ElleBee

Agreed and it makes this season less entertaining, at least so far. I'm super glad it's back, and I'll be watching no matter what, but too many self-serving people and people trying to intentionally sabotage, just to make themselves look like the mole, is frustrating. At this point, the mole has probably been told to switch gears and try to get something back into the pot since it's so stupidly low.

I went to a UC (University of California) in the second half of the 80's, so I just pulled out an old check register. Tuition in 1988 was $1,550 per year and my share of a fairly standard apartment with roommates was $200 a month. Even though minimum wage in California was only $4.25 at that point, it was definitely very doable to get through college without loans, or with only small loans, by working part time during the school year and full time during the summer. (Also noticed I paid $15.50 for an on-campus Simple Minds concert, so clearly super hip back in the day. 😎 )

I've always gotten more of a friendship vibe between Will and Angie, even though the show is clearly trying for a slow burn relationship with them. And ever since Derek has shown up, it's really been evident that LM has much more natural romantic chemistry with AB than with TK. I wish they'd go in that direction, because they really sizzle on screen together and it's fun to watch, but I have a feeling Derek is going to break Angie's heart just as soon as she lets her guard down. As for Angie and Will, I think it would be great if they'd keep them as best friends--it's under-explored territory with a lot of shows and just seems like a more natural fit for both the characters and the actors.

(Totally laughing at the random "Good Place cursing" reference in a GBBO thread.) I'll be sorry to see her go too. She was a bit over the top with some of her self deprication, but she seemed pretty sincere and she'd had some pretty outstanding bakes in the past. I thought she'd make it further, but one bad weekend is all it takes...

I don't understand, if he really felt this way, why he didn't speak up at the time? Seems to me that he just piled on, and he certainly didn't seem to "disagree with Bateman" from what I read in the interview. Love this idea! Unfortunately I think they'd already finished filming by the time the accusations against Tambor on Transparent came out. But they certainly could have fairly easily left him out of the press tour, instead of circling the wagons around him.

I was also horrified that not only the drifter's girlfriend but "several neighbors" heard a young girl crying from the basement and apparently just shrugged it off. I know he was using the explanation that it was his daughter and he was punishing her but how does that make it okay? And who hears crying from a basement and figures "eh, whatever" and just moves on with their day? These types of shows really showcase the best and the worst of humanity.

I had to turn this one off about 2/3's of the way through because I couldn't stand the cat fights for another minute. Totally agree that there wasn't one person in the whole scenario who was even remotely tolerable. This mistress (oh, sorry, she doesn't like that term--step off, lady) was killing me with her "building a life together" illusion, when the guy was very clearly married. It was like she was offended that the wife wasn't just rolling over. And the wife was just as bad with her sobbing, excuses, and fallacies about her "wonderful" marriage. But the part that pissed me off the most was that Bill, who was the cause of all of this and seemed pretty unapologetic, largely escaped both of these women's ire. Francis, it was Bill who openly shat on his commitment to you. As horrible as Bonnie was, she wasn't the one who broke your marriage vows so how about directing some of that hatred toward your philandering husband. Bonnie, shut up with your delusional attachment to a man who's married and has a family. Take those huge fake boobs and find another schmuck who isn't in a relationship. Bill, alas, sometimes we reap what we sow.

I like elements of Unconcluded but have the same critique. It's like he's trying too hard to be a Serial Next Gen by emulating Sarah Koenig's vocal style, but isn't really pulling it off.

So refreshing to read this--I go through the same. I have a prepaid flip phone (which people find hilarious--you have a FLIP PHONE?! LOLOLOLOL!), that I use for emergencies. I'm good at responding to e-mail, and my landline is right there when I'm home, but somehow what worked perfectly fine for many, many years is now totally unacceptable. It's like people get downright angry that I'm not conforming. Fact is, when I'm away from a phone, I like being disconnected. I find it re-energizing to live parts of my life technology-free. (Funny too about your story with the doctor's office. The front desk of one of my doctors called to tell me that the doctor had an emergency and I would need to reschedule. There was a big confusion (boring details omitted) but after several miscommunications back and forth, I asked her why she didn't leave a message. She said "I couldn't--there was something wrong with your phone." Knowing my phone was perfectly fine, I asked her what she was talking about. Turns out she'd gotten a busy signal on my landline and apparently didn't know what that sound was, so she figured my phone must be broken. <Sigh>)

Those "break-in burglar" alibis are way too frequent, and really pretty unforgivable. I simply cannot understand, if you wake up disoriented in the middle of the night and you have other people living in your household, that you wouldn't take the most basic of precautions to make sure you weren't shooting a loved one before pulling the trigger. He says it was completely dark--okay--but all he had to do was to take a split second to yell "Debbie?!", she'd answer, and tragedy would be averted. So yeah, I'm very skeptical of this Lars guy's story. Either he's a murderer (most likely) or he's an idiot whose utter stupidity cost someone her life--either way, I'm not shedding any tears over his outcome.

