laurakaye
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Posts posted by laurakaye
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What the **** was that?!?!
I can't even. I am going to need one of you wonderful Survivor geeks to write a brief dissertation on what the hell I just watched.
I'm not following on why Eyebrows was the target? Is she really that much of a threat?
I love this show so much.
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On 3/16/2017 at 11:09 AM, ghoulina said:
Yes. What WAS that??? Was he in dire need of some full-body exfoliation? It bothered me so much that I got really distracted during that segment.
Regarding Tai's sand-bath...I think that if I were ever play Survivor (unlikely), I'd be all up in using sand to scrub the sweat off, possibly multiple times a day. For me, after a day at the beach when it's hot, humid, I'm sweaty and have suntan lotion all over, the first thing I must do when I get home is shower and wash it all off. And this is why I wouldn't last two days on Survivor. It's fun to think about, though.
On 3/16/2017 at 11:16 AM, DEL901 said:Also - Probst told EW that if they had decided to kill the goat production would have let them!!!!!!!!!
Were they really that short on footage that they had to dedicate such a long segment to an issue they knew would rankle so many viewers? I would think that with these fantastic returning players, there would be endless segments about strategy talk, or perhaps about who knows who outside of the game, etc. Between goats and watching JT's tribe bob helplessly in the ocean for several minutes, it was a pretty boring episode.
That said, I do like the idea of hiding idols at challenges. I wouldn't mind seeing a season with no clues at all, only challenge-hidden idols, to see if anyone would figure it out.
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53 minutes ago, ShadowFacts said:
I don't think I'd know a well-done sex scene if I saw one, I don't see many and haven't seen one that I thought was very interesting or tasteful. I am into this show more for its family relationships anyway. Plus, I have already found Toby's sex talk un-amusing, so I really don't need to see him in action.
++++1,000,000,000.
Anyone else get ZERO chemistry between Kate and Toby? I don't even buy them as friends, let alone anything else. Toby is kind of a pushy jerk, and Kate is so cardboard that I don't even know if she finds Toby...amusing? Complicated? Handsome? Hot? I got nothing.
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12 hours ago, Arwen Evenstar said:
She'll have to give birth during a severe storm or on the shitter again. For her sake, I hope she gets to give birth at a birthing center or hospital. Smuggar is lazy and useless. At least Bin and Derick stayed with their wives through the whole thing.
I cannot imagine how incredibly lonely and sad it will be for Anna to give birth to Baby #5 while her husband sleeps, or mentally checks out, or wanders away to find some free WiFi. And then knowing that she has to bring this baby home, take care of her four other children, make nice with her husband's family, and tiptoe around Josh so he doesn't go off and do the bad things which she will surely blame herself for, while keeping that smile on her face and telling us all how everything is just peachy. It's very sad.
But this is her bed, and she made it with Josh (ew, but true). Exactly how much did Anna know about Josh's activities before she married him?
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13 hours ago, cmr2014 said:
I can't imagine what they are thinking.
I think that JB and J'chelle are so out-of-touch that they think another baby will prove to everyone that Josh is rehabilitated, the marriage is saved and there's nothing to see here. Let's get this Jesus-loving couple back on tv soon!
This is interesting. J'Chelle? She is so checked out of reality that I can practically hear her Minnie-Mouse-on-helium voice from here, rationalizing everything, admitting nothing, and proclaiming that everything is wonderful, seasons of life, etc. But Boob? He is in full control of his entire extended family (except JinJer, which totally must keep him up at night and I love it). He HAS TO KNOW how hypocritical he and his helpmeet are acting, RIGHT? No happy joyful upcoming baby announcement for Anna and Josh? JOSH...the lauded first son who sinned but is all better now? If they really believed that, then they should have no problems whatsoever announcing Baby M #5 for all the world. But their silence speaks volumes. They don't want to draw attention to Josh, despite the fact that they keep parading a miserable, overwhelmed Anna on their stupid tv show and tell her to be sure to keep that plastic grin firmly affixed to her face, while at the same time making sure Josh doesn't emerge from behind the potted plants during happy family filming time. Which tells everyone in big, neon letters that they know their precious first born is a slimeball and they know they can't justify having him on the show while Jessa and Jill are also there. So they KNOW. They KNOW and I hate them.
