marketdoctor
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Posts posted by marketdoctor
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I wonder why, for a show with so much time travel, NO ONE brings back stock tips/sports outcomes. I get why the good guys (and the Legends) don't do that; they don't want to disrupt the timeline too much...but Young Cicada and Thawne are evil, not stupid.
That said, "I Peter Parker-ed her" and "Operation Shazaam" made me laugh harder than they should have, even on a rewatch.
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For years, I've asked for a show that was little or no backstory, and mostly singing, comments if necessary, commercials to keep the lights on, and more singing.
Last night, AI delivered. Thank you!
The judges were actually harder on Alyssa than I would have been. Other than that, I kind of miss Harry Conick, Jr., who liked a lot of things, but if he saw a way to be better, he'd explain that too.
Still, this is one of my favorite episodes in a long time.
Apparently, next Sunday and Monday are the celebrity duets--I'm not sure if we vote at that point, or if it's the judges, or it goes to a Celebrity Deathmatch tournament, or what. Maybe they're keeping the options open.
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I didn't dislike the format, but that was a LOT of filler, especially for the people being sent another way with their careers. Some of the people going forward I barely remember seeing; there would be benefit from more balance.
So far, I like a lot of the people who went forward, but I think some of the near-misses will have either a shot next year or another way (though it might take longer.)
I liked for the contestants' and crews' sake that it was Hawaii, because if nothing else, they got a free trip to Hawaii.
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My best guess is that the producers/directors get bored with seeing hundreds of hours of "sing badly, going home"/"sing well, going forward", so they want to spice it up.
They don't realize that the audience only sees less than an hour of that an episode, so we aren't as bored with it--it's why we watch the show.
OK, the goth fake-out was funny, but I need ONE of those a week...maybe once per year. Then show me people I'll be able to vote for, and round it out with some "almost good" and some "well, you tried", just to keep me guessing, and you've got a show--because although they think otherwise, for me the singing is the show, and I'm fast-forwarding anyway, I'll miss the commercials and the product placement.
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I liked the dental hygenist--I suspect there's more to her story as well.
(Also she looked like Christine Taylor from Dodgeball, which was bugging me until I connected that. not her fault.) -
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Also, Nitrogen Iodide is apparently a real thing
Thanks for sharing that; just like with a lot of science fiction, the more incredible it is, the more based on reality it could be. (Sometimes distantly based on.)
My only issue is that there are a LOT of plots about lying and betrayal, especially this season. I hope whatever the writers are going through, it gets better.
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I was going to give it a "no, thanks", but I forgot to reset my DVR, so--let me answer this:
QuoteAnyway, I'm interrupting my DVR-viewing to say that I don't know how "Eddie Island" isn't getting punched in the cock on a daily (hourly?) basis.
Two possibilities: 1. He turns it up for the camera/audition. 2. People around him know something is wrong, so they stay away (just like if I were in the DC Universe, I wouldn't live in Gotham City.) Or maybe we're just lazy.
I wasn't as excited about the last person as i was about Shay. He was good enough; I just didn't see that he was The Best EVAHHH.
Someone should tell Katy Perry about nasal breathing strips (and possibly sleep apnea.) If nine hours isn't enough, it might be an early warning sign.
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I don't like this format where they skip around between different audition cities.
That's what's getting me. It's not the worst change, but it's another step backwards, along with the 90% backstory format.
I don't want to get invested in singers I can't vote for, so I'm probably out until the voting rounds. I might try to see the best auditions later, but for now I'll live with Ryan Seacrest's descriptions: "Will it be Dave 'No Cheese' the country rock singer, or Sarah 'Solo Barbershop Quartet' the rock country singer? Tune in to find out."
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Congratulations to T-Pain. It's a drawback to the concept that you can't award The Bee and the Peacock, whether you know who's in the costume or not.
QuoteIf he can sing like that...why is he a rapper?
I think because he wanted to. Why he stayed in rap/with auto-tune when it was no longer doing him favors is an interesting question.
Fun fact: T-Pain is from Tallahassee, where Jim Morrison also once lived (though their time there did not overlap.)
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I wondered if the super-cancer-scan was the Kylons recording the Orville crew for a simulation, and the way they deal with the invasion of Earth is an essential, final part of whether or not the Kylons want to be in the Union. That would explain why
I also wondered if the Krill were the original creators. That would be why they were high-tech enough to compete with the Union, but were now very religious; if a sub-group survived the robot uprising.
These could only both be true if the Kylons kicked off the Krill instead of killing them all, and were only simulating the attack to see if the humans/Union were also like the Krill.
