John McDonald

Firstly, thanks for the thoughtful comment. I don’t agree with ‘easily the worst’, but that’s an obvious from me, I guess. But the reason is I don’t think The Road is like his other work in terms of form as it is very accessible and relatable to a general audience. It’s a novella with a simple narrative and a unfulfilling and cliche ending, sure, but the language, the construction of setting/ sense of place, creation of tension at times, the allegorical elements, the measured brutality, the ending… Oh wait, thatt stinks.

I really love what you said about McCarthy’s ability to stare into he chaos. That’s superb.

I always suggest ‘All the Pretty Horses’ to people who have read ‘The Road’ because it is an amazing novel but very different to The Road.

I’m glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for all the feedback by the way.

The Golden Era of the show was in season 2-8.

Great idea. I’m a teacher too, and I found a lot of success showing The Simpsons when I taught A Street Car Named Desire. The students felt good about getting the references to the text and understanding why they were funny. The show does a parody of MacBeth too – I’m kicking myself for not including it in my article.

Thanks for reading. Yeah, the episodes where the writers employ “Tales from…” are always interesting. While they aren’t as well known as the Treehouse of Horror episodes, they always offer a good satire of something historical or cultural.

Thanks for reading. It would be interesting to see what other shows, such as Family Guy or American Dad have in the way of Shakespearean references.

Great article. If you haven’t already I would suggest watching the original BBC Office with Ricky Gervais.

In your second paragraph you talked about one important aspect of the success of Bob’s Burgers being its ‘warmth, and a family unit that thrives on mutual love for one another’. I agree with you entirely. It reminds me of the golden age of the Simpsons. I think that Bob’s is tapping into the magic that made that era so successful. Great article.