THE key element of soap opera writing is not represented in Game of Thrones.  Namely, that there's no overarching structure or direction to the story.  Because the only directive is "keep the show going until it's canceled, and keep on the popular actors," every sub-plot is self-contained and usually has little impact…

I'd buy one, but I already had one custom-made for myself.

You two are the same dude, right?

This comment shows a real lack of understanding of what constitutes soap opera storytelling.  Whatever GoT is, it's not that.

I couldn't make it past the first episode of this show.  Seemed extremely broad and hacky.  Maybe I just wasn't in the mood at the time, I dunno.

"I really can't take this list seriously."

This is what happens when people get so comfortable with phrases that are metaphors, that they stop realizing they're even using a metaphor.

I literally just threw away that empty plastic head yesterday - found it in a box as I was preparing for an upcoming move and said to myself, "Why the hell did I keep this thing?"  Into the trash it went.  Yeah, that was a really poor packaging choice.

It was actually fairly racy for primetime when it aired.  I was in college (yeah I'm old) at the time and am probably one of the few people around here old enough to have a clear memory about this.  Of course, I tend to think that the gentle boundary-nudging in the first season is one of the most forced aspects of the…

I can imagine it if I was in the focus group.  I swear the next generation of movies and TV shows will star exclusively 18 year olds.

Bruce Willis is season 6.  And yes, that's about when the show got really, really bad.

Later, crazy Ross is definitely the funniest version, but it does make the inevitable reunion with Rachel feel completely off.  Mopey Ross, though not funny and rather annoying, is buyable as a romantic hero; insane Ross, though much funnier, seems like someone you'd barely want to be friends with, let alone allow to…

Ross has three episodes in the last few seasons that are kind of along those lines - the tan, the teeth whitening, and the leather pants.  I really like all of them.  Ross and Joey did the heavy lifting in the later years - which is weird, because they were decidedly the two worst actors in the pilot.

Yeah, that episode… not good.

You can't say it's breezy.  That totally negates the breezy.

It's not quite a classic.  What it is - and this makes critics, both professional and armchair-variety, highly uncomfortable trying to explain it - is the best iteration of the Competent Sitcom.  It's Big Bang Theory with great jokes, a cast of ringers, and lots of character-based humor (at least in its best few…

I had to look up some plot summaries to figure this out.

I think I'm just tired of this kind of tongue-in-cheek ridiculousness.  The middle ground between outright satire and authentic schlock is very treacherous territory - best leave that stuff to geniuses like Edgar Wright than ham-fisted cretins like Rodriguez.

I kind of dislike most of the first season, but it definitely gets better around "Blackout."  The problems of the whole year are myriad though: 1. Lots of throwaway, lazy pop culture references posing as jokes (poor Matthew Perry has to deliver most of them); 2. The sentimental moments are misjudged and don't feel…

Early Rachel sucks out loud.  I suspect they let Jennifer Aniston insert a lot of herself into the character (obvious insertion joke can be lubed up and popped in and out in this location), because she's basically a different person entirely a season down the line.