The bottle episode, too. I actually think they've been making better use of the ensemble this year.

Series 8 almost felt like an RTD-era season to me. Increased focus on companion's home life, a sort-of-serialized element that doesn't overtake the show but adds up to a grand finale…it was a necessary comedown after the craziness of S6 & 7, but yeah, S9 is bigger, better and something new entirely.

S6 is an odd case because it's full of really great episodes, which people tend to forget. In fact, I would venture to say S6 has more standalone great episodes than the much-cherished S5.

Jessica Jones actually did film in New York. Not sure about Daredevil. I think it's just the "look" Marvel is going for with these shows though.

Eh, it was high-rated but no higher rated than other episodes that feature big guests (it tied a Charles Barkley episode from a few years ago, and came very close to a Melissa McCarthy episode from last year). I don't know if a ratings bump that probably could've been seen with an equally famous but less controversial…

Rory is the closest NuWho has gotten to totally faking a death, I think. In the instances mentioned in the OP, it was pretty obvious that no one was actually going to die. But when Rory initially died in S5, he stayed dead long enough that enough people really believed he was gone, and they actually wrung some pathos…

That's been a pretty recent addition to Clara though. I could totally see Season 7 or 8 Clara just stepping away (she almost did a few times in S8) and I was hoping that was where her story was going to go. When she went Full Doctor this season though, it was pretty clear things weren't going to end well for her.

Yeah, this is my main problem. It would be fine if Moffat fully committed to making the companions less essential (although I might enjoy the show less, personally) but he seems to want to focus less on the companions' backstories but still make them as central as they were during the RTD era. And you can't really…

I would like you to show me a season of Doctor Who where every story made complete sense and there weren't a ton of silly factual errors.

Yeah, this was well-done but I really want a normal exit. The Ponds and Clara both had opportunities to have one, but they stayed longer and had a Giant Tragic Ending instead. I just want someone to peace out!

I thought this episode did a great job of completing Clara's story, much better than something like Donna's exit.

People's expectations must have been lowered so drastically for Update that we're now calling Jost and Che "good.". Yes, they've improved, but they're still a far cry from Tina/Amy or Amy/Seth or even Seth solo at this point in their runs.

Yes, like most things, context matters. If you're just saying "all lives matter!" as a random statement, then sure, all lives matter. If you're saying what equates to "no, black lives don't matter, all lives matter", therein lies the problem.

The concept isn't racist in and of itself, but people use the term "all lives matter" in response to "black lives matter" in an effort to demean the movement and invalidate their struggles. No one is saying "ONLY black lives matter", so "all lives matter" is a useless phrase usually coated in subtle racism.

Really? According to the Futon Critic we're still in the Season 5 production cycle (this was 518). It seems pretty unlikely that they would get through S6 that quickly, unless maybe they're doubling up?

But what about Old White Man Says?

Well, Bob's Burgers has been renewed for two more production cycles, and it's already about a half-season backlogged. So we've probably got about three years worth of episodes guaranteed at this point.

I think they referenced this in a past Christmas episode, or am I imagining that?

People keep saying Dev is a dick and he definitely has dickish moments (the "game" is a low point), but I thought the show generally did well with portraying both of them as flawed and sometimes selfish but ultimately caring really deeply about each other despite their own personal issues sometimes getting in the way.…

Did you watch this episode? They'd been pretty light on the Jake/Amy romance in previous episodes, but this one was all about them.