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I can't make sense of the whole premise. 20 million Zygons? Most of whom immigrate to the UK -- a nation of only 60 million? Why the UK? And they take the form of the nearest person? That means that a third of the population of the U.K. now have their exact duplicate running around -- and nobody notices! And how many civil servants and government officials have to be in on this conspiracy? Are Zygons issued with IDs? Credit cards? Jobs? How does this sudden influx affect the economy? Does no one notice the effect on the schools, who overnight must provide space for a one third increase in student population? (And are there actual Zygon children, and do they sometimes pose as adults, as apparently adults sometimes pose as children?) I like Dr Who, always have, but the writing frequently falls into this "the moon is really an egg" nonsense . I mean, the writing should think through the implications of its fantastical premises -- the story will be all the stonger, more involving, for it.

Sandi : not as funny as Fry, not as erudite as Fry, not as skilled a host as Fry. Plus, she does shtick -- I don't get a sense of a genuine personality, as I do with Stephen. What I do get is "funny" voices. David Mitchell would have been a better choice.

Well, that was bland and banal. Trite dialogue, cliched situations, stereotypical characters.

Effie says that she made sure that the crew had a diversity of race, gender, and religion. Religion? Is that more of Effie's usual bullshit, or did she actually hire people based on their religion? Isn't that illegal? And how would you go about determining someone's religion, other than asking them?

Morgan's philosophy needs a tweak, but Rick's and Carol's need a complete re-think. Carol is what -- in her fifties? How much longer does her "badassery" window extend to before age, illness, and injury take a toll? 10 years, tops? What then? How long does Rick have? Rick's little tribe of 12 or so has no long-term prospects. Judith will never reach adolescence. Daryl is right, any person not a homicidal maniac (which leaves the Wolves out, granted) needs to come together with others to form a community if humanity will have a chance, however slim, of surviving onto the next generation. It's Morgan (and Daryl) who are the true survivalists.

The human race is on the verge of extinction. Morgan realizes how precious each living person now is. He's not a coward, he's not a punk, he's the only character with a long term perspective on what it means to survive the apocalypse -- and it does not involve the few remaining living people wiping each other out.

Maybe Jason made a mistake in choosing film instead of 2 extra days shooting, but if he had listened to Effie he wouldn't have been offered either option.

But saying Jason is doing an end run around Effie, or is undermining her, is like saying Jason is doing an end run around an editor or the cinematographer by cutting the film his way or insisting on certain lighting for his shots. Jason is the boss, creatively. And besides, Jason was right and Effie wrong. Turns out HBO was willing to kick in some extra money so that the movie could be shot on film, after all.

It's become too much of an ego thing with Effie. Her job is to find the means so that Jason can accomplish what he wants to accomplish, no different than the jobs of the actors or the cinematographer. Her "digital not film" position was defensible as long as there was no room in the budget for film. But now that Jason has won a larger budget, shouldn't she be triumphant? The movie has more money to use, and the director -- whose vision it is her job to serve-- has gotten what he believes he needs.

Effie makes my skin crawl when she adopts that sing-songy, affected voice.

The decoy relay made for a fun sequence. Good writing, however, would have made a fun sequence make sense. That's my biggest knock against Doctor Who. The plots are structured around a cool concept or a striking image or sequence, but the writing doesn't do the hard work of making these cool ideas make narrative sense. It's all dream logic, fairy tale logic.

There are basic story beats in a classic base-under-siege story, the first of which is that the outsiders (Fox and Mulder, Doctor and Companion) need to integrate into the pre-existing command and social structure. This episode didn't do the integration phase in a dramatically satisfying way. Too skimpy and abrupt. The Doctor gives orders, the rest follow, even when the Doctor's schemes go awry. No one questioned that poorly conceived "Hey ghosts, stop following that guy and come follow me instead!" plan ?

The 22nd century and still no devices that would allow a deaf person to hear and talk? And correct me if I'm wrong, but only one member of her crew can interpret sign language? How can you put someone in charge if she can't communicate with the crew except through a 3rd party, especially in a high-risk situation involving an undersea nuclear reactor? Having a deaf person in authority is a worthy idea, especially if it is to have a plot payoff, and there are ways to make it plausible, but that didn't happen this episode. And I'm so tired of the cliched yuppie, the umpteenth iteration of the Paul Reiser character from 'Aliens'. Ok the guy is in it for the money, but give him one other dimension. Maybe he's the Doctor fanboy?

That vigilante story line was a blown opportunity. Instead of making them all cartoons, their perspective might have been given its due. Have former mayor Bill, current mayor Sam, and sheriffs Andy and Jason led the town well? Do they shoulder any responsibility for the dire state Bon Temps now finds itself in? And in the social breakdown (state-wide? nation-wide? world-wide? I wish the show would make this clearer) that follows a vampire apocalypse, do they even still constitute legal authority? Are they acting within the law, or have they also become, in essence, vigilantes? We might have had 2 groups, Sookie & co. vs the vigilantes, each with a plausible case as to why they are in the right, in tragic conflict. Alcide's death might then have been given some dramatic weight.

