In the 1973 landmark decision known as Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protects a pregnant person’s liberty to choose to have an abortion – without excessive governmental restrictions. The first recorded abortion was in 1550 and has been a fact of life since ancient times. However, it took that decision in 1973 to reinforce that this health service was a right in this country. According to The Atlantic, the year after the decision the maternal mortality rate in New York State dropped by 45 percent.

Continue reading The Best Film & TV Episodes About Abortion & Women’s Bodily Autonomy at The Playlist.

It wouldn’t be a new Dave Chappelle comedy special if there wasn’t a certain amount of controversy. And though the comedian’s issues with trans people and the LGBTQ+ community, as a whole, have come up before, it appears that the new Chappelle Netflix special, “The Closer,” has put the situation front and center, causing at least one streaming collaborator to threaten to walk away from the platform in protest.

Continue reading ‘Dear White People’ Producer Won’t Work With Netflix Again After Streamer Released Dave Chappelle’s “Transphobic” New Special at The Playlist.

When writer/director Justin Simien’s debut indie movie, “Dear White People,” first arrived at the beginning of 2014, it was a sharp, insightful and prescient breath of fresh air— woke— a good three years before the word was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2017, several months before “stay woke” became a BLM call to action following the shooting of Michael Brown in the summer of 2014. When the movie evolved into a Netflix series three years later, it still had much to say, still delivering a funny, observational look at a Black Ivy League college with thoughtful characters who constantly challenged what was falsely advertised then as a “post-racial,” post-Obama society.

Continue reading ‘Dear White People’ Season 4 Tries To Capture The Feeling Of A Black ’90s Musical But Never Truly Sings [Review] at The Playlist.

September isn’t just a big month for the film – though based on the sheer number of festivals it certainly will rule the conversation – but for television as well with some of the most anticipated titles of the year debuting this month. While there are plenty of exciting shows to look forward to this fall, September kicks it off right with returning series such as “What We Do in the Shadows” delivering on the necessary laughs, “Star Wars: Visions” helping us escape while “Foundation” brings big and bold science fiction to our television screens.

Continue reading 10 TV Shows To Watch In September: ‘Scenes From A Marriage,’ ‘The Morning Show,’ ‘Foundation’ & More at The Playlist.

It’s already been a good year for TV fans, with critics raving about “Mare of Easttown,” “The Underground Railroad,” and “The White Lotus” (among others on lists like this one). As anyone knows, the most robust time for television is from when kids go back to school in the fall through Christmas. After an incredibly weird autumn last year thanks to pandemic delays, streaming services and networks are hoping that this season is more traditional, and they are all bringing out their big guns, including new dramas, returning shows, and long-awaited mini-series.

Continue reading Fall 2021 TV Preview: 38 Series To Watch at The Playlist.

When Justin Simien‘s “Dear White People” premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, no one could have predicted it would be adapted into a Netflix series three years later. Not only that, but the Netflix show has run three seasons, all to positive acclaim from critics, and cemented Simien as a breakthrough talent.

READ MORE: Justin Simien On The “Weird Consolation Prize” Of More ‘Dear White People’ Viewers Following Social Protests [Interview]

All good things must come to an end, however.

Continue reading ‘Dear White People Vol. 4’ Trailer: A Musical Farewell To Winchester University On September 22 at The Playlist.

Filmmaker Justin Simien has had an excellent run of creating a franchise with “Dear White People.” What began as celebrated Sundance indie that launched the career of Tessa Thompson while taking on racial issues and white ignorance in America with a satirical spin so turned into a Netflix series. After four successful seasons, Simien is about to move on. So yes, “Dear White People” season four is its final season, and Netflix has released a new teaser that unveils a September 22 premiere date.

Continue reading ‘Dear White People Vol.4’ Trailer: Final Season Of Justin Simien’s Netflix Series Debuts On September 22 at The Playlist.

Once upon a time, Disney was considering letting Guillermo del Toro (“The Shape of Water“) remake their Eddie Murphy movie “Haunted Mansion,” which is based on their beloved theme park attraction. As the name would suggest features a mansion filled to the brim with various ghosts. Flash forward to today, “Dear White People“s Justin Simien is set to direct the newest incarnation with a script penned by Katie Dippold (“Ghostbusters: Answer The Call“). 

READ MORE: New ‘Haunted Mansion’ Movie In The Works At Disney From ‘Ghostbusters’ Writer Katie Dippold

The Hollywood Reporter is now supporting previous chatter that Disney is indeed in talks with comedic actress Tiffany Haddish and LaKeith Stanfield to take lead roles in “Haunted Mansion.” Stanfield will play a widower that moves into the New Orleans mansion, and Haddish plays a psychic hired to communicate with the dead. 

The actors and character details were first mentioned in a report by The Illuminerdi.

