Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This blog will pay for itself.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

You cannot love your country only when you win.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

In after Baud. Damn.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

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Reader Interactions

194Comments

  1. 1.

    Corner Stone

    I liked the pilot for Person of Interest. Jesus is so freakin’ smooth on the violence parts.
    I do think the good angel funding character is a weak casting decision and will need some serious support to his backstory soon. Otherwise he’s going to be a shiny red stop sign for this series.

    ETA, hated, hated him shooting people in the thigh. That is a serious no no.

  4. 4.

    Chris

    When I moved in to my apartment I made the decision to forgo cable. Best decision I have ever made.

    When I do want to watch TV, I get three PBS stations here in Washington DC over my antenna. All I need.

  5. 5.

    Crashman

    Watched Terra Nova last night and had some thoughts on it. The short of it: I wanted something more thoughtful, and less blockbuster-y but alas…

    I’ll still probably watch the next episode though. Weak crop of shows this year. New Girl is probably my favorite of the fall, though Revenge could be a good guilty pleasure. Not much else though.

  6. 6.

    tulip

    Guilty pleasure, Harry’s Law. And the first few minutes of Whitney were indeed painful , they are going to have to do something with the supporting cast. But there was a later “laugh out loud” scene that I found quite funny.

    Oh and I watched Prime Suspect. Not sure which way I’m going to go though. I really liked the BBC series, which is why I’m giving this a try.

  7. 7.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    My wife and son like New Girl. Other than Doctor Who, I pretty much stay away from TV.

    ETA: I have both of Zooey’s albums, so it’s not her.

  8. 8.

    Litlebritdifrnt2

    I can’t watch Prime Suspect simply because the Helen Mirren version was just superlative, there is no beating it, and making the heroine a gum chewing smart ass with a hat really doesn’t do it for me. I guess I am going to stick with Doctor Who (which ends next week for a whole f**king year! WTF)

  9. 9.

    Linkmeister

    There’s an obvious insider joke here: “Jesus” on Person of Interest?

    I agree that Finch needs more backstory, but hey, it was the pilot! I’m having a harder time not calling him Ben (from “Lost.”)

    And “Finch?” Could he be the all-grown-up J. Pierpont Finch from “How to Succeed in Business,” older, more bitter and more cynical?

  11. 11.

    cathyx

    I read a review that said to not bother with Terra Nova. Some of the new comedies seem like they could have potential.

  12. 12.

    Mark B.

    Person of Interest is interesting. The ‘good guy’ in the series just killed a few bad guys without remorse in the pilot. He’s kind of like the Punisher. It’s kind of very comic-booky for network TV, but I enjoyed it. I don’t know how they can maintain it, though.

  13. 13.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I let my cable expire about 18 months ago and haven’t missed it. Actually, there are some cable channels I can pick up somehow through the old VCR (yes!) although I don’t much bother with them. I would say it’s accurate that I don’t watch any TV, but I do occasionally listen to it. I let Morning Joe run in the background while I shower and dress in the morning, but apart from wondering why Mika always looks simultaneously so adoring-yet-disapproving, I really don’t look for more than a few seconds.

    Not trying to be purer than thou, but it’s like cigarettes, I simply have lost my taste for television in the last few years.

  14. 14.

    thruppence

    If I could think of three things in Terra Nova that haven’t been in at least four other movies or shows, I’d watch it again. But.

  15. 15.

    Percysowner

    Revenge was really very good, so I’m sticking with that. I’m watching Ringer and the Secret Circle. Neither is great, but there isn’t much else on that interests me, so I’m in for now. Fringe, Supernatural, and Nikita are all on my must watch/DVR list.

  16. 16.

    Sentient Puddle

    The only thing I’ve watched so far in the new season is the 2 Broke Girls pilot. For all the praise it’s getting, I feel like either I’m missing something or I find the whole notion of multi-camera comedy to be utterly irredeemable.

  17. 17.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Litlebritdifrnt2:

    Totally agree about Helen Mirren as Jane Tennyson. I just bought the entire (original) series on DVD and am really looking forward to a multi-day bout of flu later this winter, if you know what I mean.

  19. 19.

    Litlebritdifrnt2

    BTW it proves that the United States is utterly doomed because someone, somewhere, got a glimpse of Nancy Grace’s nipple. OMFG OHNOES a fucking nipple! The entire world is going to end! When is someone going to tell the entire population of the United States to grow the fuck up? Do these people ever travel to Europe and go to the beach and die of a heart attack on the spot when confronted with topless bathers? I mean come on it’s a fucking nipple. *sigh*

  20. 20.

    Mark B.

    I love Doctor Who, but they’ve had a couple of episodes where the plot resolution is ‘love conquers everything, don’t think about it too hard’. It’s cute and funny, but lazy to do it more than once per season. And I wondered why Amy showed up [for 3 seconds] in last week’s episode. Is it in her contract that she appears in every show? Couldn’t think of any other reason to throw her in, even though I WAS glad to see her.

  21. 21.

    BruinKid

    Still like Sunday nights on Fox with their lineup of cartoons. The Simpsons had a spot-on parody of those hilarious Taiwanese news animations.

    Now what’s with Hulu not offering them online until 8 days after the show?? So if you miss an episode, you CAN’T see it online until the next episode already airs? Well, that’s just a douchebaggy thing to do.

  22. 22.

    cathyx

    There’s a new History Detectives on tonight. Oh, and Dancing with the Stars. The Script will be on it. Those are my choices.

  23. 23.

    Lockewasright

    I’ve got a few seasons each of M*A*S*H, Monk, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Futurama, and The Muppet Show on DVD. I’m good. I might see if NetFlix has a season of Fawlty Towers.

  24. 24.

    Linnaeus

    1) Had to get rid of my TV 2) Working 3 part-time jobs 3) Trying to finish this damn dissertation.

    So that means I’m pretty much out of the loop when it comes to TV.

  25. 25.

    dead existentialist

    Jesus has been a person of interest for quite some time. Word on the street is He’s up to something. If you know anything, call 800-666-tips. Your anonymity will be preserved, and you may qualify to receive a cash reward.

  26. 26.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    @Mark B.: The Doctor thinks he going to die. He had left Rory and Amy behind, and so the last thing he wanted to do right then was have to talk to them. It also meant they had moved on. What will be interesting is to see how it ties into next week.

  28. 28.

    Keith

    Storage Wars marathon. Then maybe some HBO or possibly a random DVD from my vast library of ripped DVDs (Windows Media Player is extremely underrated).

  29. 29.

    Ha Nguyen

    I loved the Gifted Man pilot. It was so romantic, dealing with a man who can’t let go his dead ex-wife.

