I'm with you. I think Season 1 and 2 are about equally perfect… I might even give Season One the edge for the reasons you cite. I think the urge to label season 2 a masterpiece springs from two things: one, the more complex plotting (and as McGee suggests above, our culture tends to overvalue plot), and two, the…

Has to be a woman. I think guys are guilty of not giving a shit about the show or the character, but it takes a special form of SELF-hatred to get so worked up about Amy Jellicoe.

Shhh! I technically agree that Mike White did a beautiful job possibly wrapping up the whole series, but I don't want to give HBO the out of being able to say, "Even the diehard fans agree it's okay if the show ends!" It did make a great ending, but damn, "Enlightened" occupies such a special place in the TV landscape…

YES. "Tropical Heatwave" was so ahead of its time. You forgot to include Essential Logic…lotsa heavenly skwonk-sax in their ouvre.

Thank you for articulating something I've been trying to say for weeks. This show goes sexy bisexual EMO about murderers. Barf.

Sorry dude, you're trying but this show is nowhere near psychologically complex enough to earn that license. "The Following" doesn't delve into the psychological underpinnings of mental illness; it ladles bad emo over shots of their young, fit, sexy faces and calls it edgy. BARF.

rodrickramrod, right on. I think you nailed it when you point out Amy's short-sightedness as her true tragic flaw. Everything she wanted so badly in S1 she now has as the (slow) result of her own changes and efforts. Amy's problem this year hasn't been that she believes in change but that she has been too impatient…

Enlightened and The Good Wife are "hacky" shows? Enlightened is clearly a work of passion by Mike White, and The Good Wife is a work of true narrative craftsmanship by the Kings. Hate on them all you want, call them creative failures, but calling them hacky is… hacky.

I have to disagree with a lot of the comments characterizing Amy as just a sad, pathetic, stupid person. Maybe it's because the show's been awfully subtle about it, but haven't you all noticed how much Amy has grown and changed in just these two short seasons? Her self-awareness still lags behind her actions, but by a…

I agree with a lot of what you're saying, but I don't think the show is as  either/or as you see it. I'd agree she is a whirlwind of destruction, but when you say "she damages everyone around her…" is it really as simple as that? I think one of the most cutting ironies of this season is that with all of the irritation…

I'm about seven eps deep and I'm with you. I had absolutely no idea how we were supposed to feel about her around the ep 3 mark. Is that graveyard scold supposed to represent her conscience for the recent firings? The way they played her layoffs in the first two episodes, she just seemed like a stone cold bitch, a…

Gail Simmons is a delightful, charming goddess of a woman. How is it that she's managed to be a thoughtful face-to-face critic of at this point hundreds of chefs—and thousands of dishes—and yet has never come off as ungrateful, snotty, or carelessly bitchy? (Ahem, Padma). Gail seems to possess the self-awareness that…

At this point I'm hoping against all likelihood that Lizzie and Kristen both make it to the finale. Obviously with editing who knows, but with both of Lizzie and Kristen's head-to-heads on LCK it felt like Tom was genuinely torn about which chef to award the win to. I know Kristen is the more dazzlingly gifted chef,…

Bruce Willis was the inspiration for Duke Silver.

I saw this movie on a shitty little TV in a bed & breakfast. While on acid. In Tasmania.

I honestly believe Lesley-Anne Warren should've been nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in this. But I am gay so of course I think that. Also Bruce Willis's ass is amazing in this movie. But I am gay so of course I think that.

I would buy a book of just Sean O'Neal headlines.

Also that deliciously crisp and expensive look of an HBO show would disappear beneath the cheap orange glaze of Showtime cinematography/transmission. A Showtime "Enlightened" might not be a thing I'd even want to see.

I wish Year of the Dog had been required viewing for all critics assigned to cover Enlightened's season one premiere. There was a lot of headscratching at the pilot episode in the press which I think contributed to this show's soft opening—a show as challenging as this needs really hot media attention and critical…

I work in the industry too, and the lack of buzz surrounding this show goes deeper than mere ignorance. I think a lot of people out here are actually contemptuous of the show, for reasons that go beyond the commonly cited "unappealing/difficult female lead" excuse for not watching. I'm still trying to figure it out……