Over the past year, TV has been dominated by shows born of a similar premise: the eight-episode miniseries redeeming a wronged woman or the one documenting a real-life scammer’s dramatic fall; the IP-driven vehicle or the celebrity docuseries that feels more like PR. It has been harder to find the true originals, the ones that feel like they’re redefining the form in some way. Which is why we were so excited to watch The Rehearsal, the new HBO series from Nathan Fielder, who is on the cover of our 2022 Television Issue. The show uses the uniquely uncomfortable form of reality-comedy Fielder originated with his Comedy Central series, Nathan for You, and takes it in new, strange, hilarious, and at times profound directions.
We also go deep with a longtime original, Larry Wilmore, who has created, consulted on, or written for many of the great Black TV shows of the past three decades, and Myha’la Herrold, star of Industry and one of the most exciting new talents of the moment. Elsewhere in the issue, we explore a quieter trend blossoming on streaming: a new crop of working-class sitcoms with a “burn it all down” spirit, from South Side to Reservation Dogs.
Meanwhile, over the past year, the streaming industry has continued to evolve in surprising ways. Netflix has had the most dramatic narrative: The streamer started losing subscribers for the first time in more than a decade, its stock price tumbled, and it reined in spending, canceling shows and laying off hundreds of employees. We look at what the culture of Netflix has felt like recently for some of the people who work there, as well as how showrunners there and elsewhere feel increasingly lost in a system where they have no idea how their shows are performing. And for the second year, we present our annual survey to determine the hottest streamer right now. Spoiler: It’s not Netflix.
We hope our annual TV issue helps you discover some of the people and shows doing the most distinctive work right now. Thank you for reading.
Sincerely,
The Editors
