television

The sensationalist, ratings-first format needs to change—and candidates should boycott debates until it does.

Yusef Salaam on life after exoneration, the need for criminal justice reform and Donald Trump's "bounty placed on our heads."

We need the old Roseanne’s working-class heroism now more than ever. We're better off with the reruns than the reboot.

Awards show activism, then and now.

The creator of The Queen of Versailles on the “hamster wheel of wanting more and more.”

The Handmaid's Tale is used as a catch-all feminist allegory. But it's the specificity of Alias Grace, Netflix's latest Margaret Atwood adaptation, that makes it so pertinent.

The protagonists' middle-class naiveté rolls off them in waves.

The six-part British series shows us a self-destructive, bitter, angry young woman and trusts that we will care about her pain.

Undercover Boss is a mirage.

Amy Schumer, Samantha Bee and Rebecca Traister herald a new epoch of female independence

Ansari and his character, Dev, genuinely want to do good. But they're missing the political framework.

In a post-Ferguson America, David Simon's Show Me a Hero feels sadly dated.

The new black comedy about nuclear war misses its target.

Feminist, sexist, conservative, liberal—Marvel will give us any kind of superhero our heart desires as long as it makes them rich.

Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce has to stop trying so desperately to be a "women's show."

After 11 episodes of slow build, all hell finally breaks loose at Litchfield.

Daya is, yep, still pregnant, Vee spins love into evil, and someone finally socks Larry.

As Piper's personal life deteriorates, the conflict simmering at Litchfield starts to heat up.

The relationships among races on OITNB are as complex as the politics on Game of Thrones.

Suzanne, as we learn in her first flashback episode, has always been stranded alone in the world.

Taystee is torn, in some fundamental way, between ambition and self-sabotage.

In its season finale, the show once again asks us to sympathize with a male perpetrator of violence rather than his female victim.

If you are not a fan of cockroaches or Piper, you are out of luck.

The show is the first to take women this seriously.

Man lands on the moon, Peggy lands a big pitch, and Sterling Cooper moves definitively from past to future.

This was the kind of episode Mad Men fans live for.

Whether it's Crocker or Friedan, Betty can't seem to fit the roles society has constructed for her.

The season that followed creator Dan Harmon's return was more about him than about anything else.

The season premiere explores the grim inevitability of change, and also features Pete Campbell as a Ken Doll.

HBO's hit series is making the best of its heavy-handed source material.

The popular CBS sitcom isn't the warmhearted delight viewers make it out to be.

The trailblazing Orange is the New Black star has become a powerful voice for trans people, including CeCe McDonald.

Downton ties up this season's loose ends, and the results are pretty offensive.

'Edgy' plotlines about abortion and interracial romance are upstaged by pig feces.

Race, like rape, is something Downton's writers don't seem equipped to handle.

In the game of Downton Abbey, nobody wins as long as Bates is around.

Downton's writers can't stop exploring sexual assault--but do they even know they're doing it?

The lightweight show takes on a heavy issue, and not well.

Let's drop the pretense. Does anyone really care about Rose?

Downton Abbey's back, and it's schmaltzier than ever.

Homeland's writers kill a major character—and it's actually pretty touching. Go figure.

American Horror Story: Coven sets out to explore race, but doesn't get past white guilt.

At the expense of more interesting (and diverse) characters, Homeland gives us another hour of Brody.

We fell for the previews' implication that this episode would be Brody's last. No such luck.

Brody returns just long enough for some furniture destruction and a training montage.

Homeland's insistence on torturing Carrie has become routine to the point of hilarity.

For once, Carrie isn't the only character on Homeland undergoing emotional anguish.

An FCC loophole allows media conglomerates to corner smaller broadcast markets.

Homeland puts Saul’s midlife crisis over the welfare (and sanity) of its female characters.

Our experts on Julianne Hough's Halloween costume and the surprises and disappointments of OINTB's second half.

Dana's dating another killer? Stop us if you've heard this one before.

The reason behind Saul's reprehensible behavior is revealed ... to make no sense whatsoever.

The show we didn't see coming socks us in the teeth.

Brody has bad luck with foreign countries and holes.

Everyone in Litchfield just keeps making the same mistakes.

Dana and Carrie’s families try to silence them 'for their own good.'

Surprise! No one in Litchfield can deal with pain in a healthy way.

After a rocky second season, Homeland’s compelling season opener leaves Carrie fending for herself.