Agreed, one of the things I liked about it was how well it shaded the characters as the show progressed. Once I realized how well they were doing it, I started waiting for the "humanizing Matthew Modine" flashback - which, happy that didn't happen, but wouldn't have surprised me.

Oh, sorry, yeah I know that one. Meant to reply to your above comment about his book's being unfilmable. Joke fell flat. Doh!

The one about the guy who mapped Britain's geological strata? No? (can't remember the man's name, but I think the book's called The Map that Changed the World).

Also, as far as I recall, like Winchester's other books, it's not a novel (as labeled in the article).

It's really worth it. Almost from the get go (even as she's "figuring it out"), there's something worthwhile in every episode, and some of the early ones (like the Frances Farmer one she mentions) are really fascinating. She does a great job as a host, and I almost always learn something new.

I felt that way for a little while, but I just stopped listening to/watching anything he's done post-SNL. It's not just the politics, it's the schtick . . . so tired.

Started the series a few weeks ago, and going through in chronological order. The "Star Wars" series (about efforts of, mostly, female actors during WWII) is really great, and the Carole Lombard episode she mentions above is heart-wrenching - so good.

Yes!

There have been three truly great Weekend Update hosts, and Quinn most definitely was not one of them. He was unfortunate enough to have to follow one of them, though.

Boy, do I ever love "The Inner Light." Fantastic example of how amazing TV can be!

David Warner in Time Bandits.

I had a lot of favorites, but this was up there. Watched this show religiously; it was the first series (along, maybe, with Northern Exposure) that I felt pretty sure I might come out of any given episode feeling . . . different . . . about things. Like others have said, I really need to do a re-watch.

Aside from being magnificent in so many other ways as well!

I dug the hell out of Star - really liked "Full Moon, Empty Heart," and "Stay" a lot. At least one of them made about 95% of my mid-90s mix tapes.

Late to this, but pretty sure it was a reference to Dog Day Afternoon . . . "Attica! Attica! Attica!"

Isn't she also the mother of Andy Garcia's character in Pt III?

I'm a bit surprised by the overall lack of love this year for Justified, which seems to be pretty well liked round these parts. In addition to Goggins and Olyphant, Joelle Carter's performance, great throughout the series's run, was immense in S6.

I don't mind people who don't like them, either. Taste is taste. For me the annoying guy is the one who says they weren't talented, or that their studio work wasn't all that, or that somehow, objectively, they were just a "bad" band, or an overhyped "boy band."

Right there with you, she's fabulous in Eternal Sunshine. I also think she's great in Drop Dead Gorgeous and Bring it On - I've been a big fan of her comedic (or even serio-comic?) chops for a long time.

Maybe . . . I'd still say "one of the few essential" is a stretch (several books I'd rec before this, depending on a person's type of interest in film). It's a very essentialist, "what I'm writing about is the only important thing to be writing about" mode of modern journalism that seems both overstated and boring…