  30. 30.

    James

    A little late, since it just finished it’s first season, but Alphas has been one of the most rewarding shows I’ve watched this year.

    Just all around fun.

  32. 32.

    guachi

    Wife is a huge TV show fan. Chuck is our favorite show and Psych is my other favorite show. Cole has good taste.

    Wife’s other favorite show is Doctor Who. Netflix is awesome for (many) older episodes.

    However, the only new show we recorded was Prime Suspect as nothing else was interesting. Last year we gave Body of Proof, the Criminal Minds spin off, Harry’s Law, and Hawaii Five-O a try.

  33. 33.

    guachi

    Wife is a huge TV show fan. Chuck is our favorite show and Psych is my other favorite show. Cole has good taste.

    Wife’s other favorite show is Doctor Who. Netflix is awesome for (many) older episodes.

    However, the only new show we recorded was Prime Suspect as nothing else was interesting. Last year we gave Body of Proof, the Criminal Minds spin off, Harry’s Law, and Hawaii Five-O a try.

  34. 34.

    CaseyL

    I haven’t seen anything among the new shows that speaks to me, except Terra Nova which unfortunately has gotten lousy reviews. Sticking with my faves, The Good Wife, Eureka (soon to end, alas), and Mad Men when it eventually returns.

    I have zero tolerance these days for stupidity in plots, characters, situations, and dialog.

    And laugh-tracks. I flat will not watch anything with a laugh track.

  35. 35.

    Cain

    @Chris:

    All we watch is OPB, and netflix.. and maybe ION television. I have no reason to watch cable. And I’m not giving any money to those bastards like CNN, FOX and what not.

    Let them rot. If you guys were smart, you’d do the same thing and tell every progressive to stop purchasing cable and funding CNN, FOX, and MSNBC

  37. 37.

    Steeplejack

    @Chris:

    Since you’re in D.C. and like PBS, let me point you to MHz. You should be able to get it on your antenna (at channel 30.1). On Sunday and Tuesday nights (9:00 p.m. and midnight) they have an omnibus series called International Mystery. Really good TV crime series from Europe: the original Swedish Wallander, Bruno Cremer in Maigret, a German series of Donna Leon’s Brunetti books and, my favorite, the Italian series Montalbano.

    Tonight is Van Veeteren, based on Håkan Nesser’s detective novels, and next week is Brunetti.

    ETA: MHz is also available on some cable systems across the country. Scroll down on this page to see availability. It’s also available on DirecTV.

  39. 39.

    AliceBlue

    I’m going to check out American Horror Story when it premieres next week. I’ve also gotten hooked on Dancing With the Stars. Everyone needs a little cheese now and then!

  41. 41.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    Kind of living for Sons Of Anarchy, It’s always Sunny in Philadelphia, since I see that NatGeo is going for the Dumbass viewers with another reality show, Rocket City Rednecks. Oh I see that Hollywood will thrill us with a new version of the Three Musketeers, wow to be a writer these days!

  42. 42.

    Jules

    @Litlebritdifrnt2:

    Don’t forget the Who Christmas special. They were filming today in a Cardiff neighborhood. How cool would it be to look out the window and have the TARDIS sitting in front of your house?

    I did watch Prime Suspect, much to my shame, and yes I liked it. I’m not really sure what in the story makes it based on the real Prime Suspect. They didn’t even use her name. The show with Benjamin Linus and Jesus was pretty good too. Pan Am will be a guilty pleasure for the clothes, music and sets, not so much for the story. Masterpiece has new episodes of Lewis on and Luther is back this week on BBC America.
    That’s about it for the new stuff.
    If you have a UK proxy server then The Fades on BBC looks like something we will keep watching.

  43. 43.

    KyCole

    Since I got netflix I never watch regular TV. I just finished Battlestar Galactica and am now re-watching Firefly while I decide on the new addiction. For some reason I still have cable although I never use it.

  45. 45.

    Corner Stone

    @Sentient Puddle:

    The only thing I’ve watched so far in the new season is the 2 Broke Girls pilot.

    We discussed that here last night. Shorter consensus: delete it from your dvr.

  47. 47.

    Corner Stone

    @Mark B.:

    The ‘good guy’ in the series just killed a few bad guys without remorse in the pilot.

    He really only killed one dude that I saw. The rest he incapacitated.
    But yeah, Jesus ain’t fucking playin’.

  48. 48.

    dsc

    loving The New Girl–weird and goofy–oddest thing I’ve seen on TV in quite a while. I liked the first episode of Person of Interest as well, esp the unexpected twist on the bad guy. Waiting to see James Spader on The Office.

  49. 49.

    Corner Stone

    @Ha Nguyen:

    I loved the Gifted Man pilot. It was so romantic, dealing with a man who can’t let go his dead ex-wife.

    I’m not sure he’s the one who can’t let go. There seems to be something here to resolve, hence the dramatic tension.

  50. 50.

    Larime the Gimp

    Other than being blown away by the entire season of Breaking Bad, I’m getting back into Sons Of Anarchy and enjoying the wrap up of Dr. Who. Looking forward to Dexter, House, and most of all The Walking Dead in a few weeks.

  51. 51.

    Corner Stone

    @James: I like Alphas just fine, but there’s no hook. The bureaucrats above them aren’t smart or evil enough and the Red Flag enemy doesn’t seem very oppositional at this point.
    It seems stuck.

  52. 52.

    Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen

    I read about a show that sounded interesting earlier this summer and now I can’t remember WTF it was. I THINK I saw an ad for PoI and thought that looked interesting but now I’m not sure about that either. Looks like I’m sticking to my normal TV viewing routine – Zilch.

    I’ll watch vicariously through the TV threads here.

    @Litlebritdifrnt2: I, personally, would stab both eyes out if I ever saw more of that shrieking hag than I already glimpse when I scurry past the living room.

  53. 53.

    Kola Noscopy

    Cole, are you aware of just how often you threaten to kill yourself, in one way or another; always of course in “jest?”

    You should consider seeking the aid of a mental health care professional.

  54. 54.

    Corner Stone

    @Linkmeister:

    I agree that Finch needs more backstory, but hey, it was the pilot! I’m having a harder time not calling him Ben (from “Lost.”)

    Yeah, pilot. Agreed.
    Just saying that dude better bring the nasty or he’s gonna be an afterthought real damn quick.
    Jesus ain’t fucking playing. He flash banged a dirty cop then shot him in the back four times to make sure he got heard correct.

