title: Fulham F.C.

text: In 2002–03, Fulham spent most of the season in the lower half of the table. Chairman Al-Fayed told manager Jean Tigana that his contract would not be renewed at the end of the season. However, with five games left to play and relegation still possible, Tigana was sacked, and Chris Coleman was temporarily put in charge. Fulham won 10 points from a possible 15 and managed to avoid relegation. Coleman was appointed manager on a permanent basis in the summer of 2003; despite predictions that the inexperience of Coleman would result in Fulham's relegation, he kept the club well clear of relegation, guiding them to a club record ninth-place finish in his debut season. This might have been greater had the club not come under significant financial pressure to sell Louis Saha to Manchester United, for whom they received a club record £13 million.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: Fulham lost a legal case against former manager Tigana in 2004 after Al-Fayed wrongly alleged that Tigana had overpaid more than £7 million for new players and had negotiated transfers in secret.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: Coleman notched up another satisfactory performance in the 2004–05 season and guided Fulham to a secure 13th-place finish. The following season Fulham improved by one place, finishing 12th – the high point of the season was a 1–0 win over local rivals and reigning champions Chelsea in the West London derby – Chelsea had only lost two games in two and a half years. The 2006–07 season proved to be Coleman's last, as on 10 April 2007, Fulham terminated his contract with immediate effect. His replacement was Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez. Fulham only gained four points from five games with Sanchez as caretaker manager. They ensured top-flight survival that season by defeating a weakened Liverpool side 1–0 in the penultimate match of the season, and Sanchez was appointed manager.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: Sanchez received strong financial backing from the board and made a number of signings during the summer break, but, after just two league wins in the first five months of the season and with Fulham in the relegation zone, he was dismissed on 21 December 2007 after a defeat to Newcastle United. Roy Hodgson was named as the new manager of Fulham on 28 December 2007 and took up his contractual duties on 30 December, just two days before the January transfer window opened.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: Hodgson's tenure did not start well and it took a month to secure his first win, against Aston Villa, courtesy of a Jimmy Bullard free-kick. Fulham continued to struggle and a 3–1 home defeat in April at the hands of fellow strugglers Sunderland left Hodgson on the verge of tears in the post-match press conference and many pundits writing off Fulham's survival chances. Despite the negative press, Hodgson continued to believe survival was attainable. The turning point of the season came in the third-to-last match, against Manchester City. Fulham trailed 2–0 at half-time and had the Premier League scores at that time become results, they would have been relegated. However, the introduction of Diomansy Kamara heralded the start of a fantastic comeback—Kamara struck twice as Fulham registered an amazing 3–2 victory. Fulham then won a crucial match against fellow strugglers Birmingham City at Craven Cottage, leaving survival in the club's own hands. Barring a goal-rush from fellow strugglers Reading, a win against a Portsmouth side looking ahead to their fourth FA Cup final would guarantee survival.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: With 15 minutes to play at Portsmouth, Fulham were drawing, and with Birmingham City and Reading leading comfortably against Blackburn Rovers and Derby County respectively, they looked likely to be relegated. However, Fulham earned a free-kick with 76 minutes played; Jimmy Bullard's delivery found Danny Murphy, who headed home the decisive goal, sparking manic celebrations from the travelling fans. Hodgson had ensured survival against all odds, breaking several club records in the process and cementing his place in Fulham folklore. Fulham narrowly missed out on a UEFA Cup place via Fairplay by a dubious 0.8 of a point behind Manchester City, who lost 8–1 at Middlesbrough.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: In the 2008–09 season, Fulham finished seventh, their highest-ever league placing, earning qualification for the inaugural UEFA Europa League, the second time that the club had entered a UEFA competition.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: 2009–10 was arguably the most successful season in the club's history. They were eliminated from the FA Cup in the quarter-finals for the second year running, and finished 12th in the Premier League, despite fielding weakened teams in the last few matches. In the inaugural Europa League season, however, Fulham reached the final, meeting Spanish club Atlético Madrid, who had dropped down from the Champions League, at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg. In their first European cup final, the Cottagers were beaten 2–1 after extra time, having drawn 1–1 after full-time. The achievement of taking Fulham so unexpectedly far, beating famous teams like Hamburger SV, Juventus, holders Shakhtar Donetsk and Basel in the competition, led to Roy Hodgson being voted the LMA Manager of the Year by the widest margin in the history of the award. The home match in the round of 16 was arguably Fulham's greatest result in the history of the club. Despite losing 3–1 in the first leg at Italian giants Juventus and falling behind minutes into the second leg at Craven Cottage, Fulham scored four goals with no reply from Juventus.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: On 29 July 2010, Mark Hughes was named the successor to Hodgson, signing a two-year contract with the club. Hughes had previously managed Manchester City, the Welsh national team and Blackburn. Hughes' first match in charge was against Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium. The highlight of the season was a 4–0 win in the FA Cup over London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, all goals coming in the first half. Hughes resigned as manager of Fulham on 2 June 2011, having spent fewer than 11 months at the club. The Whites had an encouraging finish in eighth position and qualified for the Europa League via Fairplay.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: On 7 June 2011, Martin Jol signed a two-year contract with Fulham, becoming successor to Hughes. Jol's first match was a 3–0 Europa League win against NSÍ Runavík of the Faroe Islands on 30 June. Fulham then navigated their way with some ease to the group stage in the Europa League through late summer. However, the Cottagers were knocked out with the last seconds of the group stage matches, Odense BK equalising to make a draw, leaving Fulham in third place, with Polish side Wisła Kraków instead progressing to the next round.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: Fulham's Premier League form in the 2011–12 season was mixed, with the continuing away-record hangover of previous seasons dragging on. In October 2011, Fulham had an emphatic 6–0 home win over neighbours QPR, with Andrew Johnson scoring a hat-trick for Fulham in the match. The January 2012 transfer window saw Bobby Zamora move over the Hammersmith flyover to Loftus Road, with Russian striker Pavel Pogrebnyak coming in place from VfB Stuttgart.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: The New Year saw two further hat-tricks scored by Clint Dempsey. On 11 February 2012, Progrebnyak scored on his debut in the 2–1 win over Stoke City. In March 2012, a 5–0 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers saw a hat-trick from Pogrebnyak. The Cottagers broke their historic drought on Merseyside with a 1–0 win over Liverpool at Anfield on May Day and another win against Sunderland in the last home game meant Fulham were only one point short of equalling their largest points haul in the Premier League, with just one game remaining. However, they failed to achieve this after losing their last game away at Tottenham.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: In the 2012–13 season, Fulham ended a seven-match winless run by beating Swansea City 3–0 away at the Liberty Stadium on the final game of the season on 19 May 2013. Fulham finished the season in 12th place.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: Shahid Khan took over as chairman in July 2013, but after a poor start to the 2013–14 season, having only amassed 10 points from 13 games, Martin Jol was sacked as manager on 1 December 2013, with René Meulensteen taking charge as head coach. Meulensteen was replaced by Felix Magath after just 17 games in charge following no upturn in form, but fortunes did not improve, and Fulham were eventually relegated to the Championship after a 4–1 defeat away to Stoke on 3 May. Post-season, the media criticised chairman Shahid Khan's decision to sack Meulensteen and appoint the third manager of the season in Magath.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: Fulham broke the Championship transfer record that summer in a restructuring of the squad by Magath, but after a disastrous start to the new season, amassing just one point in seven games, Magath was sacked in September 2014, with Kit Symons appointed as caretaker manager. Fulham eventually finished the season in 17th place. The team suffered an inconsistent start to the following season and after a 5–2 loss at home to Birmingham City, and lying in 12th place, Kit Symons was sacked as manager in November 2015. It paved the way for Serbian Slaviša Jokanović to be appointed on 27 December 2015. Fulham's fortunes did not improve greatly following Jokanović's appointment, but the team finished the 2015–16 Championship season in 20th place, avoiding relegation by 11 points.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: In 2017, club owner Shahid Khan's son Tony Khan was named as Vice Chairman and Director of Football Operations, and he also holds the roles of General Manager and Sporting Director.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: The 2016–17 season saw huge improvements in both results and performances. Despite an inconsistent start, the team saw a significant improvement from October onwards which saw them secure a 6th-place finish. They entered the play-offs, but lost to Reading 2–1 on aggregate in the semi-final. Despite a slow start to the following season, the club went on a club-record 23 game unbeaten run in the league which led to a 3rd-place finish, narrowly missing out automatic promotion. The team went on to win the EFL Championship play-off Final against Aston Villa to return to the Premier League on 26 May 2018.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: Following a poor start to life back in the Premier League, Jokanović was sacked on 14 November 2018 and replaced with former Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri. Results ultimately did not improve under Ranieri and he left the club in February 2019. He was replaced by Scott Parker as caretaker manager who could not save the club from relegation on 3 April 2019. Parker was appointed as manager on a permanent basis on 10 May 2019. In a season that was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Parker led the club straight back to the Premier League on 4 August 2020, defeating London rivals Brentford 2–1 in the playoff final after a 4th-place finish. However, the club would once again be relegated after just a single season back in the top flight after a 2–0 defeat to Burnley on 10 May 2021. In the aftermath of relegation, Parker left the club by mutual consent and was replaced by former Everton manager Marco Silva.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: After relegation, Fulham under Silva earned promotion back to the top tier with four games to go winning 3 - 0 against Preston North End F.C.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: Between the years 1879 and when Fulham had a ground to call their own in 1896, they played at a number of stadiums, only some of which were recorded and this should not be regarded as a full or complete list. Only rivals and former landlords Queens Park Rangers have played at more home stadiums. Some of the early grounds listed below are likely to have been parks and parkland, which have now been developed. Even when the club purchased Craven Cottage and the surrounding land in 1894, they had to wait two years before they could play a game there.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: Fulham's sponsorship by Betfair in 2002–03 was the first gambling sponsorship in English football, and came before the Gambling Act 2005 permitted the industry to advertise on television and radio; within fifteen years half of Premier League teams were sponsored by such companies.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: On 27 July 2021, it was announced that World Mobile would become the official principal partner for the next three years.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: In July 2022, it was announced that the gambling company W88 would sponsor the team in a kit deal for the 2022–23 season. The deal will see the betting firm's logo placed on the front of both the men's and women's kit. The confirmation of the deal came during a decrease in gambling sponsors for Premier League teams.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: The Fulham mascot is Billy the Badger, who was the winning design sent in by Kyle Jackson after an online competition by the club. Billy the Badger wears the number 79 Fulham shirt, in reference to the club's year of founding, 1879. Controversy first surrounded Billy when he tried to cheer up Chelsea manager Avram Grant during a home match in front of the television cameras. Secondly, Billy was seen on television being sent off during the home game against Aston Villa on 3 February 2008 for break-dancing in the corner of the pitch after the referee had commenced the game. Billy blamed his badger hearing and eyesight for the incident, and apologised to referee Chris Foy. On 11 March 2009, Billy walked across the goal during a match although it was not spotted by the referee. The former mascot for Fulham was Sir Craven of Cottage, the Knight. The cheerleaders were known as the Cravenettes.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: Fulham fans consider their main rivals to be Chelsea. Despite this fixture not being played that often in the years preceding Fulham's ascent to the top division, this is a clear local derby as Chelsea's ground, Stamford Bridge, is within Fulham and only 1.8 miles from Craven Cottage.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: Fulham consider their secondary rivals to be Queens Park Rangers. Fulham beat QPR twice in the 2011–12 Premier League season. They won 6–0 at Craven Cottage, and also 1–0 away from home at Loftus Road. The two clubs have played each other several times since in the Championship.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: Fulham's third closest rivalry is with Brentford, who they defeated 2–1 on 4 August 2020 in the Championship playoff final. Fulham also have rivalries with several other London clubs to a lesser extent, such as Crystal Palace.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: Outside of London, Gillingham are still considered rivals to some Fulham supporters despite the two clubs not having played in the same division since the 2000–01 season. Fulham and Gillingham were involved in several ill-tempered matches in the lower leagues, including the death of a Fulham supporter.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: Fulham's fan base has fluctuated over the years, with high crowds coinciding with the club's success in the Premier League. Fulham supporters have played a vital role in the club's long term stay at Craven Cottage. When the club moved temporarily to Loftus Road, a committee known as Back to the Cottage was formed, committed to ensuring the club continued to play at their traditional home. Fulham fans have traditionally come from the Fulham and Hammersmith areas, and also from other areas in South-West London, such as Putney, Richmond, Sutton and Worcester Park.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: In July 2012, the club website asked supporters using Facebook and Twitter to pick their best FFC Premier League XI from 2001 to the present. The supporters picked their favourite goalkeeper, full-backs, centre-backs, wingers, centre midfielders and forwards in a classic 4–4–2 formation. In August 2022, the club asked fans for an updated all time Premier League XI as part of the Premier League's 30th anniversary celebrations.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: Fulham are a member of the European Club Association, having qualified four times for European Competition, firstly the UEFA Intertoto Cup after their inaugural season in the Premier League, then the UEFA Cup as a result of winning that, and then the UEFA Europa League twice. Fulham are unbeaten at home in European competition, in 23 games, with a record of 17 wins and six draws. In 2010, Fulham reached the UEFA Europa League final, which they lost 2–1 to Atletico Madrid.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: Fulham have had 37 managers in 114 years. Prior to the appointment of the first manager at the club (Bradshaw in 1904), the duties normally assigned to a modern-day manager would have been shared between club secretary, captain, and other officials.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: Fulham Football Club is owned by Shahid Khan. Khan completed his purchase of the club from Mohamed Al-Fayed on 12 July 2013 for a reported £150–200 million.


