JasmineFlower

Not sure if Pixl is still making new movies at this point on a regular basis, but just a heads up for fans of what they've made in the past - keep an eye on UPtv's schedule in coming months. They have commercials during their Christmas movies indicating that they will be airing movies daily in the new year. And looking at their current schedule for the next month I noticed three Pixl movies among them that I recognized - Letter Never Sent, It Had to Be You, and Wedding Do Over. So there could be more as the year continues.

Not sure if it was mentioned yet, but FYI, Prime Video has a healthy number of Lifetime Christmas movies on it. Almost all of last year's collection of movies and the year before's are available free with Prime. Most of those missing 2017 and 2018 titles along with a selection of 2019 is also listed, not included with Prime, but currently costs $0. The ones that are included with Prime expire on January 3rd. It may very well be that the ones that are $0 will bump up to an actual price at that time as well or maybe just disappear.

Christmas Crush on ION with Robin Dunne and Cindy Sampson - So, this is a fairly ridiculous movie, but it worked for me until the last 10 minutes. I thought it was entertaining though I can easily see why others wouldn't like it. As stupid as this premise tends to be (Christmas wish comes true without a living in a dream aspect), I like that this one was incredibly off the cuff, just like putting thoughts out there jokingly and not expecting a thing from it. The lead actress doesn't have stars in her eyes, so I thought the approach worked because I wouldn't buy her as some young ingenue seriously making a wish upon a star. Her personality worked for me, very confident and likable and self sufficient in her work, just shying away from asking out the guy she likes. Loved the general tone and humor of the character. When the fiancee Gina says her and Pete call themselves Gete and Addie reacts with an "Ooh. No." I couldn't have been more on board with her character in that moment. There are plenty of little moments like that which made me like the movie. The mistake that happens with the wish was a good set up for a lighthearted comedic tone. Are her attempts to undo the wish stupid? Many of them are, but nothing that gets too unbearable to me, it didn't go into true ridiculous territory that some of these ION movies have favored over the years until the last 10 minutes when it's like they just couldn't help themselves. I thought the way she was exasperated that it wasn't being undone ended up working along with Robin bearing witness to the nonsense to make him that much more confused. Also, her friend really added to the scenes. I don't watch Private Eyes so I'm not familiar with Cindy, but I'd love to see her in another of these movies. Her and Robin being the stars helped this one a great deal, I think it could've been much sillier and harder to watch with different casting. So while this was far from perfect and has things that even while enjoying it are a bit too much (did she just have bagpipes lying around her apartment and why do you put a scarf that you're allergic to, back on?), the overall movie was one that I can easily say I enjoyed watching. The last 10 minutes filled with unnecessary embarrassment were unfortunate, but don't make me regret watching. Not sure others will like it, so not one I'd really recommend going out of your way to catch it unless you like Robin or Cindy. Christmas Love Letter with Ashley Newbrough on Lifetime - I liked this one a lot. Liked the chemistry between the characters. The daughter didn't annoy which is always a bonus, and she played her child genius part very well. I truly enjoyed best friend Demi, hope to see her much more in the future. The dad was a nice supportive character. I think the writer likely saw Runaway Bride more than a few times and lifted an idea from it. Also had some similarities to Hallmark's My Christmas Love. But that didn't distract me much and didn't affect my enjoyment of the movie. One I'd recommend others trying to catch.

All those "save yourself" talks talking to Emma, felt like they were side-eye shaming Amy at the same time. I hope not, but I thought it odd to harp on that at this particular quinceañera. I'm hoping this writing was more someone was mocking the ones they went to and it was apart from Superstore. Because while Amy did marry the guy who got her pregnant, she definitely didn't save herself for marriage, something I'd think everyone there knows. So it felt wrong to harp on it especially when Emma is the product of that pre-marital sex. When Dina was going on about talk of abstinence makes kids want to have sex more, and then she added "or it makes them want to try butt stuff. And hey? God bless." Mateo's face was a perfect reaction. Great little vignette, only time I enjoyed him all episode.

Sorry you're not enjoying, but definitely bail if you're ready. Plenty of other shows to watch and hopefully like a good deal more that there's no reason to try to stick with the ones you're just so-so on.