  56. 56.

    aimai

    We don’t get cable so I have to wait a year to buy stuff on DVD, although sometimes you can rent/buy on itunes these days early. So I’m all caught up with dexter and have to wait a year to watch it all at once after its issued on DVD. I’m almost all caught up with Breaking Bad and will probably watch it downloaded all at once as soon as the season finishes. I don’t have anything else I’m loving that I will watch in real time. Sad.

    aimai

  58. 58.

    Nikita

    @Yutsano: Yep.

    I actually liked Prime Suspect to my surprise. I saw the original series when it first aired and began my love affair with Helen Mirren way back before she became a Hollywood star.

    This season so far, I like Ringer and Whitney. I also love Big Bang Theory, Mike and Molly and Raising Hope.

  60. 60.

    kdaug

    Best thing about Alphas? Gary. Cartwright just nails the autistic guy.

    I dig it in a popcorn way. Yeah, it’s X-Files meets Heroes, but I like the diversity of the cast, and it’s really the first show I can recall that has two (one – inadvertent spoiler) “disabled” people in starring roles.

    ETA: Erg, meant X-Men, not X-Files

  61. 61.

    Svensker

    This is mostly a foreign language. I’ve heard of a few of these shows, never seen any (except some old Dr. Who) and Helen Mirren.

    Got out of the TV habit and except for football and occasional HGTV jags, I don’t watch anything. I mean to try some of the shows every now and then, but never really get around to it. But I can’t beat my buddy who worked on the show Law & Order for the entire run and never once saw an episode. Me neither, but I wasn’t getting paid to help make it!

    The hubster loves old sitcoms, but they mostly bore me. Ho hum. Off to read.

  65. 65.

    velouria

    Alphas had a strong finale last night. Breaking Bad has been phenomenal. Sons of Anarchy has been strong. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has had two crazy episodes already.

    The only new show I’m really looking forward to checking out is Homeland (Claire Danes/Damian Lewis/Mandy Patinkin/Morena Baccarin) on Showtime. It starts Sunday after the Dexter premiere.

    I’m also planning to watch the Prohibition miniseries on PBS.

  66. 66.

    Corner Stone

    @kdaug: X-Files could have worked just as easily there.
    There’s just no killer app there, in Alphas. No reason to root for any of them. We’re going to need to see that Dr. Rosen is really an Alpha with something nasty going on pretty soon or else there’s no tension.

  68. 68.

    pjcamp

    @Crashman:

    “I wanted something more thoughtful, and less blockbuster-y but alas…”

    From Spielberg? Would that be Spielberg from the Spock-With-A-Goatee Universe?

  69. 69.

    Chris

    @Steeplejack:

    Yeah I watch MHz, though it’s usually because it has Al Jazeera on one of the sub-channels. I’ll have to check out the International Mystery, though. Sounds like it’s worth watching. Thanks for the heads up.

    I love that WETA has been running (the real) Prime Suspect with Helen Mirren. I’ll watch that any time it’s on TV, it’s just fantastic.

  71. 71.

    Mark F.

    I saw a couple of mixed reviews for Terra Nova so I checked it out. It was….not awful. I’ll give it a couple of more chances before making a final decision as it had some potential if they get rid of the crappy relationship stuff. I’ve read a bad review as well as a very good review of NBC’s Grimm which comes out in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately it’s up against Fringe. Will definitely have to use the DVR for that.

  72. 72.

    kdaug

    @Comrade Kevin: Sometimes, if the moon is right, and I’m once again in the doghouse for some inexplicable reason, my wife will shout my name, and I hear “BASIL!!” echoing on the wind.

  73. 73.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    Ken Burns has a new documentary on Sunday, about Prohibition.
    When he was on Keith Olbermann’s show,he compared the backers of Prohibition to today’s Tea Party. This ought to be a good documentary.

  78. 78.

    BruceFromOhio

    New:
    Prime Suspect. Never saw the Brit version, so I have no basis, other than to let Maria Bello know that if I’m a tissue match, she’s got a kidney waiting if she ever needs it. “Aren’t you worried about a house falling on you?” I totally forgive the hat, there’s been worse.

    Person of Interest. Has that edgy Abrams “I’m going to totally mess with your head” energy that hooked me on Alias and scared me away from Lost. Yeah, yeah, he was Jesus, so and what. The scene with the cop in the car going to Oyster Bay and the scene in the foyer waiting for the elevator sealed the deal. I’ll watch this show till they cancel it.

    Unforgettable. Ok, this one is the bubblegum that could be Two Broke Hot Babes I’ll Watch Even Though Its Fucking Stupid As Hell, but MrsFromOhio has forbidden shows that cause brain damage. Poppy Montgomery is fracking teh hawt, and an Aussie. I’ll watch her iron her clothes. It’ll be gone before mid-season unless the writing tightens up immensely, and the whole I-forget-nothing reminds me of a former girlfriend who apparently had a similar curse, but wasn’t nearly as fracking teh hawt.

    Old:
    Fringe.
    Mentalist.
    Hawai’i Five-Oh (good for NFL hangovers and Grace Park in a bikini)
    The Closer (sob!)
    Leverage (when it comes back)

    We’ve toyed with jumping on the NetFlix train, but the kids keep bringing home rocking movie titles from the public library, so we’re currently saturated until NFL season ends.

  80. 80.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    I admit I am watching the 3rd season of True Blood via Netflix. Very interesting season. Russell’s revelation on National TV had a classic and funny end.

  81. 81.

    NobodySpecial

    The Walking Dead season 2 starts in two weeks. That’s what I’m waiting for until HBO gets new episodes of Game of Thrones.

  83. 83.

    Lockewasright

    @kdaug:

    Farty Towels is great stuff!

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I am definitely on for Pinky and the Brain. I didn’t ever get around to West Wing (felt like I’d have too much catching up to do).

    I also have the complete Droopy collection. My children (ages 5 and 6) and I watch them and howell!! Tex Avery was fantastic!

  84. 84.

    Comrade Kevin

    @BruceFromOhio: I watched the Mentalist for a while, but eventually, it started to grate on me; the Patrick Jane character got too annoying. Kind of like House in a way; I watched that show for a while, too, but got sick of the House character.

  85. 85.

    Mino

    Breaking Bad had some masterful writing this season.

    Iron Chef lineup is amazing. Marcus Samuelsson and most of the major chefs from food channel.

    New Girl was cute, but don’t know how it’s going to wear.

  86. 86.

    smintheus

    Almost nothing of value on the Toob this year, aside from Chuck. The new fall lineup is possibly the worst in some 25 years. Happened to catch the first few seconds of Whitney, by accident; nearly made me gag.

  87. 87.

