Danny Franks

Honestly, anyone who claims they like watching iso-heavy basketball by teams that just want to get to the line and shoot free throws, over the way the Warriors play, is in complete denial. It's no surprise that the Warriors are great for television ratings. They're exciting to watch - their ball movement, speed, shooting, ability to switch on offense and defense, and the personalities of the players.

That's my favourite season. Elizabeth was a lot of fun when she first arrived, and dragged some real personality out of Benton. Anna was a big favourite of mine, and I still think it's such a shame that Maria Bello didn't want to continue on the show. It's also a season where Carter manages to balance between being a good guy and being a self-righteous ass pretty well. Carol opens the clinic and seems to have real drive and purpose. Mark returns to form after his traumatic attack, even Doug isn't too navel-gazing and self-hating. Seasons two and three are close behind, and season six was actually pretty great too.

My girlfriend watches this and I just find it less and less believable that a bunch of middle aged characters still behave like horny twentysomethings. It seems like every time I look up from whatever I'm doing, half the characters have different partners than they had ten minutes ago.

Yeah, her role in Spider-Man: Homecoming was very well judged. A lot of high profile young actors would have been cast in the love interest role there, not the wisecracking tertiary character. But all the potential was in the latter role, and both Zendaya and the producers knew it. It's interesting that she's a Disney girl, but most of her high profile roles have been the opposite of the sort of sunny, plucky heroine that Disney is famous for. Her characters are often sullen, downbeat, very insular, and it allows for more acting range.

Great to see the Warriors back in the finals. I'm sure that plenty of people will want those upstart underdogs, the Boston Celtics, to beat this dynasty that makes basketball so boring and finally get a shot at the championship, huh?

I've no clue about Supernatural, but I remember Stephen Amell's wife getting some hate from the crazier Arrow fans who were obsessed with the notion that Amell and Emily Bett Rickards should be a real life couple. Of course, the inconvenient fact that Amell was married wasn't the only obstacle to that one.

Wouldn't it be just like the Warriors to turn Moody, Kuminga and (less likely) Wiseman into stars to join Jordan Poole, just as Steph, Klay and Draymond are getting to the end of their careers? They know how to develop players over there, and seem to be able to identify the personality types that will thrive in their environment. This Heat/Celtics series is so back and forth. I don't know what the hell happened to Jimmy Butler last night, but you really don't want your main guy putting up a statline like that in game four of the Conference Finals.

Rogue One was the best Star Wars movie of the last thirty years (arguably the best Star Wars movie, full stop) and it didn't rely on the Jedi at all. One character who says some spiritual things and Vader's cameo and that's it. Everything else was about plucky rebels up against the odds and finding ways to win. That was the charm of the original Star Wars movie too. The franchise being so overtaken by All Jedi, All the Time has been to its huge detriment, in my opinion. The prequels were just all about the Jedi and they were so staid and stuffy and made the mysterious order, that seemed pretty cool when Luke was learning bits and pieces, so fucking lame. A bunch of blinkered guys in robes, walking around and talking faux-philosophical nothings. I don't know why Lucas decided that Jedi should be an order of emotionless warrior monks who are supposed to be above all material squabbles, but I don't see how that makes for entertaining stories. Space fantasy should be about adventure and romance and excitement, not "love is bad because it makes you turn evil... and let's just sit and think for a while before we do anything." (also, I'll never stop rolling my eyes that Lucas decided the official Jedi outfit would be the desert robes that Obi Wan - and Uncle Owen - wore on Tatooine) I think JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson kind of understood this, but felt too beholden to the Jedi concept to really get away from it, so we were left with this muddled, unsure idea of what the Jedi should be. They couldn't reject the Jedi without enraging the fanbase, but they didn't want to embrace the concepts set up by the prequels either.

The Mavericks' bench potentially risking injuries to players by crowding onto the court bothers me. They've been fined more than once and, apparently, Mark Cuban encourages them to do it. They need to have technical fouls called on them. And why do they have so many useless players on the roster, who don't even suit up for games?

