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      A Reporter Whose Beat Blends Sports and Culture

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      Emmanuel Morgan is enticed by how athletes and sports leagues are increasingly dipping into music, television and other media.Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.When Emmanuel Morgan was hired as a sports reporter covering the N.F.L. and combat sports for The New York Times in 2021, the job felt familiar. After all, Mr. Morgan, who grew up playing football, had been writing about the sport since high school. He went on to cover the N.F.L. for The Los Angeles Times for nearly two years.“I knew the N.F.L. and the U.F.C. and all these other sports so well,” said Mr. Morgan, 27, who also covered high school sports and basketball for The Los Angeles Times, including helping report on the death of Kobe Bryant in 2020.So when The Times disbanded its Sports department last year, he took the opportunity to stretch himself and pitch a new beat: the intersection of sports and pop culture.“I’m not a movie critic or a Broadway-goer, but I follow pop culture, I watch Netflix and I listen to music constantly — in the shower every day, on the subway,” he said. “I had my pulse on it.” Over the past eight months, Mr. Morgan, now on the Culture desk, has written about the pop culture phenomenon of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, the growing relationship between the N.F.L. and streaming services and the rise of athlete podcasts.In an interview, he discussed how his daily news consumption has changed and what his favorite reporting experience so far has been. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.You’ve been in the role for a little over eight months now. How is it going so far?I have definitely had to be a lot more creative when it comes to finding story ideas. When I was with the Sports desk, I knew the N.F.L. and the U.F.C. so well — covering sports is very formulaic. You know you have to have previews for big events like the Super Bowl and the N.F.L. draft, and as the season goes on the major story lines and the targets for profiles and features become pretty clear. But with this new beat, I’m reporting on stuff you don’t see on TV or Twitter, and there are a lot more options, since I’m not just focusing on the N.F.L. and U.F.C. anymore. I have to make a lot more phone calls and talk to more people.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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      In ‘Clipped,’ Cleopatra Coleman Spreads Her Wings

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      The actor’s versatility has allowed her to stay relatively anonymous, but that may change with her new docudrama about an N.B.A. scandal.Cleopatra Coleman began with red, swirling it toward pink with a fine-tipped brush. An oval appeared on the paper, and then smaller marks joined it — ears, eyebrows, a line for a nose. “I always draw this woman,” Coleman said. “I don’t know why.”This was on a bright May morning and Coleman, a star of the FX limited series “Clipped,” premiering Tuesday on Hulu, was at Happy Medium, an art cafe around the corner from her temporary apartment in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. She had passed it on walks with her dog, George, a rescue Yorkiepoo, and had often felt jealous of the customers there at night, on dates. So this morning, on a day off from filming a new series, “Black Rabbit,” she had taken herself on a date. She had even dressed for the occasion, in a thrift-store T-shirt with a New York State Summer School for the Arts logo. Charcoal and pottery tempted her, but she settled on watercolor.To the picture, Coleman, 36, added a long neck, small breasts, two teeth. More colors came — purple, sunset orange, hints of green — all representing different emotions. Then she took a fresh sheet and began again, painting the same figure in different shades. Since the early days of the pandemic, she has drawn and painted this woman hundreds of times.“It’s always the same woman,” she said.In her professional life, Coleman is almost never the same woman. An actress since her teens, she has bounded among genres and forms. Though her look is distinct — high forehead, full lips, limpid brown eyes — she is often nearly unrecognizable from one role (“The Last Man on Earth,” say, or “Dopesick”) to the next (“Infinity Pool,” “Rebel Moon”). It’s a versatility that has allowed her to stay relatively anonymous. But given her audacious performance in “Clipped,” as V. Stiviano, the personal assistant to Donald Sterling, the disgraced former owner of the N.B.A.’s Los Angeles Clippers, and the promise of “Black Rabbit,” a starry drama set in the world of Manhattan nightlife due out next year, Coleman’s name and face are about to become much better known.That’s what her colleagues want for her. “I hope she breaks the [expletive] out,” Gina Welch, who created “Clipped,” said in an interview. “She’s such a star.”In “Clipped,” Coleman plays the woman who triggered a scandal that led to Donald Sterling (Ed O’Neill), the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, being banned from the N.B.A. (With Jacki Weaver.)Kelsey McNeal/FXWe 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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      What’s on TV This Week: Lots of Bravo and ‘Fantasma’

