ombelico

I get that college classes were probably even more didactic back in the 1950s, but are we supposed to think that Abe is an effective educator? Always calling on the same student just because he knows the answers is not at all an appropriate teaching strategy. In that regard, it's even more unbelievable that so many students would raise their hands to answer a question if the professor always calls on the same student. I did like that he seems to be a tinkerer, putting together the "speaker phone" attachment. So far, I'm finding the show rather charming, and it has its moments. But you can definitely see the Amy Sherman-Palladino "quirkiness" that characterizes her shows. I think I'd like the show and its premise more without that flavor.

Maybe he's only allergic to egg yolks? Even so, if that's the case I'd be worried given the skill set of some of the contestants that there would still be an errant bit of yolk in the egg whites. It doesn't seem like it should have been that hard to give them a recipe for vegan cake frosting, though. My favorite tip: "It's best to use a spoon instead of a stunt Jesus to cover cake pops in chocolate."

I mostly just meant that it wasn't a good visual, eliminating the last two people of color (who happened to be sitting on either end of the row of barstools), leaving the three white women in the middle. It was too bad that Jiwan or Destane didn't have a stronger showing, since frankly I haven't been that impressed with Andrea all season. Very happy that Tina (rightfully, IMO) won, though.

I don't think it was an eye roll - I thought that she was acknowledging that he was flirting with her and sparks were flying between them. Kind of like a look to the audience to say "Is it me or is it hot in here?" Didn't Graham comment on something to that effect?

He does have at least one daughter, Charlotte, who together with "Mother" wrote a book about the day in the life of the vice president from the point of view of their bunny, Marlon Bundo (which John Oliver's show then parodied in their own book, with the premise that Marlon Bundo is gay and overcomes a Pence-like stinkbug who is against gay marriage in order to marry his boyfriend, Wesley).

Agreed. It wasn't exactly a good look at the end of the semi-final when Jiwan and Destane were both eliminated, leaving the three white women sitting between them as the finalists.

Amanda's from the Lake Tahoe area. There are lots of houses and cabins there that are up on hills or mountains surrounded by trees, so it would definitely appear to be in the woods when shown on tv. If her husband is as wealthy as someone upthread suggested, they could definitely afford one of the larger, more secluded houses there.

Jake McDorman, who plays Avery

No - there are only 16 Division 1 teams (and if Univ. of Illinois Chicago follows through on canceling both men's and women's gymnastics after this season, there will only be 15 left).

Ana Gasteyer played Sam's mom. Brooke Shields replaced Sam in "The Binch." Molly Ringwald was part of the singing montage.

Same here, by far the easiest. To stay with the Japanese theme, I would have made the first challenge to make 1-2 of the sushi rolls, and have something else (say, a bowl of ramen made out of cake) for the second.

I'd like to know if the producers tell the contestants about the blast chiller beforehand. It's not something that any home cook would have in their kitchen, and therefore I think it's not really fair to expect these contestants to know that they are supposed to put their cakes in there after baking in order to cool off. Most of them probably know that you are supposed to let a cake cool before frosting it, but if you've only got such a limited amount of time, you're going to feel pressed to start frosting ASAP, especially if you don't know that you're supposed to take advantage of the chiller to cool the cakes down. I get that the producers are going for the maximum comedy value, and there have definitely been some hilarious moments, but I also don't like the idea of setting up the contestants to fail.

Agree - I find the show funny and enjoyable, but there's a part of me that is continually annoyed that they are given such a short amount of time to do the projects. It's just unrealistic to expect people to decorate an elaborate, multi-tier cake in an hour and a half, which also includes the time to bake and cool the cakes, let alone decorate them.

Since Colleen Dewhurst hadn't done a lot of comedy, it was thought to be an out-of-left-field choice, in a "can she be funny?" kind of way. But obviously she knocked it out of the park. Frankly I think it was inspired casting, not only in terms of similarity in facial structure but in how both Dewhurst and Bergen have unusually deep speaking voices. (Recommended: -- FYI: The Murphy Brown Podcast, which I believe is where I heard about this, probably regarding the episode "Mama Said.")

In terms of whether a show like "Murphy Brown" can expect the audience to get the reference to historical factoids and tidbits, I think comedies that are a bit more cerebral have the confidence to know that either the audience will get the joke, or the audience will perhaps be intrigued enough to learn more about the background to the reference. I remember reading the "Frasier" show book a long time ago and the creators talked about how they left in the more "intellectual" jokes because they knew that the audience would be sophisticated enough to get them (or at least get most of them). "Murphy" has always had a similar sensibility, in terms of references to politics and the history of journalism. Regarding kids watching, I think that's why it's even more important for shows to include historical and artistic references because you never know what may click with a kid. When I was 11 years old or so, a throwaway line on "Designing Women" taught me that Gauguin was a French painter who had spent a lot of time in Tahiti (which actually came in handy later in a trivia game). I'm not sure I would have ever learned that otherwise, certainly not at that age. If a kid watching "Murphy Brown" now is intrigued to learn more about Walter Cronkite or Edward R. Murrow, in this day and age that's a major public service.

