Melanie McFarland

@mctelevision

Senior Culture Critic Salon. Fmr prez TCA & Peabody Awards board. Opinions are mine, RTs don't ≠ endorsement. Subscribe to The Swell! You can find my other work here:

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Melanie McFarland@mctelevision· 29d

In these dark times, it's nice to know that Trader Joe's has brought back dill pickle flavored popcorn. I am inhaling about half of a bag right now and it is glorious.

A picture of a green bag of Trader Joe's Popcorn in a Pickle, which has a dancing dill pickle on it.

Melanie McFarland@mctelevision· Jul 8

I'm basing this on nothing but the concept, but I have high hope for Keith David's "Rick and Morty" spinoff. Stephanie Beatriz is also along for the ride.

Melanie McFarland@mctelevision· Jun 24

Too few of us remember this frelling masterpiece

Melanie McFarland@mctelevision· Jun 16

Lastly, there's a TV credits sequence that includes...this. Why? I don't know! But this exists and it's weird and I love weirdness. Anyway, @salon.com 's weekly culture newsletter, The Swell, strives to feature fascinating fodder for everyone. Sign up: www.salon.com/newsletter?u... (/end)

Melanie McFarland@mctelevision· Jun 16

You'll also get a link to the first "true" feature film of one of cinema's greatest directors, a movie most people probably haven't seen because it was made in the silent film era (/3)

A screengrab from "The Lodger," showing a wide-eyed man

Melanie McFarland@mctelevision· Jun 16

Since The Swell uplifts art built to last, each newsletter includes a recommendation from someone we respect. Our latest features #AllCreaturesPBS star Nicholas Ralph's love note to his favorite painter. You won't find that anywhere else. (/2) salon-theswell.beehiiv.com/p/the-cozies...

A photo of Nicholas Ralph as James Herriot in "All Creatures Great and Small." Credit: Playground Entertainment and MASTERPIECE / Photographer: Helen Williams

Melanie McFarland@mctelevision· Jun 11

Slough House officially reopens on Wednesday, Sept. 16 when #SlowHorses resumes for its sixth season. Here are few first look photos, including Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) looking tired and irritating. Good times!

A still from "Slow Horses" featuring Jack Lowden and Gary Oldman.

A still from "Slow Horses" featuring Gary Oldman.

A still from "Slow Horses" featuring Kristin Scott Thomas.

Melanie McFarland@mctelevision· Jun 11

So ... this is happening on (to?) #TheView next week. The caliber and toughness of the host's questions will be quite telling.

An ABC ad card announcing JD Vance's appearance on "The View."

Melanie McFarland@mctelevision· Jun 11

Love British cozy crime? Subscribe to The Swell! This week's newsletter looks at the cleric sleuth, has a rec from the star of "All Creatures Great & Small" & considers a cinema giant's earliest "true" work. (It also has the story behind this picture.) Click here: salon-theswell.beehiiv.com

Melanie McFarland@mctelevision· Jun 10

But what I loved most about this show is the way Diarra Kilpatrick portrays & validates society's tendency to invalidate a Black woman's emotions & treat crimes against Black people as less worthy of investigating. (/3)

Melanie McFarland@mctelevision· Jun 10

🧵More summer TV good news: One of my favorite & criminally underappreciated shows, Diarra From Detroit, returns for S2 Weds., July 29 on Paramount+. S1 first streamed on BET+ & didn't get much wide exposure. Now that it's available on Paramount+, more can watch. A couple of S2 first look pics (/1):

Melanie McFarland@mctelevision· Jun 2

Then close down your street for a few hours with my Old Skool Block Party playlist. Happy (almost) summer everybody! open.spotify.com/playlist/60A...

To me, a good block party playlist marinates in nostalgia and spicy dancefloor bangers, guiding and riding the day’s energy like a Cameo song: It moves back (back) and forth (and forth) through the decades.

Melanie McFarland@mctelevision· May 21

Of course, this nostalgic take doesn’t square w/the reality that most of us get our comedy fix from YouTube, TikTok, Instagram & other online platforms. This is why the late-night format is dying, as I mentioned in my ‘23 long read, “A Dude and a Desk”(/3): www.salon.com/2023/06/09/w...

The weeknight topical format personified by the network shows, with the show-opening monologue, recurring bits and celebrity interviews, are all patterned after Carson’s “Tonight Show,” an era that began in 1962. Now that public figures can interact directly with fans on social media, especially those all-important youngest consumers in their fanbase, the game has changed.

“That monologue where everybody would do their take on the day? You’re getting it all day, in real-time,” Herzog said. “And the idea of sitting there and talking about celebrities for six minutes? You know what Kanye ate for breakfast, for lunch, and for dinner, and when he went to the bathroom. So by the time he gets on any talk show, what’s to know?”

Melanie McFarland@mctelevision· May 21

Yes. Obviously. We all know why. But it also marks the end of a sunny absurdist comedy tradition Stephen has played with since “Strangers with Candy,” that we don’t really see that much on network TV anymore & that carried on Letterman's dedication to weirdness. TV needs more of it, not less. (/2)

Melanie McFarland@mctelevision· May 21

Yeah, not much is going great right now. But on Sunday, June 7, HBO Max is going to gift us with an Earth, Wind & Fire documentary directed by Questlove. Hang in there.

A poster for the upcoming HBO documentary "Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs. That's the Weight of the World)

Melanie McFarland@mctelevision· May 15

This monster was almost named Kirara but he's too skittish for that honor.

Melanie McFarland@mctelevision· May 15

Lastly, like @hanhonymous.bsky.social, I'm a cat lady whose frustrating efforts to adopt ended in a kitten heist…sorta ... that I wrote about a while back. Today that purloined purr-monster is a big boi paired with a Maine Coon who has matured into a kaiju. (5/5) www.salon.com/2024/12/06/c...

A picture of the world's cutest black cat whose codename was once Clyde.

A photo of a gray North American sandwich stealer, aka Maine Coon, codenamed The Monster.

Melanie McFarland@mctelevision· May 15

Whenever a show, movie, piece of art or artist happens to meet a political or social moment, it’s my job – and joy! – to try to make sense of it. Sometimes that means considering why OnlyFans is having a TV moment. Sometimes it means deconstructing the artistic power of Legos.

A headline from a Salon.com commentary that reads, "On Margo's Got Money Troubles" and "Euphoria," the body is the hustle

A headline from a Salon.com commentary that reads "Why Lego is our most powerful art medium"

Melanie McFarland@mctelevision· May 14

I have sporadic posting history that I am trying to break, so I should probably (re)introduce myself: I’m the Senior Culture Critic at @salon.com, where I’ve been writing about TV & other miscellany for a decade. Hi. It's me. (1/5)