Candice Frederick

In the last month, Netflix has premiered two very different series primarily set on academic campuses that feature women in leadership positions historically filled by white men: the third season of “Sex Education” and “The Chair.”
Yes, it is encouraging to see small-screen narratives reflect the professional and interior lives of women, especially women of color, who’ve risen through a system against all odds. But the challenges women face in those posts makes you wonder whether this type of...

OPINION: 'Fanmi' showcases the love that exists in complicated families, especially between a mother and her daughter
They say the relationship between a mother and daughter is one of the most complex there is. And Fanmi, from writer-director Carmine Pierre-Dufour and co-director Sandrine Brodeur-Desrosiers, portrays that so sensitively even within its taut 14-minute frame.
The intimate French/Haitian Creole drama, as expected given the film’s length, doesn’t give you a whole lot of backstory...

It’s been three years since “Scandal,” when the allure of live tweeting series on a weekly basis was at its peak for Black Twitter. Since then, many other soapy, watch-after-you’ve-put-the-kids-to-sleep dramas, like Netflix’s “Firefly Lane” and “Sex/Life,” have popped up on streaming platforms, threatening to dismantle the online group viewing experience in favor of binge watching. But Fox’s new melodrama, “Our Kind of People,” from Karen Gist and Lee Daniels, seems to be trying very hard to ...

OPINION: Five decades after these events of a massively reported rebellion and yet "Attica" manages to make it as shocking and visceral as if they just happened
It’s been 50 years since the Attica Prison Uprising in New York became the largest — and bloodiest — prison rebellion in U.S. history. A myriad of people were injured and 39 people died, including 29 inmates. And throughout writer-director Stanley Nelson’s detailed new documentary, simply titled Attica, there is a singular sentiment r...

It’s nice to see that cinema, particularly independent cinema, has continued to give us messy characters who hold up mirrors to the equally multidimensional and sometimes hypocritical nature that is humanity in real form. Some of the best films this year have already given us stories about friends at odds, improper relationships, and a media industry falling on its own sword.
From biographical documentaries on flawed musicians and iconic actors to horror tales of the unfairly institutionalize...

OPINION: While an arguably earnest horror attempt in some ways, "White Devil" is still unfulfilling.
While on one hand it’s terrific that we have finally reached the stage in cinematic history where it seems like everyone — from filmmakers and critics to the general audience — wants to contribute something to the Black horror conversation, that enthusiasm hasn’t translated to compelling work. Such is the case with writers-directors Mariama Diallo and Benjamin Dickinson’s trite short film, Whi...

There is no question though, that Warwick was and is an essential icon
There was a point in time just this year when Dionne Warwick was poised to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. At 80-years-young, she even kickstarted her Twitter account again where she instantly appealed to millennials a fraction of her age with her now iconic tweets, like this one: “The Weeknd is next. Why? It’s not even spelled correctly?”
What she was essentially saying by reigniting her own celebrity and r...

You might assume that after spending two seasons confronting questions of faith, morality, demonic possession, and other supernatural manifestations as the resolute psychologist Kristen Bouchard on Evil, Katja Herbers has come to her own conclusions about spirituality and humanity. But she’s just as bewildered about the state of the world as we are.
“I do have existential thoughts, but they aren’t related to religion,” Herbers explains on Zoom from her Brooklyn home. “They’re more like, ‘What...

There is presumably a point buried amid the infinite frowns and vaguely tortured souls abound in “American Rust,” but like each character’s motivation, it’s undetectable. Showrunner Dan Futterman seems to be marginally curious about the Pennsylvania Rust Belt setting seen in the new Showtime drama, but not enough to build a compelling narrative about it.
Based upon Philipp Meyer’s novel of the same name, “American Rust” can best be described simply as a mood. Not in the same sense of, say, a ...

It’s no question that Rick James is a legend for helping bring “punk-funk” to the mainstream with classics like “Mary Jane” and “Super Freak”; for breaking down the color barrier in rock ’n’ roll; and for confronting the whiteness of MTV in the ’80s. But how do you reckon with the man who is just as famous for committing sexual assault and perpetuating misogyny in the music industry? To Sacha Jenkins, director of the fascinating new documentary, “Bitchin’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James,” t...

If you were anywhere near a TV in the ’90s, you probably remember the most sensationalized talking points about President Bill Clinton’s affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky and his subsequent impeachment trial. Like, her blue dress stained with his semen, the footage of her in a black beret hugging the president at his inauguration. And lest we forget, the lie heard around the world: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” Thankfully, Ryan Murphy’s new FX miniseries “Ame...

When Nia DaCosta was a child in 1992 New York, you couldn’t tell her that the villain in the original horror film “Candyman” didn’t really exist. In fact, she vividly remembers the story of a woman who was killed in those days by someone who climbed through her bathroom mirror. “It was something that we talked about because it happened at the projects behind my elementary school,” the director said. “So, for me growing up, Candyman was real. He wasn’t coming from a movie.”
It might sound like...

2021 hasn’t exactly been the year of great Stephen King adaptations on the small screen. “Lisey’s Story” wasn’t the cerebral thriller it should have been. And the newest attempt at “The Stand” was a major dud almost from its onset. But, as they say, the third time’s a charm with “Chapelwaite,” a pitch-black horror set in 1850s Maine, where vampires rule the looming eternal night.
Like many great “Nosferatu”-lite narratives, “Chapelwaite,” based upon King’s “Jerusalem’s Lot,” isn’t merely fixa...

It's like a train wreck reality show, but with less plot development
It always raises an eyebrow whenever a bunch of A-list actors make up a TV cast. Like, it could be great and filled with wonderful performances and provocative narratives a la Westworld's first season. Or it could be a smokescreen to lure audiences in under the pretext that it's naturally going to be a riveting show because so-and-so and so-and-so are in it. The latter is how showrunners David E. Kelley and John Henry Butter...

Welcome to TV Guide's 100 Best Shows on TV Right Now. To say that it has been a weird year would be the understatement of all understatements. This may sound a bit hyperbolic, but while the world outside has seemed damn near apocalyptic by every single measure, we've found sanctuary in our living rooms and on our TVs, letting television be our escape. It's not a solution to our problems, but it's been a salve for our mental health and a way to connect to others when isolation has been crucial...