She was actually pretty hilarious in Smiley Face, although, yeah, I've often wondered if she was a victim of what I've always thought of as the "Tuesday Weld Syndrome", where one can never quite tell if a given actor is genuinely good or just consistently a couple of notches better than their material.

I can't say as I blame him, really, much as I'd like to see him making movies forever. I just saw Chinese Zodiac, which he claims is going to be his last action picture and it's pretty clear he isn't as spry as he used to be. I mean, don't get me wrong, for a guy who's pushing 60 and who's broken every bone in his…

Jessica Lange must've gone through a hell of a withdrawling after the first season of American Horror Story. So much so that she's had a partial relapse this season.

I got to "Glen Morgan" and thought "great, he's probably gonna bring his brother Darrin along too!"

That's not true at all. It survives entirely on the cast chemistry.

But they will, though. I bet the inspiration behind this was "well, they've already updated Sherlock Holmes twice and they made money both times, so what other pre-existing properties can we do this to?"

What about More Science High vs Communist Martyrs High?

It was Paradise Lost wasn't it, not the Inferno?  But, yeah …

What's the over/under on how many episodes before the Illuminati show up?

Besides, in dog seasons, Wilfred had a longer run than The Simpsons.

"Tahiti is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful place I've ever been in my life."

So far, this show reminds me most of all of the various syndicated action-adventure series that followed in the wake of Star Trek: TNG and Hercules/Xena back in the mid- to late 90s (Relic Hunter, Mutant X, Earth: Final Conflict, etc.),  Even though those shows were mostly copyright-infringement-avoiding knockoffs of…

Although I wish they'd bring back that weird Russian chick with the deadpan affect who was CeCe's roommate a couple of seasons back.  I miss her.

The "I'm just a simple country lawyer" role-playing bit as foreplay was cute, endearing, and deeply, deeply creepy.

… and I went to see this at the IFC Cinema in New York, which doesn’t exist anymore

Well, if nothing else, you gotta admit nobody does that almost-but-not-quite-sincere-smile-melting-into-a-look-of-utter-contempt thing better than Madeleine Stowe.

I was wracking my brains trying to think who that was before I realized.  The pixie cut suits her, though.

I do like that the writers seem to have figured out what to do with Winston.  Originally it seems like they flirted with making him The Responsible One and The Neurotic One, but finally figured out that he works best The One Whose Facade of Nomininal Rationality Only Barely Conceals a Seething Cauldron of Batshit…

The source novel (by hard-boiled writer Horace McCoy) is pretty goddamn bleak.  Interestingly, Tod Browning, the director of Freaks, spent much of the last years of his life trying to get a film version of it made.

Agreed.  The whole returning players-vs.-loved ones setup seemed like such a can't-miss idea that I find it utterly baffling that they decided to overcomplicate it with all these gimmicks, particularly since the last couple of seasons, which were pretty back to basics, have been some of the more compelling ones in a…