Fyi, Borgen isn't a freshman drama. Series 2 confirms how great Series 1 is. Series 3 isn't the best but it's good TV.

I'm no analyst, but Netflix has a lot of subscribers that provide a consistent and big revenue source. IIRC, almost 30M
currently. So on the revenue side, that's at least $240M coming in in
revenue per month. Their content costs are high, but not that high.

Austin is pretty miserable in particular.

Because he was young when they were fostered (and they were his adoptive sibling by the time he understood), and he was thrust into this situation presumably.

She's always been an awful person, I'm coming to realize.

Such a guilty pleasure at first. Not very good, but not atrocious enough to not work as a guilty pleasure.

Watch the "true" first season (eps 1-10), eps 11-20ish, and skip (or watch at slower pace) when you get to the Chef disaster

Simone, right?

If it went straight off the book, the show would last two seasons tops. Based on how I could envision the series turning, I'd hope the show would go no longer than 4-5 seasons. This season 1 being what it is, middle season or two dealing with the consequences from the finale and any escalation, last season dealing…

I think your point encourages a good nature-vs-nurture argument. Many of us have tempers, and would fall into the cycle of viciousness Piper's in if we were caught in a penal system that requires self-preservation.

[spoilers]

Gauge my eyeballs before I watch The Newsroom. I really don't understand why all my yuppie friends love it so much. (But I should — they all rave about House of Cards as the reincarnate of the TV gods and watch Criminal Minds)

It was definitely different. But I definitely thinking Season 1 is the best, Season 2 got a bit weird, and Season 3 was a bit too dramatic and soapy.

[SPOILER]

A comp I can think of is a political-Good Wife. Both shows are deeply-character driven (well, the good side of TGW is) and have strong female leads. Both have some procedural aspects (Borgen's is the "government issue of the week").

It is brilliant television. Season 1 will start replaying on LinkTV soon I think, so hop on. It's amazing television.

Danish television is just so awesome.

Minus the fact that Ginny's virginity wasn't "taken" by Frankie. She wanted to sleep with him, and then was disappointed and lost afterwards. Frankie by no means was predatory.

Or a shot to any awesome Danish TV show. (It's not Forbrydelsen's fault The Killing has been, well, um…)

Yet somehow, ABC Family hashtags are better than #MickMouse.