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Looking forward to the Henry Winkler interview. I'm always amused when I see him now, especially out of character, how when I was 6 or 7 in the mid-70s, he was not only the coolest person in the universe, but the coolest possible person in the universe.

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Mrs. Maisel’s finale went up today, too! I haven’t watched the last episode yet, but I’ve found this season to be a step up from the past few years.

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...and Barry followed by the season finale of Somebody Somewhere, itself an underrated gem

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Kind of a sad end for the CW's Arrowverse, an ambitious project that managed to pump out over seven hundred episodes of connected superhero universe and even managed to (kinda/sorta) do Crisis on Infinite Earths on a low rent TV network budget. Had you told early 80's, teenage me that such a thing would exist in the future I would have been incredulous and excited beyond measure.

It's The Flash that I feel saddest about. The first season was amazing and fun and subsequent seasons became increasingly weighed down by angst, melodrama and repetitive story lines. I became increasingly unhappy with a show I took to calling "Sad Barry, The Bummer Flash" and eventually noped out after they fired Hartley Sawyer for some decade old tweets. Dibney's journey felt like it had some of the old spark that the early Flash did and with him gone, there was nothing left for me.

I thought I would try to watch the final season as a send off for the show that, at the very least, brought me excitement by having Gorilla Grodd and King Shark in live action, but I couldn't get through the first episode. It was just more of the same stuff that prodded me to leave years ago.

In the end, Arrowverse was done in by undercooked melodrama and huge changes in the TV and streaming landscape. Goodnight, sweet prince. We'll not see your like again.

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Depending on how long the strike lasts, what the landscape becomes, and how much time you find yourself with, young Alan would probably enjoy that last season of Legends of Tomorrow. It moves on from weaker storylines of the previous season, allows the characters to do some new things, and has a solid story. It also, of course, sets up a new season that never happened, but that feels appropriate, like an 80s comic ending its run with no closure.

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May 26, 2023·edited May 26, 2023

I stuck with all the DC CW shows in large part out of an inability not to but (a) the fact that they did 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' still boggles the mind, with revisitations of old projects I would never have dared hope see in the mix, and (2) Alan, I must say, despite some caveats like Small(ville)-Universe Syndrome, the atrociously named 'Superman & Lois' is really a whole 'nother thing very worth checking out.

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Cannot think of the last time this happened to two big shows on the same night but Veep aired its series finale a week before Game of Thrones did theirs. As for broadcast TV, Friends and Frasier both ended within a week of each other in May 2004. Over the span of 10 days in May 1992, The Cosby Show and Golden Girls both aired their series finales, and then 2 weeks later MacGuyver aired it series finale.

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Since it seems that the strike will last awhile, would you still want to interview the show's creators of the recent finales after the strike or would it be too belated?

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Should I rewatch the last season of Happy Valley before starting this new one? I don't remember much about it.

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Just want to say that for anyone undergoing "Succession" withdrawal next week, a good cure would be Edward St. Aubyn's "Patrick Melrose" novels (there are six in all). Set in the world of the contemporary British aristocracy, these novels are blisteringly witty and feature characters who make the Roys seem like the Brady Bunch. I haven't yet seen the Benedict Cumberbatch TV adaptation--I'm holding off until I finish the novels.

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Quick question. Have enjoyed your work and recaps for quite a while and have followed you from Newark forward I think. But I'm an old person who will probably miss a "folding socks" show like NCIS-LosAngeles more than shows like Succession or Barry wonderful though they may be - just not my taste (not much of a Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul or Game of Thrones person either - alas way out of the mainstream on critical favorites). That said really enjoy Rian Johnson type takes like Poker Face on older formats. So my question, any critics out there to read you'd suggest who writes intelligently about the shows somebody who enjoys the 90-minute resolution Brit shows like Vera or Endeavour or even the 60 minute NCIS's or Poker Faces might enjoy reading. Often the AV Club folks or Vulture critics will deal with some of the more popular (less critically cutting edge) shows, but wondered if you might have any other suggestions. (Admittedly I'm in the demographic where when I listen to Ringer's wonderful The Watch and Big Picture and Rewatchables episodes they come ad-free because I assume the ad-folks don't want to pay for my listen.) I don't begrudge the lack of interest in these types of shows, but just wondered if you could point me in a direction other than The Guardian.

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Confess, Fletch didnt go straight to VOD, it was in theaters. I was the only one in my theater seeing it, and possibly the one in the country.... but it was technically released in theaters!

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Sally and the cop on the Barry - I thought it was because his eye was bleeding and when she heard the intruders in her house one of them was yelling about being poked in the eye so she realized he was one of them. Or maybe she was just hallucinating that the eye was bleeding and it was one of them.

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For “Succession,” I keep wondering if they’re ever going to tie the loose ends from that weird scene from an earlier episode (maybe the fourth one this season) when Gerri, Karl and Frank discuss the newfound will. It seemed clear to me that the trip somehow doctored that document - any chance that factors in to the finale?

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Re: the question of two heavyweights ending on the same night, I also can't think of anything else that qualifies. I know the Veep and Game of Thrones finales were one-week apart in May 2019 but that's not the same as literally back-to-back.

That said, wonder if this might be become a bit more common in the future now that all episodes of a show must air before May 31 to be eligible for the Emmys.

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