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I think it would be fairer to say that Susie, like Midge, is learning on the job, rather than that she's simply "a crap manager". (I would also note that it's a signature tic of ASP shows that the finances and business strategies never make any sense.) She's good at spotting talent and opportunities; less good at the details. I'd also note that while an agent traditionally has gotten 10%, a manager working the way Susie is - traveling with the act full-time and guiding the talent's career, as well as getting bookings and fielding contracts and offers - normally gets more than that. 20% at least would be typical, and it wouldn't be uncommon when an act is starting out and not earning much for it to be a good bit higher, especially for the one-on-one service Susie is providing with n oother source of income. But like I say, it is unwise to fall down the rabbit hole of trying to make sense of the fiances in any ASP show.

I was surprised to see that, but Wikipedia agrees: she has an MFA from Cornell. She was born in 1960, so figure she'd have been there in the early 1980s. At that time, besides the main school year programs there was (may still be, I don't know) a very good repertory theater summer program directed by a guy from Playwrights Horizons in NYC. I played music for one of thier productions in the summer of 1982; that year, one of the members of the repertory was Jimmy Smits, headed for LA at the end of that summer, IIRC. Nearby, Ithaca College also has very good theater and music programs, and in the 1970s the Cornell Savoyards used to have quite a few IC students in lead roles (and in the orchestra). IIRC David Boreanaz went to IC.

To be precisely accurate, in the pilot Ross actually says, "I just want to be married again," a split second before Rachel bursts through the Central Perk door in her bridal dress. However, I think we're meant to understand that he wants his *marriage to Carol* back.

possibilties: anyone who's been through recent years of British politics can tell you that anti-immigration sentiment can be and is directed at white people, too! At one time in the US it was the Irish and Italians...and the Polish...and...Jews...and... Moving back to the show, IJWTS that Barry Shebaka Henley's face is truly one of the great comedy faces. Where has he been until now?

Nothing wrong with Richard for an English king. It's John they eschew.

Agree about the Carol Burnett resemblance, but oddly that makes me feel that Colman seems - and especially *sounds* - more like the actual Queen. Burnett captured a very real essence in her performances, and Foy's voice never sounded right to me.

Two things about the mother being racist: 1) Nurses and doctors have to treat people who are repugnant the same as they would treat anyone else. I'm sure it's not the first time Abishola has encountered this. 2) Abishola is helping *Bob* (and getting paid for it); she's not doing his mother a favor.

I was only interested in the non-musical scenes that wrapped up the characters' storylines.

swanpride: It is confusing. Wilson was small-l liberal. BUT until the rise of the Labour Party in the early 20th century, the two main parties were Conservatives ("Tories") and the Liberal Party ("Whigs"). If you take a look at Gilbert and Sullivan's IOLANTHE you'll see these are the two parties when that was written. After Labour became the bigger party, the Liberal party faded for some time. Then, in the 1980s, it merged with a new party, the Social Democrats (I think mostly comprising former Conservatives), to form today's Liberal Democrats. The LibDems have never had a PM; but the old Liberal Party did. Re the eye color: I wouldn't have noticed in this, but it drove me nuts when in the movie ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA they cast Jennifer Connolly (brown eyes) to play the child version of the adult character played by Elizabeth McGovern (blue eyes). Also in DOWNTON ABBEY apparently it bothered no one but me that both the Downton parents had blue eyes and their three daughters all had brown eyes. I kept expecting the show to disclose long-term infidelity on McGovern's character's part...but it never did.

swanpride: some parts of that set of precautions would not be possible in the US, which requires voting to be anonymous (that is, that no one can trace who voted for whom). Voter ID is also hugely controversial because it disenfranchises many people (and the amount of fraud from *voters* is minuscule; the fraud problems are run from the top, beginning with purging electoral rolls).

