Irlandesa

Looking will have 10 episodes next season. http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/looking-hbo-series-to-have-larger-second-season-32891/

I don't think so. Fargo wrapped filming a while ago.

Duluth is three hours away from Bemidji. They wouldn't have been involved. I don't agree that Gus's decision to not call in Malvo certainly cost Key & Peele their lives. There was certainly the potential of that outcome but Malvo left that cabin pretty soon after Gus arrived. It was in the middle of nowhere. He could have likely taken a few routes to get into town. All it would have certainly done is draw the people who were out around town looking for him towards a cabin where he wasn't and where he would likely never return given the fact that he had a police blotter. He'd know his cabin would be surrounded. The only additional info Gus had is where Malvo was for a few brief minutes. He didn't know where he was going. All the cops already knew Malvo was in the vicinity and likely after Lester. Gus was stuck with two bad choices in his mind. One was calling in the cops and risk Malvo shooting his way out. The other was taking care of it himself. I understand wishing Molly would have taken Malvo down but narratively, I think this was the best way to achieve the ending they did. Molly would have been too "by-the-book" in taking down a man who had an uncanny ability to roll over everyone in his way. He had to be put down. Molly likely wouldn't have chosen that option. That's not her style. Gus, who carries guilt about how he let Malvo go, would. But it's not an easy solution or one that I think makes either of them super happy. Gus may have gotten away with getting rid of Malvo the way he did and even received a commendation for it but neither one of them on the couch seemed overly thrilled with it. They knew it probably wasn't "right" in the legal, moral and ethical way even if they felt it was their only choice. Molly had to make a difficult choice between doing what her husband asked of her for their family and her job. She ultimately chose her job which I think Gus knew would happen deep down. Bill had to face the choice of leaving a job he had spent his life doing or continue in it and face just how much his ideal world had changed. Lester had the choice to keep trying to survive on his own or work with the police for his own protection. And that's why I accept some of the choices Fargo made more easily than had it happened on another show. I felt it worked with the theme of the episode and the story of the series.

Yep. McPhee was the big reason but I would throw in Julia's weirdly dropped adoption story and affair in there as well. Ellis was bad but getting rid of him was only the tip of the iceberg of what they needed to do. I don't personally agree that Boardwalk Empire went off the rails. In fact, I'd argue that the third season finale was a brilliant episode and did a great job tying what came before it together and the four season had some very good storytelling as well. But I feel like a viewer needs to have too much patience with that show sometimes.

The pilot had one cast of characters. The rather annoying woman in the pilot was replaced by episode 2 with an actress I liked. But then she was killed in the first season finale and I was done with the show even though I love Kevin Bacon. I used to think he could get me to watch anything, and maybe he did since I stuck with the whole first season, but I couldn't stomache the idea of watching a sixteenth episode of that show. I'd like to throw Smash in here. The pilot was pretty good. It had its issues but I thought they could be resolved. And honestly, they could have been but the show, for the most part, chose not to. It had some really good stuff and way too much dreck. Perhaps Boardwalk Empire could be here too. I really enjoy BE but one of the criticisms of the show is that never achieved the greatness that its actors and "look" were capable of achieving. I can kind of agree with that, although I do think it has had enough great moments that I'd say it was better than good but probably not as agreat as it could have been.

I missed it too. When did they actually specify that Nicholas hit the Powells' son? It's only predictable only if one can predict it. If this is the big secret, it won't be a surprise to me because I read the speculation here and over at TWoP before it closed. But would I have reached that conclusion if I hadn't read the spec? Maybe. Maybe not. I can sometimes predict twists and other times I don't. Would a general audience who doesn't spend much time thinking about the show beyond watching? Probably not. I think I'm enjoying this season a little bit more than last season. Last season was held together better by an overall murder mystery that affected everyone but there was no way the murder mystery resolution could live up to all that focus. So I have more "fun" so-to-say watching multiple stories. I miss Odessa but Carmen works better with less of a focus on how her employer can make her career work and instead having her employer expecting her to do real work. I knew Rosie's beau was bad news as soon as the daughter mentioned not getting a statement for a few months and I look forward to that exploding. Even if the mystery isn't interesting, I think Opal is. And, as always, I love Zoila and Genevieve.

