KWalkerInc

Yesterday I heard "Human Nature" by Michael Jackson and decided to look up the lyrics. Apparently (if the listed lyrics are correct, which isn't always the case) he sings, "Tell 'em that it's human nature / Why, why? / Why you do me that way?" I always thought the last line was "Doobee doobee that way," like he was just mumbling some jibberish to symbolize that people do things that don't make sense and you shouldn't expect answers, it's just human nature. Lionel Richie has admitted making up words in "All Night Long," so I guess I thought this was similar.

Still the Place has finally reached Heather Locklear's debut (which they recapped a few weeks ago), so the last two weeks have been an interview with Heather. It was really good, and she had some interesting stories to share. My favorite part was when they were all talking about Jack Wagner being the jokester of the cast, so they discussed pranks and jokes. Heather said that because David Charvet would stumble over his lines and say "But, um..." before every line, they nicknamed him "Butum." That's kind of mean, but it cracked me up because I could totally hear his line deliveries in my head after she said that. She also mentioned a time when she was in New York with Grant Show and Darren Star (doing press or something) and she convinced them to check out some sex club. Even with all the people doing...interesting things, a crowd soon gathered around Heather and Grant, thinking they would join in or something when they were only observing. The ladies agreed that they could not have quietly done this in the time of cell phones with video. I was like, "Really, you think?"

When someone replied "church," he quickly jumped in and said that's where he would be, so maybe that's what he had been going to say. Today I was putting some dishes away and couldn't hear the question from the other room (this was on a repeat episode that airs here after the first new one), but I could hear the contestant confidently declare, "Strip club!" followed by the ding that it was on the board. That made me think, "That is a pretty safe bet to be up there most times that someone tries it." Then when the other new episode was on a few hours later, someone gave that as an answer and it was of course correct. That made me laugh. (But that's right, someone in fast money the past day or so said, "Strip joint" for a type of joint and got nothing. That was an exception though.)

I also thought Coach Bobby would call timeout and take Khalil back out of the game. Jordan just kept pointing out that it led them to the win and didn't seem to care that he undermined the coach and probably could have been fired. (They might need him more at Beverly but Cassius doesn't like him either and would likely see him as a distraction.) At least Layla noted that Jordan went too far. I would understand Jordan's attitude changes more if they tied it to the fact that he couldn't go to the NFL because of his concussions, but he doesn't seem bothered by that. He probably should have left college the previous year--but they didn't want to distract from Spencer's storyline--and it would have also made sense if he were mad at himself for not taking the opportunity when he had it. They never really gave an explanation for Jordan staying. He had his arm in a sling before Spencer went to the combine, but they didn't say it prevented him from going pro as it was more like Michael was actually injured in real life that week (they gave a dumb explanation about playing with Asher's baby for Jordan, I think.). I don't think Coach Bobby is Jordan's uncle, especially with Jordan coming right out and speculating about it so quickly. This story doesn't seem like it will be that interesting. Yasi can be irritating, but I think a lot of players would be annoyed by someone joining the team when they didn't have to go through daily doubles or anything. Maybe South Crenshaw has talent but a small student population if they needed an extra practice body that badly. And I guess as long as Khalil is in class now, they don't have any policies about being ineligible for previous absences. I think (per Amina) they're claiming that Khalil isn't really a Crip. He just is the son of one and (more alarmingly) hangs out with a bunch of them. They definitely should have Preach (when around) and Coop be more concerned about Amina's crush because of his background even if they like him. That would make more sense for a conflict with her than having them breathe down her neck constantly without too much provocation. I hope Coop will eventually accept that she is NOT the real reason that Amina doesn't have a mother. Mo was intelligent and accomplished some good, but she was also a psycho obsessed with destroying Coop to avenge her horrible brother (who was never sympathetic in any way). Mo is to blame for her own demise. Are KJ and Cassius really going to live in a hotel room for the entire school year? That seems expensive (but not for the show as it's probably one of the cheaper sets!). I'm surprised he wasn't already down on the offensive line before they even played a game, rather than being shocked and then turning on them. I guess he was so cocky he thought they'd be fine. Even though the Oakland school didn't need him after all, it's weird that his parents never considered him staying with his mom where he was established, especially if it could affect his future with colleges and all. If Cassius were different, I could have seen a storyline where he thought he needed his son the "star QB" to succeed and insisted on bringing him, but he doesn't seem like he'd be like that. (Although he did make a speech to him before the first day of school that kind of suggested that.) When Tori was in her cheerleading outfit, I was confused and thought that they'd suddenly had her recover since last week. But then they explained she could cheer but not do competitions (so like all the cheerleaders when I was in school). She is good at handling KJ's moods, even though he likes Amina. (I think the writers are purposely having no one be interested in the person who likes them so that they don't have to deal with any more couples' storylines--aside from Jordan & Layla, of course.) The actor who plays KJ is also recurring on The Equalizer, and I did not know this until I read it in an article a couple weeks ago. I was like, "I watch TWO live-action shows and couldn't recognize that the same person was in both?!" That is sad.

