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Editor’s Note: This article is presented in partnership with Seeso, an ad-free streaming service for comedy lovers. Subscriptions are $3.99 per month, with an option for a one-month free trial.

In early August, The New Yorker Magazine’s esteemed television critic, Emily Nussbaum, sent a tiny missive into the Twitterverse: “I just watched this new sitcom & it was good & funny & romantic. Wtf is Seeso??” with a link to “Take My Wife,” a scripted half-hour series by comedy’s favorite married lesbians, Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher, and a Seeso Original Series.

So, Ms. Nussbaum, to answer your question, what indeed (expletive redacted) is Seeso? In a growing world of niche streaming platforms, Seeso stands out for its wealth of TV classics (including all 42 seasons of “Saturday Night Live”), stand-up specials from the likes of Janeane Garofalo, Brian Posehn, Joey ‘Coco’ Diaz, Doug Stanhope, and Rory Scovel, and Original Series from...

The Ann Arbor Film Festival celebrates its epic 53rd annual edition on March 24-29 with a colossal selection of experimental short films and features.

Feature film highlights include the documentary Speculation Nation by regular collaborators Bill Brown and Sabine Gruffat, which examines the recent Spanish housing crisis; a new ethnographic doc by Ben Russell, Greetings to the Ancestors, which plunges deep into the culture of South Africa; and Jenni Olson’s grand California study The Royal Road.

Short film highlights include the much anticipated new film by Jennifer Reeder, Blood Below the Skin, a narrative following a week in the dramatic and romantic lives of three teenage girls; a new music video by Mike Olenick called Beautiful Things with music by The Wet Things; new animations by Don Hertzfeldt, World of Tomorrow, and Lewis Klahr, Mars Garden; plus new experimental work by Vanessa Renwick, Peggy Ahwesh and Zachary Epcar.

Special...

On 19 Kids and Counting, grocery shopping is a feat. Washing laundry requires grit. The Duggar family manages their child-packed home like a business, by necessity, and it makes for good TV. The uncommonly large Arkansas-based family is now TLC’s longest running reality show, with 14 seasons aired since 2008.

It’s a slice of American life, or at least a certain kind of American life, organized around conservative Christianity and all that entails: prayer, patriarchy, and watching only pre-recorded television in order to avoid exposure to anything tawdry.

Photos: A Duggar Family Timeline: From Zero to 19 and Counting!

At 26, Josh Duggar is the clan’s eldest son. He opened his own used car dealership in 2006, and started working simultaneously as a political consultant the year after. In 2013, when he quietly began working in Washington, D.C., Duggar’s jump was actually to a very high-profile position—Executive Director of Frc Action, the political...

Ugandan president unsure about signing anti-gay bill, Jane Lynch’s family sing-a-long, Megyn Kelly’s worst Christmas nightmare came true

Maria Maksakova, a prominent mezzo soprano with St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theater, who also happens to be a member of the parliament, is seeing some rough side effects from the Russian “gay propaganda law.” She says “We are seeing extremely negative consequences as the result of this law with the growth of hate crimes. Our country has suffered a colossal loss to its image around the world. I am very sad to see that the Olympic Games in Sochi for which we have so long and anxiously prepared will come to pass with less brilliance and passion because of this unfortunate initiative that was so hastily — and I believe without thoughtful discussion – adopted by parliament.” Well, someone is paying attention.

Could The Flash pilot be the most multicultural cast on television?...

Freaks

Written by Tod Robbins

Directed by Tod Browning

USA, 1932

“For the love of beauty is a deep-seated urge which dates back to the beginning of civilization. The revulsion with which we view the abnormal, the malformed, and the mutilated is the result of long conditioning by our forefathers.” – Introduction, Freaks

Tod Browning’s cult film depicting the terrors of sideshow performers, both how they are perceived by the public and the acts of violence they are driven to commit, sets an unusual and intriguing precedent for future horror cinema tropes.

Freaks initially portrays the titular troupe with unique deformities as unsuspecting prey to two of the carnival’s “normal” performers and lovers, Cleopatra the trapeze artist (Olga Baclanova) and Hercules the strong man (Henry Victor). Cleopatra’s plan to marry and murder Hans the dwarf man (Harry Earles) for his large inheritance victimizes the condition of the “freaks,” placing...

The annual St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase is a great way to support the many local filmmakers who practice their art in our area. Cinema St. Louis, our city’s non-profit cinema-related event planning group, will present The Whitaker St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase July 8-12. This is the 12th annual presentation, which serves as the area’s primary venue for films made by local artists. The Showcase screens works that were written, directed, edited, or produced by St. Louis natives or films with strong local ties. The 16 film programs that screen at the Tivoli from July 8-12 serve as the Showcase’s centerpiece. The programs range from full-length fiction features and documentaries to multi-film compilations of fiction and documentary shorts. Many programs include post-screening Q&As with filmmaker. It all ends with a closing-Night Awards Party Thursday July 12th sponsored by Stella Artois from 8 p.m. to midnight at Blueberry Hill‘s Duck Room,...