You! Fill up my tank with petroleum distillate! And re-vulcanize my tires, post-haste!

Yeah, I'm not getting the abruptness. The whole point is that they're self-centered and have no thought for consequences—then they're suddenly thrown into a situation where shit gets real, and they're backed into a corner. Warren's simply the most pragmatic and driven of the bunch, so he's able to deal with the…

I actually thought it was kind of a shame they didn't cast Glau in Black Swan in some capacity, since ballerina/actresses have to be in short supply.

I'll go further and say that it's time to retire the whole "Hero's Journey" thing. Joseph Campbell was wrong. (Or, more precisely, the people who think he was the God of Narrative are wrong.)

The problem with TNG, as the show went on, is that they got really, really lazy with the world-building. That even extended to how poorly written the guest characters were, and yes, In Theory breaks down because whatsername is such a nonentity. This is a classic example of how a show can be vastly improved by having…

I actually think the first book (original version) is one of the best things King ever wrote. It's obvious he's actually making an effort to write something literary, somewhat in the vein of the "New Wave" of SF. I've always regretted that he bailed on that and even apologized for writing it, when its his lazy…

He's gradually getting away!

I agree with Todd, this usually seems like a cheap way of making sure an otherwise slow-starting story has an action-packed, grabby opening. It's become almost as cheap a cliche as a scene that turns horrific and surreal and then cuts to a character waking up in bed.

I especially love that Elaine is a sucker for awful-looking comedies like "Sack Lunch" and "Weekend at Bernies".

My favorite Jerry delivery, in the one where George's accountant girlfriend runs off to a mental hospital with Jerry's tax receipts: "THIS is no good. This is no good."

Then, of course, there's the episode where Marge (I think) was trying to interest the kids in something, received a "Meh", kept going, and was met with "I said meh. M, E, H."

"A vote for Bart is a vote for anarchy" is one of my favourite throwaway gags.

Yeah, I feel like The Critic actually paved the way for the Simpsons to become the mindless parody machine it became.

Episodes about Homer and Lisa's relationship are some of the best ones. You get the honest sentiment of Lisa episodes and the awesome anarchy of Homer episodes. Homer probably plays better off Lisa than any other character on the show.

Well, except for all the typos.

Are people honestly complaining about the level of sentiment in early Simpsons? Because I thought they did it brilliantly, myself.

This convention has given a warm glow to this old warhorse…you might say that I feel like "Radiation Man".

You have to admit it's kind of weird that he set it up as one of his favourite lines ever, and then got it wrong.

Like I said last week
The first few episodes definitely make it seem like most of the writers saw this as a typical kid's cartoon, with only Dini trying to push it to the next level. And this episode is almost perfectly representative of the kind of thing you could usually expect in kid's cartoons at the time, even…

I believe the anti-gun thing for Batman originated in the cartoons—after this episode, of course. I'm pretty sure Bats had nothing explicitly against guns in the comic until the cartoon used it as a crucial element of his character. The first time I remember it being brought up is in the "World's Finest" crossover,…