Fran Lebowitz Returns in Netflix Series 'Pretend It's a City' with Martin Scorsese

A decade after their documentary 'Public Speaking,' Fran Lebowitz reunites with Martin Scorsese for the Netflix series 'Pretend It's a City.' The show captures Lebowitz's sharp observations on urban life, recorded pre-pandemic in locations like bars, theaters, and libraries. Scorsese serves as a conspiratorial interviewer, often laughing in the shadows. Lebowitz, a writer with a creative block spanning over two decades, began her career with a column for Andy Warhol's Interview Magazine. Each thematic episode covers topics from writing and queer liberation to nine-digit art auctions, with Lebowitz stating, 'A book shouldn't be a mirror—it should be a door.' The series title references her frustration with people absorbed in devices, imploring them to 'Pretend it's a city... where there are other people.' Scorsese inserts archival footage, including segments with Spike Lee, David Letterman from the 1980s, and Toni Morrison, to whom the series is dedicated. Lebowitz recounts meeting Morrison in 1978 at a public library reading. Critics like Judy Berman of TIME Magazine and Steve Greene of Indiewire note her cultural observer role and the series' lack of introduction for the uninitiated. The show features Lebowitz as a flâneur in a scale model of New York City at the Queens Museum.