MerBearStare

I started watching Top Chef during season 2, so I didn't see season 1 until after season 2 ended. Compared to the assholes in season 2, Tiffani never came off that bad to me. I mean, she wasn't great but nothing compared to Cliff, Betty, Frank, Ilan, Elia, and Sam. Season 2 was like watching the Stanford Prison Experiment play out on a reality tv competition. All those people really brought out the worst in each other when it came to Marcel. He was annoying but my God, nobody deserves to be treated the way he was. I wish Tom had gotten his way and was able to disqualify Cliff, Ilan, Elia, and Sam.

Seriously? To be continued? They couldn't have just had a two hour episode instead of showing the same episode twice? Dumb.

This might make me sound awful, but I really enjoyed seeing Debra get turned away from brunch. What did she think was going to happen when she chose her abusive scumbag lying addict husband over her kids? Has she met Ronnie?

I didn't watch the All-Star season, but Richard Blais annoys the shit out of me because of the way he talks about Season 4. He presents it as Stephanie only won because he choked during the last challenge, which is not true. He and Stephanie were basically tied the entire time; in fact she had one more elimination challenge win than him. His win was never a foregone conclusion and he needs to stop acting like it was. I'm just glad Stephanie continues to build her Chicago empire. The cheftestant that was spazzing out over Blais really needed to calm the hell down. "I have Richard Blais' fork!" Show some dignity, dude. I love that Nini continues to kick ass. I thought it was odd the way everyone reacted when she said that if anyone touched her bowl (or whatever it was) in the freezer she would kill them. 1.) it's obviously a joke and 2.) I know how people talk in professional kitchens, so why'd they get all pearl-clutchy over that?

- $3,000 for a fish? I could get a fish for a five cent worm. - You're paying way too much for worms. Who's your worm guy?

Jesus, with a mom like that no wonder Debra is such a mess when it comes to men. What kind of messed up internalized misogyny must you possess to think that that guy just loves too much? It's one thing to forgive the person who murders your daughter - which no one is obligated to do - but it's a whole other crap ass thing to testify on that person's behalf. How do you even have a relationship with your mom/grandma after that? Compared to that Debra isn't half bad. But that's a verrrrrrrrrry low bar. She and her sister deserved better from their mom and Debra's daughters deserve better from her.

Ooooooh girl, yes! Debra leaves the hospital and packs up literally everything at the house with the help of Ronnie and they drive away in a moving truck.

With Noah's dark hair, the dark turtleneck, and the dark background, Noah looks like he's just a face and a pair of hands in that photo. LOL at "Deen Cayne." I think the other kids at West Bev knew that Donna was a virgin because of the Rosie O'Donnell AIDS special where Donna said she was the other number.

Not much to say since this was such a boring episode, but it was quite jarring to 1.) hear someone call someone else retarded (in a matter of fact way and not to use it as an insult) and 2.) not immediately have the person he said it to call out the person for using that word. And Brandon loves a good bray, so I was very surprised that the second part didn't happen. I know this episode was 20 years ago, but I feel like that word was on it's way out even back them.

I binged the second season this weekend and I didn't like it as much as the first season. I only cried during two of this season's episodes (Tammye and Skyler), whereas last season I cried at all but two episodes. I think maybe because they did more episodes with younger people and I just don't find the younger nominees as compelling. It was still enjoyable but it wasn't as emotionally resonant as season one.

A boutique named Now Wear This, a name that's maybe (MAYBE) ok written out but is so dumb when spoken. It was also staffed by the girl from Charles in Charge who isn't Nicole Eggert. Kelly also goes from working at the Clinic Clinic to Now Wear This, then her own PR firm (she believes in every one of her clients), and is then a guidance counselor in the reboot.

I think it is. And if I recall correctly, Jessica Alba decides she wants her baby back and tells Kelly that it's because she doesn't want a gay couple raising the baby and that's when Kelly realizes the error of her ways. If I only I used this brain space to remember useful things...

Not only that, they're also getting started on Donna's own opioid addiction storyline. I would say 90210 is prescient, but like you said, it's more like the more things changes... On a lighter note, who says the Cirque du Soleil isn't good for a date?

OMG, this was amazing! "Walker told me I have AIDS," was, IMO, the best, followed closely by, "George Bush doesn't care about black people."

Even though I've watched every episode, I didn't realize until this one that Ronnie was played by Max Greenfield (Schmidt from New Girl). He did a great job transforming himself into the character. I think it was probably for the best that Andrew killed himself. The trial would have inevitably become the Andrew Cunanan Show and he could have especially disparaged David, Jeff, and Lee during the trial. YMMV, of course. I understand why some think season one was better, but personally I thought this season was better because they had way less material to work with than they did with the OJ trial. We already knew everything about that trial from start to finish, but aside from Gianni Versace and the manhunt after that, I think most people, myself included, didn't know much about the other victims and the timeline of the murders. Between this series and the Waco mini-series, I've had my fill of seeing government officials royally fuck up on the job. Hopefully they've learned in the 20-odd years since both of these events. If Ryan Murphy is still at this in 20 years, it'll be interesting to see what stories he creates from things going on right now.