title: Fulham F.C.

text: During his ownership of Fulham, Al-Fayed had provided the club with £187 million in interest-free loans. In March 2011, Fulham posted annual losses of £16.9 million, with Al-Fayed stating that he would "continue to make funds available to achieve our goals both on and off the pitch" and that "the continued success of Fulham and its eventual financial self-sustainability is my priority." As of January 2013, Fulham were effectively debt-free as Al-Fayed converted the loans into equity in the club.


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: Chernobyl is a 2019 historical tragedy television miniseries that revolves around the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 and the cleanup efforts that followed. The series was created and written by Craig Mazin and directed by Johan Renck. It features an ensemble cast led by Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, Emily Watson and Paul Ritter. The series was produced by HBO in the United States and Sky UK in the United Kingdom.


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: The five-part series premiered simultaneously in the United States on May 6, 2019, and in the United Kingdom on May 7. It was acclaimed by critics, who lauded the performances, cinematography, historical accuracies, atmosphere, direction, screenplay, musical score and tone. At the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards, it received nineteen nominations and won for Outstanding Limited Series, Outstanding Directing, and Outstanding Writing, while Harris, Skarsgård, and Watson received acting nominations. At the 77th Golden Globe Awards, the series won for Best Miniseries or Television Film and Skarsgård won for Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film.


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: While the series was exhaustively researched, some liberties were taken for dramatic purposes. The release of each episode was accompanied by a podcast in which Mazin and NPR host Peter Sagal discuss these changes and the reasoning behind them. While critics, experts and witnesses have noted historical and factual discrepancies in the miniseries, the creators' attention to detail has been widely praised.


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: "Chernobyl" dramatizes the story of the April 1986 nuclear plant disaster which occurred in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union, telling the stories of the people who were involved in the disaster and those who responded to it. The series depicts some of the lesser-known stories of the disaster, including the efforts of the firefighters who were the first responders on the scene, volunteers, and teams of miners who dug a critical tunnel under Reactor 4.


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: The miniseries is based in large part on the recollections of Pripyat locals, as told by Belarusian Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich in her book "Voices from Chernobyl".


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: Writer Craig Mazin began researching for the project in 2014, by reading books and government reports from inside and outside the Soviet Union. Mazin also interviewed nuclear scientists to learn how a reactor works, and former Soviet citizens to gain a better idea of the culture in 1986. Mazin also read several first-person accounts in order to bring additional authenticity to the story. He explained, "When you're reading the personal stories of people who were there—people who lived near the plant, people who worked at the plant, people who were sent to Chernobyl as part of the effort to clean it up—in those individual accounts, that's really where the story came alive".


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: Mazin's interest in creating the series originated when he decided to write something that addressed "how we're struggling with the global war on the truth right now". Another inspiration is that he knew Chernobyl exploded, but he did not know "why". He explained, "I didn't know why, and I thought there was this inexplicable gap in my knowledge ... So, I began reading about it, just out of this very dry, intellectual curiosity, and what I discovered was that, while the story of the explosion is fascinating, and we make it really clear exactly why and how it happened, what really grabbed me and held me were the incredible stories of the human beings who lived through it, and who suffered and sacrificed to save the people that they loved, to save their countrymen and to save a continent, and continued to do so, against odds that were startling and kept getting worse. I was so moved by it. It was like I had discovered a war that people just hadn't really depicted, and I became obsessed". Mazin said that "The lesson of "Chernobyl" isn't that modern nuclear power is dangerous. The lesson is that lying, arrogance, and suppression of criticism are dangerous".


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: In preparation for the miniseries, Mazin visited the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Mazin made the decision in the early stages not to use Russian or Ukrainian accents, and instead, have the actors use their natural accents. Mazin explained, "We had an initial thought that we didn't want to do the 'Boris and Natasha' clichéd accent because the Russian accent can turn comic very easily. At first, we thought that maybe we would have people do these sort of vaguely Eastern European accents—not really strong but noticeable. What we found very quickly is that actors will act accents. They will not act, they will act accents and we were losing everything about these people that we loved. Honestly, I think after maybe one or two auditions we said 'Ok, new rule. We're not doing that anymore'". Mazin also did not cast any American actors, as that could potentially pull the audience out of the story.


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: On July 26, 2017, it was announced that HBO and Sky had given a series order to "Chernobyl". It was HBO's first co-production with Sky UK. The five-episode miniseries was written by Craig Mazin and directed by Johan Renck. Mazin also served as an executive producer alongside Carolyn Strauss and Jane Featherstone, with Chris Fry and Renck acting as co-executive producers. On March 11, 2019, it was announced that the miniseries would premiere on May 6, 2019. On June 4, 2019, Craig Mazin made the original scripts of all episodes available for downloading as PDFs (see External links below).


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: A companion podcast for the miniseries had new episodes published as each TV episode aired on HBO. The podcast featured conversations between Mazin and host Peter Sagal including discussions of where the show was as true as possible to historical events and where events were consolidated or modified as part of artistic license.


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: Simultaneously with the initial series announcement, it was confirmed that Jared Harris would star in the series. On March 19, 2018, it was announced that Stellan Skarsgård and Emily Watson had joined the main cast, marking their second collaboration after "Breaking the Waves." In May 2018, it was announced that Paul Ritter, Jessie Buckley, Adrian Rawlins, and Con O'Neill also had joined the cast.


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: Principal photography began in April 2018 in Lithuania. Initial filming started on May 13, 2018, in Fabijoniškės, a residential district in Vilnius, Lithuania, which was used to portray the Ukrainian city of Pripyat, since the district maintained an authentic Soviet atmosphere. An area of densely built panel housing apartments served as a location for the evacuation scenes. Director Johan Renck heavily criticised the amount of diverse and eye-catching modern windows in the houses, but was not concerned about removing them in post-production. At the end of March, production moved to Visaginas, Lithuania, to shoot both the exterior and interior of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, a decommissioned nuclear power station that is sometimes referred to as "Chernobyl's sister" due to its visual resemblance and the nuclear reactor design used at both Chernobyl and Ignalina (RBMK nuclear power reactor). In early June 2018, production moved to Ukraine to shoot minor final scenes. The filming of "Chernobyl" took 16 weeks.