Some writers can only put in 3 hours a day before they dry up. Some can put in 8 or more hours. Some write 365 days a year, others need a break here and there, especially on multi-year projects. GRRM has been a professional writer for 43 years. I expect he knows what routines work for him.

Taking 4-5 years to write 1,000 page books is not unreasonable. If he were a literary writer rather than a genre one, critics would be marveling at his prolificity. Anyway, he tells us he is working at as fast a pace as he is able. Do we know better?

Thank you for making explicit some of the premises underlying the resentment heaped up against GRRM. To some, a freelance novelist is the equivalent of a pizza delivery boy, and as they don't wait for pizza they aren't going to wait for a novel, dammit. As for your acting example, Marlon Brando took as long as 9 years between movies, Robert Redford 4, Warren Beatty 7. Journalism? Gay Talese is a journalist who routinely takes 10 years or more on his projects. Art? Marcel Duchamp worked 8 years on 'The Large Glass'. Now, as to "target market or audience". Let's imagine an ASOIAF reader who has purchased the books. 5 books, say $20 each. That's $100. This one individual reader has not by herself made GRRM an international celebrity, or made him millions, or indeed conducted a poll to determine how many fellow ASOIAF readers agree with her regarding GRRM taking time out of writing by going on press junkets, say. This imagined reader is one person with an opinion, and does not constitute a "target market". For all she knows, the vast majority of ASOIAF readers are happy to let GRRM take as long as he needs in order to make TWOW as good as he wants it to be.

Some of GRRM's readers are the most *snip* that any writer has ever had as "fans" -- so yeah, flipping them off was appropriate. How many hundreds of times a year does GRRM have to hear or read that he's old, he's fat, he's going to die any minute now, how dare he do anything but sit at his desk and write, but write better because your last 2 books sucked?

I feel embarrassed for the actors. Remember when the cast would be featured on magazine covers? And now TB's devolved to this incoherent, unstructured slop. I know it's pointless to try to make sense of the implicit and explicit politics of this show, but still. 1) The federal and state governments have failed to protect Bon Temps and the surrounding towns from mass slaughter. 2) Local law enforcement -- namely, Andy and Jason -- are incompetent buffoons. 3) The townsfolk, in desperation, arm themselves. So, trying to protect themselves and their children under these circumstances by taking matters into their own hands might seem at least understandable , maybe even wise. But, as far as the TB writers are concerned, the townfolk can't win. Take action, and they are a mob of bigoted morons. Do nothing, and what? Hope that incompetent, indifferent -- perhaps even non-existent -- authority figures will rescue you? Talk to the writers and I bet that, in theory, they'd be all for "the people" in any conflict against "the elite who know best". But in practice, it's just do busy work to distract yourselves, folks, and put your trust in authority.

A touching moment : Arya still loyally hero-worshipping her mentor, Syrio, "the greatest swordsman who ever lived".

She's in a brutal world, but still Arya is traveling down a dark path. I hope she will be able to hang on to her humanity, but it's not looking good. The Hound/Arya chemistry, though, is perversely compelling. Probably the highlight of the episode.

Mike Post also composed the all-time cheese-tastic theme for 'the Great American Hero'. "Believe it or not, it's just me."

Theme from Peter Gunn wins hands down. Only TV theme I can think of that has become a classic in its own right, completely independent of its origin. 'Peter Gunn' the show is barely remembered nowadays. Star Trek Classic's 1st season's theme, the one with the theremin, was way cool. The opening credits were so evocative -- the Enterprise flashing across the screen against a galactic background, the eerie music promising mystery, adventure, and high romance -- that the episodes themselves were a bit of a letdown. Kind of like 'the Twilight Zone' -- as cool as the episodes were, the credit sequence was cooler still.

Yeah, the show did mention the burning of the Starks. What doesn't make sense to me is why Jamie's motive for king slaying has been kept secret. Did Jamie remove the wildfire that had been prepared around the city by himself? He had to have help, right? And Tywin had to know about Jamie's motive, and, knowing, would have spread the word as to remove the stain from his son and heir and from the family name. Ned and Robert should have also known about the wildfire, after the fact, as they secured the city. I have to think it's just a plot hole, unless GRMM has a surprise up his sleeve.

But what is the correct accent for an imaginary land on an imaginary world? It wouldn't necessarily be contemporary British, would it? Especially as all the dialogue writers for the show (and books, of course) are writing with an American ear. Is Jaime lying about the wildfire, or did GRRM just not think through all the implications that would make it an unlikely story?