ML89

Canada to Stockholm: They are certifiable, frankly. That tiny studio where someone has to crawl over the other person to go to the bathroom at night versus either of the other two apartments? When they've never even lived together or even out of their homes? That third place was on budget. There's not a bus that goes by so he doesn't have to walk to school? What does she do all day? I don't give them six months. I don't understand why they married at all and that place was a recipe for disaster. He's Mister Impulsive and she's a wet blanket. He's also way way too much. I'm really beginning to feel such sympathy for these sales agents.

Bressanone: That poor agent can be the first guest on Richard and Adrian's spinoff. He looked shell shocked. Daughter TRYING ON THE COAT in the first apartment??? I swear, it's like she saw Legally Blonde and decided to be Reese's pal at the nail place as her real life goal. I hated, though, that she was right - the in town place was definitely the best. That first place - okay, as someone who lived in a place where you had to climb the stairs to the bathroom? This is NOT a choice you should make (I will never make it again).

Vienna - What in hell did hubbie do for a job in Vienna? I thought the wife saying she was going to poke him with needles was terrific. Tasmania - even though Charlie wore me out, I could see his point. He's the one cooking - and he's cooking for me? I'd be saying "what kind of kitchen do you want" and making sure he got it! That was a Tigger and Eyeore situation for sure.

Thank you, yes, I do mean Adrienne. ARGH! Why did I remember her as Arlene? Sigh.

Done, sign me up for that show...hey, it's like House Hunters Renovation, just another spinoff. House Hunters Aftermath

I almost put him in the original idea! Yes, definitely.

I like this idea. Richard and Arlene from France, maybe? They can roam around Europe and give house tours. Sort of David and Hillary without the house renovation drama.

Portland to Oxfordshire: that whole thing was weird. I do have to agree that the first house was a white box - wow, was that a white box and I usually don't have a problem with neutrals. I would have been in house 2, unless that was a bad neighborhood in Oxford, because you were in Oxford. For all her claims about not wanting suburbia and to be part of the English culture, she's home schooling and the kids are playing in the back yard? Also what is this Oxford Castle thing? I did a summer semester at Oxford in the late 80s and I don't remember this at all. Looks like some new tourist trap thing. But her grin was completely creepy and I got the feeling hubbie just went along - he seemed like he got dragged into the marriage, the kids, the job change - and seriously, it's Oxford, it's not Thailand. I'm sure the Washington girl would have been happy to trade with them.

I swear I've seen the mom in the Madrid one in something else, maybe another HH or something? She seemed so familiar. The whole storyline was sort of crazy - the daughter sleeps on the couch? The agent looked like he was completely lost, poor man. They needed Richard or Adrienne to talk some sense into them, or that new snarky guy in Ireland. Daughter did seem to go to school because that outfit she wore at the totally not staged "mom's home wave from the balcony" scene looked like a uniform. But the whole story didn't add up. Where was the school or work or anything? Why not get someplace further out on a metro line that was cheaper? The kid whining about the bachelor pad third place - I laugh at all these people yammering about how they want "X country charm" when everything I see of European decorating/houses looks exactly like the modern places - and is something that is highly sought after in the US decorating magazines I see. Also, how in the hell are they affording $1050 on a part time salary? I believe you're right otherwise I don't see how this works.

That was me too - I would have gone for the washer & dryer for sure. Plus, I lived in three stories and NEVER again - especially since the bathroom was on a different floor than the kitchen and living room. I thought it was an interesting house but I'd also be worried about that skylight leaking.

Dick: References a ballet "first performed in 1910" Terry: Were you there? Dick: Yes, I was in the front row. I'll be watching more gymnastics now (I'm sure Terry is happy he can stick with his polo shirts a la the first two days of golf coverage). The Wolf turn video is great. They look awkward - yes, it's like the Bielmann spin and all those spiral variations where someone caught their foot too.

So I hadn’t watched most of the men’s before for a long time - Tim is the coach of Oklahoma? Do they ever say that or is like Tracy Wilson on skating? Hearing Miculak hasn’t won an individual world or Olympic medal, I wonder if Terry was having Jeremy Abbot flashbacks. So enjoying hearing him on gymnastics.

Perfect, also true. My mom thought the same thing about Ricardo.

Swedish ep - I spent the second half telling poor Caitlyn to RUN. Get your own place. Ricardo looked like a creep to me, especially when Caitlyn asked what he was cooking and Hanna answered. That was either a really awful sitcom or a low budget horror film waiting to happen. Hanna was a really crappy friend to not only spring that on her, but say "oh, we'll move up in price" - I was waiting for Caitlyn to ask if Ricardo was kicking in some money.

That "buy the kitchen" was like the Japanese ep where they had to spend $20k for the furniture in the "huh" department. I could not figure out where that came from as a custom, although it does explain why you can buy an entire kitchen at IKEA. I really liked the place they picked too although....did all that glass have some curtains or blinds? I know they had a fence but that bothered me (that and how hot did it get there because that's a lot of glass!) Yeah, an aesthetician - that's not a transferrable job? Also I laughed at the ending, since I was expecting her to be pregnant: "We're going to travel some and enjoy beer and wine..."

Nicaragua - okay, that was a big ol' mess. How does the woman get to the airport if she's continuing as a flight attendant? Why would you suddenly decide to take over a bar in Nicaragua? Why is an Irish bar selling mojitos? How much longer does anyone give that couple? I haven't seen the Paris photography studio one yet, but could the woman be a student of the couple running the "learn nude photography in the French countryside" b n b?

