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Finally finished this season and just have to give a shoutout to my favorite team, who just happens to also be my hometown team! Though the header says that neither of them live here anymore, Corey shouted out growing up in Vancouver, WA in the final episode, and Rob coached the football team for the Washington School of the Deaf here. I know because the School is right next to my homebrew supply shop. We have...different priorities. 😁 I could never pull off that trapeze thing in a million years. Good on Rob for never giving up! Really wish they could have won, of course, but happy that they represented Vancouver so well (as well as the deaf and CODA communities, obviously)! Wishing them all the best and fingers very much crossed that they appear on a future all-star season.

Many of these people have the attention span and brain size of insects. They were on to something with Sandra's billiard demonstration last week, and sounded like they were on their way to eliminate Peter. This week that was completely forgotten. Sounds like they're winding their way back around to him, but it is taking foreeeever. I think Alan is genuinely tickled by John. He seemed to break "character" and actually laugh when John came out of the well and joked about having been surrounded by worse vermin in Parliament, and also a few weeks ago with John pronouncing the silly bird names. I agree, Alan, I'm totally Team John, especially after he called Parv out on her BS. (I'll miss her, but I also appreciate that he didn't fall for her ACTing.)

YES! Jeez, I've been yelling at the TV "HOW IS NOBODY MENTIONING PARVATI AS A TRAITOR YOU IDIOTS?!?" but apparently they all are and the editors just aren't showing it. That's really frustrating!

Phil was the delightful guest on the Dec. 12 episode of the delightful Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers podcast. He's so fascinating...definitely a candidate for the Most Interesting Man in the World with all of his stories and travels and adventures. Well worth the listen, and the recap song at the end is perfect and hilarious!

That fight between Sam and Tricia was painfully real and so well-done. You could see how hurt they both were, and how easy it is to hurt someone you know so well by saying just the right things to push their buttons. Great acting from both of them, probably helped out by the fact that they also know each other so well in real life. I also think that fight helped to make Sam's hurt about Joel's secret more understandable. She probably wouldn't have been happy about Joel's new man and fibs about it either way, but learning about it right after she found out that Holly and Tricia, the closest people in her life before Joel, had also kept an important secret from her, just piled on and she snapped. Again, amazing acting from Bridget, really showing her pain and her work to suppress it.

Another fun article about Bridget in Rolling Stone. I like this media push for her and the show, and hopeful that it helps her and the show's Emmy consideration campaign, and also leads to more seasons! The Bawdy and Beautiful Rise of Bridget Everett

This show is just so sweet and relatable. The characters are not at all without their problems, but again, the problems are relatable. We've all had problematic family members, emotional baggage, difficult relationships, etc., but this show helps me remember that we also have wonderful people and moments in our lives to laugh and get us through. I do foresee problems when Sam finds out about Joel and SLS but I have faith in the show that it will be a blip in their friendship and they will come back together beautifully. I also have faith that I will cry buckets of happy tears when it happens.

Yeah, that was nuts. Again, it shows Gene's narcissism that he went and took care of his own self for EIGHT YEARS and then decided that he had absolved himself enough to come back and apologize and explain the situation to Leo. Also nuts that Leo rather calmly let him in. The guy is a freaking saint. The scenes with Sally were bonkerballs. I hope some of that is explained more...I still trust Hader's overall vision but there are a LOT of questions to be answered and very few episodes left! Spiking John's juice was just so awful; I'm kind of reminded of the Brock-poisoning arc from Breaking Bad when a character went from being a dangerous antihero that was still somehow sympathetic to being completely irredeemable by threatening the life of a child.

Whoever called out (cheftestant) Tom for having two modes, obstinate bully vs. goofy charming is spot on. He started out so likable but as the number of chefs have dwindled and he got called out a few times, he's definitely leaned more in to bully territory. I might have been able to forgive him for ignoring Gabri about the lamb since he was seemingly trying very hard to coach Gabri through it, but then Judge Tom came by and was a dick about how poorly Gabri was doing and Cheftestant Tom jumped right on Judge Tom's dickish bandwagon, even though it was his fault Gabri was there in the first place. Both Toms came off looking terrible in that scene.