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I had the same thought about Ashley Judd--here are the thoughts: The Ashley Judd=the Lion is in part because she made a reference to the Bluegrass State, and Ashley Judd is originally from Kentucky, and has a degree from the University of Kentucky. She also sang on the "De-Lovely" soundtrack, and her mother and sister are famous in country music. She's been active in politics, which fits one of the clues, but I don't know about the "Empire" references (maybe that's not a reference to the show.)
Was there a reference to the "Divergent" movies? Or Star Trek: The Next Generation? That would support it. So as John Oliver would say, "It makes a lot of sense, if you don't really think about it."
When this show is good, it's because several celebrities fit. The Internet (and having smart other people, such as the people on this board) to bounce ideas off of can make it easier, which also makes us feel smarter than the judges.
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I liked Halsey as an actress. My expectations weren't that high (I'd only seen her "act" in some of her live performances, which were more dancing and singing rather than conventional acting), and she did better than I expected, especially in the parent's sketch. Putting her hands in casts gave her something to do with her hands.
She was also great in the group singing bits, and that was a clever way to bring in more vocal performances within the show's format.
It wasn't consistently extremely funny, but Halsey having fun with it was contagious.
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I'm kind of sorry to see Ricki Lake go, even though (for me) she was the easiest one to guess.
At least for next year, and possibly a few forward, this might be the new "get me on that show" show. Whomever cast this season did a great job. Also, I'm going to give "Dr. Ken" another shot.
I want to see what Melissa Villasenor would do with it, and yes, Wayne Brady would be a great choice (as would Brad Sherwood.)
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I almost forgot: the whole Bortus plot was a callback to A Million Ways to Die in the West:
And I liked how, as an alien might, Yaphit missed that it wasn't just the shape (doesn't seem to have been that at all) that was an issue for Dr. Finn.
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I liked Unicorn's singing more than most, so I wish her well.
QuoteThis show needs celebrities that can laugh at themselves.
I really hope for season 2, they use this as the first criterion, followed by questions like "are you vaccinated?" and "are you Joel McHale, now that we have enough established ratings to justify your salary for an entire run?"
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So, is this worth watching?
My advice would be to watch it up to "Light my Candle", and if you don't like it by that point, you won't hate missing the rest of it. Or fast-forward to the singers you like, since the plot was uneven.
For me whenever they announced the date, I was trying to remember what I was doing that day. (Mostly trying to find a better job.)
The curtain callback was really cool.
Also, the lack of dancing didn't bother me--but what did was the sound mixing, after they promoted heavily how many cameras and cast they had. If you're going to promote the production values, have production values.
I thought they handled the damaged foot pretty well--and that it heals quickly. And I liked Vanetina (but I hated the dog killing.)
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Loved that. LOL. In fact, that "solution" was so untenable and shot full of possible issues that I didn't quite understand it. It would be like if someone told me the answer to getting to Paris was to create a helicopter out of cheese and take advantage of a wind storm to glide across the ocean
Ok, now I want cheese. (Not a complaint; I like cheese--in this case, we'd need Parmesan cheese, though.)
On-topic: I liked the horoscope-snarking, but I'm still not sure how the DNA analysis would work with alien DNA (or, that's why they got a negative result every time.)
In keeping with Godwin's law, there was a civilization that got the ability to send a message into space at about the same time they were really big into astrology...and fascism, and rounding up people they didn't like. Maybe there's a broader point that if you can rationalize pseudo-science, you can rationalize lots of other evils with it.
QuoteAgreed that it would've been simpler to argue for the expulsion of Kelly and Bortus from the planet rather than try to reform the entire sign's public image
I think that would have been the eventual diplomatic solution, with maybe a "call us if the Krill show up, you'll need us" button.
There were things I liked a lot:
1. Ed invites them to the Galaxy, not the Union. He's reserving some of the judgment.
2. There is more than one admiral. There's still a chain of command.
3. Ted Danson!
4. The tone--sometimes it's funny and light, and sometimes not--reflects life really well; some years are darker than others. It did not reflect the tone of the pilot episode, but it's finding its footing.
Though I think it would have been better to have them be captured a week or so, so that either the Gilliax were a small portion of the planet, or find another way...at some point you'd want to jailbreak them or at least find out if they're alive.
Also, the Union's policy on non-interference seems to be less strict than the Federation--and once they'd made the first contact, didn't that no longer apply? I could see that becoming a "we busted them out because we could, but you locked them up, let's call it even and walk away not-enemies" situation.
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...but I was BLOWN AWAY that last week's ep cutting down stereotype sitcom tropes did not address the slutty-seeming scantily-clad female classmate.
Or the average-looking guy with a beautiful wife (usually with perfect hair and makeup, unless it's a comic kitchen or repair disaster), but once a year or so still has a beautiful woman interested in him.
