Havrilesky seems to think cable and broadcast dramas represent a singular pinnacle of social importance that has finally been surmounted.

I hate to break it to her, but the post cable, post internet, streaming on demand, DVD delivered to your door, media marketplace is now infinitely vast, and the market is becoming ever segregated into target demographics.

Havrilesky's post on dramas is about as insightful as a sports critic exclaiming "Sports Broadcasts, Now to Target Sports Fan Demographics!!"

"NASCAR Now Catering to Middle Aged White Guys, Living in Suburban Car Culture, Advertisers to Include Franchise Restaurants and Tool Makers!!!"

"Dance Clubs, Now Catering to Young Urban People, and Offering Social Lubricants Like Alcohol!!"

:roll eyes:

The Caveman commercials ARE funny. But since most people think so, it's kind of required that you don't because you are so cool. Heather.

A lot of people in physics have Asperger's and are socially awkward, but Asperger's doesn't necessarily make someone unattractive.

There is no correlation that I have seen in theoretical physics between math ability and physical facial attractiveness. I mean there are some BABES in this field. Absolute total babes.

And a lot of the women are good looking too. I don't want to brag but I really literally did stop traffic when I was in my 20s. And now I get called a cougar although I'm not really trying.

There are nerd babes, nerd cougars, and delightful nerds who are neither.

Let's stop with these idiotic stereotypes about who can do math and who can't.

Twice in one week Havrilesky turns out a column with some thought; her decision on Cavemen and her piece on how TV is run by elites. She may have stopped drinking the Starbucks Kool-Aid.

Tangerine, her name is Heather. It's a girl's name. The name "Tangerine" offers several satiric possibilities that I won't bother touching; however, learn this. The Geico "Cavemen" commercials are not and never were funny. For you to think so indicates that you voted for Bush, or you are a plant for the show's production company trying to save your rapidly sinking ship, or worst of all, both.

And Silenced, yes, nerds are a cliche. What else is new? People have been living that pain for decades; I know I have. Asperger's syndrome (which doesn't exist; it's just a curse from God and an excuse for Big Pharma to sell some new drugs) is common among people above IQ 100. Stop pretending, accept that we are all unattractive, awkward and hated, and move on to do something interesting with your life. The time you waste trying to change their minds could be better used finding a way to make cold fusion work.

No matter what. smiles all around love me love my HBO kiss noise.

Can I get a picture...

Cavemen suck, cept for Fredrick J. Flintstone

TV is the most important thing on this globe after healthcare and world hunger.

Scientists have discovered that licking tangerines' skin will prevent cancer...everyone should try it.

I've never heard of a drug for Asperger's.

ON THE OTHER HAND a federal study of where America's potheads are working finds a lot of them employed in exactly the same professions where people with Asperger's also cluster -- in physics and computer science.

So maybe cannabis is the preferred drug for Asperger's? Why else would there be such a strong correlation?

I saw evidence of this correlation at a physics conference. During a coffee break I was giving my spiel on cannabinoid science to three theoretical physicists of very high professional rank, two of whom had Mac Arthur genius grants, and they said,

"We don't care about medical use. We just want to get high. Can you score?"

I wonder why Asperger's and cannabis use cluster in the same professions. That's an interesting question for science.

Too bad America isn't a more curious country.

Instead people want to make do with stale old stereotypes -- like nerds are ugly slobs and attractive women can't do physics and all potheads are dumb as dirt and lack ambition.

And the posers who say otherwise are cowards too timid to admit outloud what everyone else was thinking.

What goes into every single second of these shows...the hopes & dreams, the endless writers meetings, the culmination of years of crappy theater and acting lessons, the sleepless nights, the angry phone calls, the negotiations, more meetings, sweat & tears, the butterflies in the stomach, the big night of the premier....

You would laugh even harder when this crap gets canceled after a month. Friggin Hollywood assholes.

One nice little feature of Salon's Letters to the Editor is the ability to quickly go back and read posters' comments on other articles. It's a great way of finding out how seriously to take someone's opinion, since on the Internet we are all of us defined by the words we leave behind. By that measure, ~~~~~'s assessment of one of the greatest TV shows of all time is pretty much par for the course.

Opinions of taste are actual statements of fact here at Salon. which never saw a 'drama' on HBO that wasn't the most fantastic thing ever created since Eugene O'Neill. Of course.

Considering how bad Eugene O'Neill sucks.