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      “Summer House” and “The Valley” wrap up as “Below Deck Mediterranean” starts a new season. HBO airs a new show from Julio Torres.For those who still enjoy a cable subscription, here is a selection of cable and network TV shows, movies and specials that broadcast this week, June 3-9. Details and times are subject to change.MondayBELOW DECK MEDITERRANEAN 9 p.m. on Bravo. The original “Below Deck” wound down its season last week with a crew member storming off the boat, but we luckily don’t have to wait long for more yachtie drama because the spinoff “Below Deck Mediterranean” is back for a ninth season. Aesha Scott is returning, this time as chief stew. Scott put her leadership skills on display during the last season of “Below Deck Down Under,” so we’ll see how she manages a whole new team and deals with Captain Sandy Yawn who, let’s say, wants all the toys out at all times.TuesdayTHE VALLEY 9 p.m. on Bravo. The “Vanderpump Rules” season ended last week, and now the first season of its spinoff, “The Valley,” is wrapping up too. Though we know that Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright are now separated, this season has yet to explicitly address it. Thankfully, for those of us who want the nitty-gritty of what went down, Bravo has renewed the show for a second season — with the entire cast coming back.WednesdayJarod Joseph and Dolly Lewis in “Sight Unseen.”Michael Courtney/The CWSIGHT UNSEEN 9 p.m. on The CW. This show, wrapping up its first season, is a twist on your classic crime procedural. Dolly Lewis plays Tess, a homicide detective in Vancouver, must quit the force after being diagnosed as legally blind. Still, she is determined to close her unsolved cases, so she gets a little creative and hires Sunny Patel (Agam Darshi), a professional seeing-eye guide who is agoraphobic and 3,000 miles away in New York. With Sunny seeing and speaking into an earpiece, Tess gets into dicey situations to solve these crimes.ThursdaySUMMER HOUSE REUNION 9 p.m. on Bravo. Typically, “Summer House” is a pretty low-key show. Sure, there is drinking and fighting, but within a day almost all is resolved. This season, though, brought the breakup of Carl Radke and Lindsay Hubbard — two people who started as besties, hooked up briefly and then decided to give their relationship a go. In the season finale, we saw Radke call off his engagement to Hubbard so this reunion is likely action packed.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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      Is This Season of ‘Hacks’ Trolling Jerry Seinfeld?

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      The comedian’s philosophies about the audience and comedy are contradicted in characterizations and plot lines on the Max series.So many movies and television series have shown us the misery of a stand-up comic bombing and the joy of a comedian killing. But skirting cliché, the entertaining third season of “Hacks,” which just concluded, dramatizes a more novel and pointed onstage moment: the crisis of success.Coming off a triumphant special, the comic Deborah Vance (played with charm and compassion by Jean Smart) is trying out new jokes and is rattled to find her audience laughing at everything, no matter how funny.Like most comics, she spent her career developing material by gauging the response of the crowd but must confront a problem familiar to superstar stand-ups. Her new fan base has disrupted that artistic process. Smart plays this realization with nuance, never dropping her performative charisma, but gradually showing surprise, and then panic at the idea that she can no longer trust her audience. This reveals the character’s sensitivity while making a contrarian case against the idea that laughter is a purely honest response.No comic has expressed faith in the crowd as often or with as much conviction as Jerry Seinfeld. He has said that his fame might buy him a few minutes of good will from an audience, but that after that, he must be funny to get a laugh. After seeing him perform many times on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, this always struck me as hard to believe. Maybe if he went onstage and read “The Great Gatsby,” as Andy Kaufman used to do, he might bomb at the Beacon Theater, but I wouldn’t bet on it. Besides being one of the most successful stand-ups alive, Seinfeld is also one of its most prolific talking heads, weighing in on the art in interviews and documentaries. Comedy, to him, is the ultimate meritocracy, perhaps second to (as he has said) the N.F.L.Seinfeld onstage at the Beacon Theater in 2015. No comic has expressed faith in the audience’s honesty as often or with as much conviction as he has.Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Baby Buggy“Hacks” (on Max) is as obsessed as Seinfeld is with the craft and politics of comedy, and it was especially obvious this past season when its episodes coincided with his epic and relentlessly news-making promotional tour for the Netflix movie “Unfrosted.” At times, the series and the star’s media appearances felt as if they were in conversation with each other, with Seinfeld philosophizing about comedy and “Hacks” providing dissents.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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      The Best Movies and TV Shows Coming to Amazon, AMC+, Disney+, Hulu, and More in June

