ProudMary

Once again, Ken Burns does not disappoint. This is a wonderful documentary. I agree with those who've said that Marty Stuart is a great storyteller but I'm also thoroughly enjoying Merle Haggard's segments giving the west coast perspective. And I think special mention has to be given to Ray Benson who's been informative and--as he is on stage--very entertaining. I'm sorry there was a three day break in between episodes 4 and 5. I can't wait for tomorrow night! I only wish my Mom were still alive so I could share this with her. She grew up in NJ just across the Hudson River from Manhattan; certainly not someplace you'd consider a hotbed for Country Music but as a youngster in the late 1920s and 1930s, she faithfully listened to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio with her mother and sisters. One of her favorites was Elton Britt who did receive a small shout-out and a song snippet here in Burns' documentary. Her all-time favorite came a bit later with her love for Eddy Arnold. Our home was full of Eddy Arnold's recordings. I knew all those songs from the documentary and scores more. Then, in 1973, radio station WHN in New York switched its format to country and my Mom became one of their earliest listeners. Until watching Country Music this week, I had no idea that WHN had actually employed a country format back in the 1930s! While I was always a rock and roll kid growing up with all the great music of the sixties and seventies, listening to country music with my Mom opened a whole new and wonderful genre for me. Together we enjoyed many artists. Waylon was at the top of both of our lists and we saw him live twice. (Many others too!) She would have loved this series.

I had posted this last week in the media thread for The Young Pope. Now that we have a forum for The New Pope, I thought I'd post it here. The first two episodes of The New Pope debuted at the Venice Film Festival. This article from THR includes a clip from HBO, which appears to be the new opening credits for the show. The article itself is VERY spoilery for the first two episodes. Jude Law on Wearing a "Napkin" in 'The New Pope,' Paolo Sorrentino on Gender Equality in Nudity

I already posted this in the other thread but how does a PREVIOUSLY CONVICTED FELON get off with only a nickel fine and probation??? Connections. Absolutely disgusting.

Raping-while-rich, AS A PREVIOUSLY CONVICTED FELON. Let's not forget that he's already got quite the rap sheet. How does he get probation? How nice to see that the good ol' boy network is in proper working order. 😡

The first two episodes of The New Pope debuted at the Venice Film Festival. This article from THR includes a clip from HBO, which appears to be the new opening credits for the show. The article itself is VERY spoilery for the first two episodes. Jude Law on Wearing a "Napkin" in 'The New Pope,' Paolo Sorrentino on Gender Equality in Nudity

Eh, giving her the benefit of the doubt on this; perhaps she has a little jacket throw-on that works with the dress for church. Otherwise, that look is questionable for church going.

I was very surprised that Shiv quit/pushed Gil to the point of firing her. I really thought she was going to play both sides for as long as possible especially since she told no one that Gil had basically given her the WH Chief of Staff position should he win the election. It seemed the smart move and I honestly thought she (like many of us here) was wary of Logan even giving up power and was looking to protect herself. This will not end well for Shiv. I do hope the writers let us in on why Shiv is with Tom at all, let alone why she married him. She doesn't love him; most of the time I don't even think she likes him. For Tom it makes sense. Shiv's his meal ticket. There's a big piece of the puzzle that we're missing and I'm hoping they don't hold out from us much longer. Kendall seemed ticked off that the convenience store attendant didn't take his eyes off the television he was watching while ringing up Kendall's purchase. I think he stole the batteries on his way out as a way of saying, "How dare he treat me that way?" just to put the guy in his place, so to speak. Did we know that Roman was in a relationship with Tabitha? That seemed to be out of the blue to me. I didn't know who she was until she made the "You might want to swallow something for that throat" crack to Tom. Her comment and Tom's reaction told me who she was, but I was still surprised that she's Roman's (evidently live-in) girlfriend. Off topic: Kieran Culkin often reminds me of a young Robert Downey, Jr. I see a resemblance in certain mannerisms and facial expressions

The third season drops December 6th! Here's an article which includes a teaser trailer from The Hollywood Reporter. The new season of the Amazon awards darling will return Dec. 6. Edited to add a YouTube link for the teaser trailer.

A very amusing Variety article about one woman's somewhat frustrating experience in trying to snag some of the promotional deals on Maisel Day in various L.A. locations. My Mostly OK Maisel Day

The queue for the 30 cents per gallon Chevron gasoline was so long they evidently had to stop the promotion after a couple of hours. There are still a lot of happy people on Twitter who enjoyed 1959 prices in L.A. on #MaiselDay. "Los Angeles is treated to 1950s prices for 'Maisel Day'" https://twitter.com/i/events/1162047626478419968

Dustin Waters' recap of the finale is up at Charleston City Paper. Confessions of a Southern Charm Newbie: Go out on your back

Another "Shep is a POS" moment: When he, Craig and the two girls were walking into the party venue, did he think it was somehow cool to wipe off his shoes on the purple train/carpet? That was low class, IMO.

