James Poniewozik


James Poniewozik is an American journalist and television critic. He is the chief TV critic for The New York Times. He previously wrote Time Tuned In column for 16 years.

Early life

Originally from Monroe, Michigan, his father was Catholic, and of Polish descent. His mother was Jewish from a Sephardi background from Morocco. Poniewozik attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, graduating with a BA in English. He subsequently attended the graduate program in fiction writing at New York University.

Career

He contributed to publications such as The New York Times Book Review, Fortune, and Rolling Stone. From 1997 to 1999, he was the media critic and editor of the media section at Salon.com.
Poniewozik was Time television critic from 1999 to 2015, his Tuned In column critiquing television and related media. In August 2015, it was announced that he would join The New York Times culture desk as chief television critic.
Liveright published his book, Audience of One: Donald Trump, Television, and the Fracturing of America, in September 2019.

Personal life

Poniewozik lives in Brooklyn. He attended church as a child, and became an atheist as a teenager; he has since described himself as "culturally Jewish".