Continue reading Tiffany Haddish & LaKeith Steinfeld In Talks To Lead Disney’s ‘Haunted Mansion’ Remake From ‘Dear White People’ Director Justin Simien at The Playlist.

Another year comes to a close, another overlong, ahem, thorough most anticipated list from your friends at The Playlist. This time, we’re talking television and yes, there’s a lot of TV to deal with. Frankly, however, with the explosion of streaming, the second age of PeakTV, now known as the Streaming Age, we’re somewhat surprised this list isn’t over 100 picks long. Disney+ and Apple TV+ may have launched in late 2019, but 2020 really brought us the full breadth of both those streaming services wares.

Continue reading The 65 Most Anticipated TV Shows & Mini-Series Of 2021 at The Playlist.

When Netflix announced that its celebrated series “Dear White People” had seen a massive increase in viewership during the social justice protests that erupted following George Floyd‘s death it was admittedly a “weird consolation prize” for creator Justin Simien. Because frankly, why weren’t more people watching beforehand? And this writer wonders, why wasn’t it on more top ten critics lists? Or, after three seasons, has it not been nominated for a Peabody Award?

Continue reading Justin Simien On The “Weird Consolation Prize” Of More ‘Dear White People’ Viewers Following Social Protests [Interview] at The Playlist.

If you’re looking for quality content and storytelling in the month of August that’s new and fresh (rather than say, further exploring what the Criterion Channel has to offer or binging shows you’ve yet to get to like “Vida“), might I suggest looking to TV, rather than films?

While film will have some bright spots in an ultimately dreary month, television has plenty of returning greats and new, intriguing shows that diverge from typical comedies or dramas that are worth diving into.

Continue reading 10 TV Series To Watch In August: ‘Mindhunter,’ ‘Preacher,’ ‘Dark Crystal’ & More at The Playlist.

Despite beginning its life on Netflix knee-deep in controversy, after folks got angry at the trailer for the series, “Dear White People” is still going strong, as it enters its upcoming third season. And as the trailer for the new batch of episodes so keenly points out, things have to change for the show to stay relevant and interesting.

And things have most definitely changed. The premise of the series is still very much the same, as it focuses on an Ivy League university that is dominated by white people, with a vocal group of People of Color using a radio show to voice their concerns and their issues.

Continue reading ‘Dear White People’ Season 3 Trailer: A New Voice Changes Things Up On Justin Simien’s Netflix Series at The Playlist.

It was, as we’ve discussed already, a great year for movies (The 25 Best Films Of 2018). It was perhaps a less great one on TV, at least on the surface. There were more scripted shows than ever once again, but with some heavy-hitters skipping a year, and a few high-profile disappointments (Hi, “The Romanoffs!”), it was hard not to feel that the ageless TV vs. film debate came out of 2018 with a point on the movies board.

Continue reading The Best TV Shows Of 2018 at The Playlist.

While the TV calendar is now an all-year-round machine, May is still the technical end of the season with many series airing their finales before retreating for summer hibernation. However, in the age of Peak TV, when the TV Gods close one content door, he opens up a million screens.  Honorable mentions this month include the arrival of another “Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.” season, the “Karate Kid” TV sequel “Cobra Kai” on YouTube Red, the series finale of “New Girl” on FOX (May 15), and season finales of “Riverdale,” “The Goldbergs,” “Blackish,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “The Flash,” “Roseanne” *(yuck) and “I, Zombie” to name just a few.

Continue reading 9 Television Shows To Watch In May at The Playlist.

Class is back in session for the Winchester University students of Netflix’s series “Dear White People.” Showrunner Justin Simien has been promising more mystery and drama in season two and that “everyone’s got secrets this season — secrets from each other, secrets from themselves.” And judging by the new trailer, season two is set to pick up right after the dramatic events of season one’s finale.

Set against the backdrop of a predominantly white Ivy League university where racial tensions bubble just below the surface, Dear White People is a send-up of the now post “post-racial” America that weaves together a universal story of finding one’s own identity and forging a wholly unique path.

Continue reading ‘Dear White People’ Season 2 Trailer Gives Viewers Some Entertaining Nicknames For The Cast at The Playlist.

The controversial Netflix series “Dear White People” from creator Justin Simien is coming back sooner than you might have expected. Based on the hit indie film of the same name, “Dear White People” follows a group of Black students who deal with a variety of social injustices while going to a predominantly white school. The first season sparked a bit of controversy when the first trailer received some backlash from people claiming it was “racist” against white people.

Continue reading ‘Dear White People’ Season Two Returns In May; Watch The First Teaser Trailer at The Playlist.