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      “The Boys,” “Orphan Black: Echoes,” “The Bear” and “The Acolyte” will be streaming.Every month, streaming services add movies and TV shows to its library. Here are our picks for some of June’s most promising new titles. (Note: Streaming services occasionally change schedules without giving notice. For more recommendations on what to stream, sign up for our Watching newsletter here.)New to Amazon Prime Video‘The Boys’ Season 4Starts streaming: June 13After a two-year break, this over-the-top action series returns for a fourth season of gleefully vulgar, wickedly satirical riffs on the superhero genre. Based on a comic book franchise created by the writer Garth Ennis and the artist Darick Robertson, “The Boys” is ostensibly about the bitter rivalry between a popular, powerful, government-backed superteam and a band of cynical vigilantes. But following the lead of the Ennis-Robertson source material, the show’s writer-producer Eric Kripke has built this premise into a riotous commentary about the dangers of charismatic leaders. In Season 4, the roguish antihero Bill Butcher (Karl Urban) has to resort to drastic measures to thwart the political ambitions of the authoritarian supe Homelander (Antony Starr), even if he and his cohorts have to splatter the city with superhero blood.Also arriving:June 4“Marlon Wayans: Good Grief”June 6“Counsel Culture”June 18“Power of the Dream”June 20“Federer: Twelve Final Days”June 25“I Am: Celine Dion”June 27“My Lady Jane” Season 1Krysten Ritter and Zariella Langford in “Orphan Black: Echoes.”Sophie Giraud/AMCNew to AMC+‘Orphan Black: Echoes’ Season 1Starts streaming: June 23Set 37 years after the events in the cult favorite science-fiction TV series “Orphan Black,” this spinoff introduces an entirely new heroine, with a new mystery to unravel about the nature of her existence. Krysten Ritter plays Lucy, an amnesiac who escapes from a medical facility and builds a new life off the grid — until an accident draws unwanted attention, sending her back on the run. Then she crosses paths with a teenager, Jules (Amanda Fix), who looks remarkably familiar. Gradually, Lucy begins to piece together her past and the bizarre connection she shares with a handful of other women. A few surprise “Orphan Black” characters return for “Echoes,” as Lucy and Jules start a dangerous investigation into a secret science project gone tragically wrong.Also arriving:June 3“The Babadook”“Family History Mysteries: Buried Past”June 14“Exhuma”June 17“Inspector Rojas”“My Life Is Murder” Season 4We 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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      ‘Sugar’ Actress Kirby on the Only Album She Really Needs

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      She co-starred in the Apple TV+ show with Colin Farrell after appearing in “Killing Eve” and “Barry.” Now when she does a red carpet, she knows to go with Doc Martens.When Kirby accepted the role of Ruby — a Bondish M-meets-Q foil to a Los Angeles private detective played by Colin Farrell — in the Apple TV+ series “Sugar,” she found herself among kindred spirits.“All of us sort of bounce,” she said about the ability of her co-stars Farrell and Amy Ryan to move seamlessly between drama and comedy. “As an actor, you are always looking to engage your audience and excite them, but at the same time, you want to feel excited by the material yourself. For me, it comes from the richness of being able to dip my toe in many worlds.”Kirby’s own bouncing has taken her to TV shows like “Killing Eve,” “Barry” and “The Sandman.” She stars as a commercial cleaner in her latest film project, “We Strangers,” an observation on assimilation, code switching and belonging in Gary, Ind.“That is sort of my pride and joy, I think the best piece of work I’ve done,” she said.In a video call from Los Angeles, Kirby (who last year dropped her surnames Howell-Baptiste) explained why Doc Martens, a Starbucks cup and Solange’s “A Seat at the Table” made her list of cultural necessities. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.1D.I.Y. Massage Therapy With Lacrosse BallsMy new best friend. The lacrosse ball is basically a Thai massage that you can take around with you everywhere. Super easy, but it’s fantastic. I just roll it around on my back or my foot. It’s instant pain relief.2Fly by Jing SaucesThey’re these incredible Chinese sauces by this chef called Jing. You can put them on everything and anything — from boiled eggs to ramen noodles. I buy these sprouted peanuts from the farmers’ market. And then I just chop up some shallots, do some black sesame seed and mix the Fly by Jing sauce in. It is truly a winner.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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      ‘Doctor Who’ Episode 5 Recap: Bursting the Bubble

