Nielsen ratings—the things we use to determine how many people watched a given TV show, not reviews of TV shows by families named Nielsen—are still widely used and Netflix just gave us a rare peek at its ratings for the season four premiere of Orange is the New Black, but how useful are they, really?
Then, using OITNB as a springboard, the gang talks about how characters on TV (and TV shows themselves) use references to movies, music, books, and other TV shows. When is it useful character development? When is it lazy writing? When is it just played for laughs? And what current TV shows would your favorite Star Trek characters be REALLY into?
