When I was in high school, my friend and I went to the annual meeting of the local PBS affiliate to campaign to get the then-new Season 7.  The PBS people were so excited that anyone under the age of 60 came to their meeting that they not only got the new season, but ran it as an all-night marathon with a trivia…

When I was in high school, my friend and I went to the annual meeting of the local PBS affiliate to campaign to get the then-new Season 7.  The PBS people were so excited that anyone under the age of 60 came to their meeting that they not only got the new season, but ran it as an all-night marathon with a trivia…

Crap, I was wrong.  That episode was in Season 1.  There was actually a lot of good stuff in that season.

Crap, I was wrong.  That episode was in Season 1.  There was actually a lot of good stuff in that season.

Craig Ferguson doing an American accent!  That's it, Season 1 is excellent.

Craig Ferguson doing an American accent!  That's it, Season 1 is excellent.

Season 2 is the sweet spot for me.  The entire run of Red Dwarf is a gradual progression from "comedy show with sci-fi elements" to "sci-fi show with comedy elements" and I like it better when it errs on the side of comedy.  The low-key sitcom setup of the first two seasons, coupled with the shoestring budget, give…

Season 2 is the sweet spot for me.  The entire run of Red Dwarf is a gradual progression from "comedy show with sci-fi elements" to "sci-fi show with comedy elements" and I like it better when it errs on the side of comedy.  The low-key sitcom setup of the first two seasons, coupled with the shoestring budget, give…

I am likewise not on board with Paul Verhoeven: Subversive Film Genius, and invite you to join me under the tent of Paul Verhoeven: Entertaining B-Movie Schlockmeister Who Knows How to B.S. an Artist's Statement.  He's the Teutonic cinema equivalent of the tampon-in-a-teacup girl from your freshman sculpture class.

I am likewise not on board with Paul Verhoeven: Subversive Film Genius, and invite you to join me under the tent of Paul Verhoeven: Entertaining B-Movie Schlockmeister Who Knows How to B.S. an Artist's Statement.  He's the Teutonic cinema equivalent of the tampon-in-a-teacup girl from your freshman sculpture class.

Fast, Cheap & Out of Control is such an amazing balance of philosophical Big Ideas and little human character portraits, without being all pedantic or anything.  It's really funny and just fun to watch.

Fast, Cheap & Out of Control is such an amazing balance of philosophical Big Ideas and little human character portraits, without being all pedantic or anything.  It's really funny and just fun to watch.

The novel is insane.  The movie covers the events of roughly the first half of the novel, and the rest of the book is about a coverup involving Walt Disney's mentally retarded serial-killer son who lives in a secret apartment in the Matterhorn.

An insane story about how they need a new kid because the last kid they were given died.

An insane story about how they need a new kid because the last kid they were given died.

You mean the Jason Alexander who's celebrating his 30th wedding anniversary this year?

You mean the Jason Alexander who's celebrating his 30th wedding anniversary this year?

Maybe I'm just that much of a Scully fan, but her slowness to catch on to "Mulder"'s completely bizarre behavior ruins "Dreamland" for me.  Usually I'm fine with Scully's rationalism because a) she's just doing her job as the team's skeptic/scientist, and b) in a universe that wasn't carefully set up so Mulder is…

Maybe I'm just that much of a Scully fan, but her slowness to catch on to "Mulder"'s completely bizarre behavior ruins "Dreamland" for me.  Usually I'm fine with Scully's rationalism because a) she's just doing her job as the team's skeptic/scientist, and b) in a universe that wasn't carefully set up so Mulder is…

"Triangle" isn't much like the other "light" episodes, anyway.  It's not a comedy episode.  It's the X-Files as a 1940s action movie with Mulder spouting quips as he punches Nazis.  I love the episodes that completely depart from the standard X-Files mood and just do their own thing.  "The Unnatural" is another one.