Noel Murray

Contributor

@NoelMu      

Noel Murray is a freelance TV and film critic and pop culture reporter living in central Arkansas. A former writer at The A.V. Club and The Dissolve, his work these days can mostly be found in The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times. When he’s not watching things or writing about them, he’s usually cooking for his family, playing board games or obsessing about baseball.

• POSTED June 11, 2024

  
  Brat Packers Reckon With Their Legacy in Andrew McCarthy's Poignant Doc
  The actor-director confronts the whole concept of the Brat Pack head-on, while maybe learning to love it.
• POSTED May 24, 2024

  
  Disney's Beach Boys Documentary Wades Into the Rocky Surf — But Not Too Deep
  Directors Frank Marshall and Thom Zimny begin with the premise that every member of the Beach Boys mattered, beyond Brian.
• POSTED May 21, 2024

  
  Evil's Final Season May Be Michelle and Robert King's Crowning Achievement
  The supernatural procedural has long explored the increasingly narrowing line between the fateful and the frivolous.
• POSTED March 27, 2024

  
  Abbott Elementary's Stellar 3rd Season May Have Solved the Show's 'Leslie Knope Problem'
  Conflict is essential for comedy — but sometimes, so is good vibes.
• POSTED March 26, 2024

  
  Apple's Steve Martin Doc Is a Surprisingly Intimate Look at a Man Who's Hard to Know
  Martin's stand-up persona mocked the idea of sincerity, but he expressed much deeper emotions in his film roles.
• POSTED February 29, 2024

  
  The Best TV Time Jumps of the Past 20 Years
  Ever since China Beach's great leap forward, the surprise time jump has been a power move for TV creators.
• POSTED February 13, 2024

  
  The History of Stand-Up Comedians Doing Sitcoms, Part 2
  One of the most successful shows of the '90s changed how TV executives and star comedians approached the challenge of turning funny jokes into weekly episodes.
• POSTED February 12, 2024

  
  The History of Stand-Up Comedians Doing Sitcoms, Part 1
  Seinfeld was a pivot point in the long history of a particular sitcom subgenre: the ones where stand-up comedians take the lead.
• POSTED January 29, 2024

  
  Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks Revisit WWII With the Thrilling, if Spotty Masters of the Air
  The Apple TV+ series is more a loose collection of exciting, emotionally resonant moments than a unified epic.
• POSTED November 16, 2023

  
  Ghosts UK Is Just Like the American Remake — Except the Characters Are Allowed to Fail
  The British original is set firmly in a world of "no," where so many current American sitcoms are all "yes."
• POSTED February 2, 2023

  
  Poker Face Owes Just as Much to The Fugitive as It Does to Columbo
  Natasha Lyonne and Rian Johnson’s Peacock series is more than just a “howcatchem” Columbo clone.
• POSTED January 16, 2023

  
  The Night Court Revival Proves '80s Sitcoms Can Still Work
  NBC’s reboot doesn’t mess with a good thing.
• POSTED November 11, 2022

  
  From Its Beginning, HBO Has Had a Love-Hate Relationship With Sex
  The network regularly pushed the boundaries of what we're used to seeing on television in terms of erotica, only to retreat.