I like that episode because it generates some sympathy for Winn (to me, anyway) AND gets rid of Bareil. Win-win. (Or should I say… no, no I shouldn't.)

I think the viewer's credo should be an adaptation of the famous Hollywood maxim, changed to read "Never watch anything with animals or kids." "Valiant" is obnoxious and makes very little sense besides.

For whatever reason, I have seen Jim Backus in a lot of movies lately. Pete's Dragon was the latest.

I must have completely missed something at the end, then. All I saw was her walking around talking to him in the hallway like usual. Don't tell me I'm going to have to rewatch it…

just an episode ago, bates was bragging that his time in prison had taught him a few things. not how to recognize rape, oddly.

"Of all the ridiculous things that have happened on Downton Abbey, a not-that-sudden sexual assault of opportunity in a world where rape was (still is) considered the woman's fault is probably the most realistic."

True, but I actually meant that people don't seem at all philosophically concerned about the fact that robots are sentient, feeling beings — not the fact that they're second-class citizens, which is just icing on the cake.

"They still seem more like very good friends than lovers, though."

"“He’s a program who knows he’s a program” (roughly), as if that isn’t one of the fundamental requirements of artificial intelligence."

I grant you that. They're a little ray of wholesomeness down there.

I was thinking of them as a two-hit wonder, but I guess I was selling them short. In my mind they had one other obvious hit that it would have been, but its name escaped me. Having now read the article in full to jog my memory, I guess it was probably "Wake Up Little Susie," but I had also forgotten about "Cathy's…

I liked this episode more than I expected to. I was ready to give up on the show after last season, but my wife wasn't, so we watched it and I enjoyed it. What's bothering me now more than anything (more even than the uncomfortable Bates/Anna/Edna situation, which is just making me feel bad inside for some reason)…

I saw the Everly Brothers on accident at that Simon and Garfunkel reunion tour. The Everly Brothers came on stage in the middle of the concert to play "All I Have to Do is Dream" and the other one. I thought that was neat, and although I don't personally have any attachment to their music it's actually become one of…

Good point - and good luck!

That is totally my resolution this year as well! I thought of it just yesterday, as I was writing what would have been my first angry comment on the year on a Yahoo comment thread. The only news site I'm allowing myself to comment on from now on is NPR. AV Club is of course fine, as are other pop culture-y sites. :)

Are you really jumping between DS9 and Voyager, then, in order to maintain the airdate order? Personally, as a huge Trekkie who's seen every episode of every series more than once, I think that would be a really interesting project, but for a first-timer I'd recommend doing all of DS9 and then all of Voyager, rather…

I won't go so far as to say that it's essential for a non-film writer, but as a classic movie lover it does surprise me how many pop culture commentators have not seen Casablanca. At least one of the "We Hate Movies" (great bad movies podcast) guys, for example, and now an AV Club writer, and at least one other I'm…

I've always prided myself on doing this, but the downside is that I rarely give things a chance if they start off mediocre, even if I hear and believe that they get better later. A recent example was House of Cards. I thought the pilot was pretty trite and nothing I hadn't seen before, and aside from the dynamic…

I was hoping this would be about Stray Dog, actually. A great cop movie from Kurosawa.

I like that one, too.