Sir RaiderDuck OMS

Favorite Winchester quote: "So...tell me more about Montana. Does it...have a city?" My favorite Winchester episode is the one where Colonel Baldwin (who had originally sent him to the 4077th to get out paying a gambling debt) visits, and Winchester spends the episode epically brown-nosing Baldwin in the hopes that he'll be sent back to Tokyo. But when Baldwin mistakes Margaret for a prostitute, tries to rape her, then falsely accuses her of attempting to seduce him and asks Winchester to back him up (explicitly promising a transfer to Tokyo in exchange), Winchester wavers briefly, then angrily denounces Baldwin in front of everyone. Even Hawkeye and BJ are impressed.

Larry Linville once said in an interview that after Margaret and Frank broke up, "it became too easy to run Frank into a scene, dump on him, get a laugh, and run him back out." It's easy to see why Linville would tire of playing that role and leave.

Remember that M*A*S*H was originally conceived as having two leading men: Hawkeye and Trapper. Wayne Rogers left after Season 3 specifically because of his unhappiness at his character devolving from co-lead to Hawkeye's sidekick. So it would make sense that when writing a replacement character, they would write someone specifically to be a straight man.

One thing I always forget until I see the episode in question: The first time Klinger meets Dr. Sidney Friedman, Friedman examines and actually offers him a discharge near the end of the episode! The only catch: it's a discharge for being a transvestite and homosexual. Klinger angrily turns him down, saying "All I am is nuts!"

Frank: "Go on then! Colonel Flagg and I don't need you!" Frank claps Flagg on the back Flagg: "My father did that once. To this day, he still wears orthopedic shorts." Crazy soldier: "[Frank] keeps waving the flag in my face!" Blake: "A thousand soldiers in Korea, and we had to get Betsy Ross!" Charles: "But know this. You can cut me off from the civilized world. You can incarcerate me with two moronic cellmates. You can torture me with your thrice daily swill, but you cannot break the spirit of a Winchester. My voice shall be heard from this wilderness and I shall be delivered from this fetid and festering sewer." The smirk he gives at the end is absolutely priceless.

It's also worth noting that after a long decline that began in the early 1980s, John Travolta was considered something of a joke: he was reduced to playing straight man to a bunch of talking babies and animals in the Look Who's Talking films. Pulp Fiction brought him back in a big way and Face/Off kept it going, but thinking he's been a big movie star for the last four decades is simply incorrect. To be fair, I've read two of Hubbard's earlier novels: Fear is a pretty good horror novel (with praise on its front cover from Stephen King of all people, which is exactly why I bought it) and Final Blackout, while not the classic its back cover would have you believe, is a pleasant enough page-turner.

Not sure if Mario Puzo's The Godfather is widely considered one of the "classics," but I love it nonetheless. It's both a classic American innocence-to-corruption story and has been enormously influential on one segment of society (as a lot of mafia organizations sort of used it as a guide as to how they should behave).

Doug's murder of Rachel had nothing to do with her being bisexual. It had everything to do with him following Frank's orders and murdering someone who could potentially become a threat (as unlikely as it was).

At least the interminable Rachel storyline is over. I had zero interest in what had happened to her or desire to see her again.

My favorite is from the first episode of the series, and it's Frank talking about the difference between money and power: "Money is the McMansion that starts falling apart in ten years. Power is the old stone building that stands for centuries."

I loved the contrast of Remy's realizing how little Frank cares about any but himself, coupled with Freddy's bluntly telling him that this is what Frank is, and you can't blame "the snake for having fangs" or whatever. Freddy's already experienced the limits of Frank's faux friendship last season, and now just accepts it for what it is: Frank will be your best friend right up until the moment that friendship might cost him personally, at which point he'll dump you without a second thought.

I LOVED Claire's horror at gradually realizing that of all the doors she could have knocked on, this one belonged to the trashiest family in Iowa. No lady, it is NOT normal for a married woman to go down on some guy just for putting together a baby crib. Nor is it normal to contemplate matricide, let alone admit it to a complete stranger, especially one surrounded by law enforcement officers literally 24 hours a day.

Petrov wouldn't budge on the Corrigan thing and then, against all evidence, directly blames Underwood for the Jordan Valley incident when it's obvious it wasn't the US's fault. Underwood wouldn't have made either mistake.

I'm assuming that Gavin found Rachel, but feels for her and just wants her to be left alone. So he came up with the "Jane Doe died in a car wreck" story, knowing Doug won't find out different as long as Rachel (who just wants anonymity at this point) doesn't resurface. Petrov (the show's screamingly obvious Vladimir Putin stand-in) is way too pigheaded and stubborn. He should be the Russian equivalent of Underwood himself: a crafty operator bar none.