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: The musical score was composed by Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir. In August 2018, she began recording the score with Chris Watson at the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, where the series being preliminarily shot. She used the recordings from the power plant, deciding not to depend on instruments and pre-recorded material to create the score, as she wanted to experience from a listener's perspective on what it is like to actually be inside of a power plant. The original score album was released by the record labels Deutsche Grammophon and WaterTower Music on May 31, 2019, with a vinyl edition released by Decca on September 6, 2019.


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: The series was exhaustively researched, but some liberties were taken for dramatic purposes, such as Legasov being present at the trial. The first episode depicts Legasov timing his suicide down to the second (1:23:45) to coincide with the second anniversary of the Chernobyl explosion. In reality, Legasov committed suicide a day later. The epilogue acknowledges that the character of Ulana Khomyuk is fictional, a composite of multiple Soviet scientists. Chernobyl expert Adam Higginbotham points out in an interview that there was no need for scientists to "uncover the truth"; that "many nuclear scientists knew all along that there were problems with this reactor—the problems that led ultimately to an explosion and disaster". Artistic license was also used in the depiction of the "Bridge of Death," from which spectators in Pripyat watched the immediate aftermath of the explosion; the miniseries asserts that all of the spectators subsequently died, a claim which is now generally held to be an urban legend.


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: The series also discusses a potential third steam explosion, due to the risk of corium melting through to the water reservoirs below the reactor building, as being in the range of 2 to 4 megatons. This would have been physically impossible under the circumstances, as the only known means of producing such a powerful explosion is a thermonuclear bomb, a highly contrived mechanism involving far more highly enriched fissile material than the reactor fuel present at Chernobyl. In reality, the potential third explosion would likely have been closer in size to the previous two explosions that had destroyed the core. According to series author Craig Mazin, the claim was based on one made by Belarusian nuclear physicist Vassili Nesterenko about a potential 3–5 Mt third explosion, even though physicists hired for the show were unable to confirm its plausibility. It is not clear where Nesterenko's estimate originated; it may have originally referred not to the energy of the possible third explosion itself, but rather to the resulting radioactive fallout as being comparable to the fallout of a 3–5 Mt hydrogen bomb. This would have been somewhat more plausible under the circumstances, especially in a worst-case scenario involving a major steam explosion ejecting most of reactor 4's remaining fuel into the atmosphere as a fine dust, in addition to destroying reactors 1, 2 and 3.


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: The series' production design, such as the choice of sets, props, and costumes, has received high praise for its accuracy. Several sources have commended the attention to even minor setting details, such as the usage of actual Kyiv-region license plate numbers, and a "New Yorker" review states that "the material culture of the Soviet Union is reproduced with an accuracy that has never before been seen" from either Western or Russian filmmakers. Oleksiy Breus, a Chernobyl engineer, commends the portrayal of the symptoms of radiation poisoning; however, Robert Gale, a doctor who treated Chernobyl victims, states that the miniseries overstated the symptoms by suggesting that the patients were actively radioactive. In a more critical judgment, a review from the "Moscow Times" highlights some small design errors: for instance, Soviet soldiers are inaccurately shown as holding their weapons in Western style, and Legasov's apartment was too "dingy" for a scientist of his status. During an interview to BBC Russian, the real Lyudmilla Ignatenko described how she suffered harassment and criticism when the series was aired. She claimed reporters hounded her at home and even jammed their foot in her door as they tried to interview her, and that she suffered criticism for exposing her unborn daughter to Vasily, despite the fact she hadn't known anything about radiation then, and that risk to a fetus from such an exposure is infinitesimally small. She said she never gave HBO and Sky Atlantic permission to tell her story, saying there had been a single phone call offering money after filming had been completed. She thought the call was a hoax because it came from a Moscow number, and hung up. HBO Sky rejects this, saying they had multiple exchanges with Lyudmilla before, during, and after filming with the opportunity to participate and provide feedback, and at no time did she express a wish for her story to not be included.


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: The portrayal of Soviet officials, including both plant management and central government figures, received criticism. Breus, the Chernobyl engineer, argues that the characters of Viktor Bryukhanov, Nikolai Fomin, and Anatoly Dyatlov were "distorted and misrepresented, as if they were villains." Similarly, multiple reviews criticize the series for creating a stark moral dichotomy, in which the scientists are depicted as overly heroic while the government and plant officials are uniformly villainous. The occasional threats of violence and execution from government officials were also seen by some as anachronistic: Masha Gessen of the "New Yorker" argues that the threats depicted "were not a feature of Soviet life after the nineteen-thirties." Higginbotham takes a more positive view of the portrayal of the authorities, arguing that the unconcerned attitude of the central government was accurately depicted.


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: "Chernobyl" received widespread critical acclaim. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an approval rating of 95% based on 104 reviews, with an average rating of 8.9/10. The website's critics consensus reads: ""Chernobyl" rivets with a creeping dread that never dissipates, dramatizing a national tragedy with sterling craft and an intelligent dissection of institutional rot." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 82 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: Reviewers from "The Atlantic", "The Washington Post", and BBC observed parallels to contemporary society by focusing on the power of information and how dishonest leaders can make mistakes beyond their comprehension. Sophie Gilbert of "The Atlantic" hailed the series as a "grim disquisition on the toll of devaluing the truth"; Hank Stuever of "The Washington Post" praised it for showcasing "what happens when lying is standard and authority is abused". Meera Syal praised "Chernobyl" as a "fiercely intelligent exposition of the human cost of state censorship. Would love to see similar exposé of the Bhopal disaster". David Morrison was "struck by the attention to accuracy" and says the "series does an outstanding job of presenting the technical and human issues of the accident."


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: Jennifer K. Crosby, writing for "The Objective Standard", says that the miniseries "explores the reasons for this monumental catastrophe and illustrates how it was magnified by the evasion and denial of those in charge," adding that "although the true toll of the disaster on millions of lives will never be known, "Chernobyl" goes a long way toward helping us understand [its] real causes and effects." Aaron Giovannone writes critically of the series in the socialist publication "Jacobin", stating that "even as we worry about the ongoing ecological crisis caused by capitalism, "Chernobyl" revels in the failure of the historical alternative to capitalism," which reinforces the status quo, offering us "no way out" of the crisis.


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: The miniseries was well-received by some critics and audiences in Russia. Vladimir Medinsky, Russian culture minister, whose father was one of the Chernobyl liquidators, called the series "masterfully made" and "filmed with great respect for ordinary people". It was reported that Russian NTV television channel has been producing its own version of the Chernobyl story in which the CIA plays a key role in the disaster. However, the series in question had been in production since before HBO's miniseries and was not created in response to it. An apparent trailer for the series was uploaded to YouTube but was later deleted following negative reaction.


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: The Communists of Russia party called for a libel lawsuit against "Chernobyl"s writer, director and producers, describing the show as "disgusting". In a statement, party member Sergey Malinkovich spoke of the party's intentions to lobby TV regulator Roskomnadzor to request that it block local access to the series. Marianna Prysiazhniuk of "Vice Media" notes that multiple Russian media outlets describe the miniseries as one-sided, incomplete, or anti-Russian propaganda. "Argumenty i Fakty" dismissed the show as "a caricature and not the truth" and "The only things missing are the bears and accordions!" quipped Stanislav Natanzon, lead anchor of Russia-24, one of the country's main news channels.


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: In Ukraine, Anna Korolevska, deputy director at the Ukrainian National Chernobyl Museum in Kyiv, said "Today young people coming to power in Ukraine know nothing about that disaster in 1986. It was a necessary film to make and HBO have obviously tried their best; as for us, we are going to create a special tour about Chernobyl's historic truth, inspired by the HBO series." Bermet Talant, a Ukrainian journalist, noted that "In Russia, a state that still takes pride in the Soviet legacy, the series has faced criticism from the official media. Meanwhile, many in Ukraine appreciated the series for humanizing a tragic chapter in the country's history. […] Ukrainian viewers also appreciated HBO's "Chernobyl" for praising the heroism and self-sacrifice of ordinary people."


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: Belarusian Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich, whose book inspired the series, said "We are now witnessing a new phenomenon that Belarusians, who suffered greatly and thought they knew a lot about the tragedy, have completely changed their perception about Chernobyl and are interpreting this tragedy in a whole new way. The authors accomplished this, even though they are from a completely different world – not from Belarus, not from our region." She also noted its popularity with young Belarusians.


title: Chernobyl (miniseries)

text: At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in China, Chinese netizens drew parallels between the Soviet response to the Chernobyl disaster and the initial handling of the coronavirus outbreak by the Chinese government. As a response, the page for "Chernobyl" on Douban, which by that point had amassed more than 200,000 ratings with an average of 9.6 out of 10, was taken down.


title: Amy Poehler

text: Amy Poehler (; born September 16, 1971) is an American comedian, actress, writer, producer, and director. After studying improv at Chicago's Second City and ImprovOlympic in the early 1990s, Poehler co-founded the improvisational-comedy troupe Upright Citizens Brigade. The group moved to New York City in 1996, where their act became a half-hour sketch-comedy series on Comedy Central in 1998. Along with other members of the comedy group, Poehler is a founder of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.


title: Amy Poehler

text: In 2001, Poehler joined the cast of the NBC sketch-comedy show "Saturday Night Live". She became co-anchor of "SNL"s "Weekend Update" in 2004 until she left the series in 2008 to star as Leslie Knope in the sitcom "Parks and Recreation". Poehler is an executive producer on the television series "Welcome to Sweden", "Broad City", "Difficult People", "Duncanville", "Three Busy Debras", and "Russian Doll". Poehler frequently collaborated with Tina Fey on "SNL" and later acted with her in the feature films "Mean Girls", "Baby Mama", "Sisters", and "Wine Country". Fey and Poehler hosted the Golden Globe Awards four times in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2021. Poehler also provided voice acting roles for the animated films "Shrek the Third", "Horton Hears a Who!", "Monsters vs. Aliens", "Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil", "Free Birds", and "Inside Out".