Patrick doesn't add a thing to the show for me. In fact, he's detracting. And of course her role was bigger than it is now. Consider that her previous role encompassed the screen time she has now plus what Patrick is given, not to mention a good deal more since she served as Jane's mentor and that was on display regularly, interacted with Kat often, has a friendship with Richard, was shown with Oliver often enough, and had her own storylines that usually involved hard decisions of the editor and dealing with the board and parent company. And Jacqueline wasn't displayed nearly as one-dimensional as you seem to recall. She's made mistakes, but she always seems to have good intentions. Like her or not, and it sounds like you don't, you're greatly diminishing the breadth of Jacqueline's character through the first two seasons.

Wasn't crazy about a lot of this week. I think what they were going for almost worked. But personally, and this is a problem I have regularly with this, it didn't land completely for the lack of ownership by the writer/friend. I liked how Sutton said to Alex that you see us as "strong outspoken women with our own agency" but to me, that rarely seems to be the case and that certainly can't be extended to Kristen in my mind. Strong women with their own agency don't place all this blame for intentional actions of their own onto others when they later regret their decisionmaking. Sutton on the other hand, she seemed to own what went down in her case, but from what we were told it didn't seem like Kristen did in her article. Instead it was all Alex's fault, cause men. Like others, not a fan of doing this with the only black guy on the show that is part of the editorial side of things. And also complete BS that he'd be safe in revealing his identity. I was happy when Kat spoke up, but very disappointed when that wasn't the advice that ruled the day since that is the true reality. Sutton changing the dress? I'm not sure why that was written like the designer was the bad guy. Sutton is my favorite on the show, but that was a bad mistake and the designer had every right to be beyond pissed. Sutton caused a redesign in manufacturing and a delay in distribution. But Sutton is the sympathetic character in this bit? No she's not. She made a massive mistake. She will learn from it. But there was no need to downplay that at all. This was bad enough to make it up the food chain to Jacqueline and probably should have. I couldn't be less of a fan of Patrick, but the worst thing about his being on the show is how much it has diminished Jacqueline's role and involvement with the other characters' storylines. I'm not sure if this is an age thing or what, but it was a terrible idea on the show's part to bring him in and cut her out. She's been relegated to making a cameo appearance each episode.

Aww! Garrett called Jonah his best friend. To strangers who he could've easily lied to like he always does. I'm on board with Amy disciplining or firing Cheyenne and Mateo whenever she's ready. I'm beyond over their attitudes. They couldn't refrain from mocking her while in her presence for 30 seconds. Sending, receiving, and smirking via text laughing about her mannerisms. Since they don't act like people who give a shit about keeping their jobs, they should find out what it's like not to have them anymore.

Seriously dying at the final break room scene with masturbation suggestion places. Sayid: "You can go to your car." Garrett: "Loading dock." Cheyenne: "Milk aisle." Amy: Uncomfortable throat clear Mateo: "There's a nook in the garden center that's good." Glenn: "Or HELL."

I really wish that Jane's egg storyline had been written better. I don't usually say that about the writing on the show, but I didn't think they captured the awkwardness that Jane was trying to convey to Pinstripe very well. For once, I was actually very okay with Jane wanting things a very particular way and creating distance even if she didn't need to be lying about it. But unless I'm missing something about why Jane is doing this, the writers could've had Jane say to Pinstripe in much clearer fashion, we are 2 months into this relationship, your being involved with my egg process makes it feel like we're thinking about starting a family together, that these eggs are going to be your future kids, and we are most definitely not in that place. We've know each other awhile, but we just started this relationship, so this isn't a we thing, it's a me thing. So, let me do this on my own with my girls' help and let it be that. I made this decision before you. Don't insert yourself into the process as if I'm setting these eggs aside for a future with you. I thought that was the real messiness, not wanting to bluntly say that, but the way they left it with her not articulating any of that, it didn't feel like Pinstripe grasped any of that even remotely.

