Robert David Sullivan

Immigration from Mexico now resembles 1970s-era flight from American cities

Mexican immigration figures have reached its lowest point since 2000. Yet, even if as a whole the US is receiving less Mexican migrants, the opposite is true for cities at the border. In this paper, I present evidence to show that this sui generis migration pattern cannot be understood using traditional explanations of migration dynamics. Instead, Mexicans are migrating because of security issues, fearing drug- related violence and extortion, which has spiked since 2008. I estimate that a total of 264,693 have migrated fearing organized crime activities. By doing so, I combine the literature of migration dynamics with the one of violence and crime, pointing towards ways in which non-state actors shape actions of state members.

via www.wcfia.harvard.edu

Interesting study from Harvard's Weatherhead Center on how overall immigration from Mexico is down, but more Mexicans are coming to the US not to get jobs, but to escape drug-related urban crime.

Leap Day word cloud

Here's what my blog has emphasized over the past few months. I like the big "welcome," at least. You can create your own cloud at Wordle.

Top 100 sitcom episodes of all time, No. 74: "Hank's Night in the Sun," The Larry Sanders Show

74. "Hank's Night in the Sun," The Larry Sanders Show  (1994)

Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for winter 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1.  A list of the programs revealed so far is here and an introduction to the project is here.

The Peter Principle — which holds that everyone is eventually promoted to a level above his or her competence — has been a basic fact on most sitcoms, long before The Office made it its central premise. We've already seen that attempts at improving one's appearance generally fail in sitcom land; the high odds that a career advancement will result in disaster is another way that sitcoms can be simultaneously depressing (because nothing ever changes) and comforting (because it's for the best that nothing ever changes).

There are some exceptions to this rule, and many are held in great affection. The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Parks and Recreation stand out as examples where the protagonist is up to new responsibilities; Mary Richards and Leslie Knope may screw up in individual episodes, but there's a clear arc of their growing into leadership roles as their series evolve. (Even if Leslie loses her current campaign for City Council, it won't be for incompetence.) All in the Family and Roseanne could also fall in this category in that their main characters graduate from menial jobs to become small-business owners.

But those "sweet" shows are outnumbered by the bittersweet (Ralph's doomed business failures on The Honeymooners, the various unsuccessful attempts to escape the garage on Taxi) and the downright sour (on Married ... with Children, Al Bundy not only screws up every attempt to better himself, he has to endure the mocking of his family when he inevitably fails).

Top 100 sitcom episodes of all time, No. 75: "Edith's Accident," All in the Family

75. "Edith's Accident," All in the Family  (1971)

Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for winter 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1.  A list of the programs revealed so far is here and an introduction to the project is here.

In 1979, All in the Family producer Norman Lear tried to reinvent the sitcom again with The Baxters, a half-hour divided into two segments. In the first, the middle-class Baxter family dealt with some moral issue (putting a parent in a nursing home, reacting to a gay schoolteacher, etc.); in the second half, the studio audience voiced their opinions about what they had just seen. The show was a logical successor to All in the Family but a superfluous one. Undoubtedly, viewers were already talking about the decisions made by characters on Lear sitcoms (which also included Maude, Good Times, and the soap opera parody Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman), and they didn't need a Mr. Rogers-type moderator to get them started.

"Edith's Accident" is a relatively straightforward "What would you do?" episode, elevated by Jean Stapleton's hilariously anguished performance as Edith. At the start of the episode she reveals, in typically rambling fashion, that she's accidentally dented a stranger's car with a can of "cling peaches in heavy syrup" (changed midstory to "mmm mmm in heavy syrup" after an impatient Archie forbids her from mentioning the fruit again) that bounced out of her shopping cart. "It was a freak accident," she helpfully points out to Archie.

Top 100 sitcom episodes of all time, No. 76: "The Rye," Seinfeld

76. "The Rye," Seinfeld (1996)

Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for winter 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1.  A list of the programs revealed so far is here and an introduction to the project is here.

The principal characters on Seinfeld don't care much about other people, but they sure care about what people think of them. In "The Rye," George Costanza goes to extremes to look good in front of his fiancée, whom he's deeply ambivalent about marrying, and her parents, who regard everyone with indifference or contempt. As usual, he's most determined when he's doing something absolutely futile.

