marketdoctor

I thought it was kind of an off week for singing; Mickey didn't do either final singer any favors (it's a big swing, though; one hit wonders often have a distinctive sound.) I agree with Vibeology about Donut; for the others, I wasn't paying enough attention. Maybe they need to focus more on the "singing" part, but it might have been song choices.

I'm not sure, but I think reality TV is on a different contract system than other scripted TV, so AGT is what they have. That might be why we got more audition rounds than usual; TPTB saw the strike coming, and tried to bleed the turnip as much as they could. Adding another round of audience voting would have had the same effect, which might be a sign they should give the writers what they want.

A little late to the party, but I realized Bob's Burgers did the finger dancer as a story, and arguably did it better. AITA for wanting the struggling marriage guy singer's wife to say "that was nice, but you really shouldn't have slept with my sister" or something? I think some of the "great backstory, mediocre acts" get the GB because they wouldn't survive more rounds of audience voting. It's sort of like how I thought the puppet show had good singing (and better than some of the "singers singing" acts), but adding puppets made it more interesting. For me, that's more of a tiebreaker than a lot of bonus points; YMMV.

I liked Grace Good, the hula-hooper arielist, a lot, because although it combines two types of act, they blend together well. Likewise ventriloquism and mentalism and the sword-swallower/arielist. The comic made me laugh. I lost it a little when Simon said "maybe we should make a kid's version of this show"--because you did, and no one watched it. This week had more kid acts (and more blend dancing and something else acts); they probably could have mixed up the acts better and moved one of the kid acts to the first week. World record attempts are cool (I've tried a few), but hard to follow up. THAT is the show they could make: "One Trick Pony", where everyone who has one act/type of thing that they can do once and it's cool, and once with a twist is cool, and...that's it, but that's OK if that's all that's expected. Down side is it would be an expensive show to produce, because you'd need a lot of acts. Overall, a good week, and again, I'm not sure why one of these acts wasn't the first week, unless they're doing a reverse fake-out, and actually showing the acts in chronological order (they're not.)

I liked this episode better than last week, but it was another "like, not love." The Japanese dancers and the GB singer were the ones I liked most, though the head-balancing guys were better than the acrobatics last week. Just once, I want someone with a very tragic backstory to say "...but enough about my history, here's a song about my favorite toothpaste."

I liked it a lot, especially: The idea of "restore points." The closest I'd seen was "7 Days", but this was very much its own thing. That they had a plausible reason for not using it for 9/11, or the Challenger explosion, or cancelling "Firefly." The way the whole team had differing levels of trust for each other, as if they were used to keeping secrets. The acting (really good acting.) Now I wonder if they're going to bring in things from other timelines/resets, like if someone has another Beatles album or something.

One of the things that gave me hope was the ending, which could be, post-writer's strike, something they want to explore again. It might take a few years, and then we'll remember the best of The Arrowverse, and we'll want to see a next generation/what have the Legends been up to/etc. show. Just like the comics, comics shows never stay dead forever.

I'll say, without fear of contradiction, this was a show that happened. OK, Perd Hapley out of my system, I liked the acts generally--but rarely more than "liked." Philip Bowen was perhaps my favorite, though Shadow Ace and Trigg Watson have me wondering what's next. (I think I know how Trigg Watson did his tricks, but he did them well enough that I enjoyed it anyway, so I'm calling that a win. His last trick kind of gave it away, though it's possible I have that wrong.) I hope Three G don't have long-term damage--they're an act that has me concerned for how they try to go bigger. What really concerns me is that these were some of the best acts they had. I'm glad we saw mostly good acts, but if it doesn't get better, it's going to be a long summer.

I thought the ending was (kind of) a comic tie-in, but I didn't read enough of them to be sure. I liked the Ferris Air reference, one more time. Thanks, Arrowverse, and good luck cast and crew.

My memory, and I could just watch it again, was that she knew she'd get in trouble with the law, so she studied enough to get a law degree, but she's "not a lawyer". Whether that means she never took the bar, or didn't pass it (and the way she's written, probably the former) fits. About half of people with law degrees don't practice law. I didn't remember her saying she went to prison, but that might be accurate.

I liked it a lot. Sure, it had some quick resolution, though I gave that partly to how we were seeing less than half an hour out of several days...still fast, but enough for me to suspend disbelief. That Ian starts leaping could have wild implications for their present. Thanks to whomever put the graphic at the end with who to call in an emergency.

This week had the fewest acts I wanted to ff through. They really need to work on balancing the crew. I agree with the acts that impressed BuckeyeLou, and also thought the woman who came in third had a really nice voice. I'm not a choir person most of the time, though I respect the work that goes into a good one.

At least once, I hope they cut to a shot of "the superfans", and it's four really heavy, middle-aged guys with mustaches, all wearing Bears jerseys. They could say things like "I think the Bears have a shot at the Superbowl this year", and have someone point out that they're not, technically, in the playoffs, "but that doesn't matter." That, and realizing the whole thing is a talent show, not a "talent contest", helps me. Then I wonder why we need judges to explain what we just saw, but that's always been true for the voting rounds. Maybe they're more like cheerleaders?