    Jay in Oregon

    I haven’t seen anything new to watch yet, so I’m sticking with existing shows. Bracing myself for mockery and/or contempt:

    Doctor Who
    Supernatural
    Castle
    Leverage
    Big Bang Theory
    How I Met Your Mother*
    Archer
    Young Justice

    As for Netflix, I’m most of the way through the second season of The Tudors. I’ll have to find something to watch after that.

    * Although the novelty is wearing off with How I Met Your Mother and the premise is wearing thin (Older Ted is telling his kids how he met their mother, but he’s going to talk about every chick he slept with and all sorts of irrelevant side-stories before he gets there?) I’ve come up with an alternate premise…

    Older Ted is actually suffering from senile dementia, and his kids haven’t actually been to visit him in years. Which is why he talks to anyone who will listen about two of his best friends being a gun-toting, cigar-chomping Canadian girl who was a teenage pop star and a charming, sex-obsessed sociopath…

  88. 88.

    Jay

    Showtime’s “Homeland” (it starts Sunday night but the pilot is up for free on iTunes now) is a blast, judging by the 1st episode. Marine POW becomes al Qaeda operative, Claire Danes hunts him down. Good on the show’s creators for not pandering to fear and casting a dark – skinned guy to play a traitorous Muslim-American Marine. Damien Lewis, the white guy who plays the Jarhead, can work one hell of an evil look into his eyes when he wants to.

    As for “Whitney,” I largely agree with Cole.

    There was one great exchange, however:

    Man: “You can’t wear white to a wedding!”
    Woman: “I pay alimony to a guy who does spoken word for a living. I should wear cargo pants.”

    The rest of the show left me wondering if Whitney Cummings only got it because of her close friendship with Donald Trump.

  89. 89.

    BruceFromOhio

    @Comrade Kevin: I know what you mean. My challenge with House was that the stories were centered around one ‘place’ and had no choice but to be one-dimensional. Mentalist gets to stretch its legs, has sported some splendid photography for the small screen, and planted a redhead and brunette in the same zone as the cold-as-ice Asian who wants to be hard-boiled, but heh, we know better, don’t we? I can overlook the smarmy asshole at the center of it all, where House never gave you the space. The Jane character got to redeem himself last season with the episode about the ME that was dying. The scene with the two of them sniffing cigars and sipping the whiskey was classic. Even House rolling in the hay with Miss Perky could never touch that one episode. Mentalist gets a pass and stays in rotation for now, but they better watch the sell-by date, the whole Red John arc is getting old.

  90. 90.

    Corner Stone

    @BruceFromOhio:

    Poppy Montgomery is fracking teh hawt, and an Aussie. I’ll watch her iron her clothes.

    I only thought I liked Poppy as a blonde. Until I saw her as this shade of rojo.
    Sha and Zam.

  91. 91.

    Allen

    Don’t watch much TV. I gave up on sat. and cable years ago. Don’t believe how much discussion is being spent on this thread about something as generally insipid as TV.

  93. 93.

    Comrade Kevin

    @BruceFromOhio: I see what you mean about the Mentalist. There were some things I did like about it, like the Sacramento setting, and some of the other parts of California they featured in the shows. The other characters were actually more interesting than the Jane one, too. It’s also kind of funny that Simon Baker is Australian, and Owen Yeoman, who plays what’s-his-name, is Welsh.

  97. 97.

    BruceFromOhio

    @Allen, @Ron Beasley:

    Yeah, yeah, blah blah blah. I read books too, love ’em. The youngest got a Kindle, and I fell headlong into Hunger Games and then Game Of Fucking I Can’t Believe It Never Ends Thrones, rolled in between a nice juicy Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

    But once in awhile I like to gorge on the mental equivalent of a Quarter Pounder With Fries at the drive-in, and a smattering of DVR files is just the thing. It makes the books that much better. Yup. Mmm-hmm. Sure does.

  98. 98.

    Jess

    @velouria: YES! on Homeland! I saw the first episode online, and it was great. Damien Lewis is da bomb … loved him in “Life” (definitely see that on DVD if you haven’t already.) I’m also watching “Intelligence” (from a few years ago) on Netflix streaming. I’m really sold on Ian Tracey–fantastic actor! I don’t have cable, so I’m always a year or so behind.

  99. 99.

    Uncle Clarence Thomas

    .
    .
    I certainly don’t have time to watch this thin broadcast television gruel you all speak of so highly. However, I do spend hours – literally, hours – reviewing my extensively duped VHS and Betamax tape collection, rented in previous decades from mostly reputable rental sources, each day in chambers. Perhaps I shall regale you with a few of the plots which in my Super Supreme Court opinion manifestly illustrate the human condition in all its glory.
    .
    .

  102. 102.

    MikeJ

    @Jay:

    Showtime’s “Homeland”

    itms is the worst experience possible for getting media. All I could find was a podcast about the show, not the show itself. And of course 50 songs from the likes of Kenny G. Thank god for TPB. First result in the search.

  103. 103.

    Mike in NC

    “The Office” without Steve Carrell looks like it needs to be put out of its misery. On the other hand, “CSI” with Ted Danson might just work.

  106. 106.

    kdaug

    Um hm. Let me guess – the frailty of the human condition as exemplified by Coke cans and pubes.

    In re-runs, is it?

  107. 107.

    Fierce Pika

    My Little Pony Friendship is Magic started up again week before last, so that was the big one for me. :D

  108. 108.

    Console

    Boardwalk Empire and Walking Dead will be my shows of choice this fall. The former started weak and finished strong while the latter started strong and finished weak. But both are interesting enough for me to watch until Game of Thrones and Treme come back.

    I might expand that fall list to include American Horror Story and Homeland though.

  110. 110.

    Corner Stone

    @kdaug: Actually, I’m much more interested in the human condition that doesn’t contain “in all it’s glory”.
    What am I supposed to do with that?

  111. 111.

    TooManyJens

    @Comrade Kevin:

    It is, as amazing as it may sound, possible to both read books and watch television

    The hell you say!

    We don’t have cable (not saying this in a snobby way, but in a we-cut-it-to-save-money way) so I don’t see much new TV. This fall we are watching Castle (streaming from Amazon), Doctor Who (cough), and finally getting to see Season 6 of How I Met Your Mother on DVD. Also Star Trek:TOS and The IT Crowd (which is a lot funnier than I expected it to be, though it hits my embarrassment squick something awful sometimes). Oh, and new Futurama episodes whenever they hit Netflix.

  114. 114.

    Console

    Oh yeah, I forgot, I’ll probably catch Hell on Wheels when it starts. Normally that would be a no-brainer, but after The Killing, I can’t really say AMC is a slam dunk for shows anymore

  115. 115.

    MeDrewNotYou

    @Martin: Oh my god yes! I’ve got a huge crush on Zooey. She may be a space alien, intent on conquest of our species, with eyes like those. I, for one, welcome our new beautiful overlord.

