Classic Coverage looks back on the episodes of past shows from a modern perspective.
It’s a good thing I’m planning on doing one big goodbye essay to The Simpsons next week, because otherwise we’d have the weirdness of ending on an incredibly horny episode about Homer and Marge’s sex life. Some people have argued … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Nine, Episode Twenty-Five, “Natural Born Kissers”
The Stakeout What does Zaheer want? A simple question that has been motivating both our heroes and villains, there’s been moments of chaos and calamity as our characters come into contact with the Red Lotus (thank God I can right … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Stakeout” & “Long Live The Queen”
“Physical Education” originally aired on NBC Thursday night, March 4, 2010 Sometimes an episode of Community succeeds because it explores a resonant theme, or it nails the tone and feel of a certain genre dead-on, or it creates an iconic … Continue reading A Community Notification For This: S1E17, “Physical Education”
Ah, but we have reached very nearly the end of our travelogue through this series, mais ous? With but two episodes to go, and having recently been through a number of episodes that felt quite different than the classic Christie … Continue reading Poirot (Classic): S13E03 “Dead Man’s Folly”
“By Any Other Name” (Star Trek: The Original Series, Season 2, Episode 21) At the time of its original airing, what set Star Trek apart from other science fiction TV properties like The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits was … Continue reading You Talking Trek to Me? – “By Any Other Name”
Note: The Roku Channel says it has the entirety of Fear Itself to watch online. However, episodes are swapped in the program order and at least one episode is missing. Family Man is that missing episode. is listed under E7: … Continue reading Fear Itself: S1E03 “Family Man”
Original Airbenders What a week. After a short hiatus for processing the world in the past seven days I’m happy to so that I’m motivated and ready to wrap up the rest of the Legend of Korra. Indeed the timing is noticeably … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “Original Airbenders” & “The Terror Within”
“When I was a boy I dreamed of two very different lives.” “Only two? I wanted hundreds.” The strangest thing about many early Farscape episodes is that the character they’re about is often not the character that they follow. “Thank … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×06, “Thank God It’s Friday, Again”
This season has squashed the characters into caricatures of themselves, and nobody has suffered that worse than Lisa; the writers know she’s supposed to be principled and idealistic, but they often fail to forget what those principles actually are, and … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Nine, Episode Twenty-Four, “Lost Our Lisa”
Once more unto the breach, dead friends! That’s right, cry havoc and let slip those hellhounds of horror! Ahehehehehehehe! “Catspaw” (Star Trek: The Original Series – Season 2, Episode 7) The Original Series was a remarkably cogent show for its … Continue reading You (Still) Spooky Trek to Me? – “Catspaw”
Fear Itself is the spiritual successor of Showtime’s Masters of Horror series. When Showtime was no longer willing to fund the anthology horror series, Lionsgate stepped in to finance a new season. The show found a new home on NBC … Continue reading Fear Itself: S1E02 “Spooked”
This is actually one of my favourite episodes, because it’s one of the purest expressions of what I find so sympathetic about Homer Simpson. In “Trash Of The Titans”, I talked about how Homer is loveable because he’s a creature … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Nine, Episode Twenty-Three, “King Of The Hill”
The Metal Clan As the title of the third season has so helpfully reminded us, one of the driving themes in The Legend of Korra is change. This is a show built on the inherent premise that it is different from … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Metal Clan” & “Old Wounds”
Zut alors, but this week’s tale of murder and mayhem possesses quite the… how do you say… “stinky aroma of badness”? Yes, “stinky aroma of badness” is what we’ll go with. In an episode that even its own writer (Mark … Continue reading Poirot (Classic): S13E02 “The Big Four”
“Communication Studies” originally aired on NBC Thursday night, February 11, 2010 Hello and thank you for coming to my TED talk about cringe comedy. Community was not a cringe comedy — arguably, to the detriment of its popularity. But that … Continue reading A Community Notification For This: S1E16, “Communication Studies”
“Impulse” (Star Trek: Enterprise – Season 3, Episode 5) A large part of the fun of doing these Halloween Star Trek recaps is in the selection of the episodes. Star Trek is of course not a horror franchise, but as … Continue reading You Spooky Trek to Me? – “Impulse”
Fear Itself is the spiritual successor of Showtime’s Masters of Horror series. When Showtime was no longer willing to fund the anthology horror series, Lionsgate stepped in to finance a new season. The show found a new home on NBC … Continue reading Fear Itself: S1E01 “The Sacrifice”
The Earth Queen The Avatar is having a bit of a legitimacy crisis. It’s an idea that’s been haunting the entire background of The Legend of Korra, but doesn’t start to bloom into a full theme until now. In a world … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Earth Queen” & “In Harm’s Way”
“Whatever your crime, exile from your own kind is atonement enough.” CN: Discussion of sexual assault. It would be unfair to say that, five episodes in, we’ve finally hit the true Farscape, because bad and uneven episodes are as much … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×05, “Back and Back and Back to the Future”
If any episode acts as a convenient and easy shorthand for the problems of season nine as a whole, it’s this one. This, more than any other, is the episode people point to as an expression of the Jerkass Homer … Continue reading The Simpsons, Season Nine, Episode Twenty-Two, “Trash Of The Titans”
A Breath of Fresh Air How one defines worth in the world of long form entertainment is a tricky thing to considered. So much of our current discourse around things like television shows or video games is hinged on a … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “A Breath of Fresh Air” & “Rebirth”
