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GOD that first shot of David just says "aggressive farter" to me.

So -- before 90210, Daniel Cosgrove was on All My Children, which I watched at the time (he was like a third replacement Scott Chandler, for anybody who knows those characters.) ANYWAY... just before he started on that soap, somehow I was at a New Year's Eve party where he walked in, tux etc. You know how we just get used to TV shows being full of beautiful genetically gifted people -- well seeing this guy in real life (before I had ever seen him on TV) -- he was stunning. Like he was carrying his own followspot around somehow. Then a month later I saw him on AMC and was like "THAT WAS THAT GUY." AMC might have been his first major gig -- apparently he was working as a bailiff in upstate New York or something like that. He was okayish on the soap -- you can get by being a "personality" -- he wasn't great, but wasn't terrible. But obviously he's not able to rise above the dreck the 90210 writers room was churning out.

The gun place apparently is still in operation -- it's in Culver City.

I had to look up when telegrams stopped... apparently discontinued in the US in 2006 and in the Entire World in 2013 (India being the last holdout.) But... seriously... the 90s... no. I could mayyyybe have believed it if Dylan was supposed to be in some remote country doing his Wandering Poet thing... but just as a lame soap opera device, it makes me think the writers room was full of 60ish year old guys chomping on their cigars going, "Ya, see, they send a TELEGRAM, see, yaa, like the kids are doing today..." Funny to remember when you could still go to the gate to meet people. Also: even worse than Geneva font... that looks like Chicago font, the old Macintosh system font AKA the refuge of the Laziest Prop Person In Town. Brandon continues to be Da Woist.

Boob cavern... or portal?

One thing I liked about my 2 years in London was discovering all their biscuits. Jaffa cakes aren't really like anything we have in the US, at least as far as my cookie knowledge goes. (I see somebody described them upthread when this aired in the UK.) They remind me a little bit of Berger Cookies, made in Baltimore -- basically a soft cookie that is a delivery system for fudgey frosting. I don't think I learned the strict definition of biscuit. But I did learn that the British are quite set on tea breaks -- at my job, when we moved into a new space, the very first thing that my colleagues did was set up a tea table with kettle / packets of biscuits / etc. Tea time is not to be messed with.

Kelly in an unused take.

I think 96/97 was right about the time when they hit on the "triple cocktail" approach, which was the first real step towards making it a chronic condition vs an automatic death sentence. This doesn't excuse Kelly & the writers' combination show-amnesia and jaw-dropping insensitivity. But -- I can see the blood-on-the-hands freakout from your average person -- BUT SOMEONE WHO IS WORKING IN AN AIDS HOSPICE WHAAAT. Like Sarah pointed out -- she would have had training in cleanup procedures. Oh but no of course she wouldn't, she's Saint Kelly. If that guy is (or thinks he is) only a "matter of days" from death then... he is not going to have the energy to perform a fuuuuuucking magic show in public (that said, I think the actor was doing a good job with horrible material.) I wonder if thinking puce = green comes from puce/chartreuse...? That's what used to mess me up in remembering them correctly. The rest of them are a bunch of insufferable sourpusses -- Brandon, David, everybody. Blech!

I found a YouTube interview with Joe E Tata where the interviewer pronounces it to rhyme with "frittata" or "lotta" (but the interviewer sounded like kind of a dolt, so who knows ... but Joe E didn't correct him, so that's probably it.) I never really thought much of Steve at the time but he did have a nice body, a good smile and is one of the few who isn't taking themselves soooo seriously. Tiffani Thiessen is so beautiful -- but the tanner they're using is giving her some kind of greenish tone to her skin which is just made worse by the piss-tachio color. She's almost unrecognizable in a strange way. Kathleen Robertson, also gorgeous -- hair color suits her -- toned down from the crazy highlight/lowlight situation. As far as Priestley's hair in the credits, well...

The link to Visual Aids loops back to here (at least for me.) A hundred episodes to go ... man, do I feel for you both! (but still want to hear what you have to say -- it's so delicious.)

Brandon's hair.

Oh my GOD. It's the gym mat -- it's gone when he "lands."

There's something about Colin's face that is like smoothed-out putty or something... as if he were the same alien race as Odo from Deep Space Nine... like he devolves into goo and sleeps in a bucket. Kathleen Robertson, even in Sexxay Grimace Cosplay, is just gorgeous. And Val continues to be much better than the confusing mess of contradictory impulses the writers throw together for her. "IKEA rug of art". Exactly. The whole trans storyline is just ... bleeergh. I wish I could say we've come a long way in 20 years -- and I suppose we have in some aspects -- but it's so fascinating to see how things like this were mined for "laffs" then.

