Whenever people ask me if it's okay to stop watching "The Leftovers," I always say OF COURSE IT IS.

Just as it's unfair to review a taco stand for not being a four-star restaurant, I also have to be mindful that not every drama on TV is trying to be "The Wire."

"Star Trek" expands almost instinctively - the more information you seek from it, the more it gives. It also has the benefit of taking place in our future, our mutual destinies as occupants of a peaceful, non-polluted Earth.

I've loved the "Star Wars" movies for the ride and pure fun and found that it just didn't stand up when asked for more, particularly when it comes to back stories, prequels, spin-offs, encyclopedic scope, etc.

One of the dirty little secrets of my job is that I don't do ANY food or cooking shows.

I'm not much a TV reporter, as in someone who covers the daily machinations of the television industry, though I certainly follow it and weave it into my reviews and essays about the medium.

We got Arbitron diaries at my house in the 1980s, when the family was down to just my mother and me, and we tried for a couple of days to fill it out (I of course treated it like we'd been asked to write a new book of the Bible), but we got really bored with it and gave it up.