wknt3

Yeah he was fine as a secondary character, but he didn't have a lot of range. It's a shame that all of the network suits who felt the need to "help" the show creatively told Duff that he could have one Gary Stu, but not two. Instead of trying to force it to become serialized and darker and younger, but still with both Rusty and Buzz as investigative geniuses getting the season arcs. Me. too. Unfortunately it was part of a new "creative" direction for the network where they dumped all their "boring" police procedurals, which were also their highest rated scripted series and the only ones that re-ran well, to go after younger viewers and mostly failed. They also dropped the original Law & Order which was a shame since they were the only network that actually ran the original network versions instead of the censored syndicated edits. While I understand and respect his decision I'm sorry he's not interested in working more since he's been great in everything I've seen him in. He was one of the characters I wish the show had focused on more instead of Buzz and Rusty. Unfortunately there probably aren't a lot of roles out there that are that creatively interesting.

And as far as him returning for a guest appearance is concerned I'd have to imagine that it's very difficult to pull off logistically with both of them having more schedule commitments than ever in addition to time zones, etc. One small consolation prize for 2020 is that there is a lot less travel, side projects, and promotional appearances, and that everyone has become quite adept at doing broadcast quality Zoom. Not sure that's a fair trade for everything else but we'll have to take what we can get.

John is back on The Bugle! https://pod.link/265799883/episode/NWZkY2IzNjA0YzZmNmYzYWVjM2M0Mjk0 John and Andy discuss the Trump administration, frog sex in France, snowplow naming and more! Any Last Week Tonight fans that haven't heard the podcast before are in for a treat (and have a few hundred episodes to catch up on).

The team name was also based on the nickname of H. Roe Bartle who was instrumental in bringing the team to Kansas City which makes a difference to many observers (since there is a reason rather than just randomly appropriating a cultural reference because it sounds "fierce" or "exotic") although it is largely forgotten today. I was planning on posting basically the same thing. I have only personally discussed the issue with members of various Haudenosaunee nations, and I don't know if their opinions differ from others, but I have encountered a range of opinions with the general consensus seeming to be "using specific local references is OK if used similarly to European cultural references," i.e. they have no problem with a high school team nicknamed the Mohawks when there are also teams named after terms for Dutch and English settlers, the Quakers, etc. while generic terms like "Indians" "Braves" etc. are more problematic, but they would much prefer actions taken to honor broken treaty commitments, etc. and it's rather minor compared to those bigger problems. So while opinions are not monolithic that doesn't mean that there is not good reason to rename teams or that nobody actually takes offense. Personally I hope that they go way back in their history and revert to the Cleveland Bluebirds. And that Toronto takes them to court and spends all their money on the lawsuit and is unable to mount a serious threat in the AL East...

The game was held at West Point, which is a federal facility, to allow cadets and midshipmen to attend as the original site in PA would not have allowed spectators. So NYS had no jurisdiction.

It does make sense in a way. You just have to look at it from the POV of caring first and foremost about money with the content being a secondary concern. It's cheaper to just run the syndication edits of shows that were designed to avoid offending viewers in Tulsa in the 80's than it is to get the original episodes and edit them yourself for time and content, It's cheaper to just use the CC files that are already there even if it has nonsense like "The xxxx Van xxxx Show" and I'm sure that the clumsy solution of using a simple find and replace instead of a human for censorship was used to save money. Law & Order is filler for Sundance which they run because their corporate parent bought the rights and it gets decent ratings in off hours and it would cost money to get the unbleeped episodes that would fit with the brand and the whole point of running it is not to spend money.

They all do it, but not necessarily out of any policy or conscious choice, but because the syndication cuts they air were edited that way to make sure they wouldn't get any complaints to the FCC back when the FCC actually care about such things. And now nobody at the retro channels cares since changing things would involve spending money and those Joe Namath ads are going away soon. What @Andyourlittledog2 is talking about is slightly different. I would guess that the closed captioning is fairly similar and that someone used this software that tried to handle standards and practices with a simple find and replace at sometime in the past and now it's part of the metadata that comes with the series, but if someone knows more about the technical side of the process I would love to learn more.

Speaking of which, how did nobody put Mr. Pringles head on the shirtless Kylo Ren meme? Talk about a missed opportunity...

