kitkat343
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Posts posted by kitkat343
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On 5/30/2024 at 11:51 PM, JeanJean said:
Why is Marcus leaving? Or is he just going to LA with Deborah and the others?
Marcus has made helping support Deborah's sales be the primary focus of his life. And the network basically told them if she hosts late night, she can't sell schlock on QVC (or anywhere else) because it could potentially interfere with advertising sales for the late night show (no product is going to want to advertise on a show with a host who might be hawking a competing product). I think he took the QVC meeting before she officially took that job, but the fact that she was considering the show knowing it would mean the end the empire of sales he'd spent his life building combined with how she treats him (mostly taking him for granted) was enough for him to consider QVC's offer. Undoubtably when she took the late night offer, he knew there wouldn't be much for him to do moving forward. I think it goes back to what Kiki said when she explained to Ava that she needed to set boundaries - that Deborah used to call her at all hours, expecting her to drop everything to come to her house and deal blackjack at all hours. After she had her daughter, she told Deborah she needed 24 hours notice to arrange a babysitter. Deborah offered to pay for Luna's school tuition, and the private school for showgirl, acrobat and Raiders wives' moms has amazing aftercare so now Kiki can help Deborah "whenever" and Luna learned to play the French Horn. The people in Deborah's inner orbit need to be prepared to give up everything else to deal with her needs full time. Remember Marcus saying they send gift baskets to the accountant so he picks up Deborah's calls late at night. My guess is that Deborah is pretty lonely and mostly has only her staff for support.
I'll miss Marcus and Marcus's mom and her friend but I hope this would pave the way for Marcus to build a better life in which he can succeed in business and have a personal life.
I also missed seeing Kiki only once this season (she was amazing in her only scene). Kiki was a great character, and I'd be sad to lose her moving forward (not sure a blackjack dealer will follow Deborah to LA, although Deborah could afford it if she really wanted to).
I'm not always the world's biggest Kayla fan, but her voice mail was hysterical, and it really nailed the character
ETA: I forgot one more reason why Marcus was so upset - the showcase was specifically marketed towards gay men. As a gay man who didn't have an easy time coming out (he mentioned his mom being unsupportive until his dad died) I could understand Marcus being more annoyed at Deborah missing an event specifically marketed for her gay fans. Otherwise, you'd expect him to be more annoyed at Kayla, who was the one who was actually responsible for double booking Deborah for the weekend.
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22 hours ago, wendyg said:
I guess I'm the only one that didn't love this. I think I've seen too many episodes like it, where a couple of characters take stupid risks in the unfamiliar outdoors...
I didn't love this episode ether. Their getting lost felt very predictable and as soon as they headed into the woods I expected an "they're going to get lost and have some deep conversations" episode, which I feel has been done a lot by a lot of shows . But the next episode was really good, and the roast episode was one of my favorite in the series.
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I really liked this episode. I was also really glad that Bob tried to tell her about the job before sleeping with her. There are times when I like Marty's character, but I really hated when he slept with Deborah and then told her the next morning she was losing her residency at the Palmetto (her response "I'm literally naked here" was comedy gold though). But it was still a pretty awful thing to do to someone, and even though Bob doesn't get credit for cheating on his wife, at least he was honest with Deborah before they slept together.
I also liked Marty kindly calling out Ava on being so unbelievably exhausting to be around while complimenting her on her positive influence on Deborah.
I just renewed my Max subscription just to see where the writers and Jean Smart are going with this. It seems recently there have been some shows I liked that had a lot of potential and good actors (Reboot and So Help Me Todd) but the writing was so uneven on those shows they really didn't live up to their potential. This is one of the few shows I've found with stellar writing and acting and I'd really like to see what will happen to these characters.
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That security guard is going to need to move! I don't think they let you stay in Philly if you think Pat and Gino's are pizzerias.
And Amber can join the security guard in the witness protection program.
I did enjoy Vinnie and Amber going out on something Vinnie claimed played to his strengths. Also, I hadn't loved Leticia through most of this, but she did a great job windsurfing (and in all fairness Rod would have struggled equally with the flag task so I don't think the roadblock imbalance came back to bite them)
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On 5/3/2024 at 9:14 AM, shapeshifter said:
I'm glad Susan and Margaret are friendly again. It was refreshing for Susan to acknowledge that she was aware of Beverly's limits as an ally.
