It's hard to see from the vantage of the present, but in the 19th century and into the 20th, minstrelsy provided many whites with their first exposure to the music and dance of African Americans. It's interesting to speculate what unintended influence the minstrelsy tradition may have had on making black influences…

Though we've been given very little information about their relationship, it seems to me that Algernon isn't so much "quick to want her back in his life" as finding himself having little choice, what with Opal immediately having made herself known to his parents. He's been forced back into this relationship and now…

Yeah, Season 2's scene of Taylor Kitsch sneaking into a mansion and stealing incriminating documents wasn't nearly as good as Season 1's scene of Matthew McConaughey sneaking into a mansion and stealing incriminating documents.

I've seen a number of criticisms of the first episode's dialog being clunky or ridiculous, but I'm confident that if you were to read the season 1 dialog you'd find it equally silly. This highlights how great the two leads were last year in their line readings, and it makes me reserve judgment on this new season…

If Laurie has bought out Russ and therefore has power over his two votes on the board, and two votes are controlled by Richard and Erlich, as they were during Russ's involvement, presumably the last vote continues to be held by Monica. Monica's inclusion on the board was a precondition of Richard going back into…

How rich can the "king's blood" of Stannis be when his claim to the throne is based solely on his younger brother having seized power from a long-lived dynasty?

What grade did you get in Noticing?

It sucks that they didn't address whether the "comedy" made you laugh but to be fair, they probably just didn't know how to get in touch with you.

We've seen the black Congresswoman before, but on another HBO show. She's Kima's ex on The Wire.

The incredulous techie-informed comments here could stand as a Silicon Valley episode.

For someone who allegedly "acts as though he's entitled to hot women," Dinesh sure does lack confidence around women. It's almost like he doesn't feel he's entitled to women. Quite a paradox.

Gavin Belson bullshitting the Hooli board was a highlight. I especially enjoyed his lines to the effect that any industry that isn't Silicon Valley tech (i.e., the bulk of the economy) is a near-extinct dinosaur.

We're inclined to see the final scene as Sansa being raped by Ramsay Bolton. The premodern sensibility sees a marriage being consummated.

Thee Oh Sees are only putting out one album in the next two weeks? Dwyer must be getting lazy.

Cobain was a fragile soul but Mudhoney will live forever.

Nah. Most people in bands recognize that the prospect of rock stardom is a fantasy and that the worth of playing in a band is the playing in the band part.

And when the baby's born it will look just like Bates's old prison cellmate.

Whoops… someone immediately below made the same point.

Oh, don't worry about the Schroeders, as we've been informed they found another baby. Because as they say when your child dies, "Don't worry, you can have another one!"

In a postwar Germany brimming over with radical right-wing paramilitary organizations, the father of Edith's child runs afoul of the one that would become famous. Every mention of them dwells upon the fact that they wear brown shirts. Even to dinner??