Indy

I miss the model aspect of it too. I think PR ruined the models with that "Models of the Runway" or whatever separate show. After that it seemed like the models were just coat hangers. The models still get a prize at the end if the designer wins but it seems like such an afterthought now because we don't even know who the models are really so it's hard to get excited for them. I liked when the models were picked every week and you got to know them. How some were good at certain things, some were difficult to work with, etc. And the relationships between the models and the designers was nice to see, how the model often really did become the muse (and not just in things like the wedding dress challenge).

This makes me want to pull out my Season 1 DVDs and watch it all over again. This is probably the one thing that 99% of people who watch this show can agree on. Whether or not Austin would/should have won the whole shebang is one thing, but damnit Wendy Pepper should not have made it to Fashion Week because of Nancy O'Dell. Any time I see/hear her on TV I get annoyed because she screwed over Austin. I loved the Postal Challenge, with Austin rocking the runway. And Jay's Chrysler Building dress. And Austin's corn husk dress, the original unconventional material.

Seriously. He's such a little cartoon villain but I kind of love him. I have a feeling he's going to be on the show for the long haul because we haven't seen much of him. Often the editor monkeys ignore a good designer or two in the beginning in favor of featuring the designer that's about to be kicked off and the ones that create lots of big drama. Fade is just kind of in the background making nice clothes right now.

I'm really bummed the Jump Rope group didn't get through. I would have traded them for any of the acts that made the semi-finals. I also wish Jasmine Flowers would have made it, but I guess I can see how they weren't everyone's cup of tea. I'm very surprised David & Leeman went through...it was awkward, boring, and a screw up but apparently that's what people like? I think Emily has a great voice, but I loathed her arrangement of Chandelier. I'm glad she got through, though, looking forward to her singing better stuff. I'm not at all surprised that Miguel made it....he benefited from them giving him a back-up band, but even without that he's a semi-cute young guy with an annoying hat so he's probably going to win the whole damned thing. In fact, at this point, I think he's guaranteed a spot in the finals unless he forgets the words to a song and awkwardly dances across the stage Ashley Simpson-style.

I hate the "design for X celebrity" challenge because it can really hurt designers whose style doesn't fit that particular celebrity's aesthetic. If they change their style completely to make something the celeb would wear, then they're accused of selling out or not being themselves but if they stick to their own style, then they often get told they're not making what the celeb wants. In real life, a celeb isn't generally going to hire a designer to do a custom dress if the designer doesn't make clothes that they like. Plus then if the celeb is the judge and gets to have the final say in the outcome of who is in/out things like workmanship and past performance often get ignored and a worthy designer gets the boot (i.e. Season 1 with poor Austin) I also don't like the "real-woman" challenges because the designers who wind up with a model-shaped woman have more of an advantage than the ones who get a real-shaped woman. And the designers that give their woman what she wants sometimes get screwed over because what they made isn't fashiony enough, even though she loves it and feels awesome in it. Plus then you get a lot of super bitchiness towards the women who aren't super skinny just because a designer suddenly has to accommodate boobs.

Yes to all of these! Jay's and Andre's especially. I love the make-your-own-print challenge. It's always interesting to see what the designers come up with and how it fits into their style and their design.

I thought this episode was cute. Cuter than the previous ones for sure. I liked seeing Topanga more and her interactions with Cory are just perfect. I also loved the "this many gets to tell this many what to do" bit with Topanga and Augie's little girl friend. I'm using that line on my husband next time I want my way :) (and for the record, he likes this show more than I do!). I hope they keep this toned-down version of Farkle. He's funny and odd without being really over-the-top and annoying. I can see that character growing into something more as the girls get older. I like him much better than Lucas, he seems and looks more age appropriate. Lucas bothers me.

I forgot about her! They also didn't show the male singer who was dressed up like a big baby. I remember seeing him in the background of one of the group shots during one of last weeks episodes but he never performed. I guess they must have just showed us the top/bottom 4-5 of each type of performance.

Exactly, that's why I like their acts so much. They're very slick without all the smoke and mirrors that some of the big bang boom magicians have. You know that of course it's a trick somehow but it's done well enough to make this Muggle believe in magic.

I really liked Sandhya's clothes from the auditions but didn't get her first outfit at all. I was sure she was in the bottom three. But she has a point of view and stuck with it so what do I know. I'm very glad she's going to be on at least one more week, though, because as a person I find her very likeable and want to see more of what she does.

