Luckylyn

That’s a rough episode. Very dark.

Is that the Farscape episode where they go back in time to a wonderful historical moment and they accidentally ruin it because that episode made me so sad. Or is that the one where John travels to different timelines.

That time the makers of South Park accidentally found out about the Tweak/Craig ship online and responded by actually writing it into the show. Show runners can sometimes be so intensely dismissive towards fans of ships the show runners didn’t intend. It’s nice to see a show embrace a ship that wasn’t part of the plan. It definitely helped Tweak be less one note of a character.

So far I’m finding Hayley’s family dynamics and how her success affected it fascinating. Also the impact Disney had on her career by forcing her to turn down certain roles was interesting. On audible she’s doing the narration herself which is really lovely to hear.

So the plot with Fiona and Trixie reminded me of a tv movie No Higher Love staring Katey Sagal and Annabeth Gish. Katey becomes close friends with nurse Annabeth when Katey gives birth at her hospital. Eventually Katey discovers she has cancer. When she realizes she’s dying she asks her husband to give romance with Annabeth a chance when he’s ready to start dating again. The husband and Annabeth go on an extremely awkward date after his wife’s death where they mostly just talk about Katey and acknowledge they are only there because Katey asked them to before she died. They decide they’ve honored their obligation to his wife on their horrible date and decide just to be friends. Over time they eventually fall in love. There’s a lovely moment when Katey’s daughter calls Annabeth “Mom” for the first time and she’s overwhelmed with emotion and says she loved her friend Katey and is going to make sure that their little girl grows up knowing about Katey. The movie was very bitter sweet because you’re sad about Katey but happy for Annabeth, the husband, and their children finding some happiness eventually. So I’m firmly convinced hot grieving Dad and Trixie will meet again. They had tons of chemistry and there’s story potential there.

I just started her biography. I was such a fan when I was a little girl. My favorites were “The Trouble with Angels”, “The Parent Trap”, and “Summer Magic”. I even watched the sequels to The Parent trap made in the 80s where adult Hayley Mills reprises her role as the twins and they each get a romance. I think there were two or three sequels. I remember one of the twins became the step mother of triplet teens.

I’m in the middle if Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell and I find I really connect to the lead character Cath. I’m not as introverted as her but I also find change and connecting with new people to be a challenge. In the novel Cath is starting college and has to adapt on her own because her twin sister is forging her own identity separate from Cath although they attend the same school. Cath is a fanfic writer with a following big enough that online she’s a mini celebrity but in real life but she struggles to make connections with people. Interestingly when I read Carry On by the same author I found out the character Simon Snow was first developed for Fangirl because Cath’s favorite fandom surrounds the character Simon. The snippets of Simon’s story included in Fangirl inspired Rowell to actually write novels about Simon Snow.

I like the Nanny Express but despise the bratty daughter in that movie.

I liked Vanessa Marcil in The Convenient Groom. I remember when she was on General Hospital when I still loved that show. She was once in this horrible movie I can’t remember the name of. Her husband was pressuring her to have a baby and she didn’t want to at that time. Then she runs into her old boyfriend and has an affair. Then she gets pregnant because her husband tampered with her birth control to force her to have baby but she’s uncertain who the father is because of the cheating. It turns out the ex-boyfriend was sterile. She decides to go through the pregnancy and work things out with her jerk husband. I don’t condone her cheating because she just should have left her husband since she was unhappy but tampering with her birth control was unforgivable. I am horrified they thought staying with her husband who violated her that way was somehow a happy ending. The Magic of Ordinary Days is the only time I’ve like Skeet Ulrich. In other roles he always has a creep vibe but in TMOOD I completely root for him as a romantic lead. I remember when Hallmark Hall Of Fame were the best tv movies of the year. I would look forward to them. There was variety in storylines. It might be romance, drama, memoir, etc…. The best Hall of Fame movies were when it aired on network tv. The quality dropped once it moved to Hallmark Channel. Now they just are generic movies similar to what they air every weekend just with a better budget.

I’m in the middle of reading The Awakening by Nora Roberts which is the first in the Dragon Heart Legacy fantasy series. Breen discovers a secret her mother kept from her which leads her to an unknown heritage in Ireland and beyond. I like the way the character is growing more independent and strong as she asserts herself. I understand somewhat why the Mom did what she did but there were things the Mom said and did that came off as emotionally abusive. She had Breen so beaten down. I am curious what will happen next now that Breen knows her true family history.

Mickey’s story really showcases that talent alone isn’t enough for success. He took the pill and wrote a fantastic script. Still, he doesn’t have the access and resources to get his work out there on his own. Because of class, he’s still treated as an expendable flunky even though he took the genius pills. It reflects in society how some talented people are blocked from success because they are disadvantaged in other ways. Money and/or who you know can trump talent.

I’m reading the romance The Princess Trap by Talia Hibbert. Cherry is shocked when the paparazzi interrupted her passionate kiss with a man who turns out to be a prince. A fake engagement is decided to be the solution to the potential scandal. I really like Hibbert’s romances. This one is entertaining but I like her Ravenswood and Brown Sister’s books more.

