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MOST RECENT ARTICLES BY:

Kathryn VanArendonk

Staff Writer
@kvanaren
kathryn.vanarendonk@nymag.com

  1. tv review
    Mythic Quest Returns, Imperfect But Easy to LoveSeason two of the Apple TV+ comedy sets a high creative bar for itself, and even when it doesn’t quite clear it, it’s fun just to watch the attempt.
  2. tv review
    Welcome to Ziwe’s House. Make Yourself Uncomfortable.Ziwe Fumudoh’s interview show makes the jump from Instagram to cable in characteristically iconic fashion.
  3. best of 2021
    The Best TV of 2021 (So Far)A slow start to the TV year has left room for some smaller, less expected highlights (and, yes, one giant event series) to make themselves known.
  4. oscars 2021
    The Highs, Lows, and Very Big Whoas of the 2021 OscarsFrom “Da Butt” to da confusing Best Actor win.
  5. tv
    Um, We Should Talk About That Wild For All Mankind FinaleBet you didn’t think you could be so emotional about the line “I started jogging again.”
  6. tv review
    Shadow and Bone Almost Gets Lost in the DarkNetflix’s adaptation of the Grishaverse novels pulls it together in the end, but only after traversing a vast, foggy muddle of exposition.
  7. tv review
    Philly D.A. Is the Second Coming of The Wire, in Docuseries FormThe sprawling series maps a citywide web of interlocking problems, attempted solutions, and the many individuals caught inside.
  8. tv review
    Trust Me, You Want to Watch Couples TherapyOnce you make peace with its voyeuristic premise, Showtime’s fly-on-the-wall reality show is far and away one of the best docuseries on TV.
  9. tv review
    The Nevers Is an Unimpressive Monument to Joss Whedon’s ObsessionsThe HBO Victoriana fantasy series is deliberately unrealistic, eye-catching, and even occasionally fun. It’s also shoddily produced, shallow nonsense.
  10. vulture bets on berry
    Guess Who We Think Should Write the Definitive COVID Anthem?Go ahead, guess.
  11. late night tv
    A Few Sincere Suggestions for Gutfeld!Let’s punch up the new Fox News late-night comedy show.
  12. tv review
    Chad Tests the Limits of How Funny Awkward Can BeNasim Pedrad’s turn as a teen boy who always says the wrong thing lacks the comedic specificity to overcome the character’s boorishness.
  13. spinoffs
    Organized Crime Is Not What We Need From Law & OrderIt’s also not what Elliot Stabler needs.
  14. good one podcast
    Do We Really Need Documentaries About ‘Women in Comedy’?On this week’s Good One, Vulture critic Kathryn VanArendonk discusses one of comedy’s most exhausting topics.
  15. legends
    The Emotional Transformations of Beverly Cleary’s WorkReading her Ramona series aloud to my daughter, as my mother did before me, feels like accessing a form of double vision.
  16. tv review
    Invincible Offers Superheroes With a Side of More SuperheroesThe hour-long animated series has a palpable “more of an eight-hour movie” vibe, with all the possibility and potential pitfalls that model entails.
  17. ooh it’s them!
    The 32 Greatest Character Actors Working TodayWe asked critics and Hollywood creators: Which supporting players make everything better?
  18. comedy review
    All Hail Amber RuffinThanks to her Peacock show, there’s finally some theater-camp-counselor energy in late night.
  19. comedy review
    Nate Bargatze Invites You to Be Clueless, TooHis Netflix special Greatest Average American celebrates the delight of being oblivious.
  20. close reads
    The Bachelor’s Biggest Problems With Race Happen OffscreenBenching Chris Harrison is just a superficial fix for a much deeper, behind-the-scenes issue at the franchise.
  21. tv review
    Genera+ion Wants to Be a Voice of a GenerationEnamored with the superficial specifics of right now, the new HBO Max series mistakes universal teen experiences for defining generational ones.
  22. comedy review
    James Acaster Hates How Much He Needs You to Love HimHis new comedy special makes self-loathing surprising and hilarious.
  23. crossovers
    In Meghan and Harry’s Oprah Interview, Two TV Worlds CollidedWith its invocation of streaming-era giant The Crown, Oprah Winfrey’s old-school broadcast event merged two ends of the TV spectrum.
  24. finales
    WandaVision’s Big Farewell Feels Hopeful Yet Rings HollowWhat feels beautifully poignant in the context of a sitcom universe becomes painfully boring in the context of a Marvel one.
  25. golden globes 2021
    The Highs, Lows, and Whoas of the 2021 Golden GlobesFrom Tina and Amy making it work to Jason Sudeikis doing … whatever he was doing.