So glad this show is back! But man, my emotions. That one reeeeally hit me where I live. My dear aunt and uncle are elderly and live on a farm; we are at the point of trying to decide when and how to proceed with their care and the property. The scene of Sam cleaning out her dad's barn hit me hard. It was also impossible to keep my dad from smoking after his stroke, so I related to that with her mom too. Just wish I had a sweet friend/roomie like Joel to help process it all with support and teenie-tinis! The moments of humor are so simple, hilarious and true. I had to pause during the pencil test/salad dressing test because I was laughing so hard right along with the characters.

While I still watch it, and while Gilmore Girls is still one of my fave shows of all time that I rewatch way too much, this show is Palladinos on steroids and I find it very much of a slog. It has enough positive elements, though, to keep me watching through the end. The visuals are always a joy...there have been a few times when I thought I should just mute it through most of the scenes to avoid the obnoxious repetitive dialogue while enjoying the sets, costumes, and photography. The scenes in the airport were visually stunning, especially the scene with Lenny in the tunnel. It was very dreamlike and symbolic, and hot damn if those two don't still have smmmokin' chemistry. (I would never turn down the dialogue on their scenes. :)) Knowing his intended role in her life on the show (career-guiding guardian angel type) and also what really happened to Bruce, it's amazing that their scenes together still have me hoping for those two crazy kids to work it out and live happily ever after. Sad that Mei had to leave the show because I really love Stephanie Hsu, but glad that they didn't shy away from the abortion and the path forward to following her dream, even if it doesn't include Joel (who has some redeeming qualities, but is still by and large a putz).

I realized how much I had missed this show when I got choked up, like, 5 seconds into the trailer. It's just sooooo good.

Hmm...following Romy on Instagram, he posted some pics from the past SBC, and said "Memories! That was a wonderful moment! Impatient to do it again!" and tagged FN and some of the baking show casting folks. Then someone in his comments said that "I noticed that while the 2023 Spring Baking Championship episodes were being filmed in Knoxville this past summer, you weren't posting much on social media, which led me to think you just might be back on this year's season." All speculative, of course, but very interesting... I'm not usually a fan of bringing back previous contestants, but Romy was so effed over by the Cookie Salad Queen that he (and several of the other contestants) deserve another shot for sure.

Rewatching Last Week Fights This Week Tights the other day; I know it's a lot of people's favorite, and it does have some great moments, notably the waltz, but some of the dialogue is sooooo clunky. I was cringing through the rewatch. Liz and TJ scenes are always a struggle for me to sit through, but the "You're going to make a good sister-in-law to some lucky girl..." Just ugh. Who talks like that? Literally nobody talks like that. Also Dean's "I laughed a lot tonight. You're funny!" A) Rory is not very funny and B) again, nobody talks like that. It makes Dean seem a little...touched, if ya know what I mean. If I come to this ep again, I may have to turn the sound down and just enjoy the pretty visuals.

What an excellent season! Of all the baking challenge shows, I think this one has found the best combination of host, judges, themes, and contestants, and of course the behind-the-scenes crew that does all of the amazing costumes, makeup, and decor. I already can't wait for next year! It was pretty funny that Stephanie's makeup didn't go all the way down to her very sassy decolletage. Getting that low, the makeup crew were probably like, "Uh, you're going to have to finish this yourself so we don't get sued." I thought Lauren would be the one to be eliminated after the first round, but I'm glad they all got to go through. Her final cake was my favorite. Those masks were gorgeous, though I agree that I wish she'd had a bit more time to zhuzh them up with feathers, etc. Bring on the holiday baking championship! And the complaints about the bakes not being holiday enough! It's tradition!

