Eolivet

I've watched several, including Keesha's birthday party -- and what struck me is at least compared to this season, how few DR segements there were. Keesha's birthday party happened with only a couple DRs from Jessie to set the scene and one from April to give her POV. Nobody else felt the need to re-narrate what was being narrated. Same with (ugh) Dick and Daniele vs. Zach for final HoH part 1 (where Dick hung on for seven hours to prove his love for his daughter or something). One expository DR and then, the scene just played out. Whereas this year, I feel that there are DR segments every other minute: we see something and then somebody immediately explains it in the DR. Segments are edited less like a documentary and more like a news magazine (with the DR acting as the "correspondent"). I wonder what the impetus for change was. Did they think viewers couldn't understand the houseguests yelling at each other, and felt the need to always have the exposition fairy explain to the dumb viewing audience what was happening? Did they decide viewers didn't like the longer segments and wanted more DR segments (after, for example, Britney's humorous DRs became popular -- and not just confined to a gimmick, like Chilltown's DRs)? I just felt like in earlier seasons, I was watching more of the game as it actually unfolded as opposed to today, where it feels like we see a dramatized version of what happened, complete with extensive narration to shape the story. I suppose I feel like if something like Keesha's birthday happened today, we'd interrupt the fight every few minutes with another DR: "I felt that Jessie had no right to eavesdrop!" "I saw Memphis making fun of them, so I had to mention it!" And then Dan: "I just wanted birthday cake, to be honest."

Wow, WendyCR72 -- you weren't kidding when you talked about a lot of early episodes being about greed. Just saw "Cherry Red" again and man, that's a good, twisty episode, but it really boils down to greed being at the base of it. Man, so many early season killers just had unhappy childhoods, but the dad being a killer as well pushes it into Shakespearian territory. And what's with these writers' obsession with boys and toy cars? First Roger Coffman and his model cars, then the actor in "Vacancy" (with the smashed ambulance). Who knew issues with toy cars were indicative of a murderous nature?

Ugh, why did they have to show family videos right before the vote?I knew Donny had no shot after that -- especially as these fools were reminded about why they were playing to help Derrick's family win the money-- I mean, win the money. Frankie's video looked the worst of all of them, quality-wise -- all washed out and poorly lit. Poor Ariana Grande: I guess international fame and fortune can't buy good technical support.

This episode was just on in syndication last week, and yeah, the end really comes out of nowhere. I also don't understand why Acker's character spits out that profile of Goren in the end (other than to make that line make sense). She didn't seem to be shown to have any kind of special insight into Goren's character (perhaps confiding in him with her "suspicions," but that's no more perceptive than the surviving bridesmaid in "Vacancy" latching on to Goren like he was some kind of protector type), nor did the murders require any kind of profiling skills. It just seems completely unsupported by the last hour we saw. I suppose they had to make Acker's character evil, because the idea of the FDA as a big, bad villain killing small children likely didn't play well. The Law & Order Mothership loved to go after all kinds of government/agency corruption, but I feel like we saw them less on CI. Maybe because they weren't being prosecuted.

Exactly. Derrick may be all about the numbers, but he seems to have lost his ability to count. Three (Frankie/Christine/Caleb) is equal to three (Derrick/Cody/Victoria), and also more than two (Donny/Nicole). He also seems to be forgetting his "side" of the house is the one with the "easy" boot. Say, once Nicole is gone, Frankie/Christine/Caleb decide they don't want to get blood on their hands , who is ripe for the picking? Victoria -- one of Derrick/Cody's numbers. Ironically, I feel like Frankie is aware of this more than Derrick -- which is why he seems so intent on booting Donny. Derrick can play Dan Gheesling's game, but seems to forget Dan started winning competitions late. Dan also seemed to be the master of late-game allies, whereas Derrick's allies haven't changed since Week 2. This is the time where you go after the Franks and Jenns, even if you have no intention of taking them to the end. But Derrick seems to believe the game has operated in stasis: that other people haven't been able to count and they're all "sticking to the plan." All Derrick seems to know how to do is throw competitions and get his allies to do his bidding. That works in a large alliance, but not a smaller one. So often in Survivor, people start playing a post-jury game, pre-jury -- I feel like Derrick is the opposite. He's playing a pre-jury game, post-jury. What's going to happen once the remaining two that are "against him" are gone, and the pecking order gets reset? He may think he knows what it is, but he might be in for a rude awakening. For the first time this week, I actually feel like Derrick might not win the game. The Detonators aren't The Brigade, nor are they The Friendship, simply because of the factions -- there was no Frankie in The Brigade or The Friendship: his own cult of personality with his own devoted minions. All it takes is one "big move" -- and Derrick is suddenly on the losing end, wondering where all his numbers have gone or relying on Victoria to win an HoH to save him at the end. But at the end of the day , it is what it is.

