Overprotective Jewish s/mother is somewhat overplayed. By adding "psychotic womanchild" to that equation, they've invented something somewhat fresher.

It's also a show that commits to a middle-ground of realism versus exaggeration. Most shows either skew towards a certain amount of realism (Modern Family, Speechless) or embrace their absurdist tendencies (The Goldbergs, Black-Ish). The Middle is more of a real world, but with somewhat more slapstick and physical…

Meagan Good is extremely talented, BUT, and I say this at the risk of sounding sexist, half the fun of the Blaxploitation vibe was the shameless and gratuitous exploitation content evening out the heavier sociological implications. Casting an actress with a well-known "no nudity" clause seems to undercut the "anything…

I'm not the biggest fan of the "bigly" meme, because it diminishes the actual absurdity of Trump's sales-pitch dialectics for a "does he know what is and isn't a word?" punch-line. I'm of the opinion that it was a somewhat poorly-pronounced "big-league," one of his catch phrases; it fits rather well with Trump's…

I'm picturing Murray Goldberg here.

He should be a huge name, but the movie designed to bring his art style to the mainstream, "Monkeybone," did famously poorly.

I suspect he'll impress a lot of people on Twin Peaks this coming year. The brothers were always opposites- one a great clown who yearned to be a serious actor; the other a great serious actor who yearned to be a clown.

I've got a soft spot for "Scrooged," and I seem to be the only one. It's gleefully idiosyncratic, from the fake commercials to the oddball casting to the fourth-wall-breaking ending and audience singalong. Plus, great Danny Elfman score and some fantastic cameos.

"When a certain gentlemen arrived from Rome/
He wore a dress, so we stayed home."

There's also the "Christmas Single" format, which I think was established by "Christmas Baby Please Come Home" and perfected by "All I Want for Christmas Is You." Pop shuffle beat, descending-major-key chord sequence (similar to the "glam progression" but faster) with minor-key bridge, over-stacked vocals, and a…

Man, I don't even care if the rumors are true. Worth it.

I don't think I'd be a composer and playwright today if not for Nightmare. I came around to love traditional musicals and movie musicals later, but as a kid, the way narrative was interrupted by cheesy/cheerful/romantic/insert-adjective-here "musical numbers" clearly defined as such seemed hokey to me.

Silent Night, Deadly Night 1 gets a bad reputation because the rest of the series slides from enjoyable schlock downwards towards schlock schlock. But that first film's uneasy fusion of classic Christmas movie, dark satire, slasher film and nascent musical (check out the recently-released soundtrack for a look at how…

People who get pissed off about the term "the holidays" as a euphemism for nothing in particular are missing that The Holidays or the Holiday Season is a gauntlet of festivities from Thanksgiving through ChristmoHanukKwanzaaDan, encompassing the optional Boxing Day and closing out with New Year's Day.
Really, "the…

Fun fact: eccentric songwriter/producer Jim Steinman once tried to market a perfume called "Horse," which smelled like and contained horse cum.

Ever read Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose?" A monk detective investigates a convent of Dark Ages religious extremist monks, who believe facts and thought are blasphemy: since God can change anything at will, and may well do so, it would be sinful to say two plus two is four, or the sky is blue. Who are you to make…

Marco himself was (both story-wise and physically) an unholy fusion of Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister. He never clicked.

You heard it here first, folks: Edward Snow killed and ate his own family.

SHAVE YER ASS!

Maybe it's a regional thing, but I hear a lot more people describe a cold day as "nipply" instead of "nippy" now. I wonder if it's the Nimrod effect, where a quotation taken out of context rewrites its own context over time.