profreader

That is AMAZING. I've been a pretty solid listener since the beginning, but every time I start thinking about a Gametime I am convinced that it has already been done. So many great ones. This list must have taken hours to put together - !

I miiiiight be searching the internet for appropriate photoshoppable images to make Padma's henchcat into a reality...

I'm forgetting now who made the comment "Trust your format" (regarding reality competition shows with too many twists) but that is *so* *true.* I once randomly had a brief conversation with a friend of a friend, a woman who had been a producer on Top Chef. She was on the Voltaggio Bros season (season 6?) and I said that I had loved that season because there were so few bullshit twists compared to the other seasons. It was excellent challenge design throughout (plus great contestants.) And she said that ultimately she was let go from the show because of her resistance to bullshit twists. Whoever TPTB were above her, they just wanted the short-term rush of cheap conflict generated by stupid twists. Which brings me to Runway. I LOVED this show from the beginning, so much— and a season or two ago, I just... forgot to keep watching. It's such weak tea now. I think one of the reasons they can't find any good contestants now is not only that they've drained the pool dry, as you all said, but also that designers with actual skill look at the way the show is set up now — all one-day challenges, not enough time to create a collection, etc — and they say, no thanks. The season you mentioned with Laura and Jeffrey was Season 3, when PR was arriving at its peak (I'd say Seasons 2-4 were the height of it.) Some really amazing work, from people with actual aesthetic points of view. As long as they keep trying to cheap-ass their way through it, they will never get results like that again. So I guess it goes right back to what everyone has said since Season 6 -- the switch of production companies and networks really killed the show and it has been slowly dying ever since. ALSO: I was obsessed with "Pyramid" when I was a kid (and still am) so I love whenever it turns up on EHG (was the last time on EHG Mark I?) The terrible post-"Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" reboot with Donny Osmond was a dud -- they tried to screw with elements of the game that weren't in need of fixing. Sometimes I'll go down a YouTube rabbit hole of watching Winner's Circle segments from Pyramid -- the classic one is Billy Crystal's 25-second record from 1977. It makes it look supremely easy. Watching the ones where they win in the nick of time can still get my pulse pounding -- like the GameTime today, which was awesome.

Mark Blankenship, you channeled my own inner rage against Downton Abbey with that Nonac. Is there NO ONE with the power to give Julian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford, ANY notes? ANY critical feedback? Something along the lines of, My Dear Lord Fellowes, mightst thou knock it the Fuck Off and get some other writers in here, pronto. I think back in an earlier EHG, either Mark I or current, Dave remarked about the plot loops of this show (and has since pointed it out in other shows): everything returns to status quo. Characters get one plot and must endlessly repeat it. Mary Is A Whore, Edith Is Denied Happiness And Is Hopeless, Mistah Baaaetes Suffers Nobly In Silence. GAAAHD. HOW many years have passed now? Are they all trapped under a dome in which time doesn't matter? I wish that some bright person would have suggested at the start that each season cover one year, starting in 1912. (An exception would be made to get WWI over and done with in one season, as they did -- just later, and make it have more consequences.) And lastly, I am not a crackpot, but I wish they would have bucked convention and just recast Dan Stevens when he left. Do the old soap-style "Unwrap the bandages and he's got a new face!" routine. He was fine but let's face it, not the best actor in the entire world. Get into the Mary-Matthew marriage a bit, and give some of the suitor plot lines to Edith, for pete's sake. But mostly, get some writers in there who know how to move things along. And PS glad the game went well. Smart to leave out the hints, your instinct was right. There are some stroooonnnng feelings on IMDb.

Ahhh Private Practice / ER is a great alternate solution for Margulies / Walsh -- it didn't even occur to me. (Game Time contributor here.) For a while they had "Bad Judge" ads all over the New York subways. They had "bad show" desperation vibes all over them...

Gametime contributor here – glad it turned out to be such a close game. I couldn't believe how many characters named Juliet are running around out there ...

Pedro Pascal did a fantastic AMA on Reddit this week ("Ask Me Anything" if you're not familiar with Reddit.) He's super charming, humble, and funny. DAMMIT. I thought, aha, the Mountain will be encumbered by heavy armor — the classic "brute strength outwitted by fast-moving intelligence." After he was down, I was muttering "Move away move away MOVE AWAY." For a moment I thought they'd let us have THIS ONE THING but noooo. I wasn't clear on whether the Mountain had received a fatal blow or not. I wanted to smack the smirk off of Cersei's face at the end. I want to say I'm sure Tyrion will find a way out but that would be sure to jinx it and take Tyrion to the land of "They won't kill Ned, he's the lead!"-ville. I really, really want Arya to finally encounter Sansa. This Arya-arrives-just-a-hair-too-late thing is driving me mad. I was happy to see Sansa finally learn how to play the game. That dress at the end -- she is going to be Littlefinger's match in skillful deception (I hope.) Ramsey Snow-now-Bolton -- I knew a guy who looked eerily like that actor. And he was just as bonkers as the character. I suppose we always need a psycho-loose-cannon to shake things up, but they are the type of character I like the least. Roose Bolton and Stannis Baratheon just come off to me as such humorless types — bitter, sour. When Daenerys asked, "Do they take both the pillar and the stones?" I had just been wondering the same thing. I bet Grey Worm still has his pillar. Also — I wondered about the wisdom of castrating those who are intended to be soldiers? I don't recall what we learn about the Unsullied — is it done at a late enough age that they develop muscular strength and all that? (I guess it must.) I suppose I don't know enough about what castration does — and um I think I'll stay that way. (RIP Theon's Favorite Toy.)

