Inquisitionist

T is for the Tortellis. 'Nuff said.

Hmmmm.... Pantusso and Peterson were already noted under their first names, so... P is for Paul, a stalwart of the bar. He knows all the lyrics to the Bonanza theme song! And also what Sumner did to Diane, which is why she ended up working at Cheers to begin with!

L is for Lilith Sternin, M.D., Ph.D., Ed.D., A.P.A., Funny Valentine.

Me, too! Now I always pad the time by 15 minutes, e.g., if I want to leave our house by 9:30 in the morning, I ask him to be ready by 9:15. But... a situation comedy is supposed to exaggerate real life! If sitcom characters always acted rationally, there would be no show. ;-)

I is for David Isaacs, who co-wrote many Cheers episodes, including Truce or Consequences.

F is for Fred Dryer, who played Dave Richards, and was in the running to play Sam Malone. "Good night and remember: the world is full of winners and loser. Here's hoping you're one of them."

We'll never know what role, if any, the Parkinson's diagnosis played in RW's decision to end his life. I would not presume to think that talking to any one person would have made a difference.

But weren't all the SatC abortions in the past? I feel like the show copped out when it came to Miranda's unexpected pregnancy by having her actually schedule the abortion and then change her mind. 30something did the same thing in the late 1980s/early 90s with the Susanna character. The only TV characters I can recall having an abortion as part of a current storyline were Maude (of the show Maude, if anyone didn't know that!) and Helen Hunt's guest star character on St. Elsewhere.

I don't mind that this is out there -- people are free to ignore it. But the trolls who sent Robin's daughter photo-shopped "depictions" of her father's death are beyond despicable.

Just read that. Ms. Bacall had a good run, and she worked pretty much right up until the end. Haven't seen many of her movies, but she was an institution.

I've always thought the answer is "because I can no longer stand the pain of living." It's hard for most of us to imagine being in such a state, but it's the only reason that makes sense to me. When Brad Delp of Boston took his own life in 2007, he had clipped a note to his shirt saying "Mr. Brad Delp. Jai une ame salitaire. I am a lonely soul.” He left another note saying “I take complete and sole responsibility for my present situation. I have lost my desire to live,” and his fiancée reported that Delp “had been depressed for some time, ... feeling emotional [and] bad about himself.” I think we can infer something similar with Mr. Williams.

I'm planning to rewatch that as soon as I have time. Meanwhile, here is a little clip from youtube. (Yes, that's a very young Jake Gyllenhaal playing his son.)

Robin Williams was a comedic genius for sure, but a fine dramatic actor as well. I'll be pulling out my DVDs of Homicide: Life on the Street tonight or tomorrow to rewatch his guest-starring role in 1994's Bop Gun. Here is a clip, with a very young Jake Gyllenhaal as his son. RIP, Mr. Williams.

Because they have to be first! ::eyeroll:: Seinfeld had a storyline about this with George as well.

I get the feeling that this may occurred in part because Timothy Olyphant himself wanted to take more of a back-seat last season. But with just one season to go, I hope he has overcome that hesitation and is ready to go full-bore Raylon (and Boyd) next year!

What's worse is that I don't think the writers ever figured him out either. :-(

Slightly OT, but the best City Hall wedding I've seen on TV/film was Liz Lemon's wedding with Criss Chross on 30 Rock. Liz dressed as Princess Leia. Video clip here.

I had seen the movie first and found it intriguing. It's a testament to Yates's writing, however, that the imagines of Kate and Leo left my mind within the first few pages of reading. Frank and April became new characters in my mind, very separate from the movie portrayals.

I read Revolutionary Road last year. Outstanding.

It's been a while since I saw the movie, but didn't it present Carrie as being a little ambivalent about the wedding herself at first? She started out being fine with a small affair at City Hall. Then Vivienne Westwood gave her that horror (IMO) of a wedding dress and having a wedding that "lived up to" that dress (gag me) became more important, apparently, than considering her fiancé's feelings. While he's busy building her the closet of her dreams in a gorgeous penthouse apartment, she's hiding from him the fact that the wedding is becoming something he doesn't want. Blerg.

Finally caught this, quite by accident, when it re-aired on Aug. 1. Loved all the kind things people had to say about Jane's generosity and friendship, starting with Meryl Streep. Good tribute.

I met Stephen (and Paul Dinello and Amy Sedaris) at a book-signing after their performance of Wigfield in Somerville, MA back in 2003. Way cool experience!

Which is really pretty ridiculous. Carrie could have had the same payment terms with Big that she did with Charlotte, and as others pointed out, Big could better afford the financial hit if Carrie failed to repay the loan. I don't think anyone was forced to act as he or she did, but subtle pressure was applied, starting with Miranda and Samantha inappropriately (IMO) offering Carrie money in front of Charlotte. This put Charlotte in an awkward position. Yes, she could have handled it much better than looking away and pretending not to even hear, but she wouldn't have been in that situation at all if Miranda had more tact. What bugs me is that the writers' solution was for Charlotte to "grow" by giving up the engagement ring she loved so she could loan the money to Carrie against her own better judgment. And we're supposed to (I guess) applaud Carrie for her forthright honesty, that didn't result in her technically demanding or even asking for a loan from Charlotte, but that had the end result of getting the money out of her anyway. It just didn't sit right with me that Carrie's absurd (again IMO) sense of entitlement about that apartment (which she had enjoyed at below market rental rates for many years) should be resolved so neatly for her. (One last peeve: Why Miranda, who had to point out to Carrie that 100 pairs of shoes at $400 a pop equals $40,000 -- not $4,000 -- and who had a baby on the way with all the expenses that entails would even think to offer Carrie a loan of $15,000 boggles my mind. She should have offered Carrie no more than one free session with a financial advisor!)

"Time will tell if pants will be crapped." Thanks for that image!

The birthday party storyline was over-the-top and, IMO, not something Debra would actually do. But I think that in most other instances cited above, Ray turned something that should have been about Ray-and-Debra as a couple into something about him. The PMS thing in particular grates on me -- if you want to really help someone, you ask what they need and try to do it. Ray didn't want to help, he wanted Debra's "problem" to magically disappear. Debra constantly asked Ray to simple things that would lessen her burden around the house, such as putting his dirty clothes in the hamper and taking more interest in his children. So PMS made her lash out a bit and act "snippy" in front of his friends -- big whoop. Ray had the attitude that every hour at home was his leisure time. When was Debra's leisure time supposed to happen? "Idiot" was going too easy on him. :-) And the charity work thing: it's been a while since I've seen it, but didn't it turn into Ray "volunteering" excessively because he grooved on a sense of validation from the patients at the hospital? It became another form of entertainment for him, another "excuse" to get out of his responsibilities at home. It's like the guy has no sense of moderation.