Ross getting smacked around for being a paleontologist felt either like the writers poking fun at their audience and going overboard (for being sitcom watchers in TV land) or poking fun at themselves and going overboard (for being nerdy schlubs hired to write jokes for gorgeous 20something Hollywood heartthrobs).

Ross getting smacked around for being a paleontologist felt either like the writers poking fun at their audience and going overboard (for being sitcom watchers in TV land) or poking fun at themselves and going overboard (for being nerdy schlubs hired to write jokes for gorgeous 20something Hollywood heartthrobs).

Friends may well have destroyed Matt LeBlanc's career in that I can't see him playing any kind of serious role without picturing Joey doing it and cracking up.

Friends may well have destroyed Matt LeBlanc's career in that I can't see him playing any kind of serious role without picturing Joey doing it and cracking up.

Yeah, in order to make the spinoff happen they undid that instantly — Joey's show is suddenly canceled just after he finishes moving to LA, leaving him stranded and looking for work.

Yeah, in order to make the spinoff happen they undid that instantly — Joey's show is suddenly canceled just after he finishes moving to LA, leaving him stranded and looking for work.

Roseanne, Grace Under Fire and All in the Family were all *noted* in their time as being shows about a gritty, realistic family drama.

Roseanne, Grace Under Fire and All in the Family were all *noted* in their time as being shows about a gritty, realistic family drama.

The term "hard science fiction" is, of course, much older than the 1980s. I suppose you could say everyone who didn't follow those rules was just Doing It Wrong, but that's another can of worms.

The term "hard science fiction" is, of course, much older than the 1980s. I suppose you could say everyone who didn't follow those rules was just Doing It Wrong, but that's another can of worms.

Pitt's instinct when he has no idea what business to give a character in a scene is to eat something, and he apparently specifically asked for that to be given as a characteristic to his character in the Ocean's films.

The Kid thudded for me and I stopped watching (it was on TV) in the first half, thus probably missing all the payoff stuff with the titular time-traveling younger self in the last half, because the whole premise didn't work for me.

The Kid thudded for me and I stopped watching (it was on TV) in the first half, thus probably missing all the payoff stuff with the titular time-traveling younger self in the last half, because the whole premise didn't work for me.

Schwarzenegger is actually a hilarious doofus but the humor that revolves around him being a doofus makes it difficult to marry that comedy with him being the hero of an action movie.

Schwarzenegger is actually a hilarious doofus but the humor that revolves around him being a doofus makes it difficult to marry that comedy with him being the hero of an action movie.

The core thing that makes Die Hard work is that you really believe that John McClane is exhausted, in pain and at the end of his psychological rope. Cast a smarmier action hero who insists on coating himself in smug invulnerability as McClane and the movie becomes a piece of shit.

The core thing that makes Die Hard work is that you really believe that John McClane is exhausted, in pain and at the end of his psychological rope. Cast a smarmier action hero who insists on coating himself in smug invulnerability as McClane and the movie becomes a piece of shit.

Right, hence the whole idea behind casting the two of them in Fight Club — you can really believe that Norton's character has everything going on behind his eyes that Pitt's character expresses out loud and in his face and body, and that's what helps the climactic reveal make sense.

Right, hence the whole idea behind casting the two of them in Fight Club — you can really believe that Norton's character has everything going on behind his eyes that Pitt's character expresses out loud and in his face and body, and that's what helps the climactic reveal make sense.

That's actually what they call it on TV Tropes — Mohs Scale of Scientific Hardness.