John M

Why did Kai have to come back?

https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/josh-duhamel-lists-encino-california-ranch-for-rent-for-15k-per-month/ The only thing remotely surprising about this is that is for rent, not sale, but the playhouse is gone and the house is on the rental market.

But I don't believe she is either? Isn't she a project manager? If you have ever done a major house project, you have no idea how valuable they are. They sometimes step in and give opinions about certain things, what they are seeing in other homes, how you can achieve your desired look without blowing your budget, if that fridge you want will fit, if there is one that looks similar but won't require you do redo a bunch of millwork but they don't design or decorate they manage, coordinate and recommend.

Every once in awhile there is like some crazy home item that pops up like a $500k TV or a $300k mattress and everyone has a big laugh because no one, not even an extremely rich people, would buy that. They do. Honestly, and I hate to say this, have to give Kim Kardashian a little credit for showing how the unfathomably wealthy actually live, a lot of it isn't mentioned, it's a little thing in the background that if you know, you know. The 1% of the 1% do not have their homes photographed for AD, when they decide to sell a home, photos do not pop up on Zillow. I'm not saying that Jeff Lewis does much, if any work for the 1% of the 1%, I do believe he does work for plenty of people where you don't dare ask if you can take so much as a selfie in their backyard.

Just realized the new season is on and binged it last night… Christina Ricci has been a steadily bordering on prolific working actress for three decades and while not an A-list star has almost certainly has enough name ID to command a premium, I am shocked that she didn't move on years ago. I’m sorry but that place was an absolute dump and if it is really as valuable as they implied it was to warrant the improvements, it is 100% land value and a teardown. Reggie probably comes off better than anyone on this show ever has, I had no opinion of him prior to this but I like him now. The kids have spent their entire lives in the spot light, dealing with security and having grown up in a large-ish house, although not mansion sized (4,500 sqft~), it can feel super isolating. So I get it. Sara Foster, dear lord, I thought Jeff was being hyperbolic about her being a hoarder, I 100% believe it. It’s just going to get worse and worse, I actually felt kind of sad for her. Josh comes off as a complete obnoxious man child that hasn’t progressed mentally since 20 and every person that I have known to be in a relationship with someone that acts like him has later left them because of some underlying abuse that they had been diligently working to cover up and explain away. Not necessarily physical abuse, at at a minimum consistent manipulative behavior and/or emotional abuse. I’m not saying that is what is going on here, by all my alarm bells were going off. Also, his house is a hideous, the fluted glass doors in that aluminum frame, that horrid bathroom. I do believe his story about it being a rush post divorce house, it probably checked all the boxes for a house he could get literarily tomorrow. I also noticed along with the changes that Jeff did it looked like there were upgrades in the security and home automation system, just at first glance they look substantial, if not completely new. That house is being prepped for sale and this show is just marketing for it. They probably knew that whoever buys it is going to have to redo the entire great room, so there was really no point in removing the playhouse, all of it was going to be gone by the next owner, which is a significantly smaller project than putting in home security/automation wiring and a bathroom. They made the right choice, but I find it very hard to believe they were doing anything put prepping it for sale to some young actor that just made their big break while they find a more suitable home to raise their new child in. Gina, shut up, you are two, rich married, young attractive people, we know you are having sex, what are you doing? It’s gross. Anthony Anderson I am sure is playing some sort of character, but it rings way too true. I can’t stand him. Cynthia Bailey, the impression that I got is she bought the house as an “investment” that her daughter could live in. For an “influencer” her daughter doesn’t seem to influence much of anything, what kind of “influencer” knows absolutely NOTHING about interior design trends? My read is Cynthia post two divorces and keeping up with the lifestyle she need to show for the RHOA has fallen on hard times and needs some help from her daughter, who is acting like a petulant child when her mother has no other options to stay adjacent to LA for extended periods of times to shop potential media deals that can keep her afloat. Stray observation: I noticed every single house had a Ring doorbell. No celebrity would use a Ring doorbell, they will have used a security consultant to put in a highly integrated security and camera system that will have a much higher-end and secure video doorbell. Then it occurred to me that it was product placement for Amazon. Then I expected more Echos and such but they weren’t there. Which is especially ironic because Echos DO integrate and are used with the kind of high-end home automation systems that celebrities would use, so, yeah, Echo in the kitchen connected to a Creston system, absolutely, Ring doorbell, LOL.

Freddy should come out as bi and start dating another man. Seriously, I really think it would work. There was so much gay subtext in the first series including the presumption of gayness used as a plot device many times, I think it would be really interesting if the series explored Freddy rejecting the stereotypical queer coded effete intellectualism of his parents, took a blue collar career, presents as stereotypical straight man and ended up actually being the openly queer character on the show.