title: Amy Poehler

text: In 2015, Poehler received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to television. She won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Musical or Comedy Series in 2014 and a Critics' Choice Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series in 2012. She and Fey won the 2016 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for co-hosting "SNL".


title: Amy Poehler

text: Poehler was born in Newton, Massachusetts to school teachers Eileen and William Poehler. Poehler credits her father with encouraging her to break social protocols and take risks. She has one younger brother, Greg, who is also a producer and actor. Poehler's ancestry is Irish, along with German, Portuguese, and English; her Irish roots originate from County Sligo and County Cork. Her great-grandmother immigrated from Nova Scotia, Canada to Boston in the late 1800s. She was raised as a Catholic.


title: Amy Poehler

text: Poehler grew up in nearby Burlington, Massachusetts, which she describes as a blue-collar town. Her favorite performers and influences included sketch comedians Carol Burnett, Gilda Radner, and Catherine O'Hara. When she was 10 years old, Poehler played Dorothy Gale in her school's production of L. Frank Baum's "The Wizard of Oz". The experience inspired Poehler's love of performing. Poehler continued acting in school plays at Burlington High School. She also participated in other activities during her time in high school including student council, soccer, and softball. After graduating from high school in 1989, she enrolled at Boston College. During college, Poehler became a member of the improv comedy troupe My Mother's Fleabag. She graduated from Boston College with a bachelor's degree in media and communications in 1993.


title: Amy Poehler

text: Poehler's time studying improv in college inspired her to pursue comedy professionally. After graduating from college, she moved to Chicago, where she took her first improv class, taught by Charna Halpern at ImprovOlympic. Early on, Poehler worked as a waitress and at other jobs to earn money. Through ImprovOlympic, Poehler learned from Del Close and she was introduced to friend and frequent collaborator Tina Fey. Poehler and Fey joined a Second City touring company at the same time, and Poehler went on to join one of Second City's main companies where Fey was her eventual replacement.


title: Amy Poehler

text: The Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) formed as a sketch and improv group in Chicago in 1991. Early members included Horatio Sanz, Adam McKay, Ian Roberts, Neil Flynn, and Matt Besser, although the membership was not static. McKay left the fledgling group in 1995 and Poehler became his replacement. In 1996, a core group of four UCB members, Poehler, Besser, Roberts, and Matt Walsh, moved to New York City. The "UCB Four" began performing shows at small venues around the city which evolved into four regular live shows after a few months. To earn money outside of the shows, UCB taught improv classes. Poehler also started making appearances on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien", often playing her recurring role as Andy Richter's little sister, Stacy.


title: Amy Poehler

text: In 1998, Comedy Central debuted UCB's eponymous half-hour sketch-comedy series. During the show's second season, the group founded an improv theater/training center in New York City on West 22nd Street, occupying the space of a former strip club. The UCB Theatre held shows seven nights a week, in addition to offering classes in sketch-comedy writing and improv. In the summer of 2000, Comedy Central canceled the Upright Citizens Brigade program after its third season, although the UCB Theatre continued to operate. Poehler, Besser, Roberts, and Walsh are considered the founders of UCB and have been credited with popularizing long-form improv in New York. By 2011, UCB had two theaters in New York and a theater in Los Angeles with 8,000 students taking classes per year.


title: Amy Poehler

text: Poehler joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live (SNL)" at the start of the 2001–2002 season after Tina Fey had tried to recruit her for "SNL" for years. Poehler made her debut in the first episode produced after the 9/11 attacks. She was promoted from featured player to full cast member in her first season on the show, making her the second cast member, and first woman, to earn this distinction. Poehler's recurring characters included hyperactive 10-year old Kaitlyn, one-legged reality show contestant Amber, and Bronx Beat talk show co-host Betty Caruso. In addition to her original characters, Poehler performed a number of impressions, including Hillary Clinton, Dakota Fanning, Avril Lavigne, Michael Jackson, Kim Jong-Il, Nancy Grace, Kelly Ripa, Katie Couric, Sharon Stone, Sharon Osbourne, Julia Roberts, Britney Spears, Madonna, Paula Abdul, Dolly Parton, Dennis Kucinich, Ann Coulter, Pamela Anderson, Christian Siriano, Rosie Perez, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Martha Stewart, Anna Nicole Smith, Paula Zahn, Norah O'Donnell, and Farrah Fawcett.


title: Amy Poehler

text: Beginning with the 2004–2005 season, she co-anchored "Weekend Update" with Tina Fey, replacing Jimmy Fallon. Fey and Poehler became the first female co-anchors of the longtime "SNL" staple. Poehler, Rudolph, and Fey were among the show's biggest stars that season and contributed to a shift in the show to featuring more female driven sketches. When Fey left after the 2005–2006 season to devote time to the sitcom she created, "30 Rock", Seth Meyers joined Poehler at the Weekend-Update anchor desk. In 2008, Poehler was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, the first year "SNL" cast members were eligible for the category.


title: Amy Poehler

text: The "SNL" premiere of the 2008–2009 season opened with Fey and Poehler as Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton, respectively discussing sexism in political campaigning. The sketch, which Poehler co-wrote with Meyers, became the biggest viral video of the year. Days after the season premiere, NBC announced Poehler, pregnant with her first child, would not return after her upcoming maternity leave. On the October 25 episode, Meyers announced during "Weekend Update" that Poehler was in labor. At the end of "Weekend Update", special guest Maya Rudolph and cast member Kenan Thompson sang a custom rendition of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" for Poehler. Poehler had been rehearsing for that week's show until the day before the birth.


title: Amy Poehler

text: After giving birth, Poehler appeared during a pre-taped ""SNL" Presidential Bash '08" prime time special on November 3. Despite the prior announcement that Poehler would not return after her maternity leave, she came back for two more live episodes. During the December 13 "Weekend Update" Poehler announced that it was her last show. "Saturday Night Live" aired a special, "The Best of Amy Poehler", in April 2009. For the 2008–2009 season finale, Poehler returned to co-host "Weekend Update" and joined host Will Ferrell's version of the Billy Joel song "Goodnight Saigon".


title: Amy Poehler

text: Off camera, Poehler was a prolific writer. She often collaborated with writer Emily Spivey. Meyers described Poehler as "the most generous laugher" during sketch read-throughs. Poehler would also take it upon herself to welcome guest hosts during rehearsals and try to make them feel comfortable during their stint on "SNL".


title: Amy Poehler

text: Although she had already left "SNL", Poehler joined Meyers in September 2009 for two episodes of "Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday", which aired in prime time and led directly into "Parks and Recreation". She returned to "SNL" along with other past female cast members for a special Mother's Day episode on May 8, 2010, hosted by Betty White. Poehler returned again to host the 2010–2011 season premiere with musical guest Katy Perry. She participated in another "SNL" prime time special, "The Women of SNL" in November of that year. Poehler also returned sporadically for appearances on "Weekend Update" with Meyers, as well as in sketches when Jimmy Fallon (2011) and Maya Rudolph (2012) hosted.


title: Amy Poehler

text: In 2015, during the "Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special", she returned to anchor "Weekend Update", this time with Tina Fey and Jane Curtin.


title: Amy Poehler

text: Following the success of "The Office", NBC ordered a new series from producers Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. In July 2008, "Variety" reported that Poehler was in final negotiations to star in the still untitled series from Daniels and Schur. Poehler and Schur were friends from their time together at "SNL", where Schur worked as a writer. Signing Poehler, who was pregnant with her first child, meant the new series would have to forgo a promised post-Super Bowl debut and cut its first season short, but Daniels and Schur chose to push back the series for Poehler. On July 21, 2008, NBC announced Poehler's new series, "Parks and Recreation", saying the project would not be a direct spin-off of "The Office", as previously speculated.


title: Amy Poehler

text: "Parks and Recreation" premiered on NBC on April 9, 2009, at 8:30 pm between two episodes of "The Office". An ensemble cast including Aziz Ansari, Rashida Jones, Chris Pratt, Aubrey Plaza, Paul Schneider, and Nick Offerman joined Poehler. Poehler played deputy director of the Parks Department Leslie Knope in the fictional city of Pawnee, Indiana. After the first season had received a mixed reception, the show's second season received more positive reviews. One key change between seasons one and two was to distinguish the character of Leslie from Michael Scott, the central character of "The Office". "Parks" decidedly down-played Leslie's ditziness from the first season and emphasized her intelligence, work ethic and earnest nature instead. A second-season episode, "Galentine's Day", included a new holiday Leslie created celebrating female friendship on February 13. Galentine's Day has since transcended the show with real-life celebrations.


title: Amy Poehler

text: Adam Scott and Rob Lowe joined the show at the end of the second season, with Scott playing Leslie's eventual husband, Ben Wyatt. At the end of filming the second season, Poehler was once again pregnant. The show began producing the first six episodes of season three without a break to accommodate her pregnancy. Poehler was nominated again for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy in 2011. That same year, the show won a Peabody Award for "developing a hilarious venue to explore the good side of American democracy in an age when that side is so rarely on display.", the show was a success with critics, but its future was still uncertain. Two episodes were written that could serve as series finales if it was cancelled, including the mid-season episode where Leslie and Ben get married. The show was ultimately renewed for a sixth season in May 2013. Poehler was nominated for an Emmy Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy in 2013 for her work in season five. Season six included the show's 100th episode, "Second ", co-written by Poehler and Schur. In 2014, she won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Series – Comedy at the 71st Golden Globe Awards, which she co-hosted with Tina Fey. In the middle of season six, Poehler and Schur decided that it felt like the right time to plan the end of the show. They met with representatives from NBC, who agreed. The show was renewed for a final thirteen-episode season. Poehler and Schur co-wrote the final episode of the series, "One Last Ride", which aired on February 24, 2015.


