I was most puzzled by Assassin Girl's big arc seemed to be fixing the middle east by bringing up water to the top soil, even though that wasn't what her power really was.

If anything, I really mourn the New Universe, an idea well before it's time that could have— hell, did— yield some great stuff that went largely ignored.

Indistinct characterization made even more indistinct by having everyone look the same.

It was a pretty cool pilot, but, yeah, I wonder if it works better as that mythical show-that-never-was rather than one that sort of fizzled out…

I can believe her friend has been in it for 20 years, and it's rent controlled. And you can charge a lot for the orgies.

Only your mother watches that.

In this one she shares an apartment in Brooklyn with an old friend who occasionally AirBNB's the place out to orgies to make the rent. So a little more believable.

One thing I've noticed about JMS is he does not Play Well With Others. Many of his didn't-pan-out endeavors seem to have this narrative:
JMS: OK, I've got some great intentions for this!
Editor: Excellent. Do you think you could—
JMS: NO ONE TELLS ME WHAT DO TO! (Flips the table)

I once had someone try to explain to me why a High Capacity magazine was, like, normal and reasonable for the average person. It apparently involved the single mother protecting her home from the 30 meth heads that were trying to break down her door, and needing to reload would cost her precious time. Also, this…

I once had a Guns-For-Everyone advocate try to tell me that "regulated" doesn't mean, you know, regulating. But some other secret meaning that means everyone should have all the guns or something.

Seeing how filming the first one almost did actually fridge her, I think she wasn't too keen on coming back.

(Googles)
I'm going to give that a solid maybe-leaning-to-yes. The look is right, though in my memory it was more explicitly Tron-like (as in an actual Tron homage), and no clips of 80s British punks in the audience. BUT, this was 30 years ago at 6 in the morning after having been up all night, so memory is not…

No, I mean like it was a glamrock concert, except everyone's costumes were like the ones in Tron.

See, a movie can end on Happily Ever After, especially if there are not supposed to be sequels. But a TV show can't do that, especially in, like, the midpoint of season two. Then you can't continue.

I think the things he said about that get twisted around a bit. I think his main point was that people WANTED a "happy ever after", but if you do that: show's over. There's no reason to do any more if they won, everyone paired up with their partner of choice, and evil never rears its head again.

Still better than the trope where someone overhears/sees EXACTLY ONLY the portion of a conversation that seems damning, and not the context that makes it clear, because they stormed/slipped off without getting more information.

True. Writing is much like sex: things that are successful in high school is just so much amateur fumbling, but hopefully you can learn from it.

I never knew how much I would want Mad Men Babies to be a real thing.

I mentioned above how I think Fanfic can be a fertile training ground for writers. Writing the "AU" can be the next step in taking the training wheels off. You've learned the basics of storytelling, now you're changing the setting/situation (and to a degree, the characters, though you're maintaining the archetype). …

Don't worry. "Fetch" isn't going to happen. Gretchen really should stop trying to make it happen.