TV

Airing Authenticity: Does “Ramy” Need to Be Real to Be Fun?

a photo of Ramy Youssef, an Egyptian American man with short, brown hair wearing a green hoodie, black shirt, and black hair
by Umber Bhatti
July 22, 2019 at 7:48pm
Ramy Youssef chooses not to adhere to a collective narrative, instead homing in on his personal experience. 
A photo of Luke Parker, a white man, and Hannah Brown, a white woman, on The Bachelorette

Viewers Over Decency: How “The Bachelor” Franchise Keeps Failing Its Leading Ladies

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
July 17, 2019 at 3:41pm
The Bachelor franchise is willing to toss women into the flames of abuse for bigger ratings. Has it even earned the right to tell the stories of these women if it won’t protect them? Read more »
A photo of David Harbour, a white man with brown hair, as Jim Hopper in Stranger Things.

From Lovable Brute to Aggressor: How “Stranger Things” Turned Jim Hopper Into an Abuser

by Rebecca Long
July 15, 2019 at 12:24pm
The issue with Stranger Things is that its depiction of abuse seems unconscious and uncritical. A series that doesn’t recognize abuse only normalizes... Read more »
Nicole Kidman, a redheaded white woman, sits beside Meryl Streep, an older white woman with gray hair and glasses, on Big Little Lies

Scream On: “Big Little Lies” Shows That Abuse Doesn’t Always Die with the Abuser

by Caroline Reilly
July 12, 2019 at 11:01am
Big Little Lies never lets us forget that it’s a show about the inextricable hold that domestic violence has on those who experience it, witness it, and survive it. Read more »
a white woman with glasses with shoulder-length curls sits on a stage

Fear of a Feminist Lens: How Emily Nussbaum Pioneered TV Criticism

by Jourdain Searles
July 9, 2019 at 7:32pm
Nussbaum provides a roadmap for how to talk about television with an openness that sheds the hand-wringing that has plagued television criticism since its conception. Read more »
four white women and one Black woman stand together, in a conspiring stance, on Big Little Lies

Guilty Parties: “Big Little Lies’” Glorious Reflections on Female Penitence

by Aline Dolinh
July 3, 2019 at 11:38am
There’s something aspirational about the way Big Little Lies imbues even the most dysfunctional situations with a gloss of camp-adjacent catharsis. Read more »
A photo of Bojack Horseman's Diane Nguyen (voiced by Alison Brie), who is a Vietnamese-American wearing an army-green jacket and standing at a party.

TV Has Shifted Our Cultural Perception of Who Has Abortions

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
July 2, 2019 at 1:59pm
While TV shows are still learning how to tell accurate and authentic stories about marginalized people who have abortions, there have been a few examples that have had lasting impact. Read more »
a dark-skinned Black woman with a short, curly fro and big, bold pink earrings smiles on Pose FX

The Category Is “That Bitch”: Angelica Ross on Candy Ferocity’s Fierce Season 2 Turn

by Dr. Jon Paul
July 2, 2019 at 10:45am
This season, Candy still has had a lot to prove to a lot of people—and she’s not shying away from the challenge. Read more »
A photo of Kevin Keller, a gay white male teen character from Riverdale.

Swipe Left: When Marginalized TV Characters Turn to Dating Apps

by Hannah Steinkopf-Frank
June 28, 2019 at 10:26am
For marginalized characters, small-screen depictions of dating apps are more regressive than excitingly futuristic. Read more »
A photo of Quintessa Swindell, Kiana Madeira, Brianna Hildebrand, who play the main characters in the Netflix show Trinkets.

Finding Power: In Netflix’s “Trinkets,” Young Women Steal Their Way to Autonomy

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
June 24, 2019 at 3:10pm
The young women of Netflix’s “Trinkets” break laws, but build each other. Read more »
a white teen wears a colorful bike helmet while sitting down

Spasms of Truth: “Sex Education” Disrupts Pop Culture’s Silence around Painful Sex

by Noa Fleischacker
June 21, 2019 at 12:31pm
The best rom-coms make their predictability feel not like a weakness, but like a giddily essential pleasure. Read more »

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Best of Bitch

Films and TV Portray Abortion as More Dangerous Than It Is

by Erica Thomas
February 19, 2014 at 3:47pm
Films and television shows tend to present a skewed portrayal of abortion—when fictional movies and TV shows include a plotline about abortion... Read more »

Eat, Pray, Spend: Priv-lit and the new, enlightened American dream

by Joshunda Sanders
Summer 2010 • Action
Priv-lit and the new, enlightened American dream. Read more »

Tina Belcher's Sexual Revolution

by Gabrielle Moss
May 6, 2014 at 11:57am
Tina Belcher breaks all the rules of network sitcoms. That's why she's wonderful.  Read more »

What I Learned About Gender and Power from Sailor Moon

by Soleil Ho
May 31, 2013 at 1:43pm
My life began in 1995 — the year I turned eight and became a divorced kid.    Read more »