I can't remember the details, but she had talked about dating men before her relationship with (?) Trish. I knew the poor little girl was doomed when her grandma declared confidently that she would pull through. This resolution was more depressing than the show usually is. Maybe they're suddenly experimenting with being realistic? (Not really.) I wondered why they had the part with Salazar killing the one rich guy at the very end instead of doing it earlier and then having all the lighter stuff with the characters. I just found that interesting, because they usually only do that when they're having a big cliffhanger for end of season or winter finale. I liked Vi's story, but Delilah was very dumb in hers. I know she likes Cam, but I thought she would have at least tried to push back a little on taking the car. I was distracted because the actor who plays Cam is on All American now, so I kept thinking of him as that character even though he has been on this show more times. I did kind of know that Robyn and Dante would get back together at some point because last summer, I was looking up Tory Kittles to see about his status on the show and some site posted recent pictures of him chatting with Latifah before a scene, followed by pictures of a kissing scene. It could have been a dream or some kind of a fake-out though, so I didn't know for sure. There didn't seem to be any real impetus for them to reunite at this point; it kind of felt like the writers just ran out of obstacles and decided to throw up their hands and put them together. I'm fine with that though. It's funny how the captain suddenly decided to come around on Dante, though I liked her WTF reaction to Robyn being in the precinct and thought it was funny when she kept saying "Secret Agent Dante."

When South Crenshaw's latest addition remains sidelined, Jordan and Coach Bobby clash over his next steps; the Eagles' devastating loss leads to finger-pointing from KJ; Cassius brings KJ to a South Crenshaw game.

Timeless - The Weeknd & Playboy Carti Timeless - Justin Guarini & Kelly Clarkson

TMZ has a new special titled "Saving Wendy" that I believe is centered around Harvey Levin's interviews with her. It is airing on Tubi.

