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Melanie McFarland

Melanie McFarland is Salon's award-winning senior culture critic. Follow her on Bluesky: @McTelevision

A collection of some of our staff picks. (Photo illustration by Salon / Courtesy of Netflix, Apple TV+, Darren Vargas, Penguin Random House)

The best of 2025 . . . so far

Kelly McClure, Natalie Moore, Coleman Spilde, Melanie McFarland, Hanh Nguyen, Erin Keane, Andi Zeisler, Amanda Marcotte, Bennett Taren, Alex Galbraith, Ashlie D. Stevens
Lee Jung-jae in "Squid Game" (No Ju-han/Netflix)

Sadly, “Squid Game” may be right about democracy

Melanie McFarland
Ayo Edebiri as Sydney "Syd" Adamu and Liza Colón-Zayas as Tina Marrero in "The Bear" (FX)

“The Bear” gets it — we’re all burned out now

Melanie McFarland
Noah Wyle and Patrick Ball in "The Pitt" (Warrick Page/Max)

“The Pitt” has a diagnosis for what’s wrong with America

Melanie McFarland
Morgan Spector, Carrie Coon and Harry Richardson in "The Gilded Age" (Karolina Wojtasik/HBO)

Should the billionaire be a fan fave? “The Gilded Age” says yes

Melanie McFarland
American flag-themed pie (vaaseenaa / Getty Images )

“Justice would taste like the best pie ever”: These activists bake a good fight into every slice

Melanie McFarland
Sarah Jessica Parker and Sarita Choudhury in "And Just Like That" (Craig Blankenhorn/Max)

“And Just Like That” is having a fashion crisis

Melanie McFarland
Kevin Bacon as Peter Kell in "Sirens" (Macall Polay/Netflix)

How we learned to love the evil rich

Melanie McFarland
Marc Maron poses in the Getty Images Portrait Studio Presented by IMDb and IMDbPro at SXSW 2025 on March 10, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (Robby Klein/Getty Images for IMDb)

Marc Maron’s heart made “WTF” a hit. In the Joe Rogan age, it’s all about shallow brawn

Melanie McFarland
Brian Johnson, also known as the Liver King, is the subject of Netflix's "UNTOLD: The Liver King" (Netflix)

The alpha male era is on its way out

Melanie McFarland
Light Wire perform on "America's Got Talent" (Trae Patton/NBC)

How “Survivor” and “America’s Got Talent” sell the lie that is the American Dream

Melanie McFarland
Mario Cantone and Sarah Jessica Parker in "And Just Like That..." (Craig Blankenhorn/Max)

“And Just Like That,” midlife’s a crisis for everyone on TV except rich, gay men

Melanie McFarland
Bella Ramsey in "The Last of Us" (Liane Hentscher/HBO)

“The Last of Us” finale tests the limits of our empathy

Melanie McFarland
Michael Cooper Jr. as Justin Edwards and Lovie Simone as Keisha Clark in "Forever" (Elizabeth Morris/Netflix)

What Judy Blume’s “Forever” still gives us — and the teen dramas that followed her won’t

Melanie McFarland
Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal in "The Last of Us" (Liane Hentscher/HBO)

“The Last of Us” helps us grieve by leaving nothing unsaid

Melanie McFarland
Buster and Arthur from the PBS children’s television program “Arthur” (Photo Illustration by Salon / Courtesy PBS/WGBH / Getty Images / mikroman6 / Marina Kislitsyna)

The MAGA war on PBS was never about money

Melanie McFarland
Diego Luna in "Andor" (Lucasfilm/Disney+)

On “Andor,” good was always a four-letter word

Melanie McFarland
Melissa Rivers stands near a photo of her and her mom, Joan Rivers, during "Joan Rivers: A Dead Funny All-Star Tribute." (Peter Kramer/NBC)

Joan Rivers would have hated this

Melanie McFarland
John Malkovich in "The New Pope" (Gianni Fiorito/HBO)

Blessed be the memes, TV shows and “Conclave” for helping us welcome our first American pope

Melanie McFarland
Jean Smart in "Hacks" (Kenny Laubbaucher/Max)

At long last, “Hacks” flips the table on the bitter mentorship at the heart of the series

Melanie McFarland
Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale in "Poker Face" (Peacock)

The throwback comfort of “Poker Face” returns

Melanie McFarland
"Andor" (Lucasfilm/Disney+)

The path to the Death Star is paved with lies: On “Andor,” as on Earth, disinformation defeats truth

Melanie McFarland
"Sinners" (Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

The radically divine message of “Sinners”

Melanie McFarland
Vietnam Veteran Jack Ellis (Courtesy of Netflix)

“Turning Point: The Vietnam War” lays bare the arrogance that fueled a lost cause

Melanie McFarland
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