Scott Meslow

Scott Meslow covers technology-driven entertainment for GQ, with a particular focus on how video games and screen franchises function as cultural events rather than just products. His work connects game design, narrative choices, and fan reactions to wider debates about representation, online behavior, and the shifting power of big media brands. He writes feature columns, rankings, reviews, and reported pieces that move fluently between games, film, television, and long‑running pop‑culture universes.

Video Games as Culture, Not Hardware

Meslow’s recent GQ archive is dominated by coverage of major video game releases and the worlds they construct, treating them as cultural artifacts as much as technological achievements.

He profiles Grand Theft Auto VI through Netflix’s extended preview, framing it as “the year’s biggest game” and unpacking what a 27‑minute trailer signals about tone, missions, and the franchise’s return to Vice City. He assembles lists like “The Best Video Games of 2026 (So Far)” and “The 20 Best Video Games of 2025,” moving from AAA blockbusters to smaller indies and emphasizing how different genres - RPGs, platformers, puzzle games - are reshaping everyday entertainment habits.

In a feature on Forza Horizon 6’s Japan setting, he digs into how painstakingly recreated environments and local details build a “realistic open‑world Japan,” noting the tension between authenticity and design choices like ignoring traffic laws to preserve player freedom. His coverage of Pragmata focuses less on mechanics than on the way a sci‑fi shooter becomes a culture‑war lightning rod, examining how “online creeps” attach themselves to character design and how that reaction shapes the game’s public narrative.

He links Ron Perlman’s long association with the Fallout games to the live‑action adaptation, showing how voice work, casting, and franchise history converge when a property jumps from consoles to prestige television. Across these pieces, he writes about technology as infrastructure for stories and communities, not as specs or gear, with an emphasis on how games live in conversation with fans and other media.

Franchises, Fandoms, and Long-Running Universes

Meslow consistently returns to large franchises whose universes extend across media, using them to explore how fandom and corporate storytelling evolve over time. A feature on 007 First Light presents the James Bond video game as part of a series in transition, using interactive storytelling to probe what it means for “the new James Bond” to be the player rather than a fixed screen icon. His horror coverage, including a piece on Jason Blum’s movies and their “box‑office golden age,” looks at how producers, budgets, and release strategies interact with audience appetite for genre experimentation and risk.

In earlier work, he reviews high‑profile film releases like Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Solo: A Star Wars Story, and other franchise entries, often focusing on whether the latest installment pushes beyond familiar formulas or simply recombines existing tropes.

His Twin Peaks book, A Place Both Wonderful and Strange, extends this fascination with long‑running universes; it traces the series from its original network run through its 25‑years‑later continuation, drawing on extensive reporting and interviews with cast and creators to show how a cult property mutates while maintaining its core identity. Across games, film, and television, he writes about the tension between creative ambition and brand management, and about the ways devoted fan communities respond when a franchise changes direction.

Romantic Comedies and Screen Storytelling

Alongside his technology‑driven coverage, Meslow has a deep, documented interest in romantic comedies and the broader history of screen storytelling. His book From Hollywood With Love: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy combines reporting and criticism to build a three‑decade history of the genre, from titles like When Harry Met Sally and Pretty Woman to contemporary hits such as Crazy Rich Asians and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. In interviews and podcast appearances, he discusses rom‑coms as serious cultural texts, examining how changes in dating culture, streaming platforms, and star systems affect the types of stories being told and which ones break out. This work complements his GQ coverage by situating contemporary films and series within longer arcs of genre evolution and audience expectations.

Formats and Cross-Outlet Work

Meslow writes regularly for GQ as an entertainment and culture contributor, producing feature columns, rankings, reviews, and Q&As. His GQ portfolio ranges from in‑depth game features and lists to film pieces and profiles, including interviews with screen figures like Tom Hanks that tie individual personalities back to larger industry dynamics.

Beyond GQ, he contributes criticism and essays to outlets including New York magazine’s Vulture and The Atlantic, extending his focus on film, television, and modern franchises to different editorial contexts. He also serves as a senior editor at The Week, where he has overseen entertainment coverage and continued to write about screen culture.

Public bios and agency listings describe him as a Los Angeles Press Club‑nominated film and television critic, underscoring his positioning as a reporter and essayist who blends industry literacy with accessible criticism. Taken together, his body of work shows a consistent approach: he uses concrete examples - trailers, specific games, individual films - to open up bigger questions about how technology, corporate strategy, and fandom shape what people watch and play.