I mean, you might as well be referencing Helen and Joe from Wings (my all time favorite example of a quite popular show that disappeared from public consciousness, despite being in the same “extended universe” as Cheers and Frasier).

Unfortunately, so is most popular media . . . to date. I personally believe that these days, lots of cis/het people can nonetheless relate to any sort of romantic relationship, and therefore romantic stories can be told about all sorts of non-cis/het relationships without that necessarily making them “niche” content.…

I’m not sure there is a better example of the show runners not understanding the value of what they have created than The X Files.  And not just leaving Mulder and Scully as-is is Exhibit A.

I sort of agree in that I always wondered if their infatuation (that much made sense to me) would actually work as a sustainable relationship.

It is to David Schwimmer’s credit that ANYONE saw Ross as a relatable and sympathetic everyman/audience-surrogate type, because I agree if you really think about his character and his character’s behavior, he is an a-hole, and Rachel deserves better.

Totally agree about Mulder and Scully. So much potential to have a great platonic working relationship and friendship between a man and a woman, something we really need more of in entertainment content, and they had to make it romantic. Booooooo!

I simply LOVE how Alexis and Ted ended.  You are right that just isn’t something we see in movies or TV, and it is so necessary.

Please spend a lot of time in space/at the off-world colonies!  That was never really developed in the movies but could be so cool.

Dark horse candidate: I wish I had a friend like that myself.

I actually think Orcs are probably the most important example of Tolkien (consciously or not—I personally suspect not) incorporating depictions of “the Other” from European colonial-era white supremacism.

So at a minimum, all non-Men are fair game for whatever, since all of them are gone by the time the “known” history of England starts.

In fact, trying to imagine a childhood version of Hugo Weaving seems entirely beyond my capabilities.

Tolkien used Hobbits as audience surrogates, including as primary point of view characters and quasi-narrators. Theoretically, the Hobbit/LOTR, aka the first couple parts of the Red Book of Westmarch, were both styled as being written by Bilbo and Frodo, although in practice Tolkien did not really maintain that…

I think the potential in a Marvel/StarWarsesque “LOTR Universe” strategy is sky high. Yes, the Hobbit trilogy muffed it, but the instinct to expand out into a lot more content is financially sensible—if you can make it work.

I thought about that too, and was glad he stuck to his story about only taking over a bad person, and only out of desperate need.

From my perspective, you might be a bit of a victim of how great some of the writing and actors have been at making us feel real drama.

I’m not demanding this, but I think it would be cool if the show didn’t make this a costless decision for Peacemaker, even if it was obviously the right thing to do.

So far it does seem kinda repetitive. Which I can appreciate as a running joke, and his fight scenes are all awesome.  But I do hope there is some significant payoff coming.  Maybe even in a post-credits context, like we only learn what he was hinting about after the Butterflies are defeated.

You never just call in the authorities.  I think it is a rule of some sort.

It is “bonus” layers like that which distinguish the best shows and movies.  And the courage to reference it without actually showing it.