There are only two ways to watch the Oscars:

1/8th now that you mention it.

I don't think I've made it through one episode without being moved to tears.  The combination of gambling weaknesses, Milch-speak, Catholic imagery, and the beauty of the animals wrecks me.

Holy Shit.  That horse race sealed it.  I love this thing.

Glad you got a mention of his In Treatment character.  The episode with him at the end of the first season wrecked me.  I miss that show.

If they get to books 4 and 5, they'll combine the concurrent storylines up to the point where book 4 ends and book 5 continues for another several hundred pages.  I don't think there's any possibility of a season without Dinklage.

Read the book.  There's several characters that are introduced in the book that don't exist in the show yet, particulary the Blackfish.  Plus, the battle scenes later in the story are actually detailed (not a complaint, I understand TV economics).

SPOILERS

It's not about some noble impulse on the part of the town.  It's about self-determination and not being treated by the Hearst machine as abstractions in pursuit of goals that are not your own.

Eh, Friday Night Lights is ok.  The character stuff is solid, the central marriage is as believable as it gets, but the actual football makes zero sense.  It's hard to overlook it.  It's like if Breaking Bad suddenly decided meth could be made from scented candles and car keys (he said while looking at his coffee…

Who doesn't like to preach to choirs?  I recently lamented the death of the middle class on the Daily Kos, and then called into Hannity's show, damning that socialist in the White House.

There's a lot to discuss here but specifically in regards to Hearst, the whole point was the town asserting its humanity against someone who could easily and without repurcussion destroy everything.  If Swearengen is the most powerful person in town, at the end of the day, he's just a successful small business owner…

Priggish fucking douchebag.

So when checking the ol' AV Club to see how it's rating Thursday night comedies, imagine the joy on my face when the first thing I see is Al Swearengen's ugly mug.  Can't wait to read this tomorrow when I should be working.

Here's your hardware, and as he looks a cunt anyway, Al would like you to have this rose (long pull of whiskey).

I watched Carnivale as it aired and absolutely loved it at the time.  The flaws in it didn't become apparent until I rewatched it over the following summer.  There are stretches in the first season after they leave Babylon that are extremely boring.  I was so enamored with the setting that those empty pieces weren't…

I love Rome, but I wholeheartedly disagree with that statement.  The character arcs on Game of Thrones are more fleshed out, the acting is far superior, and GoT has a lot more respect for its source material i.e. Atia's a scheming bitch and Octavian fucking his sister.  I love both shows and neither's perfect, but…

1) Deadwood
2) The Sopranos
3) The Wire
4) Rome
5) In Treatment
 
In Treatment had some rough spots, but it gets catapulted over Carnivale on the strength of the Sophie storyline and pretty much all of season 2.

Did you work in a box factory?  Did unimaginative school principals repeatedly take their students there on field trips?

I don't think that was the case.  Kristina finds out she's pregnant as Adam is getting fired and she had the baby a few months ago, so he lost his high-paying job almost a year ago.