
Laurie Ulster

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
If you love the idea of an old-fashioned Star Trek that lives up to today’s standards of inclusion and diversity (so, minus the ‘60s sexism), this is going to be right up your alley.

Watching Star Trek: Picard? Binge These Q and Guinan Episodes First
Q (John de Lancie) and Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) are back in S2 of Star Trek: Picard, so let’s revisit the memorable TNG episodes featuring these two fan-favorite characters.

Abbott Elementary
Abbott Elementary will catch you off guard and surprise you. It captures the balance between comedy and heart, much like its mockumentary predecessors—but with a new spin, because the work these characters are doing truly matters.

The Center Seat
A combination of a deep dive and a crash course into Star Trek from its inception up through the early 2000s, covering the shows, movies, and the phenomenon itself.

Star Trek: Prodigy
The values of Star Trek, and then some: unity, diversity, individuality, optimism, idealism and hope. What more could you ask for? How about the return of Captain Janeway? Yeah, it’s got that too.

Star Trek: Lower Decks
An action-packed sci-fi comedy set in a Star Trek universe that it both reveres and lovingly mocks.

Why Star Trek: Picard Works Better as a Binge
To understand the power of the Star Trek franchise, binge watch Picard. The time is right.

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, a Musical About Grief, Is Perfect for Our Time
At its heart, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist is a musical about navigating grief. Because of that, it makes a beeline through the clutter of my thoughts and reaches straight into my heart.

Laurie Ulster

The Prom
Adapted from the Tony-winning Broadway musical and directed by Ryan Murphy, this all-star crowdpleaser aims to fill that giant live theater hole in your holiday heart.

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
A sweet, fun, magical musical fairy tale that deserves to become a new holiday classic.

Holiday Musicals for Your Living Room
Nothing can compare to live theater electrified by dancing, singing performers who can make music soar to the rafters. Theater productions are a holiday tradition that will be sorely missed by many this year. But there’s some good news: for the first time, several of the most in-demand holiday productions can be watched on a

Tehran Season 1
A timely, nail-biting spy thriller that you won’t be able to stop watching, Tehran is as illuminating as it is gripping.

Mrs. America
Mrs. America is a good place to start exploring where our current political and cultural divisions started widening. Anyone who lived through these years can vouch that there was a lot at stake.

The Family Stone
An all-star classic that inflicts just enough discomfort to feel cathartic because of its familiarity. You’ll feel like a member of this functioning dysfunctional family.

Dash & Lily
If all the usual formulaic holiday movies are starting to blend into each other, this YA Christmas love story is refreshingly different.

My Octopus Teacher
A stunning, often magical and emotional documentary that inspires awe and empathy, My Octopus Teacher brings a personal narrative to a nature documentary and captures the brilliance of a familiar sea creature like nothing before it.

Universal Language
An absurdist dramedy about the clash of two worlds, Universal Language entertains as much as it motivates. Beyond the madness lies an urgent plea for unity, an appeal that resonates with people hoping for a better, more harmonious future.

Industry S1
Industry is a series fueled by greed, drugs, sex, and money, and provides all of these ingredients in Federal Reserve-sized quantities. There’s never a dull moment.

Minx
The streaming series about the intersection between feminism and smut could endear even the most skeptical. And what it might lack in delicacy, it certainly makes up for in swagger.

The Sympathizer
Told through the perspective of a conflicted hero with contradicting loyalties, The Sympathizer is an ambitious examination of a spy who can’t help but sympathize — hence, the title of the series — with the enemy. It might make you rethink everything you were taught about the Vietnam War too.

Robert Redford’s Impact: Four Films to Watch
He was “one of the lions,” as Meryl Streep put it, an American touchstone who changed filmmaking and opened the gates for new generations of storytellers, becoming a central force in independent cinema. To understand the impact his films have had – on previous generations, on our culture, on so many other films – we’ve

Itaewon Class (Itaewon Keullasseu)
A colorful, ultimately inspiring tale for budding entrepreneurs, restauranteurs, and empire-builders. It also works as a vicarious adventure in Seoul.

The Back-to-College Binge Watch Playlist
Remember when you could sleep until noon, stumble to class in pajamas, and stay up until 2am watching weird art films? Fall is when many of us become wistful about that bumpy chapter of extended adolescence, when you start to discover who you truly are and make some truly regrettable choices. In honor of all

Eddington is a pandemic parable. But what is it trying to say?
Set in May 2020 in a fictional New Mexico town, Pedro Pascal and Joaquin Phoenix’s new film Eddington draws some parallels to two of the biggest breakout shows of the past decade: The Last of Us and The Walking Dead. It’s a story about a virus that’s less about death and more about exposing the living.

A Watercooler Watch: Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything
Before social media and podcasts, there was one undeniable truth about news-making interviews: if a story mattered, Barbara Walters would be the one to tell it. Landing a one-on-one with her didn’t just mean publicity, it meant you had become part of a national conversation. But while the interview signified that you had made it,