Sometimes I discover TV shows the way Columbus discovered America: I land on a property that clearly supports a lively settled population, and treat it like an unknown wilderness territory. "Say, has anyone watched this show The Americans? It's really good! And Keri Russell is in it!" That sort of thing. Anyway, my most recent discovery - "discovery" - is that Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, whom I know mostly via American Horror Story, have a first-responder EMT show called 9-1-1, which is like those shows have always been except really much better. I grew up with Emergency! and Adam-12 (my mom loved them both), so this has been a treat. Most of you who live in American TV-land surely knew about this already, but I was delighted and surprised.

Also, here's a copy of EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1 - The Shadow of New Despair. While I love watching the trailers for this game on Steam - it's like watching a smart but goofy riff on Starship Troopers - it hasn't ever looked like the kind of game I'd actually enjoy playing. Maybe it's your kind of game. Get in there! This is the base game for version 4.1, and DLC will follow.