"Do You Sleep Anymore?"

Why am I posting the pre-show 18 hours ahead of time? One word: insomnia.

OK, with that out of the way, welcome to the first post of 2016.  How many more will follow - who knows?  I may have some thoughts on that over the weekend (words of warning - they may not be pretty).  For now, though, let's see what I see for the first new episode in almost a month, "Playdates":



Anticipation Level: Low to Medium.  This only edges into borderline "medium" territory for one reason - the fact that it has been a month since we last saw Alex in a new episode and I'm dying for something new. 

On the other hand, this episode has almost zero game-changing potential for Alex (unless she gets arrested with her siblings and Mitch for trespassing, which even I think is highly unlikely this time) and instead looks like a story that will be played almost totally for laughs.  Not that that would be a bad thing if it works (if nothing else, maybe it would mean Alex really has turned a slightly less cynical corner like was hinted at during "White Christmas", at least for a little while).

The other reason the anticipation level is on the low end?  Recent history shows the first post-holiday break episode has been at least something of a letdown ("And One To Grow On" was mediocre at best, while the less I say about "The Day We Almost Died" the better).

Heartbreak Potential Level: Very Low.  Again, this is probably going to be played for laughs - I doubt there will be much reason for Alex (or us) to be sad.

Do You Have Any Questions? The obvious is just how old will this coupon that the kids gave Mitch turn out to be?  Probably pretty old (as in before the show started).

Will Alex be a target of a Goodfellas reference?  If Mr. Liotta asks her to go home and get her shinebox he better not have a cake lying around (OK, it's about 10,000,000 to 1 we don't see this, but this post needed a little levity).