I thought The Mist was relatively solid…but did you read Darabont's plans for the second season premiere? It sounded like a huge waste of time. Definitely for the best that he's gone.

Yeah, I don't see why they just didn't have Zombie Randall staggering around with a broken neck, his head rolling around. That would have been chilling.

He's not. That arc is just so damn brutal and ruthless, I think comic readers are just thrilled at the prospect of some real forward movement. Whatever the flaws of the Kirkman book (which are basically everything, everything is flawed), it just barrels forward relentlessly.

They dug themselves in a stupid hole because they picked the reveals they wanted and then bent events to set those reveals up. For example…follow me here…they wanted Carl to come up on Rick bending over Shane's body. That means they couldn't show Carl spotting Rick and Shane circling earlier through his binocs because…

I don't think they were putting up a fence so much as trying repair any holes in a fence that already existed. I figure they thought "Zombie got Dale, it must have gotten through the fence somehow, better go look for holes." Remember, they're still supposed to have a bunch of fucking cattle wandering around somewhere.…

Whatever specific rules they're using don't matter two shits to us, the viewers. They do matter to the characters, since how exactly the dead come back to life is something important to know.

Yeah, the movie is definitely head and shoulders above the miniseries on the visual pleasure scale.

Even in larger battles they can focus on small-scale conflicts amid the larger action. I hope that's the way they play it.

Ha ha, Prison Break reference. Awesome.

I thought she was better this episode. I'm not the biggest fan of the new actress either, but it's not an insurmountable obstacle for me. Plus, I enjoy thinking of it in a metafictional sense - Spartacus and Naevia have been so transformed by their experiences that new actors take on the roles.

SWAT Team Incident should be the name of his prison band.

Up to 15 years. I'm guessing a halfway decent lawyer could get that cut down quite a bit.

It is indeed a really great episode, but the "reefer madness" episode was from the original Dragnet, too. You've convinced me I shouldn't just write it off, though.

I enjoy Hardy, but I know what you mean. You should at least attempt some Bronte stuff: Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights. I think the gothicism in those novels can be read as a kind of reaction to the mores of the period. Or if you want a slightly more adventuresome bent, what about Joseph Conrad? If Hardy qualifies as…

I learned today that there is apparently a planned film version:

I really, really wish we did more UK-style miniseries here. See a miniseries coming up with a couple good actors and a creator you really like? That's an easy investment. Plus the limited space can make it much easier to make sure the thing has a coherent (or any) narrative arc. I mean, I like me some HBO/AMC style…

The miniseries is slow as molasses, despite being excellent, so be ready for that. I mean, Le Carre does choose to portray a large amount of spy work as old men in a series of small smoke-choked rooms, and you get exactly that. But yes, the miniseries is excellent, and having seen the movie, as good as it was, I…

Oh fuck me, it is even sillier than I recall.

I saw a remake of The Singing Detective with Robert Downey Jr. and Mel Gibson that didn't really work but had so much fascinating stuff in it that I loved it anyway. It was a long time before I figured out it was a remake, and I still haven't seen the original. Thanks for reminding me!

Plus, after 1970, there are suddenly non-white people on TV, like they just appeared in America, or they were just camera shy before.