Les Miz! Yes! I thought we’d be hip deep in, say, Katy Perry’s Firework, or some other song (okay Candy Man & Despacito are exceptions) but instead, out come the warhorses again.

Ban Carmen, POTO, anything Rachmaninoff, Tango De Roxanne and Your Song (Vincent Zhou and the Australian lady at least skated new cuts so they get a pass), half a dozen others I'm blanking on but I read in people's lists of new programs and I just sighed. I'm so tired of all of them. Hell a season long rest would be enough. I loved Toth to AC/DC, there's a novice I just saw skating to "Look What You Made Me Do," Adam to his club song - anything new, please?

Candeloro has presence and charisma, which you can't teach, and thrived on performing. That sword step sequence is so good - I miss those big highlight sequences where they weren't trying to rack up every point and the skate could just breathe. I wasn't the biggest Yagudin fan but his step sequences were terrific. Now most seem to skate within themselves and try to rack up all the points. It gets really dreary after awhile.

Brooklyn to Ambergris - that one apartment with the master bathroom folded into the master closet was nuts, honestly. The one they got wasn't bad but how in the hell were they supporting themselves? That was one of the less ringing endorsement endings. But I'm so glad they picked the first one - the others were awful Portugal Bidet Guy - I don't know why in hell she even married him, let alone had six kids with him. What an absolute tool. YES! Thank you! I mean, when I had my house shown, I was worried about the weird House Hunters "let's jump on the bed" folks and my mom had someone use the bathroom in her house being shown and leave it dirty. But a dog wandering around my house and onto my furniture? Oh, hell, no. I thought it was the homeowners bringing it, not the showing agent before the episode started. Yes, I'm moving out but I have to live there until I do and my stuff is there. I don't have a dog and I don't want one wandering through my house.

Cruise ship to Merida: I got tickled at the tiny cruise ship in the ocean as their "start" location - whoever does the graphics for HHI is terrific. But yeah, I'd've remained a nomad with those choices. London to Paris - as ugly American as it might have been, I was with the guy on the bathrooms. I didn't really like the whole set of them but I was with him on that front. That was the best they could do for that much money? See also Perth below. Ossinging to Surrey - that house with the ferry was crazy. I'd be worried that my laundry would fall into my cooking. Irvine to Perth - I cannot believe the amount of money that place cost, when it really wasn't much of anything. I did like it best of the three. Agree on the who knew, I had no idea. They were a fun couple with that line about being fixed up because they were the only gay men all the friends knew.

You are. I remember wondering why they didn't, then Clinton rushed through it maybe the third day they were back? It really seemed way odd. I can't imagine Daphne had that much of a following, I think it was more they wanted a space for more GMA so that was the one - the ratings were declining and while it's cheap to produce, it's through the Entertainment side, not the News side, so maybe there's some financial reasons as well. I will miss it - and the people attacking it as not serious - that was the good thing! I learned more from The Chew than anything I've watched on Food Network, just them cooking together and telling you things as an aside was terrific. It was just fun, which there is precious little of left.

Yep, I was thinking that won’t last long. However, I think it’s Mario who will get fed up since he talked about them being inside a lot because of where they were living. I wouldn’t want to be stuck in my old hood either. I just saw this one - this is the first one I can remember where the couple isn't enthusiastic about the place at all. I agree that I think they've broken up by now (really, teaching assistant pays well enough for a city center apartment?) Also it was one of those eps where I didn't like any of the places - and the whole "my family will come visit" gets really old too.

I think so. I remember there was at least one article talking about how she and Carla sort of banded together and said "we need training like the guys" because they'd all done TV and she and Carla hadn't. I also remember her going to some sort of culinary boot camp between one and two because she got way better with a knife, etc, and was really a helper on the Five in Fives. I felt the same as I feel the same. As sad as it was to see the show end, and I know the Mario thing was like a herd of elephants in the room, they could have mentioned Daphne at least, or shown some clips - I would have loved to have seen one of the Clinton etiquette segments - there's one with Carla as a rogue dog owner and Michael dressed up as a dog that made me laugh so hard... I agree that something went on, because of the just cavalier way Clinton said "oh, Daphne chose to not come back" on one show (although I'd love to know why he and Stacey London just froze each other out too). I think they were blindsided at the abrupt cancellation but something about this season has been off to me - it just felt like they were dragging themselves along. On the other hand, it was nice to see a show where everyone seemed for the most part to get along, where even if I didn't stay for the rest of the show, I always checked in at the beginning to see what they were up to. I agree with Michael and Clinton that I didn't think the show would last past the first few weeks either - they were rushing through five recipes in a day, it was disjointed - it really started to settle down in the back half of season one and they all found a groove together. I'll definitely miss them - I didn't do the recipes but the bits about cooking - adding butter to cooking steak, letting the proteins tell you went to flip them, improving here and there - it's more learning how to cook than actually learning how to cook, if that makes sense. I did laugh hysterically at that recipe from the last week where Carla is basically saying "use another oil, don't put on the hot sauce" because it was hilarious.

The Cambodia one was really odd - they've never left Montana but they suddenly go to Cambodia? Folks, why not, y'know, England first? Hell, Los Angeles. The culture shock must be unreal. Plus that line about the bars and the agent saying something was either 5 minutes away or an hour - the whole thing was crazy. And yes, him wanting a gym but not five flights of stairs? I don't know, I'm betting they're already back in the States. I want to know how they get these jobs! How everyone just packs up and moves without work to another country - what about visas to work?