“Mary Carole McDonnell made low-budget crime shows, but her own story was built on deceptions fit for one of her series. Now, she’s on the FBI’s Most Wanted list and the target of a global manhunt.”
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Posted inTop 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
In this edition: in a pickle; gut feeling; king of pain; life (or something like it); for those about to rock.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Banal Horror of Jimmy Fallon
“Under the sterile blue lights of his studio, Fallon laughs endlessly at the same pseudo-jokes, rubs elbows with Trump and Sam Altman, and ushers in the death of culture.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Everyone Is Stealing TV
“Fed up with increasing subscription prices, viewers embrace rogue streaming boxes.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
After Lorne
“The ringmaster of ‘Saturday Night Live’ is 80 years old. What happens to the show, not to mention American comedy, when he retires?”
Posted inEditor's Pick
‘An Ass-Backward Sherlock Holmes’
“Over seven seasons on NBC, Columbo put a charming, shambolic gloss on the crime show. Now it has a new generation of imitators.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Finding Los Angeles with Anthony Bourdain
“How Bourdain’s work reoriented one writer’s engagement with people and places around him.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Tim Robinson and the Golden Age of Cringe Comedy
“His sketch show, ‘I Think You Should Leave,’ zeroes in on the panic-inducing feelings of living in a society where we can’t agree on the rules.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Lost Illusions: The Untold Story of the Hit Show’s Poisonous Culture
“The show was a groundbreaking smash, but behind the scenes it devolved into such toxicity that even co-showrunner Damon Lindelof now says of his leadership: ‘I failed.'”