The nihilist character, whose negativity is his most appealing quality, finds the voice of God or something. I didn't mind it. Woody tells him in the hospital "you keep being you" because the nihilist is still an annoying antisocial prick, whether or not he believes in God now. That worked for me!

Billy Bob was great in "Fargo" but others were, too. McConaughey was far and away the best thing in "True Detective"; without him, the show's not watchable. Both shows have huge plot holes and are redeemed by the performances. "Detective" has two good performances; "Fargo" had four or five. (Plus Key & Peele!)

Each season should just be one clip-show episode. In between highlights of dastardly doings, Frank tells the camera what new cynical lesson we just learned. I'd watch that.

He was the only "anchor" on American TV calling the buildup to Iraq War II what it was; basically a sell-job. He'll be sorely missed. And I feel older than usual right now.

Also ain't like it was back in the 1940s because movies then were examining the pitfalls of marriage just as much as swooning for each other. "The Thin Man" series or "Blythe Spirit." It's kinda silly that much of our drama now imagines dramatic tension dies when people start screwing. Um, it often ramps up at that…

The best move would be for them to get together, or for Sherlock to fall in lust/love with someone and have to re-establish what his actual friendship with John is. (Maybe Mycroft isn't Holmes's brother after all, and they are free to explore?)

In case no-one's put this here before, "The Baffler"'s excellent breakdown of these dumb books as really, social-climbing fantasies instead of sexual fantasies:

And yet when the mystery solution is revealed it makes sense. "Lupin" is a werewolf, the clues to Snape NOT being the bad guy in the first book all pan out. You smack your head, going, "damn, that's good!"

Yeah, Fogerty got sued for that. Fogerty won, because you're allowed to plagiarize yourself. (Must be why the author of "Westworld" never sued the author of "Jurassic Park!")

Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch quit the band after working on Petty's solo album "Wildflowers" because he thought the drum line for "You Don't Know How It Feels" was just too much like Neil Young's "Out On The Weekend." Or so I remember reading somewhere . . .

No, that makes sense. Sometimes Flanders is just kind of a next-door genial true believer, a good neighbor with odd tweaks, and sometimes he's a full-on fundamentalist loon. (Who always goes back to being a good neighbor, even after he tried stealing Bart & Lisa to baptize them! I'd have gotten a restraining order!)

What I've done with shows I liked in my youth is waited a few years, then revisited the episodes I liked best. That's worked. I can see the crummy episodes for what they are, kinda crummy now that I'm older and my tastes have changed. I can see the good ones and think, "my younger self was actually right about some…

And props to the show for giving Levine a chance to shine. Glad he got to do something besides be a creepy serial killer. Now you see him all over the place, and that's a good thing.

He's great. You root for working performers like that to get roles they can really chew on. I'll always be interested in anything he's in.

They were different. The American one was a family sitcom put in an office, like "Parks & Rec" or "Brooklyn 9-9," about how people can get along even though they have differences. The British one was more about class, how taking a safe career route pushing paper presents an illusion of middle-class security. (Note how…

That's a great idea. Clearly there's pluses and minuses to both. Short series with fewer episodes per season can allow for more time spent on the writing and fewer "filler" episodes. Longer series with more episodes allow for more branching out into depicting a wider range of characters and further development of the…

Yes. She can kill terrifying phallic-headed aliens, and he's more-or-less permanently stoned. Weaver bests Murray in a deathmatch.

Definitely the best!

I understand the book is well-regarded; one of these days I'll read it.

Anne Bancroft in "Don't Bother To Knock" (a silly Monroe thriller) is just the most gorgeous, intelligent human ever.