Jen Chaney

Washington, D.C.

TV and Movie Critic at WTOP-FM (Washington, DC)

TV Critic @Vulture. Reviews movies/TV on @WTOP. Wrote the book on Clueless. Prev bylines: NYT, WashPost, etc. Nostalgist with standards. [email protected]

Articles

The 14 Best Movies and TV Shows to Watch This Weekend

1 week ago | vulture.com | Jen Chaney |Savannah Salazar

Want more TV and movie picks? Subscribe to our weekly Streamliner newsletter here. Clockwise from top: The Last of Us, Warfare, Hacks, and Drop. The theme of this week is a Jamie Lee Curtis special: trauma. Almost every title here has its characters wheeling and dealing in some nightmarish struggle.
How The Pitt’s Guest Actors Performed the Worst Day of Their Lives

1 week ago | vulture.com | Jen Chaney

From left: Devon Gummersall, Samantha Sloyan and Brandon Keener, and Jennifer Christopher in guest roles in The Pitt. Jennifer Christopher has done dozens and dozens of guest-acting stints on TV shows over the years: The Mentalist, How to Get Away With Murder, The OA. But her experience on The Pitt was unlike any she had before.
‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Won’t Give You a Happy Ending: Review

2 weeks ago | vulture.com | Jen Chaney

In The Handmaid’s Tale’s final season, June (Elisabeth Moss) and Serena (Yvonne Strahovski) put the saying “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” to the test. The Handmaid’s Tale debuted on April 26, 2017, the 97th day of Donald Trump’s first presidential term and, coincidentally, First Lady Melania Trump’s 47th birthday.
‘The White Lotus’ Finale Themes and Easter Eggs Explained

2 weeks ago | vulture.com | Jen Chaney |Jackson McHenry

On The White Lotus, book titles are always worth keeping an eye on. For more on The White Lotus, sign up for The White Lotus Club, our subscriber-exclusive newsletter obsessing over, dissecting, and debating everything about season three. Spoilers ahead for The White Lotus season-three finale, “Amor Fati.” Is a season of The White Lotus actually a season of The White Lotus if there are no moody montages of splashing sea water or significant book titles planted in poolside scenes?
Let’s Read Into That White Lotus Finale

2 weeks ago | gossipbucket.com | Jen Chaney |Jackson McHenry

A big swirling bucket of the latest rumors, celebrity news and Hollywood gossip. The premier celebrity gossip app. The only apps that gives you a comprehensive real time celeb news stream. Gossip Bucket aggregates and streams the latest gossip news and headlines from the top sources in one place.
The Pitt’s Taylor Dearden on Dr. Mel Skills, Langdon Mentor

3 weeks ago | vulture.com | Jen Chaney

This week’s episode of The Pitt confirms something we’ve suspected for a while now: Dr. Melissa “Mel” King was born to be an emergency-room doctor. As injured victim after injured victim floods the ER following the mass shooting at PittFest, the second-year resident moves from one seriously wounded patient to the next with measured compassion and a rapid pace.
Conan O’Brien Accepts the Mark Twain Prize With ‘Unceasing Silliness’

1 month ago | vulture.com | Jen Chaney

These are the full remarks made by Conan O’Brien upon receiving the 2025 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center on Sunday, March 23, 2025. The award is given annually to comedians whose work has had a profound impact on the public and popular culture. This year’s ceremony was the first major, splashy event held at the John F.
Everything That Happened at Conan O’Brien’s Mark Twain Prize

1 month ago | vulture.com | Jen Chaney

After the lights went down in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall on March 23 to signal the beginning of the Mark Twain Prize ceremony, an announcer on the PA system explained that the Kennedy Center — recently taken over by President Donald J.
To Perform or Not at Trump Kennedy Center, Mark Twain Prize

1 month ago | vulture.com | Jen Chaney

Ahead of the organization’s big Mark Twain Prize ceremony honoring Conan O’Brien, A-listers and working artists are struggling to make the right call. On the same Thursday evening that Vice-President J.D. Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance were aggressively booed during a National Symphony Orchestra performance at the Kennedy Center, another type of protest was taking place nearby.
Donald Trump Continues to Have Nothing Nice to Say About the Kennedy Center

1 month ago | vulture.com | Jen Chaney

His administration claims the institution smells like vomit. Meanwhile, current and former staffers bemoan a stressful, upsetting work environment. President Donald J. Trump — who recently overhauled the once-bipartisan board of directors at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and installed it with loyalists who elected him to serve as its chairman — held court Monday in a place that he had not publicly visited during either of his terms in office: the Kennedy Center.