wonderwoman

i knew it was paula marshall right away. for me, it was the actor playing shannon’s mother. she looked so familiar, but i had to check imdb for her name: stephanie kramer, who played dee dee mccall on the mid-80s show, ‘hunter.’ (apparently now spelling her name stefanie)

re iain’s performance in the sondheim tribute:

just one, overwrought, melodramatic cliche after another. i’m out. don’t want to know; don’t care.

i was distracted by mark’s absence. did they even mention him in this episode?

I don't see how they can afford a 2nd house without a contract for the sale of their current one. details, details...

FUCK YOU RANDALL!!!!

same question i was asking over at ‘chicago med,’ where choi (a physician) was putting together a crib before april (a nurse), who’a undergoing ivf (not surprisingly, the 1st round failed), is even pregnant! i mean these people are medical professionals!

posted the following on the cbs sunday morning page. thought it belonged here, as well. “let me start my saying that cbs sunday morning is my favorite part of sunday. however... it pisses me off no end that the show rarely, if ever, acknowledges the network’s soaps, which, over the years, have generated billions — with a b — in revenue for cbs. in 2009 and 2010, they barely mentioned the cancellations of “guiding light” and “as the world turns.” and this week, they failed the mention the death of lee phillip bell, who with her late husband, bill, created both of cbs’s remaining soaps: ‘the young and the restless’ and ‘the bold and the beautiful.’ really? they do a passages segment every week. how much effort would it have taken? i just don’t get it.”

let me start my saying that cbs sunday morning is my favorite part of sunday. however... is pisses me off no end that the show rarely, if ever, acknowledges the network’s soaps, which, over the years, have generated billions — with a b — of dollars in revenue for cbs. in 2009 and 2010, they barley mentioned the cancellations of guiding light and as the world turns. and this week, they failed the mention the death of lee phillip bell, who with her late husband, bill, created both of cbs’s remaining soaps: ‘the young and the restless’ and ‘the bold and the beautiful.’ really? they do a passages segment every week. how much effort would it have taken? i just don’t get it.

wasn’t sure where to post this ny times obit for lee phillip bell: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/28/arts/television/lee-phillip-bell-dead.html

nice piece on mandy moore: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/29/style/mandy-moore-silver-landings.html?action=click&module=Features&pgtype=Homepage

looks like there are going to be 12 episodes. with a relatively short season, i think peter gallagher should be required to sing in each and every episode.

wow! what a perfect setup for the second season that won’t happen. missed tamara tunie — clearly her character and leon had some back story i would have loved to see unfold. too bad — i’m really going to miss this show.

true — but usually before the dest director award. after it ran (at almost 11 est) just best actor, actress, and picture remained. i just don’t remember it coming quite so close to the end in previous years.

saw a few thoughts online that maya rudolph and kristin whig host next year’s oscars. please jesus no! but if they do please tighten up the writing. the concept was cute enough, but it went on way too long. and the bit with julia louis dreyfuss and will ferrell was just plain stupid. it was particularly annoying that each set of presenters was presenting two awards, which extended the stupidity beyond my tolerance. the ‘in memoriam’ has always been one of my favorites parts of the oscars. always blown away by how many film people pass in a given year. but this year, the segment really got shafted — in several ways: doubling up on the screen presentation and no clips suggests that the producers intended it to be shorter than usual. as for kirk douglas, as someone pointed out upthread, the man was 103, the academy would have had something in the can. whether did they just used the photograph because no one was getting clips, or fallout from #metoo is anybody's guess. the music was an abomination, and its placement, just before the final awards was just plain odd.

yeah — that was an issue on friends, as well. i could hand wave that joey’s character on days was sort of a lead, and it would have made sense for him to fly to la. but kevin’s part was little more than an extra — an under five — no way a ny actor flies to la for that. speaking of soaps — the kevin/sophie/madison set up is a classic soap trope. for the kevin/sophie shippers, remember agnes nixon’s storytelling technique (and apparently charles dickens, as well): “make them laugh, make them cry, make them wait.” i don’t know that i’m a shipper, per se, but this episode convinced me that while kevin and sophie may or may not be the end game, their story’s not done yet. kudos to the writers for leaving themselves so many options here.

HBO has made this show available (except for the pilot) through monday via xfinity’s streaming app for the weekend. heard a lot about this show. decided to watch an episode before rearranging my schedule to squeeze in 19 episodes. based on the first 15 minutes of this episode, i’ll probably pass. sooo tired of stories about the rich and the damaged.

interesting conversation with tony shalhoub and michael zegen. https://www.salon.com/2019/12/28/the-marvelous-men-of-maisel-on-how-joel-and-abe-are-evolving-in-season-3/

notwithstanding the missing context, i thought their scene was beautifully written and acted.

no, you’re not the only one. what most interested me early on was the relationships between and among the grown siblings. but having kate on the west coast, randall in philadelphia, and kevin here there and everywhere has created the disjointed storytelling. i, too, am losing interest. find myself ffing through scenes.

what a tedious episode, although hair and makeup did such a great job with ariel winter i didn’t recognize her. the trauma therapist scenes were a snooze. but, by far, my favorite moment was a, shall we say, novel product placement, at least on the nbc app. st olivia confronts raegan about the traces of semen found in her invisalign followed by a commercial for, guess what? yup, invisalign!

i’m in for at least a few more episodes, if only to catch a glimpse of tamara tunie.

the headline pretty much says it all: As ‘SVU’ Makes History, Mariska Hargitay Makes Olivia Benson’s Mission Her Own https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/25/arts/television/mariska-hargitay-law-and-order-svu.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Television

apparently not...

agreed re ‘elementary.’ others that should have been included: ‘crazy ex-girlfriend’ and ‘you’re the worst.’ and while you thought ‘jane the virgin’ ‘stupid,’ some of us adored it and were delighted at its inclusion.