SPOILERS ABOUND

In a discussion post a few weeks ago, we talked about the limitations that many of the best drama’s main protagonist face: Characters like Dexter, Don Draper, and Raylan Givens have to remain fairly static because too much growth or maturity would necessarily end the show. If Don Draper sobered up and settled down, there’d be no more “Mad Men.” If Dexter defeated his urge to kill, or if Raylan Givens resigned as a marshal to raise babies with Winona, those shows would cease to exist.

“The Walking Dead’s” Rick Grimes faces a similar predicament: His own dumb choices often create the arcs around which the show’s plots are built. But, despite fairly two-dimensional characterization, the second season of “The Walking Dead” — or at least the second half — has been about Rick’s rise to the true leader of the group. In order to achieve that position, however, a far more dynamic character, Shane, had to go. Unfortunately, being the leader of the group doesn’t change the fact that Rick is still one of the least interesting characters on the show.

Last night’e episode followed a similar narrative arc several of the previous episodes: Five minutes of gripping action followed by 35 minutes of talk, talk, talk, and ending with a two-minute “Oh SH*T” moment that keeps us compelled enough to watch next week. Last night’s “Oh SH*T” moment was the biggest of the season, even if it was the most expected. We knew Shane would die (I didn’t think it would happen until next week), but we didn’t know how or under what circumstances. He was killed by Carl in the graphic novel, and in a small moment of redemption for Carl’s character, Carl was able to pick off zombie Shane last night to end the episode.

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In a recent interview with Elle Magazine, “Mad Men’s” Don Draper called the likes of Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton idiots. My first thought was, “Why are we bringing this quote up again? Didn’t Hamm already make that statement in another magazine?” Turns out, I was confusing Hamm with Daniel Craig, who was quoted last year as saying something very similar:

“Look at the Kardashians, they’re worth millions. Millions! I don’t think they were that badly off to begin with, but now look at them. You see that and you think, ‘What, you mean all I have to do is behave like a f*cking idiot on television and then you’ll pay me millions?’”

Daniel Craig and Jon Hamm think a lot alike. Hamm’s money quote:

“Whether it’s Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian or whoever, stupidity is certainly celebrated. Being a f**king idiot is a valuable commodity in this culture because you’re rewarded significantly.”

I applaud the line of thinking from both men, but it is a little tacky to make fun of the mentally retarded.

Meanwhile, several new images from the new season of “Mad Men” were unveiled over the weekend (including the above). One of the new images shows Sterling Cooper’s new logo, and another one features Betty Draper in a chair surrounded by no one. SPOILER: No one likes Betty Draper.

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Sunday night is both one of my favorite and least favorite nights of television. I love it because, with the exception of Tuesday night (“Southland,” “Justified,” “Parenthood”), it’s the most densely packed night of great programming. I hate it because, as as television critic, I feel compelled to watch all the good shows. That’s a lot of TV for one night; I have to use two DVRs set up to record two TV shows, and I end up staying awake until two or three in the morning to watch it all, a challenge that’s compounded by the fact that I have newborn twin daughters (I know, I know: White people problems).

It doesn’t help that all of these great shows start after 9 p.m. I watch: “The Good Wife,” “Shameless,” “The Walking Dead,” “Luck,” “House of Lies,” “Life’s too Short,” “Eastbound and Down,” and up until a couple of weeks ago, I was also watching “Downton Abbey.” (I do not watch “Comic Book Men” or “Californiacation.” I have to draw the line somewhere).

Anyway, for my own edification, I was curious about whether the readership here faces similar white-people difficulties. I suspect most of you mete out the programming across the week (Monday, after all, is mostly a graveyard), but I’m curious about which of those Sunday night shows you watch and what you’re interested in. We cover a lot of the same shows here, so if I knew that you all were watching some of these other shows en masse, perhaps we could broaden our coverage to cover stuff like “The Good Wife,” “Shameless,” and “Life’s Too Short” a little more frequently. (Keeping in mind that, next month, when programming turns over once “Mad Men,” “The Killing,” and “Game of Thrones” returns to Sunday night, we could present this question again.)

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I talked at length earlier this week about how Netflix continues to shoot itself in the foot, and this latest revelation — that it’s in talks to bring the canceled “Terra Nova” to its service — is no exception.

Netflix’s biggest problem right now is not the price increase and an attempt to spin off its DVD-by-Mail service that so catastrophically sunk its stock price last year, Netflix’s problem is that they are going the wrong way. The world is moving away from bundled cable programming and its $100 monthly subscription cost — complete with 75 channels we don’t want or need — and toward services like what we want from Netflix: A la carte options for television and movies. Unfortunately, Netflix wants to be the next HBO. It wants to be another cable channel. It wants to be another option on your cable box.

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Many websites are doing March Madness-style brackets to declare the Best Drama Series of All-Time or the Best Sitcom Episode Ever. We’re getting into the fun, too, BUT BIGGER. This is our power rankings of the greatest seasons from nine of our favorite networks. Here’s how we did it:

1) We looked at the schedule for every season for ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, HBO, Showtime, AMC, FX, and Comedy Central (sorry, WB/UPN/CW!), ranging from the 1950s to the present, and chose the best overall one for each. (For network channels, we did 2011-2012; for cable, just a single year, like 2011. That’s just how they work.) We put into account not only the fact that, for example, “Cheers” was on, but whether “Cheers” was any good in that particular season.

2) We then compared the best season of each network against the best seasons of the other eight networks, to decide if, say, Showtime’s best year is better than Fox’s best year. (HINT: it’s not.)

No time for any more jabbering and/or jabbering. Place your bets now, ‘cause here we go.

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