I f'loved the demonstration of how women especially have expiration dates on their career moves.It had been driving me nuts why Susan was so angry at Margaret over denying her the promotion once it became clear that it was the firm's financial mess that was the cause. At least the show finally provided an explanation, although I still find it a little hard to believe that other firms aren't aware of their financial issues and wouldn't make an exception to assuming it was Susan's fault she wasn't promoted.
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I also had been losing interest in this show, but the last three episodes (the episode prior to the two part finale and the two part finale) were all really well done, and I think the show has potential for an interesting third season if they are able to continue.
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When Vinnie said "Move on, move on Amber," when he was trying to end the argument in the car I was in complete agreement. They both need to move on and end this awful relationship.
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I didn't love watching Angie do the soccer bubble thing because I really didn't want to see her get hurt on this race (there's a few former racers I wouldn't have minded watching getting knocked around though!) . But we've seen TAR place weight/height restrictions on road blocks before (I think Flight Time/Big Easy was affected by that) so I think if Angie was in any actual danger due to her age, they would have not let her do that roadblock. So while it is really unpleasant watching her get knocked around, the thing about bubble soccer is that eventually the opponents seem really likely to let you score (how many times could you knock down someone who looks like your mom before you'd step back and let her finish the challenge?) and I think eventually everyone could probably complete the soccer bubble task, but it seems pretty easy to imagine that if her son keeps doing all the roadblocks they are going to get stuck. And eventually their alliance is going to stop being able to bailing them out.
3 hours ago, MMLEsq said:Yes, to all of this! I'm frustrated with the entire season. I miss the old days with 12-hour pit stops (this season, they clearly just start each episode in the morning), with teams leaving in the order they arrived (I can't stand the bunched starts), with a clearly established amount of money for the leg (I can't even remember the last time I heard, "We have $X for this leg of the race" -- has it happened at all this season?).
The rally car/map challenge was boring -- once it became clear it was about putting 9 puzzle pieces containing only lines that clearly needed to line up. Some of the attempts were pathetic. I feel like this entire season has a lot of teams with that seem to be thriving with little athletic ability and that are not mental giants!
Knowing Spanish has been a huge advantage this season -- it seems pretty unfair. Part of the charm of the Amazing Race is jumping from country to country, the language and culture differences, etc., except we've pretty much had none of that this season....
I totally agree I prefer watching the race go around the world, and hope this was simply a response to Covid and not a long term cost saving method to try to restrict travel to one geographic location.
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3 hours ago, Haleth said:
Is there anything she's good at? Maybe applying false eyelashes, something I cannot do, so there's that.
This might have been why her whole "I'm so much better than his previous girlfriends who were just yes girls" speech fell quite flat. She's been spectacularly unimpressive over this race, and seems to have a very high opinion of herself.
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Normally I can understand Neville's frustration with Jackie's family and financial matters. But Dan was willing to take a DUI for him. It doesn't matter that Dan has made a million stupid financial decisions before this one - Dan could have taken the $500 and set it on fire and Neville never should have said a word. It's much worse that Neville got mad at Dan when he spent the money protecting Crystal, but even if he had just blown it at the track I would have lost a lot of respect for Neville tonight.
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After so many stupid, poorly written character changes that made absolutely no sense and didn't enhance the show (Jackie's character assassination was the worst example) it was nice to see the writers give Estelle Parsons a positive character change that actually made sense. A viewer could realistically believe that a person facing their own mortality would evaluate their life and acknowledge their mistakes. I was glad to see Jackie and her mother have at least one happy scene together and that Jackie will have something to hold onto when the inevitable happens. And it is nice that she left a positive legacy for her entire family - helping the Conners successfully run a grift is like other families celebrating Christmas together.
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4 hours ago, Spicysweet said:
Totally agree. Dahmere stepped up as a leader all these weeks. He was praised by Gordon for his cooking. I picked him to win for his poise, confidence, food, and leadership qualities. Then on tonight's episode when he kept telling Carmen he needed a couple more minutes to cook, she ignored him.
