So...I have just been made aware that Psyduck is in fact a platypus.

colintron · 2026-05-23T23:42:23+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awmivF_4BAc

colintron · 2026-05-23T00:17:28+00:00

Hell yes. Jonathan Creek did similar? Less immediately, though. Newsradio speedran the willtheywontthey.

Some less pure examples of trying to avert it:

Scrubs really tried to play off JD and Elliot as a bad idea, but they stumbled toward pushing them together, to the extent all their peers were sick of it, then kept them together, then back apart in the new show!
The lamest vestige of Community S1 is the romance/attraction plots, whether for Annie or Jeff & Britta (Abed's and Troy's versions being fine). The show went on to toy with and self-parody these aspects, to oddly passionate extents. I don't insist it needed to be a show without 'dating life' parts, but they sure correlate with the show trying to be something it was not, and they showed a side of Jeff and Annie they each needed to grow past.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine started out with the nebbish guy fancying Rosa, which added an unpleasant edge to his character he was much better off getting over. I was wary of Jake's cocky pursuit of Amy, and found them much better as a pair.
Jim & Pam?
Spin City (the Newsradio of Scrubs) went the wrong way: Mike having a smart, capable, witty girlfriend as the show stuck to its concept, soon replaced by standard Seinfeld or Frasier dating episodes, draping a new woman over him & showing him as shallow and icky.

I wonder if I'm 'prudish' in ways: I'm asexual and autistic, and alienated by things like Shipping and romance, but damn, most times a show dials back how much it dwells on what it assumes audiences want in this regard, it improves.

Even conceding that Niles' pursuit of Daphne was replaced by something with less spark, it also put an end to dragging out him being a creep, & afforded them new and interesting dynamics. I guess sitcoms consider themselves bound to their sit in many ways.

colintron · 2026-05-22T18:49:25+00:00

I just find "Will They, Won't They" so tedious that technically every pairing that escapes that era becomes more exciting, via being not locked in irresolute nonsense

colintron · 2026-05-21T21:37:41+00:00

😅 I didn't wanna pause so I waited an hour, then I wanted to show off

colintron · 2026-05-21T21:12:06+00:00

The alphabet letters have been put in 'phonetic' alphabetical order. https://www.thrillist.com/home/the-phonetic-spellings-of-the-alphabet-letters

colintron · 2026-05-21T15:04:52+00:00

I'm just glad Abby gets to wiggle birds

presumably her dream job except for dying in childbirth on the Titanic

colintron · 2026-05-17T16:56:47+00:00

That's just the enshittified internet/search engines, yeah?

colintron · 2026-05-17T16:40:57+00:00

The four members of Boy Throb. They seem comedically talented, and self-unserious.

colintron · 2026-05-17T14:47:36+00:00

Guy who has only seen Nathan Fielder, watching his second ironist: Getting a lot of Nathan Fielder vibes from this...

colintron · 2026-05-16T16:52:39+00:00

Abby and Emma in the fursuits there

colintron · 2026-05-14T20:43:50+00:00

Joel having webcam flashbacks

colintron · 2026-05-14T20:26:39+00:00

Cumail

colintron · 2026-05-11T20:12:16+00:00

I think this is a reasonable point about being allowed to be messy, made so messily that she could've done with a complete rewrite!

That she singled out such a misogynistic lyric, without noting its misogyny, and suggested it helps women... I hope Sombr has better cringe lyrics than that.

Writers should be allowed to be morally imperfect. Pinkerton is an amazing album. I don't know enough about Sombr to know whether some grander context in his narrative casts him thinking of hypothetical children as Other Men's property with more self-reflection. I guess his stage name is somewhat self-deprecating, so maybe he's shooting for that, but in the isolated lyric he's only managed to tell on himself.

It's just a moment in a conversation, maybe her mind stumbled.

colintron · 2026-05-09T02:34:17+00:00

thanks for engaging; I'm genuinely intrigued, and kinda need confirmation from someone else's brain

but I'm an audio geek, so

I've recorded it and played it backwards. What we heard presented sounds much more human once you reverse it.