    @Fierce Pika: I really don’t understand Bronies. There’s nothing special about the show, but the level of fandom…jeeze! I remember one thread where someone seriously wanted a sex doll of the cowboy hat/rancher pony. He described in meticulous, and very creepy, detail the specifications. It was one of the weirder things I’ve seen over there.

  118. 118.

    aliasofwestgate

    @Yutsano:

    I’ve been watching the Bronie phenomenon with bemusement. I can’t talk about animation much either, being i’m a long time anime fangirl myself.

  119. 119.

    Mike

    Well, we watched the Pan Am show the other night. Very disappointing… it’s basically another Supertrain (or maybe the Love Boat) with similarly contrived plots and characters. It wants to be Grey’s Anatomy, but there’s simply not enough excitement in commercial airline travel. In a medical show, you have people dying or have weird diseases. Commercial airline travel is quite boring, though. In this show, they have to really make up some stories and it’s quite forced. The visuals of the show are quite good, but the actors still look too modern. I didn’t buy the 1963 timeline.

    Then my wife made me watch the Playboy Club last night. I was hoping for some nakidity, or at least some hint of it… yeah, forget it. Nothing! It was even more lame than Pan Am. At least Pan Am had European scenes. Even my better half got tired of the show and turned it off.

    Real crap on TV nowadays, between all the reality show crap and bad dramas. Makes you want to throw away the cable!

  121. 121.

    tarylcabot

    After Breaking Bad finishes…Walking Dead

    Supernatural, still a very guilty pleasure.

    Have recorded a number of episodes of The Hour on my DVR, but wanted to catch up on my Breaking Bad DVD’s. Having done that I’ll try to watch the pilot tonight to see how it compares with Mad Men.

  123. 123.

    Uncle Clarence Thomas

    .
    .
    @Corner Stone:

    What am I supposed to do with that?

    Stuff it, of course. (Sorry, that’s a rerun from yesterday’s episode of Yutsano and Hutch, The Live Mock.)
    .
    .

  124. 124.

    Cat Lady

    The Wire spoiled me for everything else. I have no attention span anymore for anything that’s not as smart and compelling, but Treme is fun because of the music, and the cooking scenes. I’ll watch Walking Dead (Andrew Lincoln nom nom) and Mad Men. Game of Thrones is interesting, but I’m viscerally repulsed by medieval settings. I don’t even know what anyone else is talking about upthread. It’s all just derivative boring shit. Get off my lawn!

  128. 128.

    Steeplejack

    Haven’t seen much in the new season that looks promising. The new sitcoms look awful. Terra Nova looks like Jurassic Park meets Lost. And Pan Am and The Playboy Club are straight out of pitch-meeting hell: “Give me Mad Men, but different!”

    I’m staying with The Mentalist for the time being. I like the characters, and the season premiere was pretty good. But the writing needs to stay sharp. Ditto for Castle.

    My new favorite cooking show is Bitchin’ Kitchen. It has been on for a while, but I have been missing it. It’s on the Cooking Channel at 11:00 p.m. Saturdays and 7:00 p.m. Sundays. Really bad time slots.

    Oh, yeah, and Archer. A friend with whom I communed on The Venture Brothers recommended it to me, and I have pretty much caught up on it over the last month or two with the DVR snagging episodes at various times. The humor is a little low-rent at times, but the voice talent is amazing. And they just added Patrick Warburton!

  129. 129.

    hilzoy fangirl

    @MeDrewNotYou: Weird people are weird – although many are just trolling. I like Friendship is Magic simply because it’s a good show – and if you’d told me a year ago that I’d soon become a fan of My Little Pony, I would have been in hysterics. It’s a well made cartoon that has a lot of fun, and hits a lot of sweet spots that haven’t been explored too thoroughly by other shows as of late: main characters who are all fundamentally nice, yet still flawed and prone to conflict; strong, non-sexualized female characters with a wide variety of personalities; Warner Bros-esque slapstick without the sociopathy, etc. The fact that the entire series is freely viewable on Youtube (without Hasbro’s permission, but with their apparent tolerance) also makes it very easy to check it out (although its strong internet fandom does of course make the aforementioned weirdness more prominent). Here’s one of the better episodes, for anyone who wants to give it a try.

  130. 130.

    MeDrewNotYou

    @aliasofwestgate: I guess I may as well ‘fess up to my secret shame.

    A few years ago, a girlfriend introduced me to Azumanga Daioh. Absolutely loved it, favorite anime ever. But don’t you see how its different in my case?! ;]

  133. 133.

    trollhattan

    liked episode 1 of the new “Boardwalk Empire” season, especially when Omar…er…Chalkie picked off the klansman. Nasty stuff.

    Also, too, got around to watching last night’s Colbert with Radiohead (“You’re in the Pepper Zone!”). They killed, considering the tough venue.

  134. 134.

    aliasofwestgate

    @MeDrewNotYou: Azumanga Daioh is classic though. It’s so off the wall you can’t HELP but love it. *grin* i have friends who can still sing the little ditty its so well known for. I never got into it on that level, but i still liked it quite a bit.

    My watching. H50, NCIS: LA, Merlin (once i catch up again), Doctor Who. With the year long waiting period after it finishes? Get back to us Sherlock fanatics on that, would ya? We’re waiting roughly a year and a half. *twitch* Then i’ve got a couple of anime i’ve been following and a few i’ve got my eye on this year. As of now? My two major constants. Super Sentai and Kamen Rider. :D Kamen Rider Fourze is proving to be hilarious. It was made as a nod to Glee and homage to the 50th year anniversary of manned spaceflight. So? Glee with explosions and monsters and an astronaut themed superhero. XD (What? I like cracked out shows!)

  135. 135.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    The American Prime Suspect seems like a pretty good network cop show. They never should have given it that title. The British version is as good as TV gets.

    Guilty pleasures: Walking Dead and American Horror Story or whatever that new thing with Connie Britton and those other people are.

  136. 136.

    Corner Stone

    I’ll drop this in an open thread tomorrow but…awesome!!

    While none of the nominees faced major opposition on the Senate floor, five of the nominees were endorsed by Republicans, with the White House overlooking Democratic Party preferences.
    __
    The Senate confirmed
    __
    Robert Lee Pitman for the Western District of Texas;,
    Sarah Ruth Saldaña for the Northern District of Texas;
    John M. Bales for the Eastern District of Texas;
    Kenneth Magidson for the Southern District of Texas;
    David Barlow for the District of Utah; and
    S. Amanda Marshall for the District of Oregon

  137. 137.

