You made a good point about how an article like this might be more effective and thought-provoking if it was more general. The issues Todd (and some other people, including me) have with Parks & Rec aren't entirely specific to just this show. A lot of it is a trend that tends to happen with TV shows, particularly…

I think he can be amusing in doses, but I do not like him as a long-term antagonist. He's one of those characters that should maybe pop up for a scene or two to dole out amusing quips and whatnot but should never be required to carry an entire plot arc.

There was vitriol toward the early episodes of 30 Rock? The show may have started out a little shaky (at least compared to what it became in its heyday), but I enjoyed it since the beginning. Then again, I also much preferred the first season of Community to the third season.

Well said. Maybe I'm just being nit-picky, and I know that Parks & Rec is still essentially a sitcom and it's main purpose is to make us laugh, but I do think it would be nice if it engaged more seriously with the political issues that it brought up.

That makes sense. Sorry if my comment sounded a little harsh. I do agree that the urge of many critics (not just Todd) to modify their opinions by saying something like, "but X is still better than most of the stuff we see on TV", can get irritating, as though the writer is afraid of alienating readers. I tend do that…

I see what you're saying, and to an extent, I don't necessarily object to the idea of lesser characters being used as comic relief (as they have mostly been on The Office). Maybe the issue for me has been the fact that the current season has been focused so much on the Leslie-Jamm conflict, so her relationship with…

I seem to be in a minority on AVClub, but I like the For Our Consideration articles. They give the staff writers a chance to express their (sometimes controversial) opinions, and presumably, commenters are forced to actually defend their own opinions. Just because you don't consider something worth talking about, it…

Personally, I think what has bothered me about the antagonists is the fact that the show is about politics, and instead of exploring that in a nuanced way, it has resorted to cheap caricatures. I know that for a show based in satire, it's hard not to cross the line from time to time, but I feel like Parks & Rec. would…

At least for me, the problem with Ann is that it still doesn't seem like the show has established who she is in terms of her personality, goals, etc. She is basically defined by her friendship with Leslie (which is somewhat one-dimensional, IMO) and her relationships with her various boyfriends.

^This (though, embarrassingly, I haven't gotten around to seeing any of the original Star Trek yet). I definitely agree that the current season of Parks & Rec seems to have gotten a little too caught up in itself. Instead of trying to branch out in different directions (which I thought they'd do after the season 4…

Nice. You summed up the main problems I've been having with the latest season almost perfectly. The show is still pretty reliably amusing, but Leslie has increasingly been getting on my nerves precisely for the reason Todd talk about in the article: it feels as though the show is trying too hard to get audiences to…

Yes! It was so much better than the majority of the Best Picture nominees; actually, the only one I might have liked more was Moneyball, though as a huge baseball fan, that movie was kind of personal to me and I'd probably say that on a technical level, Take Shelter is more impressive. Anyway, Michael Shannon also…

Okay, good to know. At first, I had absolutely no interest in The Bourne Legacy, but then, they cast actors that I like (I was especially excited to see Edward Norton actually in a movie) so I was slightly tempted to want it to be good. The trailers didn't look promising at all, though. Honestly, I just think they…

I honestly think Contact is one of the most underrated movies, at least of recent years. Although I have a couple nit-picks with it (I really wish they just left the ending ambiguous since that's kind of the whole point of the story) and maybe they could have made the religion/science debate a little more complex,…

I love the Bourne movies way more than I probably should. They're probably the epitome of what a "fun popcorn movie" should be for me - just entertaining, well-made and not completely mindless. The Bourne Identity is my favorite, but I think all three of the Matt Damon films are pretty great. I like Jeremy Renner, but…

Guy Pearce is literally the only reason I'm even mildly interested in Iron Man 3. He was so great in L.A. Confidential and Memento, and I'd really like to see him make a comeback of sorts. I'm still pissed off at Ridley Scott for wasting him in Prometheus.

Right now, I'd probably say Ben Wishaw (I recently finished watching all two seasons of The Hours, which is apparently all I'll ever get). To be honest, he's the main reason I want to see Skyfall, I guess besides the fact that people seem to really like the movie.

Would people jump on me if I said that I liked The Town more than Heat? I'm honestly having trouble seeing why everyone thinks Heat is so great. Other than the heist scene, I didn't think there was anything remarkable about it, and I hated how he dealt with the female characters. Maybe I just need to watch it again…

As long as they don't kill off Ava… I couldn't take that emotionally, and also, it would put them back to square one in terms of their female characters. At this point, Ava is the only major female character left, though they have expanded Rachel and Ellen May's roles a little this season. I'm so nervous for her right…

I haven't watched The Killing, so I probably shouldn't be saying this, but why is that show still on? I just… don't understand.