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When Robyn discussed losing her cookies in front of the entire family (children included...also, her own children) I thought she might've had a screw loose.
When she presented the "portrait" of Kody holding her children as babies, I decided that she was actually a sociopath.
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So the Duggars can all slobber and proclaim the wonderfulness of everyone's "seasons of life" except Josh and Anna's newest baby, correct? Because to do so would be acknowledging that Josh does indeed exist, try as they might to hide him behind pillars and lights and his own kids. Even though Anna is still part of the family, no one can acknowledge her pregnancy. But the Duggars can acknowledge all the other babies being mass produced by the Duggar daughters. This is the rankest, most extreme hypocrisy that I can think of. To be joyful about one baby but not another - a baby who, I might add, has zero say in its parentage? It's sick. Twisted. And I think the entire Duggar family needs to either shut up and go away, or look themselves in the mirror and acknowledge Josh and Anna's baby and then be prepared for the consequences. They can't straddle the line.
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On 3/17/2017 at 3:29 PM, ginger90 said:
Meanwhile, Logan's girlfriend made this
https://mobile.twitter.com/_michellecp/status/840037075395133441/photo/1
Ooh...what is that? Looks like roasted asparagus, some type of sauteed mushrooms and greens, but what is the main course? Looks good!
LOVE LOVE the wine on the table. LOL, take that, Kody.
And @Roslyn, thanks for the tip on poaching chicken. I have never been able to do that correctly!
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8 hours ago, Celia Rubenstein said:
The thumbs up may be the worst part. It's all extremely creepy but his hand gesture suggests approval of the whole weird ass idea of Kody replacing their father and that's just messed up.
Was this picture actually a family portrait that Robyn gave to the "artist" and asked her to sub in Kody for whichever adult was actually in the picture? Or did Robyn give the "artist" individual pictures of her kids and Kody to blend into one picture? Because I can see her choosing a cute picture of Dayton giving a "thumbs-up" if it were an individual picture, but what 4-year old (or however old he was there) gives a "thumbs-up" during a professional family portrait? That tells me that Dayton's pose was fake, and was all Robyn's idea. Maybe she thought if she could convince the fam'ly that her oldest kid was on board with becoming a Brown, then everyone else would follow suit.
Also, Kody's hand looks extremely feminine in that artistic rendering, and Kody looks like he's supposed to be much older than he really is, not younger. None of this makes sense, it's super creepy, and I hope Dayton escapes his crazy family relatively unscathed.
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Moving to Rebecca thread......:)
Full disclosure - I loved this song back in the day. Mandy came up with Christina Aguilara, Britney Spears, and Jessica Simpson. I thought as far as actual singing talent, Mandy was second only to Christina. I think maybe she got lost in the shuffle because she was a good girl trying to act bad and wasn't nearly as convincing as the others. But no doubt, girl can sing.
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22 hours ago, potatoradio said:
After being unable to take one more word of depressing news, my PMS-riddled self watched both The Bachelor and TIU......
@potatoradio, I kind of want to marry this entire post and have its babies. I loved it that much. I would totally monologue here, but I haven't had coffee yet.
17 hours ago, Winston9-DT3 said:The fact that she has no friends or life is kind of pathetic writing. It's an ensemble show but they've had 18 episodes. That's about the air time for 6 feature length movies. They could easily have 5 well-developed characters in the playing time of 6 movies.
What came straight to my mind is what a bitch she was at the pool, talking to the mom of Randall's friend. And when she wouldn't shut up at the bar watching the Superbowl. No wonder she doesn't have friends. I'm not sure why the writers are drawing her in this light. Perhaps we'll find out in season two. Or maybe we just weren't paying close enough attention.
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15 hours ago, HeyThere83 said:
I just read an interview, and if I read it correctly, the inspiration for Jack is Dan Fogelman himself. I had never read that before, so I am going to double check what I read. But if that's true it would explain so much.
