The TV thread

First four. Do not, under any circumstances, go beyond season four, but definitely watch those four.

 

I'd recommend watching Dexter up through 5. Julia Stiles performance in season 5, I thought, was outstanding. Makes it worth watching even if the overall story arc isn't quite as strong as 1-2.

 

One show that I'm constantly surprised at how watchable and entertaining it is is Hawaii 5-0.

 

Check out "Top of the Lake" on Netflix, a seven show BBC mini-series starring Elisabeth Moss from Mad Men and Holly Hunter. It won a Golden Globe. Written/directed by Jane Campion. It's a dark detective story, set in small town New Zealand. Beautiful settings, small town dynamics, and the NZ version of rednecks, with the plot involving a 12 year old pregnant girl disappeared, maybe murdered by the father, maybe hiding. Moss is the lead character, a female detective on sex crimes from the city, with the power/respect dynamic between her and the small town police as a backdrop. She's come home to be with her mother, who has cancer, and the case blows up while she's there.

Somewhat similar in tone to the BBC's "The Fall", with Gillian Anderson as a police detective pursuing a serial killer, another show I'd say was very much worth watching if you like police procedurals.

A second season of "Top of the Lake" has been announced, not sure when it arrives.

 

Glad to hear about the second season of "Top of the Lake". Really enjoyed that.

 

Random TV question. How is X-Files not in syndication?

 

Chris Carter sued Fox over syndication money a few years back. Not sure if it was ever resolved, but that might be the reason.

 

The X-Files is on Netflix Instant. Who needs syndication?

 

It's on some relatively obscure channel. Chiller, Thriller, something like that.

 

So I finally sat down and tried to watch the three episodes of Mullaney.

Halfway through the second episode and there's no other way to put it: This show is awful.

 

Every promo fully indicated as such.

 

Manhattan Love Story is the first network show to be canceled.

It's actually nice to see networks give shows a full month before canceling them. A couple years ago, they would have been lucky to get two weeks.