    John X.

    hilzoy fangirl,

    If you are looking for fun animation centered around genuinely nice characters, give Phineas and Ferb a watch. It’s available on Netflix – and probably Youtube.

    I’m also a sucker for Adventure Time with Finn and Jake.

  138. 138.

    Uncle Clarence Thomas

    .
    .
    @Corner Stone:

    I’ll drop this in an open thread tomorrow but… awesome!!

    No, no, and no. I think you’ve been pranked, my man, because that article also states that “The Obama White House has shown a pattern of backing down when it gets push-back from Republican senators over Democratic choices for U.S. Attorney.” Which, of course, can’t be true. Unless they’ve shown a pattern of fiercely backing down, which the article does not assert.
    .
    .

  139. 139.

    fleeting expletive

    Ok, It’s “Four for Texas” or “Seven days in May”, the Western Channel or TCM. It’s hard to watch both, and hard to choose.

  143. 143.

    Corner Stone

    @Uncle Clarence Thomas: Well, Uncle Clarence Thomas, I kind of went with the understanding that the “fiercely” part was understood.
    I mean, obviously the admin fiercely understood that they had no choice but to deal with Republican nominations for USAs the WH is ultimately responsible for.
    And further, fiercely understood that 5 out of 6 USAs should go against Democratic party objections.
    I personally get the fact that the WH had no choice but to make this happen. Both the Senate and the House are in Republican controlled hands. What would you expect the outcome to be?
    I fiercely get this answer, why can’t you?

  145. 145.

    Redshift

    Geez, am I the only one watching Community? Still the best-written comedy on television.

    I couldn’t get through the Terra Nova pilot. I’m accustomed to letting stuff pass because it’s TV science fiction, but gaaah!

  147. 147.

    Can't Be Bothered

    Boardwalk Empire and Breaking Bad are both fucking superb (I actually prefer BE, I guess I’m in the minority). South Park starts soon again and it’s very funny 80% of the time. Always Sunny is usually good for a laugh. Also, guilty pleasure-ish is Walking Dead. We’ll see with Darabont leaving as showrunner after AMC gave all their money to Mad Men. New Girl is somewhat good, sort of, I guess. I wouldn’t turn it off, but I wouldn’t set my schedule to it or anything. Zooey is a very good comedic actor. I still like some Antiques Roadshow, Frontline, Nova, Independent Lens. I don’t know.. PBS, AMC, HBO, etc. and are just waaaaaay better than the network stuff. I don’t really understand why people watch any network shows to be honest with you. They almost invariably seem to be kind of outdated, tame and overall shitty. Even the “good” shows are just sort of, not bad.

    On the movie front, I saw Drive this weekend and it was the best movie I’ve seen since the banner year of 2007. One of the best movies I’ve seen period in the past fifteen years. I can understand how some people might not like it, but man did I love the shit out of that movie. And no, the movie is not about car chases.

  148. 148.

    piratedan

    @Yutsano: well I guess that depends, are you looking for subbed or dubbed?

    I get my anime jones fixed thanks to http://www.anime44.com … They usually have subbed shows on within two or three days of the original broadcast and most of them are done pretty well based on the context of the voice actors and those doing the subbing.

    as for which genre trips your trigger, naturally it varies but my interests range from sports, to slice of life stuff.

    As for US TV, its still

    Castle
    Amazing Race
    Leverage
    Warehouse 13
    Eureka
    Haven
    Archer
    American Pickers (as my guilty pleasure)

    gave Terra Nova a try, not impressed. Same formulaic plot feel as Stargate Universe but without the gaping plot holes. At least I have the first couple of seasons of Spooks to watch in case I get some free time.

  150. 150.

    piratedan

    @MeDrewNotYou: great series…. it’s just such a sweet show with so many small simple events that cause me to laugh out loud!

    @Anne Laurie: OMG! someone else has seen it? and do you bear any resemblance to Ms. Mune Mune?

    other great thought provoking, or simply well done series (for their genre)

    Mushishi, Gunslinger Girl, Cross Game, Cowboy BeBop, Trigun and Lovely Complex

  151. 151.

    Uncle Clarence Thomas

    .
    .
    @Corner Stone:

    I fiercely get this answer, why can’t you?

    You may be right. I am reminded of the scene in the immortal “Let Me Tell Ya ‘Bout W.C.” with Robbie Dee and Deidra Hopkins, which I will review immediately in high-quality Betamax to further inform my opinion. Ginni, hold my calls!
    .
    .

  152. 152.

    Comrade Luke

    I saw a reference to Poppy Montgomery, and as I went to google the name I was thinking “I bet it’s that super hot redhead on that one show”.

    Yup :)

    Also, too: Jesus went to high school with me, and lived with one of my best friends during that time. He needed that address so he could go to my high school (for basketball).

    Good bball player, but super religious and more than a little odd.

  158. 158.

    Yutsano

    @piratedan: My brother blogs for an anime fanbase website. He hasn’t been too impressed with the last two seasons to come out of Nihon. But I may go take a peek over there and see what all is happening.

  159. 159.

    Elizabelle

    Pan Am was kinda interesting, but a B-/C+ in my book for the plot and writing. Great costumes. Extra-y extras. (“Why’s she traipsing across that shot?”)

    Nostalgia for when flying was classier (dressed up passengers; real flowers in the cabin, magazines (Life!), and meals being plated and served with silver). Not a brown person in sight, though. (The flight engineer was vaguely swarthy.)

    And the pilots look like puppies! Between the 3 guys in the cockpit, it looked like they’d been shaving about 10 years.

    As in: the captain in charge of this brand spanking new “Clipper Majestic” airliner — is the same actor who played the boyfriend in “The Help.” College age dude.

    Did they hand jetliners out like peppermints in the 1960s?

    Love “Doc Martin”, a Brit import shown on PBS. They just debuted Season 5 in Britain this month; no idea when Yanks get to see it.

    http://www.hulu.com/doc-martin

    Downton Abbey is back in January 2012.

    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/downtonabbey/

  160. 160.

    piratedan

    @Yutsano: well they have just started Working!2 and there’s a new Last Exile and a new season of Bakuman that I am anticipating. I may test drive a few more because you just never know. I really enjoyed the last season of Hanasaku Iroha and Usagi Drop. I also thought pretty highly of AnoHana and Moshidora, but it really depends on what you’re into

  162. 162.

    Mnemosyne

    @Redshift:

    Geez, am I the only one watching Community? Still the best-written comedy on television.

    It got off to a slow start, but it really took off once they realized what a great character Abed could be.

    “Parks and Rec,” also, too. Another show that did some discreet retooling and really found itself. G and I still trade Li’l Sebastian jokes.

