Time for another installment of Ask Alan, as I take your questions about the past, present, and future of TV.
First up this week, a reader wonders why Rick and Morty doesn’t get more love from the TV critic community. I wouldn’t think to speak for anybody else — other than to note that Adult Swim in general doesn’t get a ton of coverage from my peers, and also that Rick and Morty is pretty gross, which can be a barrier to entry — but try, and mostly fail, to articulate my own reasons for not writing about the show that often. I’m lucky to be working alongside a bunch of huge fans of the show who like writing about it — here’s our Stacey Ritzen on “Pickle Rick” — and the one point I don’t feel I explained well enough in the video is that while I often find it very funny, and always appreciate how smart and layered it is, even the more emotional parts of the show (including this season’s divorce arc) can sometimes feel to me like they’re being delivered in airquotes, and so I feel a distance from the show that I don’t from the similarly weird/tragic BoJack Horseman. But “Pickle Rick” made me laugh a bunch, so…
Next up, I talk about what happens when actors on long-running shows are promoted into a producer credit, and what that can actually mean. It may or may not have been an excuse to show you guys this screencap, but you’ll have to make the call on that.
Finally, we hit Peak Ask Alan, with a question combining my love of The Leftovers with my ongoing masochism regarding the New York Knicks. It’s a good one.
As always, you can email me questions at askalan@uproxx.com, or tweet at me with the hashtag #AskAlanDay.