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

I have to confess I can't have the holiday season without "Hard Candy Christmas". For some reason, it makes me think of the sticky ribbon candy bowl my mid-western grandma always had.

I love commercials. I love to hate commercials, too. I talk back to them.

I'm pretty sure the world is in solid agreement that "The Wire" is worth watching all the way through.

I don't really like to arrange shows by best performances. That's why Emmy season is kind of a chore for me. Unlike movies, where it's easier to decide who was the best performance, a TV show goes up and down, including characters/portrayals.

Mobster stories are always a harder sell for me. I don't romanticize organize crime the way others do, though I can be swayed.

In the end, all critics should be guided by this one principle: Is this piece of work [TV show, movie, play, concert, album, restaurant] succeeding at what it set out to do?