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      Joseph Wambaugh, Author With a Cop’s-Eye View, Is Dead at 88

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      In novels like “The Glitter Dome” and nonfiction works like “The Onion Field,” he took a harsh, unglamorous look at the realities of law enforcement.Joseph Wambaugh, the master storyteller of police dramas, whose books, films and television tales powerfully caught the hard psychic realities of lonely street cops and flawed detectives trapped in a seedy world of greed and senseless brutality, died on Friday at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He was 88. The cause was esophageal cancer, said Janene Gant, a longtime family friend.In “The Glitter Dome,” Officers Gibson Hand and Buckmore Phipps consider it a joy “to kill people and do other good police work.” In “The Black Marble,” Sgt. Natalie Zimmerman and Sgt. A.M. Valnikov are in love, but it can’t last. In “The Onion Field,” his first work of nonfiction, Mr. Wambaugh wrote of what happened to Officer Karl Hettinger when his partner was slain by thugs: He suffered impotence, nightmares and suicidal thoughts, and his body shrunk.Mr. Wambaugh was blunt about the hidden costs of the job: broken marriages, nervous breakdowns, suicides.Before Mr. Wambaugh’s era as a writer, which began in 1971, police dramas like the television series “Dragnet” were implausible stories about clean-cut heroes doing good. He shattered the mold with portraits of officers as complex, profane, violent and fallible, sliding quickly from rookie illusions of idealism into the streetwise cynicism of veterans, who might have feared death but who feared their own emotions even more.Readers discovered an intimacy with Wambaugh’s cops, taking in the gallows humor, the boredom and sudden dangers; being privy to a partner’s bigotry and cruelty, but tagging along for the action and a share of the fatalism about the job — the inevitability of a murder, a rape or a child molested tonight — and then moving on to another sunset shift out of Hollywood Station.Mr. Wambaugh in 1972, the year after his first novel, “The New Centurions,” was published. He wrote it on the job while working as a police officer.Jill Krementz, all rights reservedWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      TV Shows Like ‘Clean Slate’ Imagine a Transgender Inclusive Society

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      Sitcoms have a history of ushering in social progress and building acceptance. But in a time of backlash and fragmented audiences, that may be harder.“Clean Slate,” on Amazon Prime Video, is the kind of comedy you’ve seen on TV before. A woman leaves her hectic life in New York City for her hometown in Alabama to make a fresh start, repair her relationship with her estranged father, work at the family carwash and, just maybe, find love.The first season is a tall glass of sweet tea — wholesome, a little saccharine and mostly sitcom-standard. Except for one thing: Desiree (Laverne Cox) is transgender, which is a revelation to her gruff, old-school dad, Harry (George Wallace), who last saw her 23 years ago as his “son,” Desmond.What might be most striking about “Clean Slate” is how un-fraught the situation is. After his initial surprise and a few pronoun faux pas, Harry takes his daughter’s identity in stride. So do their friends and neighbors (except for one moralizing preacher). Though the show was co-produced by the late Norman Lear, there is little of the acrimony of his 1970s culture-clash sitcoms like “All in the Family.”The statement, and maybe the fantasy, of the show is to posit a world that largely, casually assumes transgender rights and personhood, even as the headlines from our actual world scream otherwise. Our social problems aren’t absent in “Clean Slate”; at one point, in a burst of fatherly protectiveness, Harry worries that “these streets are not safe for people like Des.” But mostly, the show sticks to quirky family comedy and good-natured wisecracks.The kind of transformation that “Clean Slate” imagines — the movement of a group from controversial to ordinary — is one we’ve seen in other areas of society, most recently around gay rights. That change was itself driven in part by TV shows.From left, Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes in “Will & Grace.” The show has been credited with helping to usher in acceptance of gay marriage.NBCWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Colbert Has Little Sympathy for Trump Voters With Buyers’ Remorse

