Yeah, that's the good thing about Seinfeld movie references.  By and large, you don't have to see the movies to laugh at what's going on.  I had no idea that was a Thelma and Louise reference.  Compare this to weird Family Guy shot-for-shot references, where a scene or cutaway will make no sense if you haven't seen…

They are just the video word made flesh.  Long live the new flesh.

I think the heart of Swearengen is split between Marcus and Escalante, who both have an incredible lack of patience with everyone around them.  Escalanate doesn't have Swearengen's gift of gab, but he is capable of shutting people down in a similar way.

Carey seems to have had some sort of plastic surgery, though.

It's still a rather Andy Andy perspective on things - 'Normally I'd want to murder you, but now - no way!'  Diane should give him shit just for being so unthinking, even if he is growing in terms of behavior.

Well, sure, but it shows a definite narcissistic side to Sam that he counts this as growth, or has he just not seen how other people act towards one another?

While I loved Colasanto's performance in "Manager Coach", the premise is so sitcom-y and broad that it lost me.  I'm now halfway through Season 3, and I recognize that there are episodes that just won't work because I'm too beaten down by the conventions.

Unless this is cut in syndication, I remember no such thing.

'The Apology' is far from one of my favorites, but that line gets me every time.

No, that all makes sense.  Netflix DVD is a wonderful service, but as more people realize what you are (and I find that of the people I know that have Netflix, most are like you in that they don't have time/inclination for movies on weeknights) and opt for streaming only, that hurts the chances that I get to enjoy the…

Yes, but their Instant selection likely crushes any chain video store in terms of variation.  I think your problem is more likely that their selection is too great in scope - no one movie sticks out to you as 'The movie you want to watch'.

I've only just recently started using the streaming service, and while I've got what looks like some good stuff on my Instant queue, the catalog of DVDs is just so much wider.  I love movies, not TV, and unfortunately Netflix has realized that people want to watch TV shows - that seems to be driving all of their…

Then you're part of the 'problem'.  If you can't decide 'Hey, I'll want to watch this in a few days' while looking at your Netflix queue, you'll get the largely mediocre leavings that Netflix Instant has to offer.

It's been a while since I've watched The Wire, but The Wire hardly throws you into the deep end.  It wants to be understood.  The lingo and the procedures are the difficult parts.

Why Ace went to prison:  His associate (Mike) hid cocaine in his grandson's apartment, it was discovered by the police, and Ace refused to roll over on him.

No, don't bother.  If the first episode didn't at least sink a tiny hook into you, this show isn't for you.

"I will admit that I’m clueless as to who that young man who greeted Walter was, even if the show treats it like something I should know. I’m probably glossing over some important part of his back-story. Readers?"

The reason why it would be called 'spitting distance from the visitors bench' - whether or not it actually is - is because Carla is the sort of fan that would spit on the visiting players.  Also, things are described as 'within spitting distance' whether or not that's actually true.

I'm not sure if that's what's happening here, though - I think Diane still wants she and Carla to get along, so when the opportunity arises, she's nice to her.  I'm not sure that's true in later episodes, when their enmity is firmly established.

I'm not a fan of 'The Betrayal', but perhaps that's because I'd always heard talk of the 'backwards episode'; variance in syndication made it one of the last episodes I saw for the first time.  FDR is a great side character, but none of the plots in the episode really add up and on a rewatch most of the meta-jokes…