Master of the Hunt
Two recent films offer very different portraits of Chris Hansen, the controversial journalist behind America's hit TV show ‘To Catch a Predator.’
Television
A collection of 18 posts
Trauma and Terror
If you’re not already familiar with the casus belli that ignited the Gaza war, watching the fifth season of ‘Fauda’ will be good for you, but it will also be bad for you.
L’Affaire Shirer Revisited
The rise, fall, and rise again of one of the 20th century’s most important journalists.
Together Alone
American individualism and the western, from Fred Zinnemann and John Ford to Larry McMurtry and Taylor Sheridan.
Colbert and Cancellation
The #CancelColbert saga in 2014 established the paradigm for countless hashtag controversies that followed.
The Many Faces of Tucker Carlson
Jason Zengerle’s new book about the degradation of a once-gifted writer and broadcaster also illustrates the downward trajectory of the entire news industry during the same period.
Defaming the Dead
Is telling lies about someone after they die okay if that someone was a very bad person?
Seasons in the Sun
Sex, money, murder, and the decline of Mike White’s wildly popular HBO series ‘The White Lotus.’
Rage Is Now the Machine
Angertainment capitalises on ordinary democratic conflict by selling it back to us as spectacle.
The Zero-Sum Squid Game
What the Korean hit gets wrong about capitalism and right about government.
Scandalous Monogamy and Faithful Infidelity
On eros and marriage.
The Great Unfinished Generational Epic
George R.R. Martin, the Strauss-Howe theory of history, and the failure of the Baby Boomers.
Less Than Half ‘A Man in Full’
One of US television’s most experienced and talented writers has made a mess of Tom Wolfe’s second novel.
93 Years of Shatner
A tribute to an irrepressible TV star’s ability to live long and prosper.
Strange New Sci Fi
If truth is the first casualty of war, then perhaps good fiction is the first casualty of culture war.