I don't know what they're doing with Jordan. It's not like he came in acting overly confident because of his playing success or tried to overshadow the head coach or anything. They might be just really trying to hammer home that coaching and dealing with teens is hard. I think NOC has talked about Jordan being more mature than in the past, so maybe that means he has no confidence all of a sudden. I can't remember if this coach is the one who hired him, which would make even less sense if that's the case, since he hates him. I think the coach not being at practice was another of those "He's not a regular and isn't on this week, so it's not in our budget, who cares if it makes sense?" things. Olivia revealing Elle's identity was very stupid. Even if Elle said it was fine (which would be weird, but maybe she's heard of Layla and sees her as a way back to the industry), I don't think that would do much for Olivia's reputation as a sponsor. It was a very clumsy way to introduce the character, but at least she shared important info about the pregnancy test. I hope Olivia just told Spencer that she had a positive test but that she would have to see a doctor to be sure. Of course, because she isn't a regular there isn't likely to be a follow-up where she isn't pregnant, so she's probably safe in jumping the gun. I wonder if they'll do another time jump so that she could have a baby this season (maybe right in the middle of whenever Beverly and South Crenshaw inevitably play each other). I wonder how they will justify Khalil being able to play at some point when he essentially flunked the previous year. It seems like he would be ineligible for at least a semester, but I'm sure the show will invent some loophole or have any rules about eligibility not be set in stone. They didn't say what position he plays. Having him be a quarterback would intensify the rivalries with Yasi and KJ, but they should probably have at least one player with a speaking role who is at another position (besides that one receiver on Beverly). I hope they won't focus too much on the pseudo love triangle, because Khalil only thinks of Amina as a friend/sister and Amina isn't into KJ, so this can only go nowhere. Tori does seem pretty cool, and sympathetic. It always frightens me when the cheerleaders get thrown in the air. I went to a basketball game a few years ago where the girl was "sort of" caught, but still hit the ground and got bruised. It was nice of Tori to get that gift for KJ, as hats are not cheap nowadays! I had read in an article after the premiere that Beverly cares more about cheerleading than football, which I'm not sure I totally buy even if one is awesome and the other really bad. I had forgotten about the sleazy Beverly principal until this episode. A lot of principals around here seem to constantly be on the move, but this guy hangs on at Beverly forever. I can't remember if they've explained why Preach is now renting Grace's house (other than continuing to use the set), but I assume that they had an apartment before and this is nicer/bigger. I'm really crossing my fingers that the professor won't date Coop, but that's probably what will happen. I'm surprised they haven't had her and Patience break up yet. It would be perfectly reasonable, but still annoy me because everyone else seemingly got happily ever after. I couldn't tell what song Coop was using to calm herself, and Googling it produced very random and not-helpful results. Maybe it was one of her own songs.

Safelite has two new ads that are centered around annoying noises. In one, a woman who discovers that her windshield has a crack first laughs in disbelief, but then lets out this distressed "HAAAAAAAA" noise before banging her head against the horn. Maybe it could be funny if the noise weren't so grating. There's also one where a father and son are playing baseball and the dad hits the windshield with the ball and cracks it. When he looks distressed, the son goes, "OHHHHHH!" in a sort of taunting tone because the dad is going to be in trouble. Shut up, kid. I also can't stand the singing in the ads for Rover pet services. It's nice that they can have someone watch the dog and also check in to know that it's okay, but the person (child?) singing as the dog is trying way too hard to be cute and sounds so horrible that it approaches Burger King levels of awful. (In this case, shrill instead of badly off-key.)

Cassius and KJ struggle to find their way as they navigate their first day at Beverly High; Jordan steps in when Yasi antagonizes Khalil. (Also, Olivia is around, but they only summarize part of the press release for the blurb and cut off the part about her.)

I wonder if they only picked Oakland because Grace and D'Angelo live there now, even though I don't know if they intend to have any connection between them and Cassius and KJ. But they could have just been too lazy to think of any other city in the state of California. Unless I misheard, they also gave Amina the last name Sims (maybe they'd already said that before). I don't think she has anything to do with Damon, so there is a severe limit on the number of last names they can apparently use in this universe. I think she's supposed to start in the next episode. She was supposedly studying a lot and getting herself prepared for her first day before she got sidetracked by the daydrinking. I don't know if the CW really thought this was going to result in the show going many more years; but if they did, they'll probably be sweating out the ratings for the rerun on Monday and trying to justify the original ratings by saying it was just a "sneak peek" and people wanted to watch in the regular slot. Because it was not only the lowest rated episode ever, but tied for the lowest that Homecoming ever got (once, when it was of course cancelled before the season aired). Nkechi Okoro Carroll did say that most of the former regulars are going to appear at some point, so I bet they'll be promoting those a LOT when they do. ETA: The Monday repeat drew a 0.06 in 18-49 demo, which is tied with the lowest rating from previous seasons, but still twice as high as the Wednesday airing. So apparently those who wanted to sample the new version either didn't hear about the Wednesday airing, or didn't care to watch on a different night.

