well

Noah Wyle said that during COVID he noticed people watching long-running series for comfort, like Friends or The Office.

He said that long-running series like The Simpsons are comforting to viewers due to there being so many episodes that you can basically binge for perpetuity as well as have a very long time of being with the same characters (36 years for The Simpsons), and that builds a different kind of viewing experience than limited series like the incredible Fleabag (which ran for 3 years).

Basically, he said that there's a difference when the audience is spending 296 hours vs. 6 hours with the same characters. Obviously, having 290 hours more gives that much more time for the audience to build a relationship with the characters.

He doesn't say that either format is terrible, and he was complimentary of The Fleabag.

He also said (not about Fleabag, just in general) that viewership can move on due to some limited series taking many years to produce a new season.

The characters are listed from most to least dialogue. I accounted for characters with less than 2% dialogue. Part I with characters with more than 2% dialogue: X

Source: X

Breakdown into different demographics under the cut.

The characters are listed from most to least dialogue. I accounted for characters with over 2% dialogue. "Emmy" refers to "Emmy Nomination". Part II with characters with less than 2% dialogue: X

Source: X

Breakdown into different demographics under the cut.

This is a list of the characters in order of most to least dialogue in Season 2, which seasons they were/will be in, and whether they were nominated or not:*

Robby, Seasons 1-3, NOMINATED

Dana, Seasons 1-3, NOMINATED

Langdon, Seasons 1-3, NOMINATED

Santos, Seasons 1-3

Whitaker, Seasons 1-3, NOMINATED

Al-Hashimi, Season 2-3, NOMINATED

McKay, Seasons 1-3, NOMINATED

King, Seasons 1-3, NOMINATED

Mohan, Seasons 1-2

Javadi, Seasons 1-3 (Rumored reduced role in Season 3)

Ogilvie, Season 2

Abbot, Seasons 1-3, NOMINATED

7/8 of the white characters with most dialogue in Season 2 got an Emmy nomination, with Ogilvie the only white character left out of the sweep.

In comparison, 1/4 of the POC characters with most dialogue in Season 2 got an Emmy nomination.

I think it is worth noting that of the top 10 characters with most lines in season 2, Santos is the only POC character that was in a prominent role throughout seasons 1 and 2, and so far seems to have as prominent a role in season 3.

Robby has unconscious sexist and racist bias

Robby is deeply mentally ill and we are not viewing him at his best

The series is made by three older men, so unconscious sexist and racist bias is likely

The writers' room has several woc and the series consults organisations consistently

It's important to be aware of who is let go of on the cast as the series progresses

The series is progressive, casting poc, disabled people, trans people, and allowing actors to shape their roles and bring their background and language into it

So far, most of the meatiest roles go to white actors

There's been a disconcerting amount of antisemitic rhetoric around Noah Wyle

The series has always been and will always be centered around a male Jewish doctor's mental health crisis

Samira's storyline has always been centered around her having trouble fitting in at an ER

So few people are talking about this, but if you're in the EU, you should know, since this will directly affect your digital privacy and online anonymity.

EU chat control passed in the EU council november 2025 after having negotiated that scanning all EU citizen's messaging data should be voluntary for corporations rather than mandatory.

Chat control will pass onto the European parliament next. It's dressed as "law protecting children from online abuse" (x)

If passed as is, it means private messages would be indiscriminately mass scanned by US corporations, and age checks would be mandatory for everyone, ending the anonymity of the internet in the EU, basically. (x)