It's what they do. Because they're bitter, little, hairless fucks.Nobody loves his work more than I...I call him my fake husband out in a virtual public, at least(one would hope that if I met the man I could restrain myself of that temptation, as well as some others involving candy burdens and such) Any criticism you offer comes from a position of great respect, and I don't think it undermines a man's whole oeuvre to say that one episode of one show(That he didn't write, incidentally) was off tonally, or didn't show sufficient respect for...some sensitive sequences. We don't judge Joss' whole career by say, "Bad Eggs" or Doublemeat Palace. I read what you wrote, Hayden, and while I don't agree 100%, it was not jerkoff criticism of the "Simon has jumped the shark," or "Dude, I could have written that," or "Another Jew getting paid exploiting the black experience," varieties that really fucking piss me off and make me wonder how Lippman has one moment to write so much.(I'm still mad at some feature writer at The Atlantic for writing that "Simon's cursing belies his comfortable upbringing in Blah Suburbs, Maryland,"(I'm still not sure what that means, actually. Half my life I was middle-class...does that give me A-F or what?_ All writers on one level like having our metaphorical dicks sucked, but I think Simon is the last one to crave empty hagiography. Stand strong, bunk.

And I just noticed I put dick sucking and hagiography in the same comment...there could not be a bigger indicator of a Simon influence. heh.

Thanks, Erika. Next time, I remember that the loudest AVC commenters have trouble with reading comprehension.

They are also blinded by the screenplays in their sock drawers...*their* magazines did not get a Wire shout-out. Yours did.(Tell them that...their heads will burst like Peeps in a microwave.) Which still makes me feel cool by extension. And makes me happy when I see "pepper steak" on a menu. This is like old times, huh? Being the reason why there is a Premium thread...(pulls out orange couch and sits on it.)

Fanboys/girls exist everywhere. For me, I'm of the dedicated ilk who can love a writer/performer/show to absolute death and still be extremely critical. In fact, I become more critical the more I love something-- blind acceptance/dithering does no one any good and those cats-- the true professioanls-- know it better than anyone.

Unlike say, Justn Beiber, that little twat, who got his knickers in a twist because an award-winning, highly respected actress called him a brat for less-than-professional behavior on set.

And I say all this not having seen last night's ep, yet, but knowing what's got folks howling. (The Slate piece was actually pretty good- very measured in what they thought worked and what didn't.) This just happens to be one of my particular hot buttons.

Of course, THAT is why Jamie Lannister looks so gall darned familiar. I *loved* New Amsterdam. Plenty of gratuitous shots of him swimming nekkid. That was some fine network television.

I'll check out the Slate piece. Matt Zoller Seitz over at Salon had many of the same problems I did, although he expressed them better. His comments are full of the same fanboys.

Actually, Hayden, it was Salon. I don't know why I said Slate. D'uh. Don't mind me-- have been buried in the manuscript all day and brain not quite functioning right.

Well, it could be Slate...they write those, sometimes. Nobody they've got is as smart as MSZ, though, and I'm not saying that cause he linked to me once. He plainly loves both Simon's oeuvre and "Treme" in particular...if he didn't, he wouldn't care.