Gotta disagree. I understand where Freddy was coming from, but to just shoot down a boy's dreams like that is cruel. I would have preferred something like "Lots of people want to be President, DeShawn. Let's just concentrate on your grades right now." I assumed Benito Martinez had some obligation that forced him to pull out of the remaining episodes. Too bad, because he's an awesome actor and I liked his character.

When Frank said "[Corrigan] was a coward and I'm glad he's dead," I found myself agreeing with him. Corrigan could have just read his stupid statement (EVERYONE would have understood he was just saying it to get out of a Russian prison) and gone home. But he chose to traumatize Claire (who was trying to help him) and leave his husband a widow.

I actually thought he was going to inject himself with it, a la Tommy Lee and Nikki Sixx in one of Motley Crue's more publicized incidents...

I'd be perfectly happy to never see Rachel again. Season 2 devoted WAY too much time to Stamper's unhealthy obsession with her.

I was getting more of a Bulworth vibe from this sequence. Gods help us if Underwood starts rapping. Still, Frank's plans are coming into place: He's going to be "Mr. Honest," hopefully become popular because of it, do his damndest behind the scenes to pick the weakest possible Democratic Presidential nominee, then backstab him right before the convention so he can be drafted as the new nominee (note how he didn't pull a Lyndon Johnson and say he wouldn't ACCEPT the nomination, only that he wouldn't SEEK it). Also, I loved how Sen. Mendoza pushed her buttons during the hearings, then freely admitted to her later that he'd done just that to see if she'd lose her cool. One BIG point that bugged: The Postal Revenue and Federal Salary Act of 1967 specifically prohibits a president from appointing any close relative (presumably this includes a spouse) to any job in the executive branch; this law was passed in belated response to JFK appointing his brother Bobby as Attorney General in 1961. Hillary is "only" 67 years old. When she runs next year, she'll be younger than Ronald Reagan was when he ran in 1980. I think it's so he can honestly say "No" when asked if he's been drinking; he hasn't actually been DRINKING any booze (although it's getting into his system nonetheless).

Remember that Ep. 26 was supposed to be the end of the series (as HOC was originally a 26-episode order), so it would make sense to close out Doug's arc with his death and Frank's with his ascending to POTUS. Then when they decided to come back for season 3, they obviously didn't want to be without Doug. Hence, the slight retconning.

Was that the one where Farley talked about the "Paul is Dead" thing and directly asked Paul if he was, in fact, dead?

Love the dynamic between the two, but Richie's way more dependent on Seth than the other way around. Seth would be fine on his own. Richie? Not so much.

I liked DJ Catrona as Seth: he captured Clooney's no-nonsense arrogance without outright copying his characterization. Brandon Soo Hoo was a HUGE improvement as Scott Fuller over Ernest Liu in the film. I hadn't realized how terrible Liu was until I watched the series. Zane Holtz was also an improvement as Richie, as he was actually playing a character, as opposed to Tarantino in the film who was basically playing a psychotic version of himself.

From (I think) the 85-86 season: The sketch starts off like a Beer commercial, with aggressive upbeat music with "Where you're going, you always know it" lyrics. Randy Quaid and a bunch of other high-paid execs are shown being mean to subordinates, and generally acting like jerks. Then the lyrics say ""Where you're going...YOU'RE GONNA PAY!" and beer is shown flowing from a tap into a glass engraved "HELL". The announcer begins this rant about repenting your sins, ending with "You're gonna burn. No doubt about it." while the background text (with flames licking around the edge) reads "A Message from Almighty God."

Two from the late 80s stand out: The Church Chat with Joe Montana and Walter Payton, where Payton ad-libs "I just try to penetrate any opening I can find," and Montana (in another ad-lib) actually grabs the Church Lady's backside, causing her to waddle halfway across the stage (Dana was obviously taken by surprise), followed by Montana's pitch-perfect "Sorry, Church Lady, I just couldn't help myself!" And the People's Court parody, complete with Lovitz in a ridiculous devil suit being introduced as "Mephistopheles (The Devil)," continuing with Jan Hooks giving her occupation as "Barfly," Lovitz/Satan's outraged "Trash on your lawn? Listen here! I am the almighty prince of darkness! If I starting harassing you, YOU'LL KNOW IT!" and culminating with Lovitz/Satan imploring people to worship him, with the sketch's Rusty Burrell stand-in losing patience and hauling him away.