I'm a binge watcher without the patience to be a binge water. I would love to gobble down multiple episodes at a time. I think it's easier for me to get into a show that way and once I'm into the show, I want to keep going. That's what happened to me with Deadwood which I don't think I would've watched if it weren't for the fact that it was On Demand and I had a rainy lazy Sunday to kill. It's especially true with comedies. US comedies are approximately 22 minutes long and can three can be watched in just over an hour. They go down so smooth. But if it's a show I really want to watch, I am not going to wait until after it's aired so I can binge watch it all at once. I want to see it "now" so I will watch it live, or within a few days of recording it. The benefit to that is being able to discuss it online. Still, there are some shows out there that escape me initially for whatever reason and I love being able to just watch them all at once. Heck, I binge watch shows I've already seen. If I'm free and there's a L&O marathon on, I will watch. Or when Scarecrow & Mrs. King was free on Prime, I would watch multiple episodes at at time. Or rewatching Quantum Leap. That's my comfort time.

And he'll be on Seth Meyers tonight.

Well yes, he is surrounded by "yes men." And they're all named Louis C.K. I understand wanting more comedy from someone as funny as Louis but I've never seen his show as about that. It's one man's personal project that sometimes wants to make me laugh and other times wants to say something. I'm not saying I'll always watch it or that everyone should be satisfied with it but that is what it has always been. The only reason it get submitted into the "comedy" categories for awards was because of its length. I don't know that I'd rewatch this episode. I enjoyed it for the performances. Even though Mr. Hoffman was likely meant for PS Hoffman, I can't imagine anyone doing a better job than Seth. Renner had just the right amount of sleaze. Teen Louie was well acted, although I still prefer the younger Louie married to the younger Janet and it was good to see his mom again. I do think he was too easy on Jane, though.

I don't think he was. It didn't sound like Lester and the scenario of the phone call, with a gun shot, didn't match Lester's phone call. I think it was some other poor sap whose life Malvo ruined through his "encouragement." It was meant to show that Malvo hasn't changed even while stuck in KC, MO. Knowing Malvo, there are probably a few good answers to this. It could be that he wanted to clean up the mess in the elevator and needed Lester's help for it. He did ask Lester to help him move one of the bodies. Another reason could be that he just wanted to play with Lester a bit for the fun of it. Because honestly, that's the kind of guy Lorne is. I thought this was another great episode. There was so much tension in the episode from the elevator to the diner scene to Lester acting like a sitting duck in his own home. It's just terrific. The only thing I wonder now is if some of the earlier storylines were just "side trips" and won't be revisited.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you but neither Nip/Tuck or Grey's Anatomy were intended to be anything other than soap operas. Nip/Tuck was a skillfully executed serial in its first two seasons with cases of the week peppered in and GA started with a one night stand. I love procedurals too but I wouldn't look to Shonda Rhimes or Ryan Murphy shows to fill that hole since that's not what they do. Both of these creators start off with well done soap but soon can't help themselves and go over-the-top which is why it's so easy to sour on them.Nip/Tuck's demise was especially fast. Dick Wolf does do procedurals. With the exception of a few seasons in the middle, the original recipe L&O stuck pretty well to its procedural roots. Heck, even when it incorporated more personal stories, it was heavily procedural. SVU and CI strayed more from their procedural roots.

Sure that scene was complicated but what justification is there for Louie ignoring her "no" as he did? Your basic argument is that Pamela has issues. Fine. Possibly. But why do those potential issues rob her of the right to make choices for herself? Why do her reasons not matter unless they are good enough to the man chasing her? I don't know why we're so sure that deep down Pamela wants to be with Louie. With the exception of a fleeting invitation to have a bath with her and when she got back from France, after separating from her ex and kid, she really hasn't expressed much desire to be with him. It has been mostly on Louie's end. Heck, one could even argue that her attempt to get close to him this season may have come as sort of rebound for her. Speaking of rebound, Louie's on the rebound and Pamela recognized it which may also be why she said no. Pamela feeling scared to get involved, or thinking logically they work better as friends or not wanting to get involved with a man on the rebound, all of those are good enough reasons to not want to get involved with/kiss/sleep with Louie even if she were desperately in love with him. Pamela not shaving her legs that night and not wanting to sleep with Louie because of it should be enough reason for Louie to hear her "no." Cuz you know what? Her body, her choice. Do I think Louie is going to rape Pamela? No, I don't think Louie CK will take him there. But then again, I never though I'd see Louie raped like he was last season. And I didn't think I'd ever see the character push a woman screaming "no" towards his bedroom. I don't think he'll go there but is he fully capable of surprising us in service of a larger, non-continuous message? Yes. I think time will tell if she felt her limits were violated but I want to talk about Pamela's "consent" in that you're right, our views on it will be shaped by experience. At that point, she was trapped. Louie was telling her that he was in control. Pamela had two choices there. She could play it nice or fight him. Fighting him wasn't working. So she "consented" to the kiss because she figured if she let him kiss her, he'd let her go. And that's what happened. I see it that way because I have been in similar situations. I've been groped without my consent in bars. Pushing the hand away just means another replaces it. But grabbing the hand that was on my ass and sort of start "dancing" until I get get away? That works better than any 'no' would. I was once pursued by an older married man who was a client at work. I had to keep turning him down. He didn't respect my "no" until I invented a boyfriend. Then he backed off. A majority of men respect a "no" but all it takes is a few to not respect it and/or for the rejection to lead to ugly consequences for someone to realize it might just be easier to think of a rejection that doesn't come off as a full rejection (fake significant others, fake numbers, turning an attempted kiss into a hug per LCK's stand up) than it is to have to deal with someone who won't respect a "not interested." Unfortunately, who will take which approach is hard to determine. *Pamela parts II and III are coming up so of course this could be written as a non-issue. But that would disappoint me because it would mean that there were two episodes in two weeks where a woman was depicted as saying no but Louie persisted and was "right all along." Just another in a long line of fictions where women just don't know what they want which means more fake boyfriends for me.

