CeeBeeGee

Pretty sure it was Big Mama's phone--at one point Fauna or somebody noticed a double click on the phone, meaning it was being tapped.

I'm actually really enjoying it as well, although I hate how they portray John Favara (the guy who ran over Frankie). From all accounts the death was a tragic accident--he wasn't at fault in any way. And he never would've been awful to the mother (calling her a crazy bitch, etc.) as they show him doing--he knew EXACTLY how much danger he was in--everyone in the neighborhood knew who Gotti was--and was making plans to move. Gotti didn't even want to kill him but the mother apparently wanted it. So now Favara's kids grow up without a father--does that bring Frankie back to life? The whole story is incredibly sad. Victoria comes off better than I would've guessed.

What irritates me about the "Surya wuz robbed" is this--in what universe are three Worlds SILVERS and MULTIPLE European golds anything but a slam dunk in figure skating? That's more than many better skaters than she have achieved. These articles always seem to be written by people who don't understand how figure skating works. Jumps are great, but other elements (spins, spirals, step sequences, decent choreography, etc.) also count.

I am utterly mortified for Jonitta. Jesus Christ. You full-on HIT someone in the FACE because...they gently touched you? After you specifically invited them to? ("Go on, touch me again.") No, wait--it was because she...kissed someone on both cheeks? Which, as she pointed out, is customary in Greece? Fucking seriously? Her posturing and defensiveness to Panos was fucking RIDICULOUS. Fire her ass, Panos. No, both sides are not to blame. Jonitta fully and solely owns this. (And my God, if I have to hear the word "thirsty" again, much less 10 or 20 times, I'm going to vomit on Jonitta's bed. She came off very badly in this episode.) Yeah, I'm no Gabi fan but the Cool Kids powwow afterward was shitty. Stop tittering over the drama with Jonitta. She acted badly. Someone should've gone out to Gabi. Holy shit, I was dying at that. WHY ARE YOU CALLING YOURSELF A PITBULL. Pitbulls have an excuse. You do not. And who the HELL is Brent to criticize another for being defensive and refusing to apologize? Both he and Jonitta should've been fired by now. Disgusted and disappointed with Jonitta.

It's fictional--sort of? Fauna Hodel is a real person who apparently really was the real George Hodel's granddaughter. I'm kind of nervous about reading too much about the real people so I don't spoil myself.

This! I am generally not a fan of ice dancing because of all the "frantic grabbing" and "theatrical facial expressions" (this is why I don't really care for V&M--sacrilege, I know!). I could not believe that H/D's FS won over C/B's clever, sophisticated, subtle program with all those awesome lifts! Very disappointed. Hopefully C/B will take a medal at Worlds.

Jason Brown's short program was spectacular! So good!

Can somebody explain to me why they thought Alina's short at Euros was so bad? I watched it on YouTube and it looked pretty clean to me. What am I missing?

Shouldn't it be whom? Either The Body (which was the basis for the movie Stand by Me) or It.

No! She is so young! Jesus, losing your dad at 23...

Okay, watching the "Meet the Staff" segment--Brent is a shitty, straight up misogynist. He brags about being called "The Waitress Slayer" because (according to him) he "sleeps with all the waitresses." And even more vile, he says he does this to prove that "women have no loyalty to each other," that "they are worse than guys." Dude, I hope you get an STD and your dick falls off. I'm done with this show.

I found Brent so utterly repellant that I switched off in the middle of his screechfest "you're done! You're done! Mic drop!" Producers, we want to see more Lindsay and Greek scenery, less of the manufactured twenty-something drama.

Finally finished this series. I agree that the last episode is the best one. Ondine was utterly horrible, just awful. I especially despise how she manipulated him not to say anything, because as shitty a father as the dad was, surely he would've turfed Ondine had he known she likely set the fire, if for no other reason than because that could implicate him. As up and down as this show is (I find the pacing to be unbearably slow), I'm enjoying trying to figure out which Romanoff scenario is paralleled in the episodes. For example, Episode 2, "The Royal We," I think refers to the terrible marriage between Catherine the Great and her awful husband, Peter, who reportedly wanted to replace her with his mistress. Catherine famously took to her new home and culture (cf., Shelley being caught up in the Romanoff cruise--is Ivan supposed to be a modern-day Count Orlov?) and ended up having Peter "removed." "End of the Line" surely is meant to evoke the despair Nicholas and Alexandra felt at never getting that heir, and their joy when Alexei was born, and their subsequent horror when he turned out to have hemophilia. But I found "Panarama" deadly dull. And as others have noticed, the idea that her hemophilia is from the Romanovs is ludicrous. Only one branch had the disease--Nicky and Alexandra--because it came through her line and she married into the family, and their line for obvious reasons was terminated. Perhaps if Elizabeth (Alexandra's sister--therefore possibly a carrier--who also married into the family) and Sergei had had children who had survived the Revolution, it might've been plausible but that didn't happen. Which brings me to another point--there aren't that many Romanovs out there. The Bolsheviks killed almost a third of them, and those who survived are all accounted for and most have titles of pretense. It's odd that there are seemingly so many running around who are brought up believing they have a connection to the family and have Imperial* china and/or jewelry. If you've got the toys, you should know exactly how you're related. *Which brings me to another point--the series keeps saying royal, royal family, royal this and that. The Romanovs ruled over an empire, not a kingdom; therefore, the family was imperial, not royal. That's been driving me crazy.