I think you called it @PallasEntertainment Weekly just dropped their September cover story, all about The Crown. They would have known the release date in advance. God Save the Queen: The new stars of The Crown open up about the royal gamble of Season 3

Just how many Launch Parties is Austen having? This one on Saturday, is the third one I'm aware of. "SOUTHERN CHARM'S" AUSTEN KROLL BRINGS TROP HOP LAUNCH PARTY TO THE ALLEY

I didn't say it did. I was directly responding to @nexxie's comment, which I quoted, directly above mine.

South Carolina does not require annual vehicle inspections, including no emissions inspections, so gearheads can do whatever they want to their cars and trucks without fear of being ticketed and/or fined. 😕

I'm putting this in the SC media thread although it's not exclusively SC related, but all Bravo. News on BravoCon — Including Ticket Sales Dates, Venue Details, and Which Bravolebs Will Be There New York City, 11/15-11/17. Tickets go on sale this coming Tuesday for anyone who's interested.

If you live in or will be in Los Angeles, Thursday August 15th is "Maisel Day" with prices rolled back to 1959 levels at a variety of businesses in the area. It's an Emmy Awards promotion. https://maiselday.com/ Here's an article about the promotion from The Hollywood Reporter: Amazon Teams With L.A. Businesses to Offer 1959-Era Prices for 'Maisel' Emmys Stunt

I forgot all about Dustin Waters' column until a few minutes ago! Definitely some funny stuff here: Confessions of a Southern Charm Newbie

I can't recall his exact words now, but he also made a negative comment about the homeless in one of the earlier episodes this season. He's showing himself to be a nasty human being.

I'm beginning to question the validity of the Hypable article with the S3 release date. Embedded in their article-which is normally a good thing-is the link to an article in Entertainment Weekly that supposedly broke the story. That article has been removed by EW. No other sources are reporting an official release date. There is nothing on the Twitter feed for The Crown either.

Only a little more than three months to wait; I'm doing my happy dance over here! 🙂

I LOVED that the renewal of their wedding vows was ONLY Tamica and Barry with Robin there just to sing for them. It felt real; a true affirmation of their love. Not some producer staged, let's get the whole gang together, made-up party. And I was so happy for Tamica that she finally got wedding photos. How awful that they were scammed by the photographer 11 years ago! This episode was perfect from the party bus fun, the dance-off, the guys out on the fishing boat, the ladies at the spa, with NO DRAMA! Just friendship and fun.

If these people would stop gossiping, there'd be no issues. Then again, there wouldn't be a reality TV show either. From the conversation between Madison and Austen in the hot spring, it sounds like she's looking for exclusivity but Austen, while saying he doesn't want to lose her, still wants to sleep with every woman in Charleston. Then he bitches that she wants him to change. If he truly feels the way he says he does about Madison, he's got to make some semblance of a commitment. IMO, she's not asking for a ring; she just wants him to stop sleeping around. Meanwhile, Austen wants Madison but also wants to reap the benefits of his local fame with the women of Charleston. Pick a lane, Austen. You can't do both. I loved seeing little Palmer at the aquarium. Adorable.

Perhaps it's just me having an issue with the overall invasiveness of reality TV in general, which seems to be fine with cast members, giving up a good deal of their privacy in order to be reality TV stars. The three Southern Charm incarnations are the only reality TV programs I've ever watched so I don't have a lot to compare this to. What I want to say is that I agree with everything that's been written above about the necessity of black parents having these conversations with their kids from an early age and getting that information out. We see again and again the difference between the treatment of people who look like Brock Turner vs those who look like Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Walter Scott and so many others, both by law enforcement officers and by the criminal justice system and it is appalling to me. I still and always will have issues with privacy, the sharing of personal information (and data, don't get me started there) but in this case, several of you have changed my mind. If Barry and Tamica were OK with Hunter being on camera during the conversation, very likely because they thought it was an important one for not only Hunter to hear, but also the SCNO viewing audience, then it's not my place to disagree with their choice. I'd also like to apologize to @HunterHunted for my comments that upset her so. I'm very sorry. Invasion of privacy may be one of my big issues, but even it takes a back seat to my belief that white people in the US and around the world, need to listen and truly hear what black people, and other people of color, have to say on issues that only they can understand.