gesundheit

I still quite like Mike. He's clever and affable and clearly gets along with everyone, but he's not bombastic or melodramatic. He has no chance of winning since he's already a millionaire and the other players know that, so he's just trying to get as far as he can and have a little fun. Voting out Christian with a split vote/idol backup plan was 100% ABSOLUTELY the correct move (despite my being sad to see Christian go). Angelina "You all KNOW I didn't sacrifice for everyone to have rice for some sort of reciprocity, of course, but HOW DARE Davie not reciprocate!" used to really piss me off but now I find her incredibly entertaining. (And, for the record, rooting for Davie to win it all. He's damn good at this.)

Since Lifetime dropped this show, does anyone know where we in the U.S. will be able to catch the final season?

Thanks, crimsongrl! That all sounds about right. (Frankly I didn't know why they brought up Django Unchained in the first place -- that's an obvious no!)

I'm trying to find the nicest way to say this, but... there's a reason DJ doesn't have storylines and mostly just stands around and it's not because they can't think of anything good.

Didn't Darlene's baby arrive during the final season of the original, which is now not considered canon anyway? I just don't think of that baby as Harris.

I thought this one was a little better than it's been lately. If I hadn't been on the treadmill I really wanted to rewind and write down that list of movies that Junior asked about -- where Dre and Earl immediately gave the "Yes, yes, yes, no, no..." etc to whether or not they can be considered black movies. I want to know which was which! (Though I have to say, what the hell is wrong with working at a movie theater? Why were they acting like that would be humiliating for Junior?)

Loved that. LOVED the Becky/Darlene scenes. I think I even teared up a bit. When Becky said, "My husband DIED!" it was finally an exhale. It'd be great if Katey Sagal could go recurring on this show. Was Superior Donuts canceled? I know she's recurring on Shameless but that's not enough of a gig to prevent her from turning up here every couple episodes. And she seems to work at the same bar as Becky, right? I think Sagal and Goranson would be a fun scene duo if they could come up with a steady dynamic. (I still can't believe this revival has made me root for *Becky* scenes above all else, so kudos to Lecy AND the writers because it's a damn delight.)

I've never heard Maslany's name pronounced like that before. Is Trevor right and everybody else wrong? Because he seemed REALLY confident about it!

This show is hysterical -- just found it and binged the first 4 (or 5 now?). Emma the Sociopath is hilarious, I love watching her bullshit escalate.

That was definitely Peter Scolari!

Holy crapola that's the cutest flippin' dog I have ever seen. You know what, I was about to give up on this show but saw the pup in the commercial and was like "okay one more episode" but now I'm seeing that Benny will be a regular cast member? My position has 100% reversed. RENEWAL! RENEWAL! RENEWAL! (But only if actor Ari sticks around.) Emmy for Ari!

That was a damn fun episode! Felt more fresh and less of solely a throwback. Though yikes, they probably shouldn't make "Grace had work done" jokes (the nose job comment) that she sincerely denies when... well, you know. The obvious. They should just steer clear of the topic if they're not willing to steer into it, you know?

Salting his food was super obnoxious, but I was definitely Team Darlene on the rest of it! (Although I have to speak up for vegan paella here -- it's freakin' delicious.)

I actually really like Grace and Noah, and normally I kinda hate every storyline she's in.

Phil was a recurring character, Tyne Daly is a series regular.

Lordie that was a great episode. Whenever people comment on Survivor reviews with an obnoxious "This show is still on? How?" can I just say -- because of episodes like THIS. Anyway. Even though it wasn't necessary, I think Dan made a good gambit playing an idol for Angelina. She's not a threat to win -- nobody likes her. And she'll vote with him. As for Mike... I unabashedly adore him because I love his work (no matter what, he gets a lifetime pass from me for writing Freaks & Geeks and Chuck & Buck), but I did get pretty mad at him last night. I get why he sees Christian as a threat -- even though one of them is a David and one a Goliath, they're actually the same archetype, and so Christian would take ultimate jury votes away from Mike. That said, I wish he'd realize he ain't gonna win this thing. Dude has MONEY. Serious money. Nobody's voting for him to win a million. (He didn't write the flippin' Emoji Movie for the love of the art.) So he should just have some fun and mix things up. (Though I don't blame anyone for being competitive and at least wanting to make it to the F3.)

