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Melanie McFarland

Melanie McFarland

Salon

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“Hacks” finale is a moving tribute to comedy’s power to keep going

In the end, Deborah Vance and Ava Daniels prove that a funnier world is worth fighting for

yesterday 1

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Melanie Mcfarland

“Hacks”: Deborah Vance is Tom Cruise-approved, joining the list of celebrities with the moist cake

A sure sign that you've made it to the top is that the last great Hollywood star sends you a famous dessert

26.05.2026 20

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Melanie Mcfarland

“Hacks” wonders why saying sorry is rare in comedy

“Never apologize for a joke,” says Deborah Vance, echoing many comedians. This episode challenges that notion

26.05.2026 100

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Melanie Mcfarland

“Hacks” returns with its funny ladies on the mountaintop, but questions the cost of the climb

Returning as 61-year-old Vanessa Williams drops a club track, the show reaffirms it still has legs, and miles to go

26.05.2026 70

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Melanie Mcfarland

“The Boys” bids a grim farewell to America

Eric Kripke's gory superhero satire concludes that the only way to save ourselves is to kill our gods

24.05.2026 10

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Melanie Mcfarland

“The Boys” gives us a grim warning of Trumpism’s endgame

The political assassination plot is a coincidence. Pay attention to the empty unity rhetoric and what happens next

22.05.2026 10

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Melanie Mcfarland

Finally, “The Man in the High Castle” fascist fantasy ends amidst America’s sobering reality

As Amazon's Nazi-triumphant alternate history ends, we don't need a reminder of how far gone America could be

21.05.2026 8

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Melanie Mcfarland

“Fascism that cloaks itself in patriotism”: “The Boys” boss on dangers of strongmen and superheroes

Salon talks to Eric Kripke about how his show predicted our terrible present and his expectations for what's next

21.05.2026 10

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Melanie Mcfarland

What we’re losing as “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” ends

We'll see Stephen Colbert again, but his broadcast exit closes out David Letterman's absurdist TV legacy

21.05.2026 10

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Melanie Mcfarland

The perks of being Jane Austen’s wallflower

"The Other Bennet Sister" proves it’s the quiet ones we need to be watching

20.05.2026 6

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Melanie Mcfarland

“The Sheep Detectives” cloaks an urgent message in woolly clothing

Underneath its feel-good fleece, this film sounds quiet alarms about forgetting painful history

17.05.2026 10

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Melanie Mcfarland

“Amadeus” argues that every great artist needs a nemesis

Out of all the legendary musical beefs, the fable rivalry between Mozart and Antonio Salieri is our greatest hit

16.05.2026 20

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Melanie Mcfarland

If “Succession” is a competition that ends with a winner, we’d be foolish to count out Marcia

Never underestimate the shrewdness of third wife of a dying man who never takes her eye off the prize: his fortune

15.05.2026 10

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Melanie Mcfarland

A devastating end to “Succession” wakes up to the truth about the Roys: “We’re nothing”

In an appropriately desolate ending, the show drives home its original thesis by doing daddy's bidding

15.05.2026 9

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Melanie Mcfarland

“Michael,” Harry Potter and the death of the problematic fave

"Michael" and the Potterverse are booming. Apparently, we're done feeling bad about what that means

14.05.2026 10

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Melanie Mcfarland

“After Neverland,” R. Kelly’s CBS meltdown, and the insidious patterns we refuse to see

The two specials hosted by Oprah and Gayle King are accidental companion pieces showing how abuse and abusers work

13.05.2026 10

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Melanie Mcfarland

How Keith Lee, a TikTok food critic for the new economy, guides us to eat well – and good

Lee has a critic's ethos, just like the late Roger Ebert and the misunderstood Anton Ego from "Ratatouille"

13.05.2026 70

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Melanie Mcfarland

“Rooster” ends with women in the lead

Bill Lawrence's latest comedy closes by kicking male wish fulfillment to the curb to spotlight what women want

11.05.2026 10

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Melanie Mcfarland

How Ted Turner went from cinema’s “butcher” to its champion

Turner shocked Hollywood by colorizing classic film gems. Founding Turner Classic Movies cleaned the slate

08.05.2026 10

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Melanie Mcfarland

Turner Classic Movies holds our cinematic past. Does it have a future under Warner Bros. Discovery?

Last week's reports of TCM's death may have been exaggerated but movie buffs, classic and otherwise, should worry

06.05.2026 10

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Melanie Mcfarland

“Battlestar Galactica” had Cylons — We have AI

The beloved sci-fi series coming to Paramount is one of TV’s strongest political and social parables

05.05.2026 10

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Melanie Mcfarland

On “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” and “Euphoria,” the body is the hustle

OnlyFans is just one of the gigs featured on two shows that depict how capitalism extracts its dues from our flesh

04.05.2026 10

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Melanie Mcfarland

Bob Ross still helps us paint a better world

The public television icon's legacy is still one of pop culture's happiest accidents

02.05.2026 10

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Melanie Mcfarland

No matter what she does, Megan Thee Stallion can’t win

Sexists always look for a reason to degrade the superstar. Her breakup with NBA player Klay Thompson gave them one

30.04.2026 10

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Melanie Mcfarland

Why Lego is our most powerful art medium

The viral Lego-style Iran War memes are the latest case of the toy being used as a building block for political art

