Gregg247

I'm enjoying the show, and I liked the star when he did those Horatio Hornblower TV movies several years ago, but I have to say this: he's not a very good actor, is he? I mean, I can practically see the stage direction written on-screen when he emotes. "Henry looks incredulous." "Henry gives a skeptical look to Abe." "Henry looks puzzled while examining the body." It's almost like he takes a deep breath before "acting" each scene, with a "Here we go!" attitude. I can SEE him acting, which is not a good thing.

I would agree with your point except for one important thing: Shane's not spending his own money on this effort. In fact, he's not even spending Chris Moore's money. It seems like this show involves a LOT of fundraising activities that we aren't really privy to. The Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce has put money into this, as have other local booster clubs, in order to jump-start a local film industry. Local businesses like American Eagle are involved. The movies/documentary are getting tax credits, so the state taxpayers are involved. Chris mentioned multiple wine-and-dines that he and the other producers have attended, so that tells me that individuals in the community are being actively encouraged to invest in these films (and not just the blue-bloods, I'll bet). Everyone is investing in this project because the producers behind it, mainly Chris Moore and Zachary Quinto, have their names attached, and they're the real deal in the movie industry. These aren't some fly-by-night guys trying to make a quick buck. As such, these guys have a duty to make sure that the funds raised are handled with care and not thrown into the toilet. Back in the day, during Project Greenlight, the funds involved belonged to the Weinstein brothers, and you'd better believe that Chris Moore was all over his first-time directors on that show. If they wanted to do something stupid, Chris shut them down--hard. He has the same duty on this project. Instead of having 2 bosses whose money he needs to protect, he has many. The rules of the show, as I understand them, are that both movies must be no more than R-rated, at least 85 minutes long, and be "releasable" movies. I'm sure that "releasable" is defined in incredible detail somewhere in the contracts. I can't believe that a movie that "looks" as bad as Shane's (up through episode 4) and has the reviews its now getting would probably NOT meet that requirement. The producers' hands-off approach makes no sense to me for the above reasons, but also for one more. Shane has been making his little short videos for YouTube for 8 (?) years now, doing his best to gross out 12 year olds around the world. Obviously, someone saw SOMETHING in his work that showed promise. Maybe he could be the next David Lean or Steven Spielberg. The problem is that no one is taking him under their wing and teaching him how to take whatever innate talent he has and use it "correctly". By that I mean, show him how to make movies the traditional way, let him master that, let him get some success, and then let him start to find his own voice in his films. Teach him how to make movies, and THEN let him make movies. After this movie comes out, he may never get another chance. The producers have failed him as much as they've failed their investors and the city of Pittsburgh. TL;DR version - If it's Shane's money, let him film as much projectile vomit as he wants. If it's investor's money, the producers have a financial duty and responsibility to rein him in.

I thought Shane was kidding when he started talking about playing one of the "mean girls" in drag, in addition to playing the main character. He's not REALLY doing this, is he? Why wouldn't the producers step in and put a stop to this? This isn't a skit on Saturday Night Live, this is an actual, professional-level motion picture. Aren't there any rules on this production? My growing problem with this show is that it appears these chowder-head directors can do literally anything they want, no matter how unprofessional and un-commercial it may be. The producers just stand there and let them have their way. Is this some sort of big tax-dodge for these guys, or are they planning on making any profits they may get from the TV show (where the drama of a train wreck could bring in ratings)? I have to be honest here; the lack of oversight by the producers is making this show less entertaining for me. I want to see how "real" movies are made, not self-indulgent over-budgeted student films.

Well, at least we know she managed to spit out an actual movie (that had a professional review and everything!). I'm not sure if the same will be said about Shane's gross-out extravaganza.

Over the past 2 weeks, Shane has learned that one of the major sponsors of this show, Pittsburgh-based American Eagle, refuses to let him film in their HQ store due to the raunchy script. The costume designers hired by production refuse to work on Shane's movie due to the raunchy (sorry - "characature") script. Owners of the houses to be used for location shooting (easy, free money for them) refuse to let their houses appear in Shane's movie due to the raunchy script. Actors -- ACTORS! -- refuse to even audition for roles in Shane's movie due to the raunchy script. At some point, will Shane realize that if he can't pay people good money to even work on his movie, maybe there aren't a lot of people willing to spend their own money to WATCH his movie? I especially liked how his defense that his movie was not THAT raunchy had him using the "F" word about 100 times. LOL SHANE: "My demographic is 12 years old." That's kind of sad. I think in 10 years time, Shane will look back at that and feel sad, too. He's a grown man trying to entertain children in the dirtiest way possible, with pee-pee and doo-doo and vomit and dirty tampons. He's like the worst birthday party clown ever. In the casting sessions, Shane told a couple of actors that they needed to increase their energy levels by 800%. Basically, he's telling the actors not to act. Instead, he wants them to jump around like monkeys and make faces at the camera. Oh, wait, that's what HE does on his YouTube videos! Meanwhile, Ah-na continues to demonstrate that she has absolutely no leadership skills whatsoever. She had several meetings with her team of the one lady with curly hair and the 2 bearded guys (one is her brother-in-law). In each case, the three of them look like they're serving time in prison as they try to explain to Ah-na "how things work" on a movie. She can't tell actors what she needs them to do. She can't keep her schedule straight. She can't make a decision without buy-in from everyone (or at least from her mystery husband). She didn't know that you can't begin even an R-rated movie with a close-up of an erect dick in a condom?!? I realize that this is her first movie to direct, but is this her first movie to watch, too? I want to know when the big boys (Chris Moore, Zachary Quinto, and the Money Men) are going to finally step in and bail out these sinking ships. Poor Pittsburgh! Every week, this town just gets kicked in the groin over and over again (and they're paying for the priviledge!).

