It was not good.

HBO's primary goal is still to make money and entertain, not provide education or a forum for progressive values.
HBO is already the only network willing to make shows like Insecure, Getting On, and Enlightened. Really can't expect too much more of them. I wish folks would focus on major networks like CBS more for…

I felt this way a bit with Iron Fist. It is not a good show, but it would have had to been fucking fantastic for critics to like it. As soon as Finn Jones was cast there were tons of thinkpieces crapping all over the show. Brubaker/Fraction did a great job in Immortal Iron Fist depicting Danny Rand and Orson Randall…

The first two seasons of Better Call Saul were REALLLY slow, even by prestige tv standards.

Eh, cultural criticism in general has kind of been in the shitter the last five years.

Shit man, I've been to Dragoncon in Atlanta, which might have the best cosplay parade in the country. Even there it was easy to find cosplayers that thought furries were stupid, shameful, and ruined it for other folks.
There is a definitely at least a segment of furries that do it as a sexual kink, and in those cases…

The first known written instance of Aladdin was by a Frenchman, who described Aladdin as Chinese. He claimed he heard it from a Syrian Christian, but it is just as likely he made it up.

I raised this point in a previous article, but I would love to see a list of potential Arab actresses that could play Jasmine. The truth is that outside of the Lebanese Christian community and Egypt, there is no cinematic culture in the Arab world. As the region has gotten less progressive, acting and singing is not…

I used to follow him pretty closely, and think the Book of Basketball still holds up. I also appreciate that Grantland would highlight unknown writers like Bill Barnwell. That being said, he also used up all his funny stories years ago. He has too much money and pride to do Fox Sports 1, but he is so bad at TV no one…

Also, not that it matters, but I am not really sure they are natural. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Lively looks a lot different.

Prior to Coates run on Black Panther, which I think is good but not amazing, Black Panther comics were pretty mediocre. When you have this country full of the most valuable/mgaical mineral on earth and it decides to cut itself off from the rest of Africa for hundreds of years, it is hard to make Wakanda very…

I imagine they might be able to find an someone of Arab descent to play Aladdin, but will probably give up on Jasmine. If Jasmine is not an Indian, she will probably be played by someone in the Persian diaspora, with a tiny chance she is Lebanese Christian.
In Disney's defense, I imagine it is legitimately hard to find…

Sticking with insurance creepiness, didn't esurance have to get rid of Erin Esurance (a poorly animated character) because of all the fan-made cartoon porn of her?

Mormons really like to take a normal name and add or change a letter. Rulon instead of Roland, LaVaughn instead of Levon, Kason instead of Jason, and of course Tagg (not Tad) Romney.
It is fascinating (especially given how culturally conservative many Mormons are), and I wonder where it comes from.

Bossypants (which was legitimately good) did so well that it seems every comedienne tried to hop on that gravy train. I love Anna Kendrick, but 30 year olds should not be writing autobiographies. I am less sold on Mindy Kaling and Amy Schumer , but they could have at least waited until their forties to crap out…

I would love to see them run that by Disney execs.
"So, is Nighthawk like Batman?"
"Very similar, although Nighthawk is a billionaire that kills people."
"So more like the Punisher?"
"Well, except he is black and only kills white people."

Between Sense8, Marco Polo, and The Get Down, I think Netflix has realized you can't spend nine million per episode unless you are damn sure the show will be popular.
Netflix will still take chances, but like every network on tv they won't give people like the Wachowskis and Baz Lurhmann unlimited budgets on passion…

You laugh, but I can still remember how in 1990 classmates with right-wing parents were not allowed to watch Nickelodeon and The Simpsons. YCDTOTV and Bart Simpson scared many an Evangelical.

For a show that was insanely popular, it is odd that no one other than Alannis Morrrisette became famous (and that wasn't even due to acting). On the other hand, Nickelodeon got away with paying them virtually nothing, so I wonder if the actors realized how big it was in the USA as opposed to Canada.

I am enjoying the show and think the three main actors do a great job. However, the show does have a problem that you and Zack pointed out: The three main characters are basically safe at the moment, so it gets hard to create credible threats. Meanwhile, by now I expect every supporting character we meet to die…