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      “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert said that Trump voters keep coming back for the same unappetizing thing they’ve been served time and again.Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Bad BusinessA new poll indicates that some Americans feel buyer’s remorse about voting for President Donald Trump.On Thursday’s “Late Show,” Stephen Colbert pointed out that it’s mainly because, after more than a month in office, Trump has yet to eliminate inflation, as he promised during his campaign to do on Day 1.“That was his claim. He said it over and over again, and now, on Day 38, they still think things are too expensive. Somewhere in Delaware, Joe Biden is shaking his head, chuckling to himself, and thinking, ‘Why did I come into this room?’ ” — STEPHEN COLBERT“One thing that continues to make consumers anxious is the high price of breakfast. And with bird flu, there’s no end in sight. According to experts, egg prices could jump 41 percent, meaning this year’s Easter egg hunt is going to be The Purge.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“It’s getting so expensive — this is true — that here in New York, some bodegas are selling individual eggs, known as ‘loosie’ eggs, to customers who can’t afford full cartons. Yum, loose egg! And if you can’t afford those, there’s a guy in the alley in the back.” — STEPHEN COLBERTColbert said he had limited sympathy for Trump supporters.“They ordered the turd soup and then said, ‘Waiter, there’s turds in my soup.’ Then they came back four years later and asked, ‘Y’all still have that turd soup?’” — STEPHEN COLBERTThe Punchiest Punchlines (Bad Sexist Jokes Edition)“So Jeff Bezos is launching a historic rocket mission in which Katy Perry, Gayle King and Lauren Sánchez will be the astronaut in an all-woman mission. They’re calling it the ‘Real Housewives of Mars.’ ” — GREG GUTFELD“The mission will last four hours, but the women are expected to take six weeks to get ready.” — GREG GUTFELD“Also, there will be a booster rocket following their spaceship carrying all their luggage — because they’re chicks.” — GREG GUTFELDThe Bits Worth WatchingThe actress Gabrielle Union talked about her role in the new all-star crime comedy “Riff Raff” on Thursday’s “Daily Show.”Also, Check This Out“This was the only way I could get invited,” O’Brien joked about his hosting duties.The comedian and former late night host Conan O’Brien feels nervous but excited about taking on the typically thankless role of hosting the Academy Awards. More

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      ‘Running Point’ Is a Fun Basketball Comedy With a Deep Bench

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      Inspired loosely by the life of Jeanie Buss, the Netflix series counts Mindy Kaling among its creators and Kate Hudson among its stacked cast.“Running Point” is an amiable Netflix comedy starring Kate Hudson as an underestimated nepo adult tapped to run the fabled basketball team her late father once led. She is thrilled, if a bit overwhelmed, by the opportunity. Her brothers, who also work for the franchise, warn her to stay off Reddit.Hudson here is Isla, who never got as much attention from her father as her brothers did. But the Los Angeles Waves is the family business, and she is part of the family. The eldest, Cam (Justin Theroux), was ably running the show, but he gets sent off to rehab in the pilot. The doofy Ness (Scott MacArthur) is all heart, no brains, while the brittle Sandy (Drew Tarver) is all brains, no heart. So it’s up to the reformed party girl Isla to wrangle the players, make trade deals, manage the coaching staff, find sponsors and schmooze with other bigwigs to keep the Waves in playoff contention.She knows her stuff, though; as with any generic comedic heroine, her one flaw is clumsiness, and she walks into glass doors often enough that she spends a good chunk of her life with an old-timey ice pack against her noggin.“Point” is loosely inspired by the Lakers’s Jeanie Buss, who is among its executive producers. The show was created by Mindy Kaling, Ike Barinholtz and David Stassen, whose last major collaboration was Kaling’s “The Mindy Project,” and by Elaine Ko. This outing feels watered down in comparison to “Mindy,” but it is still awfully good company, and its 10 episodes have an affable, sunny ease. It is also featherweight and ambitionless — not actually funny, but often fun.What the show lacks in depth or bite it gains in breadth and scope, and the cast runneth over: Brenda Song as Isla’s BFF and assistant; Jay Ellis as the successful, hunky coach; Chet Hanks as the troublemaker player who doesn’t know what “refute” means. Max Greenfield plays Isla’s doting fiancé, and Jon Glaser plays the abrasive sports radio host. If Tarver is basically playing his same character from “The Other Two,” so be it.“Point” seems happy enough to be reminiscent of other, better shows, which is perhaps the defining paradigm of current-day streaming comedies. Well, that and galling product integration, which “Point” also embraces.There is very little basketball here, so the characters rely instead on movies to guide their ideas, taking direction from “Casino,” “The Wedding Singer” and the “John Wick” franchise. “My life is not a good sports movie,” Isla sighs. Keep practicing, Isla! There’s always next year. More

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      ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘Buffy’ Actors Mourn Michelle Trachtenberg

