One of my favorite elements of the Christmas specials is how Gareth turns out to be a perfectly competent manager. Plenty of unlikable people are perfectly able to do good work, and it's that they didn't fall into the trap of the US Office of further demonizing the character.

@avclub-884c4beddd8c98bb3b016bdfcc1bcdf8:disqus , maybe it's because I wound up starting with the 2nd series (my brother got it for me as a Christmas present by mistake instead of the US office I was into at the time) but I actually didn't have a problem with Neil until the finale.

…But it's an animal that looks like a dude! You should have ten of them.

"It's not my trick Michael…."
On the next Arrested Development
"It's my illusion!"
"Why am I not going underwater? DEAR GOD WHY AM I NOT GOING UNDER WATER?!"

The real star of this show is the dialogue, which is the kind of consistently snappy stuff I like for my teen comedy without descending into "your blog's ego is preggo and it ain't no etcha sketch" territory.

The power of Christ compels you! The power of Christ compels you!

But you see threequel rhymes with sequel and prequel. So it's beneficial if you want to write Limericks.

Okay, I guess I'm the only read this as "stalking is the new planking"? I really thought I'd finally be able to get on board with one of these meme's I keep hearing so much about.

That word…. I don't think it means what you think it means.

Based on that mental image, I've decided that Gary Busey would be a perfect lead for  "Quailman: The Golden Years."

You can gargle all the sewage in the world, and your voice would still have about a third the gravel of Tom Waits. My grandma can do an okay impression, but that took like three years of emphysema and I don't have that kind of dedication.

To me, it looked a lot like Jon Stewart's Glenn Beck impression, minus the tears and blackboards and dramatic glasses removals.

As far as gimmick commenters go, The Liker is looking pretty goddamned prophetic right about now.

Jordo - You're absolutely right on that, she'd have been perfect. Well, aside from the SPOILERS hooking up/secretly plotting with Lindsay part of it. But they could have re-written it. I'm guessing they just saw the actress who plays Eve in Cruel Intentions 2 and just said "We need to get her on our show STAT!"

Yeah, I look at the beast like a more traditional horror movie monster. It's like the ultimate Michael Meyers; he's impossible to kill, he's almost everywhere you turn, he makes fire rain from the sky… well maybe not that last one.

SPOILERS
Having seen the whole season, that Cordelia dream sequence has some heavy foreshadowing, as it appears to be showing the real Cordy's perspective.

I agree with zeppomarxist on this one. The whole situation would have another level of potency if it was really Tara asking Willow to kill herself and be with her. With Cassie there, Willow had enough emotional distance for it to never be a threat.

Joey Wales - I think that there's always going to be room for an Adele (a high quality, traditional belt-it-out singer) but the Florence and the Machine's of the world generally come to prominence quite accidentally. For instance, Cee-Lo because "Fuck You" was an internet sensation, Mumford and Sons for the same…

I don't know, I tend to think that there have been more failures than successes in reality TV land. Not to mention, existing shows outside of Idol have had diminishing returns; 10 years ago The Amazing Race and Survivor were on top of the ratings and neither is remotely close to their former numbers.

The talent
was really heads and shoulders above what American Idol usually churns out, and I found myself legitimately invested in the success of a reality show contestant (Dia Frampton) for the first time in forever.