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The Latest Articles by Mary McNamara

Mary McNamara: Sheryl Lee Ralph and Jennifer Coolidge helped save the Emmys from boring back-to-normal

LOS ANGELES — For an entertainment journalist, nothing says "back to normal" more than trying to figure out the logistics of attending an awards show. After two years of remote-work comfort, one rebels against even the thought of Spanx, and I am too old and jaded for heels. It's the…

Los Angeles Times

Mary McNamara: For Americans, Queen Elizabeth II was the central character in the world's longest-running soap opera

My mother often shared two memories of her experience as a young woman during World War II: Her grandmother, an Irish woman with memories of hunger and fear under British rule, cheering the Blitz, to her family's horror; and the impressive sight of the royal family remaining in London even…

Los Angeles Times

Mary McNamara: We bonded over Tolkien when my son was 4. So of course we live-texted 'Rings of Power'

I took my son Danny to see "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" when he was not quite 5 years old.

Los Angeles Times

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Mary McNamara: September is the cruelest month — at least in LA

If I ever leave Los Angeles, it will not be because of the traffic, or the city's inability to aid the unhoused, or even the sight of all those celebrity lawns in the middle of a drought.

Los Angeles Times

Mary McNamara: Is 'The Patient' a full-blown allegory for the pandemic, or is it just me?

In the new FX for Hulu limited series "The Patient," Sam Fortner (Domhnall Gleeson) abducts and imprisons his therapist, Dr. Alan Strauss (Steve Carell) in the hope that Strauss can cure him of his homicidal compulsions. The story can be, and has been, described in many ways — a psychological…

Los Angeles Times

Mary McNamara: What color is an elf? Or a Sea Snake? And why do you care?

When attacked on social media for having the temerity to play Lord Corlys Velaryon on "House of the Dragon" while Black, Steve Toussaint replied the only way a thinking actor could: "They are happy with a dragon flying," he said during a recent interview in Men's Health. "They're happy with…

Los Angeles Times

Mary McNamara: The social anxiety of social media has celebrities 'quiet quitting.' Here's why

Maybe we should start calling it social-anxiety media.

Los Angeles Times

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Mary McNamara: Why is it so hard to talk about marriage?

I've been thinking about marriage a lot lately. My 25th wedding anniversary is coming up and I keep waiting to get some sort of a performance-review notice in my email. Not that I know what I'd say for either the self- or the spouse evaluation part — maybe I'd just…

Los Angeles Times

Mary McNamara: Hey, Malcolm Gladwell, I'm working in my jammies and I'm just fine

On the podcast "The Diary of a CEO," Malcolm Gladwell recently lectured the American workforce about the importance of returning to the office. Two and half years into a pandemic, working from home is not, he said, in people's best interest. They need to return to the real-time gaze of…

Los Angeles Times

Jennifer Coolidge has been a big deal for years; with an Emmy nod, she's starting to believe it

LOS ANGELES — Here are two stories told by an actor; try to guess who it is.

Los Angeles Times

Mary McNamara: Dear Hollywood: Next time, choose to film in Kansas

Dear Hollywood,

Los Angeles Times

Mary McNamara: Once again, Joni Mitchell gives us all a reason to live

Some days, it is hard not to despair. Europe is on fire and also Yosemite; Russia continues to bombard Ukraine, a religious minority wages war against women and monkeypox invades an already COVID-riddled world. Mass shootings have become a daily occurrence, the damning evidence of the Jan. 6 committee is…

Los Angeles Times

Mary McNamara: Why Netflix's no-good, not-very-bad quarter satisfies our love-hate relationship

For those of us outside the world of high finance, it is rare to take deep satisfaction in the financial status of any company that doesn't sign our own checks. But the most recent Netflix quarterly report was, in many ways, a thing of bad-news-equals-good-news beauty.

Los Angeles Times

Mary McNamara: COVID brain fog is real, and with everything everywhere happening at once, it's a mercy

When people started talking about the COVID brain fog, I thought it sounded faintly ridiculous, like one of those diagnoses made in Victorian literature to cover anything from meningitis to menopause.

Los Angeles Times

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Los Angeles Times

Mary McNamara: Are TV dramas ... OK? The Emmys nod to cynical visions of a world beyond our control

It would be nice to view the Emmys as a moment of escapist fun.

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