"The Rye," written by Carol Leifer, may not be the favorite episode of more-obsessive Seinfeld fans, but it works well as a stand-alone entry. You don't need to have seen George, Susan, and their respective parents before to appreciate the horror of their dinner party. (Estelle Costanza: "Merlot? I never heard of it. Did they just invent it?") 

Top 100 sitcom episodes of all time, No. 77: "Corporal Punishment," Blackadder

77. "Corporal Punishment," Blackadder Goes Forth (1989)

Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for winter 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1.  A list of the programs revealed so far is here and an introduction to the project is here.

The Only Sane Man is a common sitcom character, typified by Eddie Albert on Green Acres and Bob Newhart on Newhart, as well as Jason Bateman on Arrested Development. He's surrounded by lunatics, and his growing frustration sets the pace for most episodes. We viewers know that he's right, but we also think he should calm down and enjoy living in such a fanciful world, as opposed to the boring, predictable one we're stuck with. So it's always fun when the Only Sane Man puts on an Afro wig and joins the party.

It's a bit different when the Only Sane Man is surrounded by lunatics who, given enough time, will kill him. Blackadder Goes Forth, the final season of Blackadder, strands the title character, an army captain, in a trench on the front lines of World War I. Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson) has to take orders from a psychotic general (Stephen Fry), and his own men include a jingoistic airhead (Dr. Gregory House himself, Hugh Laurie) who can't wait to "give Fritz a taste of our British spunk."

Top 100 sitcom episodes of all time, No. 78: "Business School," The Office (US)

78. "Business School," The Office (US) (2007)

Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for winter 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1.  A list of the programs revealed so far is here and an introduction to the project is here.

Last night I happened to see The Artist, the newest take on the tale of a silent-movie star who can't adapt to the arrival of talkies, and here's an Office episode in which Michael Scott goes through a similar struggle. Michael does not have the charm of a George Valentin or the pathos of Norma Desmond (he's usually a closer fit for Lina Lamont in Singin' in the Rain), but he may be more sympathetic here than in any other episode, as the paper merchant stands athwart the Digital Age yelling "Stop!"

Not that I require my sitcom protagonists to be likeable. I just haven't always liked Steve Carell's portrayal of Michael Scott, as I wrote when he departed the show last year:

The series seems too taken with the sketch-comedy and improvisational skills of Carell, and his scenes frequently turn into "let's see how far he can take this" moments that contribute to wild inconsistencies in his character. His worst moments in stupidity and insensitivity, such as believing in the existence of a literal gaydar machine and the cruel way he treats Pam's mother, are passed off as part of his social awkwardness and neediness (as is traditional with Narcissists, as I wrote in an earlier post). But I could never get past the feeling that the writers were just throwing challenges at Carell.

Blog update

Sorry for the lack of a new blog post this morning. (No. 78 is coming!) Besides working on my paying gigs, I had some personal stuff to take care of, and I spent some time trying to get the word out about the Top 100 Sitcom Episodes project through the seemingly infinite social media tools out there (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.).

The constant need for self-promotion is the downside of career independence, especially for someone who hates to beg ask for attention. But the days of working in the warm embrace of a print publication with unreasonable deadlines and laughable pay are over for most of us. (Sigh...)

Anyway, if you're enjoying the Top 100 project, spread the word if you can, and feel free to give positive or negative feedback via comments or emails.

Top 100 sitcom episodes of all time, No. 79: "First Stop," I Love Lucy

79. "First Stop," I Love Lucy (1954)

Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for winter 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1.  A list of the programs revealed so far is here and an introduction to the project is here.

Remember the I Love Lucy episode where Lucy, Ricky, Ethel, and Fred all die in a car crash but don't realize they're ghosts? Or maybe you know it as the one where the beds move every time a train goes by?

"First Stop" could logically end with The Twilight Zone's Rod Serling stepping out of the shadows to tell us that the gang never leaves the crummy diner and "motel" where they seem to be the only customers. After all, they leave it once during the episode, but Lucy unwittingly drives right back. In the alternate timeline set up by "First Stop," maybe they're still there.