I really enjoyed this episode and thought it was compelling and pulled you in from the start in a way that the premiere didn't. I think the premiere had more dynamic music and dancing and the better, more exciting second half for sure. The Liza performance with Mein Herr and all of that especially pulled me in. But from a strictly storytelling angle, this was more what I was hoping for from this show. I think it may have hit me differently than others. My takeaway was not, Bob Fosse is a jackass that cheats as often as he smokes. If you know almost anything about him, you already knew that. But Gwen? In the premiere she was portrayed as almost the angelic supportive suffering wife that was getting cheated on by this dog of a husband of hers that uses her talent to get him out of a rut. But this episode, we see the greater picture. Gwen is a cheater herself, in a relationship when she takes up with Bob, knows he's married, and sticks with the affair even when she knows of the wife's illness. Encourages him to leave his sick wife for her. I like that depth, it's more like the Walk the Line June Carter Cash portrayal than what you typically heard about. Gwen is not some unwilling victim in this relationship, she went into it with her eyes wide open. Sure, it may have gone worse than she intended long term and that doesn't mean Bob gets a pass, but expecting a cheater that you cheated with not to cheat on you is always super special. His second wife Joan, found that out the hard way as well. So, I thought this did a very good job of setting up the history of their relationship. I liked that we went far enough back to see that Gwen was the star, not Bob, when they met. That the connection they have working together was there almost from the start and helps to explain things a bit more. I also thought the non-linear worked well in this context since we're seeing the different stages in their tumultuous relationship. I'm definitely all in on this show now. Also, I really enjoy Susan Misner as an actress, she's been great in many things now and she was well cast as Joan here. But, um, she's in this basically musical and we're not going to see her dance? Say it ain't so. Hopefully she's back dancing in some capacity in a future episode. Not that I didn't enjoy Michelle in the Damn Yankees scenes, but Susan is a kickass dancer capable of putting what we've seen so far to shame.

Yes, I meant Jasmine that plays Allison. Bad sign when I can't remember her name a season in. And yes, that's a good point that she could've offered something to this discussion. Although she also comes from a good deal of privilege, so maybe they wanted to leave her out for that reason? Not sure. I know her and Knox have had very little interaction, but it seems like there were probably creative ways to have their storylines intersect at least somewhat in this episode. Even if it was even just a reaction to the story in the paper to sympathize and a run-in at the courthouse.

I'm perplexed at the positioning of this episode in the season. I question whether it was intended to go here originally. We're seeing this right after Erica is all over Keaton for not making a tough choice, we see her very clearly make an even worse choice. It makes her even less sympathetic not more, so a strange move by the producers. From what I could tell, Bragg was not in this episode, making it seem like this was shot early on, before he was ever cast (Noah Mills joined the cast in the summer, well after the show was picked up to series). I think this may have been the original pilot, meant to be the series premiere. I remember one of my main takeaways after watching the first episode was that it should've been a 2-hour premiere to better set the stage and pairing this with what we got is making sense when I think it over. Really strange to get so much flashback and almost no additional character development or background information about the other characters. We basically learned nothing new about anyone. The only thing I sorta picked up that I didn't really know before is that Raza appears to be in a relationship or was when Laine was alive. Also further questioned calling Hannah's father Erica's husband. He parents differently and seemingly separate from Erica and there was no trace of him at the house. But sure, let's keep up this sham about it being her "husband" and leaving her after she was charged. What's so wrong with making them separated or divorced? The writing on here is so suspect, such an easy change to make that would make this all a non-issue. I hope there winds up being a good story there. Also, curious writing choice to have us following mostly unknown female CIA agent getting documents from where she was and trying to get to safety. Seems like they had 4 choices of who to show in greater detail this episode. Given everything, that should've been Laine. It not being her does make me wonder if she's really alive.

Also, meant to say this a few episodes ago, it's definitely starting to feel like Ted to a great extent and Celia to a lesser one were brought in to lessen the roles of Jasmine and Seth. I'm okay with that in large part, as I think that the former couple are two of the weak links on the show, and certainly when in their official capacity, but I do like the friendship between Jasmine and Sandra a great deal. But Ted has definitely been getting considerably more screen time than Jasmine this season and Celia feels like she's getting more meaty cases and greater legal screen time than Seth, who seems like he's being used more for mild comic relief than as an attorney. If this beats the odds and gets a third season, I'd wonder if they'd make the cut.

I liked many parts of this episode, but also had a major problem. Leonard thinks he's earned everything he's gotten on his own? Is he suddenly not a Senator's son who was prematurely handed the Solicitor General position in Texas or are we supposed to forget that happened? Even if I could believe that he believed a lot of what he's gotten he worked for and earned, he knew very well that his mom put him up for that Texas position and questioned that it was too early. That was handed to him and he knew it, that was very far from earned. Not to mention, he floated his mother in the first season often to try to get noticed in the office to get better cases. Clearly not the first time he's used her name in that manner. I get what they were trying to do with him, I'm glad that they had him tell a bit more about himself. But it's like they wanted me to forget a good deal of what we have already seen and heard Knox do in the past. Not that it was all contradictory, but yeah, that part rang really hollow and felt like the basis for a lot of his ire so it put a dent in what was one of the best scene's in the episode (didn't tarnish Michael Beach's delivery at all though).

