March 6, 2018


I’ve been watching Taxi lately and it’s pretty good, but seemingly every other episode isn’t available on legitimate streaming services, including the second half of a two-parter, I assume to protect DVD profits. “Reverend Jim: A Space Odyssey” is apparently considered one of the greatest TV episodes of all time but good luck finding it online because it’s not on Hulu or the CBS app, and illegimate sources put the title on the wrong episode.

Speaking of old shows, I recommend Burns and Allen. Sure, it’s a domestic sitcom where the story usually revolves around misunderstandings, but it also had an interesting “meta” element, decades before “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show,” where George Burns has a television in his study, which he can turn on to watch the show and spy on scenes he’s not in. Sometimes he’ll mention something he learned to one of the characters and they’ll be spooked by his inexplicable omniscience. There’s one episode where he tells the audience that westerns are overtaking sitcoms in popularity, so he keeps trying to get the other characters to go with him to the ranch. Also, you’ll hear the name “Harry von Zell” a lot which is one of the coolest old-timey names. Unfortunately I think the only way to watch it is at weird times on MeTV.