Okay, so Blood Meridian is thoroughly unpleasant to read. Maybe it is literarily worthy, but I would look askance at anyone who said they enjoyed it. Every character is awful (you never get any hint of internal motivation so all you can do is judge their actions), and the callous brutality towards other people and, especially, to animals is a real fucking downer. Shooting dogs, letting horses die of thirst or beating them to death with rocks, killing and cooking a new-born foal, shooting bulls that randomly decide to attack a large group of men on horseback and more, McCarthy felt the need to include it and cover it in more detail than he ever gives any of the characters.

I've said before that when I rewatch the show now, there's something that's lost when Susan leaves. In the first couple of seasons she's such a strong character, and you root for her so much that I feel like she should have been the focal point of the show, rather than Mark. Sherry Stringfield is so charismatic and fun in those seasons, and bounces off all the other characters really well - friendship/latent romantic feelings with Mark (glad that never went anywhere); a really nice mentoring dynamic with Carter (that had moments of tension that I liked); mischievous buds with Doug; fractious, butting heads with Kerry; low level irritation but respect for Benton. I can't help but wonder how the show might have turned out if Mark was the one who left, following Jen to Milwaukee, and Susan stayed.

I saw maybe one episode of the old MacGyver TV show when I was a kid, and thought it was really bad. Tried watching the reboot and I've managed to get about ten minutes into the first episode... is it actually worth watching or is it completely dumb and a waste of time? It originally aired on CBS, which I feel answers my question. Seems to me that every show they do is either formulaic procedural pap or stupid TV that pretends to be smart.

I will always maintain that Rian Johnson was setting up a really good story with Kylo Ren as the bad guy and Rey as the hero, but then Disney fucked it up because too many people were clamouring for Kylo Ren to be the hero (hunky white boy to the rescue!). Johnson had Ren usurp Snoke, take over the First Order, fight Luke again and seem to be coming into his full power, even if he wasn't getting over his inferiority complex. Then JJ/Disney just had Ren change his personality to be a good guy again, which meant they needed to drag Palpatine back from the dead just so they had a bad guy. I won't defend the elongated chase sequence or the casino planet, which felt like they were pulled from a Star Trek or Farscape episode, but it's not like Abrams did anything good with Finn in episode 9 either. There was a lack of planning and far too much hedging their bets in the sequel trilogy. They should have gone full bore with Rey as the hero (not necessarily calling herself a Jedi), backed up by Poe and Finn, and Kylo Ren as the villain that had to be defeated. In the end, they irritated everyone by trying to please everyone.

Mixed blessings. Charlie Cox and Krysten Ritter were great but I found Mike Colter boring as fuck and Finn Jones unwatchable to the point I only got through about three episodes of his show. I also thoroughly disliked season two of Jessica Jones to the point I didn't even watch season three. That was a shame, because season one was amazing. Of all those shows, the only one I'd be excited to see return would be Daredevil (I'd say Punisher too, but I'm sure Marvel will continue the creepy, 'heal the psychopathic killer with your love' trope that he had going with Karen Page).

The Browns can go fuck themselves. They knew all this about Watson, and waited until the second it was clear the Grand Jury wouldn't indict him to offer him the house. Even if they wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, every other athlete asked has said, 'no way do you go through that many massage therapists. You find one that you like and stick with them.' Shitty organisation makes shitty decisions shocker! Their smear job against Baker Mayfield has been pretty unpleasant to see, as well as being really dumb to badmouth a player you want to trade.

Luka seems like a cool guy. Very chill and unassuming, despite being an incredible player. I remember his pre-draft media stuff, where he talked about his dream being living in New York and dating Jennifer Aniston.