Now it’s time for TV. Back at the start of December, we ran down the 100 films that we’re most looking forward to across 2018, and we picked out some festival favorites that we’ve already seen and know are worth checking out too. But even with 250 hours worth or so of promising art and entertainment, that barely scratches the surface of what people will be talking about in terms of moving images, because, well, we don’t know if you heard, but TV’s gotten really good.

Continue reading The Most Anticipated TV Shows Of 2018 at The Playlist.

Aliens, robots, holograms, fruit, gods, demons, aquatic mystery creatures and shambling doppelgangers potentially occupied by the spirit of long-disappeared FBI agents trapped between dimensions — yes, it can only be our roundup of the year’s best sex scenes! To be fair, we’ve included a couple that have human participants, but only for form’s sake. Maybe it’s because it’s a global trend, maybe because The Playlist is a hotbed of perverts, but it seems to us the movie and TV year in sex was more than usually characterized by interspecies, mystical, plant-based and/or supernatural sex, and quite a few of the more ostensibly “traditional” sex scenes that impressed us did so for very unsexy reasons (we’re not naming names, but Yorgos Lanthimos).

Continue reading The Best Sex Scenes Of 2017 at The Playlist.

It’s always difficult to tell ahead of time which of our year-end lists will prove the most divisive among the usually harmonious Playlist team. But perhaps reflecting the inarguable explosion of quality TV over the past decade, and therefore the fact that not any one of us has seen everything, and every one of us has their favorites among stuff that no one else saw, this year that dubious title may just fall to the feature you are about to read.

Continue reading The Best TV Shows Of 2017 at The Playlist.

Even before filmmakers were even able to record and sync sound, movies and music have been tied together. Back then, music was played on a piano or an organ. Now, some of the world’s greatest composers write scores that can stand as works of art separate to the films they accompany, while often doing so much to make those works memorable. Or filmmakers curate killer compilations of songs familiar and new that can lead to some of movies’ most memorable moments (and an overlooked song being revived).

Continue reading The Best Scores & Soundtracks Of 2017 at The Playlist.

Granted, there is a ton of content options in this era of Peak TV, but, if you haven’t caught up with Justin Simien’s “Dear White People” on Netflix, you are truly missing out.

The Lionsgate Television produced adaptation of Simien’s critically lauded 2014 film follows the storylines of a number of African-American students at a predominantly white, pseudo Ivy League school. The first season begins with the college’s not-so funny humor magazine holding a blackface party, which doesn’t sit well with a good chunk of the student body.

Continue reading ‘Dear White People’: Justin Simien On The Organized Attempt To “Take Down” The Show [Podcast] at The Playlist.

If there isn’t already, there ought to be an improbably long German compound word to describe the slightly panicky, drowning feeling of overwhelmed anticipation that is one’s natural state when contemplating just how much good TV there is out there — and that’s even before additional shows like this week’s “GLOW” and “The Mist” have been piled onto the queue. Add in an appreciation of just how few hours there are in a day, and just how much “other stuff” one is supposed to be doing with one’s life, and the prospect of even making a dent in the mountain of unwatched Golden Age TV can actually trigger a full-blown panic attack.

Continue reading The 25 Best TV Shows Of 2017 So Far at The Playlist.

With a title meant to inspire, intrigue, and ire, the latest Netflix series “Dear White People” wastes no time in challenging and charming audiences. But it might not always manage both. The moment its trailer hit, online outrage came fast and oblivious from those who threatened to boycott the streaming subscription service, accusing the unseen show of “reverse racism.” Apparently, they’d never heard of creator Justin Simien‘s 2014 film of the same name, which earned rousing critical praise and became the jumping off point for this scathingly hilarious comedy series.

Continue reading Netflix’s ‘Dear White People’ Series Is A Hilarious, Provocative Improvement On The Excellent Movie [Review] at The Playlist.

When Justin Simien‘s “Dear White People” arrived a few years back in the waning days of the Obama presidency, it was a pointed comedy that spoke some hard truths. However, with Trump in the White House, Simien’s satire now seems to carry a more pointed charge, one that will get a chance to really land a punch with in the new Netflix series based on the film.

Continue reading New Trailer For Netflix Series ‘Dear White People’ Welcomes You To “Post-Racial” America at The Playlist.

With a title meant to inspire, intrigue, and ire, the latest Netflix series “Dear White People” wastes no time challenging and charming audiences. But it might not always manage both. The moment its trailer hit, online outrage came fast and oblivious from those who threatened to boycott the streaming subscription service, accusing the unseen show of “reverse racism.” Apparently, they’d never heard of creator Justin Simien’s 2014 film of the same name, which earned rousing critical praise and became the jumping off point for this scathingly hilarious comedy series.

Continue reading ‘Dear White People’ Spinoff Series Is A Deeper And More Daring Look At The Black Experience [SXSW Review] at The Playlist.