The world’s best reality TV is on Netflix

Tara Ward watches Netflix’s new reality shows The Circle and Next in Fashion, and discovers that gentle TV can still be gripping TV.  Breaking news, friends: Netflix has the magic sauce on how to do reality right. Its latest reality shows The Circle and Next in Fashion are wildly different to each other – The Circle is a … Read more

A review of JVN’s revelatory, maddening, potentially premature memoir

Sam Brooks, noted critic of the Queer Eye juggernaut, reviews Over the Top, a memoir by the show’s most flamboyant star Jonathan Van Ness. The phrase “like Maya Angelou taught me” shows up two pages in. It doesn’t quite set the tone so much as prepares you for what’s to come. This is what we’re … Read more

My problem with Queer Eye

The fourth season of Queer Eye drops today on Netflix. Sam Brooks reflects on his difficult relationship with the show, and where it sits in mainstream culture. For depressingly many people, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was an introduction not just to gay culture, but to real-life gay men. A makeover show featuring five gay men … Read more