Neil Genzlinger
{{short description|American dramatist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Infobox person
|name=Neil Genzlinger
|birth_name=
|birth_place=United States
|occupation=Playwright, book reviewer, editor, critic
|children=2
}}
Neil Genzlinger is an American playwright, editor, book reviewer, and theatre and television critic who frequently writes for The New York Times.{{cite magazine |author-link1=Robert Simonson |last=Simonson |first=Robert |title=New York Times Critic Authors Fringe Play The Last Detail |url=https://www.playbill.com/article/new-york-times-critic-authors-fringe-play-the-last-detail-com-120906 |magazine=Playbill |date=July 19, 2004 |access-date=June 29, 2016}}{{cite news |last1=Genzlinger |first1=Neil |title='When the Mississippi Ran Backwards': Tecumseh's Revenge |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/books/review/when-the-mississippi-ran-backwards-tecumsehs-revenge.html |access-date=November 17, 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=April 3, 2005}}{{cite news |last1=Genzlinger |first1=Neil |title=Will He Goof? (Whoops!) A Dexterous Clown Walks a Daffy Line |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/23/theater/reviews/will-he-goof-whoops-a-dexterous-clown-walks-a-daffy-line.html |access-date=November 17, 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=March 23, 2005}}{{cite news |last1=Genzlinger |first1=Neil |title=Television Review; Horror Mixes With Hope in Two Reports on Racial Killings |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/20/arts/television-review-horror-mixes-with-hope-in-two-reports-on-racial-killings.html |access-date=November 17, 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=January 20, 2003}}
Family
Genzlinger is a grandson of the late The Philadelphia Bulletin columnist Don Rose. He has two daughters: Abby and Emily. Emily is a law student and recipient of the Gideon's Promise fellowship for aspiring public defenders.{{Cite web |date=April 22, 2020 |title=Gideon's Promise Welcomes 12 New LSPP Fellows |url=https://www.gideonspromise.org/gideons-promise-welcomes-12-new-lspp-fellows/ |website=Gideon's Promise}}
Career
Genzlinger began working for The New York Times as a television critic in 2000. Prior to that, he was an editor for the publication. His reviews tend to shift more toward theater and television related to disabilities, such as plays called Syndrome, Autism: The Musical and Push Girls."{{cite web |last=Genzlinger |first=Neil |title=Neil Genzlinger - The New York Times |url=http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/neil_genzlinger/index.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 29, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130922111919/http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/neil_genzlinger/index.html |archive-date=September 22, 2013}}{{cite web |title=Neil Genzlinger - The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/by/neil-genzlinger |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 17, 2023}}
Seinfeld disagreement
In one review, Genzlinger criticized TV writers for what he perceived as their overuse of the word "really," claiming that "it's undoing 2,000 years' worth of human progress." In response, comedian Jerry Seinfeld wrote in a letter to Genzlinger: "Really, Neil? Really? You're upset about too many people saying, 'Really?'? I mean, really... OK, fine, when it's used in scripted media, it is a little lazy. But comedy writers are lazy. You're not fixing that. So, here's the bottom line. If you're a writer, fine, don't use it. But in conversation it is fun to say." This protest from Seinfeld was because, as he mentioned in the letter, he had previously performed "a 'Saturday Night Live Weekend Update' segment titled 'Really!?!' with Seth Meyers" which Seinfeld stated "was a blast and the audience loved it."{{cite news |last=Nordyke |first=Kimberly |title=Jerry Seinfeld Defends Use of the Word 'Really' in Angry Letter to New York Times Critic |date=October 3, 2012 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/jerry-seinfeld-really-new-york-times-julia-louis-dreyfus-376286/ |work=The Hollywood Reporter |access-date=June 29, 2013}}{{Cite news |first=Jerry |last=Seinfeld |author-link=Jerry Seinfeld |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/03/opinion/jerry-seinfeld-really-riffs-about-something.html |title=Opinion | Jerry Seinfeld (Really!) Riffs About ... Something |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 2, 2012 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003080842/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/03/opinion/jerry-seinfeld-really-riffs-about-something.html |archive-date=October 3, 2012}}
Julie Miller, for Vanity Fair, observed Seinfeld was motivated by having been "one of the most successful perpetrators of the term" criticized by Genzlinger, and concluded by wondering "what other polarizing topics might inspire Jerry Seinfeld to immediately write a personal letter to a journalist".{{cite magazine |last1=Miller |first1=Julie |title=Jerry Seinfeld Writes in to The New York Times to Valiantly Defend a Word |magazine=Vanity Fair |date=October 3, 2012 |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2012/10/jerry-seinfeld-really-new-york-times-rebuttal |access-date=November 17, 2023}} Erik Hayden, for Time, observed that Genzlinger's original opinion piece "seems like an argument that could have been taken as a decent point made", but saw Seinfeld's point "If you're a writer, fine, don't use it. But in conversation it is fun to say."{{Cite magazine |url=https://newsfeed.time.com/2012/10/02/really-new-york-times-jerry-seinfeld-writes-rebuttal-to-tv-column/ |title=Really, New York Times? Jerry Seinfeld Writes Rebuttal to TV Column |magazine=Time |date=October 2, 2012 |last1=Hayden |first1=Erik}} CNN's Maane Khatchatourian called the letter "amusingly outraged," noting the timely publication of Seinfeld's "keen observation" just prior to his "five-borough New York City comedy tour".{{Cite news |first=Maane |last=Khatchatourian |url=https://ew.com/article/2012/10/03/jerry-seinfeld-really-letter-new-york-times/ |title=Jerry Seinfeld pens 'really' fuming 'NYT' op-ed |work=Entertainment Weekly |date=October 3, 2012}}
References
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:American dramatists and playwrights
Category:American theater critics