Kaoteek

That. Also, the Effie situation didn't sit particularly well with me, because in essence, it was just "look, he's asian, she's a woman, that makes them qualified to handle race problems better than the other contestants, they should win" when all the duo ever talked about was the fact that they didn't want the movie to slut-shame & judge the female character, without ever mentioning race or diversity. I get where Effie was coming from,but still, that was a particularly weak argument that didn't help her cause.

Sooo glad to see they seem to be loosening up a bit. Craig always felt a bit constrained by all the rule-explaining & the format during s1, so bringing out dancers, costumes and such should help amp up the fun & improv factor. Also, Colin Mochrie !

Last week, I predicted that this challenge would be a disaster, but I didn't know it would be that bad. Yeesh. That said, I mostly agreed with the top two (the top one, really), and the bottom two, but still... pretty mediocre results. I liked the camaraderie & the wig competition, though.

I've liked Lydic in all that I've seen her in (even Stan Helsing), so I'm happily surprised to see her here. Let's hope she doesn't succumb to the army of pitchfork-waving "she's only there because she's hot, booo" critics that are already complaining online.

Honestly, aside from Ben's & Stevie's, none of those reinvented aliens would fit in any modern Trek. They were either too cartoony, too colourful, or too blocky to believably appear on tv. As for the "retro" aliens... a very mixed bag, again. So all in all, not too convinced by this week's creations. The challenges were interesting, the guest judges were a great surprise, and the models seemed to have tons of fun... but the contestants' work... meh. (I'm kind of afraid of next week's "turn male models into female shakespearian characters". If the judges' insist on realism, it will be a disaster)

Aside from Jennifer Phillips, I think I enjoyed Seann Miley Moore the most out of these two shows. 4th Power were pretty impressive, but I'd like to see some more songs before deciding whether I like them or not. All the rest, I'm mostly indifferent to, so far.

Ouch.

Avi overreached with that chameleon + 5 animals. I was the more ambitious of the three, but it ended up too complicated for its own good. As for Lana's crab... I just couldn't see a crab. I saw contortionists posing as a roughly crab-shaped form, but not a crab. But then again, I never was a huge fan of Lana's style during the season, so... I liked Arin's stylized butterfly much more than the other two creations, but the caterpillar, not so much. Still would probably have given her the win. Could have done without the Fernello & Cheryl Ann drama, though.

The only make-up I really enjoyed, this week, was the winning look. All the other ones, including "plastic vampire daughter of Sherlock Holmes" (WTF ?), were different shades of mediocre, at best. Tbh, I would have prefered a Focus Challenge dedicated to fantasy beauty make-ups or something like that, instead of the same old creatures & monsters.

Loved the cat people. Wasn't really impressed by most of the other looks, in particular Missy's zombies, and the angel/demon pair. That, I enjoyed seeing that Drag Race guy back on tv after his Skin Wars appearance... now I want more crossovers ! I want Ru Paul to be a guest judge on Face Off and eviscerate our contestants' "beauty" makeups !

Funny, it's the opposite for me. I really enjoyed the show, but having rewatched the movie beforehand, I feel like the show had the same amount of jokes and absurdity, only diluted over 4 hours instead of 90 minutes. I guess it was necessary due to the format, but the show felt more plot-driven than the movie, which was really chaotic & scene-driven. And I really loved the non-stop barrage of insanity of the movie. That said, still a lot of laughs to be had, and if there was to be a sequel, I'd hope for a Wet Hot American Summer : the next generation, taking place during the 10 year reunion teased at the end of the movie. That way, you'd have a new bunch of counselors + the original cast in 90s getup.

Sure, Rio's look was probably the weakest of the bunch... but only if you pretend Cheryl Ann's "thing" did not exist. There's not much more I can say that hasn't already been said in this thread, but Cheryl Ann's presence in this competition, and the pseudo-drama editors are working into the show with her are slowly but surely making it unbearable. Especially now that Face Off is back on the air. I'll stick with the show as long as Aryn is in, but Rio's anger was totally justified.