This was the first I Love Lucy episode to take place after Lucy and company leave New York for Hollywood, part of a season-long arc that rejuvenated the series in its fourth season. It's not very flattering toward what would become known as "flyover country," as Ohio turns out to be a series of spooky roads leading inescapably to that food-free diner run by Mr. Scratch Skinner. (None of this is surprising to followers of Jonathan Chait's "Life in Ohio" exposes.)

Top 100 sitcom episodes of all time, No. 80: "Talk to Your Daughter," Everybody Loves Raymond

80. "Talk to Your Daughter," Everybody Loves Raymond (2002)

Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for winter 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1.  A list of the programs revealed so far is here and an introduction to the project is here.

UPDATE: Damn it! As soon as I wrote this post, my RSS feed spat out a new essay by the A.V. Club's Todd VanDerWerff on Everybody Loves Raymond, including a mention of this episode. A coincidence, but maybe also a sign that I should be writing more about shows that people have never heard of, or that they really, really despise. Beginning tomorrow: "Top 100 Sitcom Episodes of All Time as Chosen by Armond White."

Hey, it's the sitcom that all the cool kids hate! And on the same list as Community and Parks and Recreation! (Be patient...)

Raymond hit a lot of the same notes over and over during its excessive 210-episode run, but its best installments are as well-written and funny as any British series that had a "12 and done" run. Still, it's got a lot of haters. It was the last really successful multi-camera broadcast sitcom, so it's a particular target of people who just don't like that format. It's not about smart urbanites, but it's not about noble working-class people either (its characters probably shop at WalMart even though they have enough money for Trader Joe's), so it took several years for Hollywood to start throwing Emmys at it.

Most non-fans simply say they don't like the characters, who are loud, whiny, and constantly arguing. Maybe you need to have grown up in a home with some of that behavior (and have since made your peace with it) to get some enjoyment out of Raymond. I get that Raymond scripts can be wearying, but I see the characters as fighting because they genuinely want to preserve their extended family — even if none of them will let go of the notion that he or she is the only one who knows how to do it. (In contrast, the constantly bickering characters on the gleefully nasty "Family" sketches on The Carol Burnett Show are selfish through and through.)

Top 100 sitcom episodes of all time, No. 81: "A Stash from the Past," Roseanne

81. "A Stash from the Past," Roseanne (1993)

Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for winter 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1.  A list of the programs revealed so far is here and an introduction to the project is here.

This post is late and short, and unfortunately it's not because I found a bag of pot in my closet and decided to relive my early 20s.  (If I had, this might be one 3,000-word paragraph.) I just had too many errands that couldn't be put off and too much other work, plus I made the unwise decision to watch an episode of 30 Rock that lasted an hour but felt as long as back-to-back M*A*S*H finales.

But most of you know this episode, and it's not the last entry in the Top 100 countdown that features characters who are high, drunk, or heavily medicated, so we'll get to talk more about that sitcom tradition.

Top 100 sitcom episodes of all time, No. 82: "Theo's Economic Lesson," The Cosby Show

82. "Theo's Economic Lesson," The Cosby Show (1984)

Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for winter 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1.  A list of the programs revealed so far is here and an introduction to the project is here. There is also a photo gallery on Pinterest.

I could argue that this is the episode that saved a network and maybe the network sitcom itself. It's a hyperbolic enough claim, but not probably not counter-intuitive enough for Salon or Slate. (Could I interest you guys in a 2000-word piece on how all subsequent sitcoms were influenced by We Got It Made?)

"Theo's Economic Lesson" is the pilot episode of the show that made NBC the No. 1 network and, by beating Magnum, PI in the ratings, revived interest in the sitcom format, which had been flagging in the Golden Age of TV Drama that brought us Dallas, Dynasty, and The A-Team. The Cosby Show was also responsible for a wave of sitcoms, mostly family-oriented, starring stand-up comics.

Cosby was an exception to the stand-up sitcom rule in that he also had plenty of acting experience, and there wasn't much risk in putting him center stage. He could ramble a bit, but he wasn't going blot out the rest of the cast à la Robin Williams. In fact, Cosby got to be a little too low-key in this series, which turned into "hang out with a bunch of nice people even though they don't do anything interesting" (the antithesis of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia).