arachne

I recall hearing Tony say he'd talk about the food he was eating when he recorded the voice-over. Never happened of course.

During the closing credits, the Gallaghers dropped off Liam's bully -- apparently drugged and unconscious -- in front of a Planned Parenthood clinic.

Just finished the series last night. I found it both funny and charming in its way, and its piqued my interest enough to look forward to more. (My only beef was having to replay the last show and ff to the end credits -- but that's really Netflix' fault.) Does anyone else think Bean's stepmom sounds like Melania Trump -- and was that intentional?

ITA with Lena re Smurf's fashion sense. That pink-on-pink wardrobe (and bedroom) was kinda creepy.

"Hillbilly Nuremberg rallies." Ha! Gotta remember that one.

Is it wrong to admit I enjoyed seeing the Codys take out the Brazilian guys? But yeah, it probably won't end there. So J dumps Nicky at the ER and is having second thoughts about Smurf. If he wasn't hardcore already, he sure is now. I was a bit disturbed by seeing how much Denis Leary has aged. Okay, maybe it's personal, since I did go to school with him (Emerson College '79). Then again, that weathered burnout look does fit the character he's playing.

I've traveled thru Montana, and the scenery looks accurate enough to me. But the action (or lack thereof) I found tedious. I'm at a disadvantage, of course, never having been a big fan of rich-family dramas (unless they're historical, or fantasies like GOT). Maybe I'll give this show another week or two and quit if nothing improves. BTW, I always thought Kevin Costner was overrated. (I used to joke that he gave his best performance in The Big Chill.)

IIRC, a Doonesbury comic strip once referred to that as Will's "connection with the common man." 'Nuff said.

After all the news this week re Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen, it was a bit of a buzzkill to hear George Will talk about congressional appointment. I shudder to think all of Mueller & Co.'s work may be for naught.

A kids' book called "Uncle Steve Likes Cock"? I know Bill was kidding (he was, right?) but c'mon! This is the network that charmed us with A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo. Bill and his writers are capable of better!

Is it just me -- or was this the most unfunny Real Time in recent memory? Jon Meacham was good -- he makes me want to read his new book. But Bill had to shoot him down every time he said something vaguely hopeful about American opinions. The mid-show bit about "incels" -- not funny at all. I could sense discomfort in the audience's reactions (very little laughter to speak of.) The mayor of Stockton has good intentions with his city's guaranteed income program, but I doubt it could ever work on the national level. While I agree generally with Bill's final "New Rule" -- yes, attractive physical appearance appeals to us whether we want to admit it or not -- I objected to his dismissal of "snowflakes" who found fault with I Feel Pretty. I haven't seen the movie, but evidently it wanted to make a point beyond just being funny, and many people thought casting a different lead actress might have made that point better.

Bourdain follows a segment on happy West Virginians target-shooting with news footage reminding us of recent mass shootings in Vegas and Florida. Cut to black screen with logo. So what's his point -- that this whole gun business is complicated? Meh.

When I heard that, I immediately thought: Right, Bill. You mean, like you do? So much of Bill's criticism of religion, culture, etc. boils down to "Why can't everyone be like me?"

This week's comedy segment was about "ads" for attorney Michael Cohen. And for once I found it halfway entertaining.

Seeing what Geraldo Rivera has become hurts me especially because I used to admire him so much. I watched Goodnight America all the time as a teenager, and he inspired me to make some important career choices (college and seven years in broadcast news.) When he talked about why he left CNBC for Fox News after 9/11, Geraldo was so transparent -- I didn't buy a word about his sympathy for 9/11 victims; I think he just saw W's stupid war as an opportunity to get back in the spotlight. And did the camera have to cut to Louie Anderson every time he laughed? Was that Bill's way to remind the audience they should be laughing too?

Bill got off a great line at the end of Overtime, re Trump's tariffs: "I can't wait for Trump voters to walk into Walmart, and there's nothing there."

I couldn't be more pleased seeing how my favorite Oz actors are succeeding -- Chris Meloni in Happy! and J.K. Simmons in Counterpart. (Even Dean Winters is doing not all that badly.) Now, would some enterprising showrunner please come up with a vehicle for Lee Tergesen? Then I could die happily.

Here's what I don't get -- if that cyanide capsule is really stale, as Clare said, why is she keeping it around? Wouldn't it have made more sense to throw it out? (Yeah, I know, Howard Prime wouldn't have found it then, but still ...)

When I saw all those foreign parodies of Trump, I thought yeah, go ahead, knock yerselves out. We asked for it. :^(

One thing I might have missed -- do people think Nick is dead now? Was that his grave marker?

I was pleasantly surprised to find no serious screw-ups in the Jack Parsons story. The narrator did get Aleister Crowley's name right (not the way Ozzy Osbourne says it) and his description of sex magick was more or less correct. It's downright criminal that Parsons doesn't get the scientific recognition today that he deserves. BTW, Crowley's "Hymn to Pan" goes like this: https://library.hrmtc.com/tag/hymn-to-pan/

I wonder what Bill means by "fungus" in bread? Is he talking about yeast, which is also responsible for fermentation in beer, wine, and other kinds of alcohol? Should we avoid those as well? (Yeah, I know some of us should, but not all.) What about cheese, and vinegar? My point is, it's not that simple.

I love this show, in all its bizarro glory, and I'd like to see it continue. At first I was startled with hearing F-bombs on SyFy -- but in a world where CNN can quote the president's "shithole" remark, what can you do? Dreading what might happen to Hailey's mom. I'm not a "Furry" or anything similar, but if I were, this show might offend me.

Psycho Headmaster will be so pissed (haha) with that one kid who soiled his nice costume.

When Nick was fighting off those Chinatown guys, I thought, did we wander into some Quentin Tarantino movie? That said, I enjoyed the shout-out to the Polanski film. BTW, does anyone know if this show is a one-shot, or will there be another season?