
Tina Fey is among many stars who make cameo appearances in “Only Murders in the Building,” along with stars Selena Gomez, Martin Short and Steve Martin. Season Two debuted on June 28. Photo courtesy IMDB
It’s hard to imagine anyone going through life without laughing at Steve Martin or Martin Short — but that’s just my opinion.
Whatever role they assume or shtick they deliver, both actors have proven themselves masters of comic timing and delivery across the generations of viewers that have watched them on television, laughed heartily at their movies and cheered whenever they’ve co-starred onscreen.
I myself had the chance to catch the pair when they stopped at Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass., on their tour, “An Evening You Will Forget For the Rest of Your Life.” From start to finish, their banter had me cracking up on Tanglewood’s lawn.
Longtime fans and novices alike can now laugh as the duo’s signature brand of crisp, clean comedy unfolds in the second season of the Hulu channel original program, “Only Murders in the Building.”
I was first introduced to this show by a trick-or-treater who came to my grandparents’ stoop last fall dressed as Martin Short’s character — complete with a handmade carton of “Gut Milk.”
You have to watch the show to get the running joke, so watch I did.
As soon as the first episode reached the credits, my reason for watching quickly went from “Why not?” to “Why did I wait this long to watch?”
“Only Murders” starts its first season by introducing the audience to the show’s main trio: misanthropic former television star Charles Haden-Savage (Steve Martin), floundering Broadway director Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) and artist/apartment renovator Mabel Mora (played by pop star and actress Selena Gomez).
On the surface, these three couldn’t be more different. But they come together through their shared love of a true crime podcast — and then by an actual crime in the ficational Arconia on Manhattan’s Upper West Side (which is actually the landmark Ansonia apartment building at 79th Street).
Inspired by their beloved podcast, they decide to investigate the murder of fellow Arconia resident Tim Kono — and to report their findings to the world through their very own podcast, called “Only Murders in the Building.”
As is the case with most mystery shows, each member of the trio has skeletons in the closet, some of which surface and complicate their investigation.
I binge-watched the first season alongside my favorite puzzle solver. We were thrilled to stream a show that struck a flawless balance between comedy and crime and also delivered a mystery carefully crafted enough to knock viewers off the track and leave them hungry for the next episode.
As the show’s star trio narrows down the list of suspects, viewers will get a chuckle out of watching the Arconia’s other residents come to life, each with their own backstories and personalities. Viewers will also appreciate seeing familiar faces appear on screen in a new capacity, including Jane Lynch, Amy Ryan (Michael Scott’s love interest on “The Office”) and Nathan Lane (who doesn’t love Nathan Lane?). The rock star Sting also makes an appearance — and is briefly a suspect.
Having left its viewers with a cliffhanger at the end of the first season, the show’s second season started streaming on June 28 (on Aug. 2, the show was up to Episode Seven).
On top of investigating a new murder at the Arconia, viewers will have a chance to get reacquainted with the trio and all the Arconia residents they met in season one — and meet some new guest stars, including Amy Schumer, Cara Delevingne and Shirley MacLaine.
SHARON — Angela Derrick Carabine, 74, died May 16, 2025, at Vassar Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York. She was the wife of Michael Carabine and mother of Caitlin Carabine McLean.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated on June 6 at 11:00 a.m. at Saint Katri (St Bernards Church) Church. Burial will follow at St. Bernards Cemetery. A complete obituary can be found on the website of the Kenny Funeral home kennyfuneralhomes.com.
Sam Waterston
On June 7 at 3 p.m., the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington will host a benefit screening of “The Killing Fields,” Roland Joffé’s 1984 drama about the Khmer Rouge and the two journalists, Cambodian Dith Pran and New York Times correspondent Sydney Schanberg, whose story carried the weight of a nation’s tragedy.
The film, which earned three Academy Awards and seven nominations — including one for Best Actor for Sam Waterston — will be followed by a rare conversation between Waterston and his longtime collaborator and acclaimed television and theater director Matthew Penn.
“This came out of the blue,” Waterston said of the Triplex invitation, “but I love the town, I love this area. We raised our kids here in the Northwest Corner and it’s been good for them and good for us.”
Waterston hasn’t seen the film in decades but its impact has always remained present.
“It was a major event in my life at the time,” Waterston said of filming “The Killing Fields,” “and it had a big influence on me and my life ever after.” He remembers the shoot vividly. “My adrenaline was running high and the part of Sydney Schanberg was so complicated, so interesting.”
Waterston lobbied for the role of the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for years, tracing his early interest to a serendipitous connection while filming in England. Even before Joffé’s production was greenlit, he had his sights set on playing the role. “I knew I wanted the part for years even before it was a movie that was being produced.”
