Phillip Maciak (@pjmaciak) is the TV editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books. His essays have appeared in Slate, Film Quarterly, J19, PMLA, The New Republic, and other venues. And he's the co-founder — with Jane Hu, Evan Kindley, and Lili Loofbourow — of the “Dear Television” column. He is also the author of a book about religion and early cinema called The Disappearing Christ: Secularism in the Silent Era (Columbia University Press, 2019), and he teaches in the English Department and the American Culture Studies Program at Washington University in St. Louis.
CONTRIBUTOR ARTICLES
Magic (Half) Hour: On "Reservation Dogs"
For Dear Television, Phillip Maciak writes about FX's Reservation Dogs, the best show of 2021, and the greatness of half-hour TV...
Bloodsuckers, Bad Readers: "Midnight Mass" and "What We Do in the Shadows"
For Dear Television, Phillip Maciak thinks about What We Do in the Shadows and what Midnight Mass is doing on Netflix...
Elizabeth Ito’s Neighborhood: “City of Ghosts” and the Rise of Netflix Animation
Phillip Maciak explores the extraordinary niche that “City of Ghosts” occupies in Netflix’s varied animated programming....
Dark Night Rises: Ed Simon’s Alternative History of Pittsburgh
Phillip Maciak reviews Ed Simon's An Alternative History of Pittsburgh, a panoramic narrative of the city from Belt Publishing...
Close Magic: Derek DelGaudio's Illusions of Other People
For Dear Television, Phillip Maciak sobs his way through the magic of pre-pandemic closeness in Derek DelGaudio's Hulu film In and Of Itself....
Dance Yourself Clean: Lovers Rock x The Crown
For Dear Television, Phillip Maciak explores the two Londons, the two lovers, and the two dance sequences of Lovers Rock and The Crown....
L.A. Hallucinations: The Spiritualism of "Better Things"
Phillip Maciak on friendly ghosts, ordinary hauntings, and why Pamela Adlon's Better Things is the best show on television....
Process Stories, or Who Loves the Sixers?
Phil Maciak considers Yaron Weitzman's "Tanking to the Top," the mythology of Sam Hinkie's Process, and his own life in exile as a Sixers fan....
Dear Television vs The Psychometric Personality Quiz
We took that Psychometric Statistical "Which Character" Personality Quiz, and we're not happy. And, come to think of it, who are *we* at all?...
The Year in Yelling: "Catastrophe," "Marriage Story," "Moonstruck"
Phillip Maciak, for Dear Television, considers the year in culture by way of three arguments: from Catastrophe, from Marriage Story, and from Moonstruck....
Big Little Lies, "The End of the World"
This week on Dear Television, Phil Maciak asks why the third episode of the second season of Big Little Lies won't follow the money....
Big Little Lies, "What Have They Done?"
For Dear Television, Phil Maciak considers season two of Big Little Lies, and what director Andrea Arnold has in store for people with kitchens like that....
Game of Thrones: Season 8, "The Bells"
For Dear Television, Aaron Bady, Sarah Mesle, and Phil Maciak consider the relative madness of the queen(s) on Game of Thrones....
Game of Thrones: Season 8, "The Long Night"
Dear Television's Aaron Bady, Sarah Mesle, and Phil Maciak reluctantly celebrate all the characters who survived "The Long Night," they guess....
Can Ghosts Buy Drugs? The Haunting of Hill House (Eps. 6-10)
Dear TV on the baffling televisual end to a very happy Haunting of Hill House....
The Shirley Jackson 5: The Haunting of Hill House (Eps. 1-5)
Dear TV, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within...
Deep Dad: The End of The Americans
For Dear Television, Phil Maciak considers the dad rock series finale of FX's The Americans....
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Season One
Dear TV puts together a tight ten on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the specter of a Rory-less Gilmore Girls, and Woody Allen....
The Handmaid's Tale, "Faithful"
Gotta hear both sides! DearTV discusses episode 5 of The Handmaid's Tale, and plays a game called, "Subtract One Murder"......
The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu
Dear TV begins its weekly coverage of Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale......
The Girls Finale
Dear TV says goodbye to GIRLS......
“Girls” at Age Five
Phillip Maciak, Jane Hu, Lili Loofbourow, Maria San Filippo, Rebecca Wanzo, and Kristen Warner reflect on "Girls" as it enters its sixth and final season....
Westworld is Getting Old
All of Westworld’s tricks are about age....
Who's Afraid of Serial TV?
Dear Television, I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the seemingly inescapable idea that successful media forms must murder each ...
Sunday Night Football
FOOTBALL: OKAY? Sarah: Phil! Here we are in the Los Angeles Review of Books, writing about football. We ...
BoJack Horseman: Season Three
Dear TV correspondents review Bojack Horseman for LA Review of Books....
400 Blowies: "Girls'" Coming of Age, Finally
This fifth season is a beginning, a coming of age without a clear endpoint or result...as ambivalent and worried as it is triumphant....
High Fidelity: The Marriages of “Billions” and “The Americans”
Dear Television, I want to start talking about The Americans by talking a little bit about Billions. I did not think ...
The People v. OJ Simpson: Season 1, “The Verdict”
On the American Crime Story Season 1 Finale...
The Americans: Season 4, "Pastor Tim"
Dear Television recaps FX's The Americans Season 4...
The Americans: Season 4, "Glanders"
Dear Television recaps The Americans, Season 4...