I was bummed that she got cut. I wanted to see what she could do with the different challenges while sticking to her modest aesthetic. Modest doesn't have to be drab and boring, and I think some of the stuff she showed in her audition proved that. She could have been a very interesting addition to the cast, something we haven't seen before.

I loved her design for week 1, especially the skirt (love a skirt with pockets!). I want to see more of what she can do. My DH and I are calling her "Shark Lover" since that's what her name sounds like if you say it fast.

I'm way less impressed with The Mitchell than I had hoped I'd be...both on a talent level and a crazy level. He's just your run of the mill asshole with a sewing machine. I knew he wasn't going home, though, the producers are hoping he'll bring the stereotype drama to the season.

Oh, that makes sense. For some reason I thought it was going to be like the YouTube contestants of yore where there was a whole week of acts selected that got voted on for a certain number of Finale spots, not just one act. I was reading Christian Stoinev that made it to Vegas in Season 2 performing with his adorable little Scooby dog. But then Scooby got bit by another dog and was unable to go to Vegas with Christian so he had to perform alone and didn't make it through. Interesting that they mentioned the woman singer being a part of the show before but not Christian.

On NBC's For some reason it's the top 47 this year...anyone know WTF is up with that? I would think that if they had a drop-out for some reason, they would have called up a substitute act and since this is all taped ahead of time there would be time to do this before making things official. Unless of course it was a last-second thing and they're going to bring in a 48th as soon as they figure one out.

I'm so glad other people noticed this! I think Howard Stern looks a bit like a Fraggle so it was like watching a Jim Henson variety hour with the two of them on my TV at the same time.

OK seriously, those were his "all time favorite clips"? I only even remember one of them, and none of them were really all that funny. Oh Soup, you used to be so good...what happened??

I made the same mistake a few weeks ago. I discovered FNL is rerunning on some random network on my cable (Pivot?) and started watching "The Son." By myself. While I was drinking wine. So, so many tears. Such a phenomenally done episode. FNL at its finest for sure.

I didn't mind Pierce. He certainly wasn't my favorite character, but I liked his relationships with Troy & Jeff. The show was missing something when he left, and that something wasn't filled by the grumpy old teacher whose name I have forgotten. The void wasn't as big for me as it was when Troy left, but there was definitely something not quite right without Pierce. Britta, on the other hand, could leave and I wouldn't care. She's my least favorite character on the show and when story lines are Britta-centric, I tend to stop paying attention.

I watched a few of the Designer Home Tours online. I watched fade zu grau's....anyone else think that accent is put on? It seems a little cartoon villain and affected. However, whether it is real or not it is awesome. Unfortunately, The Mitchel Perry introduced himself as "Mitch" in his clip. Boo! I wanted him to be all bizarre and third-person-y. However, he has a coffee maker that he calls "Urethra" and likes to wear shorty jumpsuits so bonus points for that!

I could do it exactly once. Then she would murder me with her bare hands (an act that I'm pretty sure would qualify as justifiable homicide)

I assumed this too. She had someone text her at a certain time so she could pretend it was about her fake son for sympathy or as a reason to get out of there. There's no way that kid was real. She changed the story on him so many times, that he was just sick, then that he was being admitted to the hospital, then that he was in the hospital. Most mothers of real boys would be at home/the doctor's/the hospital with their sick son instead of filming for MTV. The first time she mentioned that he was sick, I turned to my DH and said "let me guess, he has Leukemia" since that seems to be the go-to disease for Catfishers to give their pretend family and friends.

"I will hunt you down like cattle" by Charlie of Charlie & Sabrina from TL: I'm Getting Married will always, always be my favorite quote from this show. It's so wonderfully nonsensical.

I would rather they either drag out the audition rounds another week than do reruns. I feel like we got so many chopped up and montaged auditions that they could have shown us longer clips of more acts and gotten at least another week of auditions. They could have done some sort of "best of the worst" bloopers type hour to pad things. Or hell, a "where are they now" special about past favorite acts. Competitive reality TV shouldn't air in reruns. It's just weird/boring

I wonder if they're dragging things out to have the final episode be on a big sweeps week. If they wanted to start and end it on particular weeks for ratings but didn't have enough episodes to do a new one each week, filler crap is how they would have to do it.