ProudMary

Quite an amazing piece. Fair warning everyone; it is loooooong! (But worthwhile.)

What if sometime during their marriage, not-so-Saint Jack had an affair of his own with an ex? Perhaps something the writers haven't seen fit to tell us as of yet. Guilt ridden Jack could be projecting his own feelings to Rebecca. Also, right from the beginning of the 'Becca and the Band story arc, I felt that the on-stage flirting was just part of the act, at least for Rebecca. JMO, but I never got the feeling that Ben's feelings toward Rebecca were reciprocated.

This is such a good point, it deserves to be highlighted.

Glad you linked that site. I've gotten quite fed up with the pop-up ads on Sporcle. Nice to have someplace else to get a good quiz fix!

Noooo! Now I'm thinking that is exactly what will happen. I can totally see NBC doing this with The Voice being the Tuesday night lead-in for This Is Us. Be sure to tune in to Season 2 of This is Us: Featuring fictionalized segments of The Voice! Blech. First, let me just say that I really like your posts. I always seem to agree with much that you say--not just in this forum but in several, I think we like the same programming--and you say it better than I do! I'm glad you brought up the Rebecca "saved" Jack thing. This is a major pet peeve of mine that appears way too much lately in pop culture, not just in television and film but also in music. So many songs sung by men have lines about "I'd been lost and then she saved me" or "I'm looking for a woman to save me." It just pisses me off to no end. Hey men: Save yourselves or better yet, don't screw yourselves up in the first place. We women already have enough on our plates!

The Hollywood Reporter really didn't like the season finale. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/fien-print/critics-notebook-is-us-closes-season-1-a-sour-note-986437?facebook_20170315

That was positively delightful! I love both of them and they were great here. Very glad you shared that. I just subscribed to the Reserve Channel.

UO: I don't care when Jack died. We already know, via the funeral flashback scene, that the big three were teenagers at the time of Jack's death. Does it really matter if they were 15? Or 16? Or 17? Or 18? Is it somehow better if Jack died when they were 18 as opposed to 15? No, of course not. They were kids when they had to bury their father. Heartbreaking. That's enough for me. I also don't have to know RIGHT NOW! how Jack died. We know he's not alive in the present day. That's also enough for me. I'm tired of the fact that the how and when of Jack's death has become the overriding story arc for the entire show. I'm much more interested in the present day life stories of the big three. The effects of the loss of a parent in their teenage years, while huge, is not the only thing that gives shape to their lives almost two decades later. I'm pretty sick of having that rammed down my throat. Second UO: During the Jack/Rebecca argument in the S1 finale, all I could think was: Here's their Emmy submission; and I thought that in a pretty cynical way. While I plan to watch the series again when autumn rolls around, my affection for the show is definitely diminishing.

Just my opinion of course, but I think we saw two front runners emerge tonight in Vanessa and Chris. I'm glad no additional singers were montaged tonight. The show moved in the right direction there.

I'm getting very frustrated that the contestants never seem to clear the board any more. Tonight there were clues still remaining for both the Jeopardy and Double Jeopardy rounds. The contestant interviews need to be condensed. Grrr... We have a good champ. I hope she sticks around for a while.

To this point, I hadn't been all that impressed with any of the singers this season except for Casi Joy. But tonight I really liked R.J. and TSoul. I don't think that there is any one contestant that's looking like a sure thing to win. That should make it a more interesting season. I did think we might get through the blinds without any montaged singers but that streak ended tonight. Are the blind auditions all held on one day? The coaches have been in the same clothes since Ep. 1!

I'm sure that you and most of this thread's participants are well aware of this--I quoted you only because you mentioned the boys, then girls rule--but for anyone else looking for information from this thread, there was a change to the laws of succession in 2011 so that sons and daughters of any future monarchs will have equal rights to the throne. The first to be affected by the new law is Princess Charlotte. Should William and Kate have another son, Charlotte's position in the line of succession will not be changed. Her position will only be usurped by the future offspring of Prince George. If the Duke and Duchess had had a daughter as their first born, she would have been third in line, regardless of the fact that sons may have been born after her. The law is not retroactive. For example, Anne is not jumping ahead of her brothers Andrew or Edward despite the fact that she is the Queen's second born child. Here's a link to a BBC article with all the details. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-15492607

Good article. Glad you linked that.

Yes, that one bothered me and also the acceptance of Mexico when the answer should have been Mexican. Each answer in the category was supposed to be a demonym.

Less chit-chat between Alex and the contestants. It seems to me that the interviews used to be shorter. Also, AT'S pre-game comments, usually on the previous day's game, are unnecessary. There seem to be too many instances where the board is not being cleared. Less chit-chat makes room for more Jeopardy!

MTE. The thought that popped into my head was, "Is this the April Fool's Day episode?" I like the new champ.

Moonlight opened wider this past Friday, post-Best Picture win, than at any point in its initial release. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/28/movies/moonlight-oscars-box-office.html?_r=0

Someone upthread mentioned that the address on William's post card to Beth was in Alpine, NJ. If that's the case, the show definitely screwed up with the story about the mailman. Alpine is unique in that residents don't have house numbers and mail is not delivered. Everyone picks up their mail from the post office. That's a pretty big oops.

Here's a link to the Variety feature story that goes along with the cover photo embedded by @Artsda a few posts upthread: http://variety.com/2017/tv/features/this-is-us-nbc-emmys-dan-fogelman-1202002871/

This would be the perfect thread for the conversation about gifted children that's derailing the episode thread(s). Also for general discussion of domestic violence, not specifically pertaining to series' episodes.

What I loved about this slideshow is that while you linked to the slide that highlighted Richard Blais' Crack Shack on this list of best fried chicken in the US, if you scroll through a few slides, you'll find Little Goat Diner also showing up on the list. Although not mentioned in the caption, that's Stephanie Izard's place! Love that irony. :)

She did have a back up protein. She said she had short ribs.

Padma, maybe. I'm sure Tom knows exactly what happened.

I really wish that someone from Top Chef would clarify the situation regarding the missing pork belly. I find it hard to believe that Padma and Tom would sit there quietly on WWHL while Brooke claimed that the pork belly was on her list but was not delivered if it weren't the truth. JMHO, but this to me reeks of Magical Elves' jigery pokery. In the finale??? If that's the case, it's reprehensible. (And I was rooting for Shirley, BTW.) The only other thing I can think of is that because pork belly was the only protein requested by both finalists, was the amount delivered meant to be split between the two of them to begin with? If the ingredient was actually on Brooke's list, I can see her feeling entitled to at least some of the pork belly that was considered Shirley's delivery. It puts the behavior that we saw--what the editors wanted us to see--in a completely different light.

Hey, it could be worse. We could be sitting in the studio audience instead of getting the (thankfully) edited version as we screen it at home! Imagine what it must be like for those poor folks. :/ I have to admit that I laughed loudly at Adam's facial expression when he finally pressed his button for Casi. He heard this country singer performing very well, didn't want to turn as he just knows that Blake is getting her on his team, but ultimately realizes that she's very good and he has to at least try. The rest of the pouty shtick, hiding behind the chair, walking across the set, that stuff was pre-meditated but the initial facial expression was gold.