That's another one I think would probably be doable, just not by Garris. Everything he's done (especially with King) looks like a soap opera. Then, when he tries to do something scary, he overplays his hand with music cues and sound-effects until it's laughable.

Nope. Another first draft wonder, somehow producing totally satisfying plot twists, character motivations, and internal consistency the first time through. He didn't even have to draft an outline or sketch out a character map to keep track, just sat down at that typewriter and plowed through a perfect manuscript.

Well, yeah, but I think that clash could've worked if it had been properly balanced. Maybe Sorkin needed somebody to counterbalance his more portentous sensibilities . . . there needed to be a voice saying "dude, this is silly, stupid stuff, relax" who wasn't immediately shouted down as being insufficiently serious…

I presume you mean The Newsroom? I fuckin' hated that show, mostly due to that one goddamn speech that occasionally makes the rounds on Facebook and sums up the worst of Sorkin's speechifying, boomer-nostalgic rose-tinted pretentious bullshit.

See, I think a version of that can work. A show that shows that intersection of real life, fear, potential tragedy, while working in an environment where your job is to be silly and funny. I'm even on board with trying to say something meaningful with a silly sketch show. I just think the balance was all wrong, with…

Right, you can't import Sorkin into sketch comedy, the rhythm's all wrong. Sketch comedy has to have some kind of a "set-up, punchline, repeat" pacing with plenty of reaction time and laugh breaks. Sorkin's fast-talking, quick-thinking characters force you to pay attention to keep up . . . which can't happen in a…

As do I, but man, animating those topiary animals was a HUGE mistake. Even if the CGI had been perfect, it STILL would've looked stupid. One of the issues with those King/Garris collaborations, Garris has no freakin' clue what makes something frightening. The whole reason those things were scary is that you know…

It's possible . . . SNL has to throw that shit together every week, Studio 60 had plenty of lead-time and only REALLY needed maybe 20 minutes of really good sketches per season (plus filler that just looks like good sketch comedy with a weird, out-of-context punchline). Bring in a few really good sketch comedy writers…

I also think it was a crushing lack of specificity. If you think back to all the SNL greats (and current headliners) they're all funny in a very specific, individual way. There's a Phil Hartman-ness to all the great Phil Hartman characters. The same for Gilda Radner, Chris Farley, John Belushi, Tina Fey, and,…

I liked the show, but yeah, there was a huge hole sitting in the middle of it . . . the sketch-show itself. They just blew so much out of proportion that it would've been tough no matter what they came up with, but the worst thing you can do to comedy is build something up as "THE funniest thing/person EVER" and not…

I think they fixed the legal issues between seasons, making AoD fair game now.

On a completely separate note of revelation, I was driving once through some nowhere place, scanning the dial because I didn't have another option, and stumbled upon Tom Waits "Frank's Wild Years". Another revelation into a world of music I'd never known.

When I was a little kid my music listening was limited to the local top 40 station, with Casey Kasum every weekend. I didn't know anything else existed until, one night, dicking around with my antenna, I caught another station. The song was AC/DC "Big Balls". It was a fucking revelation, like Dorothy suddenly seeing…

"Beep Beep Richie" . . . holy shit, was that an "IT" reference?

Ohh boy, yes. I remember looking at certain girls in a different way when we made accidental eye-contact. "Hmm, maybe she's into me. What about that? Never thought about her in that way before. But now that I know she's interested, this could definitely be true love." Then I'd pass her a note filled with lyrics from…

With all of the reflection at the end of this episode between Sara/Oliver, Oliver/Barry, I've just gotta say how much I love the fact that the gritty, murder-happy, CW-relationship-triangle-obsessed first season of "Arrow" has grown into an unapologetically geeky, reference-happy, multi-dimensional superhero universe.…

I loved the shout-out, was actually wondering if they were going to acknowledge it at all.

Yeah, but only in passing, and only as somebody her cousin worked with a long time ago. She obviously doesn't consider him a superhero.

C'mon, no shout-out for the extremely cheesy but totally welcome reference to Brandon Routh's short stint as Superman?

I saw both, and the thing about the Total Recall remake is that it was obviously one of those scripts that was never meant to be a Total Recall movie, then forced into that mold for no particular reason.