TV CRITIC

Independent · Est. This Century

TELEVISION & STREAMING

TV Critic

Serious television criticism, filed weekly. Close readings of buzzy premieres, skeptical looks at overhyped hits, and the occasional defense of the show everyone else forgot to take seriously.

FEATURED REVIEW

Ambition in the Newsroom: "The Fourth Estate" (StreamBox)

The great-journalism drama for the age of feeds and leaks, following one investigation per episode and finding tension in the humiliations that never make the triumphant montage.

By Alex Rivera — Critic at Large

WEEKLY ROUNDUP

The Verdicts: Six Shows Trying to Break Through the Noise

From small-town mysteries to night-shift noirs, a survey of series that are smarter, stranger, or simply more human than their campaigns suggest.

By Alex Rivera

COLUMN

Currently Watching: Five Series on the Critic’s Desk

Quick notes from the DVR: a satellite thriller, a moral-panel circus, and a neighborhood sitcom sneaking a housing crisis into primetime.

By Alex Rivera

DRAMA

"Northbridge" and the Stories a Town Tells Itself

A small-town mystery that treats the crime as pretext and focuses instead on the stories a community clings to when the truth is inconvenient.

By Alex Rivera

COMEDY

"Studio Live" and the Perils of Chasing the Timeline

A veteran sketch show that still slices cleanly when it commits, but too often feels tuned to trend pages rather than the live audience.

By Alex Rivera

INDUSTRY

"Glass Tower" and the Art of the Pre-Meeting

A corporate thriller that knows the real suspense isn’t the merger but the meeting before the meeting — and how politeness becomes a weapon.

By Alex Rivera

TV Critic is our home for close reading and sharp skepticism about what’s on tonight and what it says about us. Browse more criticism from television, film, books, and beyond on the homepage.

TV Critic

Independent · Serious television criticism for the streaming age.