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Books

Defector At The Movies

Music

Arts And Culture

Israel Daramola

The Final Season Of ‘Barry’ Shot For The Stars

The ‘Succession’ Misery Index: Life Isn’t Nice, It’s Contingent

The ‘Succession’ Misery Index: America, You Flunked It

The ‘Succession’ Misery Index: It’s All Just Money And Gossip

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<div>Noah Gittell is a Connecticut-based writer on film and baseball. His work can be found in The New York Times, The Ringer, The Guardian, Washington City Paper, and the LA Review of Books. His book on baseball cinema is due in 2024.</div>
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Noah Gittell

George exults while wearing a Yankees cap after being hired as the assistant to the traveling secretary for the New York Yankees in an episode of "Seinfeld."

When ‘Seinfeld’ Abandoned The Mets For The Yankees

The ‘Succession’ Misery Index: Big, Big Shoes

Diana Moskovitz is Defector&#8217;s investigations editor. You can contact her at diana@defector.com or dfmoskovitz@protonmail.com. She&#8217;s also on Signal @dmoskovitz.99

Diana Moskovitz

Monica Aldama attends the Build Series to discuss "Cheer" at Build Studio on January 29, 2020 in New York City. She is sitting down, wearing all black.

Lawsuit: ‘Cheer’ Coach, Navarro College Tried To Cover Up A Cheerleader’s Sexual Assault

Soraya Roberts

Beef. Steven Yeun as Danny in episode 102 of Beef.

Steven Yeun Knows What To Do With How He Looks

The ‘Succession’ Misery Index: Raised By Wolves

‘Cry Wolf’ Shows How Easy It Is To Blame The Victim

The ‘Succession’ Misery Index: Strategic Refocus

Conor McKeon lives in New York. He can be reached at conorjmckeon@gmail.com.

Conor McKeon

Life's Rich Pageant

‘Keys To The VIP’ Unlocked The Modern Manosphere

The ‘Succession’ Misery Index: Something Everyone Knows, But Nobody Says

The ‘Succession’ Misery Index: Raking Up A Whole Lot Of Bullshit For No Profit

TV Is Thinking Of Ending Things

Kendall Roy, sitting on the ground, crying.

The ‘Succession’ Misery Index: Season Preview

Dominique Fishback in 'Swarm'/ Amazon Prime

The Star Of ‘Swarm’ Stings, Even When The Show Doesn’t

Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.

Nicholas Russell

‘Physical: 100’ Asks What A Body Is For

David Roth

Shohei Ohtani looking swole as hell during Samurai Japan's training before the 2023 World Baseball Classic, with The Distraction logo at upper left.

Podcasts

My Fabulous Vacation Home On Naboo, With Michael Schur

Ray Ratto

Richard Belzer during 55th Annual Writers Guild of America East Awards - Arrivals at The Pierre Hotel in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Jim Spellman/WireImage)

Richard Belzer Was An Old Crank To The End

Samer Kalaf

Giri Nathan

Maria Sakkari saying "Go to hell. Nothing goes in." during a match in Netflix's Break Point

Tennis

How Much Can Tennis Fans And Novices Learn From ‘Break Point’?

Felix Kent

A woman sits on the floor of her hotel room in her underwear, leaning against the bed and with a magnum of champagne turned up to her mouth. Her clothes are strewn about the bed and floor of the room. (Photo by Graphic House/Getty Images)

How To Drink Alone, The Madison Avenue Way

Maitreyi Anantharaman

‘Hard Knocks’ With The Cardinals Was A Dark Workplace Comedy Starring Kliff Kingsbury

<a href="https://twitter.com/petesegall?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pete Segall</a> lives in Chicago. His fiction has appeared in The Bennington Review, Conjunctions, The Drift, and elsewhere.

Pete Segall

The eponymous hospital in Lars Von Trier's supernatural soap "Kingdom"