Summer Mode, Activated

The latest in pop-culture news, recaps, and reviews, plus close reads, profiles, interviews, and more from Vulture.com. [Brand Logo]( Summer is here (in our hearts), bringing with it a full slate of culture to enjoy. Use our summer preview to make an entertainment itinerary now so you don’t have to think about it once your relaxing gets rolling. guides [How to Survive Another Summer of Mid TV]( Gorgeous gowns, new Housewives, and some quality drama (really!) — maybe things aren’t so bleak after all? Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Chris Haston/Bravo, Saima Khalid/WTTV LIMITED/PEACOCK/C4, Curtis Bonds Baker/Netflix, Apple TV+ It’s a weird time: Hollywood has not figured out how to recover from the strikes last year and studios are only investing in the safest, most milquetoast programming imaginable. The overall mood is that feeling like you need to sneeze but not quite being able to, except the sneeze is the full collapse of the streaming bubble. What kind of TV are we talking about here? James Poniewozik has [laid out his diagnosis]( of mid TV, but like dog breeds and buddy-cop duos, mid-ness can come in all shapes and sizes. In its essence, mid-ness is the assessment of a gap or an absence, an empty space that may signify lack of ambition, imagination, or execution. It may be an incompleteness, an overinvestment in one area — gowns, beautiful gowns — while failing to adequately shore up other vital load-bearing structures like character development or plot. In some versions of mid, that emptiness or missing element is an invitation for viewer participation; mid TV can be the most appealing framework for the hate watch, the non-canon ship, the perverse pleasure. It is a prompt, and we get to fill in the blanks. (I give you, for example, [The Gilded Age](.) [read more]( Devour pop culture with us. [Subscribe now]( to save over 40% on unlimited access to Vulture and everything New York. cinema [20 Movies We Can’t Wait to See This Summer]( There’s only one new superhero movie coming soon, but that’s not necessarily bad news. Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Netflix, Disney/Pixar, Jasin Boland/Warner Bros., Justin Lubin/A24 Summer is usually a season of excess for Hollywood, the time of the year when the studios unleash their biggest, loudest, most expensive productions. But the forecast is a little quieter in 2024. Make no mistake, the next three months will bring plenty of what we’ve long come to think of as “summer movies”: There will be sequels, prequels, animated family films, and enough explosions to keep multiplex auditoriums rumbling until the first chill of autumn. But one look at the release calendar is all it takes to see that the slate is lighter this year, with far fewer would-be blockbusters on the immediate horizon. Hell, there’s only one superhero movie opening between now and the fall! [read more]( music [39 Albums We Can’t Wait to Hear This Summer]( From Johnny Cash rarities to Normani (finally). Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Unique Nicole/FilmMagic, Israel Ramos, Don Arnold/Getty Images, Gary Miller/Getty Images [read more]( More from Our Summer Preview Series [22 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Summer Books that will transport you from the beach to a road trip with messy friends or a Round Table with Arthur’s knights.]( [8 Podcasts We Can’t Wait to Listen to This Summer Collective hallucination, Japanese city pop, and everything in between.]( [11 Plays and Musicals We Can’t Wait to See This Summer From Titanic (not the movie) to Cats (very much not the movie).]( By Nate Jones [9 Video Games We Can’t Wait to Play This Summer The typically slower summer months nonetheless look set to deliver.]( [Vulture’s 2024 Summer Pop-Culture Gift Guide Presents? For summer? Groundbreaking.]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Need Something This Weekend? Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Jasin Boland/Warner Bros., Elizabeth Fisher/Paramount+, Netflix, Josh Sobel/HBO Sure, Mondays suck, but at least this Monday is a holiday. So it’ll suck a little less. And with a free day off, you [can choose your own adventure]( this weekend. You can visit a fat cat with a penchant for lasagna. You can journey to the sands of the Wasteland or the planet of Dune. Or you can stop by Chromatica for a bit, [Oreos not included](. This week’s best new movies and TV titles are below — choose wisely! For the Tri-Staters … Photo: Da Luo Look, we know life isn’t like the movies. Life is much harder. But one easy way to get more movies in your life? Stop by Bryant Park this summer [for a free screening](. Paramount+ Movie Nights are returning to midtown on Monday evenings. Have You Played Your Games Today? [Today’s Crossword]( 4-Down, Three Letters: Shape of a Tamagotchi toy Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Getty Images [Today’s Cinematrix]( Can you name a Tom Hardy movie with a character name in the title? Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Dave Benett/WireImage, Leon Bennett/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images, Dave J Hogan/Getty Images A newsletter about the perpetual Hollywood awards race, for subscribers only. [Sign up]( to get it every week. [Get the Newsletter]( [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe]( | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on email newsletters, please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1701 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2024, All rights reserved