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Jen Chaney

TV Critic
@chaneyj
[email protected]

Vulture and New York TV critic Jen Chaney previously worked for the Washington Post and has bylines at the New York Times and Vanity Fair. She also wrote As If: The Complete Oral History of Clueless.

  1. tv review
    The Plot Against America Is a Devastating, Relevant Alt-History DramaDavid Simon and Ed Burns bring Philip Roth’s novel to HBO with an incisive depiction of just how personal politics can become.
  2. the weinstein trial
    23 Years Is Exactly What Harvey Weinstein DeservesThe contrast between what Weinstein was doing in 1997 and where he is now underscores how appropriate his sentence is.
  3. true crime
    Doug Mathews of McMillions Is America’s Showboat SweetheartFBI Special Agent Doug Mathews is a cocky white guy who laughs at his own jokes. Why do I love him so?
  4. tv review
    Hillary Looks Back at the 2016 Election With 20/20 HindsightWatching the new four-part Hulu docuseries about the life and career of Hillary Clinton can feel like poking at an old bruise. But it’s worth it.
  5. tv review
    Devs Takes Its Time to Blow Your MindThe FX on Hulu miniseries has all the hallmarks of a story by Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation), but that may be more of a liability in TV form.
  6. encounter
    Super Tuesday With Steve Kornacki, MSNBC’s Wonk Superman“He has not stopped. He has not eaten. He’s only been drinking water for the past 18 hours.”
  7. character study
    How Kim Wexler Became Better Call Saul’s ‘Impending Tragedy’The slow unraveling of Saul’s Über-competent, perfectly ponytailed fan favorite.
  8. spoilers
    I Am Not Okay With This Goes Out With a BangThe blood-splattered finale of Netfilx’s superpowered coming-of-age story is the culmination of a season-long remix of classic teen movies.
  9. tv review
    Better Call Saul Finally Gets to the GoodmanIn the fifth and penultimate season, there’s a sense of impending doom and decay in the air. But in a good way.
  10. a long talk
    How Zoë Kravitz and Nick Hornby Became High Fidelity Playlist BuddiesThe star of the Hulu series loved the novel that inspired it, so she reached out for the author’s blessing — and wound up with a collaborator.
  11. tv review
    Hunters’ Over-the-Top Holocaust Revenge Fantasy Misses the MarkAmazon’s new Nazi-hunting pastiche goes out on many limbs, but can’t hold its balance on any of them.
  12. close reads
    Thank God High Fidelity Fixed RobBy casting Zoë Kravitz as its music-savvy lead, the new Hulu adaptation upends the novel’s and the film’s most infuriating gender bias.
  13. tv review
    High Fidelity Is a Great Cover of the OriginalThe similarities between Hulu’s take on the Nick Hornby novel and 2000 film are unmistakable, but its changes to the source push it in new directions.
  14. oral history
    An Oral History of How BoJack Horseman Almost Killed BoJack HorsemanThe show’s creators on making a trippy, creepy, death-obsessed penultimate episode.
  15. the gold rush
    The Oscars Ceremony Was Too Long, for No Good ReasonWhat could have been an all-timer of a broadcast was merely a good one, because too much unnecessary material was added.
  16. mat talk
    Cheer’s Jerry Harris on Positivity, Pressure, and Returning to NavarroA conversation with the boundlessly positive breakout about what has and hasn’t changed since he became everyone’s favorite mat talker.
  17. tv review
    The 2020 Super Bowl Ads Almost Made America Seem NormalAmid the familiar wash of celebrities and nostalgia trips, a few of this year’s commercials evoked the sense of unease that has become our new normal.
  18. spoilers
    The Good Place and BoJack Horseman Died As They LivedThese wonderfully existential shows confronted death to emphasize the meaning of life.
  19. tv review
    McMillions: We’re Lovin’ ItThe HBO docuseries is an absorbing Soderbergh-esque look at a scheme to hamburgle the McDonald’s Monopoly promotion.
  20. spoilers
    BoJack Horseman Fades to BlackTo fully process that series finale we must first discuss that doozy of a penultimate episode.
  21. tv review
    In the End, BoJack Horseman Is So Much More Than BoJack HorsemanOn of TV’s best anti-heroes gets a fitting farewell that stretches far beyond the concerns of one single, flawed equine male.
  22. oscar endings
    ‘Don’t Shut the Door All the Way’: On the Ending of The IrishmanThe final scene of Martin Scorsese’s epic illustrates who Frank Sheeran is by calling to mind other mafia movies.
  23. tv review
    The Goop Lab Is Less Goop-y Than You Might ThinkSorry to break the news, but it’s hard to seriously hate on the Netflix series inspired by Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle brand.
  24. the gold rush