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      The Doctor saves a rich wannabe vlogger from being eaten by a giant slug, but a final twist leaves him reeling.Season 1, Episode 5: ‘Dot and Bubble’We’ve passed the midway point in this season of “Doctor Who,” and the show’s ambition shows no sign of subsiding. After playing with themes of religion and politics, it’s artificial intelligence, already touched on in the earlier episode “Boom,” that’s the topic du jour in “Dot and Bubble.”With its slick visuals and clear anti-technology viewpoint, Episode 5 has echoes of “Black Mirror,” Charlie Brooker’s dystopian TV anthology — as this season’s showrunner, Russell T Davies, who also wrote the episode, noted in a recent interview.But whereas Brooker can use each episode of “Black Mirror” to focus on a different aspect of contemporary technology, Davies has just 43 minutes to explore its overarching morality in “Dot and Bubble.”It makes for a slightly overstuffed episode — critiquing and parodying capitalism, YouTube and celebrity worship — that is saved, in part, by a genuinely unexpected twist in the final act.As with the previous episode, “73 Yards,” the Doctor doesn’t feature all that heavily in “Dot and Bubble” and the action feels less consequential to the season’s overall arc. Instead, the focus is on Lindy Pepper-Bean (Callie Cooke), a blonde-haired, blue-eyed wannabe vlogger with a penchant for pastels.Lindy’s life revolves around a two-part technology: Dot, a tiny robotic pearl that hovers in front of her, and Bubble, a virtual sphere of colorful screens beamed around her head. Within the Bubble, the perpetually peppy Lindy is in constant conversation with her friends; she chats away with the cadence — and vocal fry — of a family-friendly YouTuber, and they coo back.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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      Jac Venza, Who Delivered Culture to Public Television, Dies at 97

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      By making entertainment as well as education part of its mission, he gave the world “Great Performances” and other enduring programs. Jac Venza, a shoemaker’s son who almost single-handedly delivered to the proverbial “vast wasteland” that was American television in the 1960s and ’70s an oasis of cultural programming, including “Great Performances” and “Live From Lincoln Center,” died on Tuesday at his home in Lyme, Conn. He was 97. His death was confirmed by his spouse, Daniel D. Routhier.Mr. Venza never attended college. As an actor, he pronounced himself “dreadful.” As an aspiring artist, he began his career in Chicago by designing scenery for the Goodman Theater and window displays for the Mandel Brothers department store. But while still in his 30s, he began playing a vital role in bringing art to public television.He was working as a television producer when he was asked to collaborate with other TV innovators assembled by the Ford Foundation in the early 1960s to transform a limited service that generated no original programming into National Educational Television, the forerunner of the Public Broadcasting Service.While his fellow producers and other media experts were mulling how best to educate the viewing public through a nonprofit network, Mr. Venza recalled, he volunteered, “Why don’t we entertain them, too?”In the 1960s and ’70s, he introduced “NET Playhouse,” “Theater in America,” “Live From Lincoln Center,” “Great Performances” and, at the suggestion of the National Endowment for the Arts, “Dance in America.” He also imported popular BBC productions like “Brideshead Revisited.”He collaborated with choreographers like George Balanchine and Martha Graham, composers like Leonard Bernstein and playwrights like Tennessee Williams. Dustin Hoffman had his first starring role on television in a 1966 NET production of Ronald Ribman’s play “The Journey of the Fifth Horse.” A decade later, Meryl Streep appeared onscreen for the first time in the William Gillette play “Secret Service” on “Great Performances.”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