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James Poniewozik

@poniewozik.bsky.social
25K followers 273 following 3.4K posts

This song is for the rats

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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 3h
Trick question. Broadcast television was invented in 1982, as a secondary revenue stream for the expensive monitors needed for ColecoVision consoles. 
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 3h
This is why all Senate committees need a member from a Big Ten state
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 9h
"American Intelligence" was RIGHT THERE
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
If you show up for a job interview and bring me an iced coffee I am hiring you on the spot even if you are unqualified
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Sometimes the AI just nails it
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I just realized that I somehow did a "take these shows off the list" without mentioning Ozark. So I hereby nominate Ozark to be removed from the list. Replace it with nothing. Leave an empty space, like a memorial, for us to stare at and contemplate what we did
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
OK, I guess I'm getting all my top-100 TV thoughts out of the way today so: I was surprised Breaking Bad ended up #1. But I am more surprised I haven't seen more surprise in the reactions? Disagreement, sure. But more than I'd expected, people seem to have assumed that was where we'd end up.
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headfallsoff @headfallsoff.com · 25/09/2026
ok but how many of these so called ‘100 best tv shows of the century’ had illegal sold out stadium screenings in mexico for their finales. that’s what i fuckin thought
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is a great and heroic list. One of the fun things about all the NYT list discourse this week is remembering all the great 21st-c shows I'd nearly forgotten. Wonder Showzen! Aqua Teen Hunger Force! Please Like Me! America to Me! I Love Dick! Rubicon! High Maintenance!
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Another question the poll raised: What does it mean to have "watched" a TV show? Did you "watch" The Office (US) if you missed one ep in season 6? What if you bailed? IMHO if you have watched enough of a series to know you don't want to watch the rest, you have my permission to say you watched it!
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Reposting this because one of the many interesting things about the list were the categories voters chose, or didn't. No children's TV. Relatively little reality/documentary. Some comedy/variety, but not late night (say, The Colbert Report). I do not know why. But I have theories!
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
My rule is, if you say something should be on a best-of list, you have to take something off. So what I’d add, just for starters: Adventure Time, Transparent, Les Revenants, The Good Fight What I’d take off, just for starters: House of Cards, Dexter, The Crown (I said it), The Queen’s Gambit
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
LOST was the single show that gave me the most pleasure to watch in my life. I also am depressed by the mindset that a show's finale constitutes the final-exam grade determining its value--which Lost may bear some responsibility for, but which is an impoverished way to look at art
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Lili Loofbourow @lililoofbourow.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Two critics and a historian walk into a bar, drenched in obsolescence, to talk about pop culture, old internet drama and rabbitholes we've spent too much of our wild and precious lives burrowing down. Welcome to Experts in a Dying Field with me, @patrickiber.bsky.social and @zunguzungu.bsky.social
youtube.com
Netflix's One Hundred Years of Solitude | Ep. 1 Experts in a Dying Field
YouTube video by Experts InADyingField
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Numbers 21-40 dropped! This is a poll of ~500 people, so I can't speak to "What were they thinking?" Nor do I always agree! Worth noting, though, that each voter submitted 10 *unranked* choices, so rank is largely a function of how *often* a show was listed. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
The 100 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century
More than 500 influential stars, showrunners and other notable names in the world of TV voted on the best series released since Jan. 1, 2000. See what they chose.
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Aimee Mann, because I love her songwriting and have a soft spot for singer-songwriters who play bass rather than guitar. And Thundercat, because Thundercat.
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I try not to whinge about AI too much here bc I feel like bsky has that covered, but when I see people sharing AI-generated music... that is so fucking depressing Making art is the best thing humans do and music maybe the purest form of that--if we're outsourcing that we should just pack it in
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I still don’t get what the “open era” of Survivor is and I’m not sure that Survivor does
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Alison Herman @aherman2006.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I did something bad
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Too many shows these days skate by on the concept of “I like the people in it, how can it be bad?“ This show at least answers that question
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Dave Itzkoff @ditzkoff.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
this entire presidency in one image
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
We threw another 20 on the pile! I will say, I love being a critic but making lists are pretty much like going to the dentist. But riffing and opining on a list that 500 *other* people voted on? Pretty much a dream scenario for me.
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Been reading about Paramount's promise that an outside body will ensure CNN's editorial independence, and man is it wearisome to be the sole person on Earth who remembers anything that happened more than 10 years ago www.theguardian.com/business/200....
theguardian.com
Wall Street Journal committee claims Murdoch broke agreement
A special independent committee accused the press baron of breaking agreement to protect editorial integrity
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Rebecca Schoenkopf @wonkette.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Pray they do not alter it further
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I mean no offense to any network when I say that the most consequential name here w/r/t Trump is Fox Trump's whole public life has been being on TV and watching TV. Being president for him is watching a 24/7 TV show where he is the star--esp on Fox Suddenly losing that is going to be existential
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
bsky.app/profile/poni...
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Have you ever wished that you could have every TV argument of the last 26 years all in one week? Well, you are in luck, my friends!  www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
The 100 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century (Gift Article)
More than 500 influential stars, showrunners and other notable names in the world of TV voted on the best series released since Jan. 1, 2000. See what they chose.
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NYTimes Communications @nytimespr.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
“President Trump and his administration are intent on intimidating and punishing media outlets who produce news coverage he doesn’t like. Some of these actions are illegal; nearly all fly in the face of precedent and the First Amendment. Their collective effect is an attempt to restrict Americans’ knowledge about their own government. 

