For the cover story of New York Magazine’s annual TV issue, features writer E. Alex Jung profiles Drew Barrymore and how she’s created one of the most radically intimate talk shows on television.
“During the pandemic, Drew Barrymore was making mesmerizingly weird content on her daytime talk show that I became obsessed with. But what could have just been a flash in the pan has become one of the most fascinating spaces for tender and revealing conversations with celebrities,” says Jung. “The show is clearly personal for her, which just made me more curious about the circumstances that led to this latest act. It turns out Drew Barrymore is even more Drew Barrymore in real life.”
For the issue, Barrymore was photographed by Mark Seliger, who has shot portraits of the actress throughout her career.
Also in the issue, 2023 Pulitzer Prize winner Andrea Long Chu dives into the world of Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone, known for its red-state appeal, and argues that its political ideology is in fact rooted in leftist thinking; Jesse David Fox writes on how the Simpsons, after a decades-long funk, clawed its way back to popularity to become a showcase for experimental comedy; features writer Josef Adalian and features writer Lane Brown report on how creators are trying to navigate Hollywood’s deeply broken streaming model; Carvell Wallace joins 50 Cent in conversation to talk about how the rapper has become one of the most prolific creators in Hollywood; TV critic Roxana Hadadi profiles Reservation Dogs’ Devery Jacobs, and more.
“Over the past year, the TV industry got a wake-up call: The streaming model was broken. As Steven Soderbergh put it, it may be the ‘crypto’ of the entertainment business. While executives privately freaked out about their bottom lines, TV writers went on strike, bringing the whole industry to a standstill,” says culture editor Gazelle Emami. “Our annual Television Issue explores how this is all playing out behind the scenes, while also going deep on the people and creators who in many ways are defining our more-fragmented-than-ever TV culture, from Drew Barrymore’s second coming as daytime host to Taylor Sheridan’s ever-growing stable of cowboy shows.”