I agree about this being the worst episode so far, especially right after they were starting to find their footing. And David needs to go, I feel bad for the actor but the character clearly doesn't work and they have written him in such a box there is no rescuing him. Actually, I think David could have worked as an unseen character, which would have been a fun callback.

Even though my husband was a fan of original Frasier I have secretly been watching this behind his back and not with him because, I just didn't think it was very good. It wasn't bad, just, not something I wanted to have him watch with me. This was the first episode I genuinely wanted him to watch and he really enjoyed it. I think pretty much every good show takes a bit to find it's footing and it feels like with this episode, even if it is not completely there, it feels like they are going to make it. Also, Allan, I was iffy on him but I really got him this episode, I think part of the show finding it's footing. I'm thinking in my own life a have a few extremely close friends that people wouldn't necessarily know how close we are. Like if I died, they would move heaven and earth to be at my funeral and people that I am very close with would be like, who are you? How could you possibly know 20 years of deeply personal history of him and I've never heard your name before? That's Allan.

No, I can totally buy it, many marriages have failed because the couples can't manage interpersonal conflict or deescalate conflicts. Yes, Lilith and Frasier love each other and care about each other, however they are both also incapable of not pushing each others buttons, know where all the buttons are and refuse to stop when it goes to far.

To explain the apartment situation and I partially covered this in an earlier post... Many historic grand mansions in places like Boston were carved up into apartments buildings as they became more costly to maintain and there wasn't as much if any live in household staff. Sometimes the owners would carve out a much larger apartment for themselves to live in. With these mansions the first floor would be the most desirable floor as it was designed for receiving guests, upper floors would be used for housing staff because home elevators were not a thing and the owners did not want to go up and down stairs all the time. Accordingly, much less attention to detail was paid to the "penthouse" because it was just used to house the household staff. This also explains why Frasier was able to move in so quickly, the previous owner vacated their apartment with the sale.

Just a guess, and this kind of fits with Boston, it's not unheard of with older, larger mansions that have been carved up into apartments to have a much larger apartment occupied by the owner with smaller, tenant occupied units. That would be my guess, that the owner lived in Frasier's unit, which he took possession of with the sale of the building, it's possible that all the other units do in fact have leased in place that could be difficult to break.

Freddie being gay would actually have been nice and I fully expected it to come out until the "catnip for the ladies" comment, although that doesn't completely foreclose on the gay/bi. Maybe the whole "John" thing is a distraction. Freddie being gay would just be perfect, Frasier always felt like it was really lacking on having an openly gay, well adjusted character despite so much obvious gay influence. Freddie just being casually gay but also a non-stereotypical gay where it just isn't a thing that has come up would be perfect. I honestly could see Freddie just casually mentioning his ex-boyfriend where everyone just casually glosses over boyfriend just as if he said girlfriend, feels right for the time and the show.

Just going to put everything in this thread: So, I kind of empathize with Freddy, I grew up in a somewhat wealthy family with distant parents that I am now basically currently somewhat somewhat to completely estranged from, I now work in a public service job that my father does not approve of (No matter, he disowned me, I was borderline relieved that I no longer had to force a relationship with him and see the disapproving looks when I told my family what I do). But having known plenty of people in my position, including a family member I am close with, that Frasier stuff gets ingrained into you at your core, it's unshakable, there is absolutely no way that Freddys co-workers don't realize there is something off about him that they just can't ignore, the vocabulary, pronunciation, the mannerism, weird knowledge that just kind of slips out, weird tastes, even accents that they just can't place, they know something is off about you, they figure it out and it's not the same. The 50 minutes in the bathroom everyday. I'm just thinking and I can see this in my own life, I know some of it is just TV, but despite Frasier's bash, Freddy's place is incredibly well put together for someone that views themselves as a blue collar firefighter. While certainly not Frasier's style, the architectural details, the accessories, high quality vintage furniture. Also he lives in an apartment building that Frasier would live in in a very large architectural space right across the hall. Also I think there is a big opportunity that I hope they take that as much as Freddy wants to think he is a blue collar public servant, he is never going to be able to shake his past and he needs to deal with that instead of deluding himself into believing that he is just like his coworkers.

I know these all have holes but one that gets me and maybe they explain it, in the show timeframe besides the brief period where he practiced with Niles, Frasier hadn't practiced in three decades. Doesn't Harvard generally hire professors that are like, actively publishing in the field? I guess with his fortune as a TV celebrity before having obvious wealth prior to the radio show and the fact that he is teaching a freshman, he clearly doesn't need the money so maybe he was just hired as an extremely overqualified adjunct.

I really hope they don't ignore this well, but having worked in public service for a while, you quickly learn there are two major groups of people, those that do it because they can and it is important for them socially and those that do it despite it being a real hardship to them. Freddie is the child of two wealthy professionals, he made a social choice without the actual hardship and I hope they make that point.