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Between the amount of buzz, the number of loyal fans who become or remain subscribers and the online views on official monetized platforms I'm sure HBO is very very happy. I'm sure he'll be around as long as he likes. It wouldn't surprise me if he leaves before Bill Maher though either because he gets a better offer, or decides to emulate Jon Stewart and leave while he's on top/realizes he's exhausted and can't do anything really new and different with the format. In Late Night comedy there is a lot of evidence of the longetivity to be achieved with sticking with a formula (and Maher is just one example). But it always comes at the cost of host/audience burnout and missed opportunities (and Maher is just one example).

Another great show last night. The tragedy of gun violence really seems to inspire Larry. He's been sharp, funny, and insightful and his pieces on the issue really seem to express something distinct and personal. Add a good second segment and a good panel and you really have something. Even the Keep it 100 was entertaining. Well done.

Apparently Blue Bloods has been getting some big bucks from NYS. I wonder how many sweaters $20 million buys? 'Blue Bloods,' 'Person of Interest' led in NY breaks

I don't know what's worse. If they are dumb enough that they just ran a search for "pillow" and thought they found their proof or if they are cynical and evil enough that they figured nobody would check it out.

Last night's show was great. A perfect example of what it can be at it's best. Solid desk bit, the 2 comedy pieces were both funny and on point (especially Rory's) and the panel was interesting, entertaining, and offered a different perspective than usually offered by mainstream media. It also showed Larry at his best as moderator. He was insightful and empathetic and moved the conversation along without interrupting or going for cheap punchlines. Nice to end the week on a high note.

IIRC the bike actually for his nephew's (niece's?) daughter.

Just watched the episode and I 2/3rds loved it. Agree on the panel and thought the intro was very well done. But they couldn't do better than yet another Nightly Nightly after 2 weeks off? Even if you want something light to change the tone give us a Rory bit or something like last night's Girl Scouts piece. Anything else.

I like Carisi. I liked the potential when he first came in and that he was something different. I always find myself defending the new characters when they come in since so many people seem to forget that Dick Wolf loves to play up the conflict when someone starts before they become BFFs and eternal comrades. But it was nice that he was neither cynical or a copy of past squad members, even if they overdid the whole grating goofball thing or the squad showing him what was up. I loved the Carisi we got after he shaved the pornstache, the writing got better and we put the constant grimdark of the previous SVU era in the past, and they figured out how to a character that wasn't constantly snarky or constantly self destructing. And now I like him. Some weeks I still love him and some weeks I wonder if they're deliberately going over the top, using the plot lines that The Big Bang Theory isn't using for Raj anymore when he's cooking gourmet meals and babysitting for Liv or Rollins or writing for a character based on a small subset of internet fans like their timeslot competition.. At this point I would not be surprised to see him, Rollins, and Benson at a spa or on a Sex And The City tour, or getting mani-pedis. Or to see him just standing around wearing a vest and holding a baby for no particular reason other than to get trending on Tumblr. I hope the new showrunner gives us more of the good and reels in the other aspects so I can wholle heartedly love him again.

The Good: The execution. It was well acted by everybody, the funeral scene was technically well done, and they actually pulled off Barba being both tough and scared at the same time. I also really liked Rollins in this episode and think they've done a great job salvaging the character this season. It was nice to see Bill Irwin again too. The Bad: Everything else. Like most of us it seems I was expecting some sort of twist, but no they really did give everything away. They couldn't be bothered to actually do much with the Barba plot, or Carisi or much of anything else. Ice-T seemed weirdly checked out. Getting Tucker out of IAB is great, but making him a full time hostage negotiator is a really bad idea since the last thing I want is another hostage situation. Why not bias crimes or some other unit in Manhattan? You know give him a reason for showing up occasionally as an ally of the squad working on a case, but still with the opportunity for conflict to arise? I also just can't care too much about St. Liv the martyr. This was better done than much of what MH and WL have given us and not so obviously Liv's own fault, but it's just been so overused that even when it's well done I can't get worked up. Overall this was a pretty good finale actually. Better than I thought they could do without a twist. I'm hoping next year delivers on the potential shown this season.

