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 do get lots of links to advance screeners, which helps, but there's no way I could do my job without the full-on cable subscription.

I'm a fan of half-hour shows that can be both funny and dramatic.

I like the anthology concept. I wish more shows would do it.

"Big Bang Theory" focuses on main characters who in other shows would only be auxiliary players hewing to stereotype: The gawky nerd who lives next door and says oddball things.

My first few years as TV critic, I would go to parties and people (usually older Posties or ex-Posties who seemed to pride themselves on not watching very much television) would take me by the arm and insist that I watch this show they'd recently starting watching on DVD, about drug dealers in Baltimore.

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