I watch The Blacklist just for James Spader.

Presumably named after the Danishes in Racine, WI.

I think it just depends on how well it's executed. In the case of TLOU, I think they could have done a wee bit more to make it clear why they're showing you what they're showing you. I think there is a very good reason for it, but that's not necessarily obvious to most viewers yet so I understand some of the frustration. (But I think people will look back differently on it when they see the big picture. I've mentioned it elsewhere, but imho audiences are far less willing to trust a show to pay off on something like that than they used to be)

Station Eleven did a lot of flashbacking back and forth, but it alternated every episode - one ep would be set largely in year zero, and the next in year twenty - and the eps were released in clusters of 3 or 2 so you got a dash of both every week. I also think it was quite a bit more deft at making both timelines feel "present", with tricks like phantom audio from one timeline bleeding into another, or Kirsten's sometimes rapidly intercut memories vs current experience.

I find the other "dramatic flashback" format way more fucking annoying, where they show you something crazy in the first scene and then flashback to showing you all the steps it took to get there.

The only thing Corden should host is a parasite.

I see you have Mr robot as your flair, just wanted to say that's a damn good show I have 5 eps left rn and it's my favorite show of all time honestly

5 dollars a month to your nearby PBS station gets you a subscription to their streaming service.

So they already have a majority of women on staff and the new hires are even more skewed towards women? How diverse!

Yes. Scratches the itch perfectly.

Corden hosts QI for a season? He could host the letter X

Prime is pretty terrible at scripted television.

He's been losing a lot of weight. Is he still fluffy enough to be Santa lol

Mythic Quest’s “Dark Quiet Death” episode is easily one of its best. It tells the story of the video game company that used the same office before MQ. Other than Lou (played by TLOU creator/writer Craig Mazin) wearing a DQD shirt, and some of the Roscoe merchandise, it isn’t discussed in the main story.

eta: The second season’s stand-alone episode, “Backstory!”, was written by Craig Mazin and was very good, but it did play into the main story as it was the backstory for F. Murray Abraham’s character.

One example that springs to mind straight away is The West Wing: mild spoiler ahead. At the end of season 1, something major happens, and the first episode of season 2 is a 2-parter with a lot of flashbacks about "how the team got together" a few years earlier. I think it was related to the fact of having a second season at all, meaning they could do a more detailed dive in to character origins.

Since The Last Of Us is a clear success, I think something similar is happening: we can now invest more in to these characters.

I think you can sum up almost every Amazon original production as this lol

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I don't think I've ever heard anyone say a bad thing about Better Call Saul.

Thanks for sharing. This was a very weird, challenging, wild show I wouldn't mind revisiting. I remember watching and thinking it would never survive, but you had to admire them for taking a big swing.

As others have said, the show plays better now that you can binge it. I agree I think others didn’t understand the ending and I think it’s easier when you can binge the show instead of waiting week after week. The mysteries are great but you really fall in love with the characters.

The Butch Cassidy show is also a franchise headed by the Russo brothers. This is why I doubt they're tied long term to the main version of Citadel, because they seemingly want to already start a new one.

I don't think this show is a "dad" show, though. It's too internationally focused for that. I don't see the dad types taking to Madden for a variety of reasons.

Yeah, the writing definitely reached for high concepts while being very clunky. The actors did a really good job which may have fooled people into thinking the writing was better.

Their main problem is that their audience tends to be older and likely more conservative. They will watch the crap out of something like The Rings of Power and Jack Ryan (The Rings of Power whopped House of the Dragon in streaming ratings every week but one) but they won't talk about it online.

The Boys is their only real water-cooler show, I think. I don't think this show will break the pattern.

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It helps slow down a story that may be moving too fast and bring it back to an emotional state vs. an action one. It lets us take a different look at certain characters with new info.

We should also be aware, these are often used to highlight a particular actor giving them an episode to star in, especially if they are not the main star or only one of many.

I signed up because Kyle Chandler was in it

Cancelled the next day. He needs to be careful.

Always Sunny, Parks and Rec, Community, and The Simpsons