This never happened/It is happening again

I made it and I’m not sorry. To see my more in-depth work on Twin Peaks, head to The A.V. Club, where I’m reviewing the revival weekly.

rare as a unicorn

My favorite typo to date: unicornically and unironically are two different words, insofar as one is a word and the other is a delight.

handpicked

Posh citrus company, “navels handpicked” is not as appetizing a headline as you might imagine. This is why you hire editors.

BOOM!

Maria Bamford (Photo: Saeed Adyani/Netflix)

Kate Kulzick and Noel Kirkpatrick invited me back to The Televerse to talk about Lady Dynamite, Maria Bamford, and a weirdly reassuring comedy about mental-health troubles. You can also read my episodic reviews of Lady Dynamite at The A.V. Club — and I hope you will! The show is enormously entertaining, smart, and thoughtful. Reviewing it was a pleasure and an honor.

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it me

[editor offers me a chance to GET REAL ANGRY about sexism]

me:

me:

me:

me, after submitting draft: “Did I go too far? [sees editor’s title, snorts with laughter] I DIDN’T GO TOO FAR ENOUGH!”

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Lady Dynamite masters the art of doing nothing

There has to be a middle ground between Maria’s frantic tendency to overextend, her sluggardly loafing, and her resentful lashing out at people who drive her to achieve. But tryin’ is for chumps, so in “Loaf Coach,” she learns the art of doing nothing. Read my full review at The A.V. Club.

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these kids today

American Horror Story: Hotel worries about these kids today, with their Instagram and their entitlement and their Oedipal fixations, when it should really be worrying about the adults’ misguided efforts, and also American Horror Story: Hotel just wishes you would just call if you’re going to be out late, that’s all, it doesn’t seem like a lot to ask, but AHS: Hotel doesn’t like to make a fuss so if you can’t be considerate it will just sit over here and not complain, not even a peep.

silver lining

No, thesaurus, I didn’t mean “self-loving,” but it’s nice that you feel good about yourself, anyhow.

glory

This is one of my favorite pieces, springing unexpectedly from my A.V. Club assignment to review the bawdy, sometimes brutal, sensitively balanced Review, starring Andy Daly.

I didn’t expect my review of the season two premiere to delve into how Forrest MacNeil (Daly) uses his job reviewing life experiences as a pretext for escaping his own life, abdicating decisions and destiny both to the hands of random viewers, boxing off his actions from their consequences. Review allows Forrest to pursue adventures and debauchery without acknowledging how his own desires drive his behavior or how his detachment from his own culpability puts walls between him and the people he loves. Review lets Forrest put his life in a box… or, in this episode, in a hole.

Suzanne, Forrest’s ex-wife (Jessica St. Clair) [Comedy Central]

Forrest is right about one thing: It’s possible to find meaning in the most unexpected places, and in assignments that sometimes seem random.

Key & Peele: take care of your own note

At The A.V. Club, I review Key & Peele’s “Severed Head Showcase,” an episode that asks who’s in charge, what we value, and why.