My guess is that he's going to stop acting and focus more on writing/directing. I haven't seen his first movie, but Liberal Arts is a decent indie film and pretty well-written; I think he can carve out a niche in that vein and be reasonably successful.

She was also the mom on Freaks & Geeks, and she's now the mom on Girls. I am always happy when I see her name in the credits of something; she is just so good.

Noretta would definitely make my worst list. But I don't think it's as bad as Zoo or False.

Yeah, I heard that a few months ago and for some reason knowing that the writers were disappointed in the episode made me think of it more fondly.

Yes, it is a show that lends itself to being watched straight through on DVD.

I watched the first episode because I was a fan of Buffy and Freaks and Geeks. I wasn't really sold on the show until The Pineapple Incident.

1) Drumroll, Please
2) Arrivederci, Fiero
3) Ten Sessions
4) Three Days of Snow
5) Home Wreckers
6) Subway Wars
7) Trilogy Time
8) The Time Travellers
9) Unpause (but I really expect the finale to be my favorite)

Zoo or False is my vote for the worst episode of the series. (I kind of like The Bro-Mitzvah, to be honest, and The Rough Patch has its moments. Slapsgiving 2 is pretty bad.)

I would add Lucky Penny, Right Place, Right Time, and The Leap.to that list for sure.

The wigs were awful. And they haven't always been that bad — they seem to have gotten worse. It was really distracting.

Personally, I am not so interested in the mother that I want to see huge chunks of screen time devoted to her. One episode of backstory was fine — and the episode itself was great — but honestly what I want to know most is what happens to the characters I've been watching for nine years.

What do you think of the list this year? I didn't think the group was as strong as it's been in the past. I did really like The Good Lord Bird and Life After Life.

Oy. I only read a review of that book, but it kind of ruined Simmons for me. Which was too bad. I really liked Drood.

Mary Reilly is good, but my favorite Martin book is Property.

Howards End is fantastic. One of the greatest novels ever written, I think.

I was really surprised that the MPDG survived the first book.

I've had my eye on Destiny Disrupted — it is good?

I really did love Wolf Hall, although it is a bit of a shaggy beast. The sequel, Bring Up the Bodies, is much tighter and has more of the plot; it's probably the better book. I really like the way Mantel handles Anne Boleyn in that book.

I loved Jim Henson: The Biography. It may be the only biography I've ever read that made me cry at the end; by the time of his death I had grown really attached to Henson as a person.

I'm finishing up my Tournament of Books reading with The Signature of All Things, and also reading From Scratch, which is a history of the Food Network.