It would have been easy to work in when they were talking about other stuff, especially as part of the in-passing reference to the Latina mother. I realize they can't get to every stereotype in 21 minutes, but at the risk of mansplaining the obvious, stereotypes about women create a lot of problems for a very large group of people (I'd say "everyone" but I'm not sure how they impact monks and people who don't watch television at all.)
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I really liked the vocals of the Poodle/Margaret Cho, and I'm disappointed she was voted off. I hope she gets a future gig where she can sing.
The only problem with lying about a clue is that it quickly renders every other clue meaningless. I'm all for obscure, even misleading clues (like Terry Bradshaw's "I like horses", which also fit Peyton Manning, but obviously wasn't), but false clues makes it an unfair puzzle...unless either there's a fixed number (e.g. one misleading clue/contestant/episode), or that's part of the puzzle (like Penn & Teller Tell a Lie.)
In some cases, like The Raven, it lets the audience feel smarter--but there's a point where it starts making the judges look stupid--or maybe just uninformed, because they were off doing whatever made them famous at the time.
Or, as Eolivet notes, just stop giving clues. I'll add that since it's a taped show, they don't need the time for set changes.
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I'm starting to plan for (based on ratings) what will happen next year. Who's your dream cast? I would divide it into "famous for singing", "not famous for singing", and "some of both." Time and budget are no object here.
Famous for singing: Kelly Clarkson, just because she jump-started American Idol and has a lot of range of song choices.
Weird Al--same range of vocals.
Not famous for singing: Michelle Obama, just because she might actually do it.
Wil Wheaton, because he might slip out a "good night, nerds" and it would be funny if the judges don't get it.
Some of both:
Marisa Benoit: Because other than the occasional music scene in Supergirl or the Flash, she doesn't get to sing much.
Amber Benson: great in singing on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and also narrated "Lock In" (as did Wil Wheaton).
Shatner. Because, Shatner.
Patrick Stewart, for the Kirk vs. Picard and because he'd do it well, and because it'd be fun for him to be The Knight.
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Billy & Emily England, Extreme Rollerblade Duo - Or as we like to call them, the brother/sister act with sexual tension. I had a good laugh when the final three showed that they dominated the South. Keep those stereotypes running.
During the voting, when they announced where people were popular:
"Billy & Emily, you were really popular..."
Me: Please don't say "the South." We're not all...
"...in the South."
Me (in a Charlie Kelly from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia voice): Well, it was a good run.
QuoteIt's on there but for some reason they put it as episodes for Season 13.
Yes--it shows up in the guide/listings as AGT: The Champions, but they list it as part of Season 13, because they want to save it for the REAL AGT Superfans, so you need the password.
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My only added comments:
I wasn't initially on the Prince Poppycock love train, but he's growing on me from sheer showmanship. I was glad he wasn't buzzed..
...and the regular buzzer needs to go away for this version. If the act shouldn't be here, it's not a "Champions" act. Also, Tom Cotter was funnier this time through, but seriously--as Whimsey just noted and others have seen, it's just basic courtesy. With danger acts in the mix, it's MORE than that, but it's time to buzz-off.
And if we're doing a roll call of "Superfans", I've neither heard of nor met any who were in the audience for this version of this show. That's not to say they don't exist, but it's a datum point.
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My big question: why didn't they send Isaac to the high-gravity planet? (Apart from the Chekov's phaser from the gravity suit & timer.)
I like that the show uses tropes, but I wondered about that.
Good luck, Ms. Sage. I look forward to seeing your other work.
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In his command simulation, Gordon tried to pull the Corbomite Maneuver gambit.
I loved both that he tried it, and that it did not work.
There was a lot of clever detail. When Ed was asked if the command codes were real, I wonder if the pause before answering was to think up a plausible lie.
I also liked how the show used tropes (Faster-than-ship communication, face-swapping, aliens that do not use contractions, and cloaking/invisibility tech) but also does its own things with them. Venting the plasma was an almost-plausible way to find a hidden ship, but I thought something was up--because how would they have known to do that?
Also, the non-Krill other aliens, who might end up joining the Planetary Union, have potential.
That was amazing use of some lines from "She's Always a Woman To Me", which, heh, has a contraction in the title.
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S17.E12: Top 14
in American Idol
ITA; it was different in the very early seasons, where the top two of a batch of eight would go through. In this format, someone comes in no better than eighth. It's possible someone was pushed into a bad song choice--but the fix isn't to ignore the votes, but rather to stop pushing songs so hard in the first place. (Also to open the wild card to the entire top 20 or so, since if voting doesn't matter or you're giving out second chances, give at least one or two to people who didn't get a first chance.)