DearEvette

Yeah they would. They didn't greenlight the Nancy Drew series starring a Sarah Shahi as the main character because...ahem.. it was "too female." And make no mistake, this was not a real remake of Nancy Drew as an stylish, amateur sleuth tooling around in her sassy roadster. No she was going to be "re-imagined" as a 30-something police detective. And they were really talking it up saying they wanted to cast Nancy with a non-white actress. Or rather as they put it "going diverse". So basically every CBS show ever, just with a female and non-white lead.

I agree with this to some extent. Yet, sometimes I can't help but wonder while watching some of these show, is this the story the creators really want to tell? Is it a coincidence that so many so-called "high concept" or "prestige" dramas feel all dark, arty & gritty lately? Like, they fancy themselves the latter day coming of the French New Wave or German Expressionism or something. Sometimes I get the feeling that showrunners get so in love with being critical darlings that they subconsciously (or consciously) stop trying to tell a good story and instead shoot for style rather than story, or try to create shocking moments, rather than just letting them occur naturally from the story, in order to generate fan reaction. So it doesn't feel like real storytelling and the artificiality bleeds through as you watch.

Even outside of their demographic challenges, CBS shows just are not my cup of tea. They are all these procedural shows. They feel soulless. I do find it interesting that out of all the CBS shows the one that is arguably more diverse, the Good Wife spinoff is being shown solely on their subscription streaming service. As will the new Star Trek show (which, is also being talked up for its commitment to diversity). So basically the messaging by CBS is if you really want more diversity you have it pay extra for it. No thanks. That is what pirating is for. IMO, this is directly related to the people in charge. PR has Heidi as an executive producer. I'll be she has a lot of creative input more than just as a host of the show.

I know this is one of the things that I am finding a bit of a downside with having such easy access to celebrities. No wonder they need publicists. Same thing with authors of books I've liked and read. I'll ignore minor stupid stuff, but some stuff just colors your perception of them. For instance, the actress Ciara Renee who played Hawkgirl on Legends of Tomorrow said something on twitter that completely soured me on her. I don't dislike her or anything, but it took me from being neutral on her to not really wanting to watch her. So I didn't watch DC:LOT mainly because of her. Now that she is gone I have been watching it and enjoying it.

I really liked this case of the week and of course saw the parallels with Ana and the K5. I wasn't sure how I felt with the whole "come at me bruh" scene where they all stand there and unload on Ana. On the one hand some of the stuff they said was silly, but on the other it probably was a much needed catharsis. I do think they are suffering some sort of PTSD all linked back to Sam, (Asher's is a result of killing the DA) and all of their guilt and trauma is tied in to their relationship with Ana because she is the only common denominator between what they did and between each other. So that there is a lot of dysfunction there. I can't stand Simon so I love how the K5, despite any of their internal issues with each other, all are unified in their dislike of him. I usually am not on board with Asher's goofiness, but I admit he was welcome comic relief. The faces he made every time he delivered a line especially when he and Michaela were teasing Oliver and that "I choose you Hackachu!"

Yeah, this pretty much me. I figure I've been watching tv for almost 40 years. I've been inundated all my tv watching life with very little to no diversity. Since it seems to be happening I am going to totally curate my shows on how much diversity there is. I will admit this season is one the best so far as far as I am concerned especially because I have been thirsty for black representation especially. In the case of shows like Queen Sugar, Atlanta, This is Us, Insecure, and Pitch they are showcasing the diversity within black characterization. The Bordelons on Queen Sugar are as different from Paperboi and Earn from Atlanta as you can possibly get. Heck the Bordelon siblings themselves are all so wildly different from each other, they are a diversity panel all on their own. And don't even get me started on the women. Nova, Charley, Issa, Ginny, Molly, Beth, Evelyn, Misty and Van -- none of them are the same. It is nice to finally have the numbers to showcase the difference instead of having the to depend on the 'there can be only one' model. I will also give it up to a show like Pitch that actually casts very diversely. Not only is Ginny, Blip, Evelyn are black but Oscar is Latino, Elliot is Asian and now David who plays Mike's ex's new fiance is a Middle Eastern guy.

Oh Man I loved that. Especially since it was repeat of Evelyn's earlier "Whaaaa?..." face. I just love Evelyn and Blip. I loved Evelyn's trying to be sensitive to the vibes in the room when Ginny and Amelia face off only to give up because she really wants to hear what they have to say and this would be too good to miss. And than later when the Nike rep (btw, that actress played Bonnie McKechnie on As the World Turns back it the day!) asked Blip to take a photo, Evelyn shut that right down "He doesn't take a picture unless you pay him." I loved that because, no Nike, you have deep pockets you don't get free shit. And Blip's choke-laugh at Ginny when Ginny mistook the waitress for wanting a picture. This or course after he joked about the big picture on the wall of Ginny's wide head. Those two were really fun this ep.

