Megan Garber
She is the recipient of a Mirror Award for her writing about the media, and she previously worked as a reporter for the Nieman Journalism Lab and as a critic for the Columbia Journalism Review. At The Atlantic, she writes about the intersection of politics and culture (which often, but not always, means that she writes about reality TV). She is the author of On Misdirection: Magic, Mayhem, American Politics.
We’ve Lost the Plot
Our constant need for entertainment has blurred the line between fiction and reality—on television, in American politics, and in our everyday lives.
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The Atlantic Introducing: How to Know What’s Real
A new season of the How To series from The Atlantic
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Photo-illustration by The Atlantic. Source: ZUMA Press / … Christine Blasey Ford Testifies Again
Her new memoir doubles as a modern-day horror story.
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Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Chip Somodevilla / … The Grim Aftermath of the E. Jean Carroll Verdict
Throughout the defamation trial, Donald Trump eroded the distinction between the court and the court of public opinion.
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Daniel Gordon / Kasmin Gallery The Uncanniest Influencers on the Internet
A new book brings stark clarity to the formulas that guide our behavior online.
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Dusty Deen for The Atlantic The 15 Best TV Shows of 2023
The year’s most essential series
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Andar Algaloud / Saudi Royal Council / Anadolu … The Truth Won’t Matter
If reelected, Donald Trump will once again churn out absurdity and outrage with factory efficiency.
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Apple TV+ The Show That Transforms Our Understanding of History
Season by season, For All Mankind has become less a tale of an alternate future than a meditation on historical memory.
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Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Michael Schwartz / … What Matthew Perry Knew About Comedy
The actor gave his signature character on Friends a quality that is all too rare in sitcoms: vulnerability.
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Millennium Images / Gallery Stock The Protestant Sleep Ethic
A recent memoir considers how much we concede when we regard rest as a call to judgment.
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Fulton County Sheriff's Office / Getty The Mug Shot Is a Warning
Donald Trump’s booking photo was supposed to be an exercise in humility. He turned it into a threat.
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Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Shutterstock. The Candy You (Probably) Won’t Get to Try
On the sadness of the pseudo-snack—produced not to be eaten but to be talked about
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Jaap Buitendijk / Warner Bros. Pictures Barbie Is Everything. Ken Is Everything Else.
Hero. Villain. Incel. Warrior. Leader. Beach. Ken is not the star of Barbie, but he is its tragic, plastic heart.
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Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: FlixPix / Alamy. The Everyday Genius of Shakespeare in Love
The film’s breeziness has always belied its insights about human creativity.
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Paramount / Everett The Real Lesson of The Truman Show
Twenty-five years later, the film’s most powerful insight isn’t about reality TV so much as the complicities of modern life.
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Photo-illustration by Joanne Imperio / The Atlantic. Sources: … The Reality Show That’s Tackling the Toxic Workplace
Top Chef has spent the past 20 seasons redefining what it means to be a chef—and a leader.
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Illustration by Joanne Imperio / The Atlantic. Sources: … The 400-Year-Old Tragedy That Captures Our Chaos
Pop culture is finding new currency in the tale of a king beset by madness.
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Phil Caruso / HBO When a Hapless Villain Somehow Takes Down a Presidency
HBO’s new limited series White House Plumbers explores the banal oafishness behind the Watergate scandal.
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Mark Peterson / Redux The Worst Thing to Come Out of Trump’s Town Hall Didn’t Come From Trump
When CNN treated its event as a means of making news, it had already lost the battle.
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John Minchillo / AP The Defiant Humanity of E. Jean Carroll
She never tried to be a perfect victim. Her jury believed her anyway.
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David Russell / HBO Succession Just Delivered Its Most Terrifying Episode Yet
The show brilliantly deconstructed tech’s unruly optimism.
