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Critics at Large | The New Yorker

The New Yorker

Critics at Large is a weekly culture podcast from The New Yorker. Every Thursday, the staff writers Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss current obsessions, classic texts they’re revisiting with fresh eyes, and trends that are emerging across books, television, film, and more. The show runs the gamut of the arts and pop culture, with lively, surprising conversations about everything from Salman Rushdie to “The Real Housewives.” Through rigorous analysis and behind-the-scenes insights into The New Yorker’s reporting, the magazine’s critics help listeners make sense of our moment—and how we got here.

Condé Nast 2023

Critics at Large is a weekly culture podcast from The New Yorker. Every Thursday, the staff writers Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss current obsessions, classic texts they’re revisiting with fresh eyes, and trends that are emerging across books, television, film, and more. The show runs the gamut of the arts and pop culture, with lively, surprising conversations about everything from Salman Rushdie to “The Real Housewives.” Through rigorous analysis and behind-the-scenes insights into The New Yorker’s reporting, the magazine’s critics help listeners make sense of our moment—and how we got here.

Condé Nast 2023
28hr 37min
Thumbnail for "“Curb Your Enthusiasm” and the Art of the Finale".
April 11, 202444min 33sec
Thumbnail for "The Therapy Episode".
June 20, 202445min 27sec
Thumbnail for "Is Travel Broken?".
June 13, 202448min 29sec
Thumbnail for "The Many Faces of the Hit Man".
June 6, 202446min 51sec
Thumbnail for "The Rising Tide of Slowness".
May 30, 202447min 6sec
Thumbnail for "The New Midlife Crisis".
May 23, 202445min 18sec
Thumbnail for "Kendrick Lamar, Drake, and the Benefits of Beef".
May 16, 202446min 16sec
Thumbnail for "Our Collective Obsession with True Crime".
May 9, 202451min 19sec
Thumbnail for "Why the Sports Movie Always Wins".
May 2, 202445min 49sec
Thumbnail for "“Civil War” ’s Unsettling Images".
April 18, 202446min 10sec
Thumbnail for "Why We Want What Tom Ripley Has".
April 4, 202447min 31sec
Thumbnail for "Kate Middleton and the Internet’s Communal Fictions".
March 28, 202445min 20sec
Thumbnail for "Is Science Fiction the New Realism?".
March 21, 202446min
Thumbnail for "The New Coming-of-Age Story".
March 14, 202450min 1sec
Thumbnail for "Why We Love an Office Drama ".
March 7, 202447min 19sec
Thumbnail for "The Politics of the Oscar Race".
February 29, 202448min 37sec
Thumbnail for "How Usher, Beyoncé, and Taylor Swift Build Their Own Legacies".
February 15, 202444min 8sec
Thumbnail for "The Painful Pleasure of “Wretched Love”".
February 8, 202445min 52sec
Thumbnail for "Why We Can’t Quit the Mean Girl".
February 1, 202445min 48sec
Thumbnail for "From In the Dark: The Runaway Princesses".
January 30, 202414min 7sec
Thumbnail for "What Is the Comic For?".
January 25, 202449min 20sec
Thumbnail for "The Case for Criticism".
January 18, 202443min 15sec
Thumbnail for "Can Slowness Save Us?".
January 11, 202447min 23sec
Thumbnail for "Portraits of the Artist".
January 4, 202446min 49sec
Thumbnail for "From The New Yorker Radio Hour: a Conversation with Dolly Parton".
December 28, 202324min 37sec
Thumbnail for "The Year of the Doll".
December 21, 202345min 46sec
Thumbnail for "George Santos and the Art of the Scam".
he ex-congressman has already pivoted from politics to pop culture—and become the latest beneficiary of America’s enduring fascination with con artists. Are we the ones being duped?
December 14, 202345min 44sec
Thumbnail for "Hayao Miyazaki’s Magical Realms".
The Japanese filmmaker behind “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Spirited Away” is renowned for stories about resourceful children navigating surreal, often perilous circumstances. In “The Boy and the Heron,” the eighty-two-year-old makes a rare return to his own youth.
December 7, 202344min 55sec
Thumbnail for "The Past, Present, and Future of the Period Drama".
“The Buccaneers,” a new television series based on the Edith Wharton novel of the same name, is the latest in a string of shows to mix a historical setting and a distinctly modern sensibility. Are the updates revelatory, or pandering?
November 30, 202345min 13sec
Thumbnail for "Samantha Irby Knows How to Be Funny".
Samantha Irby Knows How to Be Funny
November 21, 202341min 1sec
Thumbnail for "Is “The Golden Bachelor” Too Good to Be True?".
Is “The Golden Bachelor” Too Good to Be True?
November 16, 202343min 42sec
Thumbnail for "Why We Dine Out (or Don’t)".
Why We Dine Out (or Don’t)
November 9, 202343min 51sec
Thumbnail for "Britney Spears Tells Her Horror Story".
Britney Spears Tells Her Horror Story
November 2, 202343min 33sec
Thumbnail for "Martin Scorsese’s America".
Martin Scorsese’s America
October 26, 202343min 25sec
Thumbnail for "Are Straight Couples O.K.?".
Are Straight Couples O.K.?
October 19, 202344min 9sec
Thumbnail for "Spies, Sex, and John le Carré".
Spies, Sex, and John le Carré
October 12, 202341min 36sec
Thumbnail for "Taylor Swift Is Everywhere All at Once".
Taylor Swift Is Everywhere All at Once
October 5, 202341min 10sec
Thumbnail for "The Myth-Making of Elon Musk".
The Myth-Making of Elon Musk
September 28, 202339min 9sec
Thumbnail for "What Is Cringecore, and Why Is It Everywhere?".
What Is Cringecore, and Why Is It Everywhere?
September 28, 202337min 34sec
Thumbnail for "Introducing: Critics at Large".
On a new culture podcast, The New Yorker’s critics take on some of the defining texts of our era, from Rushdie to “The Real Housewives.”
September 21, 20232min 58sec

“Curb Your Enthusiasm” and the Art of the Finale

Thumbnail for "“Curb Your Enthusiasm” and the Art of the Finale".
April 11, 202444min 33sec

Since the turn of the millennium, HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” has slyly satirized the ins and outs of social interaction. The series—which follows a fictionalized version of its creator and star, Larry David, as he gets into petty disputes with anyone and everyone who crosses his path—aired its last episode on Sunday, marking the end of a twelve-season run. On this episode of Critics at Large, the staff writers Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss the show’s “weirdly moving” conclusion as well as its over-all legacy. Then they consider other notable TV endings: some divisive (“Sex and the City”), some critically acclaimed (“Succession”), some infamously rage-inspiring (“Game of Thrones”). What are the moral and narrative stakes of a finale, and why do we subject these episodes—which represent only a tiny fraction of the work as a whole—to such crushing analytic pressure? “This idea of an ending ruining the show is alien to me,” Cunningham says. “I won’t contest that endings are different—distinct. Are they better? I don’t know.”

Read, watch, and listen with the critics:

“Curb Your Enthusiasm” (2000-24)

“Seinfeld” (1989-98)

“Sex and the City” (1998-2004)

“Succession” (2018-23)

“The Hills” (2006-10)

“Game of Thrones” (2011-19)

“Breaking Bad” (2008-13) 

“Little Women,” by Louisa May Alcott