I'm sorry, the irony of Caleb "It looks like he's thinking even when he's not thinking," hosting a counting competition. I also voted 20 times against the task.

Ugh, I'd forgotten how much I disliked the personal stories, and then WGN aired "The War at Home" a couple days ago. It's a good case -- interesting, and one of the rare instances that Fran Drescher seems like an actress instead of a caricature -- but the Bobby's mother subplot just drags the whole thing down for me. I realize this was around the time when serial dramas were making a huge comeback (Desperate Housewives, LOST, even 24 had personal elements) but I liked that Law & Orders were mainly about the cases. It was a totally unnecessary element that I think added nothing to the series.

I asked this very question in the show Miscellany thread because I didn't know if it was appropriate for this one, but now that it's being discussed, I'll go one further: What if Donny named names? "I have been working with Derrick and Frankie in a secret Team America alliance, we've earned $15,000 each by completing tasks designed to play pranks and cause dissension among our fellow houseguests." He would obviously forfeit the money, but wouldn't it also wreck Derrick and Frankie's games? Nothing gets these people to turn on each other faster than who has money. Even better if he could do it in the live show where they couldn't edit it out. I just wonder what would happen. I picture a giant, Big Brother-like voice, like a judge on Law & Order: "The houseguests will disregard any mention of Team America!" It would be one of those "If I can't win the game, I'm making sure you don't either" moves that I don't think Donny would contemplate, but interesting to consider.

Moved to live feed thread. Sorry for the confusion!

Agreed. During that scene, I kept thinking it felt like a cheap narrative trick -- one that Russell T. Davies didn't have the luxury of resorting to when he changed Doctors with the same Companion. By the end of his episode, through Davies' writing, Ten was the Doctor -- Rose and the audience had accepted it. I also think the audience would've been fine with an older Doctor (at least the American audience would have -- men Capaldi's age headline nearly every crime drama on television) had Moffat's insecurity about it not been so transparent. When you're around anxious people, it makes you anxious -- so because he (through Clara) was anxious about the Doctor's age, so were we (or I was, anyway -- as a viewer). Stop trying to make Vastra, Jenny and Strax happen, Moffat -- they are never going to happen. Also seen enough Victorian London to last me several years -- there are other time periods, you know (though I did wonder for a moment if Clara was going to travel in her Victorian outfit -- like her character from a previous Christmas Special). I'm torn about this episode -- I think Capaldi is a great actor, and I enjoyed just watching him perform, but I felt my strings being yanked a few too many times by the writing (despite the clever dialogue). And Missy at the end made me long for the days when the big arcs revealed themselves gradually. I swear, if I heard the word "Trenzalore" one more time...

Touche! So many of the early season episodes were almost Shakespearian in scale (especially when the crime was due to some deep-seated family drama) -- likely the better to distinguish them from the more cut-and-dried Law & Order Mothership episodes. And the grand nature of the cases is what drew me to Criminal Intent anyway, hee!

"Con-Text" was on ion tonight and boy, I'd forgotten how confusing some of those early episodes could be. "Shandeh" was on earlier, and considering the two aired right after one another, it was interesting to see how the more twisty storytelling style of the show worked for that episode, while it just made "Con-Text" really convoluted and hard to follow. The man who played the widower was excellent, and I also liked the aspect of the worker who collected unused drugs and (I believe) distributed them to other sick patients, but that is one of those episodes where if you say the solution aloud, it sounds absolutely ridiculous: "A pharmacist diluted drugs for profit to cover excessive donations he made to a church so he and his wife could feel like they were pillars of the community." Some of these episodes were pretty light on motive, other than "People are craaaazy!"

Excellent. That's my head canon now as well. And "safe deposit box" may be the best euphemism I've heard in a while.

