But hasn't Leslie pretty much been a strawman version of liberal socialism and nanny statism this season? What has she done or tried to while on the city council? She's banned big sodas, used government money to bail out a video store and defended subsidies for a miniature golf park. Are we meant to think those are…

I don't think the show is a fantasy, but I also don't think Pawnee is meant to be a real small town so much as a microcosm of democracy that the writers can play with. I think the surly town folk are less a reflection of the writers' feelings about small town people and more of a reflection of a general frustration…

@avclub-2e0a4492d3c5d9f51102fd7d5701a68d:disqus Your point is a good one, although I would point out that one of the original observations of the auteurists was the way the great Hollywood directors (Hawks, Ford, Hitchcock, etc) were able to implant their unique visions into broadly popular movies that entertained a…

I've heard the band has plans to shear off Jeff Hanneman's face and make Gary Holt wear it as a Dead Skin Mask.

@Scrawler2:disqus I almost used Friends as the non-auteurist example in my original post, but I couldn't remember the showrunners and was too lazy to look them up.  Of course, the fact that I couldn't even name them is pretty solid evidence of how non-auteurist that show was.

Definitely agree that the characterizations have been off, and that's been a big problem this season. But—and I'm just speaking for myself here—I'd be dissatisfied with this season even if the characters were more on point because the show has just lost the distinct vision, the newness and unexpectedness, that made it…

Possibly, but if cinema is defined by its vision, that would beg the question of whose vision we're talking about.

I totally agree that auteurs can be shitty. I haven't watched many Chuck Lorre shows, so I can't really speak to how much of an auteur he is, so it probably wasn't a great example to throw out there.

Todd's review (and, indeed, a lot of TV criticism) more or less imports auteur theory from film criticism to tv criticism, even though he doesn't actually use the word "auteur." I think there are some correlations between the Director as auteur of a film and Showrunner as auteur of a TV show, but it's really not that…

I think what we (or at least I) want from Community is the new and unexpected. Giving us "what we want" (i.e., a bunch of stuff we liked in the past, back when it was new and unexpected) is exactly what we don't want.

"The mission of Soderbergh in the Park has always been to bring Soderbergh to the masses."

The worst is when people use chess as a metaphor for global geopolitical strategy. I'm looking at you, Zbignew Brzezinski!

I've been watching Dr. Katz a lot recently as my drifting-off-to-sleep show. It struck me recently that it may be the least conflict-driven show of all time.

Gotcha. I didn't see that, but it does add some credence to what we've all suspected—a genuine rift between the TV people and the film people.

I haven't seen it, but I've wanted to see Mickey One since reading Pictures at a Revolution, which discusses it pretty extensively. Mark Harris is pretty hard on it, but his critical assessments in that book are pretty consensus-driven, and he inadvertently makes it sound pretty awesome.

That is the accepted explanation for Hyden's departure for Grantland. That, and a more beard-friendly work environment.

Agreed that the new Ebert site is really nicely designed, but I think the quality of the commenters leaves a little to be desired. Check out the comments on Ignatiy Vishnevetsky's Oblivion review, for example.

I'm not sure I understand your post, @avclub-e3f5ab7f02122f95b801e13e2c586d6a:disqus . Are you saying Tobias was critical of TVDW when he first started?

I was a big Pierce fan, but he basically gave them no choice. You can't write a review of a book that hasn't even been released yet and expect to keep your job.

Same for me. I became a regular during the initial MYOF. Rabin's review of Southland Tales is what hooked me for good.