MOST RECENT ARTICLES BY:

Kathryn VanArendonk

Staff Writer
@kvanaren
kathryn.vanarendonk@nymag.com

  1. comedy review
    Everything’s Fine Is a Frantic Hour of Hot PotatoSarah Cooper has her own Netflix special, but she can’t quite hold her own.
  2. tv review
    The Great How to With John Wilson Defies ExpectationIt’s incredibly poignant with a surprising number of dicks.
  3. qui-bye
    Did 2020 Kill Quibi? Or Did Quibi Kill Quibi?Name aside, the upstart streamer actually had a lot of things going for it — and it failed in spite of all of them.
  4. book excerpt
    How the Sitcom Mirrored, and Shaped, Your Idea of New York CityAn excerpt from The Encyclopedia of New York.
  5. chat room
    T’Nia Miller Is Happy She Was Wrong About Bly Manor Episode 8“I thought, Nah, babe, this is Netflix. Just keep it real. But oh my God, they know what they’re doing.”
  6. movie review
    What the Constitution Means to Me Film Unleashes a Boiler Full of FlamesWhen everything feels too overwhelming to watch at home, Heidi Schreck’s Broadway show (streaming on Prime Video) hits the right chord of anger.
  7. tv review
    Thank God Social Distance Is SadNetflix’s new coronavirus anthology series doesn’t offer any answers, but unlike so much COVID-era entertainment, it does offer honesty.
  8. docusoaps
    How Nyle DiMarco Made Deaf U the Messy Teen Drama of His Dreams“I didn’t want to make a PSA. I wanted something that would draw hearing people into our world.”
  9. hello fellow wimps
    A Scaredy-Cat’s Guide to The Haunting of Bly ManorEndure the terror with the help of our episodic breakdown of all of this season’s jump scares, alarming dolls, and weird cracks in the wall.
  10. tv
    Reality TV Glows UpDocuseries like The Vow are television’s latest prestige offering, but they’re not so different from their trashier predecessors.
  11. tv review
    What, Exactly, Is a Docusoap? Deaf U Is Here to Explain.Netflix’s new series weaves in and out of journalistic observation and voyeuristic, messy stories about cliques, sex, and snobbery.
  12. best of 2020
    The Best TV of the Year (So Far)PEN15, We Are Who We Are, and P-Valley are some of the brightest bright spots among 2020’s televisual offerings.
  13. tv review
    Love Torture and Conspiracies? Utopia Is for You.If you can grind your way through the blood and horror, this Gillian Flynn adaptation occasionally makes its way into mesmerizing territory.
  14. vulture recommends
    Stath Lets Flats Will Scratch That Office Itch Like Nothing ElseDon’t sleep on this show.
  15. emmys 2020
    The Highs, Lows, and Hmms of the Mostly At-Home EmmysCongrats to the rich white TV families of the world.
  16. close reads
    Actually, the Cultiest Part of The Vow Is the Night VolleyballLong before anyone in NXIVM got to the point of branding, there was volleyball.
  17. creepy-ass islands
    At What Point in The Third Day Would I Have Run Away Forever?On the one hand: this weird island has cool festival puppets. On the other: pretty much everything else.
  18. close reads
    P-Valley Reclaimed TV Strip-Club Drama for the DancersThe pole-dancing workplace drama is a rebuttal to the Bada Bings of the TV world, but it’s also so much more than that.
  19. tv review
    The Boys Are Back to Blow Your Mind, Literally and FigurativelyGleefully violent as ever, Amazon’s dark superhero story ups the ante on its most suggestive ideas about media image-making and corporate control.
  20. fall preview 2020
    47 New and Returning Shows to Watch This FallAnd here you thought there would be no new TV to watch …
  21. vmas 2020
    No One Can Tell Me the VMAs Weren’t a SimulationThe performances took place in the only setting available: a disembodied, placeless nowhere.
  22. close reads
    Yellowstone Is the Most (Anxious, White, Male) American Show on TVIt’s no coincidence that a story about outside threats to an insular way of life is one of cable’s biggest dramas.
  23. what we do in the shadows
    Cheers to You, Jackie DaytonaThis What We Do in the Shadows spot for Lucky Brew’s is here to remind you how much you miss bars and definitely not-a-vampire bartenders.
  24. close reads
    The All-Virtual DNC Is Good, ActuallyFor the first time, the national convention was designed primarily as a screen experience rather than retrofitted for TV.
  25. close reads
    I May Destroy You’s Structural EpiphaniesIn the penultimate episode, Arabella remembers what has been eluding her all season. But it is what comes just before that is the true revelation.