I doubt industry pressure played much of a role, but the label may have already paid them money. Not sure how it works today, but I know in the past money often played a role in the bookings. Not necessarily in the payola sense, but in being willing to pay the production costs of the musical segments. Given the pandemic's impact on network television and the huge casts there is probably a lot of financial pressure on the show. And of course there are other factors involved such as - Agreed. This seems like the usual defensiveness and Lorne wanting to have it both ways. There was probably a lot of back and forth within the show itself between those who want to set an example and take this seriously and the "show must go on" types. I can just see him as trying to pitch it as both a "lessons learned" and showing he has big balls and will never become part of "cancel culture" depending on whom he is talking to at the time.

I'm assuming the latter as a riff on Stewie's issues with women and his own sexuality. I can only speak for myself, but none of the literally several I have seen none have looked like that...

To be fair "sloppy side piece" is pretty on brand for Rollins... Yeah I got that vibe too, but I can live with it. Let them play to her ego and show Benson being super special in ways that don't hurt the story and are within the bounds of reason. I will also note that switching back and forth between languages is not unrealistic, especially when you are dealing with bilingual speakers with separate native languages. Of course you are almost certainly right that it was for the viewers, but I don't think it's that much of a stretch. I wonder if it was in the space where the Meow Mix Lounge used to be?

The Good: The COTW. Nothing special, but it did have that old school feel and flowed naturally and logically and was solved through good old fashioned investigative work. Plus they made an effort to explain why SVU was involved in a murder! And there was some actual suspense as to whoduniit. Also the actual detectives are doing the field work while Benson leads and handles interrogations. This really feels like a consistent direction now of back to basics, with a variety of sexually based offenses tied to current events and issues. Both Chernuchin and Leight have appeared to want to do this for the last few years, but it seems like with Mariska's contract in place and the show renewed until they can get the new spinoffs firmly in place that there is not going to be backsliding into advocacy and one superhero doing everything with her trusty sidekicks on a regular basis. Warner! We could have used more of her, but it is nice to see her and the squad relying on outside expertise. Fin and Carisi. We could have used more of both of them this week, but they were the voice of reason and professionalism as always, keeping things on track and serving as the voice of the viewer (at least those who aren't mindless Benson stans). The promo for the next episode! It actually looks good! And seems to be focused on actual legal conflict. Of course this is the NBC promo monkeys so who knows. If could be an hour of Benson and Barba making eyes at each other and the squad acting like spoiled kids angry at Barba for actually representing his client. The Bad: This is the first week where the masking/COVID thing bothered me. I've been more than willing to suspend my disbelief and let them try to keep a foot in both the real world and television. But it was just so poorly executed this week when given the plot they should have been more thoughtful and consistent. Which ties in to the next item. Poor direction/editing/camera work. A lot of odd choices as to camera angles, flow, etc. And again if you are doing a show about COVID and the bad guys are young, selfish and irresponsible types who put their desires over the common good you have to be really consistent about having your protagonists follow the rules or having a good reason not to. Plus there were times when it would have worked better both thematically AND dramatically. For instance the nuns reaction when she realizes the sweater she kept belonged to the victim was all in the eyes. It was excellent work and would have been even more effective if she kept the mask on so we were focused on her eyes the whole time. The young actors in the guest cast. Most of them never clicked with me. I'm thinking it was poor direction. At least I hope it was. With Broadway shut down they are even more spoiled for choice when it comes to young bohemian NYC types. Where was Garland? This was an international case all over TV and it seemed odd we didn't see him at all. Or at least get a reference. Overall this was another solid episode. A good idea with below average execution in a few critical areas marring strong performance I others. I don't think I liked it as much as most of those who have commented so far, but it was a definite B/B- and given all the external difficulties and what has gone before that's pretty good. Still hoping for everything to click and the show to deliver a truly outstanding episode, but I am surprised, even shocked that they've made it this far into the season with no steaming turds!

In the real world and most fiction it does not take an actual criminal conviction to face sanctions, especially when your actions occur in the course of your professional activities. There are a number of ways they can explain him practicing law despite what happened. Off the top of my head - 1. He hired Casey Novak who got the punishment reduced to a suspension on appeal. 2. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but is now on meds so we can just ignore what happened. 3. He was never punished to begin with since Benson forgave him. 4. They just continue the pissing match of ruining show runner's pet characters and announce he was framed by Stone. 5. Liv made a couple calls and her good friend the President-Elect squared things with the governor. And of course they can just ignore it and hope we all forget about it like the movie that never happened, CI Season 9, etc.

