Melanie McFarland

2 days ago | salon.com | Melanie McFarland

The second season of “Andor” is a ticking clock counting down to the Galactic Civil War that launched “Star Wars.” At 12 episodes, it leaves a person yearning for more time with Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor while appreciating that the best TV series are insistently finite. Besides, since the story leads directly into the events of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” it’s really a 13-episode season with a spectacularly tragic finish.

2 days ago | yahoo.com | Melanie McFarland

The second season of “Andor” is a ticking clock counting down to the Galactic Civil War that launched “Star Wars.” At 12 episodes, it leaves a person yearning for more time with Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor while appreciating that the best TV series are insistently finite. Besides, since the story leads directly into the events of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” it’s really a 13-episode season with a spectacularly tragic finish.

3 days ago | salon.com | Melanie McFarland

HBO’s strained and curious relationship with fathers dates back to 1999, when we witnessed Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) reconcile his dueling identities of mob boss and family man on “The Sopranos.” Tony strives to be a present father and dutiful son to a bitter mother he blames for driving away his sainted father Johnny (Joseph Siravo).

4 days ago | salon.com | Melanie McFarland

Centering "The Rehearsal" is the ongoing punchline that every elaborate, unnecessary vision Nathan Fielder places before us is the result of HBO allegedly giving the actor carte blanche to do whatever he wants. In its first season, under the guise of helping a teacher come clean to his bar trivia team about a lie, Nathan constructs a detailed replica of the bar where he and his subject endlessly role-play as many possible turns an upcoming awkward conversation could take.

1 week ago | salon.com | Melanie McFarland

Gayle King wishes everybody would adopt a more realistic perspective about Monday’s Blue Origin space outing. The “CBS Mornings” co-host has been telling anyone who will listen that what she and her five fellow NS-31 mission crewmembers experienced was not a “ride.”King insisted it was a true spaceflight that gave her a new impression of how precious life and the Earth are.