The problem with this show is that there's nothing for it TO transcend. It wants to BE a '70s cop show, nothing more. Farscape at least wanted to bring whacked-out morality and dark comedy to a sci-fi show, and the majority of its episodes—before it got mired in the Peacekeeper arcs—felt like original stories. (Thanks…

You mean Princess Valhalla? I friggen love her.

Ack, Ack, shhh. Todd's trying to justify his reasons for covering a silly sitcom like this in the first place. It'll all be over soon enough.

I think the mistake with watching "Hung" is in viewing it as a show about male prostitution, which it's never really been. The prostitution—which as has been raised elsewhere is awfully tame—is really just a stand-in for larger socioeconomic issues, of which Detroit is particularly emblematic. Ray's a man-child, his…

Yeah, that was me. But then again, I liked these first two episodes, too. I just really think it grows legs with next week's "Mind Bullets."

Hah, yeah, my math is awful. But yeah—usually SYTYCD has a few dry weeks (like when they had the top 12 and top 14), where there would only be six or seven dances, plus solos, and it would stretch for two hours. That doesn't seem to be happening anymore, and even the results shows are worth watching, thanks to the…

The New Format
I'll tell you what I like most about the new format: we're getting more dances. And of better quality. If what you say is true about each dancer going twice next week, then we're going to have 16 dances, and I'm fine with that.

Ignorance Is Not Bliss
I've been a fan of Rescue Me for most of the series, though Todd points out a lot of the gnawing flaws that I've been pushing back under the floorboards. But this episode pretty much killed my appreciation for the show: you don't drive a car down the wrong side of the street (endangering…

Aside from the stand-up clips, it's nothing like Seinfeld. Rabin had it dead-on: these are vignettes, each in their own world (inside C.K.'s head).

Yeah, especially with the black-and-white comedy music playing in the background, as if it had suddenly turned into a Chaplin film.

Also, I believe he said he got $2M an episode. Total. For the cast, crew, editor, director—which is perhaps why he's doing it Kevin Smith-style. (And to me, that's what the sitcom feels like.)

@Watcho, if that's what you're reducing Breaking Bad to, then sure, although as CF points out, the illegality is a non-issue at this point. Weeds still doesn't work, though, because Nancy *isn't* good at what she does.

Not really. There's no sign that anyone on Hung is ever going to be in danger of criminal prosecution or serious, life-threatening violence, so the stakes are somewhat different. Also, while Weeds started out as a satire of how everyday certain drugs had become (look, a housewife dealing pot!), it's long since…

Sometimes it is, sometimes it's not. I think episode 3 this season, my favorite, is called "Mind Bullets, or Bang Bang Bang Bang Motherfucker."

I guess it's possible that Charlie is a cop. But I feel like that wouldn't be in the spirit of the show. I mean, Ray would get arrested and go to jail and then there would be no more show. He's not going to Break Bad to make a buck, and many would argue that he's not really breaking any laws.

Nick, I'm 100% with you. Especially when it comes to how impossible it is NOT to make some sort of innuendo when talking about the show. Lenore, for me, doesn't feel like a real character yet—she's still stuck in Hung Season 1—but Tanya, Ray, and even Jessica (who I just hated last year) are showing real growth. As…

Tune in for next week's episode, when the kids more or less point blank ask Ray about that.

Oh, I know that, and I'm looking forward to seeing if the show clicks for you. But I did stay specific in talking about this episode, especially since I'm curious as to what you saw differently in the start of United States of Tara: Season Two.

The No Plot Conundrum (or, The Donut Hole)
It's funny that you bring up "United States of Tara." I agree that the kids on that show are much more developed, and the second half of the season was really well developed. But I'd forgotten most of the first season by the time it returned, and it, too, didn't really have…

Why…?
Are you still covering this show? It seems like every recap is an attempt to justify the show as being something *more* than summer filler.