title: Amy Poehler

text: By season 5, in addition to starring on "Parks and Recreation", Poehler was also a producer. Behind the scenes, Poehler started a tradition of inviting the show cast and crew to a group dinner the last night of any location shoot. Poehler would start impromptu dance parties in the makeup trailer on set. Poehler wrote several episodes throughout the series, starting with the season two episode "Telethon". Other episodes she penned include "The Fight" (season three), "The Debate" (season four), "Second Chunce" (season six) and the finale "One Last Ride". Producer Dan Goor praised Poehler's writing as "exceptionally good" and theorized, "[i]f Amy Poehler submitted a blind script to any staff, she would be hired." Poehler's writing of "The Debate" was recognized with nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series and the . In addition to writing "The Debate", Poehler also directed the episode. Additionally, she directed the episodes "Article Two" (season five) and "Gryzzlbox" (season seven).


title: Amy Poehler

text: Poehler and Fey co-hosted the Golden Globe Awards ceremony for the first time in 2013. The program was watched by 20 million viewers, a 17 percent increase over the previous year. The pair co-hosted again in 2014 as part of a three-year contract. Gilbert Cruz, of the "Vulture" website, wrote: "They killed it last year with their opening monologue and they did so again this year." The 2014 show garnered its highest ratings in ten years.


title: Amy Poehler

text: Before the 2015 Golden Globes, Poehler confirmed it would likely be the last time she and Fey hosted. "Rolling Stone" magazine wrote afterward that the pair "left no superstar unscathed during their riotous opening monologue" in which they "casually roasted the assembled masses". At the 2020 Television Critics Association winter press tour, NBC announced Poehler and Fey would host the Golden Globes again in 2021. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Poehler and Fey hosted the Golden Globes from separate locations with Poehler in Los Angeles and Fey in New York City.


title: Amy Poehler

text: In March 2017, NBC ordered to series a Poehler-produced crafting series, then-titled "The Handmade Project". The show, retitled "Making It", debuted on NBC in July 2018 with Poehler and her "Parks and Recreation" co-star Nick Offerman as co-hosts. The debut episode tied for the highest-rated premiere of summer 2018 and earned Poehler and Offerman a Primetime Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program. The show returned for a second season which aired in December 2019. NBC has picked up "Making It" for a third season.


title: Amy Poehler

text: In 1999, Poehler had a small role in the movie "." The following year, she was cast in the film "Wet Hot American Summer." "Wet Hot American Summer" was the first film from David Wain, who cast Poehler based on her work with Upright Citizen's Brigade. The film, which cost only $1.8 million to make, was not a success initially when it was released in 2001. It gained a following after its release on DVD. Poehler also appeared in the 2004 movie "Mean Girls", written by Tina Fey. Fey wrote the role of self-described "cool mom" with Poehler in mind; however, Fey and director Mark Waters had to push for Poehler's casting. The studio had been wary of casting too many SNL cast members and were concerned that Poehler was too young to play the mother of Rachel McAdams, who is only seven years younger than her. Poehler filmed the role in Toronto during the week while filming SNL. The movie grossed $129 million at the box office worldwide and saw its popularity continue to rise after its release on DVD.


title: Amy Poehler

text: In 2008, she starred in "Baby Mama", which reunited her with Tina Fey. Poehler plays trashy Angie Ostrowiski, who is hired by Fey's Kate to be her child's surrogate mother. The film opened on April 25, 2008, and was the number one movie at the box office in its opening weekend. The film went on to gross over $60 million at the U.S. box office. Poehler and Fey also co-starred in the movie "Sisters" (2015). Other film credits include: "Envy" (2004), "Southland Tales" (2006), "Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny" (2006), "Blades of Glory" (2007), "Mr. Woodcock" (2007), "Hamlet 2" (2008), "Spring Breakdown" (2009), "A.C.O.D." (2013), and "They Came Together" (2014), and "The House" (2017).


title: Amy Poehler

text: Poehler has also voiced several characters in animated films. Her voice-over credits include: "Shrek the Third" (2007), "Horton Hears a Who!" (2008), "" (2009), "Monsters vs. Aliens" (2009), "Hoodwinked Too!: Hood vs. Evil" (2011), and "" (2011), "The Secret World of Arrietty" (2012), "Free Birds", and "Inside Out" (2015). In Pixar's "Inside Out", Poehler provides the voice for the main character, Joy, an emotion living inside an 11-year-old girl. Poehler also received a screen credit for writing some of Joy's dialogue. The film has a 98% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and went on to gross $857 million worldwide. Poehler will reprise her role as Joy in the upcoming "Inside Out" sequel, set to release in June 14, 2024.


title: Amy Poehler

text: Poehler made her film directorial debut with "Wine Country", which premiered on Netflix on May 10, 2019. She also stars in the film, along with Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, Paula Pell and Emily Spivey. The screenplay is loosely based on a real trip the actresses took together to Napa Valley. Poehler directed the film adaptation of the 2017 novel "Moxie" by Jennifer Mathieu, also for Netflix, which was released on March 3, 2021.


title: Amy Poehler

text: In 2022, Poehler directed "Lucy and Desi", a documentary film about the lives and relationship of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. The film premiered on January 21, 2022, at the Sundance Film Festival and was released worldwide on Amazon Prime Video on March 4, 2022. The film includes home audio recordings of Ball and Arnaz that had not before been made public as well as interviews with their two children, Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill and Desi Arnaz Jr., Lucy's brother Fred Ball, Carol Burnett, Bette Midler and Norman Lear, among others. The film was well received, with a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Poehler was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program. The film was nominated for a total of six Emmy Awards, winning two.


title: Amy Poehler

text: In 2001, Poehler set up her own production company, Paper Kite Productions, which is part of Universal Television. As of 2019, the production company's staff is all female. To describe her success as a producer, "The Hollywood Reporter" called Poehler "a powerful arbiter of sophisticated comedy."


title: Amy Poehler

text: Poehler co-created, produced, and starred in an animated series for Nickelodeon titled "The Mighty B!", about Bessie Higgenbottom, a "sweet, merit-badge-obsessed girl scout". The character of Bessie was inspired by a character Poehler performed doing improv. Season one averaged 3.1 million viewers and ranked as one of the top five animated programs in television. Nickelodeon renewed the show for a second season. In 2009 and 2010, Poehler earned Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program.


title: Amy Poehler

text: She has been an executive producer on series such as "Difficult People" and "Broad City". In 2014, Hulu ordered the comedy "Difficult People", as the streaming service's first ever scripted series. Starring Billy Eichner and Julie Klausner, "Difficult People" ran for three seasons. "Broad City" grew out of a web series starring Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer. Jacobson and Glazer used their connections at UCB to approach Poehler about starring in the finale of their web series. Poehler agreed to appear in it and then joined Jacobson and Glazer to executive produce a television series. After initially selling a script to FX, the project ultimately landed at Comedy Central where it aired for five years until its 2019 series finale. Poehler appeared in the season one finale.


title: Amy Poehler

text: "Welcome to Sweden" is a Swedish sitcom that premiered in March 2014, and began airing on NBC in the United States three months later. It is based on the experiences of Greg Poehler, who moved with his girlfriend to her native country of Sweden in 2006. The series was canceled by NBC on July 28, 2015, after two seasons due to low ratings. Amy Poehler makes cameo appearances in multiple episodes as herself as a celebrity client of her brother's character, a former New York tax accountant. She is also co-executive producer with him.


title: Amy Poehler

text: Poehler, along with Natasha Lyonne and Leslye Headland, created and executive produced the comedy-drama series "Russian Doll" for Netflix. The series premiered on February 1, 2019. The genesis of the series started seven years earlier after Poehler remarked Lyonne was always "the oldest girl in the world." Poehler and Lyonne liked the idea of a female character being many things at once, but joked the only way to have a female character that complex would be to re-do the part repeatedly. The idea evolved into the series where Lyonne's character dies repeatedly on her 36th birthday. Poehler, Lyonne, and Headland put together an all-female team of writers and directors. The series debuted on Netflix with a 100% fresh rating on the ratings aggregate website "Rotten Tomatoes". As of December 28, 2020, the rating remained at 97%.


title: Amy Poehler

text: In June 2016, BBC America announced it is developing a scripted series called "Zero Motivation". The project is being executive produced by Brooke Posch and Poehler. Poehler is an executive producer on the upcoming series "Three Busy Debras", a comedy series being produced for Adult Swim that stars Mitra Jouhari, Alyssa Stonoha, and Sandy Honig. In addition to serving as an executive producer, Poehler also provides the voices for two main characters in the series "Duncanville", which premiered on Fox on February 16, 2020.


title: Amy Poehler

text: In September 2008, Poehler and Meredith Walker and Amy Miles founded "Smart Girls at the Party", an online community and digital web series aimed at empowering girls. The first season premiered online on November 17, 2008, with Mattel's Barbie signed on as the lead sponsor. "Smart Girls at the Party" returned in 2012 as part of the YouTube Original Channel Initiative that focused upon the creation of new content. The new "Smart Girls at the Party" YouTube Channel went live on July 2, 2012, including new episodes of the series along with additional shows by Poehler, Walker and Miles.


title: Amy Poehler

text: Four years after the launch of "Smart Girls at the Party", digital network company Legendary Entertainment acquired ownership of the project. Poehler said in a statement, "We at Smart Girls are excited to be working with Legendary and look forward to providing funny and inspirational content for all of the goofballs out there." By the time of the deal, over five million views were registered on its YouTube channel and over 550,000 fans had liked the initiative on Facebook. On the "Smart Girls" YouTube channel, viewers have the opportunity to ask for life advice from Poehler in segments called "Ask Amy". "Smart Girls" celebrated its 10th Anniversary in 2018.