I was kind of surprised that the hosting was so flat. I knew it'd be practically impossible to even come close to the opening number NPH put on last year so I don't blame them for not trying. I don't think NPH himself could top what he did last year. But I don't know that going with such an obscure concept was the smartest choice. I can appreciate the athleticism but I thought it was boring. At least the original "bounce" routine had more interesting things happen in it and was bounced better. But the jokes and other musical interludes were equally meh. So I gather Hugh must have different writers.

True. But even though L&O didn't know it'd definitely be the final episode, I think it worked pretty well for a final episode and final season with everyone coming together for Van Buren. I think the story would have been the same, except perhaps with a few more cameos, had they known it was the end.

I brought that up elsewhere in a discussion of last week's episode. It was not received well by some other commenters. I guess because Amia eventually reciprocated, it's okay. It's "seduction" or "foreplay." Now, obviously she gave in and I never claimed it was rape. All I was saying was that I found it unsettling that Louie never let go of Amia, even when she was trying to leave. It reinforces some really old fashioned stereotypes of "seduction" that I don't like very much at all. I don't know if Louie meant for the scenes to be different or two shades of the same thing but clearly the recreation wasn't unintentional. Ultimately, both "consented" although with Pamela, it was clearly against her wishes. Giving in was a way to get out and not make the situation uglier. So I'm very interested where he takes this the rest of the season because there is some kind of theme going on, I just am not sure what it is.

Right. True Detective is probably HBO's best shot at some drama wins. Boardwalk Empire is past its Emmy prime and Game of Thrones appears to be too genre-y. I think only Peter D has a win. In the movies/mini-series category, HBO can throw its support behind The Normal Heart which I think will get plenty of acting nominations. I agree with the Martin Freeman praise. The transformation was perfect and he did even out the accent which happens the more exposure to other accents someone gets. But one thing I liked his his physicality in the way he was standing and talking. I'm specifically thinking of the stance he had when Molly looked in the window into the insurance office. It was just a small but great touch.

At this point it's Pamela who I don't want to cave. I'm kind of interested in seeing where this is going. I didn't like last week's scene with Amia but having such a similar scene with Pamela makes me wonder if there is a larger theme at play here that won't end in justification for Louie's behavior. The comedy bit he chose tonight makes me hopeful but we'll see. I had higher hopes for the end of the Louie/Amia relationship but those never materialized.

John is scheduled to be on Letterman tomorrow night.

John has proven himself to be a fast learner or adjuster. It only took him about a week (4 shows) as the anchor at TDS to find his groove there and each LWT show seems to improve. I absolutely love this show and I wonder if HBO will ever add another night. The net neutrality thing was brilliant and I love how it just built to Oliver "unleashing the monsters." Just a thing of beauty.

I love Newhart's as well. It may have been somewhat done once before, but the nostalgic twist definitely added something unique. A finale that probably isn't one that is at the top of many people's lists because the sitcom in general kind of got lost in NBC's plethora of celebrated Thursday night comedies but I'd nominate Wings for "Best finale." I can't think of a comedy that introduced a theme/thesis in its pilot, went through 7/8 seasons and was able to come back to it and stick the landing quite in the way Wings did. For all the great Thursday night comedies, none come anywhere near to satisfying me as much as the Wings finale does. I think the closest is actually Seinfeld because it was so bizarre. It's just the execution wasn't as sharp as it could have been. HIMYM is the opposite of Wings. It tried to go back to its early premise even though the show had completely moved beyond it. At some point I knew I was wasting my time watching HIMYM in the latter seasons but I hoped the finale could bring it home. Instead, it literally turned out to be a waste of time. Dexter--oof. Another one where I should have stopped watching earlier than I did. When will I learn that bad seasons likely will mean bad finales? Right. I don't know if it's because I'm a contrarian but for some reason I can accept this finale even if it leaves me feeling sad. The Sopranos finale is another one I kind of liked.

