous day 2

Melanie Mcfarland

“And Just Like That” exits with a woman alone at the end of her story

Carrie Bradshaw leaves us with a question, and answer, that should have been the start of something wonderful

15.08.2025 6

Melanie Mcfarland

TV’s Southern woman strategy

"I've Had It" podcasters weigh-in on "Leanne" and "The Hunting Wives" normalizing the megachurch

12.08.2025 8

Melanie Mcfarland

“The Gilded Age” is at its best when Black prosperity is central to the story

At the end of its best season yet, "The Gilded Age" saves its happiest moment for the Black social scene

11.08.2025 4

Melanie Mcfarland

Should the billionaire be a fan fave? “The Gilded Age” says yes

We should know better by now than to embrace George and Bertha Russell as heroes

09.08.2025 7

Melanie Mcfarland

The GOP’s assault on public media will hit rural America the hardest

As the Corporation for Public Broadcasting shuts down, here's how that could impact your local media

06.08.2025 3

Melanie Mcfarland

“Alien: Earth” knows how it’s all going to end for us

Xenomorphs are scary, but Noah Hawley's addition to the "Alien" universe wonders if we're the bigger problem

05.08.2025 4

Melanie Mcfarland

“Fargo” exposes why America is in love with “Toxic” men like Roy Tillman

In "Blanket," Jon Hamm's Roy Tillman shows us the wider peril of letting thin-skinned politicians run amok

05.08.2025 40

Melanie Mcfarland

Don’t overthink “Alien: Romulus,” a thrilling adventure that doesn’t aspire beyond its homage orbit

Director Fede Álvarez returns to the 1979 movie's horror roots and dumps the excess freight of intellectual themes

05.08.2025 10

Melanie Mcfarland

Tracee Ellis Ross demonstrates the beauty of solo travel in her new Roku show

"Solo Traveling with Tracee Ellis Ross" proves that vacationing alone is glorious

05.08.2025 3

Melanie Mcfarland

Vote or die? In its “Pandemic Special,” “South Park” presents a mixed message on the election

In its hourlong one-off special, "South Park" has something to say about voting – and it's not entirely optimistic

03.08.2025 5

Melanie Mcfarland

Jay Leno is wrong about late-night — it’s always been political

The former "Tonight Show" host says his peers fail to appeal to the "whole audience." What world does he live in?

31.07.2025 7

Melanie Mcfarland

It was Conan O’Brien’s choice to leave late night this time – and we’ve never identified more

"I have devoted all of my adult life ... to pursuing this strange phantom intersection between smart and stupid"

31.07.2025 5

Melanie Mcfarland

Hurricane Katrina warned us. We haven’t learned

Five-part docuseries "Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time" warns of our next preventable disaster

25.07.2025 3

Melanie Mcfarland

Malcolm-Jamal Warner was Gen X’s big brother

Theo Huxtable was a good-natured, cool kid. That's one reason why people loved the actor who played him

23.07.2025 4

Melanie Mcfarland

Menopause is all the rage, from Hollywood stars to “The Change”

Thanks to stars and TV shows openly talking about it women have better role models for getting through it

23.07.2025 10

Melanie Mcfarland

Ken Burns meets America’s latest crisis

America's storyteller wants to put the 'us' back in the U.S. PBS is the key to that mission

17.07.2025 4

Melanie Mcfarland

Kathy Bates’ Emmys nod says a lot about the state of TV

Broadcast ratings hit record lows, but Kathy Bates' role in "Matlock" sends a signal in a sea of streamers

16.07.2025 3

Melanie Mcfarland

No amount of wine can make “The Woman in the House” spoof work, despite its charismatic star

Kristen Bell would be terrific in a satire of a cheesy psychological thriller. Just not this one

16.07.2025 10

Melanie Mcfarland

“Sinners” and “KPop Demon Hunters”: a double feature that slays through song

Two very different movies use music to highlight stories about resistance, community and cultural resilience

11.07.2025 6

Melanie Mcfarland

Lena Dunham nailed the messy TV woman. Now she’s in chaos mode

With "Too Much" and its star Meg Stalter, the "Girls" creator lands a win for women who excel at standing out

11.07.2025 10

Melanie Mcfarland

All the “Alien” movies, ranked from worst to best

To prepare for Noah Hawley's "Alien: Earth" invasion, let's revisit the sins of Weyland-Yutani's past

05.07.2025 10

Melanie Mcfarland

What the “Squid Game” baby says about us

The tiniest player in this death game is a symbol of a woman's value in a capitalist system run amok