The Reddit detectives seem to have cracked the case based on what John said about the bit on Late Night - John Oliver Literally Blew Up the Year 2020

That's one of the areas I was talking about when I said they need to up the level of writing. I have no problem with her ex being a prick too since it's not an unusual dynamic at all for people to go from one controlling abusive relationship to another. It would have been nice to have seen some debate about reporting the ex to the brass and how he was the type of cop who made SVU's job harder. Or to mention that the lawyer was role playing a bit,seeing how easily she was manipulated by controlling men to try to win the case and carrying zealous representation a bit too far. So instead of being the same type of asshole as all the other adult men involved in the case he was a mirror of the protagonists using his insight to try to push the victim into doing what he thought was necessary. Or at the very least a different type of asshole. No no no! For the love of all that is holy never publicly say that you like dysfunctional family stuff on a Warren Leight run show! That type of encouragement only increases the likelihood that we see another Kim Rollins arc or Sheila coming back and kidnapping Fin's grandson...

The Good: The COTW, It was nothing special or new, but it was nice to see them doing a classic SVU plot without trying to pile up twists, and to show how current circumstances affect the same old patterns of dysfunctional behavior without overtly pushing an agenda or presenting every speculation from social media as fact. Plus everyone involved was competent and it didn't have St. Benson saving the day as a resolution. Carisi! He was really good this week and so was the legal side. It is nice to see Carisi, not as an adjunct of the squad who still works for Liv even if he now has another evil political lawyer boss as well, but as separate, yet equally important, representative of the people in the criminal justice system. Fin. While I thought that the lawsuit plot never really elevated above meh it was nice to them promising a Fin story and actually delivering, plus Ice-T actually getting something to do is always worthy of kudos. The guest cast. Specifically Riki Lindhome and the kids. They did a nice job with what they were given and sold it without overacting. Plus Jason Kravits was solid as always. The rest were solid, but didn't really elevate the stock characters the writers gave them. They seem like they are actually going to try to keep continuing with having Benson being a hands on leader instead of a superhero and an actual human who learns from her mistakes! I think they've tried to do this before, but they've always gone back on it immediately. And a Dodds Jr. reference to boot! Continuity twice in a row too?! It was nice to see the show seeming to realize that a woman can be a victim of abuse and still bear some responsibility and moral culpanility for her actions. Everyone was acting like investigators with empathy and an understanding of the emotional and psychological dynamics of abusive relationships and not activists with badges. The Bad: With the exception of a few of the Carisi scenes the dialogue seemed a little flat. In fact the writing overall. If you are going to try for a classic SVU feel, which I wholeheartedly support, with the smaller cast and budgets of the current era you really need to elevate your game. They didn't and competence is no longer enough. The confrontation between Benson and Carisi, It felt unnecessary and didn't ring true to their established relationship. It was like a repeat of Fin and Carisi from last week without the excuse of emotions running so high that people would lash out and say things they know aren't true and don't really mean. Overall it was solid, if unspectacular and gives me hope that they are going to keep going in a good direction. I'm hoping they can build on this at some point and give us a truly great episode.

True, but I suspect that MASH might have shot those scenes differently if Alan Alda couldn't move the top half of his face due to Botox and half of the writers couldn't write dialogue that didn't require the cast to sell the hell out of it with every trick in the book including facial expressions in order to make it halfway passable...

A few thoughts about some minor points about this episode that I haven't noticed anyone address yet. So with the scenes of the desk sergeant doing COVID screening before visitors entering the squad room does this mean the writers will be hesitant to show randos off the street bursting in? If so at least one positive thing will have come out of this #%@#ing pandemic. I didn't have time to do any research before posting my thoughts on this episode but I kind of bumped on the IAB officer talking about "gladiator" cops. I have always seen discussions of policing styles or mentalities framed as guardians vs. warriors and now that I've had a chance to do some googling it seems to confirm that they pulled it out of their butts. It bugs me because I have a nagging suspicion that they used the word gladiator so that they could do the contrived 22 letter episode title thing or maybe because they liked the alliteration. Speaking of sloppiness how old is the chief supposed to be? I was under the impression he was supposed to be fairly young. Because when he talks about his father hitting the ceiling at sergeant that ended in the mid 70's and was done by the 80's (not that there wasn't still discrimination) so assuming he is in his early 40's his father should have been in that first generation that was able to break through. It wouldn't have required a lot of tweaking to make it his grandfather or talk about how his dad was a captain, but had to make a lot of compromises to move up. It's not like you have to do a ton of research to know this - if you watched Hill Street Blues for instance you would know how times had changed but old attitudes lingered. Of course if none of the 3 writers credited on the teleplay watched the classics of the police procedural genre it explains a lot about the writing issues of the past half decade of SVU...