"Albatross" was on ion on Wednesday night, and I noticed something I wasn't sure I'd seen before: is it meant to imply that George Pagolis (Xander Berkeley) rapes his wife (played by Donna Murphy -- the Councilwoman, her name escapes me)? When she comes home early and he grabs her wrists and throws her on the bed... They smash cut to commercial, and Murphy's character never mentions it or even alludes to it, but I wondered if that was what we were supposed to think. Great acting in that episode. Berkeley can always be counted on for a solid performance, and Tony-winner Murphy was always a joy to watch on any Law & Order.

I know that came off as harsh, but it's actually a recycled zing from three seasons ago. Zingbot asked Joe (BB13) how it felt to be the oldest man there, and then said "Oh wait, I didn't see you there, [Mike] Boogie." So not so much harsh as...lazy? Also wonder how Zingbot would've zinged Frankie had he not made his grand sisterly reveal.

WGN had "Blind Spot" yesterday and "Bedfellows" today. Blondes with pixie cuts were bad news in season 6.

Giving Zingbot a personality transplant was kind of boring. I'd have preferred a different task -- like building Zingbot a second wife. Because if Zingbot has learned one thing from this season of Big Brother, it's that women are disposable! Ziiiiing!

Oh man, that "Homicide" episode was my very first exposure to VDO, and it stayed with me for a long time. Absolute masterclass in acting. My boyfriend (now husband) always tried to get me to watch "Homicide" and I never could get into it, but this episode was absolutely riveting. Seconding the recommendation to check it out!

Yeah, that was pretty disingenuous. Does he think America has no ears? We could hear him lying to Donny. And shut up, Cody a.k.a. "Mr. Irrelevant." Now I know why he doesn't do DR sessions.

Recently caught some clips of "The Newsroom" on HBO, where David Harbour has a recurring role as Elliot Hirsch (one of the main newscasters), and nearly jumped out of my chair. He had two stints on Criminal Intent, but his most memorable was the ultra-religious family annihilator in "Family Values" who is triggered by some sick lust for his daughter (and kills the rest of his family including the dog). It's one of those episodes so disturbing, I can never look at the actor the same way again! ETA: Oops, did I goof here? Was this just for main cast members? Apologies to the mods if so -- still learning the forum. Feel free to move, delete, whatever!

Hi, all! Another L&O CI fan, who chuckles every time someone hails "Elementary" as revolutionary for having a female Watson and a female Moriarty. When Eames and Nicole Wallace, respectively, existed over 10 years prior to that show. Bit of an outlier in that I only enjoy rewatching Goren & Eames episodes. Maybe the occasional Logan/Barek. But everything else just isn't L&O CI, to me. Now that I've found ion reruns, looking forward to the discussion!

There's been a lot of talk about why the dual HoH twist/Battle of the Block debuted this year, and while I think it's designed to protect "strong" players (i.e., men) -- I also think it's designed to avoid a final 4 like last year. They don't want to let a group of people basically fly under the radar and then just walk to the end once all the power players have eliminated each other. "The Exterminators" drove me absolutely crazy with how they pretended their lack of game all season was some super covert strategy to get out the threats, when really all they did was assume power in a vacuum. A competitor bringing a goat to F2 is a legitimate strategy, but last year was essentially a final 4 of all goats, and I don't blame the show for not wanting that to happen again.

Yep. Derrick appears to be the Billy Flynn of the house. Never was that more evident than when Caleb said "From what I've been hearing..." before making his nominations. Understandable, Caleb. Understandable.

Once again: Derrick and the HoH Rag. Notice how his mouth never moves...almost.

Briefly, since I know this is slightly off-topic -- I agree with most of what you said, however, I will say it's very easy to be gracious when fans are praising your every move and calling you wonderful. It's much more difficult when they aren't exactly pleased with you. Ignoring them is fine. Cursing them out...well, that says a lot more about him than it does about them. The fact that I rarely hear about star quarterbacks who threw a game-ending interception or star hitters who struck out at the final at-bat or star basketball players who missed the winning layup cursing out their fans after a game tells me all I need to know about this actor's opinion of himself. As for his relationships with the rest of the cast, not sure about the other two sisters, but when the Downton cast was on "The View" recently (hey, a media mention -- yay, topic!) Michelle Dockery mentioned something about them going to see him, "apart from me." Make of that what you will.