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Jen Chaney

TV Critic
See all their articles from across New York Magazine
@chaneyj
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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 Beagle Remains a BlessingApple TV+’s new The Snoopy Show is a welcome reminder that happiness still is a warm puppy.
  2. golden globes 2021
    The Biggest Snubs and Surprises of the 2021 Golden Globe NominationsEmily in Paris was nominated for Best Comedy Series?
  3. trump tv
    What American Horror Story: Cult Got Right—and Very Wrong—About the Trump EraDebuting less than a year after Trump took office, the anthology series’ messy attempt to speak to the moment was both flawed and prescient.
  4. tv review
    The Lady and the Dale Is a Multifaceted Look at a Multifaceted Con ArtistThe HBO docuseries offers a sharp, engrossing reconciliation of Liz Carmichael’s crimes and her identity as a trans woman.
  5. tv review
    Blown Away Is a Cozy Blanket Made of Hot, Molten GlassIn its second season, now on Netflix, the glassblowing-competition series offers the warmth you crave on a cold January day.
  6. inauguration day 2021
    Inauguration Day 2021 Was a Colorful Beam of LightVisually and thematically, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s inauguration was suffused with brightness.
  7. hbo
    In Tiger, a Portrait of a Phenom Who Was Never Allowed to Be a KidA two-part HBO documentary shows the toll of an overbearing father and life as a golf prodigy.
  8. tv review
    Marvel’s WandaVision Is a Time-Traveling DelightElizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany hopscotch through sitcom history in a new Disney+ series.
  9. close reads
    Cobra Kai Season 3 Sends Mixed Nostalgia MessagesThe series argues that nostalgia is toxic but also can’t stop reminding us that the ’80s rule.
  10. 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.
  11. tv review
    Mr. Mayor Is a Nice Political Comedy at a Very Not-Nice TimeComprising a sitcom dream team, Tina Fey and Robert Carlock’s latest is amusing, if not exactly dialed into the current climate.
  12. 🤬tv review 🤬
    Seven Not-So-Dirty Reasons to Watch History of Swear WordsAlthough, truly, you don’t need our damn permission.
  13. close reads
    Let’s Talk About Bridgerton’s Finale Reveal of You-Know-WhoLady Whistledown is … not who I thought she would be.
  14. 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.
  15. spoilers
    The Force and the Nostalgia Were Strong in The Mandalorian FinaleThe season-two finale’s big cameo is a perfect example of what Star Wars, as a franchise, often tries to do and only occasionally succeeds at.
  16. bless the child
    The Continuing Adventures of the Artist Formerly Known As Baby YodaAre you there, Force? It’s me, Grogu.
  17. spoilers
    The Flight Attendant’s Murder-Mystery Reveal Succeeds Where The Undoing’s FailedBoth series center on whodunits that go to the wildest of places, but only one asks us to take what it’s doing seriously.
  18. vulture investigates
    So, Is There a Pandemic on Big Sky or Not?The answer seems to be: Yes, technically, but no one is acting like it. Which is confusing!
  19. tv review
    The Stand Is Both Too Real and Too Unreal for 2020A new adaptation of the Stephen King novel may be more than you can handle at the end of this hideous year.
  20. spoilers
    Let’s Discuss That Big Mandalorian RevealIt may not be the first time we’ve seen [redacted], but it’s the first time we’ve seen it like this.
  21. tv review
    HBO’s New Bee Gees Documentary Does More Than Just DiscoThe Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart smartly contextualizes the story of one of the most successful groups in pop history.
  22. best of 2020
    The Best TV of 2020These aren’t just very good TV shows. These were our escapes from despair.
  23. close reads
    Zendaya Captures 2020 in Her Extraordinary Euphoria PerformanceThe series’ one-off Christmas special finds Zendaya’s Rue in a different mode that feels distinctly of this moment.
  24. tv review
    Bryan Cranston Makes Your Honor’s Crime Story Clichés CompellingThe performances elevate this Showtime series, but the focus on plot thickening gums up the works.
  25. tv review
    Big Mouth Is Still Going Through ChangesBoth the series and its eighth-grade protagonists display a growing sense of self-awareness in a season that aims to hold itself to higher standards.
