ljenkins782

The first 2 seasons were legitimately good. It captured the college feeling and the generational vibe with the social media and tracking each other on their phones, etc. The next couple seasons got a little less relatable with the baby in the house and the unrealistic narratives of Zoey and Aaron constantly failing upward, but they still had some good episodes. I just haven't been able to get into this new set of people, I'm not sure a full or near full cast switch up has ever worked. It's been done, like Saved by the Bell: The New Class, but does anyone remember those new folks? I also like the actor who plays Junior, but I guess because he was such a young kid when the show started, it was hard to see him as a college student. It's like your little nieces and nephews or younger cousins, you always see them as little kids even when they're full-grown adults. I don't think I've watched since the ridiculous premiere of the last season and based on the lack of activity in every episode thread, I'm not surprised they're wrapping this one up.

I'm glad they moved away from the tough businesswoman angle, it was a waste of Kirstie Alley's comedic talents to have her playing the straight woman. And in a way, it was kind of a fitting replacement for Diane, whose character also straddled the line of wacky and straight. Diane could be a total nut, but she could also be extremely witty and cutting, and Rebecca had similar qualities. After years of avoiding the reruns because I always thought the dark interior was depressing and I couldn't remember if I liked it, but I've started watching it because of the Pluto TV reruns and it's so much better than I remembered. I saw one today where John McMartin played an intellectual hero of Frasier's who turned out to be a total sleaze, hitting on Rebecca when no one was watching. I've only ever seen that actor in straight man roles on Murder She Wrote, so it was especially amusing to see him playing this lying, scheming cad. "I've stayed faithful to this woman for 15 years...mainly because she's the scariest bitch you'll ever meet." Very funny episode. For being the most iconic storyline in the series, I don't find the Sam/Diane dynamic that interesting in rewatching. I can definitely see why it played so well back then, the will they/won't they thing stretched over seasons is compelling in real time, but watching it back later on, there are so many other elements of the show that interest me more. Ted Danson was a great show anchor though, he has such casual charm, I like watching in the background reacting to the other characters. The over the top ladies' man part of his character is the least interesting, I like him so much more in other aspects.

Yeah, he feels like a plant, like his behavior is part of a plot line. His affect swung so wildly from scene to scene, sometimes he seemed like a serial killer and sometimes he seemed perfectly normal. Charity's initial meeting with him was so strange, she was talking to him the way you'd talk to a crazy person who approached you on the street. I was relieved it was as a bartender too, but it still seemed like a dumb setup. Bartenders may typically listen to people's problems, but they don't usually probe for information outside of Bachelor in Paradise, so having him ask direct questions should have been a red flag to watch their words. The other, even bigger, red flag should have been that ridiculous disguise. I know a lot of 70s and 80s hairstyles have come back lately, but I don't think the geri curl is one of them. That just screamed disguise.

Yeah, Don Knotts could break your heart in those moments where he wasn't being a buffoon. I'm not sure I could've handled it if they went to that well more often. This is a show where I can appreciate some of the actors and the performances, but the overall show gets on my nerves. Maybe it's because it's before my time so I didn't live through the aforementioned difficulties of the time period and the escapism required, or maybe the campiness is just too much, but I find it hard to watch. Especially the shock and horror every time the girls think Jack might be about to sleep with someone. The reaction it elicits from them is like they think he's about to murder someone, it's just so over the top. But John Ritter is undeniably charming and Suzanne Somers was quite good as Chrissy, Cindy and Terri were pale imitations for sure.

I don't think it was that simple to just get out and do something. And getting kicked off the show means going home and not staying in Paris, so that wasn't the answer either. It sounds like they were well outside the city, without transportation, and broke most of the time. I don't know what the train situation is like outside the city, it may well have had to involve taxis to and from the train station just to get into Paris, that's not even getting into the logistics of the cameras and crew. As mentioned upthread, this was just a poorly planned season because it was a last-minute idea, so it was a missed opportunity all around. They would have done better even if they had just swapped out one cast member with a native French person, it would have given the others someone to turn to for questions and guidance on how to navigate the area plus someone to speak for the group since none of the others had time to learn French due to the last-minute switch in locations.

