It also bugs me, especially when they make the effort of introducing the characters by name.  I have read through reviews before and become confused about who the heck they are talking about because they use an actor's name instead of the character name they've taken the time to introduce.

I think they still have a good balance for Pawn Stars.  They spend most of the time focused on the cool antiques and artifacts, and throw in a dabble of interaction between the people for flavor.  The interaction stuff can be fun, but I really watch for the micro history lessons.

Exactly.

At least you're not getting Fox News.  Seems like every time I go to work out, that's what's stuck on the single communal "can't change the channel" TV.

Probably not, because many people watch TV specifically to escape the drudgery of "real" reality.

The problem is, the inventory would only have one or two kids at most, which isn't much of an inventory.

I actually like this movie too and feel like it is a worthy successor in the spirit of the Reeve Superman movies, like the article implies.  I never really understood the dislike for it either.  After all, Lex Luthor's evil plot in this movie sounds just as ridiculous as the vast majority of evil plots in other…

This article is persuasive, but nothing on earth can make me feel respect for Justin Bieber.

I wish the auto-tune obsession would go away already.  I would much rather hear an untampered voice than a mess of electronic slurs that sound like someone fell asleep on their keyboard, and with practically every pop song having some element auto-tuned, it's lost the "that's interesting" punch it might arguably have…

They really did cast it well.  Nodame Cantabile is one of my favorite TV shows from any country.  If they ever released the DVDs for region 1, I'd buy them up in a heartbeat.

Whoops.  Sorry, @LurkyMcLurkerson:disqus .

Fair point.  As the topic was about Japanese TV shows in general I think I assumed that is what you meant by "soap."

If you've seen one American TV show, you've seen them all.

Kekkon Dekinai Otoko is actually the furthest thing from harem.  The women barely tolerate his neurotic mannerisms most of the time and laugh at him behind his back the rest of the time.

Me too.  If they ever released region 1 DVDs, screw my tight budget!  I'd buy them up in an instant.  They really got the casting perfect for the live action version, and now I prefer it to all the other versions too.

Yeah, I just couldn't fit a description like @LurkyMcLurkerson:disqus  used without taking up a ton more space than I wanted, but he's got it right. I wouldn't consider her a MPDG by any means.  She doesn't enchant the guy so much as frustrate him and send his neat freak habits into overdrive.

MPD Psycho?

It may not have been as in depth as his movies, simply because we followed a ton of characters in the series and the movies only handled one or a few at most.  But rather than delving deeply into one psyche like in the movies, I think the series delved into a bunch of different psyches on a more shallow level.

I've seen most of those and I agree.  They're great.  Trick was one of the first J-dramas I saw and it is still one of my favorites.  Absolutely hilarious.

Yes.  The most interesting companion they had essentially lost the essence of what made her her (her knowledge of how much was out there, how much she wanted to see it, and thus her curiosity and drive to see the world/universe).  Why can't we revisit her story instead?