But she continued to try to convince him otherwise, even after he'd initially rejected her, so I figured there was more to it. Why go to the trouble of almost pleading with him to continue with her, just to reject him back once he's seen her point? Just a tit for tat "you rejected me so now that I've gotten you to regret it, I'm going to reject you instead" kind of thing? In any case, I'm probably just overthinking it--thanks!

I feel like I missed something, but I can't quite figure it out. When June is talking to Nick in the kitchen, trying to convince him to continue on with their "relationship" (not sure that's the right word to characterize whatever it is they have going on), he finally comes around but then she kind of verbally smacks him, reminding him he's an "eye". What was going on there? Had she been baiting him all along--waiting until he wanted her again so she could pull the rug out from underneath him--or did he piss her off somehow? I watched it twice, and I'm still confused about the reason for her seemingly abrupt turn-around.

For fellow fans of "My Dad Wrote a Porno", the first episode of season three is now up.

They're working for me (in the US).

Agreed on the "why not just get a divorce?" question, BusyOctober. In this case, I get the impression from people who talk about SP and from his interviews, that he was *very* invested in being the good guy who everyone loved. Sharon Roche talks about how he wooed her by bringing flowers and asking for her daughter's hand... And Amber talks about how considerate he was and how he'd grocery shop for her and her daughter and cook them dinner. He seemed like he had some compulsive need for people to love him and to think he was the greatest. So in his distorted, psychopathic mind, killing Laci was probably better than leaving her because he could milk the part of the bereft widowed husband instead of the dirtbag philanderer / abandoner-of-adorable-pregnant-wife husband. He also probably assumed they'd never figure it out--despite not covering his tracks particularly well--because he seemed to believe in that common criminal "I'm the smartest, most charming guy in the room" fallacy. I read his half-sister's book about him a long time ago and I don't remember the details, but it's pretty consistent with that theme. If I remember right, he was a late-in-life baby whose mother completely doted on him and who could do absolutely no wrong in the family's eyes. Maybe that upbringing, combined with inherent psychopathic tendencies, was the exact wrong combination. As for Amber, I'm sure it's hard for the family to be reminded of his affair, but I'd imagine they're super grateful for her coming forward and for being willing to go along with all those behind-the-scenes recorded conversations. After she was able to so clearly out him for being a pathological liar, I'm sure it was very hard for the jury to believe another word he said. Her evidence alone probably turned out to be the strongest for the prosecution.

I just finished watching all 7 seasons (but not the revival). I never watched when it originally aired and knew nothing about the actors, show, etc., so I came into it cold. As soon as I finished, I came to the UO thread because I knew that I was supposed to be all squishy about Luke and Lorelei getting together at the end, but totally didn't feel it. They rarely seemed to have much chemistry and although he did a lot of nice things for her over the years, I had a hard time with his constant curmudgeonly-ness. She was exhausting with her energetic overdrive and he was exhausting with his perpetual glass-half-empty mope. So the whole final season, I was rooting for Lorelei and Christopher to stay together and be happy, but had a feeling that wasn't what I was going to get. Anyway, that's my long-winded way of saying that you didn't have to know about LG & DS's RL friendship to feel like they were a better pairing. I didn't know anything about any of the actors, but IMO it was always pretty obvious that their on-screen chemistry was a lot stronger.

The strange part about S-Town is that there wouldn't be much of a story if John I'm surprised Brian Reed spent so much time and energy (hours of interviews, late night phone calls, trips) pursuing the story after it became clear that

Had to laugh when I read this. I've become grateful that I'm not the type to "light up the room!" every time I walk through a door, since that trait apparently puts a big target on your back. And I've also started to second guess whether, unbeknownst to me, I was born into an evil, uncaring family because our everyday farewells are in the vein of "ok, see ya" accompanied by a lazy half-wave. Can't imagine what the Dateline viewers would think of us...

