Pointless side stories

Like Sam Rosenberg hooking up with that former beauty pageant lady just after his old high school buddy shot himself. Why give these two minor characters a long hot sex scene? Who cares about the sex lives of NPCs?

Finn’s marriage woes. Yawn,yawn. Other than the wife being very pretty to look at, there is nothing interesting about her or their marriage. It’s pointless. I’d rather be watching Patti tracking down the Weather Underground bombers or anything Nora Ephron would be doing in that moment.