Calamity Jane

I can’t believe Bill doesn’t know that Union Station in LA is regularly used as a movie location. It’s a beautiful space, and I doubt you would hear the trains when you’re in that lobby/hall, whatever it’s called. It’s not Four Seasons Gardening, Bill. The panel discussion occasionally drifted off into weirdness, and I hate when everyone is shouting and you have no clue what they’re saying. Shades of Chris Matthews.

I loved last season, great people, great cooking, no “villains.” This season looks to be similar, and I’m loving it. I don’t watch this show for interpersonal drama. If I want that, I’ll watch Hell’s Kitchen. To me, this is entertaining and informative, the focus is really on the food, not on personality. It is heartening that the quality of the participants has not just held but even improved over the years, a real indication of regard from the cooking world, it seems to me. I look forward to the show every year. Not many shows I can say that about.

Yes.

I resisted watching this until now, not sure why. It turned out to be the best show I’ve watched in ages. Anya Taylor-Joy is an amazing actress, watch Emma to see how completely different she is in that role. And wow, they sure found someone who resembled her to play young Beth. So much to love, but for someone my ancient age, the music was such a journey to the past. It encompassed my high school years and the beginning of college, just a lovely stroll through those years. I was initially just sure the janitor was sinister, then very afraid that the adoptive father was a molester. What a relief that one was entirely benign and the other “just” a jerk. I’m trying to get my chess-playing son to watch it, but he’s afraid they rush over the chess too much. I don’t play, so I can’t judge, but it seemed to me there was enough of it to hold his interest.

I’m just so happy the show is back! First show I’ve watched live since, well, a long time ago.

The only downside of being so happy with the final three was being a little heartbroken for the two who did not win. Melissa was a stand-out all season, though, so her win seemed inevitable unless she completely lost her magic. I personally would probably prefer Stephanie’s food, but I’m pretty old and my parents were from the Midwest, so rare steak was adventurous for me when I discovered how much better it is than shoe-leather overdone. And although she didn’t take top prize, Stephanie finally got to show what a ridiculous travesty her being eliminated the first time was. No immunity in group challenges! What a great season! I’d watch one like this any time. Congratulations to all three, three of my all-time favorites.

Two things: 1) I can just barely tolerate all the whispering before the vote, but all that after the vote really struck me as wrong. No deep reasoning, it just felt jarringly wrong. 2) With her buff worn on her head, Sarah looked so much like the Girl with a Pearl Earring, I couldn’t think about anything else for a while. Except being annoyed by #1.

I sense so much more behind this one. It’s pretty clear that the sleaze ball of a husband was being shielded at some level. Were his parents important in the community? Was there a religious group protecting him? It just seems weird, even twenty-six years ago, that he would not even be investigated for any of all that. Maybe just good-old-boyism, but there’s something else going on there. What a horrible story.

Thanks for this! And fun to know that what so many here have been saying is just what they thought. They really clarified for me what was so jarring about this show: it just couldn’t conceal that it was not about fashion, it was about money for Amazon. The original has been around a long time, but its heart is in fashion, even if sometimes somewhat bafflingly (Gretchen, gag). This show had no heart. The designers did, but not the show. I wouldn’t watch another season.

The only reason I can always remember they were marshals is because of the on-going gag about Marshal Marshall.

Mary and Marshall were US Marshals, not bounty hunters.

Thank you! I was beginning to wonder if I just fantasized all that.

Does anyone remember a design show back around the time PR left Bravo that had designers working with seamstresses? I cannot for the life of me recall who hosted or who judged - thought it might be Isaac Mizrahi, but that was probably a different show. The only thing I remember about the show, really, is that there was LOTS of tension between the designers and their seamstresses, who sometimes wanted to be back-up designers instead of just doing what the designer said. I don’t think it ran more than one season. I wonder if some of what happened on that show informed how the interactions were structured in this series.

That kind of sums up my feelings about the show in general. These gorgeous locations and pointless side excursions for Tim and Heidi do nothing to make the designers noteworthy or the show worth watching. I so wanted to love this series, but it has not lived up to any of its hype. I’m sad.

I’m trying to figure out if Tim’s guidance has become almost meaningless and unhelpful over the years, or if it always was, and I just overlooked it because Tim was so likable. After two seasons of Christian’s far more specific and actually useful advice on PR, especially this past season, I guess I got used to something more substantive than Tim’s “Think hard about that” and other vague comments. I always thought Heidi and Tim were the magic of PR, but turns out I was wrong. I greatly prefer the original to this silly show, $1,000,000 prize and all. Soooo disappointed!

And every (female) victim lit up the room when she came in.

Yes! I kept trying to get a better look at that thing drooping down, and it sure looked as if it came off the right boob. I was wondering what Heidi would have said.

I’m quite relieved to see here that I am not the only one who thought Geoffrey’s collection was obviously the worst. It was definitely in the “one of these things is not like the others” category for me, and I guess that should have been a big clue. Further proof that I am the worst judge of fashion ever. I hope Geoffrey will be able to benefit from the mentorship - I just worry about his emotional well-being.

So agree! Chris and Christian made a garment I’ll always remember. It’s so sad that Chris passed away. He had a short-running show about designing for various clients. I believe one design was for a Mardi Gras parade. One was for Chrissy Teigen, first time I’d ever heard of her or John Legend. And in the back of my mind there is a recollection that although that avant-garde challenge was two days, they ended up having to create a “regular” version of the look as well, and Christian undertook that all on his own because he was incredibly fast at sewing. I’m recalling basically a sheath dress of similar material. Or did I fantasize this? In any case, I have been a Christian fan since that challenge.

So many hours in front of the TV ironing my dad’s and brother’s shirts! And no AC

I read a book about this whole thing, written by a retired corrections officer. He says Joyce was trained more than once about keeping a professional relationship with the inmates. She continually flouted the rules, but she responded so ferociously when corrected that the admin became reluctant to take her on, needing to build an airtight case because she was so resistant. It took away my last shred of sympathy for her. She’s as much a sociopath as the two men, and all her “But I didn’t really do anything awful” just doesn’t ring true to me. This author also maintained that the state had cut the budget for many prison issues, including the required inspections of the tunnels. So they had to do them but there was no budget for it. He reallllly hates Cuomo, so I took it with a little grain of salt, but he had facts and figures for the prison cutbacks. It seems the new warden was already making strides but got caught up in the flood of events after the escape.

If I remember correctly, in his season, Christian very nearly went out on a real-world client challenge. They were designing senior prom dresses, and Christian clashed completely with his client, who was rather heavy-set and had very strong ideas about what she did and did not want. He tried to accommodate her wishes, and nearly lost his spot. I found myself wondering if that memory was coloring his advice to this group. He didn’t want anyone to repeat his error. Maybe?

I’m sad to see this news, but the fall-off in overall quality from season 1 to season 2 makes me wonder if Fincher was losing interest already. Compared to most TV it was still great, but something seemed really different this season. Dang, any show I like seems to be jinxed.

Christian impressed me when he mentored on PRJunior, very professional and on point. I love seeing his more relaxed approach now, though. He’s quick-witted and gives sharp insights without being nasty. Tim lost a lot of my regard during Under the Gunn, and never quite seemed to be in tune with the PR judges thereafter, which made his advice often very problematic for the contestants. i hope the show keeps going, despite bumps and hiccups. Even with problems, it’s one of the few I watch.

Ha, I only remembered Melanie when I saw her last name, which I believe is Norwegian. I recall thinking a week or so ago that her runway look might be bad enough to get eliminated, so no surprise at her leaving. I have no recollection what the design was, so I guess she bored us all, not just Nina.