I was just talking to my mom on the phone and she was telling me about how she and my aunt went to a Boy Scouts pancake breakfast this morning and she was like, "I looked up and there was Graham Elliot. I recognized his white glasses." Apparently his kids go to the school the Boy Scout troop is associated with. Then my aunt told her the story about how Graham almost ran over her foot outside of Starbucks and he parked right in front of her when she was trying to cross the street, so now she's got personal beef with Graham Elliot.

Not quite a soundtrack, but I'm following an ACS playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/1276752895/playlist/5cbctTm9BJHXqsFh3FuiiI?si=c5szDVMrTkmXJrhQ3fxJGw

I thought of this scene when I was listening to the podcast. Doesn't she smash it with a wooden spoon too? So is the writer who came up with the name Emma Bennett a big Jane Austen fan or is it just a coincidence?

I was watching the Barefoot Contessa a couple weeks ago and she invited one of her older gay friends (I know, which one?) over for hot chocolate and he held his mug like Brandon (and now David)! I can't believe Ina would be friends with someone so gauche.

That's one of the few OG episodes I remember, along with the Greek guy who protected his mom from a mugger and ended up getting stabbed, which I think was also in the first season. While these new episodes have made me cry way more than the original ones, the one that has made me cry the most was the OG episode that had a soldier as the episode's straight guy and he and his fiancee (who also had a newborn IIRC) were planning a wedding super quickly - like in one week - because he was getting shipped off to Iraq. The original show seems very much of the Bush era and this reboot feels very much of the Trump era.

I watched the first three episodes, but stopped because I want to save some of them for after work during the week. I turned it on out of curiosity but within 5 minutes it made me as happy as the original did. I also thought Tom was adorable and felt bad that he kept calling himself ugly. He looked great after his makeover and his blue eyes really did pop. I hope he and his lady friend/ex-wife make it work. I didn't think Neal's episode was as touching as the other two episodes I watched today. They did a great job on his makeover and apartment, though. The third episode - that one was pretty intense. I definitely thought pulling them over at the beginning was set up by the show but apparently not. It honestly kind of pisses me off that a Trump supporter would come on this show. Like you want gay people to help improve your life, but you don't support giving them basic civil rights? Not having read anything about this reboot, I do wonder if they decided to film in Georgia because they would most likely interact with more conservative people than they would in the New York City-area and maybe be able to change hearts and minds.

Christ almighty, the ATF, what a fucking shitshow they caused. David Koresh was a scumbag who raped young girls, don't get me wrong, but nobody deserves what happened at Waco, especially not the poor lost souls who followed him. On a lighter note, I think Taylor Kitsch, Michael Shannon, and John Leguizamo are all doing a wonderful job, especially Kitsch, who has the toughest character of all to play.

I agree that this was the most upsetting episode so far. I really hope family and friends of the victims are not watching. I doubt they would, though. I've found the murders of David and the pick-up truck owner to be the saddest - knowing that you're going to die and there's nothing you can do about it. To me that's harder to watch than someone not knowing they're about to die, like Lee and Gianni. And showing David, after he was shot, as a little kid running through a field and then running his hand through the grass right before he was shot a second time - goddamn, well done, show. Even though Gianni's murder is the most well-known one, I think the rest of them have been far more interesting to watch. On a lighter note, I definitely thought his dog's name was Prince because it was Minnesota. I too was concerned he was going to shoot the dog and was relieved when that didn't happen.

I'm not a big Bruce fan, but that's a pretty harsh and untrue statement. Have all parents and spouses who have appeared on this show "abandoned" their families? Come on.

Although I was only in 4th or 5th grade when Waco happened, I remember it fairly clearly as well because my family lived in Texas at the time, about an hour or two north of Waco. My parents watched the local news every evening and of course it was a story every night for about two months. Every time they hung a banner, every time some children were released, all over the news. Being only like 10-years-old at the time I thought the fire was the fault of the Branch Davidians - they were bad people which is why the cops were after them, so of course it was their fault. As an adult now, though, it's much more complicated than that. They bear some responsibility, I would say; there were legit reasons the ATF and FBI wanted to investigate them, but the onus on how it ended - and God, all those deaths - is mostly on the federal authorities. Like you I'm not a against the federal government, but my God, the incompetence they displayed at both Ruby Ridge and Waco is staggering. I don't know what happened to the FBI and ATF agents at Waco after it ended (I've got some googling to do), but I hope a lot of people were held accountable in some way.