I'm sorry, but season 5 was pretty boring for the most part. The season premiere and the penultimate episode where SPOILERS Olivia returned to the Red universe were the only real highlights in my opinion.

I really enjoyed it at the time, though Allison Janney was really bizarre casting and she was pretty bad in it. It was exciting to finally see some of the Island's backstory though. I'll be curious to see how it holds up when I do my eventual rewatch of the show… I'm trying to wait a few years so it will still be…

Dr. Who is extremely continuity light and has contradicted itself countless times… it's pretty much designed to bring in new viewers that aren't familiar with the back story every so often.

That was season 4. Which is inconsistent but has several really great episodes, including probably 3 of the top 10 in the series' run.

Yeah I would say the Wire is the least accessible show I've seen. It takes ages to get into and even then really feels more like a chore than entertainment much of the time. It's a great show and I'm glad I made my way through the whole thing, but I really don't understand how anyone can claim it's accessible. And I…

@avclub-a3e80e62340f85e584f072b212415d32:disqus True, but it's so rich and visually powerful that I think it's the best intro to Hitchcock: it's pretty difficult to walk away from it and not get what the big deal is, whereas some of his earlier stuff might just come off at first as kind of thin suspense thrillers to…

He's also in Notorious, Suspicion, and North by Northwest, and is great in all of them (though Suspicion is one of the lesser films because it's so compromised by the studio) so you might want to make those priorities since you're a Grant fan.

I think part of the problem is that once a series is over, it's pretty much impossible to discuss it in any detail on the internet or with fans until you've seen the entire series without getting a ton of stuff spoiled. You can't show theories, or wonder where the show goes next because anyone who actually cares…

I don't think the first episode is really THAT strong, and I think it takes about half the first season to get into it's rythyms. I remember it clicking for me around episode six. I'd recommend getting through the whole first season, and if you don't love it by then it's unlikely you ever will.

@avclub-84ca205fe6bc691c41c3bfe5a2820a15:disqus That's an interesting take: it's always been the other way around with me. I tend to consider later episodes as weaker because it's not as fresh and they have to compare to all the highs that the show has hit previously in a way that can be kind of unfair (I also just…

Thank you, glad that helps. I'm amazed there hasn't been a Primer on his work here since he has such an extensive filmography. As for post Psycho Hitch, I do actually like The Birds and Marnie is one of my favorite movies, but I think they're best seen after you're somewhat familiar with his work and how he operates,…

Wesley's arrival is WAY too soon, I don't think the show became really excellent until the last four episodes of season 2. I absolutely love the last three seasons though, despite a couple big missteps in seasons 3 and 4: the show became so much crazier and more ambitious. I've always been kind of sad that the show…

I've always really enjoyed season 1, but I started by watching seasons 4 and 5 as they aired, so it was really fun to see where the characters started out: things like Willow as an awkward teenager with long hair, and Cordelia being on Buffy instead of Angel (which I had no clue was a thing) seemed weird to me, and I…

I'm actually working on those two as well right now, though I'm on season 5 of FNL and just finished the second season of The Sopranos. Both are great, and very different shows. FNL is such an emotional rush that I tend to blow through a bunch of episodes in a very short period of time, then take breaks between…

@avclub-ca6cb47da12090ffd2470daf51f71be1:disqus I'd say season 3 had a LOT more great episodes: I think I prize several really outstanding episodes over general consistency with most shows (which is why I love Doctor Who and X-files). Admittedly I still think S3 is more consistent than the second season: it starts a…

As to where to start with Hitchcock, I'd say definitely watch Rear Window and Vertigo next, then go back to Shadow of a Doubt, Notorious, and Strangers on a Train. Avoid Rope, Under Capricorn, and anything post Psycho for now, but after that you can pretty much cherry pick the famous ones from his US period. The UK…

@avclub-29501df08e5d9ae59e432e4f188d3735:disqus And that's called putting books on hold. Really, it's not hard.

If you're not into it by the end of season 2 you should probably just stop, it's not for you. Season 3 is great though, the peak of the show in many ways, though I prefer the overall story arcs of seasons 2 and 5.

Bonus points if you can tell the difference between the final and director's cuts of Blade Runner!

You guys are crazy: the last two seasons were still quite good but definitely not as strong as what came before. It all feels a bit more forced now and the quality is much more inconsistent.