I'm not sure if it's true or not, but I was randomly looking up Lionel Richie's net worth and an article said he makes $10 million per season, Luke makes $12 million, but Katy blows them both out of the water at $25 million person. If that's true, she'd be crazy to leave that kind of money on the table for a pretty cushy gig. Especially since she needs so much attention and loves making the show all about herself.

Yep. People become fans of one or another and even if they went out there and stunk up the stage, people would still vote for the favorite they've decided on. I'm sure there are casual voters who can be swayed by a breakthrough performance, but in general, American Idol has always been fanbases forming and sticking like glue. I feel bad for Iam that people's anger at the show is being directed at him, he certainly didn't control the narrative or the way the show chose to focus on him and his very recent loss of his dad. Losing a parent at 18 is incredibly young, I can't hate on a kid for being sad over his dad's death. His duet with James Blunt is up there with Colin's Dancing on My Own as my favorite performances of the season and the only things I've chosen to revisit on Youtube. As a sidenote: if James Blunt is ever looking for a side gig, he could easily step into the Barry Gibb role in a Bee Gees cover band, he sounds remarkably like him.

LOL, he was giving me strong Siegfried & Roy vibes. Sounded good though. I thought the key was a little high for Ruben at the start, but he sounded good too. When Clay mentioned being exhausted and how he was sure the final 2 were now, it reminded me that the contestants of old were worked much harder. Besides learning their songs, they had to learn the group performance (*pours one out for the long lost Pointy Pose*) and do all that Ford advertising filming. Do they still put the contestants up in the Idol Mansion nowadays? I did!! She truly has not aged an iota, it was a little spooky. Camille Velasco from that same season was also from Hawaii. They were coming to my town, I thought later this year, but I just looked and it was in April, boooo. I'd love to go to their show and sink back into 2003 for a minute. Maybe they'll come back nearby in this new leg of the tour. I have to admit I was actually surprised by the result, I was sure it'd be Colin, country fans have such a stronghold on this show. But his last few weeks weren't great. Well nobody was great last week, but I can't recall any of his performances outside of the stunning Dancing on My Own, which was hands down my favorite performance of the season. I liked Iam and his duet with James Blunt had me genuinely crying (with a recent loss in my own family, that song is pretty haunting). James Blunt has an odd stage presence, but he sounded good and it was a moving performance. Overall it's just harder to care who wins in this speed version of Idol. Not like the aforementioned battle Royale of Ruben vs Clay, which was just a powderkeg by the time the finale rolled around. Now, we just don't get enough time to really invest in the contestants. But I would have been happy with any of the final 3 winning, they were all good. My favorite random bits were: Seacrest's gleeful mugging during the Pitbull song that namechecks him. That skinny little frosted-tipped leprechaun of the early aughts who started this little summer show hosting gig could never have dared to dream so big. :p And Colin had the line of the night with "None of y'all peed when you saw me." I genuinely laughed out loud, he was a funny kid.

Jaime's confessional about being so excited to talk to Heidi and Carolyn about "getting Tika out" was so on brand for her. Carolyn IS Tika, why would she be invested in breaking up the Tika 3? And I'm pretty sure Jaime didn't have a spellbinding tale to weave to convince Carolyn. Carolyn's kind of blotting out the sun in terms of airtime, but Carson is really impressing me. His social game is on point, he seems to be able to blend himself into any group. It would be interesting to see who the jury would lean toward if he and Carolyn are both there in F3.

I would like to see Matthew back just so Jeff could ask him why on earth he thought climbing slippery rocks in his downtime was a good idea after waiting years to be on the show. I always like seeing the whole group back, there's always that one awkward early boot who's ready for their close up and embarrasses themselves trying to get more screen time, LOL.

You can't disagree with it though, it's actually happened. I think it was Ian from Palau who suffered permanent nerve damage from standing on some kind of structure for 12 hours and there have been other stories from former players. Conversely, the focus on the hypothetical dangers of this water challenge despite no evidence that any issues have ever occurred seems odd. All challenges have some inherent risk, but this challenge has even more safety protocols in place than most with the divers and medics all around them. Not everyone has an inherent fear of drowning and if this is one person's deep-seated personal fear, that doesn't automatically make the challenge itself more dangerous, it just makes it more upsetting for that person. And for those at home who share that person's fear, apparently.