Not at all. The Cunanans were poor and striving to rise above that, which is what motivated his father to get an MBA and become a stockbroker. It might've worked had the parents spent sensibly but Modesto blew his money like a sailor on shore leave (appropriately, since he was former Navy). They had to scrimp quite a bit to send Andrew to Bishop. And then when Modesto fled the country after selling the house out from underneath the family, they were destitute. He really was a shithead. Once Modesto took off, Andrew had to drop out of college. (Not that he was that motivated anyway--Norman offered to bankroll his degree but Andrew just wanted cash and a Mercedes.)

Jesus! God, I LOVE it when they throw the big tricks on bars! Stunning!

ACS is up for more awards! It's up for Golden Globes--Best Limited Series, plus Darren, Edgar and Penelope. January 6.

Okay if this "our sacrifice has been met with un-appreciation and betrayal" is about Mack's interview with Gymcastic, they can fuck right off. She was FAR more forgiving and nuanced than anyone had a right to ask her to be. I specifically remember her saying they were good people, they were just hard on her. I am sure their business got quite a nice bump from Mack's post-London publicity. Repeat after me, Artur and Co.: "I am not the victim here."

YASSSSSSSSS!!! Go Chuso!

TEN WEEKS?! They drag this shit out for ten weeks? That is utterly disgusting. What a colossally disrespectful waste of time. BROADWAY SHOWS are cast more quickly than that. It's just ridiculous that they waste the time of these incredibly talented dancers like that, and then pay them so little. UGH.

What an utter. fucking. shitshow. I just hope the athletes can stay strong and focused. I don't care if they win at Worlds or not--this is way beyond that--I just don't want this to *ruin* Worlds for them. Honey, I don't GAF about Penny's terrified family. Try imagining you're an Olympic athlete and the doctor you're supposed to trust is violating you in a dark hotel room. In McKayla's brilliantly artless words, "I thought I was going to die." That's terror.

Wikipedia deleted commentary on Bono: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mary_Bono&type=revision&diff=864395680&oldid=864378257

Where can I watch a decent airing of Worlds? NBC usually airs them a week later and it's cut all to heck, only American gymnasts. Would the Olympic channel air them sooner, or somewhere online?

Drudge Report?! Seriously? Not unless she wants to hear about hoaxes, conspiracy theories and rumors. They are not a serious or reputable news source. Try the Wall Street Journal, the NY Times or the Washington Post. Or heck, as someone suggested, if you have recent iPhone they all have a native app that aggregates major news stories of the day. Or even go to Google News. What was the deal with "72....why is that significant?" How could anyone possibly be expected to guess such a random connection with that random number? That was badly executed and badly edited. I have to say, I so admire the dance capabilities of all of these women. I've been to many sports events and seen many such dance companies, and even worked with some of the dancers. (I did a show years ago with a Washington Wizard dancer.) They're all so talented--it's great that DCC seems to value their dancers but so many of these organizations treat them like crap. They all deserve better.

I'm thrilled that ACS did so very well last night--Best Directing for a Limited Series, Best Actor in a Limited Series, Best Limited Series. THRILLED. And they should've won more--IMO the two votes for Best Supporting Actor/Actress for a Limited Series vote was split. (And WHY was not Cody Fern on the ballot?) I'm so happy for everyone on this team. But I do wish more of them had remembered the victims in their speeches. Ryan Murphy remembered but his was the last speech of the night and he had no guarantee ACS would win Best Limited series. He also also named some of them--he skipped over Lee and William. He and Darrin both should've fully remembered the victims. This amazing, poetic and insightful series was built on their tragedy, their murders.

I've been re-watching old gymnastics meets on YouTube. Re: 2012 US Nationals (and the trials--I remember them, although they are currently not on YT), I have a question. What in HELL was Nastia thinking, not getting around to full runthroughs of her bars routines until the week before Nationals? What in God's name did she and Valeri expect? She made an utter fool out of herself--it's excruciating to watch those bars sets. I say this as a fan of Nastia, I've always liked her gymnastics. But what the hell? A WEEK. Didn't she decide to come back almost a year prior? (I remember she tweeted during 2011 Worlds "let the journey begin" or something like that.) But she didn't start full runthroughs until a week before Nationals? Also in the What was Valeri thinking category: for God's sake, Valeri, stop making Bross do the Patterson! She can't land it. Watching her sit that down over and over was also excruciating. She deserved better.