Very accurate and insightful review, David!  (Comment board translation: you said a lot of stuff I agreed with so I have no reason to throw a temper tantrum.)

That makes sense. I think they want the character to have the best of both worlds: the fame and respect that come with being a news anchor but the excitement of being a news reporter. It's more interesting, both visually and in terms of plot, to have Mike out in the field covering stories rather than parked behind a…

Yeah. It was like the writers suddenly realized, "Oh, wait. This is a sitcom. We've gotta have 'em do some sitcom stuff. Cue up one of the oldest plots in the book!"

I struggled through as much of "Love, Love, Love" as I could tolerate — fast-forward button at the ready (which is how I have to watch the show now) — and most of my complaints appear in this review, but to me, those same infractions bring the episode down to D or D- level, possibly an F. Let's start with the songs.…

I quite liked the pilot, which had a certain understated charm, but the plot of the second episode seemed really contrived and cliched to me. It was too blatantly "sitcom-y," and I didn't buy it. It was, as you said, more of a farce. But if you're going to do farce, you really have to "go for it." Namby pamby farce…

By the way, as long as we're playing IMDb games…

I had a theory about this article, so I tested it using Art Carney as my example. It came out exactly the way I thought it would.

It's pronounced "coh-ven."

When Legit returns, will you re-add it to the lineup? You dropped it in the middle of its first season, but the back half of Season 1 actually got kinda interesting as it focused more and more on DJ Qualls. I'm asking the AVC to give this scrappy little show a second chance. Whaddya say?

Was it some kind of weird "theme day" at the AVC today?

Wait a sec.. you're displeased by the prospect of Ringo Starr singing "I Wish I Was a Powerpuff Girl" as a character called Fibonacci Sequins? Apart from the clumsy grammar of the song title, every part of that sounds awesome. When did you die inside, AVC reviewer person?

If you follow the link to that Guardian article, definitely take the time to read through the comment section. It's well worth it. There is one relentless poster — you'll find him easily — who must certainly represent an extreme example of his subspecies.

Does Lorne Michaels not remember what happened when Miley Cyrus first hosted the show? In short: she was unfunny, unappealing, disengaged, and not particularly talented as an actress or singer. The episode was lousy in a very dull way. I figured that her name would be added to the Roll Call of Doom, along with Steven…

For an opposing viewpoint on Hail! Hail! Rock & Roll, in contrast to the snooty dismissal it gets here, I refer you to Marshall Crenshaw's book Hollywood Rock.

Chicken necks?

For me, Cagney & Lacey broke ground in at least one major area in terms of TV cop shows. In one episode, Cagney & Lacey bust some guy, but they overlook some technicality and the arrest is declared invalid. At the end of the episode, someone says, "The scumbag walks." Boom. End of episode. Cut to credits. I had never,…

This looks like a really subtle, well-made parody trailer designed to make fun of the stuff that middlebrow white liberals enjoy. It's too perfect, right down to the soundtrack. If this were on College Humor or Funny or Die, I'd be both pissed off (because I'm very much in the target demo for this flick) and very…

Re: Joel Keller and Let it Be

To my mind, if history is just, it will judge Breaking Bad differently: as a show that reconstituted other, finer series’ spare parts with middling success, and as more of a footnote to an exciting movement than a centerpiece of it. More than anything, the ascendancy of Breaking Bad signals that this particular…

I've not read any of Sheffield's books, but I've read a great many of his articles for Rolling Stone, and his writing tends to have a nails-on-the-chalkboard effect on me. Why do I read them, then? Well, for one, he gets a lot of prominent reviews thrown his way, so he's writing about albums and TV shows which…