KateeBar

I'm definitely not a baseball fan, but figured if I could love Friday Night Lights, maybe I could love Pitch. And it was a pretty solid start, I think. I'd have gone without the dead dad twist, myself, but here we are. Kylie was a charismatic lead and MPG was great. And if it really sticks to being factual about MLB, maybe I'll learn some interesting things about the game along the way.

I really, really enjoyed the pilot. Damon Wayans has long been a favorite of mine, and I now have a crush on Clayne Crawford, ridiculous hair notwithstanding. Their chemistry was great. The action scenes were ludicrous, but for me they work in the buddy cop action show genre. And Murtaugh's baby, with her baby belly laugh, was just the cutest. The only off part for me was the shouty captain. I like that actor though, so I'll let it settle in a little. So far this week, this and Pitch had the only pilots I really just sat and watched, no distractions, no internet surfing, etc. Color me surprised.

I like gingers and was thinking I'd take Peter's fluffy locks over Jesse's balding pate. But careful inspection reveals that Peter might be wearing a pinky ring? So he's out. I never liked Ray. The visual aids reaffirm that his hair looks like one of those boot-brush hedgehogs, only not nearly as cute. The opposite of cute, really. Kind of what I picture a twunt looking like. Love that word! I had also completely forgotten the torture part of this. I just remembered the mascot and pumpkin patch. Weird.

Oh good grief. The smart, dark show from season 1 just went full-on nighttime soap. A car accident to dispose of the liabilities? Such a trope. They had this charming, interesting black suitor, and some contestants who could have been interesting characters. But it was all marginalized for Quinn and Rachel, who have themselves gone from really complex characters to being painted with shallow, broad strokes. The crazy one. The devious one. Unless they do some re-tooling (i.e., make SGS report to someone), I don't think I'd watch season 3.

I'd like to meet some of these people in person. Because they all look a little busted on TV (except the twins, they're really cute) so there must be something I'm missing. Maybe they all have amazing charisma? I can see that in Nick on TV at least. Carly used to be the moderately amusing snarky commentator but she was kind of awful to Evan. She obviously decided to be into him to stay on the show, so her running him down was unnecessary. So far, there has been far too little Jorge.

And thus begins my decades-long crush on Cress Williams. He has aged really, really, really well, I must say. I think you all mentioned it in a recent ep, but it is funny to me to look at the "hot bodies" of this show. While most are perfectly attractive men and I would not turn them down*, these bodies would not cut it on a current show. It's interesting. *I can no longer find Brandon or Dylan attractive, despite my feelings for them during the original run.

I was watching the episode this morning, and found myself thinking - in season 1, I was really impressed with how they handled the story line of Faith's sexuality. I don't recall it all exactly, but I remember it being interesting and touching how Rachel was, at least momentarily, a kind person in the way she handled Faith. Right? Is my memory totally off? Now, it's like a nighttime soap. And really, I enjoy a good soapy show. But when you're telling me how smart you are and how smart your show will be and then you pull an explosive poop prank? That drags on for longer than it should? Come on. Not to mention that in season 1, the contestants on Everlasting were given backstories and were featured as complex and interesting people for the most part. Now, they are essentially cardboard cutouts, and someone has taped cliched character traits to the cutouts like cartoon thought bubbles, and I really don't care about them. I'm so disappointed. As an aside - I really loved Yael's white dress and was very sad to see it defiled. I want that dress.

Seriously, how did Brandon avoid getting beat up by, like, every person who crossed his path? Dylan and Kelly so hate each other. But I feel like I might rather they keep sniping at each other than have to deal with glorious golden couple of Brandon and Kelly. Well until the fire and the cult and the stalking and the drugs and such bring Kelly down a bit. Brenda does look REALLY good this episode.

For some reason, the part that really annoyed me on this episode is that whole stupid part where Lucinda doesn't want to jeopardize Brandon's position on the "task force." That task force story line was just so inane. Just another way to prop Brandon up as someone super special, this great intellect with such a shining future. Yet, we really still never see evidence of any of it. I was complete loser in college. Are there really task forces like this? Do they do things?

Based on a bunch of tweets I saw, there are a lot of people really applauding the show for "tackling" such a tough topic. Ah yes, the tough topic of how Rachel is suffering mental/emotional anguish after purposely setting up a scenario in which she knew Darius and Romeo were at least likely to get roughed up, and which she had to predict could be worse than that. And then it was worse than that. My gosh, how tough that was for her. How's Darius? How's Romeo? Gah. It's so tone deaf. I'll stop ranting now though. I think.

Not much I can say that hasn't already been said. Gross. In the first season, the woman who messed with Mary's pills was vilified. But Rachel calls the cops, knowing exactly what could happen, and I should feel sorry for her breakdown and her mom locking her up? Barf. And the fact that she thought they'd "just" get roughed up, knowing about his back? Double barf. Last season, I felt for Rachel and her internal conflict was well-realized. Now she's just awful. Terrible timing and terrible storyline.