If I were on the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce Board and was putting up all this money to get 2 movies and a TV show made in my town, my first rule would be: Film in the Summer! (or Fall, or Spring, but NOT the dead of Winter). I'm sitting here in 80 degree weather, and I got the chills just watching this episode. Also, why is everyone wearing coats, hats, and gloves inside? They're completely bundled up in their production offices, the home/hotel where they're staying, even the restaurants they're eating at. Pittsburgh in a coal mining town. Don't they have any sources of heat available? Why are they so cold all the time? Maybe they can burn that nasty furniture in their production offices for warmth. Ah-na was talking about how she feels that a leader can show emotion without her team thinking less of her. In many cases, she may be right, but in HER case, not so much. She doesn't seem to realize that by Day 2 of pre-production, her staff is already managing her and trying to subtly make her do the things she NEEDS to do, rather than just the things she WANTS to do. She may be a good writer, but so far, her team doesn't think much of her directing/managing skills. I got the feeling that the DP backed out of the deal, not because of a previous commitment, but because of her long conference call with Ah-na the night before. Ah-na said she got lots of good advice and information from the DP. I wonder if the DP decided that working on this project with such an amateur would be bad for her reputation. Shane has the opposite problem. He's hired a lot of young, enthusiastic, inexperienced staff who look up to him like an idol. Hence, a lot of questionable decisions of his are liable to get through without question. How many projectile vomit scenes does he plan for this movie? Plus, the exploding earlobe scene. Any diahrea scenes we don't know about yet? Also, his comment early in the episode about eating a used tampon was just an off-the-cuff joke, right? Right?!

I didn't find the flashbacks as compelling this episode as they were in the others, for some reason. There just wasn't the intensity of previous flashbacks. Also, when Eichorn was in the bunker, waiting for The Master to show up, he had so many candles burning I thought I had accidently switched over to an episode of The Bachelor".

NORAH: Eph, is that a vampire worm, or are you just happy to see me?

This is the first season of BB where I don't actually dislike anyone in the cast, even Frankie. I've enjoyed the season, but we're at that time of the year where the contestants are few, the drama is low, and the decisions to be made are fairly straightforward. It must be tough for the Producers to fill 3 hours a week now. Having said that, I've always been a HUGE fan of Jeff and Jordan, so I really enjoyed their engagement party and wish I'd seen more of it. The squirrel conversation was a favorite of mine, too. Years ago, my girlfriend at the time casually asked me one night what animal I would like to be. I immediately said squirrel. Not being a BB fan, she asked why in the world would I say that. I told her because they have bushy tails and live in neighborhoods and stuff. She thought I was crazy! LOL We broke up soon afterward. Caleb STILL believes that the Bomb Squad is alive. Does he not know about the Detonators? Or did the Detonators disband and return to the Bomb Squad? Caleb and I are both confused. Does Victoria REALLY believe she's a strong player, or does she know she's just being carried to the end and is at peace with that? CODY: "Christine and I are just friends! She can't kiss nearly as well as my daddy does."

I'm a huge Big Brother fan. I've seen every episode of every season of Big Brother. Utopia.....is no Big Brother. Utopia is like Survivor on a farm with no strategic maneuvering, no competitions, no alliances, and no sane contestants. Why were all the women immediately jumping in the pond swimming naked? Shouldn't they work on building an outhouse, divvying up chores, planting seeds, etc. rather than swimming and drinking? The men were at least digging that trench to bring some electricity to the compound. (Although electricity wouldn't be one of my top priorities either.) They have eggs, a chicken every once in a while, fish, milk, flour, and anything else they can grow. I would have enjoyed seeing them get together and figure out how to maximize their food. Who wants to figure out how to bake bread from the flour? Who's working the fields for growing crops? Who's digging the latrine? Maybe the Producers assumed these mundane items would bore viewers, but I think that would be fascinating. In terms of food, all we saw was the pregnant woman insist that she's getting 3 meals a day (I assume she means to force the chef guy to prepare her 3 meals for her.). Sure, everyone defaults to voting on big issues, as you'd expect a group of Americans would do (even crazy ones), but I think it would be funny as all get out if somebody there just took complete control of the experiment and set up a dictatorship. LOL