Underground: Season 1, "The Macon 7"
Dear Television on WGN's Underground...
The Oscars 2016
Dear Television discusses the 2016 Oscars...
"Broad City," Season 3
Broad City’s Third Coming...
Super Yoncé
Dear Television on Super Bowl 50 and Beyonce...
Are We Not Kardashians?: On "The People v. OJ Simpson"
Dear Television reviews "American Crime Story: The People v. OJ Simpson"...
Our Lady of Sorrows: On "The X-Files"
Dear Television chats about The X-Files season 10 miniseries...
Mr. Robot: Season 1
Original Programming: On "Mr. Robot"...
Gods and Bachelors: On Lifetime's "UnREAL"
Dear Television on Lifetime's show Unreal...
True Detective, Season 2: "Maybe Tomorrow"
Mad Pitz: Fury Road...
True Detective, Season 2: "Night Finds You"
Midnight Dreary...
True Detective, Season 2: "The Western Book of the Dead"
Happy Father's Day...
Mad Men, Season 7: "Person to Person"
'The Waste Land'...
Mad Men, Season 7: "Lost Horizon"
Age of Olson...
Mad Men, Season 7: "Time & Life"
Not Safe For Work: Mad Men's Art of Cursing...
Mad Men, Season 7: "The Forecast"
Never Too Late...
Mad Men, Season 7: "Severance"
'Mad Men' Fantasies...
Parenthood's End: On Television's Children
Dear Television, Parenthood, a show I’ve watched religiously for nearly five years, ended last week with a death, a montage, ...
The 2014 Dear TV Questionnaire
Parts I and II...
Necro-streaming
Notes on Watching a Dead Show...
Fall Sitcoms: A Dear TV Rundown
Black-ish, Mulaney, Manhattan Love Story, Selfie, A to Z...
Transparent: Season 1
That’s Not the Way it Feels: 'Transparent'’s Ensemble...
The Leftovers, Season 1
Get Lost: Why You Should Be Watching 'The Leftovers'...
Mad Men, Season 7: "Waterloo"
She's an Astronaut...
The Maya Rudolph Show
Saturday Night Lost: Maya Rudolph and SNL Nostalgia...
Mad Men, Season 7: "The Runaways"
Only Mothers Left Alive...
Mad Men, Season 7: "Time Zones"
The Hangover...
Game of Thrones: Season 4, "Two Swords"
This Week on Dear Television: "Reading Needles," from Sarah Mesle "The Most Fun Show to Talk About on Television," from AHP "...
"Broad City": Season 1
Theses on the Dance Moves of Ilana Glazer...
“True Detective” Finale
Four takes on the first season...
Broad City and Kroll Show
Comedy Central's new sketchy sketch comedies...
True Detective, Season 1: "Seeing Things"
The foreign object at the center of HBO's True Detective...
Girls, Season 3: "Females Only" and "Truth or Dare"
Dear Television on HBO's Girls Season 3 premiere...
DEAR TELEVISION
Below are excerpts from new posts by DEAR TELEVISION. Click any header to read the posts in full on the new ...
Kill The Leading Man: Two Histories of 21st Century Television
Two comprehensive histories of 21st century television, wherein men play the leading roles on and off screen and women have directed the critical conversation....
On Reza Aslan’s “Zealot”: A Symposium
Reza Aslan's "Zealot": A Symposium...
On the Art of Rabble-Rousing
Image: James Tissot, St. Simon, c.1864, Brooklyn Museum FOR THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS, pundits have been attacking Reza Aslan’s ...
Girls, Season 2: "Together"
Girls Is Not fun....
Girls, Season 2: "On All Fours"
Shit Together, or The Coming of Natalia...
Girls, Season 2: "Video Games"
This was never supposed to be a sexcapade...
Girls, Season 2: "One Man's Trash"
Grace Notes...
Girls: "Bad Friend"
You Probably Think This Show is About You...
Girls, Season 2: "I Get Ideas"
Really? Et al?...
Girls, Season 2: "It's About Time"
On the season premiere of HBO's 'Girls'...
New Girl & The Mindy Project: Ep. 10 "Bathtub" / Ep. 8 "Two to One"
The Business of Being Born...
New Girl & The Mindy Project: Ep. 9 "Eggs" / Ep. 7 "Teen Patient"
"What If You Guys Had A Baby?"...
New Girl & The Mindy Project: The Gender Games
Leading Ladies?...
The Passion of the Critic: On Hoberman, Kracauer, and the Future of Film
nbsp;“Films mirror our reality. Let us look in the mirror.” – Siegfried Kracauer 1. There are two ...
New Girl and The Mindy Project: The Sitcom Special
'Good Grief'...
New Girl: "Models"
Go Back to Start, Do Not Pass Go...
Serial Killer: On “American Horror Story”
On Ryan Murphy's maximalist melodrama and the possibilities of 'anthology' TV...
Dear TV: 'New Girl' and 'The Mindy Project'; Week 3, Post 2
How To Crush It...
Dear TV: 'New Girl' and 'The Mindy Project'; Week 2, Post 3
Moby-Nick, or The Whale Belt...
Dear TV: 'New Girl' and 'The Mindy Project'; Week 1, Post 1
Groove is in the Heart...
Old Media: On Aaron Sorkin
The writer is king on television, in part because Aaron Sorkin staged a coup....
Everything Happened: On "Mad Men"
It is not necessarily a value judgment, then, to say that narrative is, very simply, what Mad Men is about....
