Hannah Giorgis

The comedian wants you to know everything about his life, but sheer voyeurism is only so revealing.

A new series about the “dark underbelly” of kids’ TV raises crucial questions about abuse in Hollywood. But it doesn’t go far enough.

Revisiting BlackPlanet, and a lost era when social media was still fun

The Idea of You is a modern spin on a Hollywood staple: someone famous falling for someone who’s not.

Ramy Youssef brought a politics of care to his first time hosting the show.

LaToya Ruby Frazier’s intimate, intergenerational portraits

Like much of America, the media mogul is feeling the cultural impact of the Ozempic era.

Two recent books dig into the crisis of modern love—and how we might forge more meaningful connections.

As the show has gotten more popular, it hasn’t abandoned its distinct regional humor.

A new film about the reggae legend sanitizes his commitment to social justice—and loses what made him so magnetic.

Roller skates and all, the R&B veteran’s performance underscored the value of showmanship.

A rare appearance by the actor Christina Applegate, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2021, brought heart and humor to the ceremony’s celebration of TV history.

The reboot of the classic teen comedy Mean Girls sands off its source material’s edges, to mixed results.

The film dramatizes the quotidian absurdities that many Black writers face during their career.

The year’s most essential series

Murder in Boston: Roots, Rampage & Reckoning, a new docuseries about the 1989 murder of Carol Stuart, revisits the case with an eye toward Boston’s stark racial divisions.

The legendary TV producer transformed the medium by listening to creators whose lives differed greatly from his own.

A new documentary about the pioneering sex researcher Shere Hite points to the barriers that women face when writing candidly about intimacy and power.

Pop culture of late, such as The Golden Bachelor, has been curious—and insightful—about love after 50 in a way that feels new and honest.

Hulu’s Black Cake explores how marriage, migration, and motherhood can shift one’s sense of self.

Black writers have long used science fiction, fantasy, and horror to dramatize the terrors of racism or to tell frightening tales.

The SNL alum returned to host the show’s much-anticipated return—and was somehow the perfect choice for it.

In a striking new memoir, the Jamaican writer Safiya Sinclair attempts to make peace with her Rastafari childhood and the island that shaped her.

The Hulu series The Other Black Girl dramatizes the pains of managing Afro-textured hair—and other people’s perceptions of it.

Rather than explore the complexities of building a life together, Netflix’s The Ultimatum too often touts matrimony for matrimony’s sake.

The final season of FX’s ensemble comedy is a resonant coming-of-age-story for its teenaged and adult characters alike.

The bawdy new film Bottoms marries the boisterousness and misanthropy of its predecessors, with mixed results.

The status-obsessed characters of And Just Like That are discovering the limits of throwing money at their relationship problems.

Prime Video’s Red, White & Royal Blue is an escapist fantasy that can’t quite escape the real world, no matter how hard it tries.

The queer drama Passages makes poignant observations about power, desire, and the psychological contours of creative life.

A new documentary offers a complex portrait of Black transgender sex workers, with the snappy production values of a Quentin Tarantino or Spike Lee film.

Survival of the Thickest stars the comedian Michelle Buteau as a brokenhearted stylist intent on making “beautiful thickums” feel good about themselves.

Midway through its second season, the Sex and the City reboot has given some unexpected depth to its most hated character.

A new documentary examines the afterlife of Black baseball’s golden eras, and what was lost with their demise.

A guide to the best under-the-radar series from this year, available on a streaming service near you

A new book expands the history of the Black Americans who nurtured their creativity overseas.

On the podcast If Books Could Kill, hosts Michael Hobbes and Peter Shamshiri dive into the murky details of mass-market hits.

The R&B legend discusses masculine vulnerability and how he brought Hotlanta to Vegas.

The elusive R&B singer wants to help you feel your feelings: “If you came to the club to dissociate, I’m ’bout to make you cry.”

Older influencers who share laundry hacks and old family recipes are helping Gen Z get through the holidays.