Television

Highlights

The Watching Newsletter
‘The Bear’ Season 3 Is a Clanging, Wailing Beast
The hit FX series about an upstart Chicago restaurant loves the pressures of tight quarters and close shouting. The new season serves up plenty more.
By Margaret Lyons
CreditFX
In ‘The Bear,’ Abby Elliott Follows a New Recipe
The acclaimed kitchen hit has allowed Elliott, a comic actor from a famously funny family, to embrace her dramatic side.
By Alexis Soloski
CreditOK McCausland for The New York Times
1. The Culture Desk
  Think ‘The Bear’ Is Overrated? Here’s What to Watch Instead.
  Picks from our TV experts.
  By Margaret Lyons, Jeremy Egner, Elyssa Dudley, Kate LoPresti, Lynn Levy and Diane Wong
  CreditPhoto Illustration by The New York Times; Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
2. ‘Babylon Berlin’ Review: Dancing While the World Begins to Burn
  The long-awaited fourth season of the cult-favorite German thriller takes place in 1931, with the Nazis not quite in power.
  By Mike Hale
  CreditMHz Choice

‘Babylon Berlin’ Is Back. Here’s What You Need to Know.
Season 4 of the epic crime drama has finally come to streaming in the United States, via MHz Choice. Here’s a refresher on where we left off.
By Elisabeth Vincentelli
Creditvia MHz Choice
‘Doctor Who’ Season in Review: The Doctor Might Be on a New Path
Ncuti Gatwa shined as the 15th Doctor. But the long-running show feels at a crossroads as it concludes its latest season.
By Maya Phillips
CreditBad Wolf/BBC Studios
Critic’s Notebook
‘House of the Dragon’: Elliott and Luke Tittensor on That Brutal Duel
Episode 2 pit brother against brother, in more ways than one. The two actors, identical twins, talked about the intensity of that climactic fight scene.
By Sean T. Collins
CreditTheo Whitman/HBO
On ‘Couples Therapy,’ They Discuss Intimacy Like Nobody’s Watching
The Showtime series gives audiences an intimate look inside real relationships. Its couples are still navigating the aftermath.
By Julia Jacobs
CreditElianel Clinton for The New York Times
Conan O’Brien Doesn’t Matter*
*That’s his opinion. And yet he’s setting a new standard for what life after late-night can look like. (Hint: It’s a lot like what he did on talk shows.)
By Jason Zinoman
CreditAdali Schell for The New York Times
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Best of Late Night
Jon Stewart Is a Little Stressed Out About That Debate
Hosting a live “Daily Show” after the Biden-Trump spectacle, Stewart said he needed “to call a real estate agent in New Zealand.”
By Trish Bendix
Jamie Kellner, TV Executive Who Started Fox and WB, Dies at 77
With an emphasis on younger viewers, he established the networks as serious rivals to ABC, CBS and NBC, which had ruled television for nearly 40 years.
By Trip Gabriel
30 L.G.B.T.Q. Artists Look Back on the Pleasures and Pain of Being 30
For Pride Month, we asked people ranging in age from 34 to 93 to share an indelible memory. Together, they offer a personal history of queer life as we know it today.
By Nicole Acheampong, Max Berlinger, Jason Chen, Kate Guadagnino, Colleen Hamilton, Mark Harris, Juan A. Ramírez, Coco Romack, Michael Snyder and John Wogan
Bill Cobbs, ‘Bodyguard’ and ‘Night at the Museum’ Actor, Dies at 90
He was not a Hollywood household name. But his face was one anyone who watched TV or movies over the past several decades could recognize.
By Alexandra E. Petri
Russell Morash, ‘This Old House’ and ‘The French Chef’ Producer, Dies at 88
Hailed as a pioneer of D.I.Y. programming, he oversaw groundbreaking how-to shows on public television in the days before HGTV and YouTube.
By Alex Williams
On Comedy
Keith Robinson Doesn’t Want Audiences’ Pity. He Wants Their Laughs.
After two strokes, the stand-up has recovered enough to make a new special. If anything, his health crises have sharpened his humor.
By Jason Zinoman
The Meme-ification of Anthony Bourdain
The beloved chef’s admirers have given him a distinctly modern kind of digital afterlife — at the center of fondly parodic jokes.
By Becca Schuh
Nonfiction
Getting Real About Reality TV in ‘Cue the Sun!’
Rather than bemoan pop culture’s most divisive genre, Emily Nussbaum spends time with the creators, the stars and the victims of the decades-long effort to generate buzz.
By Eric Deggans
Former ‘Bob’s Burgers’ Actor to Plead Guilty in Jan. 6 Case
Jay Johnston, also known for his work on “Mr. Show with Bob and David,” was charged last year with participating in the riot at the Capitol. He is expected to plead guilty at a hearing on July 8.
By Orlando Mayorquín
critic’s notebook
Age and the Image of Capacity
President Biden’s toughest opponent may not be his predecessor. It is the cultural meaning, built up through centuries, that we assign to being old.
By Jason Farago