So Gordon kicked him out? Makes absolutely no sense.
I had also thought Dahmere would win the entire competition due to his strong leadership and cooking skills. I think he was rattled by Carmen constantly ignoring him and was rushing to try to keep up with her since she was sending food to the pass before he was ready. There were other chefs who were much weaker than him overall, so it felt like a very unfair elimination.
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7 hours ago, chaifan said:
As I said on an earlier episode thread, I just watch way too much Leverage. This whole episode mirrored so many Leverage reveals, down to the mark running into a building to find an empty office space.
That said, I think this was decently done, especially Oscar's breakdown to John, and the end scene with Oscar and Agnes is probably my favorite scene of Oscar's.
So we have a few possibilities/probabilities for how the VR household will survive. Will it be:
a) Rev. Dead Poet is secretly filthy rich, and Ada inherits?
b) Cousin Dashiel has more money than we know and can cover Agnes and Ada?
c) Marian's "worthless" stocks are now worth something, and she becomes the new VR head of household?
d) Marian dumps Cousin Dashiel and marries Larry, who provides the VR's with an infusion of cash?
or e) Mrs. Fish wasn't just spying on conversations to be nosy, she knows something about Maude and will somehow lead Larry to her and he will recover most of the money?
While I would love (e) to happen, I think (a) is the most likely, and would also provide a fun set up for reversal of power dynamics in the VR household for Season 3.
you are forgetting f) the watch takes off and Jack becomes rich and successful and winds up supporting everyone, including all the other servants.
And of course there's the extra stupid possibility of Ada inheriting a ton of money now, and of the family somehow losing it again, and then Marian marries Larry, who will provide a second infusion of cash to resolve this problem the second time. Possibly really stupid plots for season 3 and 4. The good news is that at least the show is better, even if the plots are still awful (and Jack got his patent!)
I also agree with everyone who said that Agnes has too much sense to let Oscar control her money, but I wonder if it was left somehow in a trust she controlled until her son turned 18 and then he gained control of it? This show was much weaker last season, so I don't remember much of it and might have missed where it was stated that Agnes stupidly gave Oscar control over the family money, but that wouldn't really be in character for her (she's quite bright and really likes controlling everyone) but this isn't the most brilliantly written show so its possible she handed over control of her finances for plot purposes.
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18 hours ago, RunningMarket said:
I read elsewhere that Corey follows his dance instructor now on Instagram, and I hope so. I 'ship this, as the kids would say.
They should totally give Corey and Anna Mai (the dance instructor) some free vacations, We'd love to watch them travel all over the world together!
All of the Riverdance instructors and judge were amazing, and it was really nice seeing how supportive they were to the struggling racers.
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It would have been a better use of her energy for Anna Leigh to carry her dad's pack instead of screeching.
6 hours ago, aradia22 said:It made me not want to visit Sweden. Because apparently the subway stations are difficult to find and no one knows how to give directions.
We went on a Baltic cruise and had one day in Stockholm, where we briefly visited 5 musuems/palaces and traversed the city via train, buses, trams and subways. In Stockholm, like Helsinki, people were incredibly helpful and kind, but couldn't understand my butchering their language. I had a sheet of paper for each city that had key information written on it, and when I pointed to words I couldn't pronounce in Swedish like the name of a train station or museum they happily and clearly gave me directions. I have a higher pitched voice and speak quickly like Anna Leigh, so it is hard for even good nonnative English speakers (which most people in Stockholm are) to understand me. You'd be fine traveling there (and it is a spectacularly beautiful city when you aren't visiting their recycling centers which were super impressive for recycling centers but not as gorgeous as a canal cruise through the archipelago or visit to Vassa), but you should use written directions or your smartphone to ask for help.
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This show is really so much better than last season. If they could only stop making the actors use terrible accents I'd be extremely happy. Every time I hear Nathan Lane or Robert Sean Leonard speak it takes me totally out of the show. Someone may have mentioned this before, but Nathan Lane's accent is starting to remind me of Yosemite Sam.
I'm so happy for Ada, and it's nice seeing Marion focus her energy on doing useful things instead of whatever she was doing last season.
