The Story Of When We Went To Rome

• NFL Week 4 Thoughts:
• I was wrong on the Skins. I have overestimated them for the last time. At this point, they aren't just underperforming. They just stink.
• If before the season you told me the Ravens would be 3-1 after four weeks, I'd be very happy. Lots of encouraging things in the loss. They played like crap defensively and made some bad mental errors and were still well in that game.
• We know the Browns have quit on their coach and the Rams probably have too, but nothing is more apparent than how Dallas receivers have quit on their QB. True, Romo played an awful game, especially at the end where he was throwing the ball everywhere except for where it needed to go. But that's no excuse for what crybabies Crayton, Hurd, and Williams are. Williams stares at Romo after a bad throw, puts his hands on his hips, and shakes his head. Crayton asks for a flag after every incompletion and shakes his head dejectedly. Hurd just flat out quit on the third down play on the end zone when he didn't try to go for the ball, letting Bailey reach around him. Really, really embarrassing.
• Random Pop Culture:
• The thing about Mad Men is that none of the characters fit into a nice box. Until Campbell's line, "Aren't you a lucky girl?," I was ready to proclaim that Betty had become the most hateable character on the show. True, Sally is one-dimensionally awful, but she had to learn it somewhere (such as the scene with the mirror). Betty is just so cold. She thinks, because of the trip to Rome, that getting out of their neighborhood will change things for her, but we know it rarely works that way.
• As for Campbell... Between Greg assaulting Joanie in Draper's office earlier this season and Pete tonight, this may be the rapiest season of any TV show ever.
• Curb is one of the rare shows that can take a set-up episode and make it funny. A lot of good stuff like Larry's apology for an apology and his fantasies about the NBC head's funeral, but my favorite bit was the "benefit of the doubt" thing.
• And, really, you need tip collusion, right? Am I wrong about that? I find myself agreeing with Larry on too many things.
• Tigers-Twins, Rick Porcello and Scott Baker, Tuesday 5PM at the Metrodome. One game, loser goes home. Must-see TV.
• Podcast Recommendation:
• I'm bad with podcasts because I like flipping radio stations. I usually only podcast Kornheiser so that I can hear it in its entirety, instead of getting interrupted when it's on and I'm at work. However, I do listen to Bill Simmons' podcasts every so often and he had a great one last week on 10/1 with TV critic Alan Seppinwall. If you're a TV geek like me, you have to hear it. They talked about the new shows this season, had a very long discussion about Mad Men, and talked about the best story shows in recent memory -- Mad Men, Lost, The Sopranos, and The Wire -- and what made them that way. They also ranked their favorite seasons of any show ever with the unanimous #1 rightfully being Season 4 of The Wire. The other top picks included the first seasons of The Sopranos, Homicide, and NYPD Blue, and the only season of Freaks and Geeks.