How do you make a show about the Troubles without upsetting either side? Like this. The trepidation over the Good Friday Agreement was palpable, and I remember watching the news at the time, when there was this fragile but very real hope that it might all end. The big stumbling block was always on whether people could forget the past and agree to cooperate, and I loved the scene with Erin and Joe, where he said that this decision shouldn't be about his generation and their entrenched enmity, but about the youngsters who should get to grow up in a better world. That's the most pointed critique of our current world events possible. Late in the day to introduce the idea of Michelle having a Provo brother, but it makes sense. Of all the girls, it makes sense. I guess it also lends context to them deciding to take James in, and why Deirdre is so severe all the time. I enjoyed Claire talking about the different food and culture of her exotic new home... in Strabane. Liam Neeson reprising his role to represent the collective sins of the RUC was poignant, overlaid with news clips of Bloody Sunday and the Maze prison. I liked that he took his hat off to vote, presumably voting yes. I don't know, there was a lot and I was surprisingly emotional over the 90s nostalgia and that sense of real hope, which was coming just a year after we ushered in a new era of optimistic politics in the UK. Now here we are, almost twenty five years later, and even the GFA is under threat, thanks to the UK government.

I enjoyed that. Most of the podcast chatting classes were tacitly crowning the Mavericks and Luka already. Talking about how Golden State couldn't guard him, how he'd do whatever he liked and how the Mavs defense would stifle the Warriors. I'm sure the series will have twists and turns, but this was a nice marker to put down. The Warriors, when they're on, are a different beast to any other NBA team.

Well, that was a bit of a downer to end on. I'm glad they've got the special to finish it off, because the previous two season finales managed to combine positive and negative emotions well, but this one... it was all sad. Tommy Tiernan got a moment to shine and the scene with the girls waiting at the hospital was really well done. I felt like Gerry should have just let Joe break the news to Ciaran, because the old guy is all bark and no bite. I could have done without a couple of scenes that made the episode feel a little overstuffed and rushed.

The Warriors haven't looked like they're playing playoff basketball in the last three games, coinciding with Steve Kerr being away from the team. They've just looked casual and complacent, which should not reassure the Sacramento Kings, who just hired the guy who has been in charge for those games. At least they decided to win it in the last five minutes. I have to say, the demise of the Brooklyn Nets "super team" and its components amuses me. I will never give Kyrie Irving credit for anything, when he's so proudly stupid, and the overhyping of James Harden for years seems like it might finally end now. Flashy stats don't make a winning team if you can't elevate your teammates.

I watched Reality Bites way too late. By the time I saw it, I found Ethan Hawke's character to be an unbearably smug, pretentious ass. I think that movie definitely delineates between the part of your life when being a struggling artist is romantic and when you realise that you need to just get a fucking job and support yourself.

Honestly, though, for someone like Meghan McCain, I'm glad she chose shallow celebrity rather than trading on her father's name and running for office.

I can definitely understand networks throwing money at Tom Brady, though I suspect it's not a gig he'll want to do for very long. Not only is he (unfortunately) an all-time great player, he's also pretty charismatic and witty when he lets his guard down and will be very good at breaking down plays and games to minute details, while keeping it interesting. As for why I doubt he'll do it for long, I just think he's going to want to be a head coach. I think he craves that active involvement in the game, and couldn't even make retirement stick for more than two months. I'm sure he wants to win more rings as a coach, and stamp his name indelibly on the league forever. He's also petty enough to want to prove himself better than Belichick, after Belichick decided to move on from him.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this episode. I wasn't looking forward to a flashback that didn't include the main young cast, but the actors they got to play young versions of the adults were good, especially Mary and Deirdre. The actual secret was an anti-climax. I mean, the idea of it was nice in terms of it being something a group of friends did, but it wasn't really something that anyone would make a fuss over. A couple of laugh out loud lines - Cousin Rob saying he went back to Canada because "things got a bit too bomb-y" and Claire's dad saying "ah, I wish I'd thought of that" when the surgeon said this is why he doesn't talk.

I'm starting to thoroughly dislike the Grizzlies. First, Dillon Brooks injures GPII on a play that could, at best, be described as negligently dangerous, then Morant and the head coach lie about how Morant got injured, in an attempt to smear Jordan Poole as a dirty player. On top of that, a bunch of arsehole Memphis sports reporters carried on the lie on social media, including a fucking weatherman who described Draymond as a "knuckle-dragging, open-mouth" and got upset when people pointed out that's slightly racially insensitive. Glad the Warriors squeaked a win tonight even though they played badly. Hope they wrap the series up in Memphis in a couple of days.