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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. spoilers
    BoJack Horseman Fades to BlackTo fully process that series finale we must first discuss that doozy of a penultimate episode.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. the gold rush
    Who Should (and Will) Win at the Golden Globes This Weekend?The Irishman or Marriage Story? Succession or … Succession?
  14. gif recap
    Just the Baby Yoda Parts of The MandalorianA GIF recap of the cutest li’l baby in the galaxy.
  15. 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.
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  19. 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.
  20. 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.
  21. 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!
  22. 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.
  23. party report
    Remembering Sesame Street Icon Caroll Spinney at the Kennedy Center Honors“I think that a sweeter man was never born.”
  24. 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.
  25. 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.
  26. turkey time
    WKRP in Cincinnati Had the Best Thanksgiving Episode Ever“Turkeys Away” is still the most quintessential, uproarious Thanksgiving episode of a sitcom.
  27. star wars
    An Illustrated Guide to Baby Yoda in The MandalorianThe cutest li’l baby in the galaxy.
  28. 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.
  29. 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.
  30. 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.
  31. 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.
  32. lin-manuel miranda
    Lin-Manuel Miranda Joins the Sexy Dickinson Hive#TeamDickheads
  33. party report
    James Corden Did an Uncanny Anna Wintour Cosplay at the American Portrait Gala“I wouldn’t dare say whether you or Meryl did it better.”
  34. star wars
    Maybe The Mandalorian Should Just Be About Baby Yoda?All together now: Awwwww!
  35. disney+
    Why The Simpsons Episode With Michael Jackson Is Still Worth Watching“Stark Raving Dad” has been shelved indefinitely. But it’s still an important cultural artifact.
  36. the mandalorian
    Just a Whole Bunch of Questions About Baby YodaAnd what it means for the Star Wars universe.
  37. disney+
    When Disney Gains The Simpsons, What Do We All Lose?The streaming boom has warped our sense of pop-cultural history. And it’s going to get a lot worse.
  38. tv review
    The Mandalorian Has the Droids (and Bounty Hunter) You’re Looking ForThe new Disney+ live-action Star Wars series shows enough promise in its sleek, stylish first episode to keep fans coming back for more.
  39. tv review
    Back to Life Finds the Sweet Spot Between Melancholy and ComedyIt’s tempting to compare the BBC/Showtime series starring Daisy Haggard to Fleabag, but it’s both darker and lighter in its approach.
  40. the little mermaid live-ish
    The Highs and Lows of the (Barely) Live Little MermaidBreaking down the best, worst, and most baffling moments of ABC’s live-action and animated experiment.
  41. tv review
    The End of the F***ing World Should’ve Ended With Season OneThe second season of the British series starts off strong, but quickly runs out of gas.
  42. tv
    The TV Shows We Loved in 2019Succession, Unbelievable, and more of the year’s TV standouts.
  43. tv review
    The Crown Carries on Splendidly in Season 3A seamless casting change, in which the great Olivia Colman takes over as Her Majesty, marks the Netflix series’ smooth transition into a new era.
  44. q&a
    Raphael Bob-Waksberg on Beginning BoJack Horseman’s EndingThe creator of Netflix’s equine Hollywood dramedy talks about finding his way toward the series’ endgame with clarity and optimism.
  45. tv review
    The Morning Show Wants You to WatchThe Apple TV+ series is eager to draw you in and be taken seriously. For the most part, it succeeds.
  46. scene report
    Neal Brennan Gave the Best Speech at Dave Chappelle’s Mark Twain Prize Ceremony“Writing and directing Dave sometimes was as simple as me standing onstage with my jaw hanging open, going, ‘Uh, cut?’”
  47. scene report
    Dave Chappelle Is Honored, With Honesty, at the Kennedy CenterJon Stewart, Tiffany Haddish, Neil Brennan, and others paid tribute to the comedian at the Kennedy Center.
  48. tv review
    Silicon Valley Is Ending at Exactly the Right TimeThe HBO comedy enters its sixth and final season with just the right amount of gas left in its tank to finish the journey it began back in 2014.
  49. tv review
    In Daybreak, the Apocalypse Is Just Like High SchoolIt’s also very reminiscent of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
  50. tv review
    BoJack Horseman Is Still Improving, But BoJack Horseman Is As Good As It GetsAs BoJack sorts out life in and after rehab, the Netflix series gets more mileage out of its Hollywood satire.
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