Let's not forget that in its first season, Downton Abbey was very, very good. It was a worthy followup to Fellowes' work on Gosford Park, and deserving of accolades. But yes, like you say, it was never in the same class as the top prestige dramas, some of which suffer undue award neglect.

( . ∀ . )

Speak for yourself.

for an adult audience hardened by years of violent cable TV shows and internet pornography

for an adult audience hardened by years of violent cable TV shows and internet pornography

I think this quote from thewrap.com today could have been worded a little better: "The defense has tried to manipulate the mostly African-American jurors by replacing a nude picture of O.J.’s white girlfriend with one of his mother."

Hamartia, Hamartia, Hamartia!

She are the real stars of this show. They should've made this 10 years ago, after her first divorce and before having kids, if only she'd managed to go clean… Maybe it would've given her a career boost and a positive impetus to stay that way.

NO we don't need Michelle — those Olsen twins turned out really cute in their teens, but now the're downright creepy. (Like, intentionally creepy or something — I don't think it has anything to do with age.)

I thought he was excellent in The Usual Suspects, every bit as compelling as the rest of that amazing cast. *Everyone* was great in that movie — even Stephen Baldwin made a memorable character.

And they really hit us over the head by playing Wagner (Die Meistersinger, I think?) over Fuhrman polishing his Nazi memorabilia.

OK, so Cochran telling Darden not to examine Fuhrman ("Make the white people do it")… Was he trying to prevent Darden being "used" as the token black prosecutor up against the racist white guy — or was he actually *goading* him into doing it, sensing that he might be ineffective? (Do we know if that little…

Showing the above-it-all Cochran enduring the same racism as other black people was pretty well done, I thought. Plus, as far as kids go, let's be happy that we've now had two episodes in a row without the Kardashian girls!
(Edit — Aaaaaaaaand that's exactly what you were mocking, all those posts about them… I feel…

I loved the use of the word "Shebrews".

"Say, Chuck… That's some sage advice, about vigilance and all. Hey, that's an interesting lining in your jacket… Is it silver lamé? Ooh la la! Why don't you show everyone, I think they'd like to see it. Again, great contribution to the discussion, really. Fucking priceless. So glad you're here."

I have a rule: I don't accept aphoristic wisdom delivered by a nutjob in a tinfoil jacket.

what went down in the North

Renly's charisma and his huge numbers of men certainly gave him a strong claim to the Iron Fist.

Those guys are living the dream of every high-school dude who ever wanted to be famous: appearing on Ellen.

Not only can she play both classical and Flamenco guitar (and I believe she's also written some music as well), but she's apparently been an inspiration to untold multitudes of blonde bimbofied MILFs.