Wednesday, June 5, 2019

How Chernobyl Became Spring’s Must-Watch

HBO’s Chernobyl debuted during a season dominated by another headline-grabbing HBO production, Game of Thrones—but by the time of its finale on Monday, the fact-based limited series was the talk of social media. Why? Simply put, because it’s good. “I watched the screeners with my husband, and for days afterward we were googling the disaster, sending morbid facts to each other,” writes TV critic Sonia Saraiya, in a piece that explores the strange power of Chernobyl (and details how it succeeds where other recent, more glib doom-and-gloom-based series fail). “I called my father, a history buff, and recommended the show; turns out he’s already watched the first four episodes, has set his DVR to record the fifth, and in the meantime has researched all the active nuclear power plants in the United States. Chernobyl gets under your skin.”
Elsewhere in HWD, Geena Davis and David Lynchprepare for their honorary Academy close-ups; Laura Bradley explains how a storied Jeopardy! champ fell just short of setting a new record; a gaggle of major names in theater, including Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge, pose for a gorgeous portfolio photographed by Sebastian Kim;and we have 10 streaming recommendations for anyone yearning to usher in summer with a few teen movie favorites.