Thanks, everybody!

So I was curious about this: are the novels worth reading?  From the responses here, it sounds like they are.  I'm assuming it's best to start at the beginning?

This is one of those times when I would say "cool story bro" and mean it most sincerely.

Depp's Willy Wonka reminded me of Michael Jackson.

I like the waiting room on the other side, where Baldwin and Davis go to get their bearings on the afterlife.  I especially like the call-back to this scene at the end where BJ tries to pull a switcheroo on the head-shrinker waiting next to him and gets caught.

April is a really annoying character.

Yeah, I'm kind of in the same boat as you.  The first two seasons were great, the third was uneven but still fairly satisfying.  This season's been a bit of a challenge for me.  I honestly can't tell though if it's because I'm watching it live now (and therefore am a bit more impatient for having to wait for new…

Absolutely this.  The love triangle was an interesting thing in the first two seasons because it was usually just a motivational element for the characters and an underpinning for the crisis of the week.  Now it feels like it's driving the show in a more significant way and that is disappointing.  It absolutely does…

I was conflicted in a similar way (Mad Men is probably my all-time favorite show) but Kyle Chandler winning the Emmy that year in the show's final season was so incredibly satisfying.

Yeah, that's a big part of why I like the show as well.  You see them grow through those situations, particularly every time they have to deal with Julie (who I sort of find to be the most irredeemable character on the show).  By the middle towards end of the show, I did get the sense but maybe I was reading too much…

The show is an all-time great.  I've seen the movie and the show and I would recommend the show over the movie to just about anybody (sports fans and non-sports fans).  The show retains alot of what makes the movie works but really leverages the expansiveness of the TV narrative format to let the characters grow. …

Cool.

Cool.

The finale is undeniably great, there's no shame in liking it!

My favorite SNL sketch of all time.

Yeah, it's a shame.  He really is quite good in Half Nelson, Blue Valentine, and (I thought) Drive.  He was fine in the Clooney political movie but that was kind of a forgettable movie for me.  And then the trailer for this movie looked so over the top that I pretty much knew this wasn't going to be good despite the…

I can't imagine any other late night personality doing this so well.

My copy also had "Letter To My Son", which I thought was pretty good.  I think it may have been a bonus track?

alot of people on this site seemed to express their disappointment with this album at the time, so i don't think it was bored indifference. 

I'm assuming that's Mitchum's own singing voice used for the hymn throughout the movie?  The man had a beautiful voice.  I'd love to hear, say, The National take a crack at it - it seems like it'd be a good fit for Matt's voice.