I thought Steph was really funny. I also didn't even mind that her snark at Ben. I did love her trying to pump Ben for information at first and he trying to explain the whole church and state thing and she says "Your happy little marriage can be adorable on a different day." I also liked Arizona crying "Scatter!" after the consultant came out while they were all trying to stare into the room with all the residents.

But then it would be a CBS show, and I hate those.

I thought it was a nice insight to the back office (or rather front office) dealings of baseball, though. So even if the action wasn't on the field, it was still very baseball. And by making Blip & Ginny the the central focus it gave an emotional investment into it through Ginny. But I have to say I learned about the whole trade stuff and it wasn't something that I'd have thought of at all. And it created a jumping off point for me to come here and ask questions. Kind like how this episode opened my eyes to the whole mental health issue that surrounds this sort of transition into fame. I am used to seeing movie stars/ teen pop stars etc break down but I never thought about that for professional sports. Maybe it is because most of what I see in passing for athletes who do act out it the headline just seems to be about them doing something bad in a club without any additional context then "oh another athlete is fighting at a club."

I think it is more complex than that. It is a case where they become hidebound in their own teaching methods that they don't even know that what they are doing isn't working as well any longer. The consultant kept mentioning their methodology being outdated. She was giving them new ways of thinking Having gone through something similar, albeit not in medicine, I can attest that it is very uncomfortable to have a light shined on your business practices and to see how what you do has gone stale and not kept pace with industry innovations. And often times it is because a boss or director has been there a very long time and has grown complacent. And consultants can get away with saying stuff that people who work there could never say because the consultants are outside the political structure of the institution and don't have to worry about retaliation. When she said to the residents "this room is a vault" I kinda smiled to myself because that is the green light to spill. When the consultants came to my office I was just like Stephanie because they said stuff to the upper and high level folks that some of us middle managers have been wanting to say to them for years. I actually had a mad girl crush on one of the consultants who -- after one of the VP's laboriously explained some process -- she paused and looked around the room and said "That is some of the stupidest bullshit Ive ever heard." I wanted to weep with joy. I do cry foul, though, on her deliberately knicking that artery. Or whatever. There is opening their eyes to what they are doing wrong (I love that Maggie seemed to try to work with this) and then there is just wrongness. Doing that deliberately was a road too far.

Oh I liked that we got this episode, the look at how the immense pressure and stress is affecting Ginny's mental health. There is so much expectation placed on her and the show has made a point of showing that Ginny had not been 100% committed to making baseball her future. With her father dying at the time he did and the way he did it seemed to push her into this path and a decision she made while she was still grieving. An even tho Evelyn and Blip are friends, that aren't there primarily for her. I also think that the Amelia/Mike thing isn't as simple as jealousy. Amelia was the one person there that was solely hers. And when she hooked up with Mike she wasn't just Ginny's anymore. Ginny already lives in a fishbowl and has very little freedom of movement, to have even something as simple as a midnight phone call over a panic attack become something that becomes 'known' is just a further example of that. So I can see why she feels the walls closing with an added dash of imposter's syndrome plus the sheer exhaustion of having to watch everything you say and do all the time. I imagine that newbie pro athletes wild out all the time with something similar to this but the conversation around athlete behavior doesn't trend toward mental/emotional stresses. I loved the scene in the office where they showed her the crying in the bathtub and how they actually seemed compassionate, even Oscar. And Ginny's face just dropped and she let herself admit she needed help. I hope that if Rita Wilson doesn't return, they at least allude to the fact that she is staying in therapy.

The chubbier one. His name is Jacinto Rodriguez. He was the one that was crying the most because I think one of the murdered men was his brother? I also liked the call back to Blue's teacher. I hadn't even thought of her, I thought maybe it was gonna be Darla that was the spanish speaker. This was so much better. I loved that the majority of the dialogue was in Spanish (with no close captioned translation). It made the scene that much richer, we understood the grief and acknowledge that regardless of station or language this was something universal. And then they all held hands to pray and then I was a goner.

I love how low key the finale of this was. It just did its thing. Two things stood out to me: 1) the opening monologue by their party host. OMG, so funny! "It's like , I know y'all but I don't know y'all. You know? I mean, we cool, but we ain't cool." and "It's like, I fuck with y'all but I don't fuck with y'all" and "someone poured beer i my Britta pitcher." And the way he pronounced "y'all" was actually "yowl" instead of "yawl". 2) The shooting. I laughed but then I was so appalled that I stopped and then I started again. Just the visual of Darius getting out of the car with that big damn straw hat. Anyway good show and good finale. If i had to pick and MVP for the series, Imma go with Paper Boi. As much I liked everyone else -- this cast has been stellar -- I think Paper Boi has to be the most multi-faceted character on the show.