  26. tv review
    Ted Lasso Fails Upward, CheerfullyAn improbably pleasant continuation of a 2013 marketing gimmick, the new Apple TV+ series nonetheless feels like a time warp to the recent past.
  27. extremely online
    On Top of Everything Else, Apparently There’s Still Baby NutDon’t we have enough to deal with?
  28. trauma
    Last Chance U’s New Season Takes an Unexpected, Sad DetourThe episode “Greyhaven” is about football, sure, but it’s more about the trauma echoing through the family of fantasy author Marion Zimmer Bradley.
  29. nasty
    The ‘Clean’ Version of ‘WAP’ Is Actually So Much FilthierIt’s much more detailed in a sensory way.
  30. trope patrol
    Death to the Sardonic Needle DropHow many incongruously cheerful songs playing over a violent montage is too many? Ask The Umbrella Academy.
  31. comedy review
    The Audacity of Sam JayIn her Netflix special, the comedian locates power in the places where it is often overlooked.
  32. emmys 2020
    What We Do in the Shadows Writer Stefani Robinson on Jackie Daytona, Ghost Sperm“It’s liberating but also a little terrifying to write this episode that’s stupid and funny for the sake of being stupid and funny.”
  33. tv review
    The Umbrella Academy’s Second Season Takes a Trip to NonsensevilleWhat the new season lacks in internal logic or consistent stakes, it makes up for in violent fight scenes set to peppy, ironically cheerful pop songs.
  34. chat room
    Shira Haas on Her Unorthodox Nomination And Her Love For Carmela Soprano“It was such a major part in the developing of me as a person and as an actor.”
  35. emmys 2020
    The Best, Worst, and Weirdest Emmy-Nomination SurprisesThe biggest surprise of this year’s Emmy season is that we’re somehow still doing the Emmys, but these are all a close second.
  36. best of 2020
    The Best Comedy Specials of the Year (So Far)Featuring Dave Chappelle’s 8:46, Leslie Jones’s Time Machine, and Ted Alexandro’s DIY quarantine release.
  37. tv review
    Brave New World Is Worth the Price of Admission (Which Is Free)Peacock’s centerpiece original series offers an attractive, straightforward, and unnervingly comforting adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel.
  38. synergy
    The 30 Rock Reunion Is Advertisements All the Way DownIn the original run of the show, the ads were usually jokes. In NBC’s one-off reunion special, most of the jokes are ads.
  39. character study
    How Guillermo Found His Power on What We Do in the ShadowsMaking Staten Island’s sweetest and most loyal vampire assistant (who’s secretly great at killing vampires).
  40. emmy insider
    Couples Therapy Built the World’s Most Convincing Reality-TV SetHow the Showtime docuseries filmed inside a fake therapy office without participants ever seeing any cameras.
  41. emmy insider
    We’re Living in an Era of Peak Comfort TVThe pandemic was the final death knell of “prestige” as a meaningful indicator of anything at all, and I’m glad to see it go.
  42. stand-up
    The Most Joyful Live Comedy Right Now Is Inside Animal CrossingJenny Yang’s comedy showcase may be the cutest stand-up has ever been.
  43. tv review
    The Baby-Sitters Club Is a Welcome Surprise and Utter DelightI was dubious about Netflix’s new adaptation of the middle-grade book series, and I am thrilled to be proved wrong.
  44. animation
    Fixing Your Color-blind Casting Problem Is Actually Very EasyRecasting animated voices is no harder than any other part of making a TV show.
  45. tv review
    The Politician Can’t Triumph Over Its Own CynicismThe Netflix series’s fundamental emptiness was easier to stomach when it was about high school and not real-world politics.
  46. tv review
    In Love, Victor, a Spinoff Pushes Back Against Its Origin StoryOn its own, Hulu’s new teen coming-out series is pleasant TV. As a frankly resentful follow-up to Love, Simon, it’s something much more interesting.
  47. tv review
    What We Do in the Shadows Is the Best Comedy on TV Right NowWhy aren’t you watching this show yet?
  48. vulture lists
    21 TV Procedurals to Watch That Aren’t About PoliceFrom Murder, She Wrote to No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, there’s a whole world of cop-free procedurals out there.
  49. dun dun
    SVU Showrunner Says Cop Shows Are ‘Miscontributing’ to SocietyHe has also spoken against police brutality on Twitter this week.
  50. comedy review
    Yvonne Orji Can Turn Punchlines Into ChorusesMomma, I Made It! works best when Orji’s material speaks for itself.
More Articles