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Jen Chaney

TV Critic
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@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. Charles Manson Is Dead, But Pop Culture Is Keeping Him AliveIn American Horror Story, Search Party, and other projects, Manson is still a frightening cultural force.
  2. tv review
    Marvel’s Runaways Isn’t Quite a Teenage DreamThe latest superhero show has potential as a high-school drama, but requires some patience.
  3. American Horror Story: Cult Was a Missed OpportunityIt was a bold idea, but AHS: Cult didn’t tell us anything substantive about the Trump era.
  4. close reads
    What Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters Bring to American Horror Story: CultBy embracing over-the-top drama, they saved AHS: Cult from itself.
  5. The Amazon Fall 2017 Pilots, ReviewedSea Oak, starring Glenn Close, is the strongest out of the gate.
  6. close reads
    On TV, a Girl’s First Period As a Mark of Female PowerBlack-ish, Alias Grace, and Big Mouth use the rite of passage as a gateway to female empowerment.
  7. The Duffer Brothers Recap Stranger Things 2, ‘Chapter 9: The Gate’The Snow Ball kissing scene, the Upside Down cliffhanger, and what to expect in Stranger Things 3.
  8. The Controversial Episode of Louie That Now Plays Like a ConfessionalEven before the allegations against Louis C.K. went public, “Pamela Part 1” raised eyebrows.
  9. The Duffer Brothers Recap Stranger Things 2, ‘Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer’On that thing that happens to Bob: “It was one of the toughest, toughest scenes, emotionally, for everybody.”
  10. Talking Puberty With Big Mouth’s Jessi Klein and Andrew Goldberg“I remember very clearly getting my first period, which, for the record, was on Yom Kippur at my grandmother’s house.”
  11. The Duffer Brothers Recap Stranger Things 2, ‘Chapter Seven: The Lost Sister’“We actually did toy with pulling the episode completely.”
  12. The Duffer Brothers Recap Stranger Things 2, ‘Chapter Six: The Spy’“That sequence in the junkyard is one of my favorite things. It’s everything I want the show to be.”
  13. The Duffer Brothers Recap Stranger Things 2, ‘Chapter Five: Dig Dug’“A lot of the stuff in the tunnels is very Indiana Jones.”
  14. SMILF Is Almost GreatFrankie Shaw’s Showtime series has promise in its initial episodes that it almost fulfills.
  15. close reads
    On The Good Place, You Can’t Escape the PastThe NBC comedy tells us that important facts can’t just be deleted, denied, or avoided.
  16. tv review
    Alias Grace Is Another Gripping Margaret Atwood–Inspired TV ShowIt’s tonally different from The Handmaid’s Tale, but just as timely.
  17. The Duffer Brothers Recap Stranger Things 2, ‘Chapter 4: Will the Wise’“Listen, we’re never going to have Joyce trash her house again. We’ve done it twice. We’re done.”
  18. Sean Astin Almost Had a Very Different Story Line in Stranger Things 2The Duffer Brothers loved Bob so much, they wrote him a bigger role.
  19. The Duffer Brothers Recap Stranger Things 2, ‘Chapter Three: The Pollywog’“That’s our Gremlins episode.”
  20. The Duffer Brothers Recap Stranger Things 2, ‘Chapter 2: Trick or Treat, Freak’“We’re very pro-Three Musketeers.”
  21. The Duffer Brothers Recap Stranger Things 2, ‘Chapter One: MadMax’Matt and Ross Duffer explain how they made ‘Madmax,’ the first episode of Stranger Things season two.
  22. The Best TV Shows of 2017 (So Far)Big Little Lies, Master of None, Twin Peaks, and more.
  23. A Salute to Bob Newby, the Best Character on Stranger Things 2Bob the Brain makes everything easy peasy.
  24. witch week
    The Witches of Eastwick Is a Fascinating Movie to Watch Post-WeinsteinThirty years later, its take on gender politics is just as messy as the current conversation.
  25. Noah Schnapp Is the MVP of Stranger Things 2Will Byers disappeared in season one, but he’s utterly essential now.
  26. oral history
    The Oral History of Seinfeld’s ‘The Contest’Larry David & Co. remember when the sitcom mastered its domain.
  27. Stranger Things 2 Was Worth the WaitThe second season of the Netflix sci-fi hit is just as good as the first.
  28. What Happened When David Letterman Was Honored at the Kennedy CenterThe Mark Twain Prize ceremony refused to be about how great he is.
  29. Why the Sex in That Outlander Episode Was So Damn GoodAnyone else need a cold shower?
  30. tv review
    Too Funny to Fail Captures the Legacy of the Audacious Dana Carvey ShowIf you know very little about the button-pushing comedy series, the 90-minute film will be a revelation.
  31. close reads
    The Better Things Episode That Captures What’s So Good About Better Things“Eulogy” is a funny, moving, and dark look at a mother who wants to be fully seen.
  32. This Is Us Just Delivered the This Is Us–iest Twist EverIt makes you go, oh! Awww… oh, wait a minute, also UGH.
  33. Mindhunter Is a Crime Drama That Lands at the Right Cultural MomentThe Netflix series is as much about the male psyche as it is about the crimes of its serial killers.
  34. close reads
    Halt and Catch Fire Was the Most Quintessentially Gen-X Show on TVIn the end, it was a story about realizing the next big thing will be accomplished by the next generation.
  35. Why Tina Fey’s Great News Episode About Sexual Harassment Is So GoodIn a darkly genius way, the NBC sitcom underlines why it’s so dangerous to defend men like Harvey Weinstein.
  36. Mr. Robot Returns to Form in Season ThreeElliot and E Corp are back, in suspenseful, dense, and enigmatic style.
  37. How American Horror Story: Cult Handled a Mass Shooting After Las Vegas“Mid-Western Assassin” collides with reality in disturbing ways.
  38. tv review
    Spielberg Is a Rich, Personal Look at Hollywood’s Most Successful FilmmakerEven if you think you know everything about Steven Spielberg, this HBO documentary is still very much worth your time.
  39. who did the dicks?
    Let’s Talk About the Ending of American VandalWho did the dicks?
  40. This Is Us and The Good Place Signal a New Era for the Mystery-Box ShowThese NBC shows have set a different bar for puzzle-solving TV.
  41. Kevin (Probably) Saves the World Isn’t (Quite) a Good ShowJason Ritter is great, but the first episode is all over the place.
  42. tv review
    The Mayor Is One of the Most Promising New Shows of the SeasonIt deserves your vote.
  43. Why Losing Tom Petty Feels So Deeply PersonalHe was one of those artists whose music was intertwined with our memories.
  44. Megyn Kelly Today Needs to Be Torn Down and RebuiltHere’s (maybe?) how to fix it.
  45. chat room
    Henry Thomas on Better Things, Stranger Things, and ’80s NostalgiaE.T.’s best friend talks about playing Pamela Adlon’s new love interest on the FX series.
  46. Netflix’s Big Mouth Is Your Childhood in Disgusting, Humiliating DetailThe new animated comedy, co-created by Nick Kroll, is quietly groundbreaking.
  47. Will & Grace Is Back and It’s Like It Never LeftAfter a slightly off start, the NBC sitcom settles right back into its specific brand of silliness.
  48. The 15 Best Will & Grace Episodes to RewatchEnjoy, poodles.
  49. tv review
    The Good Doctor Is Filled With So Much Goodness It Might Make You SickThe pilot of this ABC drama has a bad case of excess sentimentality.
  50. Transparent Takes a Mostly Worthwhile Trip in Season 4The Pfeffermans go to Israel. So do all of their problems.
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