Moffat.
That's all you really need to know about this one.

Just A Point…
I think the joke was that TheirLivia wasn't familiar with Casablanca BECAUSE it starred Ronald Reagan. Some things don't change from Earth to Earth — there's really no reason to be all that familiar with Reagan's filmography.

Strange, but good.
I agree with your rating, Noel. Lots of good stuff there, but the episode seemed off — especially Torv and Blair Brown, who both seemed to be shouting their lines as if everyone was hard of hearing.

What Fringe Does Best
The creators of Fringe seem to have a good handle on how long they can fuck with their characters before it just gets tiring. They let a bad situation go on just long enough before their (very smart) characters figure out "Wait, this isn't right."

Not To Be That Guy…
…but the late late late term abortion joke was obnoxious.

Hobo
The hobo joke you transcribed illustrates your point. As soon as someone said "hit a homeless guy with your car," I think pretty much everyone knew a John Hodgman-like hobo reference was coming.

Pilot? Cancer.

I'm actually a little proud to have made that mistake.

I kind of agree, but I'll wait and see. It strikes me that the casting of Stephen Baldwin in the douche roll seems to be exactly the kind of cliche this show likes to deflate. Baldwin is way too on the nose to remain as one-dimensional as he seems. Could he turn out to be Parenthood's Buddy Garrity — the asshole…

Amber's Storyline
The best thing about Amber's story this week is the best thing about the show in general: it sets up these standard TV situations, then tells a story about how actual people of good will would handle them.

Van Morrison?
Noel:

Oh, wait, I get it. Nevermind.

The 1960s Robin was Robin.

Panetta
I'm guessing the cause of Director Panetta's departure had more to do with not wanting to hear Fox News blather on about him wasting two hours on Top Chef. His leaving was awesome and interesting… and probably also planned.

Magneto played by… wait…
Skimming the article, I thought it said that Bill MAHER was going to play the young Magneto. I am both relieved and saddened that this is not the case.

That kind of symbolizes the whole show for me. I keep expecting SOMETHING to happen, and it never does.

Ugh. Really?
I've given it four episodes now and I find Rubicon to be not just dull, but borderline inept. The Miranda richardson stuff is the worst of the lot — it's written, shot and scored like a particularly dull episode of Dynasty. And the rest veers between uninteresting and obvious.

Wait, and internet troll… like someone who posts a spoiler comment to an article that expressly avoids spoilers?

Why was he walking in his last episode of Degrassi? I mean, on crutches and all, but still… shouldn't that have been, like, a storyline? Worth a mention? He goes to South America or whatever for stem cell research and all of a sudden Degrassi's Iconic Tragic Hero shows up walking in the background, like an extra!?!

Heather Morris
The best part of any Glee episode is watching Brittany dance — better, even, than "Dolphins are just gay sharks" etc. Watching Heather Morris move is just flat-out entertaining.