26.04.2026 20

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Melanie Mcfarland

“Beef” grills capitalism’s trap for women

The Netflix hit returns with the idea that at every level of a dog-eat-dog economy, women get chewed up first

23.04.2026 10

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Melanie Mcfarland

What happened to Dave Chappelle: The cruelty of “Sticks & Stones” is a sign of the times

Dave Chappelle is completely attuned to the mean spirit of 2019. That's what's throwing off his old fans

17.04.2026 10

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Melanie Mcfarland

Janet Jackson’s “Nasty” woman’s anthem

Forty years ago, Janet Jackson took "Control"

11.04.2026 30

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Melanie Mcfarland

“Rooster” and the wake-up call that nobody cares

In its way, Bill Lawrence and Steve Carell's comedy interrupts the globally destructive pull of male insecurity

05.04.2026 10

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Melanie Mcfarland

Red Hot Chili Peppers gave us plenty to hate — and one song we can’t quit

You may hate the Chili Peppers, but you'll never escape "Can't Stop"

04.04.2026 20

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Melanie Mcfarland

Harry Potter and the half-baked debate

What began with a well-meaning comic questioning a stance became a model for learning what true allyship requires

02.04.2026 20

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Melanie Mcfarland

Janet Jackson is finally back in control of her rightful legacy in must-see docuseries

The highly private pop star opens up in Lifetime's emotionally genuine four-part series, five years in the making

31.03.2026 100

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Melanie Mcfarland

HBO’s celebratory Tina Turner doc gives her the final word on the woman behind the iconic name

In the film, the artist proves she's more than "the worst parts" of her life, even if others find inspiration there

31.03.2026 350

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Melanie Mcfarland

Hollywood finds religion again

"House of David" and "The Faithful" join a rising tide of Bible-inspired shows meeting a right-trending culture

29.03.2026 10

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Melanie Mcfarland

What a friend we have in Black Jesus: “Jesus Christ Superstar Live”

By offering up a live version of the Broadway hit starring John Legend, NBC might resurrect the musical trend on TV

28.03.2026 550

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Melanie Mcfarland

“The Forsyte Saga” is about hot men and the money they love

PBS' new "Masterpiece" limited series puts a twist on a seductive classic

28.03.2026 20

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Melanie Mcfarland

On “The Comeback,” AI gets the last laugh

As Lisa Kudrow’s Valerie Cherish takes the pulse of AI’s Hollywood takeover, so does a new film hitting theaters

26.03.2026 20

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Melanie Mcfarland

Ladies, “The Madison” proposes that our place is in an isolated cabin

Taylor Sheridan's new show calls for abandoning scary city life for a rustic outhouse of one's own

23.03.2026 20

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Melanie Mcfarland

Taylor Frankie Paul’s dirty laundry is our reality check

"The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" star and almost "Bachelorette" reflects a media-enabled numbness to wrongdoing

21.03.2026 30

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Melanie Mcfarland

The useful rage of Godzilla

Godzilla stories warn that humanity’s attempts to control the uncontrollable inevitably invite catastrophe

20.03.2026 30

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Melanie Mcfarland

Our “Golden Bachelor” reality check: It’s not the first time a lapse in vetting led to juicier TV

Gerry Turner isn't a perfect gentleman. Oh well. But the "Bachelor" franchise let worse into the house before

18.03.2026 300

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Melanie Mcfarland

“The Murdochs” is a messier “Succession”

Netflix's strangely entertaining new docuseries explains the ascendance of Fox News in the age of Trump

14.03.2026 20

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Melanie Mcfarland

“Succession”: Dearly beloved, the Roys cordially invite us to a wedding we won’t soon forget

It's inevitable that with the Roys, Connor's wedding is just another setting for a family blindside

13.03.2026 30

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Melanie Mcfarland

“Sinners” should win, but always bet on the Oscars to disappoint

I regret to predict that "One Battle After Another" is a safer choice for an irritatingly familiar reason

13.03.2026 20

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Melanie Mcfarland

Will Smith perfected blockbuster success, but his Oscar-worthiness is tougher – slap or no slap

The actor's new film "Emancipation" isn't getting much love, but probably not for the expected bad PR reasons

10.03.2026 40

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Melanie Mcfarland

“I’m not a victim, baby”: Chris Rock delivers an incendiary counterpunch to infamous Oscars slap

Netflix's "Selective Outrage" gives Rock's jabs at Will Smith, Meghan Markle and Jan. 6 a global live audience

10.03.2026 2500

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Melanie Mcfarland

Why the “Love Is Blind” experiment was doomed from the start

Lockdown shifts that made Netflix's romance reality show a hit may be the main reason its couples aren't making it

08.03.2026 20

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Melanie Mcfarland

“Saturday Night Live”‘s middle ground problem

The Olympic hockey cameos offered a reminder that the show’s nonpartisan jokes often drift into false equivalence

06.03.2026 20

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Melanie Mcfarland

How can “Saturday Night Live” parody a farcical administration?

“The Question Is Moot,” a mock game show just might be the answer

04.03.2026 20

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Melanie Mcfarland

Watching “Bridgerton” in a “Heated Rivalry” world

In refreshingly different ways, these lusty pleasures have freed TV's hero romances from straight expectations

04.03.2026 20

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Melanie Mcfarland