So at the time, TV stars were typically still considered second tier to the top movie stars and top recording artists. On top of that, Hasselhoff was considered the “star” of Baywatch, and everyone else was part of what was known as an “ensemble” cast. Anderson was certainly one of the more popular female lifeguards…

Yeah, I remember it being discussed very early on. I also remember the dominant (not exclusive) view at the time was that it was surely accidental, meaning surely she did not actually intend people to think of Jews when they read about or saw her goblins.

Probably a bad sign that I as an adult really liked The Mysterious Benedict Society (watching it with our daughter). Hale was brilliant in his dual role, and the whole thing had a really stylish/quirky/subversive vibe to it. But I gather not enough kids found it relatable enough to be a mass hit.

OK, you personally do not like streaming mini-series structured like movies.

It could be simple, but there is potentially still a long path between him first gaining the respect of the Tuskens (as seen here) to rescuing Shand and getting his armor back (as seen in The Mandalorian), and then finally killing Fortuna and sitting on the throne (as seen in the mid-credits). As I recall, that is…

So as many have pointed out over time, a modern streaming series is often more like a mini-series from the broadcast era than an episodic series. And in terms of structure, they are in turn more like movies than episodic series, or for that matter more like novels—and in fact, these episodes are being called…

Indeed.

My favorite character/performance all along was Kate O’Flynn’s DC Lancing. And I was resigned for most of this episode to being disappointed. Obviously the role of the investigator is naturally deemphasized once we get to the trial phase of the Law & Order formula. But even in Susan’s Western fantasy, they are…

So obviously magical realism in general does that on purpose, introducing fantastical elements into an otherwise real-world setting. Often that is at least in part for the purpose of providing social commentary. And of course a lot of satire and other subversive comedies include implausible/impossible elements for…

Excellent point. It would be easy for her character to just be an annoyance, but I find myself really liking her and sympathizing with her, and finding her scenes to be funny.

I personally really appreciate Amanda being available as a surrogate for any normal parents watching the show. Not just her initial reactions to things, but also things like her failed attempts to get Daniel to prioritize properly, her failed attempt to take legal action against Kreese, and so on. Those beats capture…

Speaking just for myself, the adults plus SOME of the kid stuff was more than enough to keep me entertained and interested overall. And actually, I was more or less OK with pretty much all the content involving Miguel, Eli/Hawk, Demetri, Aisha, Tory, and other supporting kids.

I just went through a season of HS soccer as a parent, and unfortunately it is sadly realistic for certain adults “that the goings-on of a local [] sport for teenagers would define [their] personalities immediately upon entering its orbit,” and that “[t]he kids [would] continue to be largely pawns in [their] ego…

Shrinking is one of those scifi things like time travel which is kinda easy to imagine on a surface level, but is virtually impossible to make plausible once you starting really thinking about how it would intersect with the ordinary physical world.

Yeah, as someone who finds most sincere musicals to be “excruciating,” I thought this was a very effective and funny parody.

Honestly, good but not great is sort of how I feel about the book series too. It does not exactly stand out in my mind as one of the greatest book series I have read, with lots of notable flaws or simply mediocre aspects, and nothing really groundbreaking. But it was engaging enough due to the loving…

Yeah, this poster was looking for reasons to dislike the show all along.

Yeah, I thought it built really well on the first season, and it was definitely one of my top 10 or so shows this year.

My experience with WandaVision was definitely different from yours. Until the disappointing finale (and even that had its moments), it was one of my favorite shows this year.  Because of the finish I do consider it a flawed season, but to me, at least, not a forgettable one.

Any excuse to mention Schitt’s Creek is a good one.  Very funny and yet also at root very humane.