The courts have twice found that the Trump administration violated the Constitution by suspending reporters’ White House press passes. The president’s statement today is yet another retaliatory and unconstitutional threat. The Times stands in support of the news organizations being unfairly targeted by the president.”

 — Charlie Stadtlander, a spokesperson for The New York Times
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Oh my God, this is absolutely awful. RIP. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/a... 
nytimes.com
Duncan Sheik, Who Traded Pop Stardom for Broadway, Dies at 56
Weary of the heartthrob label after his 1996 hit “Barely Breathing,” he pivoted to musical theater and won two Tonys for composing “Spring Awakening.”
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
At this point they're going to need to rehire Hank Hill back to straighten things out
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
👨‍🍳💋🪓
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Big thumbs up to this critical personnel decision, and incredibly excited to be working with Caroline Framke! www.nytco.com/press/a-new-...
nytco.com
A New Television Critic Joins Culture | The New York Times Company
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Ha ha ha, I am probably not supposed to say this, but you people are all wrong (this is a fascinating exercise though) www.nytimes.com/2026/09/15/a... 
nytimes.com
The 3 Emmy Awards Our Readers Would Have Changed (Gift Article)
Thousands of people selected their television favorites of the season. Here’s how they voted.
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
That show was losing a thousand potential viewers every second Harrelson and McConaughey spoke, and I believe they spoke for four hours
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Did Mariska lose a bet
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
What did Mariska Hargitay do to the Emmy producers that they immediately followed that unfortunate monologue with AMY FREAKING POEHLER
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Want to know the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century but don't have time to watch all the television that aired in the 21st century by next Monday? Well, you're in luck! www.nytimes.com/2026/09/14/a...
nytimes.com
Be the First to Find Out the 100 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century (Gift Article)
Starting Sept. 21, we’ll unveil a list of 100, as voted on by more than 500 television professionals in Hollywood and around the world. Make sure you’re getting updates.
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
It is SO DISTRACTING to me, I would much rather there was just this random Scottish sheriff in the middle of Nebraska, and they just never ever explained it 
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
In-a-Trump-a-da-vida, baby; notes from the interminable midterm convention [giftie] www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/a...
nytimes.com
Trump’s ‘Midterm Convention’ Tried to Reach Die-Hard Republican Voters, but Lacked Oomph (Gift Article)
The long, odd two-night TV production hoped to reach a select audience of die-hard voters (if football didn’t intercept them).
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Here's a gift link to my 9/11 essay in the NYT. Civil libertarians long warned that before giving government new powers, we should consider how an administration with authoritarian ambition might abuse them. We were told that America was too exceptional to elect such a person. Well here we are.
nytimes.com
Opinion | Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. (Gift Article)
The civil libertarians’ warnings have come true.
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Catching up on Lanterns and every time someone mentions John Stewart I wonder if The Daily Show exists in this universe Like, people should be saying "No, not that one" all the time
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The audacity! The temerity! "Oh, you're fired, and also could you do us a favor and keep quiet about it?" And to say it to a REPORTER yet!
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Sarah D(estroy ICE) Bunting @sarahdbunting.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Truth. In some ways I'm relieved I was 5 blocks away - the processing was immediate, at least - but New Yorkers who 1) weren't sure they'd survive the morning and 2) washed the ashes of those who didn't out of their hair the next day are going to need the pundit class to cram it with hot sauce
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
And people think I'm a crank for getting annoyed when journalists interview Muppets in character
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Peanuts cartoon in which Lucy gives Charlie Brown an imaginary hundred million dollars for trying to kick the football
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Man, the defense on The Five of Trump's midterm convention idea is... tepid
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Looking at the speaker list for the midterm convention, and there must have been a lot of jockeying among the high profile Senate candidates to score the coveted “please don’t have me speak in primetime” slots
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
This is not about the Trump 9/11 quotes but I have been seeing a lot of examples of people saying they witnessed things live on the TV coverage that didn't air or they couldn't have witnessed as described. I think 25 years of repeated images have seeped into people's memories of the actual moment
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
lol I saw this trailer and immediately thought this is like the @alissawilkinson.bsky.social batsignal
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