I really liked the cast for Sweet Pecan Summer but found the movie overall boring. I don’t think the leads had much chemistry. Also just once when there’s a “sell the family business “ plot I want the sale to actually go through.

Can mentorship get confused with grooming? Can an adult and a minor be friends in a big sister/big brother way? I feel like it can be hard to see the difference between someone who’s grooming a minor and someone who is offering mentorship depending on the situation. I could see a minor getting tricked by a predator under the guise of mentorship but could also see someone whose intentions are good get mistaken for grooming a minor. I say this as someone who side eyes the Sia and Maddie Zeigler friendship/business relationship.

Max and Kyle were fun. I was sad when the actor playing Kyle left but so glad he returned for the finale so he and Max could be together.

I’m Your Man

I’m reading the nonfiction book In Broad Daylight by Harry Maclean. A man named Ken McElroy terrorized the people of Missouri for decades. One day he is murdered there should have been several witnesses but the people of the town refuse to help find the killer. Based on what I read so far this is a situation where I can understand how people can turn to vigilante justice.

I found A Little Daytime Drama a little boring. I wished they had more fun with the soap opera genre. There could have been some humor to liven things up.

I’m on the fence on Loki/Sylvie. I think that romance needed a little more time to build. I can understand how viewers could view it as incest. I don’t necessarily hate it but I’m not particularly into it either. I am invested in Sylvie on her own and find her back story compelling. So I am looking forward to more which surprises me because I wasn’t super into Loki as a character before the series. Now I am excited for more and seeing how these characters respond to the events of the finale.

On the shows Boys Meets World (Corey/Shawn) and Scrubs (JD and Turk) there were running jokes about the male best friends being so close there practically a couple. JD and Turk on Scrubs even had their own love duet called Guy Love. I never felt baited by that. Yes they would act like a couple but it was clear they weren’t really going to end up together. Nick and Schmitt on New Girl also had that best friends who act like a couple vibe but sometimes it was a Schmitt as overbearing Dad and Nick as child dynamic too. The Dad/Son thing lead to a hilarious rivalry between Nick and Schmitt’s daughter. Seeing a grown man argue with a preschooler because they want Daddy Schmitt’s attention lead to my favorite Nick line. Ruth is showing off a dress her dad bought her and Nick points out that her dad used to buy him clothes too. She asks him why and he says “Before you I was his baby girl” I felt the show acknowledged Nick/Schmitt’s dynamic really well in the episode where Schmitt spontaneously buys Nick a cookie and Nick is weirdly dismayed by it. Was that what Sherlock was trying to do but they botched it? The show runners were so contemptuous of shippers while also egging them on. I never understood what they were trying to do. Other shows played around with this type of dynamic so much better.

Sometimes there’ll be a fanbase for a ship that the show runners didn’t intend. On One Tree Hill there are people who shipped best friends Lucas/Haley. They were never romantic on the show. Haley marries his brother. Still the writers would occasionally acknowledge the Lucas/Haley ship. When Lucas’s book turns into a movie he mentions the producers wanted him to change it so the character based on him ends up with the one based on Haley. Luke jokingly proposes to Haley when showing her the engagement ring he picked out for his fiancee. I love that the scene ends with her teasing him by taking the ring telling him he’ll have to get another one for his girlfriend. So the writer’s acknowledge the fanbase for Lucas/Haley exists, but never gives fans false hope it will happen. That show wasn’t perfect and I quit watching before it ended but it at least did okay by letting Lucas/Haley be best friends.

Regarding Carry On, although the Harry Potter similarities are there it is an interesting world on it’s own. I really like getting to know these characters. The book’s romance is compelling because There’s a twist where

If you tease people they are going to get annoyed when there’s no pay off. Yet show runners never seem to get that. I hate when writers bait a ship and then act shocked that people are shipping that pairing. I’m still pissed at The Magicians for building a whole storyline on Q and Elliot’s feelings for each other. The entire season Q was desperate to save Elliot from the monster possessing Elliot. There was this unique love triangle where the monster seems to want Q but Q wants Elliot. They had a whole episode devoted to revealing that Q wanted a relationship with Elliot. Elliot regretted turning him down and was clearly resolved to go after Q once they were reunited. But the season ends with It made me feel toyed with and I dropped the show. I can accept when my ship doesn’t work out as I hoped but won’t tolerate writers purposely baiting something they know is never going to happen. The writing was going in one direction and then abruptly shifted confusingly leaving things unresolved. There wasn’t a good build up to justify how things turned out. If they wanted that conclusion they really need to write it in a way that made sense.

I find I am biased in favor of Ryan Paveey because I like to look at him. He started out stiff, but I think he’s improved. He also has chemistry with most of his co-stars. The funny thing is with Christopher Russell is when he’s a supporting character I like him but I never like him as the lead. I never see chemistry between him and his co-stars. Meanwhile I think Brandon Penny can act well but I never see sparks with him and his love interests so he’s an actor I don’t enjoy. I think I can forgive weak acting skills if I think there’s good chemistry between the leads. The ones for me that are whole package of good acting and chemistry are Andrew Walker, Paul Campbell, Luke Macfarlane, Chad Michael Murray(which is a surprise because I went through a phase of being bored of him).