The Time Out New York blog
Your up-to-the-minute guide to New York City events, restaurants, bars, nightlife, ticket alerts and NSFW ephemera.
Watch Out: Privileged information
Tue Feb 24
TONIGHT: Privileged (9pm on the CW)
What started as just another Gossip Girl rip-off—based on a book called How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls—has quietly become the CW's sweetest little secret. Tonight's finale wraps up the first season, which began when brainiac Megan (JoAnna Garcia) moved to Palm Beach to tutor a cosmetics magnate's twin granddaughters. Thankfully the teenage pair are snotty only on the surface, and beneath the show's orgy of minidresses are gentle human plotlines—like Megan constantly reevaluating her caretaker role in her own dysfunctional family. Despite the dishy love interests and stereotypical gay confidante, it's a true ladies' show in the vein of the dearly departed Gilmore Girls.
Read TONY's peek at Privileged here.
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Book of the Day: Sam Lipsyte's The Ask
Tue Feb 24
This is Time Out's first Book of the Day that isn't even in stores yet. But that doesn't mean you can't follow the developing bleak comedy by Home Land author Sam Lipsyte. He's been reading his work in progress The Ask at the Russian Samovar for months now and continues tonight. The book is about Milo, a New York father who is on the brink of economic ruin, and covers themes including but not limited to "work, war, sex, class, race, child-rearing, romantic comedies, Benjamin Franklin, cooking shows on death row, the old-model brain, the commercialization of sadness and the eroticization of chicken wire." Go hear Lipsyte read—you've probably never heard syntax so artfully skewed, or laughed so hard at someone else's dread.
Watch Lipsyte read.
Robotrains take over the L line
Tue Feb 24
You know how all those sci-fi movies predicted flying cars, magic meals in pill form and a robotic takeover by the year 2020? Well, as of today, those predictions are a wee bit closer to reality. The L train will become the first NYC subway line to be fully controlled by communications-based train control (CBTC). It will first be used between Manhattan and Brooklyn during off-peak hours, so we suggest a late-night trip to check it out. What does this mean for you? The trains will basically run themselves allowing for faster and more frequent service. But Luddites are not to worry, humans will still be watching the control panels from a distance. Or at least hanging out in a box near the control panels.
Thanks Engadget!
Dave Hill coaches Venus and Serena
Tue Feb 24
HBO calls on a special tennis pro to ready competitors for the Billie Jean King Cup.
Watch Out: The Closer to fine
Mon Feb 23
TONIGHT: The Closer (9pm on TNT)
Aw, who doesn't love a wedding? Well, most TV nuptials suck, but this little crime procedural's finale has a leg up on clichd sitcom affairs. For one, Kyra Sedgwick's Brenda is snotty and weird enough to scare the pants off most Bridezillas. Her fianc, Fritz (Jon Tenney), is cuter than a box of puppies, and his sister is played by the ever-awesome Amy Sedaris. Plus, the wedding complications are not of the "cranky ring-bearer" ilk—they face a murder investigation, escort-service shenanigans and a drug lord named El Jefe. It's not a wedding until El Jefe the crime lord is doing the chicken dance!
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- Senior Editor: Amy Plitt (@plitter)
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