I don't know that I necessarily agree that Charley's decision to delay their leaving had a hand in their death. I know it feels like it should but correlation does not imply causation. They were murdered by a meth addict. Wrong time, wrong place. They could have just been as easily murdered on any other day. I do think the larger message of their deaths was to open Charley's et al. eyes to the humanity of their guest workers. To show how easy it is , even for black folks who still know strongly the legacy of slavery, to fall into the trap of treating persons like commodities and not taking the time to know something as simple as their names. There is a very strong social justice thread that is running through this show that hovers just below the the Bordelon drama that I find very affecting mainly because it centers on just acknowledging the basic humanity of people: sex workers, drug addicts and yes immigrants with no papers. The scene around the table with them talking to the workers was so wonderfully acted and shot. I was so incredibly affected by that man's simple grief over his co-worker's death. Oprah tweeted that the actor just started crying during the scene and the director just went with it, that it hadn't been rehearsed. And then everyone else was affected too. How awesome is that? Dawn Lyen-Gardner tweeted something about the two actors as well and it was just so fun to see on their twitter handles that the guy who was doing the crying is a dancer and choreographer in addition to being an actor IRL.

Oh, Randall. Please stick to "swapping lightning bolts for thunderclouds" because that song. Yikes. I got secondhand embarrassment just watching that. But did like him going into the very low sexy register when he said "Sax. like Wesley in Mo' Betta Blues." Beth remains completely awesome. She's completely perplexed by Randall's job but she is very supportive and I loved her sexy saxophone shimmy. Jack's conversation in the end with young Randall was perfect. I loved the tie thing. That was a perfect note right there.

Heh. His backstory is essentially Draco Malfoy's minus the Nazi Death eater father.

Holy cow. I had no idea. I would imagine then that spouses and children have experiences not unlike military spouses, where they have to relocate with some regularity. Thanks for all the good info, guys.

Just did a re-watch and I have to say I love the backing soundtrack on this show. All violins and strings. it has a great score. Also, for the baseball challenged like myself (seriously, my most exposure was watching the Ken Burns documentary -- so all I really know is that Billy Crystal and Doris Kern Goodwin are huge fans, Ty Cobb was a sumbitch, and of course, Jackie Robinson) -- does this trade thingy happen every year? If so how can anyone relax?

Yes. I agree. I mean some people are upset about Diane smiling at Charlie's faux funeral. But very few seem to be upset by Charlie's utter neglect of Eustace. I personally see both things as just OTT humor and understand that if I took them too seriously I'd be appalled. But I don't, both things just are presented as too absurd.

I hope sooner rather than later we get to understand Flynn's mission and by default understand why he's picking the time periods he is. Why are these particular times/places so important and how does he figure whatever he does is going to have the real intended outcome. You can change the past but that doesn't mean the future you want will automatically result.

Aww.. I Like Chrissy. Actually she rarely crossed my radar until I happened across her twitter. I love reading her twitter, she tweets like real people I know rather than like I think a star does . She isn't constantly promoting something, she doesn't come off as fake nice but really engages and does a great clapback.

No I don't really want it to be Wes either. But since he is still in play, In order of preference I have: Nate (sorry Nate, you're just eye candy really) (big gap) Frank Wes Connor

Yeah, that is my dilemma with NCIS:NO, does my liking of CCH Pounder and Shalita Grant outweigh the total ugh-ness of Vanessa Ferlito's character? Because she is making the show practically unwatchable. But... I genuinely like the rest of the cast they all have great chemistry and I am kinda liking the hint of a romance between Sonja (Selita's character) and LaSalle (Lucas Black's character). So I am in for now. Still. Maybe they plan to tone Vanessa down and make her not so abrasive. One can only hope.

But did she lie, though? She was basically telling DeLuca the truth of the facts as we all knew it at the time. I also found Jo's "oh it wasn't that bad..." apologia interesting, since at the time, Leah's filing of the harassment claim had Jo being all super pissy at everyone because it interfered with her relationship with Alex. She went so far as to 1) accuse Stephanie of being the one who filed it in front of everyone telling her that she "just made my relationship with Alex illegal" and then 2) she spitefully told Steph that Jackson and April were still together --again in front of the rest of residents and said "You know what you do when your little heart gets broken? You talk to your friends. I'm the one being punished, you're ruining my life...blah blah blah..." in spite the fact that Steph told her a ton of times that the complaint was anonymous. She then turned her pissiness onto Leah hen Leah made it clear that she was the one who filed the complaint. I don't mind Leah's return since it does seem to be more about kicking off the "we're terrible teachers" storyline. As long as she doesn't turn into Perfect Penny 2.0 then I'm ok.