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I'm Stephen Metcalf, and this is the Slate Culture Gab Fest, Mature Adaptation Edition.

This is also the daily podcast from slate.com for Wednesday, May 20th, 2009.

On today's program, we're going to talk about the TV season, not only this past one,

but whether or not the concept is viable altogether.

Maureen Dowd, did she commit plagiarism? And if so, do we care? And finally, happiness is such a thing even possible. Joining me today are Slate's foreign editor, June Thomas. Hello, June. Hello, Stephen. Welcome back. Thank you so much. It's a delight to have you. And our film critic, Dana Stevens. Hey, Dana. Hi, Dee.

It's always a delight to have you. It's the same old boring way.

And then there's Dana.

Dana, I think you and I need to begin the first segment with confession, which is that you and I have a greetings earthling attitude towards anyone who watches something called television.

We've either evolved beyond it or prequeled before it or something.

Oh, evolved beyond it. Thank you so much.

I don't think I've evolved there yet. I'm just an amoeba sort of blobbing in front of the screen.

But yeah, we're here to talk about the TV season, and you and I essentially have not watched

network TV in the last several seasons.

I mean, something called appointment viewing series television, all of this, I know it still happens,

but we're going to get a thousand emails saying what kind of freak, urophilic alien snob are you?

Well, wait, we'll talk about our own relationship to television, which are not in-existent.

I agree, is that we have in captivity, a ten-fingered oik, who watches series television. And June, just at the most basic level, just walk us through how this past season ended, what you liked, what you didn't like, what you're looking forward to, and then we'll move from there. Well, Stephen, I wish I could, but it's only really a 40-minute podcast.

And if we were to go through all the shows that I watch and all the climaxes therein, it really would go on. So you're a heavy user, is what you're saying. I'm a heavy user, yeah. My name is June and I watch TV. But you know, I don't want to give it up. I love it. I am an unrepentant and unembarrassed TV addict. Well, as you should be and we're a culture podcast and television

should be part of it and unrepentant and unembarrassed TV addict.

...