I don't know. Is it possible an SVU cast member would act uncharacteristically stupid responding to a threat to set up a plot? Just might be. The thing is that Barba as written is tpugher and smarter and a better strategist than what was presented. It would be more believable for Barba to pull out his phone take a picture and tell the thug that he just sent it to the DA's security team and if anything happens to him the NYPD will take up residence in his ass. Or pull off some other move that's clever and tough.

The Good: The scene with the squad at the beginning. Fin and his son. Brad Garrett. Righteous crusading Barba! The Bad: Yet another story about evil abusive prison guards without anything new to say or any shades of gray. WTH was up with Barba in that last scene? Out of character. That whole scene didn't really work as the big cliffhanger they wanted it to be. The promo for next week. If there is one area where the writing hasn't improved this season it's been creating believable action scenes and especially hostage situations. Overall this was like most of the second half of the season - solid but unspectacular. I hope they can stick the landing next week.

Why should DWS pay attention to Bernie's demands? He's not even a Democrat and he's got a lot of balls demanding the Democratic Party should kowtow to him, especially when he's losing and has no hope of winning the nomination. He knew what the rules were when he signed on to campaign as a Democrat instead of Independent and he's even admitted he only did so only in order to get media and money. Hillary and DWS have been more than accommodating to him as it is because they want to keep the Party united in spite of his antics and tantrums. What a nasty piece of work he's turned out to be. No wonder so few superdelegates, who have known and worked with him for 25 years, have thrown their support to him. The perils of browsing before coffee kicks in - I was reading this and all I could think was "how the heck did Bernie Sanders get involved with Dancing With The Stars??? How is this not all over the internet?"...

Just noticed this in a list of cancelled shows. Didn't realized it hadn't been cancelled months ago. I'll never understand this one. How could there be nobody involved with a passing familiarity with the internet? Where did all the talent go from the previous series? Not just with the writing, but what happened to everyone behind the scenes? The people that did such a good job with style, conveying forensic processes, etc. It's like Zuiker, Mendelsohn, and Donahue cast the show, found the theme song and left it to an intern to handle the rest. And when I checked it out when it came back nothing that was broken was fixed, and the changes they made were completely irrelevant. I mean even if they had absolutely no understanding of computers they should at least understand the basics of television right?

Not quite sure where to put this, but like the previous post said we've been discussing the WHCD here and this about Larry NOT being in the media so I'm going to put it here. http://www.mediaite.com/online/mediaite-exclusive-cnn-cancelled-larry-wilmore-appearance-in-retaliation-for-white-correspondent-dinner-jokes/ Wow. If this is true it's terrible. When Don Lemon has better judgement than your network execs you know you're in trouble.

I think it's a problem with the show's creative process. They take what works and then run with it, pushing it further and further, and never stopping to think about if it's gone too far and if it's still working or not. Kevin Sussman is good at hangdog, so they'll keep going even if it means disregarding other aspects of the original character and writing some of the main characters as complete jerks in the way they pick on him. It's the same thing with Beverly, they took one part that Christine Baranski does well and just focus on that without doing anything else. And our only hope of change or relief is that they'll hit on something else that works and run with that.

You remember those giant glasses of wine we haven't seen for a couple episodes...

The Good: Fin! Lots of snark and usually directed at the same things I was rolling my eyes at. Great guest cast as usual. Barba and Carisi's clothes as usual. The Bad: A lot of recycled SVU tropes without much of a twist (reality shows are evil, the nice guy who's really a predator, the sleazebag producers, SVU against the world, nanny Carisi, etc.) The plot felt like a lost episode from the campy monkey in a basketball era SVU without the sense of fun. We're really supposed to believe that a network with lawyers would air an episode making all those accusations? Or that the producers would fall for a sting so easily? It would have been so easy to have them leak it to Not!TMZ and come up with evidence to nail our name guest stars. Overall this was just kind of dull. It's been done before better and worse. I don't understand why we have filler like this after that long break.

