EPISODE · Apr 22, 2020 · 45 MIN
Emily Nussbaum: I Like to Watch
from Live Mic: Best of TPL Conversations · host Toronto Public Library
*Note: given the current temporary closure of TPL due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have made our best efforts to offer suggestions below for materials which are part our online collections, and available at home to anyone with a current Toronto Public Library card. Why are wait time for ebooks or audiobooks sometimes so long? Learn more about limits on the number of eBook copies and the length of time they can be borrowed. Book by Emily NussbaumI Like to Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV RevolutionBooks by Rachel GieseBoys: What it Means to Become a ManBooks on TV mentioned in I Like To WatchI’ll Be There for You: The One About Friends by Kelsey MillerSex and the City by Candace BushnellI Think I’m Outta Here: A Memoir of All My Families by Carroll O’ConnorThe Sopranos Sessions by Matt Zoller SeitzOther Seminal Books on TVTV (the book) by Alan SepinwallThe Platinum Age of Television: From I Love Lucy to The Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific by David BianculliSitcom: A History in 24 Episodes by Saul AusterlitzOther Related MaterialsI Love Top Ten Lists (article from The New Yorker)Critic Emily Nussbaum on the charms of modern television-watching (article from Vox)Critic Emily Nussbaum Weighs In on Best TV shows of the Decade (clip from NPR)Live Mic: Best of TPL Conversations features curated discussions and interviews with some of today’s best-known and yet-to-be-known writers, thinkers and artists, recorded on stage at one of Toronto Public Library’s 100 branches. Episodes are produced by Natalie Kertes, Jorge Amigo, and Gregory McCormick. Technical support by Michelle De Marco and George Panayotou. AV support by Jennifer Kasper and Mesfin Bayssassew. Marketing support by Tanya Oleksuik. Music is by The Worst Pop Band Ever.
What this episode covers
The Pulitzer Prize-winning culture critic, Emily Nussbaum, went from graduate student to TV superfan after watching an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Since then, Nussbaum’s criticism rejects the idea that there is a hierarchy that elevates certain types of TV (dramatic, gritty, violent) over another (joyful, funny, stylized). She embraces the idea that there are many types of beauty, complexity and nuance in a variety of artistic visions and voices. Her collection of essays, I Like to Watch, celebrates television for what it is, even as the way we consume it changes constantly. Emily Nussbaum has written for The New Yorker since 2011. She is the winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for criticism and the 2014 National Magazine Award for Columns and Commentary. Previously, she was the TV critic and editor of the Culture Pages for New York magazine, where she created the Approval Matrix, the playful cultural charticle that closes each issue. Nussbaum has written for The New York Times, Slate and Lingua Franca. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Clive Thompson, and their two children. Rachel Giese is an award-winning journalist and the editorial director of Xtra, the world’s oldest LGBTQ2 media organization. Her book, Boys: What it Means to Become a Man, was named one of the Globe and Mail’s 100 favourite books of 2018. For years, her weekly column on politics, pop culture and feminism appeared in Chatelaine, where she was the editor-at-large. She is also a regular contributor to CBC Radio and the Globe and Mail. Giese has taught journalism at Ryerson University, and U of T’s Munk School of Global Affairs. She lives in Toronto with her wife and son.
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Emily Nussbaum: I Like to Watch
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