Super late to this party, but Paramount + autoplays TAR after the most recent Survivor and I ended up binging it all the other day. I was FLOORED by Michelle, I have literally never heard anyone say they loved heights. I get flop sweat on a 6 ft step ladder, so I'm already in awe, but I've genuinely never seen someone enjoy heights to that level. I didn't think I'd like Luis and Michelle, but I came to love them and envy their joyful outlook. And Claire briefly looked like an asshole snapping at Aubrey, but I give her credit for apologizing afterward. And that full body meltdown proves that she was not in control of her emotions. And as a fellow heights-fearer, I give her all the credit in the world for actually doing it. I never could have. What a fun season! But was it incredibly short? It seemed like there were only handful of episodes. With the exception of the incredibly grating Rich & Dom, this was a remarkably likable group of people. Whoever cast this season, keep it up!

Lol, yeah, it's not like superstardom is waiting in the wings for any winner of the current iteration of the show. And I'm betting Colin wins, AI voters seem to love country-leaning males and the WGWG cliche became a cliche for a reason. This episode was a serious snooze, wow. I just watched it now and I cannot remember a single performance. Even the sound seemed muted. I don't know who the mentor was, but she didn't add anything. And that "moment" with Iam looked so incredibly forced. The tight camera angles giving the appearance of a massive crowd and the fact that it looked like half of them were just in line for rides and watching the "show" for something to do while waiting. And I like Iam, but I'm not a fan of the show going out of its way to shove someone down my throat. Really, the only moment that stood out to me was Ryan Seacrest's visible annoyance with Katy Perry when he was trying to deliver his lines and she interrupted him to rattle on about his pajamas. He looked so over her and I couldn't agree more. Actually, the other memorable moment was also Seacrest-related, I was dying laughing at his effort to not ingest any calories from that churro. You could see him holding the bite in his mouth, I assume he spit it out immediately after they called cut.

No, the standing on pegs has caused lifelong injuries, people have experienced nerve damage that ends up being permanent. To my knowledge, no one has ever been injured in this particular water challenge, but concussions, various joint and ligament injuries, and nerve damage have occurred regularly in the land-based challenges. I guess I'm not understanding the outrage over this particular challenge, especially when it hasn't actually proven to be an issue in 40 something seasons. The million dollar prize is always that "external factor" that affects their decisions in any immunity challenge Yeah, I know individuals have occasionally refused to participate in a round of something, but has there ever been something like a heights challenge that someone refused to do? This has happened multiple times on shows like the The Challenge, some people just flat out refuse to do anything involving heights, but I don't recall too much of that in Survivor. Oh, the prolonged secondhand embarrassment, I was dying for it to end. I don't know if he even has the sense to be embarrassed when he watches it back, but he should be. I'm so glad they got him out, I was afraid it would be one of those things where someone keeps ruining the plan and targeting some other perceived threat and I'd have to watch Danny strut around another 3 weeks. Carolyn may have blown her kooky cover by showing that she is capable of finding an idol and keeping that entirely secret. It still amazes me that her original tribe didn't seem to even consider that she could possibly have it. And if everyone sees Frannie firmly in her corner, Frannie has a built-in +1 vote in her Ponderosa BF plus she could rally the troops, that makes Carolyn a threat at FTC in a way that no one may have regarded her as before this. So either the Tikas pick off Lauren or Heidi next, but Heidi still has her idol, right? She's gotta be at the point where she has to play it or risk going home with it in her pocket. Or some kind of new alliance forms and tries to take out Carson or Carolyn, this could be an interesting ride to the end.

That's exactly what I thought about the Modern Family situation mentioned above. The season 10 season finale would have been an absolutely perfect series finale, it was a very touching all-ensemble scene when Haley had the twins and they'd wrapped up a whole bunch of other themes. Why not end it there? Nope, they dragged it out a whole 'nother painful season where the characters were all aging caricatures of themselves. With The Goldbergs, most of the charm of the earlier seasons was gone and they leaned too heavily on the same themes way too often. Every once in awhile, they'd sneak in a very funny line (like Barry's "dad and I followed the lows and the lower lows of Philadelphia sports together" LOL), but in general, the writing was so heavy-handed on the Bev crap and outlandish behavior that didn't ring true at all.

