NumberCruncher

Okay, okay, I'll buy this and you are probably right that the hurricane is skewing the numbers. I do wonder about Twitter ratings though. Seems most of the tweet-centric fanbase didn't seem to jazzed about last night's episode. It was eerily quiet.

LMAO! Seems their sucky promo strategy of "look at all of these shiny new characters" and "back to basics--sort of" really worked out for them.

Didn't Jo Johnson also kill Nick Corelli because she thought he was responsible for Steve's "death"?

I know this is a minority opinion but I think I would prefer they not continue with Olicity and let Oliver and Felicity awesomely work together as partners in crime-fighting than go the route they have been and appear to be going. I don't think I have it in me for yet another season of OTT relationship drama. I know TPTB think it's enthralling but in reality, it's exhausting. The ship just isn't that critical when it comes right down to it. I'd rather get back to the S2 OTA dynamic and avoid having to watch the writers stumble through writing romance because I get major secondhand embarrassment at their incompetence. I still don't understand why we need 10,000 new comic book characters either. One the biggest problems with S4 was there were too damn many people in the fight scenes. For them to have Laurel's big reveal be the promise there will be more Canaries...just no. This is not Arrow and Canary. This is Arrow. Can we please just have the Green Arrow and a couple of sidekicks? I'm kind of neutral on the Diggle kid drama mostly because it is just a kid with very little visibility on the show. I don't think it's a comment on gender in Hollywood because it's not even really a speaking role. Had they chosen to replace Thea with Theo then I'd be pissed.

I'm right there with you. I decided to wait to watch it when it hit cable but I guess after all of the hype I expected way too much. I consider myself a connoisseur of both sarcasm and comic book movies, but I didn't even laugh that much which surprised me after hearing my brother go on and on about how hilarious it was. It definitely was a break from the typical comic book movie but I did have a "That's it???" moment after it was over. Clearly I'm a minority but there it is.

I'm still taking a wait-and-see attitude by watching the first few episodes before I make a final judgment as to whether I'm going to watch week-to-week or whether to stack the episodes on the DVR and then binge depending on whether he newbies truly are minor characters, Flashpoint hasn't screwed things up beyond recognition, and they actually give Felicity a decent storyline not tied to relationship melodrama. Frankly, I'm not optimistic that these things will happen as the producers suck at not pissing me off and are terrible at characterization. The Laurel news doesn't faze me in the least because I doubt we'll see more than a grand total of 3 scenes with her in the first 10 episodes. I'm more concerned about the writers falling into the same pitfalls that they're known for. I'm tired of the same tired, predictable tropes and with TPTB "resetting" the show I fear that we're just going to have to re-live the same mistakes all over again.

Sorry but the difference is not essential. For the record, I do blame the farmer but that doesn't negate the point that Edith allowed the kiss to happen and that was very wrong. You don't kiss married men. Full stop. I also don't buy this but to each his/her own. By how the show presented it, Marigold would have likely been just as happy with the Drewes as with Edith. What Edith did was just as horrid as any mother who willingly puts her child up for adoption, allows the adopted family to become attached (not to mention support the child both temporally and emotionally), and then rips the child from the home once she changes her mind. It's awful. Thank heaven there are now laws that protect people from those situations.

I haven't watched the old series but have read the books and I really like this version of Caroline. She doesn't come across as whorish in any way. I see her as a rather spoiled, yet delightfully sarcastic. I think GW is doing a good job showing Caroline's disregard for her suitor situation while portraying her curiosity and fascination with Dwight.

Thanks, tv echo. I guess, at the end the day, everything depends upon how faithful the producers of the TV series are to the books. They've already made some changes--most notably in the Mark/Keren storyline back in S1--but I can't see them deviating in a dramatic way on major plot points and character deaths due to the notoriety of the book series (not here in the US but definitely in the UK). Who knows though? Stranger things have been known to happen.

My point wasn't so much disdain for the boyfriend (or whoever he is) but more that there was a shocking lack of Felicity and what we did see focuses on who she's kissing/in a relationship with rather than her workings within the team.

