I think that's a generously sympathetic and accurate assessment of Phi Phi's problems and strengths.

Yeah, I really enjoyed the Alyssa and Alaska in combination. It was like a ventriloquist's act in which you understand that the ventriloquist has no control over the dummy and is as amused/bemused by her as the rest of us.

Ha, of course Scholastic still exists. They have a monopoly to sell in schools . . . and their trade division published the Harry Potter series and the Hunger Games books.

I saw him there, too. I loved the ripple of "John Waters John Waters John Waters" that the crowd of people murmured in his bike's wake.

It wasn't just you.

No homo.

I was equally rubbed the wrong way by "aging comedian". All comedians are aging. We are all aging. Methinks this writer lives in terror of getting older.

I'd suggest Absolutely Fabulous also raised Comedy Central's profile and cache.

Still my favorite TV edit ever comes from that censored Blues Brothers version: when Aretha, after "Think" fails to convince her husband to stay at the diner, swears, "Shoot."

Because, as Public Television, they don't make their money through commercials. (Sponsorships have a different pay system.) They make it through DVD sales and downloads. So they want to get the episodes out as fast as possible so the DVDs can be released in the US.

Dancy's adorable, but I couldn't help but wonder if he and Claire Danes sit around at home, comparing notes on how to be the twitchiest investigator on TV.  I kind of hope that's true, actually.