Maricsa was my favorite, but I can see why she was sent home; just too many things went wrong in that second bake. Such a bummer. So far I really like all of the bakers, though, so I will be disappointed every time someone leaves. I wonder if the costume/makeup designers on this show have been nominated or won any Emmys or other awards? I'm always blown away by the wonderful job that they do. Wish I had that skill and creativity for Halloween! Stephanie's Titanic-esque frozen socialite was my favorite (and quite a glam-up from the also-brilliant pizza rat she had been the week before!), and Carla's doll makeup was awesomely hideous.

This show is just a big warm hug and I will forever love it. (Except for the opening skits. I'm a huge Star Wars fan, but man, I was cringing through that whole thing. Just...get to the tent already.) Toward the end, the episode seemed to be running long, and I was wondering if we were going to get to see Janusz's call home, and then we did, and it turned out to be the BEST Star Baker call home ever! Star Caker! And calling his boyfriend "hon-bon!" And both of them giggling gleefully and uncontrollably! So incredibly sweet. The grandmotherly types never seem to do as well as I want them to on these shows, but the two here (purple hair lady and short-haired lady with glasses, not sure of all the names yet) seem to be pretty strong, at least to start. Come on grannies, you got this! Also, two guys with Scottish accents? A buff manny? This is my Christmas. 😍

I hope that the judge was understanding about the arson (which is the only possible solution I can see to your predicament)!

I died laughing at that! Especially as a fan of streaming these horrible home-flip shows...love not having commercials but the repeat scenes before and after the non-commercial breaks are so annoying. I love imagining how much of these shows the writers and crew must have watched to capture all of these details. And of course, Natasia Demetriou's every single line reading is so hilarious.

Just the best. I'm only a few years younger than the characters, so I feel like I kind of grew up with them, in a way. It's amazing how they captured the evolution of emotions as we age and gain life experience. The long trilogy was a beautiful, successful experiment that I hope continues in the future!

Man, these fears were dark. And interestingly, John Moran, whose fear was seemingly less painful than the other two, had the most wrenchingly dark piece. I think he deserved the win; definitely not a piece that I would want in display in my house, but absolutely the most visually interesting and striking. I thought the heart aspect of the nest was clear too. Also didn't understand the criticism of the broken bottles in Sharvin's piece. Three brothers, two of whom would be shattered if one of them were "shrouded" in death. Maybe a little on the nose, but effective and true to his statement. I can't imagine what Minhi is going through. I didn't find her piece all that successful at first glance, but the connection with her story and her continued beautiful use of color and layering is very powerful.

Ugh, yes, the puns, they are too much. Does it seem like the host, John, is acting like a judge more than he used to? I especially noticed it in this episode; I had thought that he was supposed to serve more as a liaison between the main judge, guest judge, and the artists/audience, but this time he had commentary for each piece. More than just "I like this!" He was talking about proportions and such. Does his opinion have sway over the final decision? I guess it doesn't matter too much; it's not like this is a blind juried exhibition or anything, so Catherine, at least, probably pretty much makes her decision as soon as she walks into the gallery (and probably even before; it was pretty clear that she hadn't really taken Trenton seriously for most of the series until he finally got the boot in this one).

Reminds me of another favorite Jackie Chiles line, "This is the most public of my many humiliations."

That could be true, but I think they were probably both exaggerating in their own ways. They didn't get as down and dirty as Danny wanted the boys to think, but they probably weren't quite as sweet and innocent as Sandy wanted the girls to think. When I was a kid in the 80s, my mom found the 8-track(!) of this soundtrack in a clearance bin, and since our family stereo still had an 8-track, she bought it and I played it endlessly, memorizing every single song, even the lesser ones (since 8-tracks had no rewind!). "It's wilting...the quilting...on my Maidenfoooorm..." Hee.

When this came out, my friend got tickets to a free preview and invited me to go, so I agreed like an idiot, despite my fear of spiders. The preview was so packed we ended up having to sit in the front row. I nearly died of fear from the moment the first tarantula leaped right at the screen, but it was also a fun and memorable movie experience! Love when the audience screams along, and I thought it was actually a pretty well-done and funny movie for what it was (the parts I could see when my eyes weren't squeezed shut, at least). I'm also still very careful to check my shoes and slippers for spiders before putting them on.