  26. hammer time
    We Have Many Questions About That The Undoing FinaleMost of them are about dishwashing hammers.
  27. close reads
    The Undoing’s Fall From GraceThe whole show was a red herring, and we, like its inscrutable protagonist, got duped.
  28. chat room
    Tracey Wigfield Talks Making a New, Socially Conscious Saved by the BellWigfield always planned to use satire to highlight class divisions in the new version of the series, and the past year has made that even more timely.
  29. tv review
    Saved by the Bell Reemerges As a Self-Aware Satirical DelightA send-up of the original show and white privilege, the new Peacock series is much smarter than you may have assumed.
  30. close reads
    Princess Diana Exposes The Crown’s Great Uncrossable ChasmSeason four brilliantly illuminates, through the arrival of Diana, how impossible it is to connect with the royal family, even for those within it.
  31. tv review
    Big Sky is David E. Kelley LiteHis new ABC series is filled with mysteries, perhaps one too many.
  32. tv review
    The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special Isn’t Bad, But It Isn’t Interesting, EitherDisney+’s latest franchise expansion is competent in a bland, expected way that almost makes one yearn for the specific awfulness of the 1978 special.
  33. a long talk
    Ethan Hawke Bids Farewell to John Brown and The Good Lord Bird“I always said, if it were easy to tell John Brown’s story, it would have been done before.”
  34. in memoriam
    We Could Always Look to Alex Trebek for the Right AnswersAs a personification of objective truth, the late Jeopardy! host was a great comfort in an era when facts can have alternatives.
  35. tv review
    The 2020 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Can’t Shake Off 2020An all-virtual ceremony can only rock so hard.
  36. friday night movie club
    When Harry Met Sally Won the Friday Night Movie Club ElectionYou’ll have what we’re having.
  37. tv review
    Moonbase 8 Is the Best Space Show That Isn’t Set in SpaceAwesome show, great job, everyone.
  38. election 2020
     What to Watch on Election Day Other Than Election CoveragePerhaps the movie Election on repeat?
  39. spoilers
    Jack Dylan Grazer Talks the We Are Who We Are Finale’s ‘Final Answer’“It’s such a satisfying moment for them, and especially for the audience.”
  40. tv review
    The Mandalorian Is Back to Save Us AllOr at least distract us for 54 minutes.
  41. oral history
    An Oral History of Election Night 2016 at MSNBCWhat it was like to cover the news on the day that gave us the past four years.
  42. i got a rock
    Free The Great Pumpkin, You GhoulsNot having the Charlie Brown holiday specials on broadcast TV this year just seems cruel, especially when they still have so much to teach us.
  43. election 2020
    Pop-Culture Reunions Are the Democrats’ Not-So-Secret WeaponIt’s still unclear what effect these events will have on the election, but it is clear that this is one place the Trump campaign simply can’t compete.
  44. tv review
    The Queen’s Gambit Makes Chess Kind of SexyThe Netflix limited series starring Anya Taylor-Joy serves up satisfying chess action, and chases it with a painful addiction story.
  45. tv review
    The Frigid Allure of The UndoingWelcome to your next HBO obsession.
  46. tv review
    Grand Army Is at Its Best When It Lets Its Teens Lead the WayEven when the new Netflix high-school show stumbles, strong performances from its cast of newcomers help keep it steady.
  47. twist endings
    Let’s Discuss That The Haunting of Bly Manor EndingLots of spoilers, obviously.
  48. movie review
    American Utopia Speaks to the Recent Past and, Even More, the PresentIn a way, even the Spike Lee–directed version of David Byrne’s Broadway show, streaming on HBO, allows us to “leave our homes.”
  49. tv review
    The Right Stuff Has the Halfway Decent StuffDisney+ and Nat Geo’s glossy new series is a traditionally presented space drama that chips away at our traditional notions about the space program.
  50. videology
    The Stories Behind Two of the Best Animated Music Videos of All TimeA-ha’s “Take On Me” and Dire Straits’ “Money For Nothing” illustrate two vastly different yet equally groundbreaking animation styles.
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