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      Blake Lively, Sarah Michelle Gellar and other stars remembered Trachtenberg’s work ethic and friendship in social media posts.News of Michelle Trachtenberg’s death at 39 on Wednesday sent shock waves through Hollywood, especially among actors who worked with her on movies like “Harriet the Spy” and the beloved TV shows “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Gossip Girl.”Blake LivelyLively, who played Serena van der Woodsen on “Gossip Girl,” called Trachtenberg “electricity” and shared a photo on Instagram of the first day they met. She also praised the work ethic of Trachtenberg, who played Georgina Sparks in 27 episodes of the show.“Everything she did, she did 200%,” Lively wrote in an Instagram story. “She laughed the fullest at someone’s joke, she faced authority head on when she felt something was wrong, she cared deeply about her work, she was proud to be a part of this community and industry as painful as it could be sometimes.”Sarah Michelle GellarGellar, the star of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” shared a stack of eight photos with Trachtenberg, who played Dawn Summers in more than 60 episodes of the show. One photo showed Buffy embracing Dawn in an episode titled “Forever.”“Michelle, listen to me,” Gellar captioned the photos, referring to a famous “Buffy” quote. “Listen. I love you. I will always love you. The hardest thing in this world, is to live in it. I will be brave. I will live… for you.”Chace CrawfordCrawford praised Trachtenberg as one of a kind and recalled her strong presence on the set of “Gossip Girl,” where he played Nate Archibald. “I remember her coming on set for the first time and just absolutely owning it,” he wrote on Instagram. “She was a force of nature and just so, so unapologetically funny and magnetic.”Alyson HanniganHannigan, who played Willow Rosenberg on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” said on Instagram that Trachtenberg “brought a loving energy to the set.”J. Smith-CameronSmith-Cameron, who also starred in the 1996 movie “Harriet the Spy,” told People that the young actress was excited to lead her first film at the age of 11. “Her natural ebullient nature was ratcheted up into giddiness as she tried to learn how to handle all that came with that,” she said.Additional TributesTributes also poured in from Melissa Joan Hart, Chris Colfer and Kenan Thompson. Rosie O’Donnell, who worked with Trachtenberg on “Harriet the Spy,” told People that the younger actor had “struggled the last few years” without providing specifics. More

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      How Yehonatan Indursky Fled His Ultra-Orthodox Life — and Returned

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      Yehonatan Indursky showed me around Ponevezh Yeshiva one evening in January. Known in Israel as “the Harvard of yeshivas,” Ponevezh sits perched on a hill above the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak. We stood at the back of its vast central study hall. Hundreds of white-shirted teenagers and young men packed the room, hugging the lecterns where their leather-bound Talmudic volumes lay open, the holy texts close to their chests, as if the ancient words could be absorbed not only by their minds but also by their bodies.Two decades ago, Indursky was one of them. Tzitzit, the specially knotted tassels a reminder of his relationship with God, dangled at his hips. He was eager to have me see this exalted school, where he had lived and studied. But certain things didn’t look exalted. Except for the gilded aron kodesh, the structure where the Torah scroll is housed, the main study hall was unadorned. The bulbs were bare, maximizing their harsh fluorescent light. The floors of a corridor and study nook were strewed with litter. On the grounds outside, we passed a decrepit refrigerator sitting like forgotten junk. The Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, Indursky said, “are less conscious of superficial things.” Even the dishevelment held spiritual devotion.At Ponevezh, Indursky had dedicated himself to the Torah and Talmud during nearly all his waking hours. But then, when he was 18, he fled the yeshiva. He fled his family. He shed his kipa and high-sitting wide-brimmed black hat. He cut off his payos, the long sacred locks that grew from his temples.He fled — and eventually created “Shtisel,” a television series delving into the world he abandoned, a deeply layered portrait of a Jerusalem family cloistered within Haredi society. And though its niche subject, delicate stories and quiet tone might have doomed it to drift into oblivion, the show was a hit when it debuted in Israel in 2013. For the first of its three seasons, it won 11 Israeli Television Academy Awards, including for best drama series and best drama screenplay. In Israel, The Forward reported, “Shtisel” was everywhere: “Huge billboards featuring the show’s bearded and side-locked characters popped up in secular Tel Aviv, a city where it’s more usual to see images of bikini-clad supermodel Bar Refaeli looming over the freeway.”In the United States, the show was a surprise phenomenon when Netflix brought it here five years later. What came to be known as “Shtisel mania” spread across Jewish communities throughout the country; a pair of events at the Streicker Center at Temple Emanu-El, a Reform synagogue in Manhattan, sold out within hours, drawing more than 4,500 fans.In both countries, the show’s devotees included the Haredi. Despite the ultra-Orthodox ban on television and the blocks installed on their devices to prevent most internet access, many found a way to watch the series. Rigidly isolated as the Haredi are, Indursky said, there are always people in the community ready to assist with working around media restrictions. Indursky’s father, a retired copy editor of religious texts, told me that when “Shtisel” appeared, he was asked by a worshiper at his Jerusalem synagogue, “What is it with your son that he does shame to the community?” But this was the minority view. “The Haredi were excited,” Indursky’s father said. “A lot of people asked could I get them CDs.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Desi Lydic: Trump Just ‘Put a Cover Charge on America’