Yes! The most irritating part is that there are natural commercial break moments built into the show, but Roku will place an ad like 45 seconds before the commercial break moment. Sometimes it's actually mid-sentence. I didn't think HBO Max had commercials, mine doesn't anyway. Maybe it's a subscription thing, I'm not sure. Agreed, Mare Winningham's tough love "we're all going to be a family, c'mon in here whether you like it or not" bullshit ignores the very real issue of the fact that Lily's dad was living out the family life that Lily didn't have because of her absent dad and alcoholic mother. And that needed to be acknowledged. And like so many of those late season story arcs, it was pretty pointless and didn't add to the show for me. Lily's mother's story arcs had been woven into earlier episodes pretty seamlessly and added some elements to the cold case, but the return of Lily's father was just an add-on storyline that didn't relate to much of anything.

Alanis really does seem like a genuinely nice person and she put a lot of effort into mentoring. Her performance was a bit odd, the way she leans away from the microphone is very mannered-looking and she is definitely not gifted in the dance/movement category, lol. The duets were great, I've noticed that some of the best performances of the seasons come from those duet rounds late in the season (Grace/Willie, Chase/Casey duets were my favorites of that season). Megan and Colin and Haven and Zachariah were especially good. I'm a little sorry to see Haven and Warren go, but Oliver made me uncomfortable and then I'd feel bad for being uncomfortable. He seems like he's probably a nice enough guy, but so, so awkward. And somehow unhealthy looking, like his skin was gray or something. I'm guessing the final 3 will be Colin, Iam, and Megan and I'm okay with any of them winning.

Well, Hulu showing that the Series Finale was available alerted me that it's finally over and clicking on that made me realize that I haven't seen the last 7 or so episodes before the finale. And I don't think I'll bother going back to see them. The finale was okay, the very ending with the then-and-now pics was cute and the Pops clip to send it out was moving, but the rest of it was just kinda there, which is where the show has been for the last several years. I'm very glad they didn't try to drag it out for yet another year, I will never understand how some shows are allowed to limp along WAY past their expiration dates while better shows don't get a chance to even find their footing.

I don't think the internet was around when the show was airing and I was a kid, so I'm not sure. But in forums such as this one where people were discussing it, yes, people complained about why the writers didn't have Roseanne take a computer class instead of just losing that good job she had for 5 minutes. In terms of wanting that level of realism, it is personal taste and I personally can't understand why a 22-minute sitcom would spend time on such dull pursuits. I assume the characters go to the bathroom and take showers, but I don't need to see it. I completely agree on the dreary nature of some of the storylines, which is why I wish they could find the balance the original had. Their lives were no picnic, but the writing made it funny and enjoyable to watch. Part of the credit has to go to the relationship of Dan and Roseanne, which really weathered the storm of a difficult life and the relationship of Roseanne and Jackie, which was a constant even when they were fighting. I guess none of the current relationships really have that same earned quality or maybe the actors don't have that personal chemistry that they had in the original. I think what I liked about this episode was that it showed Darlene actually standing up FOR someone and not being entirely self-absorbed, her character showed a little bit of warmth for a change.

Agreed. I can't bring myself to care if David's character has been assassinated. DJ was an actual member of the family and his character was dispatched entirely, Andy and Jerry were written out of existence and I don't really care about that either. I don't watch the show for a chronicle of the Conners, past and present, I just watch it as a sitcom. People used to bitch about why Roseanne didn't take community class courses on computers and shit in the original and while that would have been a good choice for a real person, I sure as hell did not want to watch a show about it so I didn't care that the fictional Roseanne Conner was on a dead end path, career-wise. And I really enjoyed this episode on the basis of funny jokes throughout. The white socks joke theme cracked me up and I thought Sara Gilbert was especially good throughout the entire episode, she's hit her sweet spot again in terms of joke delivery. I wish they'd lean away from the heavier themes of the history of awful choices of the Conner family and find more funny dialogue. The cast is talented enough to make funny writing work, Harris seems like an awful person all around in real life terms, but I think the actress can sell a joke really well so I like her scenes. Ben as a character doesn't make a lot of sense, like I don't get why he'd throw in with this lot of crazies who seem to suck everyone in the orbit down with them, but I adore the actor and his lines make me laugh so I'm glad he's there.

Not my post, but I've noticed that autocorrect does not care for the name Frannie and will change it to Frankie every time. I had to manually change it back 3 times in my own post, but I doubt everyone notices that it's happening. So I assume the poster you're quoting was referring to Frannie.