Just double checked, and yes, it says that he based Jack on himself and had originally envisioned someone more "average" looking in the role, but hired Milo for it.
This might be the wrong thread...but if Fogelman was looking for "average," I think Milo fits the bill just fine.
14 hours ago, Winston9-DT3 said:Funny, I was just thinking that they write parenting truly shitty and wondered if Fogelman was a parent and just looked it up. The Pearsons are either wringing their hands in frustrated helplessness or playing clown to their kids, it seems like. Neither feels realistic to me. Moore and Ventimiglia aren't parents, either. I do get a feeling that this is what non-parents think parenting must be like.
+++1. One small scene that bothered the crap out of me was when J & R threw that huge birthday party for their triplets and all of their friends, and in the midst of the chaos, stopped to make out and "sweet monologue" each other in the living room. Um...no freaking way. You have that many young kids in your house? You'd be pulling your hair out trying to keep an eye on all of them. And I felt that the sole purpose for that scene was so that one little boy could spy them smooching and say, "gross." Which was meant to reinforce how sweet and lovey Jack and Rebecca were to each other. No, just no. For realism's sake, the two could've met in the kitchen, looked at each other and laughed in a "what the hell were we thinking with this party?' kind of manner, quickly kissed and said, "okay, you take the living room, I'll take the backyard."
1 hour ago, Winston9-DT3 said:Do we know how much time has passed between that night and opening night of the tour? I guess that's the 'few weeks' he's been drinking, right?
I assume Jack's been working late for years, not weeks. I don't think Rebecca's resentment of that would come from just the weeks leading up to her tour. That would be unreasonable to me.
File it under "things we should know but don't." The timelines on many of these storylines are very, very fuzzy. Do the writers even know? Or do they think the viewers won't notice or care?
1 hour ago, Tiger said:Did the cast shoot and screen a different version of the finale than the one NBC aired?
Because I read interviews with Sterling and Chrissy about the finale and many of their comments address things we just didnt see. In the least, they both seem to be under the impression that the audiance was given big clues about how Jack died; I didnt see one.
This almost makes me want to rage-watch season two.
Things we didn't see? Overall, it seems that many viewers were underwhelmed by the season finale, even those viewers that love the show. And yet from everything I have read, the sentiment at feeling gypped that we don't know how Jack died is pretty strong. Are the actors reacting to the backlash from viewers by saying "you just weren't paying enough attention?" Because I call BS on that. The loyal viewers were, if anything, paying extremely close attention because the big question was, how did Jack die? And if that question wasn't answered, it's certainly not the viewers' fault! That's actually a bit insulting to the people that love this show, IMO.
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17 hours ago, Bringonthedrama said:
It's clear that you don't like her. It also seems that you're making assumptions about her. The show hasn't really gotten into details of Rebecca's successes/failures as a young singer, how she truly felt about marriage or kids pre-Jack, what if any goals her parents wanted her to live up to, etc. The writing for these characters doesn't let you know about them at more than a surface level, or why these two connect. Even one line from Jack during his "romantic speech" would have helped me, i.e. "I love you because I never get tired of hearing you explain the deeper meaning of the lyrics to *insert song name*." I would like to know that, maybe, she really knew she was in love with him, and vice versa, when he told off her mother for demeaning her about her singing (or the way she dressed, or something). The couples I know who have lasting marriages have reasons for being together, beyond mutual attraction and love of the children they're raising - interest in travel, education/intellectual topics, faith, sports/athletics and more. They have mutual goals in life. Jack is attractive, idealistic and romantic, Rebecca is attractive, Jack loves seeing her as a mother, and she has a pretty voice plus unsexy dance. They enjoyed watching sports together once she realized she liked seeing the teams in action on-screen. Okkkkk....that's it?!
