Homily

We had friends and family visit fairly often when we lived in England, especially my parents who came over 2 or 3 times a year. Never occurred to us to get a place with an extra bedroom that wouldn't have been used for any other purpose than guests though. In one house we had a really big dining room that we hardly ever used (brought our bad, eating in front of the TV, habit overseas with us) and we bought twin beds and turned it into a spare room whenever we had company. The other house wasn't as flexible so we ended up with a sofa bed in the front room. No one ever complained :).

Those are the episodes I really enjoy. I don't need to see doctors buying, as a second home, a house I'd give my eyeteeth to live in year round! There are other shows for that.

I used to love watching these shows, made a nice change from HH. But honestly if one more person looking for a vacation home insists on the stainless-granite-open concept triumvirate I may start screaming! Or they are in a perfectly nice kitchen and insist "this will need to be updated" - in a vacation home they will be staying in a week-end a month or so at most and where they will supposedly be on the beach or looking at the view all the time. Sheesh!

On the other hand the last house I lived in before this one "benefited" from one too many previous owners who thought they knew how to do their own home renovations. Looked good on the surface but it didn't take us long to start having to fix the Mr Fix it projects. Worst was the ceramic tiles in the kitchen that started coming up, cracking and spewing grout granules. I'd rather people not swing that hammer if they don't know what they're doing.

I don't know if this will be a good thing for the show but at least it's a nod to real life. In a group of 30 somethings it's not unreasonable that this would be a step taken by at least one of the couples. I like that they're willing to move these people forward with their lives. Whether that will bring the funny though is another question.

Yes I know it's a TV show but in real life wouldn't an employer investigate why cheques aren't being cashed? I can see the finance department going crazy at year end trying to reconcile their books!

My people! My husband is tired of the way I point out stuff like that when we watch TV shows. "Relax it's a sitcom"! But still I expect a little common sense to be applied. Another episode where I end up talking back to the TV is the one where Howard finds all the uncashed cheques in Sheldon's desk drawer and Sheldon says he doesn't put them in the bank because "I don’t trust banks. I believe that when the robots rise up, ATMs will lead the charge." Ok it's a funny line, the whole routine is funny and I laugh but at the same time I'm going, "so what good will your cheques do you then? they'll just be pieces of worthless paper in a desk drawer!"

And so, to some extent, are cities. If you're moving overseas with kids sometimes suburbs make sense - better schools and safer neighbourhoods for one thing. Also if you're not going to be clubbing it and socializing with all those friends you make 5 minutes after you move someplace why pay city prices for your rental? We lived in a suburb of London when we were over there and aside from not having to deal with homeless people begging right on our doorstep I don't think we missed out on anything!

Up until last season I'd have agreed with you that they've treated Stuart bady but last season and especially this season Stuart went from sad sack to full on creepy. Watching people sleep? Ick, can anyone else spell serial killer here. And I dunno about Raj, look at the way he acted when he had the crush on Bernadette and thought she was going to dump Howard, he was gloating. If Raj isn't much of a friend to Howard I don't see why he'd be much of a friend to Stuart. But then I've disliked Raj ever since his "see you later losers" comment at the party at the comic book shop when he thought he now had a girlfriend and the rest of the guys didn't.

I'd suspect the writers never gave it a moment's thought but if the goal was to watch the film as soon as it came out I doubt they'd have waited for 3D if that meant, for some reason, that they couldn't get into the first showing.

Which brother is jealous Robert based on? Ray has an older brother and a younger brother. If Ray really was incredibly favoured I wonder why? It's not usually the middle child who comes out ahead in the parental attention sweepstakes!

I know that a lot of the stories come from the real life of Romano and also from Phil Rosenthal (his parents apparently are far more Marie and Frank than Ray's parents are) but if that's actually true that they are showing Ray's real life brother in these episodes than if I were him I would be seriously pissed off. Robert, in the last few seasons is not a nice man, and that's an understatement!

I just saw this episode for the first time (thank you Comedy Channel for your endless marathon - and I do mean endless, it's been going on for days!). Really liked it a lot. Actually rewatching last season I'm liking most of the episodes better than I did on first run. Anyway with regard to this episode - I loved Billy Bob Thornton (normally I find him a little creepy but that worked in this episode :) ). A lot of good lines but I think I liked Bernadette's "Please don't go. Up until my vicious attack, you were the one in the wrong." best.

Sex isn't a requirement, no, but human emotion certainly is and watching Sheldon grow to care about others has been part of his journey into being a fully developed human being and it's been handled pretty well for the most part.

That episode bothered me because Robert didn't seem to be the least bit grateful for all the food Marie had prepared for him. You certainly are not given the impression that Robert actually PAID for any of the ingredients that went into that giant pile of casseroles and other dishes. But nooooo does he appreciate it at all? Not once he realizes that along with everything she did for him she made chicken for Raymond. Clearly whatever Raymond was getting was something he should be getting too.

I know lots of guys who like laser tag - or am I confusing this with paint ball?

Foster care is probably not an option, if for no other reason than they have rules about how many children are allowed to share a room! Also there's that pesky little detail about how they harboured (as in aided and abetted) a child molester. So, yeah, no reputable adoption agency is going to let them get anywhere near a child they have responsibility over!

I was just watching the Fun With Flags episode and thought how much fun the writers must have had writing for Sheldon. "Thankfully their embarrassment was overshadowed by the rise of fascism." Classic Sheldon.

I hope so. If someone had coerced me into saddling my child with a name like that, or any name I really hated, I'd have found a multitude of ways to make that person's life a living hell. Well of course this assumes that I could have been forced to do something like that - which so wouldn't have happened.

I don't think not wanting to feel that the neighbours can watch your every move is unreasonable. What's unreasonable are the people who go on this show who, on a tight budget, somehow expect to find a completely private house but are looking at houses in the suburbs or trendy inner city neighbourhoods. If you want to be able to feel you don't have neighbours these are probably not the best places to be looking!

I think they've shown time and again that Sheldon stopped growing emotionally when he was about 12 - couple that with his sincerely held belief that the best person to emulate in Mr Spock and it's not surprising that Sheldon took as long as he did to warm up to the idea of having a girlfriend and then having any kind of sexual relationship.

Given what happened when Sheldon last visited her though she's not really in any position to have issues with her 35 yr old son having a sexual relationship with his long time girlfriend.

Exactly. And I wouldn't wait in line to see Raiders of the Lost Ark just because there is an extra 21 seconds in it - even if it does explain the submarine controversy! That, to me, is what separates the "nerds" from the mainstream.

Amen. I've been watching the last couple of seasons on DVD and Robert is just awful - for one thing Brad Garrett shouts most of his lines - but the character takes every opportunity to take a swipe at Ray and in the process hurts Amy, Debra and everyone else who gets in his way. You'd think by the time he is happily married, well established in a career and pushing 50!!!! he would have made his peace with the whole "Mom always loved you best" thing but instead it gets worse.

I've been amazed sometimes when I've read stuff here first and then actually seen the episode in question that what some people have torn to shreds and talked about for pages took less than 15 seconds to happen on screen and didn't seem to be a big deal at all! But that's one of the things I love about this place. Nobody in my real life wants to talk about picky details about shows I like, or even shows I don't like.