    Dreading Another No-Host Oscars? Let’s Talk About Tina and Amy Instead.There’s a reason Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are coming back to next year’s Golden Globes.
  25. tv review
    The New Pope Lives in The Young Pope’s ShadowJohn Malkovich is great as the Vatican’s newest tenant, but Pius XIII’s presence looms over the season despite his being unconscious for much of it.
  26. tv review
    HBO’s The Outsider Keeps You Guessing, and Guessing, and GuessingRichard Price’s adaptation of Stephen King’s 2018 crime thriller weaves a tangled, unruly web of questions it doesn’t seem inclined to answer.
  27. tv review
    Welcome to TV’s Cheer-ocracyThe one-two punch of USA’s Dare Me and Netflix’s Cheer proves that cheerleading can inspire multiple great — and wildly different — series.
  28. coming attractions
    50 TV Shows We Can’t Wait to See in 2020From BoJack Horseman and Schitt’s Creek to The New Pope and Succession.
  29. tv review
    Party of Five Is Both Sweetly Nostalgic and Bracingly CurrentThe ’90s drama about a family of orphans has inspired a modern-day retelling for the age of ICE that’s more poignant and thoughtful than most reboots.
  30. q&a
    13-Year-Old Irishman Star Lucy Gallina Got a Lot of Good Advice From Al PacinoThe eighth-grader says she watched I Love Lucy in preparation for her role alongside Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese’s film.
  31. the gold rush
    The Golden Globes Surprised Here and There, If You Could Get Past Ricky GervaisThe lackluster host didn’t really try, but at least the Globes got (a little) political.
  32. the gold rush
    Who Should (and Will) Win at the Golden Globes This Weekend?The Irishman or Marriage Story? Succession or … Succession?
  33. gif recap
    Just the Baby Yoda Parts of The MandalorianA GIF recap of the cutest li’l baby in the galaxy.
  34. star wars
    What We Lost by Not Having Carrie Fisher in The Rise of SkywalkerThis was supposed to be Princess Leia’s movie. The fact that it couldn’t be is heartbreaking.
  35. what were the 2010s?
    All Hail the Pop Culture RemixIn TV, film, and literature, the 2010s challenged us to reexamine the stories we thought we knew.
  36. spoilers
    The Morning Show Finally Got Its Network MomentFor all its flaws, The Morning Show does a nuanced, cogent, and absorbing job of exploring a MeToo story.
  37. what were the 2010s?
    How Much Has TV Really Changed in This Decade?The 2010s were a transformative time for television, except for all the stuff that hasn’t changed at all.
  38. tv review
    Soundtrack Is the Opposite of an EarwormA bold but very wobbly Netflix family drama is hampered by a melancholy tone that’s at odds with its flights of musical fancy.
  39. what were the 2010s?
    What Did We Just Watch?A 257-show guide to Prestige, Peak, and every other kind of TV from the past decade.
  40. close reads
    Let’s Talk About Watchmen’s Egg-cellent FinaleThe surprising ties between Angela’s fate and the Beatles song “I Am the Walrus.” No, really!
  41. close reads
    Will The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Finally Reckon With Its Heroine’s Flaws?The season-three finale hints that it might, which is good, since the series is screaming out for Midge to take a harder look at herself.
  42. party report
    Remembering Sesame Street Icon Caroll Spinney at the Kennedy Center Honors“I think that a sweeter man was never born.”
  43. deep dives
    What Mister Rogers Can Teach Us About Gen X and the Generational DivideXers were more impacted by Fred Rogers than any other generation. What he taught them helps explain who they became.
  44. tv review
    Truth Be Told Tells an Underwhelming Crime TaleThe Apple TV+ series starring Octavia Spencer as a true-crime podcaster sounds great on paper, but is a classic case of prestige-TV overreach.
  45. turkey time
    WKRP in Cincinnati Had the Best Thanksgiving Episode Ever“Turkeys Away” is still the most quintessential, uproarious Thanksgiving episode of a sitcom.
  46. star wars
    An Illustrated Guide to Baby Yoda in The MandalorianThe cutest li’l baby in the galaxy.
  47. tv review
    Servant Is Extremely Silly, and Extremely WatchableThe M. Night Shyamalan–produced Apple TV+ thriller is overwrought, overacted, and withholding, and yet I just kept watching.
  48. close reads
    Watchmen Beautifully Wrestles With Toxic Nostalgia“This Extraordinary Being” is a dizzying exploration of memory and the dangers of failing to see the past for what it was.
  49. close reads
    The Morning Show Isn’t a Train Wreck. It’s Something Even More Exciting.It’s terrible and it’s great and that’s precisely why it’s so watchable.
  50. gift guide
    A Black Market Baby Yoda Gift GuideGive the gift that everyone wants this holiday season but that Disney has yet to build merchandise around.
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