"Murder, She Wrote spin-off"

Shit, that was really, really funny. Any show that boasts Natalie Morales, Malin Akerman and Marcia Gay Harden and also gives them material this sharp is seriously spoiling its viewership. It's been four episodes now and I think it's safe to definitively say I love this show. My only quibble is that Hillary is still…

Are you sure she was a feminist teacher and not a 1970s stand-up comedian?

Yes, but self-delusion is a pretty big theme in BE. Look at Van Alden, judging everyone and acting like a holier-than-thou man of God and then drowning his partner and knocking up a floozy. Nucky, constantly envisioning himself on a higher moral plan and whining about loyalty and gratitude, yet consistently failing to…

I guess my issue with 'boring, drippy scold' is that it's such a heavily gendered criticism, like 'shrew' or 'bitch'. Men are never 'scolds', probably because a 'scold' is defined as any woman who dares voice an opinion that is critical of a man's behaviour.

Margaret is the bomb, I really enjoy her. She's still the only person who really gets Nucky, for better or worse. I can only think that the reason some people hate her is that she is a female supporting character who doesn't exist to neatly complement the events in the life of the male protagonist. She clearly has her…

Blasphemy! Tuna mayo jackets are one of the heartiest lunch pleasures known to man. Next you'll be saying tuna mayo pasta isn't a real thing either!

I think she gets a bad rap for no good reason, particularly over the sex ed plot from last season. Access to birth control was far more important to far more people than liquor smuggling ever was, which to me is enough to make it interesting. Luckily, I like dramas that tell stories about women and their experiences…

Pastels were apparently big among Cicero's blue-collar workforce…

As soon as I saw an A grade I knew someone was going to cash in their chips, so I held off reading until I'd got to the end of the episode (something I'm generally too weak to accomplish). Poor Eddie, indeed, but I think we all knew it had to happen in one way or another, the spot he was in. I'm glad the violence…

It's pretty good. Arthur throws herself into the role of Calamity with gusto and a surprising amount of pathos. And Cooper is outrageously sexy.

It's a sign of how much I love this show that I was truly happy to note that all of the cast were looking well after the summer. Heaton may have had work done, as some have suggested, but she's looking lovely this season, and Neil Flynn, who looked a little grey and grizzled last year, is in noticeably good trim, with…

Agreed. When they went to the hospital with Bert, I was pleasantly surprised that Diane wasn't coincidentally working there at that exact moment.

In fairness, I thought not having it be sung by a father and daughter duo improved it vastly. Although it was terrible.

Oh, you're right! How could I forget the scene that launched my mini-obsession with German song cycles that got me through finals?

They finally, FINALLY, got Anthony Laciura singing. The breath I've been holding since Season 1, Episode 1 can now be released.

It's that Sarah Haskins?! The Target:Women lady? Shit, that's awesome. No wonder there was an above-average amount of funny and interesting female characters for one show.

I really, really liked it. I'm a pretty huge fan of the entire main cast and none of them disappointed - Akerman and Harden really stood out (I got the feeling there was probably a lot of corpsing during the parent-teacher meeting scene), and it's always nice to see my fantasy BFF Natalie Morales. All the various…

"i laughed out loud when audience reacted to John Cryer like he's a fucking Brad Pitt or something."

I think the issue with playing it too heavy is that it's really hard to do that on a traditional multi-camera sitcom without it being really uncomfortable. When stage-based sitcoms go too dark, you can almost hear the audience squirming (which can lead to great, gut-punch moments, but used too much would probably come…