WE CAN HOPE

HBO?

I've only watched two episodes so far and I'm pretty meh on it. Some of the writing is funny but I haven't yet reached a hook. I want to like it more than i do.

iZombie will be on the top 15 list.

I'm not an expert but I'd say iZombie is also putting out some of the best writing right now. The episode structure, narrative/thematic balance, and season-arc pacing are consistently tight, well-planned, and pretty much perfect for an episodic dramedy.

I wish more people would consider Drag Race for Best Of lists.

I can't recommend it. I'd heard a lot of good things but it was trying REALLY hard to be Prestige and Important resulting in a lot of awkward monologues, painfully obvious symbolism, and trite social commentary.

You can skip The Affair. It starts off strong and drops off remarkably quickly.

I went into it with the impression that it was going to be more of a murder mystery series and I was pretty disappointed that the actual crime took a back seat for most of the series. I agree that the lurid crime narrative greatly overshadowed the Message narrative but the Message portions were often more than a…

It won an Oscar for that? Yikes.

That sounds delightful

"Mizgirev is more interested in his collection of fetish-wear-esque period costumes, rain machines, crumbling textures, gruesome injuries, and self-loathing sex scenes."

Tambor isn't all that high, overall, especially when you consider that Transparent is only like 10 episodes per season and most other comedies are 20+. The rest of the main cast isn't pulling in nearly as much, either.

There are better ways of expressing dismay about a cancellation, especially when you still have 4 options for a second season pick up.

Transparent is also Amazon's prestige series and doesn't command a period piece budget.

I could also see this being less of an issue if Amazon was taking the pitches back to back, like during a casting call. He may have struggled with placing names with faces after hearing a bunch of pitches for other shows. It seems like it would be more problematic if he didn't know cast, either. Knowing who the…

Mad Men was also making a commentary of the time period. It wasn't a necessary plot point by any means but it was a series that made a point of exposing the realities of the postwar Golden Age.

See also: prison rape as comedy

I would also wager that she wasn't fully informed about the particular staging/execution of the scene. She probably expected the use of butter to be far more implied than it was in reality.

Was it just me or did his accent come out more as he got more emotional? Especially when shouting "read the book!"