Television

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Collection
A man and woman stand in the snow looking at a notepad

Review: Lifetime's "Mistletoes and Menorahs"

Rabbi Leah Berkowitz

Rabbi Leah Berkowitz breaks down her eight favorite and least favorite things about Lifetime's Mistletoes and Menorahs, and talks to screenwriter Guy Yosub.

Topics: Hanukkah, Television
old television

Sitting Shiva for TV

Ilana Diamant

To lose a character to death or a show to the fickle whims of network executives is devastating.

Topics: Television, Ritual

Episode 34: Emily Nussbaum Likes To Watch (Transcript)

Episode 34: Emily Nussbaum Likes To Watch (Transcript)

Jenny Slate on stage

Jenny Slate's "Stage Fright"

Larisa Klebe

Have you seen Jenny Slate's new Netflix special, Stage Fright?

Topics: Television, Comedy

Episode 34: Emily Nussbaum Likes To Watch

If we're living in the golden age of television, then The New Yorker's TV critic Emily Nussbaum is our soothsayer. In this episode of Can We Talk?, JWA's Executive Director, Judith Rosenbaum, talks with Nussbaum about portrayals of Jewish women on television, past and present, and Nussbaum's new essay collection, I Like To Watch. Nussbaum also speaks candidly about how the #MeToo movement has made her rethink the way her own cultural tastes have been formed. This is the second episode in our three-part fall author interview series.

Bill Maher

Zap the Fat Shaming

Larisa Klebe

No, fat shaming doesn't need to make a comeback.

Topics: Activism, Television
Katherine Ryan

Why Keep a Man in Your House?

Larisa Klebe

Katherine Ryan isn't Jewish, but her new comedy special on Netflix is.

Topics: Television, Comedy
Ask Dr. Ruth Hulu

Dr. Ruth: Pleasure Yo’ Self!

Larisa Klebe

Have you watched Ask Dr. Ruth on Hulu yet?

Topics: Television

Sherry Lansing Becomes the First Woman to Head a Major Movie Studio

February 2, 1980

When Sherry Lansing was named president of 20th Century Fox Productions on January 2nd, 1980, she became the first woman to head production at a major movie studio.

Judge Judy Airs

September 16, 1996

Judge Judy aired for the first time.

"The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" wins 5 Primetime Emmy Awards

September 27, 2018

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel received five Emmys at the 70th annual Primetime Emmy Awards, the most of any one series that evening.

Mona Lisa Saperstein

Authenticity, Please: TV’s Jewish Ladies

Rena Lubin

Television shows often reduce Jewish women to a few tired tropes, ones that are largely negative, or stereotypical.

Topics: Television
Broad City Lost and Found

The Eight Best Jewish Quotes from Broad City’s “Lost and Found”

Larisa Klebe

A curated list of the eight best Jewish quotes from Season 5, Episode 6 of Broad City.

Ilana Glazer Cropped

My Intersectional Feminist Queen, Ilana Wexler

Lily Drazin

“Madonna, Rihanna, Ilana!” That’s just one of the many unique jingles enthusiastically sung by none other than the ultimate feminist, Jewess, and queen: Ilana Wexler. Wexler, the fictional character from Comedy Central’s hit series Broad City, embodies every aspect of what it means to be a badass, world-changing, intersectional feminist.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Getting "Crazy" About History

Rebecca Brenner Graham

Rebecca Bunch is apparently a student of history... and I don’t just mean her relationship history.

Judge Judy

Judge Judy: Poetry Muse

Jen Karetnick

Exclusively for JWA, Jen Karetnick shares two of her poems about everyone’s favorite Judge: Judy.

Topics: Television, Law, Poetry
Gertrude Berg and Amy Sherman Palladino

Yoohoo...Mrs. Maisel!

Ava Berkwits

Gertrude Berg and Amy Sherman Palladino are two women who have brought Jews to television in completely revolutionary ways; as funny, approachable characters who are incredibly dynamic and unapologetically Jewish.

Topics: Television
Silhouette of a Girl

Fixing the Flaws in Perfection

Ilana Jacobs

Every “perfect girl” I have ever met has been so humble, that they can turn a compliment into self-deprecation. It is so unbearably heartbreaking to me that these girls who are so marvelous all don’t know how marvelous they are. But the truly terrifying truth is that their humility and self-consciousness seem to be an essential part of being the “perfect girl.”

Midge Maisel Catskills Season 2

Review: “Mrs. Maisel” Season 2

Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler

Does The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel accurately portraying New York Jewish life in the 1950s, or is it caricature? One of our writers tackles this question in her review of season two.

Topics: Television
Ilana and Abbi in Broad City Episode, "Witches"

Why I Rewatched Broad City's “Witches” For My Birthday

Rena Lubin

For my 22nd birthday in December, I decided to rewatch Season 4 Episode 6 of Broad City—“Witches”and let it all sink in as another year goes by, another birthday passes, and I apparently keep growing older.

Topics: Feminism, Television
Sarah Silverman's I Love You America

I Love You, Sarah

Larisa Klebe

In this particular political moment, Sarah Silverman’s latest project, her show on Hulu called I Love You, America, is exactly what I need.

Topics: Activism, Television
Cover Image of Michelle Wolf's The Break

Give Me The Break

Larisa Klebe

Michelle Wolf isn’t a “nice lady,” and neither am I. Screw being nice. Netflix just cancelled The Break with Michelle Wolf after just one season, and I’m not having it.

Topics: Television, Comedy
Cover of Iliza Schlesinger's Elder Millennial

Respect Your Elder (Millennial)

Larisa Klebe

Having watched all of Iliza’s specials, read her book, and watched much of her talk show, there are any number of aspects of her comedy I could talk about. I’d like to focus on what I see as her evolution as a feminist, paired with the rising trend of comedy specials that challenge our perceptions of what comedy can be.

Paris Geller and "Operation Finish Line"

How Paris Geller’s Jewishness Helped Me Understand Mine

Rena Lubin

So, how Jewish is Gilmore Girls’ Paris Geller? I’d say, very.

While Gilmore Girls has a permanent home in my Netflix “Continue Watching” list and I tend to restart the series as soon as I finish it, I feel conflicted about the representation of Paris Geller, and of her Judaism.

Topics: Television
Composite Image of Amanda Knox and the Scarlet Letter Cover from 1934

The Scarlet Letter Reports

Rebecca Long

In the 2018 Facebook series, The Scarlet Letter Reports, host Amanda Knox explores this idea: that the world wields a woman’s sexuality against her like a weapon. In each episode of the Broadly-produced show, she interviews a famous woman who has been attacked or disbelieved because of her sexuality or sexual history.

Topics: Feminism, Television

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