IF WALT IS THE MAN WHO KNOCKS AND SKYLER IS THE WOMAN WHO KNOCKS, DOES WALTER JUNIOR GET TO BE THE JUNIOR WHO KNOCKS?  It doesn't seem right to let the return of Breaking Bad go unremarked.

HE SAW THAT HEAVENLY LIGHT:  I need Warren Zevon fans and others to settle a dispute between me and Alan Sepinwall: does Buddy die at the end of "Hit Somebody," or is he merely concussed?  (Listen to the song here.)

FIXED YOU: May I take a moment to suggest the following revisions to your viewing of Newsroom, which might (might) make it easier to watch?

1. Every time that the show (usually Will McAvoy) says that Will McAvoy is a Republican, pretend that it didn't say that. Instead, pretend that the show acknowledges what we all know is true: Will McAvoy is an openly partisan cable newscaster delivering a Democratic-slanted program. What's the matter with acknowledging that? I don't get how that would hurt the narrative.
2. Don't look at Will McAvoy as the hero of the show. See him as a Tony Soprano/Walter White/Marlo Stanfield anti-hero, except with bloviating and condescension as his MO instead of crime. And his sidekicks, like Jim Harper, are the equivalent of rising gang lieutenants like Christopher Moltisanti or Jesse Pinkman, learning to sublimate their more human impulses and to emulate their boss's mannerisms, like meting out a professional (or, rather, unprofessional) punishment for a personal fight with the woman a man with power wants but can't have. And Leona is the FBI/Hank/Daniels who is going to put him where he belongs.

See, one modest factual revision and one change in perspective, and suddenly there's a show worth getting invested in. Go get him, Hanoi Jane!

THE FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN: Donald J. Sobol, author of the Encyclopedia Brown series of mysteries for kids, has passed away.  Bugs Meany could not be reached for comment.

WORLD WAR CLOWN: Yes, this year's Gathering of the Juggalos infomercial is zombie apocalypse-themed (questionably SFW, due to language).  Among the more inexplicable special guests this year--George Clinton, Biz Markie, Cheech & Chong, Bobcat Goldthwait, Jamie Kennedy, and for some reason, Ric Flair (WOOO!).

BENEDICT ARNOLD, YOUR NAME WILL GO DOWN IN THE ANALS OF HISTORY!  That, verbatim, is what my father yelled at the general at Colonial Williamsburg on Friday, as Arnold on horseback was lecturing a crowd as to why the revolution was failing and why we all ought to join him in supporting the Loyalists.

I hadn't been in Williamsburg in at least 25 years, and I'm glad I took my daughters there as part of our trip this past week. The colonial craft skills were much as I remember them -- the smiths, the coopers, the milliners and the others all demonstrated their talents well, answered questions from the kids and were patient with the grownups who tried to take them off-character.  What I appreciate more now, however, is how hard they work to paint a nuanced picture of Revolutionary Era.  The street theater reenactments alternate each day -- Su/Tu/Th/Sa are set in the years before 1776, the others in 1779-80 -- allowing for varying views on how things were going, and there was much more discussion of slavery and religion than I recall from growing up. Really well done.

Bullet points from the Midatlantic Adventure, below the fold.

IT'S COMPLETELY BAKED:  Fantastic trivia question via Edward Copeland: with the recent passing of Ernest Borgnine (Marty, 1961 1955) and now Celeste Holm (Gentleman's Agreement, 1947) today, who is now the longest-ago Oscar winner in each of the five major categories who's still living?