I don't think that had anything to do with it since Simpsons, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Family Guy all aired Christmas episodes last night.

Of course. I'm just saying that where Louise is concerned slapping is not exclusively an expression of affection.

Good to see Speedo Skate Guy get a moment in such a busy episode. Also Edith.

It may be good to keep in mind that with Louise, slapping is sometimes just a way to inflict some well earned pain. She smacked Mickey good during his panic attack and I don't think anyone wants to ship that. I HOPE no one wants to ship that. Complex girl, our Louise.

And that, I think, is the key to Louise's respect and affection for him.

Darryl prefers digital competition.

Ah, yes. The Goop Baby.

I loved Andy with his face completely hidden beneath that colander.

It's possible, I suppose, but I think if romance ever entered their relationship it would be along the lines of Kevin and Winnie from The Wonder Years. They'd maybe date in high school and then have life pull them off in different directions. They'll always be friends, though.

Cold open this week (no main title sequence) at 7:30 on the dot in my time zone. If your DVR'ed program started with an establishing shot of the Wagstaff School exterior you got the whole thing.

I think the guest stars would still appear but the episode order per season would decrease. Most basic cable budgets only allow for 10 to 13 episodes per year, as opposed to the 22 episodes that constitute a full season's order for Bob's on Fox.

When Bob was singing "Bad Things Are Bad" in last season's finale he lamented "And now I'll never know who wins Game of Thrones," so he's either reading the books or watching the show. My theory is that they have a basic cable package but their provider does a free weekend of HBO promotion during the previous season…

Losing the main title sequence isn't the network's call to make. Mostly it's a creative decision made by the show runner in the event that the show is playing better with a slightly longer run time. Sometimes (as in "Wharf Horse" and "World Wharf II") it's to set the episode off as a "special."

Your DVR is (probably) fine. Occasionally when the show has an "event" type episode the producers opt to do a cold open.

Peter Pescadero.

There was no usual intro tonight. It was a cold open, only the third that the show has done so far, "Wharf Horse" and "World Wharf II" being the previous ones.

No, you're remembering it correctly. Comic books and strips licensed from animated cartoon properties of that era usually reinvented the characters to fit the conventions of the medium. Sometimes it actually yielded good things like the expanded world Carl Barks built around Donald Duck and his nephews.

What little we and the Belchers know about Felix at this point would not inspire confidence that he could deliver the goods as promised. Even assuming he was making his offers to Bob (and to Fanny, and to God knows how many others) in good faith, here's a guy who has a string of failed businesses and a squandered…

And now I can begin to obsess about the nature of Calvin Fischoeder's grudge against England.

I think it was at the Comic Con panel a couple of years ago that, when asked about the origins of Louise's bunny ears, Loren Bouchard commented that they came about partly because they're cute and partly because of the trickster symbolism. And Bugs Bunny.