On making us read a tortuous, poorly-constructed paragraph and then saying "Forget I said that"

I appreciate comments that have a few minutes of fact-checking behind. My thanks to you, sir or madam.

Yeah, but Osiris's had it in for Hubbard ever since he sort of accidentally ran over his dog.

It's so british it shits the queen, who then shits this show which in turn shits the very queen which just shat it.

It's not misleading: the works are synonymous because they have the same name (or at least, they did). It might mislead people into thinking one was an adaptation of the other.

The answer to the question in the last paragraph is easy: No, they are not necessary. As a counterexample, we can point to every single successful single-camera comedy. If audiences were "necessary" for a strong comedy, those would not exist.

Swift's "A Modest Proposal" has a lot to answer for: it's the prototypical satire-through-exaggerated-identification, done by a sure hand to devastating result. Many seem, however, to take it as license to claim that a failed piece of art is actually a commentary on other pieces of art that vaguely resemble it.

The irony is that there is no quotient in either mathematical formula you supply. I'd suggest

Just what this world needs: an glancing examination of how hard life is for rich white girls. "Lack a strong reason for existing" seems a gross understatement.

Another potential solution is to just wait until the series is completed. Enough good books and entertainment come out each year already; what's the hurry?

Overall, this piece just came across as allergic to thinking. Why does she think it's "obnoxious" that people are seeing a little hope for the redemption of an execrable genre in a good, solid comedy?

So, to summarize…
The author didn't like Paltrow because he thought she was being manipulative, but now he likes her more because he thinks she's just stupid.

Blecker isn't at NYU
He's at New York Law School.

More O'Neal = Good
I am so very pleased to see Sean giving us more non-Newswire content.

"Pad out your word count?"
Yeah, I'm sure the editors just demanded that the recap of a terrible sitcom episode run no fewer than 1100 words.

"The chip on her shoulder pre-installed"
Nice bit of wordplay there, too.

It bears repeating
O'Neal remains a national treasure.

I second the objection. I felt no shame whatsoever laughing at Venture Bros and Frisky Dingo. If those qualify as dumb, we need to get rid of the word "smart."

1998 Called
They want their textures back.

Oh, it was a nice satchel of cocaine?
Well, that's okay, then.