  163. 163.

    Yutsano

    @piratedan: Yeah, he’s picky. Like unnecessarily picky. And he enjoys the role of critic just a wee bit too much, especially for an unpaid gig. Myself I’m so far behind on everything that I have no clue what all is out there. But he liked Durarara and that one just didn’t spark with me. So yeah tastes vary widely, except if you don’t like Miyazaki there is something wrong with you.

  164. 164.

    EvolutionaryDesign

    @Mnemosyne: I’m late to the party (as I am late to Mass Effect 2, and that game is amazing). COMMUNITY. I’ll say it again: COMMUNITY. Please watch COMMUNITY. It is about to go the way of Arrested Development, and it might be a better show than that. Also, too, Parks & Rec is almost tied for first in my book, but after what they accomplished in Season 2, I cannot shout the praises of COMMUNITY enough. Sorry for my gratuitous use of the word COMMUNITY (all caps), but it’s pretty likely they will be canceled this year. Boo.

    ETA: They are likely to be cancelled because of low ratings. Save This Show BJ!

  165. 165.

    Cmm

    Have seen bad reviews of it, and the ratings aren’t good, but I have liked the 2 episodes I have seen of The Playboy Club so far. Good setup of a season’s worth of soap suds, and I would stick around to watch it all play out. Also, great costumes and decor!

    Pilot for Pan Am was okay, but I am still on the fence.

    I like Two Broke Girls and Up All Night so far.

    Still planning to check out: Terra Nova, Ringer, Secret Circle, and Revenge.

  166. 166.

    EvolutionaryDesign

    @Cmm: I’m really liking Up All Night, but the second episode of 2 Broke Girls was about as bad as it gets. I hope they can get their mojo back in ep 3, but I don’t have high hopes, and my DVR is full.

  167. 167.

    piratedan

    @Yutsano: I liked Durarara but it took me a good 12 eps before it started to get intriguing (very similar to Bleach, which I had to wade through almost a year and half before I started to get interested), there were hints of background story in the eps, they just weren’t played up at all and then the show blossomed. Although during that time frame, I think I enjoyed Gosick and Fractale more but as always ymmv. I’m just a sucker for a good story told well, even if its been told before.

  168. 168.

    Amir Khalid

    What is this “boob tube” of which you people speak? I know nothing of such frivolous entertainments.
    /luddite

  169. 169.

    Yutsano

    @Amir Khalid: C’mon. Malaysia isn’t a primitive jungle anymore you know. :)

    (says the man with no TV.)

    @piratedan: Bleach is a wandering mishegas of contradictions and plot holes you can drive a Mack truck through. My brother and I can sit there for hours and go off on every stupid plotline in Bleach until our voices give out. And what fucking anime has its main character just fucking disappear for no reason at all then show up dozens of episodes later and no one blinks at the absence??? Yet folks will die for that show.

  170. 170.

    piratedan

    @Yutsano: well you know why don’t ya?

    its because the TV production gets ahead of the actual manga, so they have to develop these side stories that filter in lesser characters and commit 10 to 20 episodes of fodder until enough of the new manga has been created to produce more shows back on the original storyline….

    Same thing happened to Full Metal Alchemist…. manga came out, fast tracked to anime, demand was so huge, that the TV folks just took the story where it left off and made another 13 epsiodes…. thing is, the manga diverted from the TV, so now we ended up with Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, which then reproduces the last 13 episodes from the manga and the ending that the creator had in mind…..

  171. 171.

    Irony Abounds

    I refuse to watch regular tv with commercials, other than sports, so I haven’t sampled the new season, and nothing sounds too appealing. I thought the first episode of the 2nd season of Boardwalk Empire was very blah. I liked the first season so that kind of surprised me. Blowing through Cheers on Netflix. What a superb show that was. The creative team behind that show is like a television hall of fame.

  172. 172.

    Mnemosyne

    @Amir Khalid:

    (Warning: Pedantry Ahead)

    To be fair to the Luddites, they weren’t angry about technology itself — they were angry that the technology was causing them to lose their jobs in the middle of what would now be termed a depression during the Napoleonic Wars. But of course violently protesting the fact that you and your family would shortly be starving to death was just an early manifestation of “class warfare” as defined by the Republican Party.

    (End Pedantry)

  173. 173.

    aliasofwestgate

    @Yutsano: If i’m watching shounen? it’s One Piece. I got bored as hell with all the filler in both Bleach and Naruto very fast. Somehow the One Piece filler writers managed to make it tolerable instead of plain horrible. *shrugs*

    The character design is crazy, but the storytelling is top notch. There are so meany heartbreaking scenes in One Piece that had me in tears one moment, and cheering on the brawls next. the buildup is superb. Which reminds me, i NEED to get caught up on the latest manga chapters to see what crack Oda-sensei’s been on next. /fangirling

  174. 174.

    Anne Laurie

    @piratedan: Dang, Bunny Drop is a favorite manga for both me and the Spousal Unit — and now I find the anime on Crunchyroll! Thank you! Ano Hana also looks to be right in our sweet spot… have to pass that site over to the Tech Expert and see if he can make it work on this underpowered, overaged desktop…

  175. 175.

    Anne Laurie

    @aliasofwestgate: Not very shounen around here… the Spousal Unit is still buying the Bleach manga but I lost interest after about #25, and we’ve yet to get around to watching the anime. We branched from Miyazaki into CLAMP and mostly stick to happy / gothic slice-of-life goofy / poignant stuff. One very short series you might enjoy is Shigofumi (Letters from the Departed) — definitely NSFW, but so elegantly & compactly put together, circling from the “mundane” mystery at the start of the first episode to wrap up a whole world of hurt & mysticism & the repair marks that make broken things more beautiful — very Japanese! We picked it up in the first place because Tatsuo Sato also directed three of our favorite series, Shingu, Stellvia, and Martian Successor — Shigofumi is much darker, but equally elegant.

  177. 177.

    Anne Laurie

    @aliasofwestgate: Mushi-shi, definitely! And in a vaguely related sense: Princess Tutu. The first season was ‘family friendly’, if you didn’t look too closely, but the second arc went into very Grimm territory indeed…

    Speaking of which, anybody read any reviews of Once Upon A Time?

  178. 178.

    daryljfontaine

    @piratedan: I have yet to pick up Brotherhood again, simply because it stomps heavily with iron-clad boots on the elegance of the first TV series. When I watched an early episode where the villain spills out the protagonist’s secret, shameful backstory as exposition in a monologue before the fight, I knew I was watching an inferior product. I preferred the slow reveals. If Brotherhood adheres more closely to the manga in its pacing and dialogue (never mind the plot divergence), then the manga is simply not as good as its first adaptation.