Admittedly, I went to see this movie primarily because of the dog. That said, I can still get behind a good heist movie, but I think this one was just about 20 minutes too long. Too much time spent on the alderman election (and really, we're supposed to be shocked that the son of a corrupt long-time Chicago alderman has some criminality and corruption in his background?). I agree that Alice's client oh-so-conveniently being an architect was a stretch, and when Michelle Rodriguez's character was at the widower's house trying to get info on the blueprints, her sudden breaking down and talking about how her husband died recently, then kissing the guy, was just so weird. I honestly couldn't tell if the crying and grief were real or just a ploy. Cynthia Erivo was good and of course Viola Davis was awesome as usual. There was just too much going on, and I agree that more of the focus should have been on the widows (after all, the movie is called "Widows") and not on the political stuff.

Yes! Apparently there was some controversy way back when about whether it was right to cast Dewhurst as Murphy's mother, but even watching those old episodes, I think it was right on the money. You can see it especially when Avery Sr. makes Murphy wear a hat - it really highlights how similar their faces were (and are).

It's not just that Simone doesn't lose. It's that she's revolutionizing the sport. There are only a few male gymnasts that can do the vault that now carries her name on the women's side. In Rio, she was already competing the most difficult floor routine ever seen, but her floor routine now is just absolutely extraordinary in comparison. I mean, she DISMOUNTS with a double twisting double tuck. That is unheard of. Yes, the equipment is (overall) better quality than in previous decades, which facilitates her gymnastics, but she's just amazing, both in terms of natural talent and body structure, but also in terms of her work ethic and desire to push herself to her limits. I completely agree that gymnastics won't be the same without her, but her legacy will be that she has shown what is possible for a female gymnast, far beyond what was ever thought possible before. She is absolutely the right choice for the most dominant athlete.

Ah yes, that was part of the treasured children's nursery song, "The Watergate Burglars Came to Town." "The security guard found an unlocked door, unlocked door, unlocked door, the security guard found an unlocked door and called in the police." (Why can I remember random stuff like this but not important stuff?) I really thought they were going to show that Wolf had cut away as soon as Avery went off script, so I was glad that they showed Murphy watching to show that it actually aired. Avery's reaction to the dog was just priceless. So adorable (both him and the dog).

Watched this last night and really enjoyed it. I agree that the bakers wanted to do well but didn't seem as stressed out, which was much more enjoyable. Paul was the clear winner here, and it was great to see him take home the win. The show has done enough seasons now that I wonder if they would be willing to do an "all-stars" season, selecting from those bakers who didn't win in a previous season. There have been many bakers who were very talented but had 1-2 bad days that took them out of the competition, and it would be great to see if they have learned more and improved in the intervening time.

The Brazilians had a fantastic meet overall, so it's worth at least watching their routines.

Disagree - I always hated that greasy thing. He looks so much better with short hair. YMMV of course. I hadn't realized that the scoring system changed to downgrade the quads - I certainly hope this means that we will see cleaner programs, with people planning jumps that they actually have an expectation of landing, rather than just chucking things to get the points for trying. I'm also glad that this means that someone like Jason, who has so many good qualities, can once again be competitive even without a quad jump (last season I was thinking that he should just move on to be a show skater because he was never going to be competitive, which was true under the previous system).

Rewatching this one and I just want to give a shoutout to Avery's line about Murphy being able to hear him and his girlfriend because "she has the ears of a fruit bat." This is the same thing Murphy said about baby Avery, and how he would wake up if there was any sound: "He's got the ears of a Peruvian fruit bat!" I've always loved that line and loved the throwback here.

Dear Olympic Channel, Hi, it's me again. Thank you for providing a live stream of the Cottbus World Cup on your website. When I tried to watch it on my iPad yesterday, though, it was practically unwatchable as an ad would automatically come on every minute, blocking out actual routines. But hey, at least watching the stream this morning on my laptop worked. But now, we have back our "favorite" inept British guy announcer. He doesn't know how to say the name Jorge? What broadcaster working in international sports doesn't know how to say the name Jorge? This guy, apparently. He thinks German giants on high bar are super innovative? Yes, they look cool, but they've been around for decades. Does he even know that they are called German giants? No, of course not. And don't get me started on him saying Lara Mori is "a real honey, this one." WTF? Oh, and saying that Rebeca Andrade's gymnastics isn't beautiful? Get the f**k out of here. I get that you're probably stuck with whoever FIG has hired as the English-language commentator for the world feed, but can't you turn off his commentary? Anyone dedicated enough to watch the livestream of a World Cup event can live without him, I promise you. But, I do want to give a shoutout to Tanith Belbin for the commentary shown last night on TV. She actually called Tim Daggett out on his more inane comments, or at least asked him to clarify what he means. Now, if only you would replace Tim... A Gymnastics Fan

As far as this season goes, it was already known from the beginning that it would only be 13 episodes, no matter how well it was received or how high the viewership was, because that is all that Candice Bergen (and I think Diane English as well) was willing to commit to. It's basically a half season, and is much more accepted now as a show schedule/structure than back in the '90s, when each season of the show had ~25 episodes or so (which is exhausting to make). There are plenty of shows now (even on the networks) that only run for part of a year, but return for multiple seasons. I don't know the exact figures for viewership but I have a feeling that, as the tail end of the CBS Thursday night lineup, the show is probably doing well enough that CBS would sign on for a second season if English/Bergen/etc. are up for it.