I hope you are not a banker. Because you are giving them WAY more credit than their track record warrants... I highly doubt they are going to make Garland an antagonist. They wouldn't have promoted him to the main cast if that was under consideration.

The Good: The case. It wasn't obvious from the beginning, but they also didn't add unnecessary twists. It flowed logically and brought in the social issues they were exploring naturally. And they didn't feel the need to give us a unearned happy ending. Good use of the whole cast. It was nice to see the actual detectives in the field and Benson being more of a leader. Everyone got something to do and Benson was front and center without taking over everything. Benson was wrong. Let me repeat BENSON WAS WRONG. Even though they added all sorts of caveats about how her heart was in the right place and she was the only one not worried about politics etc, and she did everything she could to make amends they actually gave us Olivia Benson as a flawed human being. 'Bout freaking time. Carisi. He was actually acting as an ADA and not an auxiliary detective and Benson's personal lawyer. Hopefully this means they have gotten a handle on how to write Carisi in his new position and this will keep going moving forward. Some nice nods to past continuity. Heck we even got an AMARO reference! The Bad: Benoah. One thing that has stayed consistent among all the different showrunners, different writers and approaches, etc. is that these scenes add nothing except a chance to beat us over the heads with overacting and clumsy attempts at thematic resonance. I guess partial credit for at least advancing the plot somewhat by giving LIv a motive for the conversation at the end, but since when does she need an actual reason to do something stupid against all logic and reason? The Fin and Carisi argument. As others mentioned it was just totally unnecessary and a bit OOC. Why not have Rollins be the one Fin was angry at and accusing of racism/bias since there is actually some grounding there? And keep the conflict between Fin and Carisi to the law and Fin's behavior? Or maybe dive a bit deeper with Carisi pointing out that Fin has always prided himself over being a good soldier and has stood up for far worse? Maybe asked him if he had some lingering biases of his own relating to the victim's sexuality and that was why he wasn't hiding his own feelings so that they could get justice? A lot of false notes there. Speaking of false notes - the music. Especially at the end, They've gotten really heavy handed with the background music over the last few years almost to the point of self parody. Let's dial it back a bit show. Overall this was a solid episode. Maybe a B+. Certainly better than I expected given the previews and the subject matter and it left me hopeful for the rest of the season. I hope they can keep it up.

You forgot to mention that Bill has been telling Gwen for years that she needed to stand up for herself and not taking anymore of his BS and to kick him if the nuts if he keeps it up. And that what upset him the most is that Blake lost sponsorships and airplay after tweeting that he hoped his fans would "take care of her" because no one cares more than him about domestic violence etc. but OMG cancel culture...

I highly doubt they knew in advance. The technical departments on SNL are some of the best in the business and most likely it is a combination of political figures having certain styles (even if Kamala Harris isn't quite as distinctive as Hillary Clinton where they pretty much only had to have the same outfit in 5 different colors) and being able to come up with something very quickly if need be. And luckily wardrobe isn't something where the decline in live television production and changing technologies mean that things aren't quite up to the same standards as they used to be (I notice more camera errors these days and the sound quality on the musical performances is sometimes uneven.)

BPD is the lazy television's writer's favorite! Got a character you have written into a corner by having them do stupid things that are totally OOC? Have an actor who wants to show their "range"? They're not overacting or poorly written they are bi-polar! And then you can put them on meds and viola - reset button!

"One last time"? You think this is last time 2020 sticks it to us. You sweet summer child...

As far as Alec Baldwin as Trump is concerned, I have to agree with @cambridgeguy that it is not done yet, no matter how much he (and we) might wish. I was hoping that we would get an engaged Alec Baldwin performance which we did, even if not all of the writing was quite as sharp as we might hope for. He can still be brilliant as Trump when he is pissed off instead of depressed by POTUS's antics and I was hoping that the glee at the election results and his disgust at Trump's actions wouldn't be overcome by the fact that this just about everyone was predicting what he did for some time now. It also helps when the writers come up with something good and the bit at the piano was a great idea. And as far as Alec Baldwin appearing in a sketch is concerned it usually means he really wants to work with a particular host just like him appearing as the pilot in the Sully sketch with Tom Hanks.