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      “It’s $5 million to get in, but he’ll waive it if you bring in three hot girls with you,” Lydic said of President Trump’s “gold card” visa idea on the “Daily Show.”Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Putting a Cover Charge on AmericaPresident Donald Trump announced his new “gold card” program on Tuesday, which would price American citizenship at $5 million.“Oh, green card privileges plus. See, I was still getting America with ads,” Desi Lydic said on Wednesday’s “Daily Show.”“Quick question: If I’m unhappy with America, can I cancel my subscription after seven days?” — DESI LYDIC“Did this guy just put a cover charge on America? It’s $5 million to get in, but he’ll waive it if you bring in three hot girls with you.” — DESI LYDIC“I mean, I guess it beats the old way of becoming a citizen, which was to marry Donald Trump, but still.” — DESI LYDIC“I feel like immigrant stories are going to be a lot less inspiring in the future: ‘My grandfather came to this country with nothing but $5 million and the clothes in his custom Louis Vuitton five-piece trunk set.’” — DESI LYDICThe Punchiest Punchlines (Land of $5 Million Citizenship Edition)“One group that Trump embraced in the last 24 hours is immigrants. Well, rich ones, because yesterday, Trump announced he’s going to offer gold card visas for $5 million to rich foreigners, echoing the eternal words on the Statue of Liberty: ‘Give me your tired, your poor — psych! Gimme 5 million bucks, [expletive]! We buyin’ bottles in the clurb.’” — STEPHEN COLBERT“What a good idea. I’ve always said our immigration system should run more like the customer rewards program at a casino in Atlantic City.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“This is basically what he does at Mar-a-Lago. He’s selling memberships to a country club, but this club is actually our country.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“The land of the free, and by ‘free,’ I mean, five million bucks.” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Bits Worth WatchingStephen Colbert asked Wednesday night’s “Late Show” guest Guy Fieri how he thought he’d fare as a contestant on his own reality cooking competition, “Tournament of Champions.”What We’re Excited About on Thursday NightBob the Drag Queen will appear on Thursday’s “After Midnight.”Also, Check This OutBob Dylan’s earliest demo tape, a reel-to-reel recording of a performance in Greenwich Village in 1961, is up for auction.via RR AuctionA reel-to-reel recording of a 20-year-old Bob Dylan performing a six-song set at a Manhattan coffeehouse in 1961 is now up for auction. More

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      Who Makes the Red Carpet? Steve.

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      On a recent weekday morning in La Mirada, a suburb outside Los Angeles, Steve Olive, 58, walked among hundreds of carpet rolls in red, green and lavender in a white, sun-drenched, 36,000-square-foot warehouse.Laid out on the floor was a 150-foot stretch of rug, delivered by truck from Georgia a few days before, in the custom shade of Academy Red that is only available for the Oscars.Mr. Olive himself may not be famous, but celebrities have strolled the plush craftsmanship of his carpet for nearly three decades.His company, Event Carpet Pros, has supplied carpets for the Oscars, Golden Globes, Grammys and Emmys, as well as for Disney, Marvel and Warner Bros. movie premieres and the Super Bowl.And, at a moment when carpets have moved beyond the classic red and become splashier and more intricate, his handiwork has become more prominent. He has crafted custom designs like a shimmering, sunlit pool carpet for the 2023 “Barbie” world premiere and a green-and-black ectoplasm drip carpet for the “Ghostbusters” world premiere in 2016 that took a month to create.“I haven’t come across anything that we couldn’t do,” Mr. Olive, who founded the company with his brother-in-law, Walter Clyne, in 1992, said in an interview.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More