I LIKE TO WATCH

In her book debut, Pulitzer Prize–winning
New Yorker critic Nussbaum offers an
expansive collection of writing that captures the artistically evolving spirit
of current TV.

The author’s profiles on TV giants
such as Joan Rivers, Jenji Kohan, and Ryan Murphy provide penetrating glimpses
into how their personal histories have helped to shape their careers. In one of
the book’s longest—and best—pieces, “Confessions of the Human Shield,” Nussbaum
wrestles with the work of renowned artistic talents recently caught up in the #MeToo movement, including
Harvey Weinstein, Woody Allen, Louis C.K, and Roman Polanski. “What should we
do with the art of terrible men?” asks the author. The revelations about the
widespread sexual harassment and abuse in Hollywood, she writes, “made the job
of criticizing art seem like an indulgence—the monocle-peering that
intellectuals resort to when we should be talking about justice.” Nussbaum
incisively discusses the difficulties in separating their creative output from
their offensive actions. “When you look at [Polanski’s] Rosemary’s Baby sideways,”
she writes, “it becomes a darkly funny cautionary tale that could have been
written by Andrea Dworkin….The movie was a feminist masterpiece created by a
sex criminal.” Assembled together, the author’s essays and reviews reveal her
vast interests and unpretentious tastes as well as her keen insights into
what’s phony. She seems equally appreciative of gold-standard dramatic series
like The Sopranos and the pleasurable indulgences of “unscripted”
reality shows such as Vanderpump Rules. We are currently living in
what many consider the golden age of TV, with countless quality series from
networks and streaming services introduced daily, and Nussbaum has proven to be
a shrewd, highly reliable source for evaluating this rapidly progressing
medium. “There was something alive about the medium to me, organic in a way
that other art is not,” she writes, reflecting on her career. “You enter into it;
you get changed with it; it changes with you….[TV] was where I wanted to live.”

Sharp, insightful writing that
firmly positions Nussbaum as one of the leading TV critics of our time.