A lesson I learned a long time ago was not to judge a pilot by its name or concept. The concept of a teenage doctor was patently stupid, and should be dismissed immediately. At least until I saw the pilot of Doogie Howser, M.D. It turned out to be a finely-crafted sitcom, and Neil Patrick Harris has been doing well ever since.

There are certainly stupid pilot concepts out there, but talent before or behind the camera can occasionally make them work. It's an idea Hav probably hasn't ever encountered; a premise as potential, not a handicap. Cavemen might concievably be a bomb, but declaring it DBA (dead before arrival) is thoughtless. Who knows? It might even be good.

In the same way, I believe Havrilesky might be salvaged and might become an honorable and worthwile TV columnist, despite her many handicaps and failings.

I know you're thinking of 300 especially in this regard, possibly Sin City too. I'm wondering if you're thinking what I'm thinking (please, no Pinky and the Brain jokes) - whether this is directors trying to exercise more control over their vision, or trying to shut out an inconvenient outside world.

Either way, it is creepy. It suggests, not the use of imagination, but a lack of it. Throwing spectacle at us, instead of story and character. For instance, if 300 had been filmed on those massive standing Roman sets they used to have in Cinecitta, maybe it wouldn't have been seen as such a monumental, significant film; it'd look like a sequel to Hercules Versus the Moon Men or something.

And I can't help but think about the recent failure Grindhouse which spent a fortune trying to reproduce the look of cheap, awkward genre films. They could have made the same thing for the cost of a steak dinner and been more authentic, but they couldn't do that, because it wouldn't be seen as prestigous in Hollywood.

Sheesh, and they call me a troll, just because I wish Heather Havrilesky would do her job or get the hell off Salon. E-man, you put me to shame in the troll department.

It's interesting to see someone who parrots the National Review line, decades after it ceased to influence the Republican Party and became a cranky-old-conservative newsletter. It's interesting for two reasons. Things like Cuba and "socialized medicine" are still the main topics of discussion for the ol' grouches (long after they lost all relevance to Americans or even the American right). And they still haven't developed much of a sense of humor, not even able to arouse a Rush Limbaugh nasty snicker with their insults.

For the record, although Castro and his peculiar version of communism will probably end with his death, he outlived a lot of American Presidents and even survived the end of Soviet Communism. Undoubtedly that steams you, and the handful of Cuban emigres down in Miami that dream of resurrecting Batista's banana republic when Castro dies. (I've known a few. They keep maps of where their mansions used to be and plan to rebuild them in the "DC - despues de Castro" period.) And if Castro's providing better health care for the poor than Bush or even Clinton did, he's not the Satan he's been painted to be.

And if you don't think the US Government, and the megacorporations that currently run it, aren't censors of all kinds of media and news, you haven't been watching much TV or going to many movies. Three corporations produce and transmit nearly all American information. They are guilty of at least censoring the joy out of most entertainment over the last decade. The worst movie year of the 1960's had a better overall quality than the best movie year in the last decade.

I'm an animation fan, have been for years. I know several hardcore fans that are (you may gasp at this) far more knowledgable than me. NONE of us watch any Seth McFarlane shows.

Everything you need to know about McFarlane, Family Guy and American Dad was summed up in the two-part South Park last season. It convinced me that the show is written by manatees.

McFarlane made a speech about that episode, in the voice of the kill-crazy Stewie, at a college graduation. (It's available on YouTube.) He said that plot didn't matter, that his shows were about something unheard of in South Park called "being funny." Had I been there, I would have wished him good luck with this novel "funny" stuff, and when he was planning to put it into his shows.

The only place where McFarlane has any degree of humor is when his characters sing. Much as I loathe the show, I liked the "Family Guy Live in Las Vegas" CD he recorded. If he would put the whip to his staff and have a good parody or original song in every episode, I might stomach watching it.

And for the record, Adam West as a self-parodying character is a lot funnier on The Fairly OddParents than as the mayor of Quohog.

(P.S. Notice I didn't insult Havrilesky in this post? Enjoy the respite.)