Essays on TV and film — exploring stories, characters, and the choices behind them.
Hillman College is fictional. In Netflix’s A Different World sequel, however, parts of the campus belong to Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Clark Atlanta University. These are real historically Black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, in Atlanta. There is no single Hillman campus to enroll in. The series assembles its college from places that already … Read more
The disappearing acts in Wonka’s The Golden Ticket were built to work in front of the contestants. According to illusion designer Adam Mada, the person sitting opposite a vanishing player had to be fooled along with the television audience. These were practical illusions, performed on set. Nobody was actually teleported, and the claim does not … Read more
Wen survives Knock at the Cabin. Her two fathers, Eric and Andrew, are married. Four strangers hold the family hostage and claim the world will end unless they sacrifice one of their own. At the film’s end, Eric offers his life and asks Andrew to shoot him. Andrew does, then leaves with Wen as the … Read more
Katie Wilcox’s Shark Tank deal in the 2026 family comedy The Breadwinner is fictional. So is the Star Minder, the household organizer she pitches. The Sharks and their set are real, but the investment exists to send Katie (Mandy Moore) on a business trip and leave her husband Nate (Nate Bargatze) in charge of their … Read more
The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist uses handmade animation because its directors wanted an intimate, tactile way into a subject usually explained through screens and expert interviews. Co-director Charlie Tyrell told POV that the imperfections of physical objects, including fingerprints on puppets, were part of the appeal. The choice gave the film … Read more
Lizzie Borden was acquitted because the prosecution did not persuade a jury that she had murdered her father and stepmother beyond a reasonable doubt. The case had gaps in its physical evidence, important testimony was excluded, and her defense benefited from ideas about what a respectable woman could do. On June 20, 1893, the jury … Read more
Yes. Netflix’s The Doll is based on Lalka, the Polish novel by Bolesław Prus that appeared in book form in 1890. The six-part series keeps the central pair: Stanisław Wokulski, a merchant who has forced his way into wealthy Warsaw society, and Izabela Łęcka, the aristocratic woman he wants. But “based on” needs an asterisk … Read more
The mug is a good place to start. In a publicity photograph for The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, a bearded man stands beside a breakfast table on a boat, with calm blue water behind him. His gun stays at his waist while he holds his drink. It is an inviting image for a movie about … Read more
The Seemingly Perfect Family arrives on Netflix with an irresistible label: “inspired by true events.” It also reached No. 1 on Netflix’s US movie chart on September 20. But the label answers less than it appears to. Lifetime’s official page does not name a case, a victim, or even the event that supposedly inspired the … Read more
No, not in the usual sense. The longer answer is more useful. Netflix’s Best of the Best is not presented as the biography of one dance team. Maya and Anjali are characters, and UCLA Agni is not the name of UCLA’s real Bollywood-fusion team. The national contest they chase, however, was not invented for the … Read more