Haha, wouldn’t that be something. I’m not sure he’s going to be winning anything anytime soon except maybe some beatings and some deep resentment toward his father.

Thank you!

God, these were so good. I have a lot to say about them, but the first thing I thought was that there were at least three moments in the first episode where I thought “If Edi Patterson doesn’t win an Emmy for this, there’s no justice in the world.” Then I paused the episode and there were still ten minutes left.

Well, I don’t disagree that the Vice Principals duo could have seen that dynamic go on much longer. But in that case they had a specific story to tell, and they knew how long it would be and when they wanted it to end.

Santa Clarita Diet is really good, and in particular season two has some of the best dramatic plotting I’ve seen on TV in recent memory.

I wouldn't necessarily say rarely overall, but it definitely feels like Gideon has been more sidelined this season. 

Naw, just this season. I don't think we have a renewal announcement, but I do know the creators (or at least McBride) sees this as a potentially very long-running show, unlike their previous HBO works.

Sturgill Simpson finally getting to lead a song is a bit of a Chekhov's Casting Gun, I suppose.

I don't know if I could go as far as to say "better," but he is really good there. He's better at comedy than he's often given credit for, and Joel's laid-back southern-Cal ex-jock persona is so different than Raylan Givens or Seth Bullock, but Olyphant fills it very naturally.

I don’t remember him being alive in the first season. The only times I remember seeing him alive were in season 2, both set in the past: the opening flashback scene and the interlude episode.

Right! I’d forgotten that detail. I do think it’s interesting that for all her self-righteousness about living right, May-May’s own motivations are not as pure as she claims.

The State in particular has a real diversity of talent among its cast. Wain and Jann became directors, Garant and Lennon did a lot of screenwriting in addition to acting, a lot of the rest have been at least working comedy actors (Ken Marino probably being my favorite)... really, Todd Holoubek went back to academia…

I don’t remember where I was having this discussion recently, but someone observed that The Ben Stiller Show is extremely West Coast-90s and The State is extremely East Coast-90s.

Oh, yeah, I totally agree. I want to be told a story, I’m not watching TV for moral lessons. I just need my characters to be compelling and to give me a reason to care about their story.

The creators have so much compassion for all of their unlovable subjects.

*Brass Eye* not being on the list was the one thing we didn’t want to happen.

I watched a short clip of this on social media and it looked completely insane (generally in a good way), so any range of outcomes is possible here.

Well, can’t argue with this one. Flying Circus may not be my personal #1, but the spot is deserved. My personal #1 and #2 are #2 and #3, and The State is probably next for me with In Living Color not too far behind, if at all. I find this list acceptable.

19 I could buy; 24-25 seems too old at that point in time.

Did anyone else spot the return of Sean Whalen as Eli’s driver?