Okay, that's such a tease. Fill us in.

Thanks for the thoughtful article, Ignaty; I guess expertise in obscure cinema doesn't preclude expertise in obscure Protestant Tijuana Bibles. I love that Chick felt the need to helpfully define Ixchel and Gaia for his audience.

Director/writer comparison, as opposed to director/showrunner doesn't make that much sense, but- I didn't realize Lear had written for those shows! Both part of the ol' widower raises some shrimps mold, too!

Heck, Mom covers familial depression, Black-ish covered the n-word… One can't just think of the modern-day shows fitting the Three is Company mold.

As someone who was dragged to four Madea movies by his mother- he's not an effective communicator, he's an effective support system, feeding and enforcing all the fears and hopes of his audience (as stated above, “hardworking people, mostly African-American, largely women, who have all kinds of jobs”). Asking him to…

Well… yeah, I'm completely aware of that. I'm not sure how plenty of fans relates to effectiveness, which is what you're talking about above.

Comparing a Norman Lear production to a Tyler Perry movie is like comparing seltzer water to flat Mountain Dew.

Or at least better than Life is Beautiful.