I liked your whole post, especially the lines in bold. To me, those first bold lines are the core problem with this show, and the last bold part is the resulting sentiment that some of us seem to share because of that first part. Do the writers want us to make assumptions based on what they've given us? Or do they think that all that sobbing we're doing is the "hook," and as for those pesky details? The writers will just make them up later on. I don't think a good drama works that way. I can't help but compare this show to a drama like "Mad Men." In MM, we were shown plenty of signs, clues, exchanged looks, etc. And while might not have known what those clues meant at the time, we found out, and we didn't have to wait an entire season for satisfaction. That's the way to hook viewers - make the characters act in ways that at first you can't explain, but in a couple of episodes, it makes sense. Where TIU fails for me is that the characters act a certain way but we aren't given much - if anything - in the way of those precious clues, so they all become stereotypes and cliches. And if the idea is to dole out the facts season after season, well...after 18 episodes, I should at least have an idea of what's coming. I don't know, and because of that, I don't care.
9 hours ago, sasha206 said:On her singing gig, it just feels like a hasty thing thrown in to give them some sort of marital strife that is separation worthy.
Regarding her singing gig...I feel like this is only a part of the show at all because Mandy Moore is a singer. I fully expect a soon-to-be-released CD of Mandy Moore crooning songs from "This is Us," and I expect it will be a best seller, and that we will see a video of the cast expounding on how wonderful it is.
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3 minutes ago, sasha206 said:
I totally agree -- I don't think Rebecca is a monster either. I just didn't think that Jack's annoyance was unreasonable. So to me, this whole one huge blow up and he's living with Miguel odd. I could see if his drinking was more of a constant drumbeat of the show, but it's not. Or if his jealousy was a constant drumbeat of the show, but we haven't seen it.
Yes, and adding to that, I haven't really seen Rebecca's driving desire to sing, either. As a poster pointed out somewhere in this thread, if she absolutely needed this creative outlet, why not show her singing at church? Or in some other type of venue - even karaoke night at the local bowling alley or something? Were we given any hints that she felt that being a wife and mother was derailing her promising singing career? I don't remember any. If this is a driving part of her personality, it was kept hidden from us, only to have it become a major plot point out of nowhere.
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I watched part of a video where the cast apologizes for making us cry. I made it halfway before I turned it off. It was very cutely produced, with the cast pretending to flub their lines, laughing at their cleverness, complimenting each other's previous acting roles, saying things like "our show was renewed for another season mere hours after the first episode premiered." Wow - those are some mighty big inflated egos. And I realize that part of their job is to promote the heck out of the show, but that video was over-the-top twee and inside-jokey. If I didn't feel like crying before I saw that, I certainly don't after seeing that video. I truly do not need the cast of the show to pretend to be sorry for making us cry when that's exactly what they are aiming for - at the expense of good writing and convincing storylines.
I honestly don't think I would have such issues with "This is Us" were it not for the sledgehammer approach to "THIS is how you will feel! And if you don't feel JUST LIKE THIS, you are doing it WRONG!" If the show had aired, with the catchy concept of the three siblings and a good, solid family story, I likely would've watched, decided it wasn't for me, and moved on. It's the relentless promoting that makes me hate-watch at this point. I guess that love it or hate it, the show is getting people to tune in. Maybe it's all part of some grand master plan?
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12 hours ago, Cardie said:
According to an interview with Mandy Moore, that's exactly what happened.
(regarding Rebecca, after the fight, looking wistfully at the hallway at the top of the stairs): You're kidding me. I got it right?! But even though I got it right, I found her pointedly gazing at that particular area of hallway worthy of a hefty eye-roll. I have never seen a show where the characters place so much heavy emphasis on certain places, or traditions, or remember down to the smallest detail how a certain event took place 20 years ago, etc. So if Jack had been sitting there, waiting for Rebecca at the top of the stairs, she would've forgiven him? And because he had the audacity to be sitting on the couch, she asked him to leave? Wow...that's a mighty big leap for the writers to expect viewers to swallow.