05.07.2025 10

Melanie Mcfarland

25 years later, “Office Space” explains the Gen X worker’s deflated spirit

Mike Judge’s cult classic still embodies the pain of being overworked and the joy of quitting with flair

03.07.2025 100

Melanie Mcfarland

Sadly, “Squid Game” may be right about democracy

"Squid Game" began as a critique of late-stage capitalism. It ends as a cautionary parable about tribalism

28.06.2025 10

Melanie Mcfarland

“The Bear” gets it — we’re all burned out now

Like so many of us, Syd and Carmy are wondering why we do what we do

27.06.2025 10

Melanie Mcfarland

Why some see this “Alice in Borderland” breakout as a role model for survival

Chishiya is smug, only moves as much as he must and exploits others – but his cold calculation is admirable

26.06.2025 40

Melanie Mcfarland

"The Pitt" has a diagnosis for what's wrong with America

One of the best series of 2025 so far, "The Pitt" ponders healing the cracks in America’s healthcare system

23.06.2025 6

Melanie Mcfarland

"Justice would taste like the best pie ever": These activists bake a good fight into every slice

From Los Angeles to Minnesota to "PIEOWA," baking activists make a better world with slices that do (and are) good

19.06.2025 4

Melanie Mcfarland

"And Just Like That" is having a fashion crisis

Every fashion choice on this show tells a story. Some make us wonder what they're trying to say

07.06.2025 8

Melanie Mcfarland

How we learned to love the evil rich

"Sirens" is the latest of many TV pleasures that sell inhumane behavior as the inevitable spoils of the 1%

05.06.2025 5

Melanie Mcfarland

Marc Maron's heart made "WTF" a hit. In the Joe Rogan age, it's all about shallow brawn

Sixteen years after “WTF” launched, we’re all in a different place emotionally than where and when it started

04.06.2025 6

Melanie Mcfarland

The alpha male era is on its way out

The right’s “masculinity crisis” has popular culture in a bear hug. But it may be nearer to tapping out

01.06.2025 10

Melanie Mcfarland

How "Survivor" and "America's Got Talent" sell the lie that is the American Dream

Think you're watching a contest to find the next Terry Fator? You could be seeing a justification for Elon Musk

31.05.2025 8

Melanie Mcfarland

"And Just Like That," midlife's a crisis for everyone on TV except rich, gay men

The gay men in "And Just Like That," "The Four Seasons" and "Mid-Century Modern" are the ones aging gracefully

29.05.2025 6

Melanie Mcfarland

"The Last of Us" finale tests the limits of our empathy

In a time when the right views empathy as weakness, HBO's apocalypse drama springs it on us in a finale cliffhanger

26.05.2025 8

Melanie Mcfarland

What Judy Blume's "Forever" still gives us — and the teen dramas that followed her won't

The classic coming-of-age novel that inspired a new series remains timeless and necessary, on the page and screen

21.05.2025 10

Melanie Mcfarland

"The Last of Us" helps us grieve by leaving nothing unsaid

Pedro Pascal’s Joel returns one last time in an episode that mourns those conversations death leaves unfinished

19.05.2025 10

Melanie Mcfarland

The MAGA war on PBS was never about money

The latest GOP push to defund public media won't save much cash. But it will disadvantage poor and rural kids

18.05.2025 8

Melanie Mcfarland

On "Andor," good was always a four-letter word

Instead of leaning on the usual hero myth, this "Star Wars" tale boosts our faith in tyranny's inevitable breakdown

17.05.2025 3

Melanie Mcfarland

Joan Rivers would have hated this

"Joan Rivers: A Dead Funny All-Star Tribute” reminds us she would've preferred her flowers while she was alive

14.05.2025 6

Melanie Mcfarland

YouTube at 20: The video platform transformed screen entertainment. Now it could change a lot more

The platform that changed the very meaning of electronic communication is now a dominant TV platform

13.05.2025 20

Melanie Mcfarland

Blessed be the memes, TV shows and "Conclave" for helping us welcome our first American pope

Before we met Pope Leo XIV, shows like "The New Pope" and "The Young Pope" mythologized the Vatican to the masses

10.05.2025 10

Melanie Mcfarland

At long last, "Hacks" flips the table on the bitter mentorship at the heart of the series

Salon speaks to the show's creators about making Deborah Vance and Ava Daniels work through their hate

10.05.2025 7

Melanie Mcfarland

The throwback comfort of "Poker Face" returns

In our fraudulent era, it's a joy to get back on the road with Natasha Lyonne's old-school, no-bull detective

08.05.2025 7

Melanie Mcfarland

The path to the Death Star is paved with lies: On "Andor," as on Earth, disinformation defeats truth

Before the Empire finished its weapon, its lies destroyed societies. We're living through our version of that

07.05.2025 10

Melanie Mcfarland

The radically divine message of "Sinners"

To say a movie scene or performance gives us chills evokes something common, especially when we're talking about a horror film, which "Sinners" is,...