  26. vulture bets on berry
    Let Matt Berry Be the Judge of ThatThere’s no justice in the world until he holds the gavel in a TV legal drama.
  27. tv review
    Ginny & Georgia Is So, So Much. Truly, So Much.The new Netflix series is such an unpredictable mixture of genre and tone that watching it feels like being shuttled from one TV show to another.
  28. comedy review
    On the Rocks Hopes You’re Cool With Ignoring All the Bad StuffBrian Regan wants to give his audience escapism, but 2020 is a tough year to escape from.
  29. close reads
    It Is Once Again Time to Call for Chris Harrison’s Retirement From The BachelorRemoving Harrison will not fix the show’s ongoing race problems. But that doesn’t make it any less worth doing.
  30. tv review
    It’s a Sin’s Clear-Eyed Look at the AIDS Crisis Has One Big Blind SpotRussell T Davies’s often beautifully moving limited series, now on HBO Max, falls into a familiar pattern that complicates its central tragedy.
  31. tv review
    Behind Her Eyes Is Trolling YouNetflix’s new psychological thriller operates entirely in service of an ending so twisty and strange that it obliterates everything that came before.
  32. reality tv
    Is Now the Worst Time for Buried by the Bernards? Or Is it the Best Time?A lighthearted reality show about a bickering family that runs a funeral home? In this climate? Well, as it turns out …
  33. emergency discussion
    What Do We Want Out of WandaVision, Anyway?What most appeals to some of the show’s viewers is exactly what most annoys others, but we can all at least agree on one thing: more Kathryn Hahn.
  34. close reads
    Framing Britney and the Empathy of a Simple TimelineWhat now stands out as a central, fundamental event in Britney’s life might’ve remained a footnote if not for the doc’s chronology.
  35. golden globes 2021
    Can Anyone Explain Why the Golden Globe Nominations Livestream Was So Weird?From top to bottom, the live event was almost as bizarre as the nominations themselves.
  36. comfort tv
    I Just Want to Go Live Inside All Creatures Great and SmallIn these wild and disorienting first weeks of 2021, the PBS Masterpiece series has been a cozy haven of competence and compassion.
  37. tv review
    The Investigation Will Frustrate You (on Purpose)HBO’s Danish true-crime series reveals a different way of telling a murder story, as well as why so few murder stories are told this way.
  38. stonks!
    I’m Sorry, What Is Going on With GameStop and AMC?An answer for idiots, by idiots.
  39. covid storytelling
    How Superstore Leaned Into a Pandemic It Couldn’t Ignore“Going escapist just didn’t make sense.”
  40. vulture bets on berry
    A Hopeful America Deserves Matt Berry As Cranberry SpokespersonThis is the only path forward for us as a country and for the world.
  41. snl
    The One Thing All Great SNL Political Impressions NeedThe show’s take on Joe Biden won’t be funny until it makes an argument.
  42. extremely online
    It Makes Total Sense We’re All Into Sea Shanties Now“Wellerman” is a great, boisterous bop of a song in any century.
  43. close reads
    The Key to Dickinson Season Two Is a Woman Named Lola MontezA legendary and scandalous figure from the 19th century is only a tiny part of the plot, but she plays a major role in the season’s central theme.
  44. 2021 preview
    48 TV Shows We Can’t Wait to See in 2021There’s still a whole lot of TBD ahead, but also some definitive promise of great things to come.
  45. this exists!
    So, Uh, There’s a Danish Kids’ Show About a Man With a Giant Prehensile PenisYes, John Dillermand is a show about giant, uncontrollable genitalia, but it’s also a story about hope.
  46. backstories
    Sex on Bridgerton Is All About Keeping Everyone From Rolling Off the Tiny BedsA chat with the show’s intimacy coordinator Lizzy Talbot.
  47. our streaming future
    Is It a Movie or Is It TV? And Does Anyone Really Care?After nearly a year of watching everything on the same damn screen, four critics attempt to talk through an unkillable debate.
  48. comedy review
    Death to 2020 Is a Failure of ImaginationThe Black Mirror creators’ special is a limp recap of a year that few viewers need help remembering.
  49. disney+
    Disney Confirms The Mandalorian Spinoff The Book of Boba Fett Is HappeningThat post-credits scene had a point.
  50. tv review
    Bridgerton Is a Heady, Inviting Fantasy of Pleasure and True LoveThe Shondaland Netflix series will make you want to whisper obscene gossip, pop Champagne, and run giddily through a hedge maze.
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