ThatsDarling

This was perhaps the best season of All Stars so far, and I think it had a lot to do with the fact there was no previous winner in contention. It felt like a more even playing field, and going into the finale, I wasn't sure who was going to win. If, say, Stanley had produced the same collection he did for this finale, but was a previous winner, he would have won again this time.

The first 5.5 seasons feel like a different show to me; more naturalistic, with a less severe performance from Roseanne. S6, while still good, stretches plausibility more than the earlier seasons ever did. Not only does Roseanne look and behave like a different person, she and Dan start trying to have another baby, which seemed highly unrealistic to me.

Roseanne's hair color, while flattering, looks pretty high maintenance for a woman on a tight budget. Keeping your hair highlighted can be like a second mortgage.

I haven't read the books in several years, so please correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the source material a little darker than this adaptation? Even though characters have been killed already, the villains strike me as more goofy than genuinely menacing. I also think there's too much Count Olaf and too many musical numbers. It's always a treat to see the very talented Sara Rue on television, but the series could have done without the additional VFD characters. The pacing is too slow, and the series is starting to feel bloated.

Becky was planning on going to college towards the end of the original series, and her parents even offered her some money for tuition at one point. If she had the baby she was pregnant with at the end of S9, it would make sense that she never had the opportunity to pursue higher education, but she's child-free in this version. Without a family to support, I wonder how her situation became so desperate.

Helen designed for Zac Posen after her original season ended. I'm not sure if she still does, but I do think it's a conflict of interest to have a judge assess the work of a contestant he had a relationship with outside of the show.

Perhaps Lifetime wanted to give the show a break after airing five seasons consecutively. In the past, there wasn't such a long delay between filming and airing; All Stars 4 was taped in the summer of 2014 and began airing that October. It's a bit strange to think that the winner of this installment has known for nearly two years, and that there is already another winner waiting in the wings (All Stars 7 was filmed in the summer of 2017). I noticed that 8/9 contestants eliminated so far have been women. Looking back at past seasons, it seems these judges tend to be more critical of the female contestants than the males.

I was reading an interview with Ari South in which she said this season of All Stars was filmed in the summer of 2016, almost two years ago. It's a bit strange that it's just airing now. The Georgina Chapman of this installment is more than a year away from the Weinstein revelations, Barack Obama was still president, and fashion trends were slightly different at the time. Apparently, an additional season (All Stars 7) has been completed as well.

Yes, Helen is all for having friends if they're going to kiss her ass, hold her hand while she's struggling with a garment, or bully someone else with her. The way she treated Alexandria back in S12 is why I can never like her...she was writing mean things about her online a whole year after their season ended. She cannot handle criticism at all, but loves talking smack about others. I'm disappointed to see Amanda leave, because she has a clear point of view and seems to have developed a decent business for herself following her original PR appearances. If she had won, I think she would have put the prize package to good use. 5 weeks in and the judges have already eliminated most of the interesting designers. I'm guessing it's Fabio's to lose at this point, but Anthony has had a strong output this far and also seems well-liked by the judges.

Merline has a win and a top three placement to her name, so I'm not surprised the panel wanted to give her (and Candice, by extension) another chance. Still, that dress was horrific and would have been the rightful loser if they were really judging challenge-by-challenge. The color of Candice's pants was gross. Her entries for the previous two challenges were great, so I hope she can get herself back on track. Anthony and Kimberley were my favorite pairing; Ken and Fabio's designs were good but not particularly impactful or exciting. Amanda reminds me a bit of a young Allison Janney. I liked her dress, but she was lucky Joshua's didn't bring her down to the bottom. I wish Helen would get sent home and stop coming back for All Stars seasons. She is the most joyless contestant ever to appear on the show.

Bummed to see Kelly get sent home. She's talented and has a distinct point of view, and is also a charming screen presence. More than I can say for the majority of this season's cast. If Kelly, a fan favorite who was arguably robbed during her original season, isn't our pre-selected winner this year, I wonder who it could be. Fabio?

My mother, who had little exposure to Project Runway prior to last night, joined me in watching the premiere and proclaimed "That Helen is horrible!" by the end of the episode. She learns fast. I knew Casanova was toast because he simply didn't have the drama-causing potential of the other two. The unpleasant contestants are going to be brought along to the bitter end so they can complain, cry, and design ugly clothes for every challenge. Amanda doesn't particularly annoy me. She's not lacking in the ego department, but I wouldn't say she's more arrogant than most of the other contestants. The fashion industry seems to attract people who think very, very highly of themselves and their work. At least she's not mean. Did not love any of the top three's garments, and agree that Edmond had no business being a contender for the win.