I think we could be a little more charitable here. For one thing, it will depend heavily on the contracts written when TWO AND A HALF MEN was commissioned whether Lorre has to pay royalties or not. (I'm not sure whether, when TV studios buy a script and commision a series, they buy all rights.) He may well have had to pay royalties to use his own work (and IIRC Lee Aronsohn was co-writer, so if there are royalties owing he'd get half). But aside from that, if you're going to imply that someone's work is such trash that it's embarrassing that your character's students have chosen a scene from it it's a good idea to make fun of your *own* work. If he'd chosen a scene from TWO BROKE GIRLS it would have seemed gratuitously nasty. Also, Lorre has form in making fun of his own work; on 2 1/2 Men Charlie, who wrote jingles, often played the "Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles" theme - which Lorre himself wrote. And finally...for much of its run 2 1/2 Men was indeed as crass as Sandy Kominsky implies. But the first two years, and especially the pilot, were actually well-written. I thought the scene held up remarkably well under the ministrations of the two inept student actors. And Lorre also made a valid point: kids who've been brought up on TV think that's classic comedy. And in a show about aging, it's self-referential but not wrong to include the note that *his own earlier work* is now seen by full-grown adults as "historical".

UK also votes with paper and pencil, but it has to be said that elections are much simpler when you only vote on one thing at a time. I wrote my first pieces about voting security in 2000...it's hugely depressing to be still writing the same stuff nearly 20 years later. Oliver did a good job.

Lamb18: the episode you're referring to there was last week.

The IMAG on the hat on the final vanity card stands for Immigrants Make America Great. Chuck Lorre has said that he wanted to do this show in order to write about immigrant families. Did everyone notice that the son's tie was made of the same fabric as Auntie's dress?

There's also the point that Abishola is responsible for supporting her entire family of four. And she mentioned student loans. That's a lot of pressure and stress. I don't find her rude at all, just direct and straightforward.

I assumed the sweater was bought for Jesse by Mr Fixit, along with the identification documents as part of building the new persona. There's a lot we never learned about Gus: why there was no record of him in the country he said he was from, for example. I agree he'd be fascinating to explore - but I can't imagine another actor playing him, and I doubt that Giancarlo Esposito can be youthened enough. I'd most like to see them build Esposito's awkwardness with Spanish into Gus's back story. 🙂

I would assume that Gina Yashere will be involved in writing every episode for the foreseeable future, since all Chuck Lorre shows are room written - that is, the entire writers room collaborates on breaking the story and writing every line. The credits are parceled out somehow, but it's why there are always the maximum number of writers the WGA allows, plus more multiple producers, and the names swap around every week.

I believe the condoms in the bathroom thing was to highlight the importance of using condoms and safe sex - remember, at the time AIDS was still somewhat new, and it was still lethal.

I think wanting your kids to do well is typical of immigrant families in general, no matter what their original nationality. That's where all those Jewish doctors came from. : ) I liked this episode.

I've liked (the first few seasons of sometimes) enough Chuck Lorre shows to give this a chance to develop. I didn't care for MIKE AND MOLLY despite the cast, but this strikes me as potentially more interesting. It was at least fun seeing so many of Lorre's repeat actors show up: Matt Jones, for example. Vermee Watson, too - I hope she gets to do more. That woman has played *so many* nurses - including the one in the BIG BANG THEORY pilot.

I thought Aniston was very good (bitter and angry) in CAKE. Schwimmer is probably the best actor of the six, given his long history in theater. (Try watching IT'S THE RAGE if you don't believe me.) I had to revise my opinion of Matt LeBlanc's acting upwards by a considerable way after seeing EPISODES.

I can only assume you've never seen Beth Hall in anything else. She's *brilliant*. Her best-known turn is as Caroline, Roger Sterling's secretary in MAD MEN. Barely recognizable from that as Wendy. It's completely inexplicable why they don't give her a story on MOM.

It seems clear there's someone in the writers room that really loves the movie ALL THAT JAZZ - this episode had the second call-back to that movie this season (the scene where Sam starts rubbing his left wrist and the sound fades out is a direct knockoff). One homage is fine. Two is...pushing it.

I hope everyone got the ALL THAT JAZZ reference of the music-shower-wine-pills montage.

Going back to the piece about the strippers and molesting him, I think lost in the sexual abuse aspect is the fact of the viciousness of the timing, which was guaranteed to ensure maximum public humiliation for him as a performer. (That comes across very clearly in ATJ, where the audience laughing at his public shame is the real horror of the whole thing.)