Stay ConnectedJoin Vanity Fair’s Richard Lawson, Chris Murphy, and Hillary Busis as they recap and analyze the most exciting series on TV and streaming, and get the inside story on how they came together through interviews with television stars and creators.
Get in touch, email us at stillwatching@vanityfair.com.
Copyright: © 2021, Still Watching podcast. 038896
Can a new showrunner and Jodie Foster reinvigorate one of prestige TV's most beloved franchises? Richard, Chris, and Hillary are about to find out with an all-new season of Still Watching dedicated to True Detective season four.
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In the highest-grossing movie of 2023, Barbie, a literal doll, leaves the comforts of Barbieland and ventures into real-world Los Angeles, where she discovers the myriad difficulties of modern womanhood. This arc from cosseted naïveté to feminist awakening is a narrative throughline that connects some of the biggest cultural products of the year. In this episode of Critics at Large, the staff writers Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss how 2023 became “the year of the doll,” tracing the trope from “Barbie” to Yorgos Lanthimos’s film “Poor Things,” whose protagonist finds self-determination through sexual agency, and beyond. In Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” a teen-age Priscilla Beaulieu lives under the thumb of Elvis at Graceland before finally breaking free, while in Emma Cline’s novel “The Guest,” the doll figure must fend for herself after the trappings of luxury fall away, revealing the precarity of her circumstances. The hosts explore how ideas about whiteness, beauty, and women’s bodily autonomy inform these works, and how the shock of political backsliding might explain why these stories struck a chord with audiences. “Most of us believed that the work of Roe v. Wade was done,” Cunningham says. “If that is a message that we could all grasp—that a step forward is not a permanent thing—I think that would be a positive thing.”Read, watch, and listen with the critics:“Barbie” (2023) “M3GAN” (2023) “Poor Things” (2023) “Priscilla” (2023) “The Guest,” by Emma Cline “The House of Mirth,” by Edith WhartonNew episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts.
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Richard, Chris, and Hillary break down the series finale of The Crown, while producer Suzanne Mackie goes deep on the scene that united Imelda Staunton, Olivia Colman, and Claire Foy for the first time.
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Richard, Chris, and Hillary go deep on episode 9 of The Crown season 6, "Hope Street," while VF staffer and royals expert Julie Miller stops by to explain whether Carole Middleton was as devious in real life as she is on the show.
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Richard, Chris, and Hillary discuss The Crown's farewell to Princess Margaret in season 6, episode 8, "The Ritz"—and later, the celebrated actor details how she prepared for her showcase episode, as well as her long friendship with fellow Crown star Imelda Staunton.
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Still Watching goes back to college for season 6, episode 7 of The Crown, which introduces a young Kate Middleton—and details how her mother's machinations may have put her directly in the path of Prince William. Plus, Chris chats with Ed McVay, who plays William, about nabbing the role of a lifetime.
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In season 6, episode 6 of The Crown, Queen Elizabeth faces an existential crisis, and the modern energy of a beloved new prime minister named Tony Blair. Richard, Chris, and Hillary break it all down, and welcome VF royals expert Erin Vanderhoof to explain Blair and Elizabeth II's complicated relationship.
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Prince William takes center stage in episode five of The Crown season six, as Richard, Chris, and Hillary dissect the future king's days as a teenage heartthrob. Plus, Jonathan Pryce stops by to talk about playing Prince Philip and the royal's special relationship with his grandson.
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In a special bonus episode of Still Watching, Richard, Chris, Hillary, and VF fashion expert Kia Goosby take a break from The Crown to talk Diana’s enduring appeal, her style, and two very different recent projects about the People’s Princess: Spencer and Diana: the Musical.
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Richard, Chris, and Hillary analyze the aftermath of that fatal car crash; plus, episode director Christian Schwochow explains how the show depicted it respectfully, and his approach to Diana’s spectral presence.
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