Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress

reviewing Black Doves; Dark Matter; Dept. Q; Detective Hole; Dexter: Resurrection; Fauda; For All Mankind; Foundation; Hijack; Memory of a Killer; MobLand; Outlander; Paradise; Presumed Innocent; Reacher; Severance; Silo; Slow Horses; Smoke; Star City; Star Trek: Strange New Worlds; Tehran;The: Day of the Jackal, Diplomat, Night Agent; Your Friends & Neighbors +books, films, music, podcasts, politics

George Santayana had irrational faith in reason - I have irrational faith in TV.

Friday, November 13, 2026

Dexter: Resurrection 2.3: Dexter on the Fly with Glasses

So let me begin by mentioning that The New York Times, in its "The 100 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century," an insert in its Arts & Leisure section, published in paper October 25, that I just read today, lists the original Dexter series as #88. Unbelievable! The list got some things right, like The Wire at #2. But Dexter at #88? I guess it shows why I'm a Professor of Communication and Media Studies (at Fordham University), and not a TV star, showrunner, or other "expert" (the NY Times word), that the newspaper enlisted to make this list. I review TV here as a very enjoyable hobby, and it's astonishing to me that Dexter wasn't in the Top 10. I often complain about myopic professional critics, but now I'll have to include practitioners of the art of TV in that category. (I. A. Richards wrote a century ago about the error of asking creators of fiction to evaluate their work.)

Now about this week's Dexter: Resurrection, episode 2.3: it was another great mix of heart-pounding action, picking right up after (and a little before) what we saw last week at the end of episode 2.2, with the Five Borough Killer doing just what he does right under Dexter's nose, or more precisely, some stories above it.

We see more of Uma Thurman's Charley, working together with Dexter, as they focus on bringing one of the two remaining serial killers from the Prater group to Dexter's kind of justice. Charley stops short on joining Dexter on his mission, which tells us something we may already have known about her -- she's not a fan of the actual killings she helps makes possible. The other point is the chemistry between them, which is subtle and I mentioned last week, but I'd say now is undeniably there.

And on the subject of getting to know people better, we learn the source of Det. Wallace aka Claudette's obsession with the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive," and since I'm trying to keep this review relatively free of spoilers, all I'll say about that is the title has a very real and literal connection to her obsession.

Last but lot least, apropos of the word "Resurrection" in the title of this series, Dexter's age continues to be a crucial part of this show. It therefore was nice to see him need glasses for his painstaking preparatory work, and that's why we see that in the poster for the series, also at the top of my reviews.

Reviews of Season 2: Dexter's Back: A Preview and Dexter Meets Heroes and 6. Dexter and De-Lila-h and 7. Best Line About Dexter - from Lila and 8. How Will Dexter Get Out of This? and The Plot Gets Tighter and Sharper and Dex, Doakes, and Harry and Deb's Belief Saves Dex and All's ... Well

See also about Season 1: First Place to Dexter

Monday, November 9, 2026

What the Democratic Landslide Says About the Impact of Social Media?

more about The Silk Code here

Social media have been blamed by the best of 'em for the ascension of Trump, Trumpism, and Maga-Americans. Andrey Mir convincingly argued in Postjournalism (2020) that the replacement of truth by likes and shares of posts on social media were responsible for the success of Trump and the Republican lies, and Ezra Klein ("I Didn’t Want It to Be True, but the Medium Really Is the Message", 2022, The New York Times) in a general way blamed social media, supported by McLuhan's the medium is the message, as the source of the successful assault on democracy in American politics.

So what are we to make of the profoundly comprehensive replacement of the Republican deceit with Democratic truth in the election last week? Social media still prize likes and shares well above truth. That's a fact. But how to reconcile that fact with the proximate obvious fact that the Democrats did so well last week?