I wonder (just guessing here) if zombie-fication bestows some kind of rapid growth. I was a little relieved that it was just ("just") transformed into a walker - I was half expecting the baby to get eaten. Knowing this show, it's possible. Loved the Margaery / Tommen scene — I thought it was sweet. Something like a high school freshman getting some attention from that cute senior girl he has a crush on. She knew how far to take it — to go for physical interaction now would be too soon. I'm ready for the traitors at the Crasters to be done with. When we get into scenes of unrelenting misery (like Theon's unending torture), I get impatient. It doesn't need to be all strolling in a garden, but all sneering and cruelty makes it rough going. Brienne & Pod — I didn't see that coming, but how perfect. I hope we get to see a lot of their interaction.

schmoopy? Um....? I am hoping I used the quote function correctly — anyway, to explain what I meant (that's what I'm picking up with your question mark) is that I was glad to no longer see emo Jon Snow who was trailing around with Ygritte, and instead this Jon Snow who told the Night Watch guys what exactly was about to happen to them if they didn't get their asses in gear. I like an active confident Jon Snow better.

The actor who plays Oberyn — what an incredible face. It was like an illustration from a book. I loved that character and Indira Varma's character — I remembered her from Rome. I think they bring a great energy to the show and can't wait to see what unfolds with them. I thought they did about as good a job as anyone could with working in reminders to the dialogue — it will take me a bit to get all the names sorted in my brain again, but this always happens at the beginning of a season. Out with schmoopy Jon Snow, in with strong/confident Jon Snow — at last! Olenna and Brienne, fantastic. One thing I really appreciated about the final sequence in the tavern was how well they communicated what the atmosphere in that place must have been — claustrophobic, stuffy, sticky, probably smelling like a barn (or worse). I've seen who knows how many scenes set in medieval-ish inns of this sort, and for some reason this really stood out in a visceral way. Production design/lighting/cinematography, all really powerful. And of course the staging of the fight was so well done. The look on Arya's face at the end: man, I hope I get to see that when she mows her way through some Lannisters.

One thing I really appreciate is that the whole panel enjoys a good fart joke. "Squeaker of a game" = that's fantastic.

I'm still early in this series — have made it up through the Christmas special, about to dive into Series 2. I was rewatching some Series 1 eps with my sister (introducing her to the show) and I love Chummy more than ever. The breech birth — really just incredible. And the bit at the end "Jack became her loyal protector" — well, I just boohoo

Finally caught up with this one. I do like the batshit-crazy chaos of the show, but this was pushing it for me, only because things felt rushed. I feel like they wasted Patti LuPone - it seems like they went after her for a role, but once they got her, they didn't know what to do with her - just a few scenes and that's it. It also felt like the way that sequence was put together was choppy - similar to the Nan drowning - like I didn't know if it was "real" at first, because it was so choppily done. I don't know if that's because they are having to film so fast, or whether it's a bit of an homage to the choppy edits of bad horror movies (well, that's a stretch.) Even so - love Angela Bassett and Jessica Lange together. And I loved that they just let Stevie Nicks sit down and play a couple of songs...

This was a great topic. My picks: Two gay dads: Dr. Quest and Race Bannon (from "Jonny Quest") Because... that's what they were. Kids: Lisa Simpson. She would be a total Daddy's girl with Dr. Quest, helping him out in the lab and whatnot. Wakko from Animaniacs. He'd keep things lively, and could get Lisa to relax when she's too uptight, without Bart's more jerk-ish tendencies. Lilo of Lilo & Stitch (they had a TV series adapted from the movie.) She'd be the baby of the family, getting into scrapes, which would allow Lisa to be the competent big sister. Wakko & Lilo would be unstoppable.

I second Sarah's entry on this - I am always on the lookout for good Irish-y pub style restaurants. My other pick would have been Merlotte's from TRUE BLOOD because: deep fried everything. Apparently people only show up for work whenever they damn well please, but still: deep fried everything.

This was my extra credit - ! Really funny thoughts from the whole panel.

I'm still binge-watching my way through the series, but have been reading some recaps/spoilers about the current eps. I think what the show has proven is that it's hard to maintain a White House / presidential plot without it completely taking over the series - and I guess the unfolding B-whatever spy plot does the same. Difficult to go back to fixer-upper of the week.

I don't think they revealed specifically who did it, just that it was authorized by the Delphi Trust. Now, my question is: that was his father in the flashback, wasn't it? (We see the burn scar later.) Didn't his father have a southern accent in the flashback? Because he didn't seem to in the present day scene.

In a weird way I think I prefer it being a jumbled mess - it's never predictable and I can never tell where it's going (as opposed to, say, Season 6 of Dexter which was just an interminable slog to a "reveal" that everyone in the world, including Kathy Bates' severed head, could see coming.) I think there are stakes - someone can get their eyesight back - but that means someone else gets the melon baller... granted, Ryan Murphy seems less willing to kill off characters than he was in Season One. I'm curious where they'll go in the next season. Travis - I like that idea of centering each season around a place. I always was scratching my head this season wondering if they had classes or what exactly was going at this "school." It would have been nice with, say, seven young witches - let some of them be collateral damage. I just wanted Patti LuPone to sing a little bit of "Nothing's gonna harm you, no sir, not while I'm around..." with that pillow in hand...