Of course, I don't recall that the show held itself up as a shining example or presenting nuanced characters. Everybody, presumably including the audience, recognized that they were painting a rather coarse picture with the broadest of brushes.

> "The Day After" back in '83 was supposed to be pretty intense.

> Hamilton’s hard-boiled narration drops in and out without any real purpose.

We must reminder that in the occasionally explored Star Trek backstory, the path from here to there is rather rugged to say the least.

"Sure, it’s potentially the kind of “smug liberal” talk that enrages the alt-right"

No explicit Halloween reference, but for obvious reasons it always makes me think of the season: Michael Murphey, "Dancing in the Meadow".
https://www.youtube.com/wat…

"Actual Miles: Henley's Greatest Hits" always seems to come out of the CD box as thematic listening at some point whenever I drive into southern California.

Well… I did say "subsequent" rather than "current as of this writing", and "at least fairly successful" shows, not necessarily really big and/or critically acclaimed or influential hits. Just off the top of my head, Faison, McKinley [er, McGinley — thanks, idiot autocorrect!], Flynn, Reyes, and Miller all had…

I wonder if "Scrubs" holds some kind of record for subsequent success of its regular and recurring cast members. Within a few years after its cancellation, most of them seemed to have gone on to a comparable or larger role in another sitcom that was at least fairly successful.

The Wikitubes corroborate my memory that Kelso's title was Chief of Medicine, though he seems to do things, and spend an amount of time with the sad-sack lawyer, that may be more like the necessary if unloved duties of a Hospital Administrator.

> It took me countless listens before I realized what’s most haunting about
> ["Deeper Well," on Emmylou Harris's album Wrecking Ball]: At no point does
> it promise redemption.

> Richardson managed it, but she avoided being a shrew even though the writing
> tried very hard to make her one (Patricia Heaton on "Raymond" was unable
> to accomplish the same feat.)

> Everybody Loves Raymond. Universally beloved by parents
> and grandparents back in the day, now totally forgotten.

I guess that the "men's movement," fairly new as a mainstream pop-culture thing, goosed Home Improvement's popularity as well. Tim Allen was a philosopher of sorts in those areas (his book _Never Stand Too Close to a Naked Man_ is worth digging out of the stacks) as well as a comedian.

Reminds me of the first SkyMaul catalog, which had a "Business Traveler's Flask" with the lyrics written upside down so you could read them as you drank. (https://web.archive.org/web…

I almost didn't watch "The Sopranos" because the basic set-up that came across in the early press coverage — mob boss with a psychoanalyst — seemed like a knockoff of "Analyze This."

My equivalent would be Songcatcher. The movie seemed pulled out of the halfbakery, but the music-from-and-inspired-by soundtrack album stayed in rotation on my car CD player for a long time and still makes the occasional appearance. There's something about a summer night on a road trip with Maria McKee cranked up…

One of the worst things about Smash was one of its initial premises. Katharine McPhee's a lovely and talented lady, but holding her own in a long-drawn-out competition against Megan Hilty for a part as Marilyn Monroe — or, for that matter, even bothering to audition for it? Absurd.

Eric Frank Russell is just a little further toward the end of that shelf, alphabetically; and you should pause along the way to grab some pre-70s Retief stuff by Keith Laumer.

> Haunted by guilt (and the breakup blues), Tony Stark, a.k.a Iron Man,
> proves amenable to the sanctions.