Luciaphile

I am mainlining the stuff on Netflix. Actually the laugh track is the least of my issues. The general lack of continuity is more of an issue and I had forgotten how much Alda grates in large doses. McLean Stevenson's comic genius, though, never palls.

Mary's second apartment, albeit with no furniture

A while back, I mentioned the Columbo podcast, Just One More Thing. I've been listening faithfully and aside from one disastrous episode, I've really come to enjoy listening to their episodes. It looks like they'll be on hiatus for a bit, but in the meantime, I can recommend checking them out. They've figured out some stuff and it's a lot smoother than they were at the start.

My relatives and parents used to do singalongs at Christmas and stuff at parties. Charades were de rigeur till I was well into my teens at most of our gatherings. Would have been in the 70s.

It's hard to just pick one favorite episode. I never watch the color episodes anymore. The magic just wasn't there. The ones I love are Opie the Birdman, Mr. McBeevee, the Fun Girls one, Man in a Hurry, and The Shoplifter -- because Barney posing as a mannequin is just brilliant.

I think the problem was largely how he was written. Hard to do much with a part like that.

I didn't think we were supposed to find McDowell's character sympathetic at all. He was depicted visually at least as slightly racist. He was horrible to poor Anne Francis and he was downright obnoxious. I think he's like the Robert Conrad's gym magnate/health nut--just one of those characters we're supposed to want Columbo to bring down.

Sansa Stannis Arya are my picks. I don't really care about the Greyjoys except for Asha. Dany can stay in Essos for all I care and like someone above, I think the Lannisters' fate is a foregone conclusion. I am curious about Margaery, Brienne, and a few others), but the rest....

Well, I guess I'll find out when I get my order, but according to this site, there 24 total movies after the 7th season. Updated to add - yep, it's the full set including the pilot movies.

"Today only, save 67% on "Columbo: The Complete Series" on DVD. For the first time ever enjoy all 69 episodes from Columbo's seven seasons and all 24 television movies together in this 34-disc anthology." The special features also indicates it's got the movies too.

There's a flash sale of the complete series for $49.99 on Amazon. I'm not that excited about the 1990s movies, but the rest of them . . .

Regarding Margaery, it strikes me as a possibility that she's going to have to become a silent sister or whatever they're called to survive. Just a thought. Which would suck for her because book or show, I don't think that's her thing. She's gone the full pious route, though, which is probably the only route left to her. I think she serves to demonstrate the point, that if you were a woman in that kind of society, you can play the game as well as you want, but your status is limited and it takes very little to send you hurtling toward an unpleasant or awful fate. But in any case, if he is really thinking end game, it seems likely that all of this politicking needs to become so obviously miniscule with the threat of the White Walkers. The thing is he seems to be in the weeds so I don't know when and if that's going to happen.

I watched it on my lunch hour. Shera Danese plays the secretary/mistress of the husband of the murder victim and she's on the screen for less than a minute.

I think she was pretty much a bit player in the Shatner one. You can see her in these screenshots here.

Oh, I think everyone is panicking. The show people are prepping for end-game. I have heard from a friend of a friend kind of thing (sorry, I know that's suspect and not particularly convincing) that they have 7 seasons total. And the rumor I heard from the same friend of a friend is that it's probably going to be 8 books. Can someone explain about this business about Shaggy Dog? I missed something somewhere...

I thought this was amazing.

Ah, you are talking about Honor Blackman, probably more well known for playing Pussy Galore in Goldfinger and Cathy Gale on the Avengers. Richard Basehart, who started out in some very good film noirs, played her husband. I think his career in Hollywood got derailed when he moved to Italy with his wife Valentina Cortese and then by some rather serious tax problems. I liked them in this, but I get what your saying. There's a hysteria to Blackman's performance in particular. Wilfrid Hyde-White comes off much better in the episode.

Oh, I quite liked the Faye Dunaway one. I thought Falk and Dunaway brought their A game and the thing totally worked for me.

I'm not sure if this is the appropriate place to put this, but I stumbled over a new Columbo-centered podcast. They've done Swan Song (the Johnny Cash/Ida Lupino one) and Fade Into Murder (William Shatner). It's a bit rough so far and they haven't done a ton of research, but I'm enjoying them.

What I did like in this was the relationship between Eddie Albert and Suzanne Pleshette.The iffy plot aside, I thought that was well done and that the actors did a good job selling that their characters were falling in love with each other.

As many problems as I have with the adaptation, I rather like Roose looking so ordinary (esp. in a hot dad kind of way). That's partially what makes him so scary. If you rewatch his scenes in Season 2 for example, there he is sounding for all the world like a perfectly reasonable if ruthless soldier. And then you really listen and the hints that something is off are there. It's a portrayal and a performance that builds. I would imagine that's only going to get more intense as the story progresses.

I wouldn't mind if we got to see some more of Roose and to paraphrase a line from a Barbara Paul novel, I mean that in more than one sense, before he meets whatever fate GRRM has in store for him.

I think that's because Roose is more of a gameplayer than Ramsay is. Ramsay's torturing of Theon no matter what he claims, seems to have been done for personal satisfaction (creating a terrified but slave was a side benefit to him). Roose looks at people much more pragmatically. They are game pieces. Theon would have gotten him Moat Caillin (probably with less effort too). That's probably a weakness for Ramsay down the road. He takes things personally. Roose probably doesn't care.

The locations were almost always magnificent and interesting. What fascinates me too is the look at what was at that time cutting edge technology.

This blew me away and this person does some great work too.