And now the trekking pole = fireplace poker. There's a whole extra level of humor for those who've watched "The Staircase"--kind of hilarious that they can skirt it so closely but still get away with it...

And you could tell they were busting with pride (especially 'roid bro) over how they handled it. Clearly this family felt as though piling into cars to verbally berate and threaten people who'd had any contact with their sister qualified them as Best!Family!Ever! Go figure that the cops aren't going to keep you updated on their suspicions when they know that if they do, your family lynch mob is going to vigilante justice anyone they offhandedly mention. Good point on how quickly it all went. As you said, I'm sure it felt like a lifetime for the family, but that's actually an amazingly quick turn-around compared with most murders they've shown. I think the family had a glimmer of hope that she might still be alive, which understandably fueled a sense of urgency, but how about asking the investigators what you can do to help instead of constantly forcing them to use manpower to keep you all in line?

I agree. Another option, if they're having a hard time finding camera-ready kid bakers, is to do it more "worst cooks" style, where they're taught a technique and then judged on how well they learn and produce on their own. Trying to sell this group as "best kid bakers in America" is just laughable at this point. The mugging this season is over the top, though I also blame the people behind the scenes. I'm sure most of these kids have naturally outgoing personalities, otherwise they wouldn't have been chosen, but I also think they're strongly egged on with "Be fun!" and "Let's see some big reactions!" The fact that most people (myself included) seem to be rooting for low-key Justice just goes to show that the kids don't have to be !!MEMORABLE!! to be memorable.

That really skeeved me out too. I think there should be an age limit of at least 15 or 16. If these kids really are that great <snerk> then there's plenty of time for them to develop--no need to push. Yeah, I wondered about that. I'm, in general, not too fond of this format where the parents/managers are so front-and-center on the show, probably because it just reminds me of how some parents are willing to sell their kids' souls for 15 minutes of fame. I mean, Ian even said that he was missing out on his brothers' and sisters' lives because he felt he had to move away from the family to LA. What's the rush when you're 15?! Work on your craft and enjoy the last precious few years of your childhood and then head out when you're 18. There'll still be plenty of time, especially if you're good. Not sure I'm going to make it with this show. Only the boys are semi-decent and the excess enthusiasm by Timbaland is making me kind of crazy. Does he think that the audience is so stupid that if he goes on about how great someone is, then we won't notice that they can't sing?

Slightly UO, but I like Erica and Geoff together. I think the actors have good chemistry and I like the idea that Erica, who's always so concerned about her coolness and reputation, ends up falling for a kind of nerdy guy. I do agree that it was contrived that they broke up so quickly, and over Evy, but I interpreted that the plan wasn't for Geoff to get back together with Evy, but to make it so he and Erica weren't together minutes after he and Evy broke up. I think the idea (may be giving these characters way too much credit) was that it might make it a little easier on Evy if they weren't seeing each other right on the heels of a breakup that was clearly difficult for her. But ultimately I predict (which won't be true because I'm notoriously horrible at predictions ) that the whole build-up and then break-up is because they're setting up that Erica and Geoff will end up married many years down the road, which means story-wise, it's too early to get them together now.

It definitely could be editing, but the part that bothered me the most about WhipCreamGate was that it didn't seem like Kaniyah even thanked Aiden. He's over there whipping away (BTW, I think he should have been the one with his finger on the blender button instead--much easier than whipping by hand. Unless you're Duff, apparently...) and Kaniyah's just keeping on, keeping on without saying a word. Then Valarie chimes in with "Wow, that's so sweet of Aiden to help! Thank you, Aiden!" and finally Kaniyah mumbles "thank you". Like I said, could be editing, but with that sass she's so fond of, I'm suspicious that it didn't even occur to her to say thanks until Valerie did it for her. If you're going to accept help, especially from a competitor, the very least you can do is be ultra gracious and appreciative. I don't care if you're 10 or 100--no excuse. Add me to the list of those surprised that Cole was sent home. I wasn't a fan of his either, but he was consistently at the top of the pack and I pretty much figured he was a lock to win it all. Might be a good life lesson for him, though, since he tended toward high-horseyness.

Hadn't heard that--thanks! I kind of like the anticipation of weekly episodes, but I'm just happy for new content.