It's Valerie's world, we just live in it.

Dawn's disco: that's pretty much exactly how I dance.

Nightmare Suicide Hallway is my new Nordic Death Metal band. Until some of the members leave and we re-form into Nightmare Suicide Bathroom. Side project: Album of Electronica entitled "This Collection Of Bitchfaces" Side Side Project: Yacht Rock group, "Crew-dites"

Some old-timey things these made me think of: Donna doing the pageant wave looks like she's auditioning for the Young Carol Channing biopic. Tiffani-Amber Thiessen is just a stunning individual. In her "the wimple" shot she is giving serious "Barbara Parkins In Valley of the Dolls" vibes. Not sure why they constantly wash Kelly out with all the pale colors, but the Edie Sedgwick vibe kind of suits her. Speaking of suits -- men, just wear the tuxedo. Boinking it up with board shorts... we get it, you're too cool to wear a tux. Just wear it. No one is looking at you.

Showtime presents The Brady Bunch. Serial monogamist/"black widow" Carol Ann Tyler Martin (Naomi Watts) meets her match in Mike Brady, Florida land developer and real estate scam king (Luke Evans). They alternate between late night philosophical conversations while screwing, and War of the Roses-style attempts to off one another and collect on the multiple life insurance policies they've taken out on each other while on family vacations to theme parks, the Grand Canyon, etc. After Marcia, a quarterback on her high school's football team, is disfigured in an accident, Greg nurses her back to health (and then some) in a Flowers In The Attic homage. Jan is slipping into schizophrenia with three inner voices (Marcia, Marcia and Marcia). Cindy retreats from her mother's emotional abuse into childish lisping and confesses everything to Kitty Karryall. Peter's voice changes lead him to acknowledge his true gender identity as Petra, whose tastes in clothing run to noir femme fatale with the catchphrase "pork chops and applesauce." Bobby invents an imaginary cousin, Oliver, who tells him to do Very Bad Things... FX presents Love Lucy! Raúl Esparza plays struggling Cuban musician Ric Ricardo, who meets Lucy McGillicuddy (Judy Greer) at an open mic night. She agrees to enter into a green card marriage, and all is well until her bipolar disorder begins to make itself known. Refusing to seek treatment, her manic episodes interfere with Ric's plans to open a club -- where she imagines she can finally Be In The Show. HBO brings you Bewitched. A modern adaptation of Macbeth. Rachel Bloom plays Samantha Stevens, sorceress of the dark arts, who enslaves media strategist Darrin (Justin Bartha). Donna Lynne Champlin plays next door neighbor and conspiracy-theorist-blogger Gladys Kravitz of the Kravitz Report (at kravitz dot tumblr dot com) who sees satanic messages in media everywhere, and sees the Mark of the Beast on Samantha. Samantha manipulates events so that Darrin's self-involved boss Larry rises to become a reality star, with Darrin calling all the shots (under Samantha's control.) Louise Tate discovers Samantha's plan and tries to stop the madness, while Larry rises to the presidency. Of course, THIS COULD NEVER HAPPEN.

But LAW & ORDER: MAN-BABY HOT WIFE UNIT is my favorite...

Every time I think we've reached Peak Superhero Volume, something ELSE turns up. I mean, I like superheroes as much as the next person... I think. But I really don't know why they are barraging us with show after show after show after show. Aaaaaaahhhhh!

Yes, great Game Time -- a tough one (and funny!)

Down-Homeland. Claire Danes and Co start investigating neo-Nazi groups in the South. Hee-Haw-Who. A universe-traveling Time Lord picks up a couple of banjo-playin', tale-spinnin', knee-slappin' pals. Will and Graceland. For the NEXT mini-season run, Will gets drunk in Vegas, and gets married to an Elvis impersonator working the chapel. When Karen buys Graceland during a real-estate-retail-therapy binge, Will and husband move in -- as does a newly single Grace, who Karen hires to redecorate the place because it needs some "zing". Graceland becomes Grey Gardens, with Beverly Leslie living in the poolhouse.

This might just be me, but the link to the Visual Aids just comes back here (to the podcast audio post). If I'm wrong, just tell me to squash it. Which OH MY GOD WAS A REAL THING. Just like T-Bone said.

Okay a bit late to this but: Pandora Boxx should adopt none other than feisty nonagenarian Betty White -- who will just be in lady drag because why not. And her name will be Raisin D'ettra. You're welcome.