Percysowner

My impression was that the mentors can't do hands on work with the designs. They can help with developing the concept and say things like have you tried using "this" to make filigree. They can even demonstrate making something as long as what they made isn't used on the actual design. The problem with Ben was that his concept was too big and Ben pretty much couldn't be talked out of a concept at once he had made his mind up.

Well, for all the IPO has been the starting point for this show, I don't think it has any intention of talking about how companies actually work. That said, Lucious has a Board of Directors and Andre is the CFO. I THINK that Empire is a private company, which means that the Board and Lucious do own stock in Empire, but they do not trade it publicly i.e. it isn't being sold of the stock market. In this case there is a good chance that Andre, as CFO and a member of the Board DOES own stock in the privately held company Empire. It is possible that Jamal and Hakeem also have shares. Now that Andre, Vernon and Lucious are going public to raise money via the IPO, the current share holders needed to agree how to handle the share they currently own, how many shares to sell on the market and how the new public shares will be divided. Andre had to sign off on the deal, that was why Rhonda had his power of attorney. It sounded like Lucious said this is how we will arrange things and it was agreed by Lucious and the Board and Andre and Hakeem and Jamal that the sons would get a certain kind of share and a certain amount of each share. Lucious just thought he could change the arrangements, the kids would sign off on it and he'd get what he wanted. Andre might well have let it slip through the cracks since he hadn't fully recovered. But Rhonda was sharp enough to read before she signed. The fact that Rhonda HAD to sign for Andre says to me that at least for Andre, Lucious had made arrangement. Rhonda was actually being pretty decent because she honestly seemed appalled that he was cutting out Hakeem and Jamal as well as Andre. Note: I'm not a lawyer, but I know a little about corporations. Any real lawyers can correct me.

I don't think Beth is right and she is way over the top, but she is also pregnant and I remember how those hormones can work! She thought the whole thing would be over and she could have her baby in peace and put Danny's death behind her. Now, she has to live the whole nightmare again, she can't do anything to Joe and Ellie is there and an easy target. Plus, like I said, hormones. So although she is wrong, I'm hoping that eventually, after the baby is born and things wrap up, she becomes more rational about Ellie.

I don't see how Cookie could have known about Andre being bipolar, and even if she did, there was nothing she could do to "check up on him" since she was in jail. She gets out and Andre is successful, CEO of Empire, handling the finances, married and not reaching out to her. I can even cut Lucious some slack here if he knew. If he did know then what he saw was Andre, properly medicated, who was doing his job and not acting out in front of Lucious. Most of the scenes with Andre decompensating were with Rhonda, who was desperately trying to get him medicated properly. There was one scene with Vernon in the bathroom when Andre threatened him. In context, Andre was a man raised in a violent household where he learned to threaten and use violence to keep what was his. So Vernon had reason to think that Andre's behavior was within the norm. Lucious can be extremely self centered and is pretty committed to seeing his kids as extensions of himself. So if he knew Andre was mentally ill, he wouldn't want to admit that. Once Andre got medicated and stable Lucious could convince himself that whatever was going on with Andre was merely a few "episodes" and ignore the rest. Andre doesn't live with the family and he's been stable in front of them, so I don't blame anyone for not noticing if Andre was falling apart.

I spent the last half just hoping that Asher and Bonnie would be okay and that Bonnie hadn't killed Lila. I also want Nate to get off, since he IS innocent. I loved Michaela saying that she loved herself, so go Michaela! Poor, Oliver, I hope Connor stands by him, because I'm actually buying that pairing.

Just proof that Rachel really is a special snowflake who can handle things that no mere mortal can. I worked in a law library and we had part time student assistants. One of them moved up to full time after she graduated. Later she decided to go to law school. We were as flexible as we could be, because she had worked there for years and we really wanted her to succeed. The work wasn't stressful and there weren't deadlines to get a case to court and making an error wouldn't lose a case. After one semester she came to the boss and said she just couldn't work and do well in school. This wasn't an Ivy League School. It was a state college. I mean it wasn't a bad law school, it was pretty good, but it wasn't Columbia with a huge competitive student body either. But Rachel apparently doesn't need study or write papers and I guess she's gotten over her crippling test anxiety, so she just has to go to class and absorb information like a sponge and she will probably graduate first in her class because she is just that good.

Josh Kaufman just got cast as Pippen in the Broadway production by the same name. Is this the first contestant to get a big Broadway role? I've seen the play at community theater and I have tickets to the touring company production that hits my town in February. It's a great show with really good songs. Good for him. I know it's not the kind of success people think of coming from the show, but Clay Aiken did fine moving to Broadway.