9 hours ago, chocolatine said:I have a really hard time seeing Rebecca as a feminist icon, throwing off the shackles of the patriarchy. To me, she's just spoiled and entitled. Has she ever had to support herself or anyone else financially? Based on what she told her girlfriends, all she was doing in her early 20s was singing at open mic nights and sending her demo to labels. She still didn't seem to be doing anything else eight years later when she and Jack decided to get pregnant. When she wanted to send Randall to private school, did it even occur to her to take a part-time job to help pay for his tuition? No, she took the problem to Jack, he said he'd "make it work" and she didn't question it because she was off the hook. Jack made many sacrifices over the years to provide for the family that she just took for granted, but the minute he objected to her going on tour, she got really ugly with him, telling him he was "holding her back" and what not. She tried unsuccessfully for at least eight years to make it in the music industry before she had kids, but it never seemed to occur to her that the reason for that could be insufficient talent or stage presence on her part. Not when she could conveniently blame Jack.
So many good posts in this thread, and this paragraph stood out to me because it's a great example of how we, as viewers, are having to fill in the blanks for ourselves because the writers aren't giving us enough to go on.
Are the writers just having a good laugh at our expense? I sometimes wonder. Because love this show or not, there have been some very good debates in these threads about what exactly is going on with these characters. I feel like the bottom line is that because we don't really know, we are filling in the missing parts based on what we think might be going on. But since the writers aren't telling us, we're basically in the position of co-writing the storylines along with the show writers. To me this is because the characters are just lightly-drawn sketches. They are not "filled in," they are not colorful, we don't know their motivations because we haven't been given a very good base of understanding. I am one who enjoyed the concept of the very first episode - who were these people, and how did they relate to one another? But 18 episodes in, I feel like the show peaked with those first couple of episodes, and from that point on, the "OMG Cry-Fest All the Feelz!!" took over. The writers are pulling out every trick in the book to make viewers cry, but not giving us enough to really get invested. I can't help but see each one of them as a stereotype - the saint, the pretty boy, the sassy one, etc. So I don't care what happens to them, because none of them ring true as fully-fleshed out people.
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1 hour ago, sasha206 said:
That's the problem I had with this. It seems unusual to me that two people who are sooooooo in love in nearly every episode with the exception of when Rebecca was pregnant and bitchy (but hey, happy ending) suddenly have such a major fight that Rebecca's first thought is he needs to leave the house. It would've been much more realistic to start showing more cracks in the system in episodes leading up to this. I mean, if you're married to Jesus Christ and he has one night of being off the wagon and acting stupidly because his wife is on tour with former boyfriend, do you really kick him out of the house?
And to top it off, they make Jesus give the typical speech about what he loves which made me feel like I was watching the end of When Harry Met Sally, and she's still unbending?
Unless he was a horrendous drunk before, it's hard to believe that one major argument = possible separation. Most couples just are pissy for a couple of days without it being a "OMG, what do we tell the kids and we're going to fuck them up."
THIS. And to the best of my recollection, we weren't shown anything to indicate that Jack's drinking was a major problem before that night at the bar (at least not within the context of his family). The writers have to give us something to hang our hats on, and I don't see where they've given us squat. It seemed far too twee that Jack and Becs have a huge, blowout, screaming fight and in the next scene, Rebecca tells him to go live with Miguel, Jack is waxing poetic at how wonderful the children will come out of the tragedy of Jack moving out, and Rebecca cries pretty tears.
And was it just me...after the fight, Rebecca gets up in the morning and pauses by the top of the stairwell, where I remember the two of them spent some time cuddling after they'd brought the babies home. My thought was - is she looking for him to be waiting in their cuddle spot? And he's not there, so he's awful and therefore must move out? These are the leaps my brain takes with this show, because it doesn't give me anything else but some very light character sketches and a big helping of melodramatic dramz.
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12 minutes ago, Mldh598 said:
Oh dear God....how did I completely miss that? Thank you for clarifying - not sure how I got that out of what I watched. =0
Don't think you're the only one. That storyline was dropped in a hot second and now I think (?) she is still working for Jamie Gertz? Or did she quit that job too?
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Maddie taking notes from the Kardashians on how to make money. Just post a pic of yourself, drop the company name, and cash the check. Nice.
And to think I had high hopes for her.
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On 3/14/2017 at 4:38 PM, ginger90 said:
Here's the portrait, in case anyone missed it
https://mobile.twitter.com/JanelleBrown117/status/661014684942790657/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
So, so creepy.
