Mark Blankenship

@IAmBlankenship      

Mark Blankenship has been writing about arts and culture for twenty years, with bylines in The New York Times, Variety, Vulture, Fortune, and many others. You can hear him on the pop music podcast Mark and Sarah Talk About Songs. Chances are good he's thinking about the Billboard charts right now.

• POSTED August 31, 2022

  
  Needle Drop: How Breaking Bad Made an 80s Hit Sound Sinister
  Peter Schilling's "Major Tom" was a silly good time until Walter White heard it.
• POSTED August 30, 2022

  
  A Taxonomy of TV Therapists
  Breaking down five major types of fictional TV shrinks and the stories they help tell.
• POSTED August 26, 2022

  
  Subjects in Netflix's John McAfee Doc Respond to Primetimer's Review
  Two subjects interviewed in the doc respond to our recent review
• POSTED August 24, 2022

  
  Recommended: McEnroe on Showtime
  The controversial tennis star gets a perceptive and emotionally affecting doc about his life.
• POSTED August 23, 2022

  
  Where Only Murders in the Building Lost Its Way
  Our reviewers dissect the Hulu comedy-mystery's uneven second season.
• POSTED August 20, 2022

  
  Netflix's John McAfee Doc Is as Dishonest as Its Subject
  The filmmaking may get your heart racing, but it's an empty thrill.
• POSTED August 19, 2022

  
  Tyson May Not Like It, But Hulu's Mike Lionizes Him All the Same
  In hewing so closely to the former heavyweight champion's perspective, the new docudrama does itself a disservice.
• POSTED August 18, 2022

  
  With 'Mabel,' Reservation Dogs Proves It Understands Death Better Than Most
  The FX show's latest episode feels moving and real — even with a ghost on screen.
• POSTED August 17, 2022

  
  A Taxonomy of Kid Reality Competitions
  How series like Junior Baking Show and The Quest keep children competing for our amusement.
• POSTED August 16, 2022

  
  Recommended: Little Demon on FXX
  Danny DeVito, his daughter Lucy, and Aubrey Plaza lend their voices to this hella funny new animated comedy about Satan's teenage daughter.
• POSTED August 15, 2022

  
  Recommended: Sprung on Amazon Freevee
  Like a sitcom Breaking Bad, this savagely funny caper follows Covid-era crooks on a semi-noble mission.
• POSTED August 15, 2022

  
  Annie Murphy Channels Walter White in Kevin Can F**K Himself Season 2
  Turns out the wife of a big, dumb slob can be pretty terrible all on her own.
• POSTED August 10, 2022

  
  Recommended: A League of Their Own on Prime Video
  This movie adaptation is pure girl power wish fulfillment, but what's wrong with that?
• POSTED August 9, 2022

  
  Five Password Parodies We'll Never Forget
  From the hilarious to the shockingly bigoted, a look at the show's outsized influence on pop culture.
• POSTED August 8, 2022

  
  Recommended: Children of the Underground on FX
  TV's latest twisty docuseries will leave you infuriated in all the right ways.