The All Stars trailer shows scenes from future challenges that make it clear who goes home early. There is a shot of the top 11 sitting on couches; they are Stanley, Amanda, Anthony, Helen, Joshua, Fabio, Ken, Kimberly, Edmond, Char, and Merline. It appears that the first contestants eliminated are Kelly, Candice, Ari, Melissa, and Casanova (not necessarily in that order).

I think the two women on the sides of Amanda are Kimberley (S9) and a longer-haired Char (S13). The returning "All Stars" (in addition to Amanda, who competed on two seasons of original recipe PR) are all at risk of losing for a third time. The exposure is appealing, I guess, but I don't see how the poor working conditions, stress, and risk of embarrassment are worth it. If I'm not mistaken, there isn't a previous winner in the mix at all, which makes it harder to determine who the pre-selected winner of this competition will be.

Season theme is "rookies versus vets." Trailer here. Premieres in January. New All Stars include Kelly Dempsey (S14), Edmond Newton (S14), Merline Labissiere (S14), Candice Cuoco (S14), Char Glover (S13), Amanda Valentine (S11 and S13), Stanley Hudson (S11), and Kimberly Goldson (S9). Returning "All Stars" include Helen Castillo (S12; ugh), Ken Laurence (S12; ugh), Fabio Costa (S10), Melissa Fleis (S10), Joshua McKinley (S9), Carlos Casanova (S8), Ari South (S8), and Anthony Williams (S7). Clearly, the show has given up any pretense of being a fashion competition and just invited as many drama queens as possible to return (Helen is already shown fighting with the cast in the trailer). I'm sorry to see Kelly and Amanda involved in this mess.

I think Toby secretly wants the big wedding for himself. The man is a shameless ham and wouldn't want to be denied the spotlight a wedding would provide. I wouldn't be surprised to see him twerking down the aisle to ABBA's "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do."

I wish Mandy Moore would change her voice and mannerisms more when she's playing sexagenarian Rebecca. It's an interesting opportunity for an actress, to be able to play the same woman at different ages, and I don't think she's making the most of it. With her obsessive resentment and aspirations for a late in life singing career, Kate is starting to remind me a bit of Baby Jane Hudson as portrayed by Bette Davis. I wouldn't be surprised to see her serve Rebecca a rat for dinner. None of the main characters are particularly likable, but I keep watching in the hopes of seeing another shot of Milo's bum.

I like all of these actors, but don't particularly enjoy when sitcoms get political. Partly because I don't want to think about politics 24/7, and partly because the jokes tend to be stale. Comparing 45 to a Cheeto isn't exactly original. As the great Jean Smart once said, "If you're supposed to be funny, be funny."

Man, I feel like I watched one 13-hour episode. Having the entire season take place over the course of three days kept things progressing at such a slow rate, and I could have done without so many guard humiliation scenes. It all felt very repetitive after a while. I'm kind of irked that we waited a year for one bloated storyline that ended in a cliffhanger, but at least there's the potential for the show to have a major shakeup in season 6. Some of the core characters and their dynamics with other characters (especially the Piper-Alex romance) feel very stale to me, so I think it could be interesting to send them to different prisons and see how they navigate their new environments and peer groups. Or just ship them off to a prison that isn't depicted on the show.

Posted in wrong thread! My apologies.

I love The Turning Point, especially for Anne Bancroft's performance as an aging ballerina being pushed out of the spotlight. There's a moment in the film when her character meets Shirley MacClaine's grown children for the first time--she last saw them as babies--and wistfully asks, "They don't know how fast time goes, do they?" It's a beautiful, sad moment that captures so much of what the film is about.

This reminds me of an argument Bette Davis made about the Oscars. She thought it was unfair when Broadway actors recreated their stage roles on film and won Academy Awards. She said it's not the same test as creating a character from scratch, and there should be separate categories for original and adapted performances. As for Dunaway, she was a hot property after Bonnie and Clyde, was beautiful, and could really act. You can get away with a lot if you have all that working for you.

I'm not familiar with Kiernan Shipka's other work, but I found her performance on this series to be flatly petulant. She also seemed much younger than she should have been...the real B.D. looked like an adult and led an adult life by the time she was 16. In this episode, it was awfully difficult to believe Shipka as the mother of two children.

Sarandon's look and performance struck me as Bette Davis-lite. She had some great moments (I especially loved her scene with Margot tonight), but I felt like she was unable or unwilling to fully explore this woman's rougher edges and go-for-broke attitude. Lange was at her best tonight. I think being stripped of the Crawford drag and no longer trying to look 10 years younger really freed up her performance. Her scene with her daughter was wonderful. I smiled when Bette said The Turning Point was her favorite film of the year, seeing as it stars none other than her old rival, Anne Bancroft.

References to Bette's supposed unattractiveness--Warner saying she didn't have an ounce of sex appeal, Joan basically calling her ugly to her face--don't sting like they should when the actress is played by Susan Sarandon. It's an awful stretch to imagine her as the unsightly creature described in the writing.