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Louis C.K.: Ask almost any comic who’s the best stand-up working today and this balding redhead with no internal filter will most likely top their list. A longtime collaborator with Chris Rock, C.K. earned an Emmy for last year’s concert “Chewed Up,” a dark and vulgar journey through marriage and family life that’s as uncomfortably honest as it is hysterical. If you liked Carlin and Pryor, you’ll love Louis C.K.

‘Friday Night Lights’: At the request of several friends we finally tried the first season of this NBC series, and now we’re so hooked we have to somehow absorb two more seasons before the show returns Oct. 28. Seriously, you don’t have to be a fan of football or small-town Texas to get into this show; all you need to enjoy is terrific acting, writing and cinematography to team with one of the best shows on TV.

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Small-plate dining: One of the side effects of our recession has been a resurgence in sampler-sized dining options for lower prices than ordinarily found on a white tablecloth. Except once all those small plates are added up, the bill winds up no different from the cost of a few large plates. We really don’t mind spending good money on good food, but let’s not call this subtle sleight-of-hand a nod to tough times.

Disaster porn: Filmmakers have long been obsessed with new and exciting ways to depict mass destruction, but something about the trailer for the effects-heavy “2012” makes us want to spend an afternoon in the library. Never mind that this is the fourth or fifth time director Roland Emmerich has tried destroying the world, but why do these things always start in Los Angeles? Was it something we said?