Now that wasn't very good at all - Leonard Pinth-Garnell
Thanks for this and all of your SNL critiques, Mr. Rabin. I really enjoyed them as a die hard fan of those bygone days.

I was thinking Penny's non death was predictable only in the sense of a kind of "double reversal" of expectations at play (and the aforementioned viewer displeasure).

Just putting this out there; I don't exactly think this but: was it a bit of a cop-out that Cuse and Lindelof didn't go through with killing Penny? Yes, it would have drawn a lot of viewer rage but it would have really been surprising and a "game changer" in terms of Desmond's role.

I loved the scene but had one mild quasi-disappointment: when I realized his sins we're being played out, I thought we'd see something that hasn't happened on the show yet, something mysterious, that would fall into place later on.

Russia instituted a ban on whaling shortly after the release of the film. I don't know if it was directly related to the movie but Nimoy and producer Harve Bennett were invited by the World Wildlife Fund to Moscow for a special screening of the movie in 10987 to celebrate the ban.

Star Trek - The Motion Pictures, Give them Some Credit
A terrific approach and summation of both the episode and the film it inspired, Mr. Handlen. Thanks for this. It made my day. I could go into it at length but I won't as I'm posting late, except to say that the themes of aging, time catching up with all of us,…

Just gotta speak my mind. And I watched them all and paid thee-ater prices for the movie.

Am I Missing Something?
I think Joss Whedon's really good, a distinct voice in the contemporary television landscape ( I really enjoyed Buffy and most of Angel, though I thought Firefly was genuinely terrible - that's my Whedon position established), but even though I've watched nearly every episode of Dollhouse, I…

should read:

HST
I re-read Hunter S. Thompson somewhat regularly, particularly what I think of as his best — Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, The Great Shark Hunt, Generation of Swine — and I always find something new to appreciate in them, but every once in a while a phrase will pop out…

Manatee Killer
The review was a bit too kind, I think. That Tracey Morgan astronaut stupidity knocks it down to a solid B — at least for my tastes.

Waaaaaaalt.

Although I agree with several of your points here and DS9 and BSG make for an interesting point of comparison, I hate to be that guy, because of R D Moore's involvement with each, but Ira Behr and Hans Beimler wrote the DS9 finale. Moore no doubt had input in that final episode and wrote installments leading up to it…

Homicide's great ending, and specifically the Bayliss arc (for the entire series), was essentially undone by the TV movie follow-up which essentially embraced one of the themes of the series, that human nature and the nature of individuals humans, can't fundamentally change. I thought it was more interesting that…

That's a Shame
Too bad it sounds so schmaltzy. I've long been intrigued by The Amazing Kreskin and when I first heard of the film and that Malkovich was playing the title part, I was hoping for something genuinely off-beat.

Juliet and Ben
I'm sure that this observation/idea has already been posted here, but I suspect that pubescent teenage Ben is going to lay his eyes on the beautiful, assured Juliet and become fixated on her as part of this never ending loop.

Jimmy Barrett makes for a great creep.

A Really Good Actor
This is just sad.

Unexpected Casualty
I was genuinely surprised by Kurtwood Smith's sudden death; I was expecting, well, the expected: that after his strong, noble words to Jack, he'd then answer the door and turn Jack over to the authorities in a by the book double cross.

And I forgot to include LOST in the run of current great series.