I thought last night was a pretty strong episode. The banana bit worked on a couple of levels and was a good break from the heavier bits. Loved Holly Walker as always and thought it was one of their stronger panels, especially Ricky finding a way to get in some good one liners and put forth some ideas. If there was one critique I have it's that they didn't really nail the right wing noise machine as hard as they could have. I'm not sure from the writing that they realized the specific hypocrisy and motivations at play. This is being hyped by people who are upset that members of the military couldn't openly throw racial or political insults at Obama. And that the Confederate flag is seen as racist. This is the thing that Jon Stewart used to nail so well - the Confederate flag has become cultural and is embraced by some southerners unthinkingly so we should be cool with it. Get over the whole slavery thing. Raised fist? It was used by people who killed cops so it's now verbotten and we can never see it as something else.

Actually the scariest thing in the world is being an ordinary citizen and seeing Danny show up or stop his car nearby. After all if you are a cop you just might be shown up, and it's usually only your career that's dead, but if Danny's there it usually means there's either a brutal crime about to happen or the bullets/fists are about to start flying.

It's OK. I have a feeling that next season the charismatic black mayor will leave office for some reason, and be replaced by a less charismatic older female mayor who is never properly supportive of the police, but is still attacked by anti-police protestors for old comments because they are never satisfied, and is constantly being shown up by Frank.

The crime rate has decreased in NYC, and just about everywhere over the years. But the first half L&O's run was during the end of a relatively high crime period. Manhattan neighborhoods also have a tendency to change relatively quickly and sometimes it implicit that the complainer is actually upset at demographic shifts. And if you've ever seen the online comments on any news story you'll see that the old person complaining about how their town/city/neighborhood/block used to be nice, but is going to hell now exists in real life in spite of any facts to the contrary..

My understanding was that Belzer and Dann Florek were both casualties of cost cutting and the network wanting to go younger. As for why Belzer hasn't been back more often that probably has to do with his health, his brother's suicide, and other personal issues.

Actually I think "it's all bullshit" has been present from the beginning. It's just that it's gone from implicit in his total disengagement from the actual issues discussed on panel unless he could come up with a dismissive joke to something that he now states outright if it's something that he's not paticularly knowledgable or comfortable with. It's his crutch as well as being something that powerfully appeals to many smart, young, people. I totally agree with you on the stoner thing. It works as an occasional joke. As a main element of your comic persona not so much. Just look at Bill Maher.

I thought this was the perfect example of Mike Yard's strength and weaknesses. He was hilarious and even convincing until the moment the discussion moved the slightest bit outside his personal experiences. In the United States competitive baseball is quite expensive and money matters a lot more in getting noticed by pro scouts compared to basketball of football. And he was way too dismissive of Holly's point. And I loved Ken Burns too. It's nice he has a sense of humor about himself and his work or at least the self awareness and savvy to fake it. As I said before I think Ricky is still finding his voice and growing up, realizing that feigned apathy and "it's all bullshit" isn't as brave or smart or fresh as he thinks it is. But at least he seems to be willing to learn and change.

Sometimes I wonder about what goes on behind the scenes at this show. It occasionally seems like the first draft of the script shows a noble, but flawed hero and then Tom Selleck takes out his red pen and starts crossing out where it's made explicit. I mean there are plenty of star turns, Mary Sues, and wish fulfillment fantasies of various sorts out there, but it's just basic storytelling competence to give your protagonist some weaknesses. And I can't believe a successful network series can't find writers with a grasp of Screenwriting 101. What are you talking about? There was all sorts of nuance here. There was that debate over whether cops should outright lie even when it's not necessary. And it turned out it wasn't the charismatic black politician that leaked the video, but the vaguely ethnic young lawyer who suggested that they might present all the facts to the grand jury instead of rigging the system for a no bill. And of course that was presented as compromise with just letting the police do what they want. They give the other side of the debate a voice all the time, usually the out DCPI suggesting that we might acknowledge reality and then do what the police want, or the obnoxious teenage girl, or the cynical politician/minority activist.