Especially since we know Ve is working on a movie, so they would have to work around her schedule to find 3 days when she could participate. She can't manage to schedule one day a week, because she was so busy while the show was shooting.

IIR, his fathe Julio Inglesias expressed some resentment that Enrique had become a bigger star than his father. Julio has admitted that he has never met Enrique's girlfriend of 12 years and apparently doesn't want to meet her. Rumors are that Enrique has avoided family birthdays because his father will be there. Using his first name may be less because he thinks he is so famous and more because he wants to distance himself from his father. He did release his first few songs under a pseudonym so that he would rise or fall on his own talent, not his father's name.

Certainly when she was on American Idol there were times when it seemed like she was on something, so it's nothing new. I read somewhere today that Fox said they won't say until the end of the year whether or not SYTYCD is being picked up again. Kevin Riley has been replaced as head of the network and ratings weren't great, although they weren't horrendous either, so right now it's a crap shoot. The show really suffered from having the budget cut, the extra two weeks we lost would have helped me be able to tell the various interchangeable girls apart. Although this wasn't my favorite season, they did get a few new choreographers and if they come back I hope they bring other new faces in to choreograph. I really liked last year when former contestants were used. They did some really decent work, Mark especially. I noticed that SYTYCD Australia was canceled then brought back this year so even if Fox doesn't pick it up for next season it could still come back after a rest. I thought Zach should have finished second, but other than that, I was okay with the results. Rickey really is special and extremely talented. I liked watching Valerie dance, more than I liked Jessica, so I had no issue with Valerie beating her. She never hit bottom 2 and Zach did, so she connected with America, which is the point.

It was blink and you miss it, but they went to the house because Daniel's father's girlfriend said she saw a supposedly dead mobster at that house. His dad guilted Daniel about dismissing her because of her Alzheimer's. So Daniel and Kate went to check it out. But yeah, really poorly explained.

Considering Mike blackmailed Jessica by finding the document that proved she knew he wasn't a lawyer and continued to let him practice because she was fighting Hardman at the time, I have zero problem with Louis doing the same. Jessica managed to work with Mike even though he was blackmailing her, she needs to suck it up and do the same with Louis. No, he doesn't have a Bachelor's Degree. He was kicked out for due to a cheating scandal involving the daughter of a Vice Chancellor and Trevor dealing drugs before he got it.I didn't care enough to remember the details. The Vice Chancellor said something about the scandal keeping him from ever going to another college, but that seemed bogus at the time. It probably would keep him from becoming a lawyer, due to the being an upstanding citizen requirements, but a Bachelor's Degree shouldn't be an issue.

I had to check, Courtney Galliano was the fourth. I liked her and she was cute as a button with Gev, but of the final four she was the weakest dancer. But again Joshua, Twitch and Katee were all really good, so weakest is relative. Season four was my first full season and still is a stand out for me.

For me the difference is I actually CARE about Louis. Mike doesn't deserve to be there at all and everyone except Louis knows it and is keeping the secret. I don't care much for Rachel. I used to like Harvey and his moral ambiguity, but it has grown way too old for me. I like Donna, but I knew that Harvey and Mike and yes, even Louis had her back. For me, the big thing is that I don't feel like the characters with real power in the firm do have Louis' back. Jessica and Harvey have treated him with disrespect from day one. Jessica has proven she has no problem firing him and however bad Harvey may (or may not) feel, I don't think he cares much at all about Louis. The thing is Jessica is a piss poor manager, especially when it comes to Louis. Yes, Louis did things because he is overly emotional and wants respect and friendship, but Jessica continues to obviously favor Harvey and obviously devalue Louis. So Louis gets more and more insecure and makes huge mistakes. Now Louis' behavior IS on him, but as managing partner, she needs to handle her staff so that they work effectively, not stoke the fires of their resentment and insecurity. Jessica just lost a full partner who has lots of billable hours and who trained and mentored the associates. Whose going to do that now? Because Harvey not only doesn't want to, he would not be good at it. What happens to Louis' clients? We have been told Louis has a non-compete clause in his contract, but will his clients stay on with a firm that doesn't employ their choice of lawyer? Somewhere upthread someone said you don't have to like your employees equally. That is true, but if you want a good working environment, you don't show that you like certain employees more than others, at least not at work.

I do agree that in his style Evan was fantastic. The thing is they kept giving him ballroom. I checked his dances for that season. He did three Jazz, one Pop-Jazz and two Broadway. He also did 1 contemporary and one Hip Hop. He did five Ballroom routines including 2 Jives, a Samba, a Rhumba, a Quickstep, and a Viennese Waltz. That's one HELL of a lot of Ballroom dances for one contestant. To be fair, he did get a lot of his style, but WOW Jive and Quickstep are usually killer routines and he was not strong in Ballroom. I don't know if they really were luck of the draw, but only one contemporary and one Hip Hop?

I hope they resolve the Louis situation (in his favor) before the end of the season. He, Donna and Katrina are the only characters I really care about anymore. I'm following recaps and discussions but holding watching the actual episodes until I get a Louis resolution because, damn! I don't need to see Louis crushed while Harvey, Jessica and Mike continue to flaunt legal ethics and pay no real penalty. If Louis is happy and (more importantly) on the show, then I'm happy. If Louis is miserable and not part of Pearson/Spector, then I don't care about Pearson/Spector i.e. the focus of the show.

I do think that Valerie lasted this long because 1) People like Rickey and Rickey obviously liked Valerie as his partner. and 2) You knew who the hell she was when you went to vote. Now I threw most of my votes at various guys (bye Serge and Emilio). When I did like a girl's performance I often had to click on several brunettes or several blonds before I found the one I wanted to vote for. Honestly this week, When Jessica came out on stage and before her name flashed I was going blond, Carly, no I liked Carly and Carly went home it must be... and then Jessica's name came up. I could recognize both Valerie and Tanisha immediately Which brings me to Tanisha vs. Valerie. For me, Tanisha is this year's Jenna, in as much as I recognize that she is versatile and very talented and I just don't connect with her. Maybe it is looks, but Valerie isn't exactly beauty queen material either. For me, Valerie is this year's Evan, She isn't great technically, but I feel good and happy watching her dance. So, after throwing votes at Carly failed, I throw a vote or two to Valerie. It was pointed out to me that they did not cheapo out by bringing it down to one winner this season. Last year, the male and female winner got $100,000 each. This year the winner gets $250,000. Either they felt they would pull in more viewers with only one winner, or the Broadway show was willing to guarantee a spot for one person, but not two. I'm leaning toward the show hoping that having only one winner will ratchet up tension and make people watch, but I could be totally off base.

To be fair, the problem for Donna wasn't the document being fake or real. The problem was her hiding it. SHE didn't know it was fake, she thought it was real and she was willing to keep evidence out that should have been admitted. The fact that the document was fake, meant it was never considered, but hiding what was believed to be a real piece of evidence was the crime.

I'm just trying to figure with songs by Michael Jackson will fit with what style. The group routines won't be a problem, there are many that can be used for that. But I'm not good enough to see what works with ballroom. Maybe we will get a non-angsty contemporary to one of his songs?

Now I'm really looking forward to this.

I liked Mackenzie last year, but during the season I thought the judges saved her too many times. Then I went to see the tour. In person Mackenzie has a certain something that I never got from on screen. At times she was breath taking. I'm still not sure they should have kept saving her, but at least now I think they were doing it because of that certain something that didn't translate over TV.

My concern is that Harvey has always had barely veiled contempt for Louis. He has moments when he loosens up a bit, but this year he has acted with great hostility toward Louis. Jessica has always made it clear that she doesn't really value Louis. Even Mike has played I may be a liar who is illegally passing myself off as a lawyer, but Louis isn't nice enough so I can be rude and put him down as much as I want. So a part of me believes that now that Louis is in a lot of trouble, Harvey, Jessica and Mike will be more than happy to cut him loose. The only reason they MIGHT fight for him is to save the firm, but on a personal level I can see them all pretty much saying "Wow, you are a horrible person to do this unethical and illegal thing. Don't come to us for help,". At the very least, I expect Jess to use this to tell Louis that he will NEVER become a named partner at Pearson/Spector. I do think that Donna, Rachel and Katrina will rally around Louis, but they don't have a lot of real power in the firm. Donna and Rachel may bully Harvey, Jessica and Mike into helping Louis, but I'm really concerned that we will see the wanting to take the fall.

This is exactly how I feel. Jessica, Harvey, Mike and Rachel break the law and subvert legal ethics all in the name of protecting Mike or the firm and they just get away Scott Free. Louis is about to go down for one really stupid decision. If Harvey et. al don't rally around Louis and help get him out of this mess, I think I'm done.

I think the All Star staying with their contestant was scrapped for time. They had to fit Christina Peri in there. If the All Stars had been with their dancers, the judges would have wanted to compliment them and that would have eaten into the time for Christina's song. I could have lived without it, but they didn't ask me.

I voted for Marquette every week, because I did like him. I also see that he didn't stand out as being superb, so I'm not shocked that he went home. Now Stanley was totally hosed by the choreography on the telephone number. I felt for him. I will note that Evan stuck around far, far longer than the judges wanted him to. So I guess he's the exception that proves the rule if they want you gone, your gone.