The answer must be that media determinism has its limits. Yes, it influences and directs our behavior in many ways -- the success of advertising demonstrates that point -- but media are not the final word in what moves us to vote, and buy things, political and otherwise. Decades ago, when my first novel The Silk Code was published by Tor Books, and began to sell very well, Tom Doherty, then head of Tor Books (now Chairman Emeritus of the Tor Group), took me to lunch, and asked me what I would like to see Tor do for the novel. "How about a full-page ad in The New York Times?" I half-seriously replied, hoping to build on the good review that Gerald Jonas had just provided. Tom smiled, and told me that years of publishing had taught him that an ad like that would likely result in a couple of hundred sales. "Would what result in more sales?" I asked, between bitefuls of the delicious lunch. "Word of mouth" from close relatives and close friends, he replied.

That was back in the Fall of 1999, a crucial few years before the advent of social media. We certainly make friends of a kind on social media, but they are not the same as in-person friends and not at all the same as close relatives. Those human relationships have far more sway than anything we may read, watch, or hear online.

And therefore I think the Democratic victory is not only good news indeed for humanity, but the result of the human thirst for truth, that transcends the power of social media. And therefore I think the Democratic victory is not only good news indeed for humanity, but the result of the human thirst for truth, that transcends the power of social media. The "autocratic breakthrough" is the term sociologists use to describe the instant when a democracy, besieged from the inside by people and groups who want to destroy it, who want to replace it with a dictatorship, achieve their goal. They work for years, chipping away at democratic practices, demonizing opponents, arresting them, imprisoning them, deporting them, killing them. They stock the government with their supporters. They replace the truth with lies. And though the people who believe in the democracy, who stand up to the fascist tide, do their best to oppose the destructive wave, they eventually are worn down, and the autocratic breakthrough happens. This is exactly what happened in Germany in 1934, when Hitler the Chancellor became Hitler the Führer. Our election last week defied the diminishment of truth in social media, and took a big step in making sure the autocratic breakthrough won't happen here.

Sunday, November 8, 2026

Full Cast Unique, Dramatic Reading from It's Real Life: An Alternate History of The Beatles, at Big Red Books

At Big Red Books in Nyack, NY, on 23 February 2025, I was joined by Anthony Marinelli, Amanda Greer, Denise Reed, and Frank LoBuono in a unique, pop-up dramatic reading from my novel, It's Real Life: An Alternate History of The Beatles. What was unique about this dramatic reading is that Anthony Marinelli (a playwright) and Amanda Greer (an actress) are not only real people but important characters in the novel. Denise Reed is also an actress (who played the part of the nanny in a 2024 episode of CBS's hit series FBI), and Frank LoBuono is the host of the Being Frank Podcast, where I've been interviewed many times. (Richie Fulco, then owner of Big Red Books, introduced me to the packed house, and had a cameo in the reading.) The reading is followed by a Q & A with the perceptive audience.

Cast:

Paul Levinson: Pete Fornatale, narration

Anthony Marinelli: himself

Amanda Greer: herself

Denise Reed: narration

Frank LoBuono: Al Auster, and several bit parts

What's Been Said About the Novel:

"Paul is original his books and music are different than the norm -- they are clever!" -- Billy J. Kramer

"a wild ride" -- Michael McLuhan

"Now I'm desperate to hear songs from the Asimov/McCartney musical" -- Thomas MacFarlane, The Beatles and McLuhan

"I got so hooked that I stayed up way beyond my bedtime and read it in one go. It was not just extremely entertaining (I started looking forward to the Tom Petty phone calls) but also a nifty take on averting the grandfather paradox." -- Geoffrey Winthrop-Young, Kittler and the Media

"a brilliantly written and fun sci-fi tale that is perfect for fans of the genre and music nerds" -- Evan Levine, Interesting People

"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

"If you are a music fan, and especially if you are a Beatles fan, you will probably enjoy this spin at 33 1/3 RPM through this alternate history." -- Matt Truxaw, Amazing Stories

More about the novel here.

Two other readings from the novel on this podcast:

book launch and reading from 1st chapter of the novel at The Players, March 2024
dramatic reading from second chapter of the novel on "Destinies: The Voice of Science Fiction", WUSB Radio, with Paul Levinson and Howard Margolin, January 2024

And here's a full cast radio play of 1st chapter of the novel, adapted by Vin Tese for Killerwatt Radio, March 2024

Check out this episode!

