I watch out of loyalty to disappointed expectations. Of course it's not the worst show on TV. I just don't like routine procedurals, and that's far from what we seemed to be getting in the first episode.

I love In Bruges until its trumped-up "literary" ending.

I want to believe Richmond brutally killed Rosie and also was somehow responsible for the death of his saintly wife, perhaps as a result of a bizarre multiple personality disorder, just to justify that stupid scene.

I also perversely like the fact that Linden increasingly seems … dumb. The only other place on American TV I've seen cops who aren't supercops is The Wire.

Haven't marketers demonstrated over and over that girls will see "guy flicks" with guys (and often enjoy them), but guys only see girl-oriented movies when dragged to them? Maybe it's this expectation that has led to so many extra-shitty rom coms. If you know you can't get a broad audience, why try to expand the niche?

I think part of the reason for all this silliness is that every crappy romantic comedy seems to vindicate the commentators who insist, "Women can't be funny; it's just not in their nature." (I once read some lit-crit book that insisted women were naturally witty but couldn't understand tragedy, because they were life…

They could have shown her by reading us some of her writing or giving her some dialogue in the film she made or unearthing some videos of her or having people tell stories about her. (There was Mitch's T-shirt story, but that was a much younger Rosie.)

Yeah, I think Mitch is gonna order a hit.

Weren't the sweaters an iconic part of the Danish version? (if something that frumpy can ever be considered iconic).

Locking her in the trunk to drown was horrific, but it could be the act of a cowardly killer who didn't want to deal the death blow, as opposed to a sadist. Then again, I've completely forgotten the nature of her wounds at this point. Did the killer think she was already dead when she hit the water?

I remember thinking Catherine Keener was model-stunning in Living in Oblivion. She has aged more visibly than other stars since then, but maybe it's more that she didn't get famous young, or doesn't insist on as much styling.

There should be a rom com about a girl who has "guy taste" in books and movies and has to suffer through her friends' raving about Something Borrowed or The Help, then tries to save her best guy friend from marrying a girl who refuses to see zombie apocalypse films with him, not that our heroine's secretly in love…

Also, Pauline Kael was a huge champion of both movies. That's why I watched Something Wild when it was first released on VHS— I don't even remember a theatrical release, and her review was all that alerted me to its existence.

As an adult who resisted reading this series for a while but is now totally into it, here's my POV:

Madea definitely appeals to white ladies of a certain age/social class. I've seen it in theaters in our 97 percent white city. Madea movies do decent numbers here. Perry movies without the fat suit sink without a trace, however.

Mixing genres happened plenty in the old-time English theater (and American vaudeville), and probably in early American film, too. (Think Sullivan's Travels, which has serious themes and some very broad comedy, and it all ends up actually having a point!)

God, I hate titles like that. The Safety of Objects. The Secret Life of Bees. Special Topics in Calamity Physics. There's a certain kind of "literary" novel that has to have a lame-ass abstract-concept title. My theory is that it's because nonfiction was outselling fiction in the '90s.

The pervy stuff seemed weirdly real. The mayor's little speech to Jamie about how politics is a ruthless game, on the other hand, killed my hopes that this election subplot will ever come close to the one on The Wire. Richmond may be clean-cut and "tough on crime," but he's no Carcetti.

Bana was also perfectly good in Funny People and Hanna. Maybe he just sucks at romance flicks where he's cast more for his looks than anything else.

"Other five books," I mean.