title: Amy Poehler

text: Poehler has also publicly championed a number of social and political causes. In 2012, she collaborated with the National Domestic Workers Alliance to film a public service announcement (PSA) to draw attention to the proposed California Domestic Worker Bill of Rights. The law, providing overtime pay to domestic workers, was signed into law the following year. Poehler also supported One Fair Wage, a campaign to require New York businesses to pay tipped workers the general minimum wage. Poehler has served as a celebrity ambassador for Worldwide Orphans Foundation, traveling to Haiti in 2013. The following year, Poehler joined Michelle Obama in Miami to celebrate the four year anniversary of her Let's Move! youth health initiative.


title: Amy Poehler

text: Poehler's memoir, "Yes Please", was published on October 28, 2014. She explained in a promotional interview with National Public Radio (NPR) that she was "used to writing in characters and not really writing about myself... it was easier to share the early parts of my life rather than my own current events." Topics covered in the book include body image, parenthood, and learning about the limitations of physical appearance. The book debuted at number one on "The New York Times" Best Seller list.


title: Amy Poehler

text: In 2011, Poehler was included on "Time"s "100 most influential people in the world". She also delivered the Class Day address to Harvard University's class of 2011. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences invited Poehler to become a member as part of its 2017 class.


title: Amy Poehler

text: Poehler is a known fan of the musical group Beastie Boys. She has a role as a disgruntled cafe patron in the music video for the group's song "Make Some Noise", which was nominated for the MTV Video of the Year in 2011. Poehler also wrote a chapter in the "Beastie Boys Book" in which she reviews 17 of the group's music videos. In the chapter, Poehler states, "Beastie Boys mean a great deal to me. Their music was the soundtrack I heard while I sat in my room, drank in the woods, and rode my bike to my dead-end job." She is also featured as a voice on the audio version of the book.


title: Amy Poehler

text: Poehler married Canadian actor Will Arnett on August 29, 2003. They met in 1996 when he saw one of her performances and they started dating four years later. During their relationship, Poehler and Arnett worked together on several projects, including the series "Arrested Development", the 2007 film "Blades of Glory", "Horton Hears a Who!", and "The Secret World of Arrietty". Poehler and Arnett announced their separation in September 2012; and Arnett filed for divorce in April 2014.


title: Amy Poehler

text: Poehler and Arnett have two sons: Archie Arnett, born October 25, 2008 and Abel Arnett, born August 6, 2010. Poehler lives with her children in Los Angeles. She praised her children's nannies as part of her "Time" 100 speech for helping to take care of them and allowing her to balance her career and family.


title: Amy Poehler

text: In 2016, Poehler received a letter from the city of Beverly Hills for her excessive water usage during the state of California's drought that year. Poehler's property used approximately 3,000 gallons per day.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion and


title: Mary Magdalene

text: resurrection. She is mentioned by name twelve times in the canonical gospels, more than most of the apostles and more than any other woman in the gospels, other than Jesus' family. Mary's epithet "Magdalene" may mean that she came from the town of Magdala, a fishing town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in Roman Judea.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: The Gospel of Luke chapter 8 lists Mary Magdalene as one of the women who traveled with Jesus and helped support his ministry "out of their resources", indicating that she was probably wealthy. The same passage also states that seven demons had been driven out of her, a statement which is repeated in Mark 16. In all the four canonical gospels, Mary Magdalene was a witness to the crucifixion of Jesus and, in the Synoptic Gospels, she was also present at his burial. All the four gospels identified her, either alone or as a member of a larger group of women which includes Jesus' mother, as the first to witness the empty tomb, and, either alone or as a member of a group, as the first to witness Jesus' resurrection.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: For these reasons, Mary Magdalene is known in some Christian traditions as the "apostle to the apostles". Mary Magdalene is a central figure in later Gnostic Christian writings, including the Dialogue of the Savior, the "Pistis Sophia", the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip, and the Gospel of Mary. These texts portray Mary Magdalene as an apostle, as Jesus' closest and most beloved disciple and the only one who truly understood his teachings. In the Gnostic texts, or Gnostic gospels, Mary Magdalene's closeness to Jesus results in tension with another disciple, Peter, due to her sex and Peter's envy of the special teachings given to her. In the Gospel of Philip's text she is described as Jesus' companion, as the disciple Jesus loved the most and the one Jesus kissed on the mouth, which has led some people to conclude that she and Jesus were in a relationship. Some fiction portrays her as the wife of Jesus.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: The portrayal of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute began in 591, when Pope Gregory I conflated Mary Magdalene, who was introduced in Luke 8:2, with Mary of Bethany (Luke 10:39) and the unnamed "sinful woman" who anointed Jesus' feet in Luke 7:36–50. Pope Gregory's Easter sermon resulted in a widespread belief that Mary Magdalene was a repentant prostitute or promiscuous woman. Elaborate medieval legends from Western Europe then emerged, which told exaggerated tales of Mary Magdalene's wealth and beauty, as well as of her alleged journey to southern Gaul (modern-day France). The identification of Mary Magdalene with Mary of Bethany and the unnamed "sinful woman" was still a major controversy in the years leading up to the Reformation, and some Protestant leaders rejected it. During the Counter-Reformation, the Catholic Church emphasized Mary Magdalene as a symbol of penance. In 1969, Pope Paul VI removed the identification of Mary Magdalene with Mary of Bethany and the "sinful woman" from the General Roman Calendar, but the view of her as a former prostitute has persisted in popular culture.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: Mary Magdalene is considered to be a saint by the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran denominations. In 2016, Pope Francis raised the level of liturgical memory on July 22 from memorial to feast, and for her to be referred to as the "Apostle of the apostles". Other Protestant churches honor her as a heroine of the faith. The Eastern Orthodox churches also commemorate her on the Sunday of the Myrrhbearers, the Orthodox equivalent of one of the Western Three Marys traditions.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: It is widely accepted among secular historians that, like Jesus, Mary Magdalene was a real historical figure. Nonetheless, very little is known about her life. Unlike Paul the Apostle, Mary Magdalene left behind no known writings of her own. She was never mentioned in any of the Pauline epistles or in any of the general epistles. The earliest and most reliable sources about her life are the three Synoptic Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, which were all written during the first century AD.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: Mary Magdalene's epithet "Magdalene" (; literally "the Magdalene") most likely means that she came from Magdala, a village on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee that was primarily known in antiquity as a fishing town. "Mary" was, by far, the most common Jewish given name for girls and women during the first century, so it was necessary for the authors of the gospels to call her "Magdalene" in order to distinguish her from the other women named Mary who followed Jesus. Although the Gospel of Mark, reputed by scholars to be the earliest surviving gospel, does not mention Mary Magdalene until Jesus' crucifixion, the Gospel of Luke 8:2–3 provides a brief summary of her role during his ministry:


title: Mary Magdalene

text: According to Gospel of Luke, Jesus exorcised "seven demons" from Mary Magdalene. That seven demons had possessed Mary is repeated in Mark 16:9, part of the "longer ending" of that gospel – this is not found in the earliest manuscripts and is actually a second-century addition to the original text, possibly based on the Gospel of Luke. In the first century, demons were believed widely to cause physical and psychological illness. Bruce Chilton, a scholar of early Christianity, states that the reference to the number of demons being "seven" may mean that Mary had to undergo seven exorcisms, probably over a long period of time, due to the first six being partially or wholly unsuccessful.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: Bart D. Ehrman, a New Testament scholar and historian of early Christianity, contends that the number seven may be merely symbolic, since, in Jewish tradition, seven was the number of completion, so that Mary was possessed by seven demons may simply mean she was completely overwhelmed by their power. In either case, Mary must have suffered from severe emotional or psychological trauma for an exorcism of this kind to have been perceived as necessary. Consequently, her devotion to Jesus resulting from this healing must have been very strong. The Gospels’ writers normally relish giving dramatic descriptions of Jesus' public exorcisms, with the possessed person wailing, thrashing, and tearing his or her clothes in front of a crowd. By contrast, that Mary's exorcism receives little attention may indicate that either Jesus performed it privately or that the recorders did not perceive it as particularly dramatic.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: Since Mary is listed as one of the women who supported Jesus' ministry financially, she must have been relatively wealthy. The places where she and the other women are mentioned throughout the gospels indicate strongly that they were vital to Jesus' ministry and that Mary Magdalene always appears first, whenever she is listed in the Synoptic Gospels as a member of a group of women, indicates that she was seen as the most important out of all of them. Carla Ricci notes that, in lists of the disciples, Mary Magdalene occupies a similar position among Jesus' female followers as Simon Peter does among the male apostles.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: That women played such an active and important role in Jesus' ministry was not entirely radical or even unique; inscriptions from a synagogue in Aphrodisias in Asia Minor from around the same time period reveal that many of the major donors to the synagogue were women. Jesus' ministry did bring women greater liberation than they would have held in mainstream Jewish society typically.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: All four canonical gospels agree that several other women watched Jesus' crucifixion from a distance, with three explicitly naming Mary Magdalene as present. lists the names of these women as Mary Magdalene; Mary, mother of James; and Salome. lists Mary Magdalene, Mary mother of James and Joseph, and the unnamed mother of the sons of Zebedee (who may be the same person Mark calls Salome). mentioned a group of women watching the crucifixion, but did not give any of their names. lists Mary, mother of Jesus, her sister, Mary, wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene as witnesses to the crucifixion.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: Virtually all reputable historians agree that Jesus was crucified by the Romans under the orders of Pontius Pilate. James Dunn states of baptism and crucifixion that these "two facts in the life of Jesus command almost universal assent". Nonetheless, the gospels' accounts of Jesus' crucifixion differ considerably and most secular historians agree that some of the details in the accounts have been altered to fit their authors' theological agendas. Ehrman states that the presence of Mary Magdalene and the other women at the cross is probably historical because Christians would have been unlikely to make up that the main witnesses to the crucifixion were women and also because their presence is attested in both the Synoptic Gospels and in the Gospel of John independently. Maurice Casey concurs that the presence of Mary Magdalene and the other women at the crucifixion of Jesus may be recorded as an historical fact. According to E. P. Sanders, the reason why the women watched the crucifixion even after the male disciples had fled may have been because they were less likely to be arrested, they were braver than the men, or some combination thereof.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: All four canonical gospels, as well as the apocryphal Gospel of Peter, agree that Jesus' body was taken down from the cross and buried by a man named Joseph of Arimathea. lists Mary Magdalene and Mary, mother of Jesus as witnesses to the burial of Jesus. lists Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" as witnesses. mentions "the women who had followed him from Galilee", but does not list any of their names. does not mention any women present during Joseph's burial of Jesus, but does mention the presence of Nicodemus, a Pharisee with whom Jesus had a conversation near the beginning of the gospel. Ehrman, who previously accepted the story of Jesus' burial as historical, now rejects it as a later invention on the basis that Roman governors almost never allowed for executed criminals to be given any kind of burial and Pontius Pilate in particular was not "the sort of ruler who would break with tradition and policy when kindly asked by a member of the Jewish council to provide a decent burial for a crucified victim."


