Yes, I think it's constructive to look at it as "deaf gain" as opposed to "hearing loss," but I found it a bit weird when the last student was talking about how it gives deaf people an immediate identity that hearing people lack and Melody simply affirmed his statement. All hearing people have no identity at birth?…

Sorry, DontDriveAngry it won't let me reply to you directly : No, the guy who was playing volleyball with Bay when she threw the ball at Natalie. IMDB says that Teo was his name and doesn't list any future episodes for the character, which I thought was kinda weird as it seemed like they were setting him up as at…

It is somewhat astonishing that the (ABC) Family Channel has become one of the smartest and most progressive channels in terms of presentation of LGBT characters on its shows.

I still wonder what happened to the hearing guy in the pilot program who was in the first episode or two but has vanished since.

Also: a section in Andrew Solomon's recent "Far from the Tree." I had no idea that a rather large (and ever-increasing) number of parents now choose to insert cochlear implants into their deaf children's ears and there are many activists who are worried about the genocide of deaf culture as a result. I'm kind of…

Come on Raising Hope, a Modern Family parody without any car accidents? Tsk.

I think they learned their lesson last time. I hope so, anyway. I can't take another #SoandSoDumped hashtag on my screen

What a terrifically fun episode. I got so into all of the goings on that I totally forgot Toby and Lana were still lurking around and inevitably going to bump into the immigrations official & literally shrieked out loud when it finally happened.

Totally safe. It's their #2 show after Pretty Little Liars and the ratings are pretty reliably consistent.

If the reviews are well-written and make solid points, what does it matter whether the reviewer likes the show or not? It's criticism, not cheerleading.

Eh, grading on here is too subjective to quibble much about it. To be fair, the part with Toby and the med student was pretty clunky and contrived so I could see why someone else would mark it down, though I did assess it higher in my grade.

I'm so glad the show has escaped the rut it hit during the last set of episodes; I've really enjoyed all 3 eps of the new season now that it's gone back to spending more time on character development than silly "plot."

Geez, that "you just don't know what you want" stuff with George was really true-to-life. The amount of bi-phobia (not to mention trans-phobia!) in the L/G community is really astounding to me. When I was in high school I just assumed that LGBT folk stuck together, but in college I was surprised how many otherwise…

You're right. Never before has he featured an impossibly witty, precocious main character, geeky but endearing sidekick, dying love interests or dead exes, road trip, every character speaking in essentially the same voice, etc etc before. Except for, you know, all of them.

You're right. Never before has he featured an impossibly witty, precocious main character, geeky but endearing sidekick, dying love interests or dead exes, road trip, every character speaking in essentially the same voice, etc etc before. Except for, you know, all of them.

I read Savages last year and loved it. Its prequel, The Kings of Cool, came out this year and I thought it was almost as good.

I read Savages last year and loved it. Its prequel, The Kings of Cool, came out this year and I thought it was almost as good.

Best 2012-published books I read this year: The Odds by Stewart O'Nan, Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt, The Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St. Aubyn, Ask the Passengers by A.S. King

Best 2012-published books I read this year: The Odds by Stewart O'Nan, Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt, The Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St. Aubyn, Ask the Passengers by A.S. King

Absolutely. Green wrote what feels like the same book for the 4th time in a row, just this time he switched up the gender of the main two characters and shoved in a Lifetime movie-ready cancer plot.