Yeah, wasn't too impressed by the top looks... or by any of this week's looks, really. Except maybe the feathered one, which was pretty... but read too bird-like, maybe, and not "aquatic creature" enough. That said, I hope Missy won't leave anytime soon, cos I can't help to giggle every time she's on screen. And that's always a plus, between two "my mold is locked" incidents.

Didn't know that. Still... not sure why. Had it been a squid, I'd have understood the direct connection between Verne/Squid/Nautilus/steampunk... but an octopus... O_o

Oh man, I'm glad Face Off is back, but I only had two thoughts during this episode : "the judges are gonna have a hard time finding a second top look, cos those are pretty much all mediocre except for the top one", and "Glenn's new look rivals that (drag queen traffic cop)'s in the WTF department". And that clam monster... still laughing about that one.

"You just can't deny Cheryl Ann's talent"... yes, yes I can. None of her work has convinced me at any point during this season, and her grating personality makes me think she's mostly there for the drama. Too bad, cos she's really detracting from my enjoyment of the entire competition. Also what was up with all those octopii on the models ? Did I miss something at some point, was it a mandatory piece, or did they just woke up and decided "hey, you know what's steampunk ? An octopus ! Let's each put one in our painting !" ?

Skin Wars season 2 : more caricatural contestants, more fake drama, and less talent ? Gotta say, after that first ep, I'm not too enamoured with the way this season is shaping up, with its obvious villains that really feel forced & artificial. We'll see how it'll turn out, but i'm cautious.

Mediocre writing, some overacting from Melissa Benoist, some WTF decisions (Olsen), some worrying trends (the formula & the clichés are strong in this one), and a pilot that felt like they had a 90 minutes origin story on paper, but had to cut half the scenes to make it a 42 min pilot, which led to most scenes feeling rushed & impact-less. Not necessarily the best of starts, but then again, I said the exact same thing (down to the clichés, the mediocre writing, and the doubts re:the lead) about Flash, and it turned out okay. Still flawed, but okay... So let's hope CBS just gives Berlanti & co the same amount of leeway CW gives them.

Never has that "soul daddy wilmore" schtick felt more forced and out of place than with a deadpan Morgan Freeman as a guest. Too bad, cos the rest of the show was pretty decent.

Man, between that Kelly Clarkson's baby panel (I've already forgotten was the original topic was) and yesterday's Menopausal Clinton shouty panel, the contrast with last week's focused shows was striking.

Yeah, that last one was a mixed bag. First half, w/ Larry talking to the gangs, worked well ; the second half, w/ the panel, was standard Nightly Show fare. But still, half of a good show is better than none at all.

Also, it helps that on those subjects, suddenly, Larry (& the entire show around him) seems more involved, more focused, more serious than usual, & TNS seems to have more bite.

I liked the fact that they seem to be fine-tuning McIver's make-up to make it less cadaveric, and slightly more half-alive, which works better as far as believably interacting with normal humans goes.

Credit where credit is due, the Baltimore Riots episode was pretty good.

But most people invested in a character or a 'ship are still watching (whether hope-watching or hate-watching), and will probably do so until the show ends, or the character/ship dies. So catering to them won't do a thing to bring in new viewers. Worst, catering to established characters might turn away casuals, if they can't stand the regular characters anymore, or feel they haven't watched enough of the show to understand how regular A or regular B is where he's at right now. Early on, when OUAT started, casuals didn't tune in to see "their favorites", they tuned in for the fresh spin that writers were putting on old fairytales & characters, whether they were the Charmings, or other characters like Cinderella. The OUAT world felt huge, with tons of possible interactions & new characters. If anything, if all the casuals I know are to be believed, it's the pandering to certain ships & the overexposure of Emma/Snow/Charming/Rumple that led to their departure, and to some audience erosion. Heck, the Frozen storyline managed to get some of my casual friends back in (fresh characters & storylines ! Recognizable franchise !) before chasing them off by having everything, once again, revolve around Emma, her past, and so on. That said, whether the writers decide to go with new characters (I liked the self-contained Cruella story, for instance, despite some annoying tropes) or to milk the "core" characters til they're the unescapable center of everything OUAT, it all comes down to the writing... and that's the weakest point of OUAT.