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On 11/10/2023 at 5:24 PM, Nozycat said:
I didn't like it. Frasier hasn't grown at all, still wants to date women he dated 20 years ago and is so immature. Plus I really disliked his ageist reaction to the babysitter and the way he abusively manhandled her imo. I would much rather have seen him still be happily and healthily married. I also buy his mannerisms etc in the original but even though they are very similar here I just don't buy it anymore, feels fake to me. Can't put my finger on what the difference is for me though.
In Night Court (also not a great revival overall) they made the wise choice of having Dan's character mature and no longer treat women the way he did in the original show (of course in 2023, I don't think you could have a character like the original Dan Fielding - there's a cult favorite called Allo Allo and in discussing the revival they just couldn't keep many of the original characters). I like what they did with Dan's character (he's a strong actor and if they'd done a better job of casting the rest of the show, it could be a really good show). I think Fraiser's character would benefit from some maturity, and it is a shame more of the original characters didn't join the show. Fraiser did a better job of casting than Night court, as I like Eve, Freddy and Allan but the writing isn't strong yet and you really feel the loss of the original characters.
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1 hour ago, Netfoot said:
Wow! This was a great episode/leg!
Greg and John raced well and deserved the #1 spot this leg.
Despite getting on the wrong ferry, Robin & Chelsea went from last, briefly to first and finished second. I agree with the consensus that they don't really seem to be enjoying the experience of TAR, and I think that just trying every possible combination of coins should have come with a detraction. Possibly a time delay between attempts or having to do the rappel each time before getting another guess. I was surprised that Robbin (Chelsea?) thought that the way to find the needle in the haystack of a million locks was to examine each lock closely, one at a time. It seemed to me that the way to go was to take a brisk walk and keep your eyes peeled. Production is going to hide the lock - they will let the other locks do that.
Ashlie and Todd put in a run-of-the-mill performance and I'm surprised they came as high in the rankings as they did. But good for them. Something about Ashlie creeps me out a little, but since I can't figure out why I am not letting it turn me against the team.
Rob and Corey are having a ball, and they seem to work well together to get the tasks completed. I hope they go far, not because I want them to win, but because I want them to enjoy this experience together for as long as possible. I must say I thought they were crazy to choose footie-darts. I've played lots of darts and getting the exact score is harder than it might sound. I've also played footie and that only convinces me that it would have been even more difficult.
Steve and Anna Leigh are my pick for winners. Even more so, after this episode. Steve sitting in the back of the car and actively not navigating would have gotten my goat, I have to admit. You can't see? Lean forward, put your head down low and look out the windshield. Or open the window and stick your hear out! Having said this, I do believe Anna Leigh should have been less snippy with him because he is, after all, her father. respect is due. Make your point, sure. But hold back that attitude. And Steve giving her what-for was great. It's the reason for my "Even More so". Hopefully she will show a little more respect for her teammate and for other racers from now on!
Morgan and Lena. Unbelievable. You are driving, your navigator says "Turn Left!" So you immediately turn right? I'm surprised they did as well as they did, what with the arguing and bitching. They are sisters and I hope like hell they live in different cities, because I can't see them treating each other better when there are no cameras rolling.
I was a little disappointed with Joel and Garrett. I understand they thought they were last and therefore out of the race in a season with no NELs. I understand they just kicked back and enjoyed the experience on what they thought was their last day. But the outcome is all the evidence you need to understand why you never kick back and take your time. You race balls-to-the-wall, every moment, right up until you hear Phil say "I'm sorry to tell you..." This is even more true when you think you're last. Because maybe you aren't, and taking your time can ensure that you are.
And finally, Malaina and Andrea. Well, I always found their "Out Of Towners!" shrieking to be somewhat annoying but I wouldn't condemn a team for that. But when a team admits that they don't know where they are and don't know where they're going, then decide to just keep on driving? They are no-hopers at that point. They went miles out of their way, got on the wrong ferry, thought Euros were an ancient coinage... frankly I'm surprised they finished the leg at all. Come to think of it, they didn't! They received the Minor Guido elimination from Phil, who couldn't wait for them to bumble their way around the city until they accidentally bumped into him - he had to go and find them to give them the boot.
