Television

Lord of the Simulacra: Notes on Amazon’s ‘Rings of Power’

Is it OK to just sit back and enjoy Amazon Studios’s lurchingly entertaining, absurdly big-budget streaming series “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”? That depends on what you want it to be — ...

‘The Book of Boba Fett’: Relax, Kid, It’s Just A TV Show

The spectacle of reasonably well-compensated TV critics struggling to make themselves relevant with their trenchant, telling, sharply observed takedowns of Disney's "The Book of Boba Fett" threatens, like the sound of a sour fart at ...

The Day-Glo Apocalypse of ‘Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts’

They had me at the Mod Frogs. Attired in tailored suits, with skinny ties, pointy shoes, pencil moustaches, and all as green as Kermit — these stylish, savvy, human-sized “mute” mafiosi are just the tip ...

‘The Owl House’: Disney Does Hieronymus Bosch

Children’s literature, which this reporter maintains must include visual as well as text media, has always had a weird streak.  It’s tempting to cite “Adventure Time” as a recent trendsetter — the bizarro Cartoon Network ...

‘WandaVision’: A superhero mystery wrapped in a sitcom

The Marvel Cinematic Universe juggernaut has arrived on Disney+, and in our living rooms, with "WandaVision." The nine-episode TV serial finds two thus far underused MCU superheroes happily trapped with no memory inside what seems ...

How ‘Horta-nomics’ can save Star Trek’s socialist utopia from the horrors of the dilithium mines

This moment — Spock’s mind-meld with the Horta in “Devil in the Dark” -- is the instant when the socialist Federation of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" with all its hope becomes possible.Throughout the original ...

Excited about the new ‘Picard’ series? Here’s what to watch to get caught up.

“Picard,” a new “Star Trek” series featuring an older Captain Jean-Luc Picard dragging himself out of retirement for one last hurrah, premieres on January 23. In interviews about the forthcoming series, the producers (Alex Kurtzman, ...

Herzog in a Star Wars western? Meet ‘The Mandalorian’ (Review)

“The Mandalorian,” the first live action Star Wars TV series, is the Star Wars fan’s wet dream. It is a gritty take on Star Wars, so obsessed with the scum and villainy side of the ...