This season, Dries wanted to use the show to touch on the issues of the pandemic, especially with regards to homelessness in Los Angeles. The goal was not to recreate Rose’s character Kate Kane, who was privileged, but instead pivot to Leslie’s Ryan Wilder as a resident of the local homeless population. “It gives you a first-hand story,” Leslie said. Leslie remembered seeing panhandlers on the sides of the freeway as a child, and “I always wondered what was their story?...

Critics and movie buffs alike have rightfully recognized documentaries as essential contributions to the art of film. The best documentaries can be every bit as riveting as narrative films, even if they cost a fraction of the budget. And representing your subjects honestly, while making a statement about the world at large, is what puts great documentary filmmakers in a class of their own. Documentary filmmakers often have to prioritize things like portability, battery life, weight, and discreetness when selecting equipment....

“Friends,” the beloved hit series that introduced us to Ross (David Schwimmer), Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), Monica (Courtney Cox), Chandler (Matthew Perry), Joey (Matt LeBlanc), and Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), and a host of side characters (Gunther, Janice, and Carol, to name a few), made its network television debut on September 22, 1994. The sitcom, about six friends navigating life in New York City, catapulted a cast of relative unknowns into superstardom, and the show is still popular....

It’s always a good time for a movie marathon, but the holidays feel particularly special because there are so many great films hitting streaming services and SVOD on a regular basis. Now that the season of gift giving has arrived, you still have a few weeks to score that perfect holiday present for someone you love, even (or especially!) if that someone you love is actually yourself. A lot of us have been spending more time at home over the last year, so why not find ways to spruce up your abode with posters, books, snacks, trivia games, and even organizing tools perfect for the cinephile in your life?...

Netflix has some competition in the streaming universe. Even if the streaming giant is still pretty much the king of the streaming services, it’s no longer the only major player in the game: The past few years have seen the launch of dozens of platforms for streaming entertainment, such as Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+, HBO Max, and many of them have as robust (or even better) offerings as the streaming giant. Even better are the smaller ones that appeal to a very specific group of fans, like the horror streaming service Shudder, or the foreign-language TV channel packages available via Sling TV....

Speaking of legacies, Ramin Djawadi and Siddhartha Khosla pushed the boundaries of some of the most iconic recent scores on television even as “The House of the Dragon” and “Only Murders in the Building” continued to lean on memorable old themes. Newer thrillers like “The Resort” and “1899” mined great tension and atmosphere out of their scores, even if they never reached the cultural earworm heights that “Stranger Things” ran up that hill this year....

But is it? Is it really? Though nothing fully decisive can be gleaned from just two episodes, “Big Sky” is a far cry from top-tier television. Early on, it’s barely an effective procedural, stringing together too many characters to tell a mystery-free thriller about a company of private investigators looking for a trio of missing women in Montana. The wooded countryside is beautiful, as is the enticing cast, but Kelley’s longstanding tics hamper an already threadbare thriller....