Sarah 103

Todd and Lyle in an epic prank war sounds beyond fantastic, because they have such different styles. My prediction is that Lyle is going to go for psychological/mind games/head games while Todd goes for destruction, inconvenience and pure annoyance.

I would absolutely watch a show about Drs Sturgis, Linkletter and the Dean. She's the reasonably sane person at the center and the rest of the core cast are some of the faculty, admins, and the recurring characters would be other staff, like coaches, the board, and VIP donors.

They are going with the current format through the election, which I'm okay with. My guess based on pure speculation is that they announce a new host sometime between November and December and the new full time host will take over after the winter break. My question is what the plan is/how will they handle the conventions during the summer?

That was funny and pure Missy. However, the sweet honest conversation beforehand was also pure Missy. She was genuinely trying to help her brother make a huge important decision. They might not like each other, they may not get along with each other, they may not understand each other, but deep down they do love each other and want what's best for each other. George sees the big picture and has always been concerned about Sheldon's future in his own way. He wants Sheldon to be able to live and function in the world. It was wonderful that the series found a way to let George's skills/experience be incredibly useful to Sheldon. I love that George was almost immediately able to see that it's the process of recruiting a star and knew exactly what to do and how to handle it.

A pulled tooth/dental surgery worked for me from a comedic standpoint and plausible within the world of TVLand. Also, it needed to be unplanned and an emergency so something dental makes more sense than other procedures. It reminded me of Allison Janney/CJ Craig in "Celestial Navigation" from The West Wing where she has an emergency root canal and she's trying to talk with cotton balls stuffed in her mouth. It's fantastic and comedy gold.

I can relate. I grew up in the northeast and I was sure I wanted to go to college in a place with a long cold hard winter. During winter of my freshman year of high school, we had a debate tournament in MA. After one weekend, I completely changed my mind about what I wanted. I can only imagine how much of a shock it must have been for Sheldon who never experienced anything like that before.

I loved the 5 minute bedroom farce and how everything worked out well for pretty much everyone involved in the farce. Allison is slowly figuring herself out and I feel like is getting towards the point where she will sort out her personal life. It makes me sad the show is canceled and we probably won't see it happen, because that would have been a great arc for season 3. I have an idea what the cliffhanger is and if I'm right, I hate it. Veronica was the worst part of the series and I was really hoping we were done with her and they dropped the plot line, but it does not seem like that will be the case. I loved loopy from dental surgery Lyle and Todd's Scottish accent. I am going to miss this series so much.

Normally, I think the scripted pre-filmed SNL like bits are stupid and a waste of time, but I loved Rant-A-Car. I actually rewatched some parts to pause it and read it the text.

My understanding is that they planned to have her on the series long term and have another happily married couple in the series. The actress decided to leave. At any point after she left, it would have been easy to kill her off screen. Some type of car/bus accident, which would not be a repeat of what we saw before with Barbara. It would make more sense for Cyril and after a suitable period of mourning would allow him to date again.

Because then lower ratings would be more acceptable and CBS would be more willing or likely to renew it? I remember hearing from a director/executive producer of another series that it sometimes takes 6 episodes for a series to figure itself out and see what works and what doesn't. Maybe that's what you were seeing/picking up on.

They didn't have to, they made a series of choices. What happened was not inevitable. They decided to cast big name stars for the leads and rewrite the show around them as well as giving in to the demands of their stars. John Travolta asked to sing "Greased Lighting'" even though the song was supposed to go to Jeff Conaway. As for the new songs, I despise "Grease." It sounds more like "Jive Talkin'" than anything from the 1950s. I do like "Hopeless Devoted to You." It sounds like something Patsy Cline might have recorded.

