The 30-year conflict known as the Troubles is frequently cited as a useful, and potentially hopeful, analogy to the entrenched hostilities in Israel-Palestine. That makes the FX limited series “Say Nothing,” a scripted adaptation of journalist Patrick Radden Keefe’s nonfiction account published in 2018, queasily well-timed. More than a year into the latest war in […]

There’s only a single flash-forward in Season 2 of “Bad Sisters,” and it’s the very first scene. Four of the five Garvey sisters — eldest Eva (Sharon Horgan), nurse Ursula (Eva Birthistle), one-eyed Bibi (Sarah Greene) and baby Becka (Eve Hewson) — are in a car, attempting to dispose of a dead body. Becka’s face is swollen […]

The sitcom writer Justin Spitzer had his first script credit on “Scrubs,” the archetypal workplace comedy set in a hospital. Twenty years later, Spitzer returns to the genre with NBC’s “St. Denis Medical,” co-created with Eric Ledgin (“Rutherford Falls”). In between, Spitzer has developed a trademark approach that translates seamlessly to health care. A graduate […]

For his first “Weekend Update” segment following Donald Trump’s victory on Tuesday, co-anchor Michael Che appeared to raid his liquor cabinet. “How did I let y’all convince me that rural Pennsylvania would pick the Jamaican Indian lady?” Che lamented before reaching under his desk for a glass of brown liquid. “Clearly, I’ve been spending too […]

“The Diplomat,” the hit Netflix drama starring Keri Russell as a career stateswoman, has an ever-shifting tone that keeps you on your toes. Creator Debora Cahn is an alumnus of “The West Wing” and “Homeland”; sure enough, “The Diplomat” has the latter’s international intrigue and the former’s zippy workplace patter. But there’s also a hint […]