So it's actually the development of long term romance elements (as in love relationships and not just sex-on-the-go) you find troublesome because storytelling with these elements might become "deep." In your book-free model, "organically" means characters get by with just bang-along superficial hook-ups or chaste…

Thanks for reminding me. I had forgotten about that.

Often the dislike for television programming that tries to "seem deep" amounts to little more than anti-intellectualism, which is trending once again in the U.S. and has been for some time. (I use this as an example and do not to assume that you are American or belong to any U.S. political party.) Here in the U.S.,…

Thank you for this heads up. I have to confess that I've tried to watch "Doctor Who" many times, and I just cannot get into it. I don't think it's the balance of men and women sharing the adventure that blocks my pleasure in it. I loved the male-centric "The Last Ship," but I couldn't stay with "The Strain" for…

I think we have to say that "Timeless" fails or succeeds on its own merits even though viewers come to it with certain expectations. I argue that the promising qualities of "Timeless" are more apparent when it is compared to "Contact" (and maybe the police procedural "Bones") than they are when you compare…

Allison Shoemaker: "This isn’t 'Doctor Who,' but nor is it 'Chicago Fire.' "

I assumed you made it to "Look at me! I made an analogy!" in my post. If you have a legitimate or defensible criticism of what I wrote, why not bring that up?

All that, plus reading a long post almost all the way through. How do you find the time?

Look at me! I wrote a critique! Congrats for reading almost to the end of a long post, challenging for those with short attention spans.

You read the whole long, long, long post, right to the end. Good for you.

I'm with you, JFC. I think it is The Emperor's New Clothes as far as the raves this comment thread delivers and the product itself.

Are you talking about the entertainment elites who actually control the industry and determine what we will ultimately see? Contrary to the premise of "Notorious," producers and show-runners of scripted series on television must get network approval for every teleplay that makes it to the screen.

Spot on review. The only thing it's missing is the words "pretentious" and "bloodless."

Exactly. Imagine you paid a $20,000 retainer to an attorney who does not interview potential witnesses or confirm/find evidence until after you reject the plea he or she has obtained for you by negotiating with the State's Attorney. This means a completely innocent (and/or possibly framed defendant) often MUST pay a…

Certain genres of dramatic writing lend themselves to laying out imagery you may interpret as you like. Science fiction and fantasy, for example, open the door quite effortlessly to multiple interpretations: for example, on the "X-Files," the creatures with their eyes sewn shut.

BUZZ OF THE WEEK: Vagina=Dope

Thank you for laying out the importance of the kiss as a plot point. If only the creators had done so with the same directness and style. Instead they dressed it up by trying to draw a symmetry, between Andrea and Chandra, based on a false equivalency, just to include more photos of the crime scene and, essentially,…

Thanks for your reply. The creative team makes Chandra the aggressor in the scene by pairing her with Andrea through the flashbacks Naz has to the night of the crime. The creators give Chandra the Delilah treatment, even though, as you say, she and his father are the only ones still trying to save him. Why do this?…

I fault the writers even more when they sensationalize an element that worked beautifully in the original and then try to excuse the hash they have made of it by saying, "But it was in the original." Ronald Moore did this with male rape and child rape, in both cases to create buzz for "Outlander." Then his series…

How might “The Night Of” handled the transgressive involvement of a client and his lawyer in a way that was more than a buzz-worthy distraction? There are several excellent examples of transgressive involvement between psychiatrists and patients on which to draw.