02.05.2025 10

Melanie Mcfarland

“Turning Point: The Vietnam War” lays bare the arrogance that fueled a lost cause

Brian Knappenberger's latest forgoes tragic sentimentality to present the war as it was: a senseless aggression

30.04.2025 4

Melanie Mcfarland

What's happening at "60 Minutes" matters to anyone who cares about protecting free speech

We should rewatch the SLAPP Suits episode of "Last Week Tonight" in the context of Trump's threat to press freedoms

27.04.2025 6

Melanie Mcfarland

The inspiring end of "Andor" shows us how great rebellions begin

A concisely rendered 12 episodes chart how fascism flourishes and the ways to fight it piece by piece

22.04.2025 9

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“South Park” and the high price of free speech

Melanie Mcfarland

“And Just Like That” exits with a woman alone at the end of her story

Melanie Mcfarland

TV’s Southern woman strategy

Melanie Mcfarland

“The Gilded Age” is at its best when Black prosperity is central to the story

Melanie Mcfarland

Should the billionaire be a fan fave? “The Gilded Age” says yes

Melanie Mcfarland

The GOP’s assault on public media will hit rural America the hardest

Melanie Mcfarland

“Alien: Earth” knows how it’s all going to end for us

Melanie Mcfarland

“Fargo” exposes why America is in love with “Toxic” men like Roy Tillman

Melanie Mcfarland

Don’t overthink “Alien: Romulus,” a thrilling adventure that doesn’t aspire beyond its homage orbit

Melanie Mcfarland

Tracee Ellis Ross demonstrates the beauty of solo travel in her new Roku show

Melanie Mcfarland

Vote or die? In its “Pandemic Special,” “South Park” presents a mixed message on the election

Melanie Mcfarland

Jay Leno is wrong about late-night — it’s always been political

Melanie Mcfarland

It was Conan O’Brien’s choice to leave late night this time – and we’ve never identified more

Melanie Mcfarland

Hurricane Katrina warned us. We haven’t learned

Melanie Mcfarland

Malcolm-Jamal Warner was Gen X’s big brother

Melanie Mcfarland

Menopause is all the rage, from Hollywood stars to “The Change”

Melanie Mcfarland

Ken Burns meets America’s latest crisis

Melanie Mcfarland

Kathy Bates’ Emmys nod says a lot about the state of TV

Melanie Mcfarland

No amount of wine can make “The Woman in the House” spoof work, despite its charismatic star

Melanie Mcfarland

“Sinners” and “KPop Demon Hunters”: a double feature that slays through song

Melanie Mcfarland

Lena Dunham nailed the messy TV woman. Now she’s in chaos mode

Melanie Mcfarland

All the “Alien” movies, ranked from worst to best

Melanie Mcfarland

What the “Squid Game” baby says about us

Melanie Mcfarland

25 years later, “Office Space” explains the Gen X worker’s deflated spirit

Melanie Mcfarland

Sadly, “Squid Game” may be right about democracy

Melanie Mcfarland

“The Bear” gets it — we’re all burned out now

Melanie Mcfarland

Why some see this “Alice in Borderland” breakout as a role model for survival

Melanie Mcfarland

"The Pitt" has a diagnosis for what's wrong with America

Melanie Mcfarland

"Justice would taste like the best pie ever": These activists bake a good fight into every slice

Melanie Mcfarland

"And Just Like That" is having a fashion crisis

Melanie Mcfarland

How we learned to love the evil rich

Melanie Mcfarland

Marc Maron's heart made "WTF" a hit. In the Joe Rogan age, it's all about shallow brawn

Melanie Mcfarland

The alpha male era is on its way out

Melanie Mcfarland

How "Survivor" and "America's Got Talent" sell the lie that is the American Dream

Melanie Mcfarland

"And Just Like That," midlife's a crisis for everyone on TV except rich, gay men

Melanie Mcfarland

"The Last of Us" finale tests the limits of our empathy

Melanie Mcfarland

What Judy Blume's "Forever" still gives us — and the teen dramas that followed her won't

Melanie Mcfarland

"The Last of Us" helps us grieve by leaving nothing unsaid

Melanie Mcfarland

The MAGA war on PBS was never about money