Enjoying the kids and their manic energy, it feels pretty normal to me. I also like the sheriff and hope we keep digging into his story. I immediately thought Eleven is probably his daughter, but I'm back and forth on that right now. I think we are seeing too much of Nancy and Steve, but I'm hoping maybe Steve ends up being a good guy instead of the high school gigolo, just to play against type. Or, if he's going to do something terrible to Nancy, then I want Eleven to enact telepathic vengeance of some sort. Like apparently everyone else, I'm weary of Winona's performance. I keep telling her to just shut up and stop wailing. Also, where's the dog? I'm quite worried about him and dead girl's cat on The Night Of.

Who knew this was so complex and layered? :) To me, when Rachel said a "break from us" it would be acceptable to call that a break-up. And, Ross was being a total tool about the Mark thing. Even though I also think Rachel was being naive/ignorant/willfully obtuse about Mark's intentions and attention too. I would have broken up with Ross for his behavior myself. However, I can also understand the degree to which Rachel was hurt. They were in a very serious relationship, and he sleeps with a girl the night they break up. It would make me feel like maybe I didn't matter that much after all. So - they were on a break; Ross was stupid in myriad ways; and the ensuing reconciliation and re-break-up was one of my favorite arcs, actually.

I thought this might be a good season, but it's just getting whittled down to tall*, big-haired dullards. JoJo really seems to have a type. She's also clearly not over Ben, because we hear about him every episode. I can't understand the Jordan appeal. At least with someone like Nick Viall, you could see he was really very charming. Jordan doesn't have that kind of charisma, at least to me. *Of course, not Alex, who is still quite attractive but also clearly getting the boot soon, I assume.

I really, really enjoyed the first episode. It was one of those shows that's just stressful to watch, in a good way, and the actor playing Naz was great. Now I'm bummed I have to wait two weeks or whatever. I did confirm that "manic pixie dream girl" is very likely the character type that makes my eyes roll more than any other. So, yeah, I also couldn't wait for the actual murder mystery to start. Sorry MPDG.

I noted on Twitter that Chad is both the best and the worst. I will not condone physical violence but I am so here for smarmy villainy. He's completely aware of what he's doing. Wells is very cute even with his Brandon Walsh hair. Plus he does seem intelligent and articulate. Making him very wrong for this franchise, of course, but may be fun to watch. Bonus points for giving his dog a person name. As for Jordan - he checks all the boxes and should be attractive but he leaves me cold. As does Luke.

I'll give you that, esp. Brian Austin Green. But up against say Dean Cain and Cress Williams, even Cameron Bancroft...I give the edge to the other guys. I'm pretty sure my 19 year-old self felt differently the first time around though.

Okay, Sears is a gross stalker but...until this rewatch I had sort of forgotten that these girls had a string of VERY attractive guys cross their path throughout the series. Why in the world did they keep going back to the main squeefs of Brandon, Dylan and David? Makes no sense. Sadly, I know exactly how much hairspray went into Nana's pentagon hair. I went there myself. It's a lot of spray.

My sentiments exactly! They took the woman protagonist and made her most-used weapon her flirting skills. I could not stop rolling my eyes at Alex this episode. Blindspot isn't much better, but I do think they've done a better job balancing Jane's prettiness with some character depth. I can't really even comment on the actual mystery itself.

Oh good, more romantic entanglements for Alex. I mean, I'm no prude, but can she not just like...keep it in her pants for the duration of training? I refuse to believe that Shelby is this dumb about her parents. I'll just assume she's being overly hopeful because who wants to accept their parents are such terrible people?

This episode cracked me up. I loved how much Junior was enjoying dropping the truth bombs. He was so funny as the diabolical person, and the whole snack interlude was fantastic. "This guacamole tastes so fresh!" "It's not." I agree that they've given Zoey a nice arc here, and I hope it continues. I'm okay if she still stays a little shallow/vain, because that's partly just her age, but I liked seeing her compassionate side as well. Seems like normal growing up, wavering between being an awful teenager and learning how to be an adult. Really, why can't every sitcom be like this and Brooklyn Nine-Nine?

Man, my love for Holt knows no bounds. Andre Braugher is just amazing. "I could also wear short pants and drink out of a jug marked XXX." This was one of my favorite episodes to date. And I was initially against the Amy/Jake pairing, but they've really executed it so well. It seems like realistic relationship growth, with them figuring out how to work together (or not). It's interesting that one of the funniest shows on TV can also create a good adult relationship that runs right through the middle of it.

I found myself really over Weller this episode. He was just so shouty, and his reaction to Reade and his sister dating was ridiculous. I am sincerely glad they killed off Hodgman's character though. He was so cartoonish, they should have had him literally twirling his mustache. Ridiculous. I just want the mystery of Jane to advance. Is that too much to ask?

This show. I can't quit it, somehow, but it's also not a good hate-watch, really. The Bachelor is much better for that. The scene where Alex just lost it...I rolled my eyes so hard, it was so overwrought and over-acted. I'll just assume Natalie is still alive, because this show just loves a trope.

Those sweats that Brenda is wearing are a complete crime against all lady-parts. My eyes! I think it's possible the Dylan/Kelly sexytimes scene is even more gross if you are just listening to it. I was queasy. Still queasy, actually. UGH.