What followed was not just critical acclaim, but also a political awakening. “The film gave all of us an intimate acquaintance with refugees, what it is to be a refugee, how the world forgets them and what a terrible crime that is.”
In Boston, at a press stop for the film, two women asked Waterston a pointed question: now that he knew what he knew, what was he going to do about it? “I said, ‘Well, you know, I’m an actor, so I thought I’d go on acting.’ And they said, ‘No, that’s not what you need to do. You need to join Refugees International.’” And join he did, serving on the organization’s board for 25 years.
Both Schanberg and Dith Pran, whose life the film also chronicles, were “cooperative and helpful … in a million ways,” Waterston said. Upon first meeting Pran, Waterston recalled, “He came up to me, made a fist, and pounded on my chest really hard and said, ‘You must understand that Sydney is very strong here.’ He was trying to plant something in me.”
There were more tender gestures, too. Schanberg used the New York Times wire to relay that Waterston’s wife had just given birth while he was filming in Thailand, adding to the personal and emotional connection to the production.
Though “The Killing Fields” is a historical document, its truths still resonate deeply today. “Corruption is a real thing,” Waterston warned. “Journalism is an absolutely essential part of our democracy that is as under siege today as it was then. It’s different now but it’s the same thing of ‘Don’t tell the stories we don’t want heard.’ Without journalists, we are dust in the wind.” Waterston added, “Democracy is built on the consent of the governed but the other thing it’s built on is participation of the governed and without full participation, democracy really doesn’t stand much of a chance. It’s kind of a dead man walking.”
When asked what he hopes the audience will take away from the screening, Waterston didn’t hesitate. “This is the story that puts the victims of war at the center of the story and breaks your heart. I think that does people a world of good to have their hearts broken about something that’s true. So, I hope that’s what the impact will be now.”
Tickets for the benefit screening are available at www.thetriplex.org. Proceeds support Triplex Cinema, a nonprofit home for film and community programming in the Berkshires.
Scott Reinhard, graphic designer, cartographer, former Graphics Editor at the New York Times, took time out from setting up his show “Here, Here, Here, Here- Maps as Art” to explain his process of working.Here he explains one of the “Heres”, the Hunt Library’s location on earth (the orange dot below his hand).
Map lovers know that as well as providing the vital functions of location and guidance, maps can also be works of art.With an exhibition titled “Here, Here, Here, Here — Maps as Art,” Scott Reinhard, graphic designer and cartographer, shows this to be true. The exhibition opens on June 7 at the David M. Hunt Library at 63 Main St., Falls Village, and will be the first solo exhibition for Reinhard.
Reinhard explained how he came to be a mapmaker. “Mapping as a part of my career was somewhat unexpected.I took an introduction to geographic information systems (GIS), the technological side of mapmaking, when I was in graduate school for graphic design at North Carolina State.GIS opened up a whole new world, new tools, and data as a medium to play with.”
He added, “When I moved to New York City, I continued that exploration of cartography, and my work eventually caught the attention of the New York Times, where I went to work as a Graphics Editor, making maps and data visualizations for a number of years.”At the New York Times, his work contributed to a number of Pulitzer Prize winning efforts.
In his work, Reinhard takes complex data and turns it into intriguing visualizations the viewer can begin to comprehend immediately and will want to continue to look into and explore more deeply.
One method Reinhard uses combines historic United States Geological survey maps with “current elevation data (height above sea level for a point on earth) to create 3-D looking maps, combining old and new,” he explained.
For the show at Hunt Library Reinhard said, “I knew that I wanted to incorporate the place into the show itself. A place can be many things.The exhibition portrays the exact spot visitors are from four vantage points: the solar system, the earth, the Northwest Corner, and the library itself.” Hence the name, “Here, Here, Here, Here.”
He continued, “The largest installation, the Northwest Corner, is a mosaic of high-resolution color prints and hand-printed cyanotypes — one of the earliest forms of photography. They use elevation data to portray the landscape in a variety of ways, from highly abstract to the highly detailed.”
This sixteen-foot-wide installation covers the area of Millerton to Barkhamsted Reservoir and from North Canaan down to Cornwall for a total of about 445 square miles.
For subjects, he chooses places he’s visited and feels deeply connected to, like the Northwest Corner.“This show is a thank you to the community for the richness that it has brought to my life. I love it here,” he said.
The opening reception for the show is on June 7 from 5 to 7 p.m. On Thursday, June 12, Reinhard will give a talk about his work from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the library.“Here, Here, Here, Here” will be on display until July 3.
Scott Reinhard’s 16-foot-wide piece of the Northwest Corner is laid out on the floor prior to being hung for the show. L. Tomaino