    D

  179. 179.

    Xenos

    The whole idea of settling a new planet has been worked in endless variations of written science fiction… much of it quite good and easily adapted for TV. why are they effectively putting ‘Lost’ into the Cretaceous?

    And what idiot chooses 85,000,000 years ago as a sensible time to colonize, rather than something soon after an extinction event that wipes out large predators?

  180. 180.

    BruceFromOhio

    @Xenos:

    And what idiot chooses 85,000,000 years ago as a sensible time to colonize, rather than something soon after an extinction event that wipes out large predators?

    Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.

  181. 181.

    EIGRP

    The New Girl pilot made us laugh so we added that to the DVR. Raising Hope is the other one we record as well.

    While not part of the traditional lineup, I’ll thrown in Tosh.0 too.

    Eric

  182. 182.

    p.a.

    @EIGRP: I’ll second New Girl. Pretty predictable, and I couldn’t name 1 thing Zooey Deschanel has been in, but I think I could watch her read the phone book and be enchanted. And what a great name…

  183. 183.

    rikryah

    I am a tv addict. I am giving the 4 episode chance to:
    The Secret Circle
    The Playboy Club
    Pan Am
    The Ringer
    Unforgettable
    Hart of Dixie

  184. 184.

    twiffer

    i find the concept of terra nova to be…remarkably stupid. it feels like they wanted to do a jurassic park show and couldn’t get the rights.

    we’ve destroyed the planet, so we’re going to go back in time to fuck it up all over again! only, we’ll go back, not to, say, the dawn of humanity, but to when there were dinosaurs. cause them’s good eatin’ !!!

  186. 186.

    piratedan

    @daryljfontaine: hey daryl it’s a ymmv kind of thing…. I know that some fans are so wrapped up in the source material that the first adaptation isn’t even considered anymore, again, I’m not playing favorites here. I liked the characters and while the plot lines diverge around episode 11 thru 13 and go off on their own tangents from there doesn’t make the ride I took down each path any less interesting. I was kinder to the series and all of the exposition that you mentioned because of that divergence; in other words I gave it a pass since I had already seen the first series to conclusion and knew that I was getting a different story line with the second.

  187. 187.

    opie jeanne

    @MikeJ: Are you kidding? They started playing that at Angels games last year, during the 7th inning stretch, right after we get only one round of Take Me Out to the Ballgame. A lot of us hate it, I mean, really hate it.

    Someone in the FO was inspired by Boston singing Sweet Caroline and thought we should follow suit, but the choice of song is ironic considering the tease the Angels did right up to two nights ago. In short, the fans have been Buttercupped.

  188. 188.

    Dan.

    Regarding Doctor Who, it’s kinda sorta not really true about ‘no Doctor until next year’.
    Christmastime will have this year’s Christmas episode. January, February, and March will be a long bleak winter. April will bring an Easter episode. Series 7.1 will pick up again late summer-early fall in 2012. Another X-mas episode next X-mas. 7.2 mid-spring 2013.

    New Girl was pretty great, as was Up All Night. I’ve almost given up on House, but only almost. I’m excited about Bones coming back, with a few summer episodes coming because Emily Deschanel had to go ahead have a baby.

    Nothing terrible can be said (ever) about Psych. Warehouse 13 too, even it’s the end of its season, but W13 needs to be mentioned as much as possible.

  189. 189.

    twiffer

    @kindness: “tastes like chicken!”

    at least they’ll have 20-some odd million years to figure out how to deal with the k-t extinction event.

    my “willing suspension of disbelief” is calibrated for most sci-fi tropes and genre gimmicks. even for time travel, despite its propensity for paradox. but terra nova just raises all sorts of hack flags in my mind. beyond the: if we have the tech to enable time travel, why is it not possible to clean up the planet? it’s just blatantly formulaic (not that genre formulas are inherently evil, just prone to poor implementation).

    interstellar colonization was probably scratched as having been done too much. we can’t just clean the mess up, as that’s dull television. same with arcologies and bio-domes (earth or not). the logical alternatives to abandoning ship (permanently or just waiting out the planetary renovation period) are thus discarded and we’re some how left with time travel as a solution. and i could still be down with that. but, since we are nixing colonization of alien worlds, we lose the alien conflict and weird alien beasties. so, we have to go, apparently, to the dinosaur well. and make sure we land in the cretaceous, cause fuckitall if there are no t. rexes to shoot.

    it’s just too mercenary an idea. possessed with the means to go back in time, we choose not to a) travel back to the beginnings of the present crisis and attempt to prevent it, forcefully if necessary (could be cool); b) head back to the development of civilization (or earlier) and attempt to guide it, which could play off atlantis myths or future humans mistaken for gods (could be interesting, or could be a stargate clone). but no. all of history to choose from, to send the hope of humanity to, and it HAS TO BE FILLED WITH FUCKING DINOSAURS. this leads one to the inescapable conclusion that a knack for terrible planning and/or decision making led us to our future dystopia, and to the idea that fighting dinosaurs is the only way to save our species. i expect the colonization effort to fail miserably.

  191. 191.

    Rafer Janders

    @Elizabelle:

    My mother, who actually was a Pan Am stewardess based out of NY in 1963, pointed this out when we watched the show and said that the pilots were all much too young. Pan Am pilots in the early 1960s were generally all WWII and Korean War vets, so were in their 30s to 40s.

  192. 192.

    EIGRP

    @p.a.: Have you seen Elf? Someone else mentioned she has a couple of records. I liked the song she sang with Leon Redbone in the closing credits of Elf… Baby, It’s Cold Outside

    Eric

  193. 193.

    Deb T

    I read a review of Prime Suspect that said it is so different than the BBC/Helen MIrren show, it shouldn’t even have the title.

    It’s a different show. It’s American.

    That said, I really like Maria Bello. She brings a lot to any character she plays. If the writing evolves, I think it will be a good show.

  194. 194.

    Deb T

    My favorite shows are old ones: Community, Parks and Rec, The Office and yes, The Mentalist (I love the cast). Most of the new shows seem pretty mediocre to me, nothing that really grabs me.
    Spent the summer watching old TV series from the late 50ies and early 60ies and that kind of spoiled me. Love the Westerns – Have Gun Will Travel, Laramie, The first 4 seasons of The Virginian, Wanted Dead or Alive. Also liked Checkmate and M Squad (with Lee Marvin and a great Count Basie theme song and jazz background music). They are sexist (of course), but I figure they just didn’t know better. Same with the attitude toward Native Americans and people of color although you do see the beginnings of an effort to change, and create more progressive stereotypes. Kind of naive. White men ruled the world eh.

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