I also don't care who wins. For me, the idea behind the show is fantastic. I've always wondered what would happen if different directors made movies with the same material, so this show is perfect for me as a viewer. (A Michael Bay version of "Gone With the Wind" would be (unintentional) comedy gold!) I question the decision to go with yet another "coming-of-age" story, though. 2 of the 3 seasons of PG had these stories, and now The Chair. Why not a crime movie, which seems like it would be more of a universal story and hence, "easier" to make (in appealing to more people). Do most of these young directors make coming-of-age stories because they're basically filming their own lives, and think that this should be infinitely interesting to rest of America? Because, it's usually not.

First the positive: I admire Shane for finding a way to take his hobby and turn it into a legitimate business, rather than be some director-wannabee who lives off his parents. Plus, he has 10 million subscribers! Very impressive. Now the negative: He freely admits that his "humor" is targeted towards teenaged girls. As a grown man, maybe he needs to widen his horizons a little. The CW tried to make their entire TV network focus on that exact demographic, and they found this to be an extremely fickle customer base. Secondly, he seems like a fairly sheltered young guy. It'll be interesting to see what happens when he's forced to deal with adult professionals who don't view him as a "very special snowflake". Third, he apparently watched "Superbad" and, like his newly hired DP, thinks it's the perfect movie and the template for all other movies forever and ever. As Zachary Quinto said to him, he needs to be less gross-out and filthy in order to appeal to more people. I wonder how many dirty jokes he added to the script? The writer seemed to indicate that it was several per page! Can he grow up enough to acknowledge that humor isn't simply pee-pee jokes? The video snippets of his they included in the episode tells me that the answer may be No. Fourth, I don't think he really understands how a professional movie is put together. The producer guy and his own friend had a hard time explaining to him that just because he stuck some dirty jokes into the script doesn't make him a co-author. Shane seemed hung up on the idea that, although the WGA won't allow that, they SHOULD because HE "thinks its fair". Good luck with that argument, kid! I look forward to the inevitable Chris Moore - Shane confrontation. The question I have for myself is, do I want to see it happen right away, and every episode, or would it better to draw it out, add to the anticipation, and then let Chris make one massive verbal attack on him that will turn him into a little greasy spot on the road. Oh, I'm so excited by the prospect! LOL

I remember Chris from Project Greenlight, and he was really the highlight of the show's first season. He was TOUGH, but his advice was usually spot-on and necessary for the starry-eyed dreamers who didn't want to "compromise their creative vision", no matter the price tag attached. It seems like PG was recent, but its actually been over a decade since that show started! It was surprising when, during last night's premiere, one of the directors, Shane, kind of blew off Chris' input with a "well, American Pie was over 15 years ago!" Yikes, he's right! (But he's still a dick for saying it.) Oh, how I look forward to Chris putting Shane in his place! LOL

I'm glad I'm not the only one who disliked both wanna-be directors. Ahhhh-na repeatedly talked about how under-represented women in the directors chair are, and how she wanted to be a strong role model for girls, so I immediately predicted that she'd be tearing up before the first hour was over. Sure enough..... Meanwhile, Shane was so pleased with his oh-so-cutting-edge gross-out humor, that I thought he would break his arm by patting himself on the back so much. Did you know that he's wanted to direct a movie for his whole life?!?!? I think he mentioned that one time (or 100). His little filmed skits with the lady who refused to remove her wool hat (even indoors) in the grocery store and other locations looked awkward and irritating, especially for the regular customers caught up in the middle of it. I can't wait to see what happens next, as long as it involves (big) Chris Moore laying the smackdown on these two.

I agree with the above posters who say that Production is really hitting Frankie and Christine hard (good!). That said, this is the first season where I don't actually dislike anyone in the house. Sure, a bunch of them are irritating, but I think they've turned out to be pretty decent human beings. Aside from Donny, though, there's been no one in the house who I really, really LIKE, either. I think this is Derrick's game, all the way. He's playing great and probably deserved the $500k. He's not the most interesting player, but he's really good at BB, and I enjoy when he explains his strategy in the DR to us. A lot of times, he'll explain what he's doing and I'll think, "Oh yeah, that's a good idea! Why didn't I think of that?"

Perhaps the wig has the title role in this movie!