I have serious thoughts on this topic. Guys and Dolls and West Side Story are among the best adaptations from stage to screen, because for the most part they did not make necessary/unneeded additions. I do think it's a shame that the movie version of Guys and Dolls cut "Bushel and a Peck" as well as "My Time of Day." Changing the placement of "Cool" and "Gee Officer Krupke" in West Side Story does not bother me. The songs take on different meanings when they are in act 1 or act 2, but they still work. "I Feel Pretty" needs to be in Act 2 after the rumble. It has a greater emotional impact when you see Maria full of joy and in love, and know the tragedy that has just occurred but she is completely unaware of. You do need an emotional check in with the Jets after the rumble which can be "Cool" or "Gee Officer Krupke." This is one of the faults I have with the most recent movie version; that and severely underdeveloping/getting rid of Anybody's character arc. It only takes 30 seconds in act 1 to clearly set up how desperately she/he wants to be a Jet, and that's needed because someone calling her/him "buddy-boy" in act 2 doesn't land the same way without her/him begging them to be a Jet in act 1. (I have no idea how to handle pronouns for this character when writing about the stage version or the first movie version and the 21st century movie version. ) Bye, Bye, Birdie is fantastic on stage and the movie is a mess, especially towards the end. It's a bit of a slog towards the end. The story did not need the added complication of Conrad Bridie's song being almost cut for time and needing to engage in sitcom nonsense to speed up the other acts in order to ensure time for it. I have a whole mini-rant on Grease. Grease on stage is not supposed to be the Danny and Sandy show. It's an ensemble with each character getting their little moment. "Those Magic Changes" is supposed a tribute to The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and all the old rock and roll movies from the 1950s were characters would sing for the sake of having a rock and roll song in the movie. The movie reduces it to background music at the Frosty Palace. In the stage show, the Danny Sandy story is there to provide a framework and the illusion of narrative momentum or a through-line. A common problem in movie musicals is they focus too much on the central love story and cut the other subplots. The only time this actually worked well was Cabaret. What happened when they did that, was that almost all of the musical numbers occur in the Kit Kat Club, which further separates/distinguishes the world inside the Kit Kat Club from the world outside the Kit Kat Club. The only song in the movie that takes place outside the club is "Tomorrow Belongs to Me." The number in the movie is brilliant on so many levels and is actually an improvement on the stage show. In the movie, it is almost a sure thing that casting, hair, and make-up were given posters/Nazi propaganda of Hitler Youth and told "this is the look we are going for." The cinematographer was probably instructed to recreate some of the angles of the Hitler Youth propaganda posters, as well as few nods to Leni Riefenstahl in terms of camera movements. In a song that takes place continuously without being used to show the passage of days or months, the movie is able to show the Nazis coming to power, and also hints at how they did it. It's brilliant and terrifying.

That's a good point I hadn't thought of. The board probably approved his decisions and if they just rubber stamped everything without doing due diligence, that's on them and not Matthew's fault. I think the best term would be separated. They are still officially and legally married, but they have been living apart for months. He does want to move back. He left for a reason and has no desire to return. I completely agree with you on this point.

After getting involved in the church and working/volunteering at the soup kitchen, as well seeing how some people lived, he wanted to do something that would make more of a positive difference in the community. Due to TVLand logic, he was able to complete coursework, do something that I can't remember right now (hopefully someone else will be able to fill in the blank), and he was able to become a social worker. Same here. I am glad they provided more of an explanation of why he was acting the way he was. Not only did he believe in protecting Trixie (which is wrong for many reasons), but also he did not think he needed to tell her. He really believed that he was just one idea/decision away from improving the company's/his finances. I hope the mother recovers and is able to reunite with her boys. Mrs. Higgins surprised me. She seems such a stickler for rules and procedure I was stunned she was willing to follow Dr. Turner's orders to keep the mother hidden and not tell the police until she had recovered. I guess like Dr. Turner she puts the patient's health and wellbeing first. We are getting a season 14 and 15, so they will carry on no matter what happens to the physical Nonnatus House building. I'm confused and I don't think I'm the only one having trouble understanding what the spoiler policy for episode threads is. If a moderator could chime in/clarify the policy in the PSA that appears on each episode thread that would be helpful. I thought anything that aired in the episode and anything that aired in previous episodes was fair game. Anything that happens after the episode should be marked with spoiler tags.

I've felt this way since the early 2000s (anyone else remember when American Dreams was canceled and replaced with the Martha Stewart version of The Apprentice?) when I first learned about ratings and how they are used to make decisions about renewal and cancelation. Clearly CBS thinks they get better ratings and more money with a different show in this timeslot.