Parasitology
I liked that the skeevy professor taught a class about parasites, because, you know, he kind of was one in this episode. That said, Katie's explanation about how she was sabotaging her relationship with Britt seemed to come out of nowhere. It made sense after the fact, but had we been given any…

The soil report
"Somebody wants people to think that the Montague property is toxic, and has been dumping chemicals there to fool everyone."

The thimbles
I liked the detail in the eulogy that the deceased always bought silver thimbles for his wife when he was on the road, "and he was an expert" (or words to that effect). The implication being that he was on the road all the time.

The yearbook
Wow, there aren't many comments on this thread, which doesn't speak well for Lone Star's chances, but anyway…

Yeah, I guess it was supposed to be pretty obviously Hank using the card (he did steal the guy's wallet after all) — the only thing that threw me off was the fact that his ex didn't just call him on it. I thought she would have known Hank well enough to figure it was him (unless she did and the whole dinner was an…

I wondered if Gretchen's architect fiance could have something to do with it. He was a little too ready with the "it's the house settling" line. Could he be involved with the rich land developer from ep. 1? Perhaps there will be a plot where Hank has to try to convince his ex that her fiance really is a bad guy,…

So many Martin moments:
*"You got greedy, Martin."
*"Spare me your palliatives!"
*"I did design the car. The driver is mostly there for ballast."

Classic Brown University burn
I loved the Brown gag … methinks some writers went to Harvard.

It's just not done!
My favorite line in Sinking Ship is when Phil goes on a rant about how the lower classes shouldn't be allowed to mix with the upper classes, and Dave, instead of criticizing Bill for his retrograde ways (as he would in 1998), merely says "Of course you're right, Bill."

The thematic significance of Gamera
You see… Gamera is really neat
Gamera is filled with meat

Andy Dick's later career
He did go on to play a character that was very similar to Matthew in a terrible sitcom called "Less Than Perfect". I kind of wonder if Andy Dick was permanently type-cast after Matthew, sort of like Radar or Cliff Clavin. He's always seemed really on edge and angry in his recent roles and…

Damn, you're right. It is a boogie dance. But Bill does say "make it funky, Cadbury".

I don't know about this, Fhtagn. Sitcom conventions can be a little constraining, but they're also wonderful machines for producing comedy. The network of relations that constitute a successful comedy situation are hard to produce, and when you finally get it right, it's dangerous to tinker with it too much. Would…

Ahem, that's a funky dance, Al.

Starsky & Hutch-esque
It just struck me reading the description that this show shares a more than passing resemblance to Starsky & Hutch: one straight-arrow cop, one free-wheeling cop, a black informant, lots of car chases. The whole show is a riff on cop shows, so it's not like this is surprising, but that…

I'd have to watch it again and I don't mean to nitpick, Todd, but I think there were a few times that various people did talk about how Pablo Escobar kept things orderly on the streets, totally apart from the section on the Andres Escobar killing. I remember Pablo's cousin saying, "If you wanted to do something…

Untrustworthy narrators
Did anyone else think it was weird that there was so much emphasis on how "if Pablo Escobar was still around, the streets would be safe"? I claim no expertise on Colombia, but it struck me as a dubious claim, especially considering the people who made it were a) Pablo's cousin and crime…

This detail from Vicki Lewis' wikipedia page may make you feel a little better, Donna:

That's Stargate Defender, Tom. STARGATE DEFENDER!

Art imitating life
Someone mentioned that Andrea appears to leave the show after these episodes, which reminded me of one thing I always thought interesting about NewsRadio: the way the plot reflected the real life problems of the show. I may be recalling this incorrectly, but it seems like NR always struggled in the…