The female characters are badly written, but then so are are males on this show. For every "good" scene like when young Abe is talking with a drunk pre-vampire Nazi, we have the dumbest-cab-driver-in-New-York losing his fare, his tip, AND his life, and plenty of scenes of Eff and his family angst. (Can you image the Abe/Nazi scene as written by the "Breaking Bad" and/or "The Good Wife" crew?) As far as Nora looking at Eff before speaking for herself, I don't think that's a director's choice or a writer's choice. I think the actress is SO bad, that she's looking at the actor who has the next line so she can say her line as soon as he's done. I'm enjoying the show, but let's face it, this ain't Shakespeare. I think everyone is doing the best they can (actors, writers, production, etc.); it's just that they're not very good. "No Emmys Will Be Won In The Making Of This Show" should be their tagline.

At first, I thought Sandy, the owner, was broke and unable to pay any of his employees. Then, after a good talking-to with Gordon, he decides to start paying everyone!!! Did he not pay them simply because it was too much of a hassle? I don't get this episode at all. I didn't feel sorry for any of the employees, either. Why were they working for no money? Okay, the hula-hoop instructor (with poor hula hoop skilz I might add) may have to work for free, but what about everyone else? The chef who wasn't allowed to cook the "right" way mentioned a wife and kids "at home". Is McDonalds not hiring in Vermont? It pays better than nothing!

Caleb is a 3rd degree blackbelt? He looked about as convincing doing his "moves" as Cameron Diaz did playing a kung-fu master in the "Charlie's Angels" movies (i.e. - "not very"). LOL Normally when I see someone with moves like that, they're about 5 years old and wearing Batman pajamas. I'm not a fan of Frankie, but he did a surprisingly good job as the boxing announcer. He sounded like an actual professional!

Julie's husband definitely got hit with a LOT of ice when he did the challenge yesterday (and boy did he look cold when that water hit him!). Julie, maybe not so much ice (or cold). However, taking 60 seconds of valuable prime-time broadcast network time will certainly "spread the word" about the charity and the event, especially to viewers who may not be as into YouTube and the Internet as the rest of us are. Overall, I'd say that Julie's possibly-warm-"ice"-bath should lead to a LOT of additional charity dollars. Good for her, good for her husband, and good for CBS. Plus, it was the funniest part of the show last night, so good for us viewers, too!

I saw the ice water challenge from Julie's husband this afternoon and thought, "Will they have time to do that on live TV?" Then I remembered that he was Pres. and CEO of CBS and realized that the BB producers would be more than HAPPY to make time for that to happen! LOL That was really fun to see. Zach's exit was funny and humble, and make him look like much less of a d--k than normal. Then again, Donny seemed to like him, so that's a positive as far as I'm concerned. If Jocasta had won that challenge, do you think that when we "eavesdropped on the house guests" at the end of the episode, Jocasta would have been laying in one of the beds while everyone else was out in the living room?

These were the worst owners ever to appear on HH, and that's really saying something! I actually got depressed thinking that there are people in the world like those two, grown women with absolutely no life skills whatsoever, completely ruined by their indulgent idiotic parents. I don't think they're fixable at this point. At the end, the younger one wants to go out into the world and "travel" while the older one wants to show the world her 'creativity"! I assume the words "work" and "job" will never come up in their conversations. What a waste. On the plus side, the many employees at that hotel (not just the few shown, but all of them) at least get to keep earning a paycheck for awhile. Good luck to them all.

It took 6 episodes, but this show finally had a scene that got to me. The family and friends of one of the supposedly dead plane passengers got together for a wake. they brought food and wine, and the local priest arrived to help the bereaved. Then the dead guy shows up, drags them into the basement and, based on all the blood on the basement walls, put the bite on then one after the other. When the old guy showed up with his sword, most of the vampires were holding each other, still not completely turned, but no longer human either; trying to comfort each other. The tragedy of this show isn't that random monsters are attacking people in the streets, but that dead people are feeding on their own families and friends--the ultimate betrayal. Best scene in this show so far.

I think this was my favorite episode of HH -- nice people who just need a little help, and accept it graciously. I hope the husband (a hotel turnaround specialist!) is able to get back on top of his game and really get that place moving again. It appeared his accident really aged him badly, though.

Favorite GR line of all-time: "These people are WEIRD!" LOL This hotel was absolutely stunning, and the setting was picture perfect. Richard may be totally useless now, but at some point 20 years ago, he had a good eye for detail. I also believe, like other posters here, that that hotel is destined to fail. there's no way they're going to turn things around and get out of debt. If the sons turned over all their money to Mom each month, it would still take decades to pay off their debts. I kept wondering if there was any housekeeping staff at all, or if Mom was tasked with doing the cleaning. This "hotel" is just an excuse for partying and drug use. I think Gordon should just wait until the property is taken by the bank and buy it himself. As he said during his swim, he'd love to experience the location with his own family.