What killed them was that they asked on the ferry how many other teams had been there already, and when they were told none instead of thinking "hmm...we had a hard time finding this - it seems strange we would be in first" they immediately started cheering about being in first. Another team took the wrong ferry, realized it immediately and still finished near the top of the pack. It was not thinking "this might be a problem" when they were told they were the first ones there that killed them.
55 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:Why? If the clue didn't specify exactly how one got to the correct number, then there shouldn't be a penalty.
The producers need to decide if they want to allow racers to randomly guess or if they want to assess. a penalty for guessing. In the task from the earlier season where the team quickly sold their fruit at a discount price, they first checked the clue to make sure they wouldn't incur a penalty for doing so and that TAR allowed them to immediately get more fruit baskets until they eventually earned the amount of money required by the clue. It's a producer decision, and they will either tolerate random guessing in the future or assign a penalty/redesign the task in the future if they don't want this to happen again.
1 hour ago, sara416 said:I noticed this last night more than before and it was delightful. I love these two! Can I find a way to hang out with them after the race? They seem like so much fun.
After being tortured by Luke for two very long seasons, I am very glad to see this team racing. And I was also impressed with his ability to drive while reading handwritten directions from his son.
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4 minutes ago, Silver-hyren said:
I think Robin and Chelsea tried that. I remember hearing one of them say "this wasn't one of mine" at one point. Didn't seem like it did them much good, though as it still took them a couple tries to get them all right.
Speaking of Robin and Chelsea, they really are not enjoying being on the Race. They are not having any fun and seem to resent having to take part in the required tasks. Going back and forth to the judge with different numbers of coins until you get it right is . . . a strategy and clearly it worked, but it felt wrong - not in keeping with the spirit of the Race. Even the TH snippet they played before that, about not having the time or desire to figure out the math, came off as entitled and obnoxious. The the camera will cut to Rob or the Beard Bros (Facial Hair Bros? Forget, are they siblings or just friends?) who are clearly having the time of their lives and it begs the question why Robin/Chelsea even applied to be on the show in the first place.
To be fair, I blame the producers more for the coin skipping than Robin and Chelsea. They could have picked up the coins at the top of the castle and gotten a pile of 40-50 coins which would have forced them to do the math. Or had a time penalty they'd have to wait out after each wrong guess.
It was clear that there were a very limited number of coins, so randomly guessing without needing to wait for another chance to guess wasn't necessarily a much worse strategy than working out the math. India is traditionally a killer fatigue leg, so I can understand just being so tired you might figure it would take longer to try the math than randomly guess.
It reminds me of a very early season where they had to sell fruit, and one team figured out if they gave a massive discount on the fruit, they'd sell their bundle quickly and they could keep getting fruit bundles until they reached the required amount of money they had to earn while the other teams struggled to sell their fruit bundle at full price.
But I do agree I have no idea why Robin and Chelsea are on this race - maybe it looked easy from their living room? I was tired just watching the leg in Germany.
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I am just wondering - do the producers provide maps to the racers? I don't even know if you can buy maps in airports nowadays. When TAR 1 aired, I think you could still buy maps easily but now I don't know if I've seen maps for sale in stores that frequently.
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I stopped watching this show for years and just restarted this season, so this may have been addressed: how are the family finances divided? It seems like the TLC money should be enough for everyone, but not if the bulk of it is going to Kody and Robyn. I've liked seeing how happy Christine is without Kody and hope the other wives have the financial freedom to walk away and restart their lives and Robyn keeps Kody all to herself, which is exactly what she deserves.
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On 10/13/2023 at 8:58 PM, benteen said:
Despite reservations, I've been looking forward to the Frasier sequel.
The good: There were some funny lines. I laughed at Frasier telling Freddy he was just like his mother. The actors playing Frasier's colleagues are the best new additions, wothntheir banter being funny. Olivia having a crush on Freddy is interesting. Frasier and Freddy remembering Martin was a legitimately touching scene, well played by both actors. Kelsey Grammer has no problem slipping back into the role of Frasier Crane, despite rhe overuse of spray tan. I was glad to hear that Frasier's grand gesture in the finale paid off. While he and Charlotte didn't last, it seems like they were together for a long time and Frasier was successful in Chicago. It makes sense that in the social media and YouTube world, he would have become more well known. Though Charlotte being from Chicago like Laura Linney's other character from Ozark, could have been a funny gag as to why Frasier left Chicago.
