Linda Holmes

A fine piece asks the fine question of why broadcast networks seem to have completely abandoned the idea of shows about black families. [The Washington Post]

When you look at Batman with a coldly analytical eye — and he's hard to avoid these days, with The Dark Knight Rises set to come out Friday — a few things stand out as potential red flags: the secrecy, the lair, the attraction to danger, the blithe self-sacrifice, the ... cape.

It's unusual, all of it, you have to admit. Sure, he's handy to have around in an emergency, and you can't beat a fella who can be summoned with a giant light in the sky in the event you've got no cellphone reception.

But is he entirely ... well?

It's been a while since we were all at the table together, but this week, the PCHH team returns in force to talk about The Amazing Spider-Man, whether it matters whether a film is "necessary," and whether charming leads are enough to make up for certain story shortfalls, if we presume that they exist. What will happen? Who will compare Spider-Man to Hamlet? Who will call Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker "moist"? (Okay, that one is me.) There are some basic Spider-Man spoilers, but we did what we could not to blow plot points of this particular movie.

DirecTV and Viacom have been unable to reach a carriage agreement for the former to carry the programming of the latter to its customers. What that means for regular folks is that people with DirecTV have lost their access to Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, and other channels.

There are lots of Breaking Bad interviews floating around as we approach this weekend's season premiere, but it's always nice to hear Aaron Paul talk at length. [The A.V. Club]

Neil Gaiman writes a children's book about a panda? Yes, that seems like an extraordinarily good idea. [The Guardian]

Is it still possible to catch up with Breaking Bad before Sunday's fifth-season premiere? Well, it's going to be a challenge, as shown on this handy chart. [Buzzfeed]

However you want to watch Breaking Bad is fine with me.

The first of two spectacular reads for this morning: Will Leitch's loose conversation with Spike Lee. [New York Magazine]

Among the many things to which we turn our thoughts in summer is road-tripping — particularly apt because Glen Weldon and Stephen Thompson were both traveling this week, bringing Mike Katzif and Barrie Hardymon to the discussion with me and Trey Graham. We had a chat about all manner of road movies, from the classic dust-and-motorcycles type to the kind that might not even appear to be a road movie until you look more closely.

NPR isn't the only place that's running a ton of summer books coverage — over at The Telegraph, they've asked a bunch of interesting folks what they're reading. You might be surprised how many of them aren't devouring exclusively new books. [The Telegraph]

When the power goes out, what can you do but read books, like it's THE PRAIRIE?

Kidding, kidding. But I'm not kidding when I say that the recent (fourth day and counting!) power outage at my house, while relieved by visits to the couches of friends and family who remain AC-enabled and taunt me with their humming refrigerators and whirring fans, also gave me the opportunity to catch up on my reading.

The biggest challenge The Amazing Spider-Man faces might be surprisingly existential for a summer blockbuster: Why should it be?

The New York Times has an interesting look at the changes in the way the academic world views Mormonism — and if you follow popular culture, I think you see similarly that there are more Mormons talking about being Mormons than there might have been a while ago (and no, I am not talking about Big Love and Sister Wives, but about things like Mormon contestants on reality shows who talk some, but not necessarily a lot, about their faith).

The Minnesota Ballet is hard at work trying to save sets and backdrops after flooding in Duluth last week. Sniffle. [Duluth News Tribune]