Russell Murray

What does it take to dramatize the history of America on television? It must be more entertaining than slumber-inducing historical reenactments and demand more of its audience than being passive observers of a comfortable, sanitized civic mythology. There might have been a time when a network was happy to slap a recognizable actor with a powdered wig, send him through the motions of a founding father's most digestible biography, and call it a day.

Alfonso Cuarón's experience of spending two years directing "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" helped him get "Children of Men" made two years later.

By 2014, Marvel Studios definitively proved that it could turn any comic book character — from the God of Thunder to a talking raccoon — into a blockbuster film star. In a post-"Guardians of the Galaxy" Marvel Cinematic Universe, the possibilities were supposed to be endless and ever-expanding. So, why did they spend the following decade circling the same kinds of characters and stories?

"The Odyssey" will likely be remembered as one of the movies that defined Christopher Nolan's career. Nolan changed what superheroes could be while validating the populist concept of the "reboot." Looking back at Nolan's entire filmography, we're able to use his perspective to find great TV shows.

"The Office" is the unfortunate kind of long-running series where the series' highest-highs are about as memorable as the show's lowest-lows. Exceptional episodes like "Dinner Party," "Casino Night," and "Goodbye, Michael" have been picked apart as much as Dunder Mifflin's most embarrassing efforts (we still haven't forgotten "The Farm"). It's hard to think of a sitcom more culturally digested than "The Office" — and yet, in the decade of debates that have taken place since the series finale, some of its greatest episodes remain overlooked.

Apple TV has built a distinct identity around its limited-series catalog. Like other streamers, they draw on popular contemporary literature for inspiration, turning best-selling page-turners into must-watch television. The divergence, represented in their best work, lies in the execution.

These 15 shows like Young Sherlock capture the same mix of period thrills, sharp wit, and morally complex characters, from Peaky Blinders to Penny Dreadful.

Over the past decade, A24 has built a reputation as one of the dominant art-house producer-distributors in American cinema. Its impact on television is less celebrated.

In an age of endless content catalogs and online discourse, television shows in the 2020s either end too soon or go on way too long. Far rarer do we get the space to reflect on how the last few years of the Golden Age of TV successfully brought quite a few of its landmark shows to a satisfying end.

"Invincible" has quickly earned a reputation as one of the greatest superhero television shows ever made — it's also one of the most violent. For the most part, the Prime Video series isn't injecting the extreme level of gore and brutality out of nowhere. Almost every death (or near-death) has a direct predecessor in the original Image Comics series. Robert Kirkman, who scripted and co-created the source material with artists Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley, serves as the TV adaptation's creator, executive producer, and co-showrunner (alongside Simon Racioppa).