Six is an ideal number because that's how many episodes it takes for a TV show to find its groove and set the tone and style of its universe. For example, the sitcom Community, after a promising pilot, had a number of decent episodes. But it didn't really impress me until Football, Feminism, and You (the sixth…

Rick: 'Nice one Jerry. 2003 just called; it wants its easy target back.'

I agree, but if he were able to do that from the beginning, it wouldn't be as interesting. When I saw him take that first beating, I sucked my breath in because I could intuitively understand how Flash must have felt: he thought that because he could run fast he could do anything, which made him cocky, which…

The Flash has often been negatively compared with Superman, in that the former's detractors tend to say 'So he can run really fast, big deal. Superman can fly! Bet he could run really fast if he wanted to'. But as this episode demonstrates, Flash is an interesting character because unlike Superman, he's not…

This show should should just be re-titled as 'The Gotham Show Starring Penguin', because he's the only semi-interesting character on it at the moment. I'm really appreciating the show's efforts to remove Penguin from the Quasimodo image he's been stuck in for so long and return him to his gentleman criminal roots.

I don't find it so completely unwatchable that I turn it off, but that's the best compliment I can pay it so far. This show really needs to decide whether it wants to be gritty or campy. No one's saying it can't walk the line between both, but it's a fine line, one I'm not sure the writers are talented enough to walk.…

Best Shirley episodes, anyone? Here are some of mine:

I found plenty of episodes in Season 5 funny and well written. I think Harmon and team's still got it. Yes, the show's not as good as it was in the early seasons, but which show in its fifth season is?

Because people's collective IQs have dropped since the 90s, when clever, well-written shows like Seinfeld and The Simpsons actually did well.

Why? The addition of Jonathan Banks in S6 showed that the right replacement can work well, so why not give Season 6 a chance? Why are we so resistant to changes in sitcoms? Greendale is a community college; people have to leave sometime, and Shirley had the most reason to leave. I'm not happy that she had to leave…

I liked Chase in Season 1 actually, when he was just a sweet, oblivious old man and not the total asshole he turned into in season 2. (Having said that, however, I do applaud his Season 2 arc as character growth, which, let's face it, is extremely rare in sitcoms. Harmon has mentioned in several interviews that he was…

And a consultant to help shape up the school. Why? Didn't they fix it so well last season that it actually started to turn in a profit?

Well, when the show began shooting back in 2009, Chase mentioned that he disliked sitcoms in general, but he was impressed by Harmon's script. Also, Chase and Harmon had worked together on Channel 101 if I'm not mistaken, so Chase was familiar with Harmon's style.

No, the laugh track has just become a lot more low-key in the later seasons. HIMYM is essentially a single-camery comedy packaged as multi camera, so the laugh track is really a hindrance. There are definitely a few episodes where it's loud and grating though.

Damn, I wish I wouldn't keep getting reminded about this. Kills the immersion for me.

Well, in HIMYM's defence, 30 Rock lasted seven seasons, not nine (and it's probably not a coincidence that HIMYM's seventh season was its last good season). And that show seemed to always exist on a cartoony plane of reality, so there wasn't any danger of its characters turning into cartoons, which is pretty much what…

No, I don't feel I've learnt anything new about the characters, but after nine years, I'm really not expecting much. I'm just along for the ride at this point. And episodes like these, gimmicky as they are, are fun diversions.

Aliens? I'd watch those three episodes.

Come to think of it, we don't know whether he hasn't called them. They could easily insert a scene of him doing that in next week's episode. And I have a feeling that next week's episode will also explain why they couldn't come to his help. On the other hand, this show has disappointed me far too often, so who who…

Speaking of Marshal's five-mile walk, does anyone else think he's going to run into the Mother while he's on it?