I find that interesting because I didn't get that vibe at all. He was the protagonist, for sure, but I think there were a lot of heroes in this show. But then again, it depends on how you define "movie star." I think the only person in this movie whose "movie star" status interfered a bit with the story, even though I thought she was good in her role, was Julia Roberts. Love her or hate her, she is a movie star. I've always just seen Mark Ruffalo as a guy who just happens to make his career in movies. I know he plays the Hulk in super hero movies but for the most part, he's supporting (as he mostly is in those movies) or leading in indies. I think the percentage of people who could recognize him off the bat is much much lower than Julia Roberts. Hell, I'd bet more people could recognize/identify Jim Parsons than could recognize Ruffalo. Now, I'm sure Ruffalo's casting may have helped get this film made but it wasn't on the level of Matt Damon or Michael Douglas for Behind the Candelabra. Ryan White and Elizabeth Glaser were likely the duo that started to scare America. They were seen as "blameless" in that they weren't doing drugs or weren't homosexuals. It's sad but it's not uncommon for people to start caring once they see themselves in the victims. And then Magicc Johnson did a lot in basically dispelling the safety net of that asshole in the White House who was interrogating Ned about men not being able to get it from women.

Yeah, I think you bring up some of the problems with being on a "Team" in this love triangle. I like to watch all three characters but I think Richie is the one I like because he's pretty purely awesome. Patrick, I like because I think his struggle is interesting and he can be sweet but I think his classicism is unattractive. And Kevin is so charming but I have taken issue with how he has behaved as a boss. I think my hopes are that next season Richie is allowed to date other people while Patrick & Kevin go through the messy relationship they're about to go through. Then I'll decide if I want a Richie/Patrick reunion. Ultimately, I think I would because I love watching them together but not if nothing changes.

This might be a good place to keep up with the cast as they start production later this summer. Lauren Weedman was nominated for "Best Guest Actress in a Comedy Series" by the Critics' Choice Awards. http://www.eonline.com/news/546029/breaking-bad-true-detective-game-of-thrones-and-more-lead-2014-critics-choice-tv-noms

As you said, it's the general plot line. The performance could have been shriller, I guess. In many of his interviews, Ruffalo was careful to point out that his interpretation of the material was that it was all out of love and the love did lead his performance. I haven't seen other performances. There is definitely room to play up the more "bad" aspects of Ned's personality compared to the more "palatable" aspects and still give an equally compelling, perhaps even moreso, performance. However, I didn't think Mark's approach undercut the writing or the denouement of the Gay Men's Health Crisis aspect of movie at all. Some of the reasons they parted ways with Weeks were due to his personality. But most of the reasons listed were directly related to specific actions he took on behalf of the GMHC. His tendency for public outrage didn't seem to mesh with the rest of the board. Bringing camera crews to the site without warning, regardless of the wishes of the closeted president, could definitely earn antipathy even if it wasn't done in anger but rather out of a true belief that he was doing the right thing. That's where the arrogance comes in. Arrogance can be loud or quiet and I think Mark played both. So personally, the performance absolutely did work for me and I believed the story because it rang true. They started out with the same goal but as the GMHC started to evolve as an organization, the rifts in their approach, heck even their philosophies, led to a split. Kramer went on to form Act Up where he was able to focus on his true passion of advocacy, or "fighting for the living." And Act Up eventually evolved too and TAG split off from it when their approach to tackling the search for the cure didn't completely align with Act Up any longer.

I agree. Glee is in this category for me too. For the first half of the first season, it worked. But then it stopped working. But when it comes to "so much untapped potential" hate-watching, I'd like to submit Smash. Smash's had issues, even in its pilot. But the pilot, overall, was enjoyable and held a lot of promise. So the hope was that once they went into production, they'd highlight the good and tone down the bad. They didn't. They doubled down on the bad. And when they got a second season, I had hoped they'd listen to the critics and criticisms to correct their mistakes. Instead, they quadrupled their bad quotient. But the character of Ivy was awesome so I watched...but I hate watched. I agree with so many already mentioned but I think I might put The West Wing in here. The first Sorkin-less season, the fifth, was so miserably awful and dreary that I was very mad...and sad. The fact that it somehow pulled itself back up and morphed into something I looked forward to watching in its seventh season is something of a miracle but that doesn't change how I feel about the fifth season.