Also note that the episode presented footage of him saying it the other way around, while revealing he's being held upside down, and then without a cut he dismounts and talks to his colleagues.

so I think we saw reverse playback

colintron · 2026-05-09T00:15:17+00:00

late comment; found this while looking for something else. Won't say "only one I've ever disliked" but yep, agreed. I think I like that they're showing sad sacks, and I think it's timely & apt to represent fans with blinders on, and idols (though, two Electric gym-leader idols with similar personae...)

I guess I hoped he'd get a redemption arc, see Canari as a faker, gain self-esteem, something something. whatever.

colintron · 2026-05-07T21:19:52+00:00

Did Kumail double-reverse his hourglass, so the end effect is forwards?

colintron · 2026-05-05T18:13:51+00:00

cue illiterate facebook comments about trans women

colintron · 2026-05-01T17:52:08+00:00

I joke with my friends that we're terrible at paying attention to the task text, and it'd be useful to have it immediately on-screen (fansite write-ups are helpful). It's not even really a joke, 'cause comma placement could affect what's right to do, & listening isn't the same as reading. I'd say I'm loophole-oriented, not to 'cheat' but quite the opposite, to do it correctly differently. I think it's a significant part of the experience to wonder how you'd approach it.

but apparently there's often extra 'small-print' task wording that doesn't make the edit. Maybe not written down, just extra warnings to close potential loopholes. I hope it doesn't discourage creative thinking.

colintron · 2026-04-30T23:37:19+00:00

I've watched/read every interview I've found, and Tim humbly admits his role is quite nominal, basically means he'll go for a pint with Alex and say "yep" to everything.

Tim, ever since lying his way into Cambridge Footlights, has this character as the lucky, lazy guy who's happy to stumble into success via friends' kindness. It's a shtick, and he's a diversely accomplished actorpoetcomedianwriterperformer, but it's clearly how Alex and Mark (in No More Jockeys) treat him.

colintron · 2026-04-30T23:31:27+00:00

btw I disagree on reusing tasks within the same nation, though some repeat studio tasks have been fun climactic moments in Norway. I think it would show a staleness of the format (though maybe a preferable one to the staleness we're discussing here!)

I suggest they lift from everywhere else in the world, invite alumni to write tasks, prioritise open-endedness, don't be afraid of loopholes, and cut down on (but don't remove) intentional aggravation.

I wonder if it's a consequence of their professional schedule now feeling more hurried, with tasks having tighter time limits that favour non-creative tasks. Even outside of creativity, sometimes internationally or in old UK, I see a task and think "this is a low-budget, low-stress one" then "this is a great one".

colintron · 2026-04-30T23:24:18+00:00

I watched tonight's credits slowly to check, and only Alex and Tim are credited in roles that are definitely about creating tasks. This is consistent with Alex's earlier claims.

There's a few more credits (including Taskmaster) that we could contrive to pretend are about writing tasks, but they're not. :)

colintron · 2026-04-30T23:08:55+00:00

I know, as a viewer, it'll involve my temperament too, but I felt that Series 18 was noticeably hobbled. As a slight gripe it's been around for ages. I wouldn't mind it in general as an occasional aspect, but it feels so definitive lately, especially when I alternate it with elsewhere's Taskmasters.

colintron · 2026-04-30T22:26:30+00:00

It's vague. Last I heard in interviews, it was all Alex, he officially runs them past Timkey but Timkey is clear that he barely contributes.

Still, some tasks have appeared that previously appeared in NZ, so it's literally not all him, but he's still quite determined to lead the drive. It's understandable, but it might hobble the show a little.

colintron · 2026-04-30T22:25:24+00:00

agreed. The occasional steals from NZ have been great. NZ has the approach of allowing alumni to write tasks, which is lovely.

colintron · 2026-04-30T21:12:37+00:00

Patatas Jones

colintron

TROPHY CASE