I don't think this version is going to go over very well in the ratings, but this episode was okay. Spencer's voice mail opening and closing the episode was a little cheesy (is he going to be like Ellen Pompeo on Grey's Anatomy? I never watched but I think she left but still opens the show with a VO). For some reason, I didn't realize it was him talking until they played it again at the end. I guess I was just really concentrating to make sure I figured out who the characters were and didn't get confused. It's sad that, at least for this episode, Layla and Coop had nothing to do but talk about how they had nothing to do and give exposition (not only about Asher, but apparently for people who had missed the end of last season and didn't know what happened to anyone else). Their drunkenness was somewhat entertaining, but I don't know that Amina could legally drive them. I think in some places, teens can't drive anyone but their guardian or can only have one person in the car until they're 18 or something? I know she was in high school last season and there have been several time jumps along the way, but it seems like Amina was just 10! She will probably have Preach tearing his hair out over her behavior. She knows what happened to her mom and uncle, but still wants to be with the bad boy. Like Coop said, she's pushing really hard about how "grown up" she is, so that's probably what that's about. I don't know why the description said that Khalil challenged the school system. Did they mean because he doesn't go to class? I also dispute the articles about casting that said he was a recurring character last season. I do remember him from last season when he was arguing with Deion and quit the Shakespeare thing, then they made up. I didn't remember his name though. (Preach will probably wish Amina still liked that guy she kissed in the play when Juliet was supposed to be dead.) I don't know why we had to have so much about Deion and his sister last season just for them to move to Santa Fe off-screen during the summer. It made Spencer consider a potential post-football career, I guess. It was also funny in that episode where people weren't communicating well when Spencer said something about him and Olivia was like, "Who the hell is Deion?" KJ seems nice and kind of gives me Damon vibes. That means that if the show continues, he'll probably get dropped due to budget cuts. I question though him suddenly being excited to stay in L.A. just because of Amina when he'd feared for his life hours earlier. (I'm pretty sure that Oakland has gangs too, but maybe he hadn't accidentally run afoul of anyone there.) Jordan might wish he could jump ship to Beverly and work with the nice, talented QB instead of the one he's got. I'm sure Yasi knows that all practices are required; the supposed "optional" thing is just there so that the schools don't get in trouble for breaking rules that restrict practices. Our state even has a whopping week in the summer where no one is allowed to take part in any team activities. I'm sure that really goes over well. The coach who hates Jordan for being the players' buddy seems odd, as a lot of coaches seem to have an assistant like that to some extent. But of course, he has some secret reason why he actually hates Jordan. Does this have something to do with GW randomly revealing at the end of the season that Billy had a secret brother, or will they drop that like Deion? I hope that the texts that KJ's dad were reading weren't supposed to be important, because I certainly couldn't read them.

I was apparently out of the loop (not surprising) about Sabrina's injury, as there had been an article since I last checked in which she said she had thumb surgery, but was cleared to play in Unrivaled (though she has permission to not go to every game because she had "other commitments"--such as watching the NBA games in Paris). Anyway, there is a lot of movement going on in the WNBA with star players. Jewel Loyd, who had alleged bullying by the Seattle coaches, is getting traded to Las Vegas, with Kelsey Plum sent to L.A. and Seattle getting some draft picks. Alyssa Thomas is getting traded from Connecticut to Phoenix. And Brittney Griner is signing with Atlanta. I think things can't be official until February 1. In December, there was a special on ESPN where Golden State announced who they had chosen in the expansion draft. Other than New York's Kayla Thornton, I hadn't heard of most players, though the commentators were surprised about a player that Indiana made available and was selected, noting that she worked well with Caitlin. They had three celebrities each read off selections from four teams; but they didn't want any of Seattle's available players, so the guy who read that off went "Oh snap!" or something like that, which was funny.