Dude, we get only two shots of Felicity and one of them is her kissing her new boyfriend? Fail. Good thing we got plenty of shots of all the new costumed heroes. *yawn* Did we even see Diggle?

For the record, I'm really loving this version of Francis as well, but I totally respect your reason for quitting. :)

Still don't care about what Craig has to say. It's been long established that he's a bit of a jerk and gets offended at the least bit of criticism. In my mind, when you're a critic, you have to be willing to take criticism since you're getting paid to give it. *shrugs* The thing I find amusing is that he's assuming that if someone enjoys shipping then they can't possibly enjoy the season premiere since they are clearly unable to appreciate other aspects as well. I really don't mind that the season premiere is short on relationship talk and more focused on badass Oliver. Shipping is not why I started watching the show to begin with. I've always wanted a good balance between fights, drama, and romance, not S4-type melodrama. My concern with the upcoming season is the loss of focus on the core characters in order to showcase the shiny new toys whom I really have little interest in. The producers better make me care about them without beating me over the head with their massive screen time. I do think that The CW is doing a disservice in pushing the newbies so hard. When you have a loyal audience you need to play to what they love. I do hope that Stephen is right in saying the promos don't really reflect the reality re: new characters.

I understand your sentiment. I'm still willing to watch but that's because the books focus on a lot of different characters and their stories and I'm interested in those as well. Ross and Demelza kind of hold everything together but there are so many other plotlines going on. The new TV series doesn't really reflect that as much which is why I think a lot of people will be disappointed but I do see where the producers are starting to focus more on

Well I will say that

That's hilarious. I'm glad that he said it but I'm surprised at his frankness. I can't imagine the network loves that he blurted that out, LOL.

Regarding seeing Ross as a romantic hero...

Yep, this is why I always got so frustrated in the Mary vs. Edith thread. I'm not an Edith hater but I'm also not afraid to admit that just like Mary, she had her horrible moments--hers just weren't as vocal and in-your-face as Mary's. Edith usually didn't say mean things directly to people but she tore apart Marigold's adopted family which broke the mother's heart and very nearly tore another marriage apart in her dalliance with a married man. She did deserve sympathy for her bad luck but she also played a strong hand in many of her unfortunate situations.

I've loved the 4 episodes I've seen of S2 and if it's any consolation re: the earlier concerns people were having

I hope and wish she isn't but who knows? The show definitely isn't the same without her.

Team Logan. /unpopular opinion I hated both Dean and Jess.

This. People can speculate all they want re: whether there was cheating involved in both/either Pitt marriages, whether Brad is/was on drugs, whether Angelina is controlling, etc., but at the end of the day nobody really knows what happened other than those directly involved. What is true is that yet another family is being broken apart and that's sad, IMO. I don't care if it's a celebrity or my next door neighbor--it sucks seeing little kids lose their family as they know it (except when they're in bad situations).

Well I saw the movie and IMO, that Guardian article is way OTT. I have a hard time believing that most rational thinking people would come away from that that movie with anti-government feelings. I'm certainly no Eastwood fangirl but I doubt even he set out to make it as such. I'm more inclined to believe that had there been an obvious attempt to portray some staunch Libertarian, government-is-evil agenda, the liberal actors (hi, Tom Hanks) and crew wouldn't want anything to do with it. Besides, isn't it kind of a given by now that you shouldn't study history from Hollywood because they have to make everything so dramatic? This movie is no different. I think had they stuck strictly to the script (pun intended), I agree with Dejana that the movie would have been about an hour long and probably not all that gripping.

David Meunier was just cast in a recurring role as a Russian mafia captain on Arrow: http://deadline.com/2016/08/arrow-david-meunier-cast-ishmael-gregor-season-5-the-cw-1201810579/

Noooooo! I love Lyla. I'm forever bitter they didn't incorporate her more into the story as opposed to other characters who shall remain nameless.