title: Mary Magdalene

text: Post-modernist, John Dominic Crossan has argued that Jesus' body was probably eaten by wild dogs. Ehrman notes that this was the most common fate for victims of crucifixion, but states that it is impossible to know for certain what actually happened to Jesus' body once it was removed from the cross. Casey argues that Jesus was given a proper burial by Joseph of Arimathea, noting that, on some very rare occasions, Roman governors did release the bodies of executed prisoners for burial. Nonetheless, he rejects that Jesus could have been interred in an expensive tomb with a stone rolled in front of it like the one described in the gospels, leading him to conclude that Mary and the other women must not have actually seen the tomb. Sanders affirms Jesus' burial by Joseph of Arimathea in the presence of Mary Magdalene and the other female followers as completely historical.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: The earliest description of Jesus' post-resurrection appearances is a quotation of a pre-Pauline creed preserved by Paul the Apostle in , which was written roughly 20 years before any of the gospels. This passage made no mention of Mary Magdalene, the other women, or the story of the empty tomb at all, but rather credits Simon Peter with having been the first to see the risen Jesus. Despite this, all four canonical gospels, as well as the apocryphal Gospel of Peter, agreed that Mary Magdalene, either alone or as a member of a group, was the first person to discover that Jesus' tomb was empty. Nonetheless, the details of the accounts differ drastically.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: According to , the earliest account of the discovery of the empty tomb, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went to the tomb just after sunrise, a day and half after Jesus' burial and found that the stone had already been rolled away. They went inside and saw a young man dressed in white, who told them that Jesus had risen from the dead and instructed them to tell the male disciples that he would meet them in Galilee. Instead, the women ran away and told no one, because they were too afraid. The original text of the gospel ends here, without the resurrected Jesus ever actually making an appearance to anyone. Casey argues that the reason for this abrupt ending may be because the Gospel of Mark is an unfinished first draft.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: According to , Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" went to the tomb. An earthquake occurred and an angel dressed in white descended from Heaven and rolled aside the stone as the women were watching. The angel told them that Jesus had risen from the dead. Then the risen Jesus himself appeared to the women as they were leaving the tomb and told them to tell the other disciples that he would meet them in Galilee. According to a group of unnamed women went to the tomb and found the stone already rolled away, as in Mark. They went inside and saw two young men dressed in white who told them that Jesus had risen from the dead. Then they went and told the eleven remaining apostles, who dismissed their story as nonsense. In Luke's account, Jesus never appears to the women, but instead makes his first appearance to Cleopas and an unnamed "disciple" on the road to Emmaus. Luke's narrative also removes the injunction for the women to tell the disciples to return to Galilee and instead has Jesus tell the disciples "not" to return to Galilee, but rather to stay in the precincts of Jerusalem.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: Mary Magdalene's role in the resurrection narrative is greatly increased in the account from the Gospel of John. According to , Mary Magdalene went to the tomb alone when it was still dark and saw that the stone had already been rolled away. She did not see anyone, but immediately ran to tell Peter and the "beloved disciple", who came with her to the tomb and confirmed that it was empty, but returned home without seeing the risen Jesus. According to , Mary, now alone in the garden outside the tomb, saw two angels sitting where Jesus' body had been. Then the risen Jesus approached her. She at first mistook him for the gardener, but, after she heard him say her name, she recognized him and cried out "Rabbouni!" (which is Aramaic for "teacher"). His next words may be translated as "Don't touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father" or "Stop clinging to me, [etc.]" the latter more probable in view of the grammar (negated present imperative: stop doing something already in progress) as well as Jesus' challenge to Thomas a week later (see ). Jesus then sent her to tell the other apostles the good news of his resurrection. The Gospel of John therefore portrays Mary Magdalene as the first apostle, the apostle sent "to" the apostles.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: Because scribes were unsatisfied with the abrupt ending of the Gospel of Mark, they wrote several different alternative endings for it. In the "shorter ending", which is found in very few manuscripts, the women go to "those around Peter" and tell them what they had seen at the tomb, followed by a brief declaration of the gospel being preached from east to west. This "very forced" ending contradicts the last verse of the original gospel, stating that the women "told no one". The "longer ending", which is found in most surviving manuscripts, is an "amalgam of traditions" containing episodes derived from the other gospels. First, it describes an appearance by Jesus to Mary Magdalene alone (as in the Gospel of John), followed by brief descriptions of him appearing to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (as in the Gospel of Luke) and to the eleven remaining disciples (as in the Gospel of Matthew).


title: Mary Magdalene

text: In his book published in 2006, Ehrman states that "it appears virtually certain" that the stories of the empty tomb, regardless of whether or not they are accurate, can definitely be traced back to the historical Mary Magdalene, saying that, in Jewish society, women were regarded as unreliable witnesses and were forbidden from giving testimony in court, so early Christians would have had no motive to make up a story about a woman being the first to discover the empty tomb. In fact, if they had made the story up, they would have had strong motivation to make Peter, Jesus' closest disciple while he was alive, the discoverer of the tomb instead. He also says that the story of Mary Magdalene discovering the empty tomb is independently attested in the Synoptics, the Gospel of John, and in the Gospel of Peter. N. T. Wright states that "it is, frankly, impossible to imagine that [the women at the tomb] were inserted into the tradition after Paul's day."


title: Mary Magdalene

text: Casey challenges this argument, contending that the women at the tomb are not legal witnesses, but rather heroines in line with a long Jewish tradition. He contends that the story of the empty tomb was invented by either the author of the Gospel of Mark or by one of his sources, based on the historically genuine fact that the women really had been present at Jesus' crucifixion and burial. In his book published in 2014, Ehrman rejects his own previous argument, stating that the story of the empty tomb can only be a later invention because there is virtually no possibility that Jesus' body could have been placed in any kind of tomb and, if Jesus was never buried, then no one alive at the time could have said that his non-existent tomb had been found empty. He concludes that the idea that early Christians would have had "no motive" to make up the story simply "suffers from a poverty of imagination" and that they would have had all kinds of possible motives, especially since women were overrepresented in early Christian communities and women themselves would have had strong motivation to make up a story about other women being the first to find the tomb. He does conclude later, however, that Mary Magdalene must have been one of the people who had an experience in which she thought she saw the risen Jesus, citing her prominence in the gospel resurrection narratives and her absence everywhere else in the gospels as evidence.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: New Testament apocrypha writings mention Mary Magdalene. Some of these writings were cited as scripture by early Christians. However, they were never admitted to the canon of the New Testament. Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant churches generally do not view these writings as part of the Bible. In these apocryphal texts, Mary Magdalene is portrayed as a visionary and leader of the early movement whom Jesus loved more than he loved the other disciples. These texts were written long after the death of the historical Mary Magdalene. They are not regarded by bible scholars as reliable sources of information about her life. Sanders summarizes the scholarly consensus that:


title: Mary Magdalene

text: ... very, very little in the apocryphal gospels could conceivably go back to the time of Jesus. They are legendary and mythological. Of all the apocryphal material, only some of the sayings in the Gospel of Thomas are worth consideration.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: Nonetheless, the texts have been frequently promoted in modern works as though they were reliable. Such works often support sensationalist statements about Jesus and Mary Magdalene's relationship.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: The earliest dialogue between Jesus and Mary Magdalene is probably the Dialogue of the Saviour, a badly damaged Gnostic text discovered in the Nag Hammadi library in 1945. The dialogue consists of a conversation between Jesus, Mary and two apostles - Thomas the Apostle and Matthew the Apostle. In saying 53, the "Dialogue" attributes to Mary three aphorisms that are attributed to Jesus in the New Testament: "The wickedness of each day [is sufficient]. Workers deserve their food. Disciples resemble their teachers." The narrator commends Mary stating "she spoke this utterance as a woman who understood everything."


title: Mary Magdalene

text: The "Pistis Sophia", possibly dating as early as the second century, is the best surviving of the Gnostic writings. It was discovered in the 18th century in a large volume containing numerous early Gnostic treatises. The document takes the form of a long dialogue in which Jesus answers his followers' questions. Of the 64 questions, 39 are presented by a woman who is referred to as Mary or Mary Magdalene. At one point, Jesus says, "Mary, thou blessed one, whom I will perfect in all mysteries of those of the height, discourse in openness, thou, whose heart is raised to the kingdom of heaven more than all thy brethren". At another point, he tells her, "Well done, Mary. You are more blessed than all women on earth, because you will be the fullness of fullness and the completion of completion." Simon Peter, annoyed at Mary's dominance of the conversation, tells Jesus, "My master, we cannot endure this woman who gets in our way and does not let any of us speak, though she talks all the time." Mary defends herself, saying, "My master, I understand in my mind that I can come forward at any time to interpret what Pistis Sophia [a female deity] has said, but I am afraid of Peter, because he threatens me and hates our gender." Jesus assures her, "Any of those filled with the spirit of light will come forward to interpret what I say: no one will be able to oppose them." Mainstream Christianity maintains that God is one and says that other deities do not exist.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: The Gospel of Thomas, usually dated to the late first or early second century, was among the ancient texts discovered in the Nag Hammadi library in 1945. The Gospel of Thomas consists entirely of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus. Many of these sayings are similar to ones in the canonical gospels, but others are completely unlike anything found in the New Testament. Some scholars believe that at least a few of these sayings may authentically be traced back to the historical Jesus. Two of the sayings reference a woman named "Mary", who is generally regarded as Mary Magdalene. In saying 21, Mary herself asks Jesus the perfectly innocuous question, "Whom are your disciples like?" Jesus responds, "They are like children who have settled in a field which is not theirs. When the owners of the field come, they will say, 'Let us have back our field.' They (will) undress in their presence in order to let them have back their field and to give it back to them". Following this, Jesus continues his explanation with a parable about the owner of a house and a thief, ending with the common rhetoric, "Whoever has ears to hear let him hear".


