It's already March, folks. Aside from Shamrock Shakes, college hoops action, and the looming threat of nuclear war (or, uh, maybe that's just this year?), it's when a year's crop of great television starts to announce itself. I know you're keeping up with The Pitt—who knew that mixing margaritas in the sun was so deadly?—but you should add some lighter fare to your watchlist. There's the Tracy Morgan-starring The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, which is NBC's best comedy since The Good Place. Plus, Sterling K. Brown's Paradise remains TV's best vision of the post-apocalyptic world, since we're heading there anyway. For the rest of our favorite TV of 2026 so far, keep reading below. — Brady Langmann, senior entertainment editor |
|
|
From the return of The Pitt and Paradise to new hit comedy The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, these are our top picks of the year so far. |
It's no secret that the entertainment industry is in a pickle. Legacy studios would rather sell and get out then continue to contend in the streaming wars. The future of movie theaters seems dimmer every year, and actors from Jamie Lee Curtis to Hannah Einbinder don't even seem sure whether they're entering the final seasons of their respective TV shows or not. But even amid all the chaos, good TV manages to carry on.
Noah Wyle returned for another heartfelt season of The Pitt. Sterling K. Brown finally made it outside of Paradise's bunker to discover the truth of his postapocalyptic world. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms restored our faith in Game of Thrones spin-offs, and The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins seemingly pulled off the impossible by reviving the mockumentary sitcom. |
|
| Most of September 17, 2012, has evaporated from my mind. I still have a few memories. I have the way the surgeon's voice shook. I remember my wife calling my name while she was still under sedation. And I have an image of the hospital floor, up close. I remember white tile and a hope: Maybe I will never have to get up. Maybe they will just let me die here.
Nicole was thirty-four, and the doctor had been direct: "It's everywhere," he said. "Like somebody dipped a paintbrush in cancer and flicked it around her abdomen." I staggered down a hallway and then collapsed. I remember the tile, close to my face, and then watching it retreat as my best friend picked me up from the floor. His name is Dane Faucheux, and I remember noting, even in the midst of a mental fugue: Dane's a lot stronger than I realized. |
|
|
If the cinematic landscape had been slowly shifting over the past couple decades, the activity was downright seismic this year. Paramount is on the cusp of swallowing Warner Bros., further consolidating power in an industry that's already an oligopoly. Meanwhile, the powers that be are giddy at how they can use AI to conjure fake actors and make real ones punch each other. And yet, there is plenty to celebrate. A bunch of great films and film achievements are up for awards, the 2026 slate is already off to a strong start, and over the course of the past year, some bold originals managed to turn back the clocks and be bona fide discourse-dominating, profit-making hits. We took a shot at summing up how they did it, interviewing difference makers both inside and at the periphery of the industry. In our third and final interview in this series, we're talking to someone whose name you might not know but whose work you've probably encountered: Adam Faze. Faze describes himself as a "TV producer for the Internet." With his production company, Gymnasium, he's produced wildly popular shows for social media, like Boy Room, Girl Room, and the Kareem Rahma–starring Keep the Meter Running. He grew up a Hollywood obsessive but has become one of the savviest operators out there when it comes to online content. And he has a lot of thoughts on what the industry could be doing better.
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment