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They also must have premiered before June 29, 2018.

Until very recently, I was aJane the Virginvirgin.

But I just hadnt gotten around to watching it.

Certainly there is a loyal, coreJane the Virginfan base.

After a single season, it earned 11 Emmy nominations and two wins.

He lost both times, to narrators of PBS documentaries, which means thatJane the Virginremains Emmy-less.

That is an outrage.

(Narrator voice:Iknow, right?)

It shows us what it really looks like when you live on a tight budget.

You take the bus.

You use an alternate address so your kid can go to a public school in a decent district.

It simply meant that she achieved part one of a goal, and still has more to accomplish.

At a time when immigrants are being vilified, here is a show that values them and their experiences.

That has always been one of the best qualitiesJane the Virginpossesses.

That triangle was a constant.

After Jane married Michael and, certainly, after he died during the third season, that constant disappeared.

The triangle we thought had been dissolved was back.

The fact that I could see an apt parallel between these two shows speaks to how layeredJane the Virginis.

Thats whyJane the Virginhas earned the title best show on television.

Because it contains multitudes.

Like a soul mate, its initially enticing because of its surface charms.

But after you start to fall in love with it, thats when it really reveals its depths.

This exchange also serves at least three other functions at the same time.

(The whole sequence lasts just over a minute.)

I just had an epiphany about my new book, Jane tells her mother.

All of the lightness and all of the darkness.

Of course, what Jane is describing here is actually …Jane the Virgin.

This scene does some other key things, too.

Its a lovely piece of imagery worthy of a Disney film.

And on second viewing, its filled with foreboding.

Its a moment that takes the breath away.

Thats because, after four seasons, we have grown to care for these characters.

As our Matt Zoller Seitzrecently noted, audiences often watch certain kinds of shows expecting twists and pre-anticipating them.

I certainly watch TV that way sometimes guessing games are fun!

That may feel good, in the same way that winning an argument feels good.

But its not nearly as satisfying as having your mind blown by a twist that really blindsides you.

Yet most of us still dont see Michaels return coming until it happens.

Robot, andThis Is Us.

Thats partly because theJTVaudience may not be quite as vocal online about parsing whats coming next.

Also likeJane the Virgin,Atlantaeffortlessly glides between genres: horror, comedy, satire of celebrity culture.

Of course, great television should also be sophisticated and smart, andJane the Virginis that, too.

(Remember the showTelenovela, that got canceled after one season?)

It is a pleasure that is too intelligently made to be accompanied by any guilt.

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