Black Doves season 2: Shoot-Em Up Action and a Special Kind of Love

Well, the Brits sure know how to make a spy thriller. My wife and I just binged the second season of Black Doves, all six episodes up on Netflix since the day before last, and we loved it. Here are some of my reasons:

The shoot-em-up action was even better than it was in the first season. If you accept the premise that the Black Doves and those whose guns they hire are invulnerable and invincible, every episode is a heart-pounding pleasure to watch. If you find that premise hard to swallow, are you a James Bond fan? He's pretty close to triumphing in every deadly encounter, and the pleasure in seeing those movies is not if he'll triumph, but how he manages to do that. Same for the assassins and spies in Black Doves
There's love running deep in this story, especially between the two main characters, Keira Knightley's Helen and Ben Whishaw's Sam. And that love transcends romantic love, because it's not quite that, at least in part because Sam is a gay man. But it's also more than friendship, sibling, or other family love. In fact, watching this second season, it seems to me that Black Doves almost has depicted a special kind of love I don't recall ever quite seeing on the screen.
The supporting characters and cast are outstanding, too. Ella Lily Hyland's Williams and Gabrielle Creevy's Eleanor hit-women team could be the subject of a series themselves.
Joe Barton -- whose television work I first became acquainted with when I watched every season of The Lazarus Project, which I thought and think is the best time travel series I've ever seen -- brings his skills to bear in every scene, including the music. It was great to hear the covers of Peter, Paul, and Mary's "Five Hundred Miles" and Cher's "Bang Bang".

I'll conclude with the obvious point that I wish a third season of this wild, savvy, sensitive, and unique series was up for binging tomorrow.

Friday, November 6, 2026

Dexter: Resurrection 2.2: What Do Aaron Burr and Phil Spector Have in Common?

An excellent second episode of the second season of Dexter: Resurrection that fired on many levels. But I think my favorite was:

Harrison trying to convince Dexter to go after the Five Borough Killer, and Dexter objecting that FBK, notwithstanding the Five Borough Killer's name, had killed only one person -- in Queens in last week's episode -- and therefore hadn't met the minimum number of kills, three, to qualify for the serial-killer distinction.

"That would put him in the same category as Aaron Burr and Phil Spector," Dexter tells his son, in a wild but instructive duo of names that have only one thing in common. As far as we know, Burr never put together a wall of sound with the instruments available at the beginning of the 19th century. And Phil Spector never ran for office. But they both killed one person only.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

The Five Borough Killer, though, is on his way, throwing someone off the roof on Broadway in Manhattan, adding a second victim to his tally. And, in a good touch, Dexter and Charley were right there on the sidewalk, right where the body fell -- the episode, btw, is entitled "Fallen" -- getting Dexter to put aside his three-killing criterion for his constructive destructive attention.

And speaking of Charley, it's nice to see Uma Thurman's character back in the picture, and is there perhaps a hint of romantic chemistry between her and Dexter in this episode? Maybe, just a hint -- she comes certainly along at the right time given Dexter's midlife crisis, which, at very least, has caused Dexter to realize that he needs to put aside his earlier solitary ways, and start working in some ways with a partner.

There are almost of plethora of serial killers on hand for Dexter to kill. In addition to the Five Borough Killer, we have the New York Ripper, the Sleepy-Eyed Stranger, and the Jaw Splitter. Good thing we have so many cops on hand like Harrison, not to mention Joey Quinn (Desmond Harrington) who's left the Miami force and come up to New York. We both know that, despite his big smile and apparent joy at seeing Dexter, he's going to pose a threat to him before this season ends.

Saturday, October 31, 2026

Nocturne 1.1-2: Nordic Noir in Western Pennsylvania

Lots of excellent streaming TV these days. Just today, Dark Matter's season 2 finale was up on Apple TV, Dexter: Resurrection season 2 debuted on Paramount, MobLand's episode 2.7 was up on Paramount, and Nocturne debuted its first two episodes on Apple. I saw and immensely enjoyed all of them. I reviewed Dark Matter and Dexter: Resurrection, will review all of season 2 of MobLand when it concludes, and here I am with a review of Nocturne. Good thing it's Friday.

