Yeah, it’s true of a lot of those ‘70s “geniuses.”

Agreed on all. I love Lost for so many of the reasons you mention (and more, of course). But damn, “we have to go back!” has got to be one of the greatest things ever to happen on TV - network or otherwise. I’ve seen it many times, and I still get chills just thinking about it.

You should see Picture Show, it’s one of the best American films of the ‘70s, like, pinnacle. And it was definitely a phenomenon at the time, with Bogdanovich being compared to Orson Welles in the press, etc. His career definitely fizzled after Paper Moon, but even his bad films (including Texasville) are often great…

But Bogdanovich without Polly Platt for the second one.

I can’t speak for anybody else but . . .

Wasn’t it shot in Dalkey?

Yup, quirky quirky quirk fest for 2/3, then 30 min of heart pummelling. It’s brutal, but, hey, the cast is great!

I’ve never seen TBBT - I don’t say that as a badge of honour, its arrival just happened to coincide with the time I was moving off TV onto streaming (ahem) and other non-commercial modes of viewing. So I don’t know if it’s any good.

Don’t forget, it’s also important to eat a lot of yogurt.

I’m not sure what it is you want from Oliver - around 7.15, he brings up the FAQ, and clearly labels it a mistake, and quotes AOC calling it “the biggest mistake she’s made in Congress.”

I don’t know. I haven’t heard much of his new stuff, but during the Bush era Cross was a hilarious voice of sanity in a wilderness of, “but . . . the President” and “but . . . 9/11” sycophancy. Also, “answer ye telephone!”

I read an interview with Mikhail Gorbachev ages ago in which he said the invention/discovery of baking bread was humanity’s greatest feat.

You’re right, and I find the virtue signalling BS as tiresome as you, so I hope it didn’t come across that way. And Hayes is free to write whatever she wants, of course. But, in choosing to frame her article the way she did - trash everything about this project because Whedon’s feminism is phoney - she missed an…

This is the story, yes.

It’s pandering because the story here is Laura Donnelly’s casting. A performer who’s worked her ass of, who’s become something of a genre favorite, and who comes from a small place that’s probably pretty proud of this news (I’ve lived in Belfast, trust me, they’re proud - also, they just lost one of their…

That moment you mention in S3, when it all kicks off again and the show then remains pretty stellar throughout the next couple years (I’ll also defend S6, but get why some don’t), is probably also a key moment in the development of current approaches to TV narrative. The showrunners/writers realised they had a story…

S5 has long been my favorite for many of the reasons you point out. Also, I think the introduction (or, at least, greater clarity about) Buffy’s darkness, her desire/need to slay, combined with the depth of her feelings about Dawn make for really compelling viewing, even across some of the weaker eps. I know many…

Buffy’s S06 has got a few dreadful episodes, but also a lot of really great ones - the whole first 9-episode run is pretty stellar, but “Once More with Feeling,” “Tabula Rasa,” and “Smashed” make a killer group. Also, the final six from “Normal Again” through “Grave” are epic, but I’d pick “Seeing Red,” “Villains,”…

The more I read it the more I liked it cuz I don’t really know what she’s on about or what her criteria are, but the tone and the mystery of her horny rankings were sweet and sexy and funny all at once to me.

I know you’re sort of joking because of the plagiarism, and I know it wouldn’t fit the universe’s whole “stuck in the ‘70s” aesthetic, but I think that would’ve been pretty kick-ass.