If there isn't a character named Cream Pie, they just aren't trying.

Actually, the toy sailboat birth scared me more than the sandwich.  A hoagie doesn't have masts.

@Scrawler2:disqus Thats how I'd rank them in terms of existential-darkness-scary, i.e. "there are bad things that can't be stopped by a demi-god with a screwdriver".  For direct-terror-scary, I'd go Blink>Waters>Midnight.

I think the internet is part of the reason behind the shift.

Hardy telling Ellie was hands down the most devastating scene in the episode (of the scenes on BBC America).  Watching the muted conversation through a window would have been easier for both the show and viewer, but showing/watching it was the right call.

I didn't have a problem with the cheesiness of it, but on a mundane level, it seemed like way too many bonfires.  I didn't get the impression that communities were so densely packed in that part of England.  Easy to hand wave away, sure, but it took me out of the moment.

Maybe Ellie is brought on as the new DI in Sandbrooke, tough case pops, she brings in Hardy as consultant?  You still get the "outsider lead detective, assistant who's too close to the community" dynamic, but reversed. 

Oh, man. please please please tell me that John Noble plays the sister.

Damn, that could make a good movie.  Are you sure it hasn't already been done badly while we weren't looking?

Edit: Oh, more than two, never mind.

I dunno, they did give Fringe 4 1/2 seasons, and this sounds like it has a similar vibe (and pedigree).  Occasionally Fox decides to just stick with getting it's freak on, ratings be damned.

BBC America On Demand is kind of inconsistent with cuts.  Sometimes they'll show the same edited-down, extra-ad version they show live, other times they have the "Directors Cut" with all the scenes included (and the extra commercials).  Seems kinda random which one they go with.

Has Tommen been recast with someone younger?  Without getting into specifics, some plot points will work better with a Tommen who looks more childlike (although the previous actor did a solid job with it).

I like the Ironborn in general, but they were incredibly frustrating in the last 2 books.  If there's one thing they didn't need, it was "more people sitting around in boats".

Another tweak on the standard anti-hero drama template is the attention paid to the nominal antagonists, Stan and the FBI.  They've been developed well enough that the tension genuinely flows two ways:  I get just as worried about how things will affect Stan or Martha (and how their characters will handle it) as I do…

On the other hand, you can argue that blurring the line between science and "science-like stuff" is how we got an era of crumbling education and pride-in-ignorance in the first place.

I'm sure you're trolling, @avclub-641e167f974d1dd076c0886d17271975:disqus , but on the off chance you're not, you need to take another look at some of the studies from the site  @Salvador_Dalai_Llama:disqus linked.  Specifically, http://www.distraction.gov/…

The ability to cite statistics doesn't mean jack if you lack the ability to analyze them.

While I'm generally a fan of Moffat and Moffatiness, his big-arc instincts clash horribly with this truncated half-a-season-at-a-time production/release schedule.

I seem to remember reading that WGBH, who produced a lot of their original programming (like Nova, maybe Frontline too), got their asses handed to them in the '08 market crash.  And that came right after they sunk a big hunk of capital in real estate for a new studio or something.