I explained the plot of the pilot to an old girlfriend…
…she was a huge Lost fan and a friend had given her season one of Alias as a birthday present but she hadn't watched it yet. I was surprised as I thought Alias would be exactly her type of show, so I described the pilot to her. After finishing she said yeah, that…

I was speaking to an African-American woman who had Vitiligo. It really was odd - about half of her face and neck had large patches of, well, caucasion-looking skin. I don't know which would be easier for her - to use dark makeup or a re-pigmenting treatment, or to bleach her skin to make it all match. She also had…

No offence to Jon Lovitz…
…but he belongs to a group of comic actors that I could never enjoy because they always employ a lot of the same vocal cadences and mannerisms in all of their roles. As different and varied as all their characters were, Martin Short, Dana Carvey, and Jon Lovitz always seem to be "Martin…

sarCCastro -

As great as the first season is, the second one was even better.

I've twice read in the last little while that every cell in your body is replaced roughly every 12 years. I'll have to look it up to see if it's an urban legend, but if not…it's sort of like being transported in slow motion.

I would agree with what Richelieu says above, and add a couple of more points.

Didn't Valerie/Valerie's Family/The Hogans actually kill off one of the supporting players? I think it was one of the two best friends of Jason Bateman's character, who was in a lot of episodes over the years. Didn't he catch the AIDS and die after two weeks or some such thing?

OR…it could be a freshwater lake with Bull Sharks. 'Cause those things are vicious…

I was just hitting my teens when this show was at its peak and it was a monster among people my age. I didn't have a huge amount of pop culture knowledge but I was incredibly impressed by Michael J Fox's performance. Not only did he have crackerjack comedic timing but his style of delivery was unlike anyone else's I…

I liked Spin City in its first season but then lost track of it (losing Carla Gugino didn't help). I only saw a few minutes of one ep with Sheen and what struck me was he seemed to be trying to imitate Fox's distinctive cadence and line delivery. As Melina above points out, it just accentuated how great Fox was (and…

I had forgotten about The Arrival until now…but I remember when it came out that people I knew said it was surprisingly good. Should I see it? Or was "surprisingly good" a way of saying "surprisingly good for its time"?

1) The writers write a "show bible" with consistent characterization for each character AND STICK TO IT.

First review I agree with in a while
I've really disagreed with the reviews for a few weeks, but I was onside with this one. I think a big difference for me is that I like the sharp, snide humour the show can have and that always boosts up an episode for me (and that sense of humour has been almost completely missing…

Jesus, Shorepatrol…I thank you for your posts but feel terrible about the way you gained your knowledge.

Littlealex, well said. It's not in the same universe of quality as True Grit or Hanna but that's why I loved Alias but could never get into Buffy. Jennifer Garner was convincingly able to play a kick-ass, capable agent, and then have scenes were she was emotionally vulernable, and those two elements of her performance…

And remember, according to a commencement address (!) he gave, Newt Gingrich says that women can't fight in the army because they get an "infection" once a month…

I didn't bail on Moby Dick, but it was a bit of a chore. Those weird diversions where there would be a whole chapter (or two!) about how to perform some function on a whaling ship…yeah, that kind of killed the momentum. A friend of mine was working on a (since abandoned) stage version of Moby Dick, and he joked that…

I think the studio's defence should be "We really liked Chakotay's tatoo but tweaked it a bit so it wouldn't be copyright infringement…"

While the investigative reporter is only a few steps behind!