Recap: Barry (S4, Ep3) — Expectations are Flipped in a Tense, Explosive Episode
A recurring idea throughout Barry is that life tends to imitate art, especially in the first two seasons, where the stories…
Recap: Succession (S4, Ep4) — In Another Stellar Installment, the Strong Prey on the Weak
Editor’s Note: this article contains spoilers. You’ve been warned. This article is written by Sam Layton. With an episode like last week’s, how could anyone not be uncertain? When Connor […]
Recap: Barry (S4, Eps 1 &2) — As the Dark Final Season Begins, No One’s Learned the Right Lessons
This article is written by Sam Layton. When you watch a television drama that hinges on one very important main character, you expect to watch that character evolve. Even if […]
Recap: Succession (S4, Ep3) — Logan (Predictably) Mucks Up Connor’s Wedding in an Unpredictable, Exceptional Episode
Editor’s Note: this article contains massive show spoilers. You’ve been warned. This article is written by Sam Layton. Who do you think I am? You think I want you dead? […]
Recap: Succession (S4, Ep2) — For the Roys and Their Elite Circle, It’s the Little (Devastating) Things
This article is written by Sam Layton. It’s always the small things that get you, isn’t it? Succession has this funny habit of making what seem like the smallest decisions […]
Review: WTTW Launches Fifth and Final Season of Jay’s Chicago Tonight
Emmy Award-winning Chicago producer Jay Shefsky is moving from semi-retirement to full retirement, and his broadcast home, WTTW, will present the fifth and final season of “Jay’s Chicago,” starting on […]
Preview: WTTW Celebrates Mother of Invention Viola Spolin in Inventing Improv
Tonight WTTW’s Chicago Stories premiers “Inventing Improv,” a one-hour special about “Chicago’s greatest export,” improvisation, and its visionary creator, Viola Spolin. Writer/producer Jude Leak chronicles the journey of Spolin, the […]
Preview: WTTW’s Ida B. Wells: A Chicago Stories Special Premieres May 21
Writer and producer Stacy Robinson’s documentary “Ida B. Wells: A Chicago Stories Special” offers an enlightening and engrossing hour witnessing Chicago’s hometown hero and “ultimate agitator,” coming to WTTW on […]
Review: Documentary Duo Shift to Episodic Format for Riveting, Drama-Packed Love Fraud
The documentary-making duo Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady have consistently delivered some of the most intriguing and thought-provoking films on American life, politics and culture. From 2006’s Jesus Camp, about children […]
Preview: City’s Transit Lifeblood Explored in WTTW’s “Chicago by ‘L’”
Geoffrey Baer’s latest “learn about where you live” offering, “Chicago by ‘L’,” premieres Wednesday, March 4, at 7:30pm on WTTW. The 130-minute special is a fantastic voyage through the bloodstream […]
Disney+ has Disney Classics, Marvel and Star Wars, but also a Whole Heap of Obscure Nostalgia
Disney Plus finally launched today, and there’s lots of buzz about the selection of Marvel movies and shows, and the excitement of Disney finally “unlocking the vault” and letting their […]
Smells Like Heavy Metal Poisoning: An Interview with Cinéaste Mike McPadden
Mike “McBeardo” McPadden is truth in human packaging. A beard is indeed present, bristly, with streaks of grey—suggesting wisdom in matters strange and arcane. I’ve seen McPadden in action as […]