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8 minutes ago, potatoradio said:
This just makes me feel even more like we're in 1984-Orwell-world, except that instead of 2 Minutes Hate, we have to collectively gather and have 1 Hour Cry. If you don't emerge from the Cry with a full face-coating of snot, you will be taken to the Ministry of Feels where you will be rehabbed. You will have your head stuffed into a Kleenex box and Mandy Moore will sing to you and Kate will pout at you and Beth will "call emotion" on you...until you emerge with only one question that consumes your heart: "Can I forgive Jack?"
Oh, the existential pain...
Holy crap, I don't know whether to LMAO or hide in terror!
EDIT: can Mandy sing "Candy" to me? I always did think that was a kick-ass song.
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Not to mention there are three teenagers living there, too. He wasn't being left alone with three toddlers. No reason they couldn't all pitch in and get things done around the house...unless Rebecca was supposed to be one of those women who freak out if the kitchen floor isn't scrubbed every day and the bathrooms have to be cleaned every night. That's not how she's been portrayed, though.
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16 minutes ago, Crs97 said:
Now I am confused. He worked in an office. How is that back-breaking work? When was he doing laundry and cleaning bathrooms? Three nights a week (and I am betting that at least one was a weekend night) he needed to plan to come home earlier than 8 pm to be with the kids. Maybe pick someone up from practice. How did that turn into he has to do everything?
And again, wasn't this for a duration of only two weeks? It seems like a lot of manufactured drama for such a relatively short time frame.
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27 minutes ago, Apocalypso said:
Could someone please tell me at what point Malcolm was skipping? I missed it but I have the episode taped; just don't want to rewatch the whole hour. Thanks.
I believe it was when he went to pick up the reward of pillows and blankets. He was also singing a song called "We Finally Won Something." :)
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S34.E04: The Tables Have Turned
in Survivor
+++++++1000000, because not only are they tattooed on, they go straight up to her forehead, like the Joker. They make her look insane. Plus, with that Malcolm kiss-off, I hate all of her now, not just her stupid eyebrows.
Observations:
Debbie, in all of her TH, sits and poses oddly, like she thinks she is being photographed for a fashion magazine. Since one of her past 396 occupations was indeed "model," I guess it makes sense, but it's bizarre. Also weird was during TC, she looked like she was totally making out with Brad when she got up to whisper to him. I can't wait for her to blow her top next week. Tai's right, she is scary.
Varner saying "if you play an idol I will soil myself" made me laugh/snort to the point of waking my sleeping husband.
Malcolm was CRUSHED to leave the game. That was so hard to watch.
Questions (I have many, and I am sorry):
Why was Sandra so insistent at sending Sierra home? I'm not understanding the reasons why Sandra sees her as a powerhouse. Also, why the crap did Sandra INSIST that the other team didn't have an idol? Where's the logic in that? She had absolutely no way to know.
JT....okay, let me see if I have this straight, because I will obsess about it in my own head until I understand...he was trying to play good ol' boy for both tribes, yes? He informed Culpepper that his team was voting out Sierra in order to stay good with Brad, and wanted Brad's tribe to vote out Sandra, keeping his word good with Malcolm. But why inform Culpepper at all? If that team has an idol, and Brad trusts JT, then JT's admission to Brad was sure to backfire, unless JT really and truly trusted that Brad's tribe would target Sandra. I was super confused at JT's sadface after Malcolm went home. So JT just burned his bridge with his current tribe, and Brad burned JT's other bridge by voting out JT's right-hand man. How did Brad know that JT and Malcolm were that tight?
For all the scrambling, whispering, double-talk, and last-minute maneuvering, I found it unbelievable that the votes were that clear-cut...Sierra and Malcolm, period. Not one person got the plans confused? And why was Sandra going to each person in her tribe and saying that Hali wanted Culpepper out because he's strong and he doesn't have an idol...is that what Hali told her? What good does it do for Sandra to tell her tribe to vote Brad, but then also say, "stick to the plan?" She seemed equally insistent on both counts.
Even though I am still confused, I loved it. It's been awhile since a Survivor TC had me this perplexed.