I haven't seen a definitive explanation, but I think the change on Nova was mostly about costs versus number of sales.  The book has been doing well enough not to be cancelled, but not well enough to justify Loeb's going rate (as well as maybe McGuiness's—not sure what his relative pay scale would be), so they are…

One pretty affordable catch-up option if you have time (and preferably a tablet) is a subscription to Marvel Unlimited.  It's basically a Netflix-like monthly subscription to Marvel's back catalog for about $10 a month.  The iPad app is fairly glitchy and not really optimal (nowhere near as nice as Comixology), but it…

@avclub-cf50b28ef624912ff106c57ca9be41dc:disqus Damn, okay, I had a brain fart moment forgetting Madame de Pompadour, which really does make the whole Amy Pond story in the 5th series feel like a retread.  
On the other hand, I wouldn't really count River Song as a girl, since (a) she barely has any characterization,…

I know Moffat's done it twice, but it really did make sense for both of them.  Amy basically became a companion as a kid (though it was delayed by a few years).  With Clara, the Doctor was clearly doing recon, scoping out the situation with her, and she happened to notice him at least once.  I don't think he usually…

@avclub-9808b9d9bef3cc06261d0ca743532cfc:disqus Pretty much.  To cite two recent examples, Downton Abbey and Call the Midwife both had ridiculously massive ratings (like double Doctor Who), but each of their most recent seasons were eight episodes plus a Christmas special.  Admittedly, they were both very expensive…

The interesting thing is that the old Doctor Who was definitely referred to as "seasons", though the real concern then was not seasons/series, but "serials", which were distinct.

@avclub-17c3613df50203d147fc87ccd0f1436d:disqus An interesting idea, but I would have instead said it should have been in the period where the Doctor was allegedly dead, then they could have brought back the Ponds for a few more episodes before they left for good.  As it stands, the Doctor traveling with River *after*…

@avclub-c404a5adbf90e09631678b13b05d9d7a:disqus Well, we know Moffat was influenced by "The John Hurt Moment," as seen in this clip from Coupling:  https://www.youtube.com/wat… .  While Oliver is not as much of an expy for Moffat as Steve was (hence the name), it's pretty clear Oliver was channeling Moffat's inner…

No, it's Nu, as in Nu Who.

@bowlweevils:disqus I remember really liking Herman's Head, but thinking back on it now (and not having seen it for 20 years), I cannot conceive how the show could have actually worked in practice.  At the very least, it seems like it should suffer horribly from the same problem as all the shows that try to show both…

I swear Ben Kingsley looks like he stepped off a movie version of Alfred Bester's "The Stars My Destination" instead of "Ender's Game" with those crazy face tattoos.

Agree that Tamara makes absolutely no sense.  At first, she seemed like she was one of those "I am going to steal everyone else's magic so I'll be teh awesome!" villains.  Then, she started talking about how awful magic is.  Then she used the jellybean grenade.  She makes no sense.

Vin Diesel.

It was a rights issue.  Long story short, Barrie donated the rights to the original play to a children's hospital in London.  While the copyright initially expired in 1987, special legislation in the UK later revived the copyright in perpetuity as a means of funding the hospital.  The extended rights are somewhat…

Hell, it would have been more realistic/in character for Rumple to just slap Snow and say, "Thanks for the tear, dearie!  Heheheheeeheee!"

Man, I'm sad I missed that commercial.  They didn't air it up here in Canada.  Was it as gloriously campy as it sounds?

A wizard did it.

Sounds like how I went through the third season of Heroes, but then even the AV Club recaps got to be too painful and I had to give up entirely.  OUAT is not nearly as awful as Heroes yet, which is sort of amazing, given how mediocre this whole show is.  It's like the lack of trying makes it better than the…

Next season, she'll be checking out some really racy books from the library.

Agreed.  It was painful enough in Season 6 of Buffy.  Which, for those of you who have only watched on DVD/Netflix, royally sucked to watch live back in the day.