The bad: Plenty of jokes fell flat and the format, while "comforting" is a relic to a sitcom era that is ling gone. The younger actors didn't make a strong first impression. I feel sorry for Anders Keith. He's clearly in the Niles role. He's going for Niles but occasionally comes across as Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory. He's a pale imitation of them both. Hopefully he will get better over time. I liked the "Holmes and Watson" bit with Frasier and the two could be good together. Agreed about the editing. The original show was 22 minutes long, which was the perfect length. The first two episodes particularly the premiere, pushed closer to 30 minutes. Frasier needs tighter editing. As pointed out, it cuts down on the jokes and bits that aren't working.
Finally, my biggest concern is and continues to be the writing. It's passable but unremarkable. If you are going to bring back Frasier, one of the best written television comedies of all-time, you need to be GREAT. The original writers of Frasier were great, having been involved in elite comedies before and after the show. The resumes of the new writers pale in comparison and it already shows. Anything less than greatness from Frasier foes not justify this show returning.
I was a big fan of Frasier but my mom was an even bigger fan. It might have been her favorite show. I feel like she would have viewed the first two episodes as okay at best.
These first two episodes were definitely better than the first two episodes of the Night Court sequel (which is admittedly not saying much). I did enjoy watching the show and it's not nearly as bad as some reviews have made it out to be. But it has to justify its' existence. It deserves the chance to get better this season and I hope that it does.
The best moments on the new Night Court are when John Larroquette gets to perform with strong guest actors since the new main cast is much weaker than he is; Wendy Malick (who also played Martin's widow) was really good in a guest spot on Night Court. Maybe Fraiser and Night Court can try to bring in a lot of strong guest actors to make up for the less strong new main characters? Honestly, many of the best of the original Fraiser episodes involved Lilith or Diane visiting so it wouldn't be a total departure from the original.
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On 10/6/2023 at 6:11 PM, Hedgehog2022 said:
Right? What a lardass. You could see that Leah was not on board with Amber's drama. That house was disgusting...Amber should have hired a professional cleaning crew. They will need to get pest control in there to see if they have mice or rats. Gary and Kristina need to stop helping Amber...Amber needs to grow up and find some of her blood relatives to prop her up. Good grief...such a needy and pathetic mess she is.
To be fair, I'd like to know how much they prop her up when the cameras aren't rolling before I judge them. If they are helping her clean her house when they aren't getting MTV checks then I totally agree they need to cut her off because Amber clearly isn't getting any better and since she has no children actually in her care she might need to hit rock bottom before she fixes her life.
Gary and Kristina look like saints compared to most of the utterly dysfunctional people on this show (and in all fairness they actually seem to be good parents and doing fairly well by any reasonable standard). It's possible they show up, "help" Amber long enough for it to fill up an MTV segment, Amber cries and they cash checks that can pay for their kids' college funds. I can totally live with that. But if they do this when the cameras aren't rolling or they actually cleaned that whole house I agree with you 100%. Amber needs to hire a professional cleaning crew if she can't handle her life, and spending all of her time sitting around feeling sorry for herself is the last thing that will help her now.
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7 minutes ago, dgpolo said:
The show got a lot of flak for challenges involving real elephants.
Oh thanks - that's too bad. I visited the elephants at a reserve in Thailand and I loved that.
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S03.E09: Bulletproof
in Hacks
· Edited by kitkat343
It's a pretty cutthroat industry so I'd imagine they'd get a lot of respect for successfully orchestrating that deal for Deborah. But I do wonder if the video went public, if Kayla's dad would find himself in the same position as Deborah facing Ava's betrayal, grudgingly respecting Kayla for being ruthless enough to best him at his own game. Kayla's anger at Jimmy in the elevator after the disastrous potential client meeting over him not respecting her was also influenced by the lack of respect she gets from her dad.