I watched without any expectations, and found plenty of things to hate (like the absurdily ridiculous climax of the pilot). And yet… I didn't hate the pilot. It's kinda fascinating in its own way, especially because it doesn't fit with NBC, but it doesn't fit with Showtime either. It's way, way, waaaay too light to be…

Those are surnames, but there's a guy named Kelly.

But see, I can understand the hope that maybe The Voice gives it a tiny little boost so that when they premiere the spin-off, Chicago Fire is a more well-known and buzzy show.

"In effect, you're guaranteeing that on at least one night of the otherwise failuriffic week, you'll win a time slot."

Probably ABC told the writers that they would air some episodes of season 2 so they would bring their A-game to those episodes?

I completely agree. In some episodes of The Middle I barely laugh at all. It's a fun show and one I happily watch every week, but one that rarely (if ever) achieved greatness. Its best quality is its consistency, though it's easier to be consistent when you don't achieve high levels anyway.

It was eight episodes, but even so, there were too many plots for them to deal with.

It doesn't surprise me that it lasted seven seasons. It surprises me that it lasted seven seasons but only 100 episodes. That's kinda pathetic. I mean, a cable show like The Closer has more episodes than Rules of Engagement (it lasted 7 seasons and 109 episodes). Man, did CBS treated this show badly…

It's sad because this final season was everything the show was planning to do ever since the first episode, but I guess the damage caused by season 3 was just irreparable. I think Darlene Hunt deserves some credit for trying to return to the show's strengths, but that third season was just so abominable that it…

Sure, but he also has a firm hand on creating striking images. If you look at a masterpiece like Winter Light, it's a chamber drama, but it's also a gorgeous chamber drama filled with expressive haunting shots. In Scenes from a Marriage he just turns on the camera, sits back and let the actors do what they do.

There's this French show called Les Revenants. It's about what happens when a bunch of dead people suddenly reappear. It's very fascinating. It sounds like a sci-fi or a suspense (and it has some elements of both), but it's more about those people reintegrating with their families after so much time.

To me, that's the worst thing Bergman has ever done, even though Liv Ullmann is terrific (she always is anyway). It barely qualifies as TV. It's simply a filmed play.

@avclub-7aee1b75b527e215f31e20a5c4e7a768:disqus   I understand and I don't think you were wrong for thinking there was potential from watching the pilot. I just said that because you said you'd still give the same grade even though we now know that the show doesn't fulfill its potential. To me, the series as whole is…

I actually think the show got BETTER as it went along, if only because Beth Behrs' character evolved from the painfully bad dumb blonde stereotype she was in the pilot. Still, the show's completely unwatchable.

I disagree. Just look at what Bacon has been up to lately: X-Men First Class, Crazy Stupid Love, he has a Ryan Reynolds movie coming up. He can be a character actor, but he's also a star.

Honestly, I don't even think Dennis Quaid is that much of a big-name talent. Kevin Bacon is a big-name talent. His presence alone would make people want to tune in for the premiere (and even for the next two or three weeks). Not sure people would do the same for Dennis Quaid (or at least people from the 18-49 demo).

Malcolm about Eddie (on Rob Cesternino's podcast, when Rob asked: "What's with this guy Eddie? Why doesn't he buy the advantage in the immunity challenge? He's saving his money for peanut butter?!"):

I agree with you somewhat. I really hope Brenda (and other jury members) destroys Dawn and even Cochran on her jury speech. That is by far my favorite part of the finales, the bitter jury members' speech. Though I suppose this year the funnest part would be Dawn crying her eyes out during those confrontations.

Not that I was rooting for Brenda, but you could make the same argument about the people who do the blindsides: that they know the risk of blindsiding somebody is that you may lose their vote when they become member of the jury.

I'm curious as to how they feel about Cochran and if they hate him for this too. While the only satisfying result for the season would be Cochran to win this, I'm a bit concerned that he might face a bitter jury. If he goes with Dawn and Sherri to the Final Tribal Council, it's a slam dunk, but if either Eddie or Erik…