Was this just a one-timer or are they going further into JW? (I'm only about halfway through the episode and am going to finish it up tomorrow, I'm sure it'll be clearer then.) I'm just really interested in the deep dive into other "religions" besides Scientology.

Could not agree more about Becky, qtpye, and was literally coming here to say just that: Becky is both hilarious AND has depth and I'm so surprised that she's my favorite character as this 2018 version. I remember how difficult Becky and Dan's relationship was way back when because of Mark and it just gets me choked up that they're so connected now. And Lecy Goranson is nailing it -- she was always awkward so it was like they wrote for teen Goranson in a way that leaned into what she brought naturally (so much so that the recast made ZERO sense even though I like Chalke), but now I feel like she's grown so much as an actress and has comic timing down pat. (I also REALLY hope they don't give her a full-blown alcoholism storyline.)

That was...weak. It's clear the cast had a lot of fun doing Prince cosplay but there was no plot and it felt years too late. And the stuff at work is just exhausting now. As everyone has said, there's no way his white co-workers are unfamiliar with Prince, but it's also just inconsistent -- all of a sudden Mr. Stevens is trying to talk to his employees about their weekends and non-work lives? All they do is talk about their personal lives! This is not new! And I'm still worried about their poor, neglected dog.

I mean... yes, I start to love Kelly again the second Brandon leaves, so I'm biased. But truly, her boyfriend has a wife. She gets to be a bitch about it! Everything about Gina was so wrong. They could've done so much better.

That was... okay. They REALLY should've had a funnier lip sync for Karen than the Wicked Witch. That was weak, Mullaly is amazing and could've done something hilarious (though maybe they just wanted to let McCormack be the one to shine alone for once). And in superficial news... that severe hairdo on Grace is NOT flattering. With all the work Messing's had done on her face (and *particularly* those "always surprised!" intense eyebrows), she needs to stick with softer hair.

So did I miss something or did they kill the dog off offscreen at some point? Poor doggie. Anyway, very strong episode. Middle school is indeed social torture. And I'm in agreement that some demands need to be made of Junior if he's living there rent-free.

Man, I really love the way they're using Becky this season. She is cracking me up. As for the costume situation, the POINT of Halloween is appropriation. None of that made sense to me. Sure, if he just came dressed as just "a Mexican" that's a problem. And SURE as hell if he'd put on brown-face to dress as Kahlo, that would be deeply offensive. But it was clear who he was and without offense. If he dressed that way every day? Appropriation. Oh and Laurie Metcalf fully had her old fire last night. That was fun to see.

Oh also, maybe I don't watch that many viral videos but I actually feel like I see a fair amount (not really a YouTube comber, but I'm on Twitter a lot!). Are there really THAT many dance remixes of viral videos? I swear EVERY time a TV show has someone's moment go viral, there's also a stupid dance remix. I feel like I've almost never actually seen that. Sure, occasionally something with a cute animal set to music, but not a dance remix.

I quite enjoyed the jokes about Steve Bannon's triple-shirts and safari jackets (and splotchy face). He deserves it. Otherwise, while there are some clever moments, nothing is really laugh-out-loud funny to me. I get the nostalgia factor, but I honestly think the reboot would've better been served as a single-cam. The pressure to have a BIG PUNCHLINE a few times a minute just isn't working -- what are the laugh track folks even laughing at? The show has good dramatic moments and I think it would be better if it were allowed to luxuriate in those a little more without the pressure of making the audience crack up. Plus the clever stuff could be clever and we wouldn't have to worry about whether or not laugh lines were landing.