Getting Danny out would have been a good choice as well. He has the big resume move of getting Brandon out by using his idol on Frannie and he's always close to the top of the challenges. Just because he hasn't won one yet, it doesn't mean he couldn't go on a run, he's a strong competitor. If the next few competitions are more physical and Frannie the challenge beast is gone, Danny could very well go on a run that takes him deep. I think the big error was trying to shift the vote to Heidi, there just wasn't compelling enough evidence to take her out before Frannie AND Danny. He definitely said "for those who are under 21" when announcing the reward. I'd forgotten about Carolyn's sobriety until she was actually at the reward. Frankly, I've never understood why anyone would drink alcohol during the game, the odds of making a costly slip of the tongue increase and after starving for days and days, I think it would hit you so hard. Plus, you can't just eat a greasy burger or some other hangover food the next day, it would just suck. I'm rooting for Carolyn to win it all, but she's going to have to make a move sooner or later. Jaime would be a hilarious winner, she's so blissfully ignorant of the realities of the game. Lauren would be fine too, I guess, she just hasn't had much airtime up until now.

Yeah, at first he seemed like, "Oh right, I'm supposed to smile!" then would give a fake-looking grin. I felt a bit relieved when he stopped. Yes, I was relieved too. That first self-conscious smile came off so creepy, I was hoping he wouldn't continue. I'm okay with him sticking around just because he's having a blast and he can actually sing underneath all the cheese. With the exception of We, Iam, Zachariah, and Nutsa, the show felt very muted and sleepy. MaryBeth's performance in particular was painfully dull. I honestly think she felt it herself as the song was limping to its conclusion, she had a look on her face like she couldn't wait for it to be over either. I don't know if it's a sound mixing issue or what, but sometimes the band seems to be drowning out the singers entirely. Adam Lambert is getting pretty chunky, those trench coat outfits are not flattering on the beefier frame. Ryan Seacrest continues to be one of my favorite parts of the show, I just knew it was killing him to look so short next to Adam's giant platform shoes. For as smarmy and nakedly ambitious as he was when the show started, he has really grown into a fixture of American culture and I have such a soft spot for him.

Yeah, I haven't cared too much one way or another, but that performance of Colin's was one of my favorites of the season. I'd put that on my playlist tomorrow for sure. This is what I miss about the genre nights of old, someone stepping out of their usual songlist and unexpectedly creating a new version of a song. If you were watching without the knowledge of who the judges were, you'd think Luke was Colin's dad, he was cheesing that hard throughout this performance. Shallowly, I hope the stylists can help Colin out with those eyebrows, or at least the one that has a little appendage at the corner. I was definitely disappointed by the judges saves, especially Nutsa. I just do not see the appeal with her, she looks like any other showy, hammy wannabe and her voice is middling at best. I was glad the redhead didn't make it through (can't recall her name off the top) but I thought Ryan was very cruel to her with his wordplay that made it sound like she made it through before he pulled the rug out and said she had to sing for the save. He faked me out too, I was busy groaning that she made it through, I almost missed the part where he said she wasn't in the top 12. But it was still mean. I'm glad Megan Danielle got through, I thought her performance on this show was lovely and a standout. I hope she can go far in the competition, I feel like all the girls are gonna get booted first and it'll be another male country-off. That certainly seems like the trajectory based on the picks that didn't need to be saved into the top 12. ETA: I was embarrassed to learn via Zachariah's performance that I have been singing those lyrics wrong all these years. I had no idea it was "Hold the Line", I always sang "or the line 'love isn't always on time'" When they put the name of the song up, I was all "huh?" I never heard that Toto song (I was expectedly the usual Africa or Rosanna) and then when I definitely recognized the song, I realized I'd had the lyrics wrong and that I never knew what that song was called. The more you know...

Which, for AI in its 21st year, is probably the most almost any contestant can hope for. this show isn't turning out superstars anymore. Yes, I thought she handled that really poorly, I felt sorry for We having to stand there through that, it was awkward. Who were the judges so bummed to lose anyway, Elijah? I liked him, but his last performance was pretty terrible. I have liked this season so far, but I'm somehow underwhelmed by the top 20. I thought a couple of people forgot their words in spots, but since the judges don't actually judge anymore, nobody said anything.