I liked it a lot. It captured the isolation feelings that a lot of younger adults feel, with a believable, likeable lead (who isn't perfect, and owns that), and some fantastic music. Whomever is in charge of the needle drops deserves a raise.

I realized my disconnect with this show. What I find enjoyable on a TV screen is different from what the producers see as talented in a live show. There are a few points where that breaks: "TV vs. live" is undoubtedly big, but it's also "they think I care about the backstory, and I want to find out if the act is any good first", and "are a lot of people dancing at the same time entertaining? I mean, a LOT. That's talent, right?" (Producers: YES! Me: sometimes, but it's not a given.) Some of that is a difference in an appreciation for what's hard to do. Occasionally, like Shin Lim, an act checks all the boxes for both of us (the man practices a lot, looks great on TV, etc.), but often, I felt like this was "watchable later", but I fast-forwarded a lot. This problem was more noticeable for the All-Stars version, where it was like the producers were saying "isn't that incredible?" and I found it good, but in a highly credible way. It wasn't a waste of time, but it wasn't time to start booking tickets for a live show, even though the translation to TV is part of the problem. (Also, seriously, I don't need audience reaction shots ever again, unless it's a magic trick where they're told to look under their seats.)

I understood this (though I felt bad too), because Pastor Rob is the thing that changed, even though (as Sheldon might have pointed out), if you win about 50% of your games, 25% of the time you're going to have two losses in a row, and 25% of the time, two wins (assuming independence, which is rarely factual, but in this case, close enough for the example.) There's also an attribution issue, where fans attribute winning or losing to whatever changed--even though, for example, both teams probably prayed. (It's Texas, and it's football.)

I have no external evidence, but this makes excellent sense. It would also explain why she did kind of a goodbye in May, and came back for this half of the season. Whatever the cause, good luck to her.

I was late to get this news, but good luck to the crew and cast, and thanks for the seasons we got.

I thought this too. I thought the setting might have been stronger in the '70s or '80s, when mental health was less understood (even though today, it's still not.) That's especially true because it wasn't a technology-dependent plot. At least they didn't lean too heavily on their weaknesses making them stronger; a very smart teen knowing how to scare off wolves was good, but they didn't have the AS spectrum teen use the angle of the sun to triangulate how to find water, or some equally implausible twist. Speaking of implausible, the pipe could have been running to a well or pond, but that part was still dubious at best. I was pleasantly surprised the kids were rescued, and not just returned. ETA: glad you got out, bybrandy. I hope in a re-run they add a chryon about where to report abusive treatment centers.

This, though I didn't hate what they did, because Ben had a short amount of time, and was still recovering from being drugged. Also, it was a cute twist at the end, but Goodwill was founded in 1906. They could have had more fun with the 30's Halloween by setting it in 1938, and tying in War of the Worlds (also, Trick-or-Treating was less common before the 1950s, but it had to start somewhere). I liked how dream-Allison helped save the day, and how Ben didn't want to leave. That can happen in a good dream.

I thought Megan TS gave it her all, and that was really impressive. I'm not what most people would think of as her target audience, but I'm old enough not to care, and to enjoy want I enjoy, so thanks! I thought Hot Girl Hospital started off strong, but went on a little too long; I enjoyed the cold open and Weekend Update, and The Please Don't Destroy guys and the deer sketch were really funny--they didn't wait too long to bring the deer in the house. So--perfect, no (I hope they get the sound worked out), but worth my time. If you haven't watched/re-watched yet, I strongly recommend closed captioning.

I'm now wondering if the "endpoint" leap is the point where Sam was at the bar in the last episode. Ben might be one of the miners. (Unlikely, but it's possible someone else would be the bartender.) I wonder if they're considering CGI'ing Ben into the bar scenes. I hope not, but that's an option, and would explain why Bakula didn't want to, but had signed an NDA, "Just because it fits some of the facts doesn't mean it's true", of course; there are things we don't know.

One thing I thought was funny: Justin Hartley and Sofia Pernas are married in real life. I loved how they're not stretching the mythology reveal: Magic knows what happened, and Ben is figuring it out pretty quickly. Also, they didn't play the gender reversal for (a lot of) laughs, but almost reverse-lampshaded how strange it was. Going for the "Have you been getting boxing training?"/"Actually, I have..." was really funny too.

Ok, running speculation is that the point in time/space that the 2022 team found was leading to where Sam Beckett is, and they're building to getting him back (or saving his life, or both). They could do that without Scott Bakula, but it'd be better if they did bring him back. (I can see where, at the time the show was being filmed, it brought back a lot of memories, and he might want to make sure they do justice to the original. Also, it could be a question of timing and/or money, but I'll just add that they should give him what he asks for.)

Thanks, though the wait's annoying. The story took some interesting turns.