The Culture

TELEVISION

Yeah, You Betcha

Adapting an Oscar-winning Coen brothers film for television is a big risk, but FX’s original series Fargo, premiering April 15, boasts a pedigree to rival its big-screen predecessor. With Joel and Ethan Coen executive producing, the cast includes Billy Bob Thornton as a sinister hit man and Martin Freeman playing a down-on-his-luck insurance salesman, plus Bob Odenkirk–best known as Saul from Breaking Bad–switching sides as a deputy. In its prime-time incarnation, Fargo revisits the snow-caked Minnesota landscape made familiar by the film, spinning an all-new yarn of violence and vitriol colliding with small-town values. Stay warm out there.

TELEVISION

Witty Hurts

MTV’s razor-sharp, keenly observed high school comedy Awkward. returns April 15 for another season of snappy dialogue and teen heartache. In the words of the scene-stealing Sadie Saxton: “You’re welcome.”

MUSIC

Piece of Cake

After “Roar” and “Dark Horse,” Katy Perry continues releasing radio candy with her infectious new Prism single “Birthday.” The celebratory track is breezy and disco-inflected–a sweet sing-along treat primed for summer.

MOVIES

Come to Brazil

Your kids may drag you to Rio 2, a sequel to the 2011 rain-forest-set blockbuster, but an all-star cast of voice actors from Anne Hathaway to will.i.am makes this rumble in the jungle, opening April 18, well worth the trip.

HE’S ALWAYS ENJOYED BYPASSING INDUSTRY MIDDLEMEN, AND THIS WAS HIS MOST ELABORATE SCHEME YET.

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THE WEEK

WE FINALLY GOT OUR MAD MEN FIX