http://www.inlander.com/spokane/articles.sec-42-1-remote-possibilities.html With weekly story arcs based on cultural mysticism, cryptic folklore and jungle hocus-pocus, each episode wants to be a mini-frightfest lurking in the larger mystery: Where is Emmet? Why is the Amazon such a bitch to foreigners?.]]> A key component to of each of the episodes is the criminals�euro;� 1960 back stories. But why are all the flashbacks from three years before the prisoners vanished? What role does Warden Edwin James (Jonny Coyle, Undercovers).]]> Marty Kaan (Don Cheadle) is a top-flight management consultant. A nerdy white guy, a suave-ish Jewish guy and the woman formerly known as Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) are his team. It is their sole job to convince companies that they need the services of the consulting firm.]]> are such a dominant aspect of a sketch comedy that they can obscure an equally important attribute: setting. The best sketches take place in an alternate universe of absurdity, a quirky land that operates under different rules, filled with a population.]]> and Pedro: �euro;�What�euro;�s your favorite kind of hawk, and how many do you own?�euro;� Napoleon (John Heder) and his non-existent upper lip are back from the indie phenomenon that created a lexicon with words like �euro;�liger,�euro;� �euro;�LaFawnduh, �euro;�gosh,�euro;� �euro;�luckyyyy�euro;� and...]]> And guess what? As female impersonators, Angel and Lee now stand to make just 70 percent of what they would have made as men. That�euro;�s a statistic that hasn�euro;�t changed, incidentally, since Bosom Buddies..]]> In her sitcom, Whitney, which she created and stars in, Whitney (Cummings) and Alex (Chris D�euro;�Elia) are an unmarried couple living in a big-city loft apartment straight out of an Anthropologie catalogue. They don�euro;�t have jobs. They�euro;�re always meeting friends for drinks.]]> But that�euro;�s not a television show. Those are single character traits, as important or unimportant as a character who�euro;�s good at math or loves stockcar racing or is deathly allergic to shellfish. And so these superhero shows simply become thumb-twiddling exercises until the next action sequence, which, on a TV budget, always disappoint.]]> It�euro;�s a bitch. So is convincing these savvy young consumers to stop interacting with their smartphones long enough to watch television. It costs media companies (not just networks) a lot of money to steal customers from each other and stay affordable..]]> The difference between the bird and boat �euro;” aside from the type of fluid they travel through �euro;” is that Link can dive off the bird and parachute to the ground.]]> We know teens are mercurial, �euro;�like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,�euro;� as my mom would say. The catty kerfuffles between Nikki and her entitled beeyotch of a 14-year-old daughter, MacKenzie (Aisha Dee), are crass and not the least bit funny or enlightening. Why settle for this hokey glop when we�euro;�ve got Modern Family.]]> �euro;�Bottle service is a waste of money,�euro;� says Charlamagne Tha God, one of 17 C-list celebrities giving viewers advice on the cannons of manhood. Thanks, but nightclub high-rollers who can afford to drop $200-$400 on a fifth of Patron aren�euro;�t watching MTV2.]]> I have faithfully watched every second of the life of crusading serial killer Dexter Morgan, from his pursuit of the Ice Truck Killer to the police’s pursuit of him as the Bay Harbor Butcher ]]> Mount�euro;�s Bohannan, a former Confederate soldier, has no commitment to uniting the east and west; he just wants to kill the men responsible for his wife�euro;�s death. �euro;�Tell Me About Meridian�euro;� is the only thing he says before he wastes dudes. It�euro;�s like Samuel L.]]> He�euro;�s surprised one day when a pretty face contorts into a demonic one. He�euro;�s more surprised when he realizes that his aunt has been driving around the country in an Airstream trailer killing said demons. She has cancer, and her powers have begun to transfer to him.]]> He also, in the series�euro;� first scene, shows a vulnerability that contrasts powerfully with all that. Kane, almost trembling with a mix of rage and fear, listens to a doctor describe the degenerative neurological disease that will gradually take his coordination, then his competence, then his life.]]> I figured that as an “adorkable” elementary teacher who moves in with three dudes after her boyfriend cheats on her, Jess Day (Deschanel) would be an exhausted reprisal of Deschanel’s recurring typecast (the off-beat, beautiful quirky girl who listens to obscure indie music and shops at second-hand/vintage stores), like in Yes Man.]]> There’s a smidge of Broadway, regular musical performances (including her own off-pitch improvisations), and extended interviews with intriguing celebrities. In some cases, as in her premiere show with actor Russell Brand, those celebrities promote worthy community causes in an Oprah-esque fashion.]]> Claire Danes plays a CIA officer named Carrie Mathison who spent five years in Iraq and is now “in the penalty box” as an analyst with homeland security after being caught inside an Iraqi jail extracting intel from a man who was about to be executed. The intel she gets: “An American prisoner of war has been turned.]]> Horror movies work because they end. The villain gets his comeuppance, or survives, or everyone dies, and then it’s over. There’s catharsis either way. But a TV show continues. Here, the twisted will twist further, and character consistency will, invariably, be mutilated in service of Murphy’s weekly whims.]]>