Nocturne is a powerful detective series (adapted from The Sandman and Lazarus novels -- which I haven't read -- by Lars Kepler -- pen name for Swedish writer couple Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril) and has True Detective vibes. Liev Schreiber is Jonah Lynn, a retired, somewhat burned-out detective who gets sucked back into a kidnap case when one of the two kids shows up staggering across a bridge in Fairfield, a small fictitious town in western PA. His nemesis is Jurek Walter (played by Stephen Graham, with a perfect American accent), who's been in a high security prison for three years, and has a way getting into people's heads -- including guards -- and getting them to do his bidding. The FBI is involved (it's a kidnapping case), as is the daughter (Saga Bauer played by Zazie Beetz) of Jonah's partner who took his own life.

The incandescent acting of Schreiber and Graham works especially well in the rural Pennsylvania locale, which lends Nocturne a Mare of Easttown, American Rust, and even a side of Task flavor, which complement its True Detective and Nordic Noir tones. The key questions at this point are how much will the freed boy be able to tell Jonah and the police, who is Walter's accomplice on the outside, and how powerful is the mental control Walter has with those on the inside he has chosen to enlist with hypnotic effect.

I'm looking forward to see how this all plays out.

Friday, October 30, 2026

Dexter: Resurrection 2.1: His Work Brilliantly Cut Out for Him.

Dexter is back -- in the second season of Dexter: Resurrection on Paramount. It's one of my all-time favorite television series, and I've been reviewing it for 20 years. In fact the very first post in this blog was First Place to Dexter in December 2006. Jeff Lindsay's idea of a serial killer who kills serial killers was and is flat-out brilliant, and Clyde Phillips has done an extraordinary job bringing it to the screen, including getting Michael C. Hall to perfectly animate the title role.

The debut of the second season of Dexter: Resurrection was powerful and empathetic indeed. Dexter's in his 50s, and muses after his kill, which was more difficult than usual, that he needs to work out more. He's less careful than he should be, and his late father Harry (still wonderfully played by James Remar), who lives in Dexter's head, is almost constantly sounding warnings.

This new episode has everything: Dexter needs to attend to some unfinished business from the previous season. New serials killers are emerging in New York City. One of them (the New York Ripper) is played by Succession's Brian Cox. Another (the Five Borough Killer) announces that he plans to kill someone at a baseball game (oi!). Dexter has his work cut out for him.

Meanwhile, Harrison has become an NYPD cop. Joey Quinn is up from Miami, his real motive likely to find out what exactly happened to Batista. (We haven't yet seen Charley, but coming attractions say she'll be in town as well.) Detective Claudette Wallace -- the Saturday Night Fever fan and shrewd detective --is back in style. Dexter has his work cut out for him indeed.

It has always been a real pleasure to see Dexter on the screen. Based on this debut episode, it looks like the pleasure this season will be even realer.

My brand new time-travel story, "Aaron Judge on the Cape", in the just-published 100th Anniversary issue of Amazing Stories. Get the magazine here!

Interview with Jude O'Reilly, who has a kick-a novel about a serial killer

"challenging fun"
- Entertainment Weekly

e-mail received from a reader:
Dear Paul, I just dreamed of airships flying between raindrops. I just returned from 2042 CE, where I sold my hardcover copy of The Plot to Save Socrates for seventy million Neo-Euros, because it had your response to this e-mail from way back in 2007 scotch-taped onto the inside of the cover. A Paul Levinson collector paid top Neo-Euro, because of the authentic archaic e-mail printout from you. It turns out that not many of your e-mails from before your tenure as CEO of HBO/Cinemax and terms as United Nations Secretary General will survive that far into the future. So, please respond to this e-mail, to help found my great-grandchildren's fortune. My Will will stipulate that they must share with your great grandchildren. Thanks! Tom

I of course happily replied...

42 reviews of The Plot to Save Socrates!