As the classic series The X-Files returns to television, Donald McCarthy explores the ways the show both responded to and predicted our current age of paranoia.
All by Donald McCarthy
As the classic series The X-Files returns to television, Donald McCarthy explores the ways the show both responded to and predicted our current age of paranoia.
Donald McCarthy delves into the challenging yet brilliant second season of the HBO's The Leftovers.
Show Me a Hero, from David Simon and Paul Haggis, has critics raving but audiences are staying away. Donald McCarthy digs into the themes and the real history behind the series, and explains why it's not only gripping television, but important television.
As the dust settles from the complaints and controversies of True Detective Season Two, Donald McCarthy takes an in-depth look at the structure of the season.
HBO's crime anthology series True Detective became a smash hit in its first season by building on the literary noir tradition. As the series delves deep into the mysteries of its second season, Donald McCarthy takes a look at the history of noir fiction, and how it informs the series.
Game of Thrones the HBO series differs from its source material, George R.R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice, in many ways. One area that it often falls short is in pacing and character development. Donald McCarthy takes us through a few recent comparisons from the final episodes of Season Five, and how they match up to A Dance With Dragons.
Because these twists are not outlandish, the show can get away with them, since our own lives are filled with sudden changes. Someone we know suddenly dies. We find out we’re being laid off without warning. A lover decides to end a relationship. In hindsight there may have been signs, but in the moment it’s like a smack in the face.