title: Mary Magdalene

text: The Gospel of Philip, dating from the second or third century, survives in part among the texts found in Nag Hammadi in 1945. In a manner very similar to , the Gospel of Philip presents Mary Magdalene among Jesus' female entourage, adding that she was his "koinônos", a Greek word variously translated in contemporary versions as partner, associate, comrade, companion:


title: Mary Magdalene

text: The Gospel of Philip uses cognates of "koinônos" and Coptic equivalents to refer to the literal pairing of men and women in marriage and sexual intercourse, but also metaphorically, referring to a spiritual partnership, and the reunification of the Gnostic Christian with the divine realm. The Gospel of Philip also contains another passage relating to Jesus' relationship with Mary Magdalene. The text is badly fragmented, and speculated but unreliable additions are shown in brackets:


title: Mary Magdalene

text: For early Christians, kissing did not have a romantic connotation and it was common for Christians to kiss their fellow believers as a way of greeting. This tradition is still practiced in many Christian congregations today and is known as the "kiss of peace". Ehrman explains that, in the context of the Gospel of Philip, the kiss of peace is used as a symbol for the passage of truth from one person to another and that it is not in any way an act of "divine foreplay".


title: Mary Magdalene

text: The Gospel of Mary is the only surviving apocryphal text named after a woman. It contains information about the role of women in the early church. The text was probably written over a century after the historical Mary Magdalene's death. The text is not attributed to her and its author is anonymous. Instead, it received its title because it is "about" her. The main surviving text comes from a Coptic translation preserved in a fifth-century manuscript ("Berolinensis Gnosticus" 8052,1) discovered in Cairo in 1896. As a result of numerous intervening conflicts, the manuscript was not published until 1955. Roughly half the text of the gospel in this manuscript has been lost; the first six pages and four from the middle are missing. In addition to this Coptic translation, two brief third-century fragments of the gospel in the original Greek (P. Rylands 463 and P. Oxyrhynchus 3525) have also been discovered, which were published in 1938 and 1983 respectively.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: The first part of the gospel deals with Jesus' parting words to his followers after a post-resurrection appearance. Mary first appears in the second part, in which she tells the other disciples, who are all in fright for their own lives: "Do not weep or grieve or be in doubt, for his grace will be with you all and will protect you. Rather, let us praise his greatness, for he has prepared us and made us truly human." Unlike in the Gospel of Thomas, where women can only be saved by becoming men, in the Gospel of Mary, they can be saved just as they are. Peter approaches Mary and asks her:


title: Mary Magdalene

text: Mary then proceeds to describe the Gnostic cosmology in depth, revealing that she is the only one who has understood Jesus' true teachings. Andrew the Apostle challenges Mary, insisting, "Say what you think about what she said, but I do not believe the savior said this. These teachings are strange ideas." Peter responds, saying, "Did he really speak with a woman in private, without our knowledge? Should we all listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?" Andrew and Peter's responses are intended to demonstrate that they do not understand Jesus' teachings and that it is really only Mary who truly understands. Matthew the Apostle comes to Mary's defense, giving a sharp rebuke to Peter: "Peter, you are always angry. Now I see you arguing against this woman like an adversary. If the savior made her worthy, who are you to reject her? Surely the savior knows her well. That is why he loved her more than us."


title: Mary Magdalene

text: The Borborites, also known as the Phibionites, were an early Christian Gnostic sect during the late fourth century who had numerous scriptures involving Mary Magdalene, including "The Questions of Mary", "The Greater Questions of Mary", "The Lesser Questions of Mary", and "The Birth of Mary". None of these texts have survived to the present, but they are mentioned by the early Christian heretic-hunter Epiphanius of Salamis in his "Panarion". Epiphanius says that the "Greater Questions of Mary" contained an episode in which, during a post-resurrection appearance, Jesus took Mary to the top of a mountain, where he pulled a woman out of his side and engaged in sexual intercourse with her. Then, upon ejaculating, Jesus drank his own semen and told Mary, "Thus we must do, that we may live." Upon hearing this, Mary instantly fainted, to which Jesus responded by helping her up and telling her, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" This story was supposedly the basis for the Borborite Eucharist ritual in which they allegedly engaged in orgies and drank semen and menstrual blood as the "body and blood of Christ" respectively. Ehrman casts doubt on the accuracy of Epiphanius's summary, commenting that "the details of Epiphanius's description sound very much like what you can find in the ancient rumor mill about secret societies in the ancient world".


title: Mary Magdalene

text: Most of the earliest Church Fathers do not mention Mary Magdalene at all, and those who do mention her usually only discuss her very briefly. In his anti-Christian polemic "The True Word", written between 170 and 180, the pagan philosopher Celsus declared that Mary Magdalene was nothing more than "a hysterical female... who either dreamt in a certain state of mind and through wishful thinking had a hallucination due to some mistaken notion (an experience which has happened to thousands), or, which is more likely, wanted to impress others by telling this fantastic tale, and so by this cock-and-bull story to provide a chance for other beggars." The Church Father Origen ( 184 – 253) defended Christianity against this accusation in his apologetic treatise "Against Celsus", mentioning , which lists Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" both seeing the resurrected Jesus, thus providing a second witness. Origen also preserves a statement from Celsus that some Christians in his day followed the teachings of a woman named "Mariamme", who is almost certainly Mary Magdalene. Origen merely dismisses this, remarking that Celsus "pours on us a heap of names".


title: Mary Magdalene

text: Mary Magdalene has the reputation in Western Christianity as being a repentant prostitute or loose woman; however, these statements are not supported by the canonical gospels, which at no point imply that she had ever been a prostitute or in any way notable for a sinful way of life. The misconception likely arose due to a conflation between Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany (who anoints Jesus' feet in ), and the unnamed "sinful woman" who anoints Jesus' feet in . As early as the third century, the Church Father Tertullian ( 160 – 225) references the touch of "the woman which was a sinner" in effort to prove that Jesus "was not a phantom, but really a solid body." This may indicate that Mary Magdalene was already being conflated with the "sinful woman" in , though Tertullian never clearly identifies the woman of whom he speaks as Mary Magdalene. A sermon attributed to Hippolytus of Rome ( 170 – 235) refers to Mary of Bethany and her sister Martha seeking Jesus in the garden like Mary Magdalene in , indicating a conflation between Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene. The sermon describes the conflated woman as a "second Eve" who compensates for the disobedience of the first Eve through her obedience. The sermon also explicitly identifies Mary Magdalene and the other women as "apostles". The first clear identification of Mary Magdalene as a redeemed sinner comes from Ephrem the Syrian ( 306 – 373). Part of the reason for the identification of Mary Magdalene as a sinner may derive from the reputation of her birthplace, Magdala, which, by the late first century, was infamous for its inhabitants' alleged vice and licentiousness.


title: Mary Magdalene

text: In one of his preserved sayings, Gregory of Nyssa ( 330 – 395) identifies Mary Magdalene as "the first witness to the resurrection, that she might set straight again by her faith in the resurrection, what was turned over in her transgression." Ambrose ( 340 – 397), by contrast, not only rejected the conflation of Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany, and the anointing sinner, but even proposed that the authentic Mary Magdalene herself was, in fact, two separate people: one woman named Mary Magdalene who discovered the empty tomb and a different Mary Magdalene who saw the risen Christ. Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430) entertained the possibility that Mary of Bethany and the unnamed sinner from Luke might be the same person, but did not associate Mary Magdalene with either of them. Instead, Augustine praised Mary Magdalene as "unquestionably... surpassingly more ardent in her love than these other women who had administered to the Lord".


title: Mary Magdalene

text: The unnamed "sinful woman" in is never identified as a prostitute and, in Jewish society at the time the gospel was written, "sinful" could have simply meant that she "did not assiduously observe the law of Moses". The notion of Mary Magdalene specifically being a former prostitute or loose woman dates to a narrative in an influential homily by Pope Gregory I ("Gregory the Great") in around 591, in which he not only identifies Magdalene with the anonymous sinner with the perfume in Luke's gospel and with Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, but also, for the first time, explicitly identifies her sins as ones of a sexual nature:


title: Mary Magdalene

text: In Pope Gregory's interpretation, the seven demons expelled from Mary Magdalene by Jesus are transformed into the seven deadly sins of medieval Catholicism, leading Mary "to be condemned not only for lust, but for pride and covetousness as well." The aspect of the repentant sinner became almost equally significant as the disciple in her "persona" as depicted in Western art and religious literature, fitting well with the great importance of penitence in medieval theology. In subsequent religious legend, Mary's story became conflated with that of Mary of Egypt, a repentant prostitute who then lived as a hermit. With that, Mary's image was, according to Susan Haskins, author of "Mary Magdalene: Myth and Metaphor," "finally settled...for nearly fourteen hundred years," although in fact the most important late medieval popular accounts of her life describe her as a rich woman whose life of sexual freedom is purely for pleasure. This composite depiction of Mary Magdalene was carried into the Mass texts for her feast day: in the Tridentine Mass, the collect explicitly identifies her as Mary of Bethany by describing Lazarus as her brother, and the Gospel is the story of the penitent woman anointing Jesus' feet.