I couldn't agree more Joshua. During its all too brief run this show has been the most amazing high wire act on television. Now it has ended perfectly. As Evelyn Waugh once said, the great thing about old age is starting an Agatha Christie novel and not knowing how it will come out. As my mind and memory depart,…

Yes, I hated that one too, for many of the same reasons.

Nothing wrong in principle with the idea of these period recreations. The trouble is that they're all so heavy handed, leaning too much on the easy ironies afforded by our perspective from the present day. Simply referencing musical acts from the period with a wink, because we know who matters in the long run and who…

Given the amount of talent and legend behind this I can hardly believe how lame it is. There is not a single character or plot line that earns our interest or respect. This is nothing but costume design and production design all dressed up with nowhere to go, and good actors gamely reading a truly awful script.…

Don't hate on me, folks, I have to be real on this one. Is it just me? Am I the only one who thinks this series is a great premise, executed with tremendous care and attention to detail by some very clever, talented people, but which in the end is simply not funny? As in, it hasn't made me laugh once, I've barely even…

Another week, another needless soundtrack anachronism. The Who song "The Seeker" was not being listened to by anybody in 1967. It was released as a single in April 1970 and didn't crack the Top 40, so most people didn't hear it until it was collected on the compilation album "Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy" in October…

What a shoddy work of television this is. The way the soundtrack was thrown together is emblematic of the whole project. The song lineup appears to have been created by someone reading off a Billboard list of chart hits from 1967, with a few sprinklings from the Nuggets box set. The producers seem very proud in…

The correct chorus lyric in Ahead is "I remember making the body
search." Possibly a reference to the grooming habits of lab animals.

I spent much of this lackluster holiday weekend continuing to watch Fringe with my girlfriend, her seeing it for the first time, me for the fourth or fifth at least. We're at episode 7 of season 4 and she is now completely sold on multiverse theory, although she understands why their Olivia will never be as good as…

Williams would be wise to underplay his role. Maybe he already thinks he is. Gellar is way better than the material they've given her. Not a weak link at all, just underwritten. I think the biggest problem is that Kelley is an expert at one-hour dramedies, not half-hour comedies. The Ally McBeal format would've worked…

True, good catch. The song was available on the import album that came
out in May 1982 and would mainly have been known to people (like me) who worked in
record stores that sold imports. The US version of the album
was released later that year, can't find the date. The single was
released in the UK in October 1982,…

"ParaSITic worms!"

Revelation. It's the Book of Revelation. Why is that almost every show that uses this biblical acid trip as part of its plot arc or mythology gets the damn name wrong? And then the reviewers compound the error. This isn't hard, people. If you don't have a Gideon Bible in the dresser drawer at your Motel 6, at least…

I was lucky enough to meet Jorge Luis Borges once at a lecture at Northwestern University. Other people asked him intelligent and thoughtful questions about respected writers such as Thomas Pynchon. I asked him about H.P. Lovecraft. His reply, as best as I can recall, was something like: "Ah, Lovecraft. Not really a…

The book Silence by Shusaku Endo is brilliant and perfect for Scorsese. It has faith, doubt, guilt, physical and emotional torture, the violent clash of cultures — in short, all of the Catholic virtues. He will make a great film of it no matter who gets cast. Actually, if I were picking an Endo book to adapt into a…

On the same subject, the 1979 Squeeze song "Slap And Tickle" never charted in the US and would not ever have been in a jukebox here, let alone in 1981. Their first big hit in America was "Tempted," which came out in 1981. That would have been a more logical choice for this episode. Okay, having found two insignificant…

O Nina Nina Nina, if Stan ever stops being your handler, may I apply for the job? He may not know what to do with a bra strap, but I do.

Well bless your heart!

Agreed. The Airplane could do no wrong at that point, and Crown really pushed hard in some weird and wonderful new directions. As for the Zombies, if they could only have put out more proper albums during their lifetime (instead of one early album and one late album) they would be closer to an equal footing with the…

We could play this game all day, but try these for starters: