Jazzhands

My god, his cheekbones look like they’re carved out of marble. He’s so gorgeous he’s almost painful to look at.

I agree — Darren Criss’s performance in those scenes reminds me a lot of Christian Bale in American Psycho. It’s like the character isn’t human but is wearing a human mask and acting like he thinks a human might act without having any true humanity underneath. I’ll be really interested to see what he does in the upcoming episodes.

That’s a tough thing with teams like this. I’m sure it was a dream for these women to become DCCs, but once the day-to-day reality sets in of very long hours and very low pay versus the demands of jobs, school, family, other opportunities, etc., many of them leave when they’re really at a point to become stars on the team. Maggie is a great example. We’ll see what happens with Stephanie. I think she’s a lot of fun to watch and I hope she comes back. Same with Robyn, Lacey, Cersten, and several others. But when they decide to end their days as DCCs, I wish them all well.

I know that Ryan Murphy is taking a lot of liberties with many of the actual details of these stories, but I think he’s doing a really good job with portraying the confusing feeling of the time. It may seem hard to believe now for viewers who weren’t born yet or were young at the time, but DADT (both the official military policy and Donatella’s “don’t tell” advice) was actually seen by many as progressive for that time. Prior to 1994, gays were either rejected as applicants for military service or were discharged if discovered while serving. DADT was a political compromise that allowed gays to join and/or continue to serve in the military as long as they kept their sexuality private (“don’t tell”), and it was seen even as a protection of gays in that superior officers could no longer try to out them from the closet and oust them from service (“don’t ask”). Of course, today it is viewed (correctly, IMO) through a completely different lens as discriminatory and oppressive, but at the time it was seen by many as very progressive, and Bill Clinton took a lot of heat from many military and right-wing leaders who believed that gays were morally corrupt risks to national security. Donatella’s attitude seemed, to me, also pretty accurate for the time. She loved her brother but had legitimate concerns over public reaction to his planned public coming out. After ABC aired Ellen’s coming out and a lesbian kiss on her sitcom in 1997, while there were many who hailed it as a breakthrough, there were other, equally loud and powerful voices calling for boycotts. The show lost major advertisers and the next season aired with parental-guidance warnings and then was canceled. Ricky Martin didn’t come out until 2010 because of concerns over his career and pressure from his record company. The world wasn’t necessarily a safe place for LGBTQ+ in the mid-nineties, not only in terms of careers, but also safety (e.g., the murder of Matthew Shepard in 1998).

I’m sure she could, but then she wouldn’t be invited back onto the Bachelor franchise shows, and then the money from sponsored Instagram posts would dry up.

The prune juice kicked in.

Was anyone else waiting for a used, wadded-up Kleenex to fall out of the sleeve of his grandpa cardigan?

If they are already on or planning to apply for public assistance, it’s unlikely that they identify the father on the birth certificate. The state can seek child support payments directly from the father if the mother seeks public assistance. I believe this is true in all states.

Agreed. The way to stop a crazy pedophile cult leader from raping and abusing young girls is not by opening fire on them and their families and burning them alive. Why not pick up Koresh on one of the numerous occasions that he’s outside the compound? Because that doesn’t make for exciting news footage? Horrific. I also agree with your assessment of the acting. I’m also really liking Rory Culkin in this. I hope this will be the break Taylor Kitsch has been waiting for since FNL. It just seems like he should be a bigger star than he is.

I’ve wondered about this myself. It seems like the show has alluded to the pedophilia/child abuse issues a couple of times in ways too cute by half (Koresh’s band playing “My Sharona” in the first gig; the threat in front of the undercover agent that the person who ate the ice cream was going to get a “licking”), and then put the blame not on Koresh but on Michelle’s older sister/Koresh’s first wife for selling out the 12-year-old Michelle to Koresh based on her own dream after Koresh’s supposed prophecy. I’m not sure what the goal is, but it makes me very uncomfortable.

My husband and I are the same age as Alyssa, and it makes him crazy when I watch this show. He says she was his first TV crush and he can’t understand why the stylists on this show seem to hate her so much and pick the frumpiest, least flattering outfits and hairstyles for her.

Is anybody else watching this show? I’m feeling about it much like I’m feeling about American Crime Story this season. I’ll be watching it and think it’s very well done overall, and I’m interested in the narrative storytelling and acting choices, but the entire time there’s a part of my brain asking whether it’s accurately representing what happened, and then an even bigger part that’s just disgusted with myself for watching an entertainment piece about the horrible and grisly deaths of actual people. I’m really torn with both of these shows.

I thought the actor playing David reminded me of Dax Shepherd and someone, but I wasn’t seeing Andrew McCarthy. It finally hit me today — William Moseley from the Chronicles of Narnia movies and The Royals, another of my trashy favorites.

I think they take hip hop classes because it’s a power style. A lot of the girls who are trying out have more training in ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary styles that tend to be more lyrical than powerful. With hip hop, they learn to be down in the plié, sharper with movements, but not jerky like competitive cheer style.

I did not recognize her at all — she looks 10 years younger in this photo, and very lovely.

Who is that?

Same here. When Andrew first started attacking Jeffrey (more Finn Wittrock, please!), I was practically yelling at the TV, “Grab something — the lamp, anything! Protect yourself and your dog! He’s going to turn on you next!” I didn’t recognize the actor who played David, but I thought he was excellent.

I didn’t think this show could get any more brutal than last week’s episode, and yet here we are. Also glad the dog didn’t die.

Those articles you posted were eye-opening. I knew about the lawsuits generally but wasn’t familiar with many details. I am appalled. Also, I wonder if the DCC organization is paying for beauty services for the team, or if those services are “donated” in exchange for exposure on the show.

NFL league minimum is $465,000 for a 16-week regular season. That’s almost $30,000 a game for a guy who might never play a down. Dak Prescott has a 4-year $2.7 million contact. According to Forbes, the Cowboys organization is worth $4.8 billion with annual revenues approaching $800 million. It is the most valuable sports franchise in the world. Cheerleaders get $150 a game.

All of this convinced me that the whole conceit of this show is some serious garbage. If you’re really trying to match people up for long-term success, you don’t match a cat lover with a spouse who is allergic. You don’t match a woman who needs affirmation with a man who is withholding. And you certainly don’t cast a woman who is grieving the recent death of the person she considered to be the love of her life. Now, if the real point is to create maximum drama to get ratings, on the other hand ...

That may be your opinion, but the Department of Labor disagrees. Dancers are skilled workers who require many years of training to obtain their positions. They’re paid little more than minimum wage and as someone else noted above, they had to fight for even that much. NFL cheerleaders are paid far less than our military, EMS workers, law enforcement, or teachers. Should those workers be paid more for the services they provide? Absolutely. Does that have anything at all to do with what a bunch of billionaire NFL team owners pay their cheerleaders? Not in the slightest. It’s not a zero-sum game. Why should “managing to survive” be the standard?

I’d recognize Kaitlyn’s grating voice anywhere. Her face, on the other hand, looked plastic and barely recognizable.

God, I hope not. I don’t think I could watch a season of her pissy face and attitude, and I will watch just about any garbage TPTB put on my television.

Did he shoot a man in Reno just to watch him die?