You misunderstood what I meant. Maybe I should've left off that middle part of the audience they were targeting to make it more clear. I don't think the non-linear comes from theatre or appeals to that specific audience. I think it's a more confusing way to tell a story and this one will not make a ton of sense if you're completely unfamiliar with the real-life people. That's why I found it an interesting choice. Not necessarily a good one if mainstream is the goal. Hopefully that makes more sense. I agree, that non-linear storytelling has its roots in TV and I'd also say film, not theatre.

I did not like New Guy and I was very uncomfortable with how he was with Kat. If she wants to share information about her private life, that's great. But I haven't heard one thing in this show that makes it a requirement for her to do so, so for him to push her so much to share so publicly her personal life was a lot to me. And I'm not someone who goes overboard in this area by any stretch, but I do know about employee law and I wasn't okay with it. Seems like it's fine to insist she keeps her personal social media up as an extension of the Scarlet brand, but insisting about sharing stuff about her relationship or specific elements of her personal life is over the line. I saw mention above of hoping that Kat and Alex aren't paired together because they are to the black people on the show. Might I say, as someone who is black, that I would be very open to them together. They've actually laid the ground work for a healthy friendship or a possible relationship if Kat figures out she is bi (I thought she'd been saying she was a lesbian, so a tad confused on that end). Last season, Alex and her had many conversations and moments that spoke to Kat and made her look at herself and examine things closely. So, I don't think a relationship would seem forced between them at all and therefore nothing wrong with going in that direction. Kat has been so against embracing her black side, that I wonder if she's ever had a black boyfriend before and that it might be a great storyline for the show. But in general, I think it's important for shows that strive for more diversity to remember to actually show a healthy relationship between two black characters as well at times. It's a message that has been lost all too often over the years and sends almost as bad of a message as not having diverse characters. Eriq La Salle suffered the consequences of pointing out this glaring issue on ER way back when. Plenty of shows fall victim to it.

Kinda surprised by all the love here. I did not love it. But I also didn't dislike it. I think the non-linear storytelling is an interesting choice here and speaks very much to a theatre specific audience more than a mainstream one. Maybe that's what they wanted, but given the level of ads for the show, I thought maybe they wanted mainstream. I think those who know something about Bob Fosse and the theatre world may have a much better time following and enjoying the story than those who have no clue, so not sure this will pull in just any old viewer. Feel comfortable saying that had I watched this with one of my non-theatre going friends, we would have had to pause several times for questions. I know enough and I was still like, "wait what?" at times. I'm rather surprised by how All That Jazz this felt, I was expecting something more original, but that may be my own fault for assuming that, that could've been intentional. I didn't read reviews or much stuff about what this was supposed to be. But it took me by surprise and I had to adjust and try not to compare it to the movie. I thought the first half was rather slow and a touch underwhelming, but that it found more of a rhythm in the second half, carried largely by the music scenes. I'm going to stick with this despite not loving the first episode. The rest of the season previews look great and compelling. I think this could be easily improve with each episode and build off that second half rhythm it seemed to find. Competition is fierce with a lot of big names this year, so can't predict a winner by any stretch, but it would seem Michelle Williams firmly entered the race as a serious contender for Best Actress in a Limited Series at the Emmys this year and we're only one episode in.

So the call at the end after the repeated chastising of Keaton for not being able to make the tough choices that she herself couldn't make all means that seems to be hypocrite Erica has been lying all along about "doing it for her daughter"? Is that supposed to be my takeaway from the episode? If so, I hope the next chapter is not anything too drawn out where it seems like she's working for Tal. Cause you know it's gonna wind up being she's still with the CIA and this is an undercover operation of some kind where they orchestrated her working with the FBI unbeknownst to Keaton. I hope I'm wrong and it's something different and original, but thus far, this show has never been as clever as it thinks it is. If this gets another season, they need to bring some new writers in. The character development on this show is sorely lacking.

Yes, rather unlikely since appeal success rates are very low, but yes he could technically get off on appeal. It's a verdict not a plea, so an appeal is in play and one is always filed in a case like this. His chances of a successful appeal would skyrocket if anyone bothered to test the alternate suspect's anything against the crime scene evidence. Or if that cop was exposed publicly for a unjustly pursuing specific suspects without enough evidence, all his related cases would come into question. So, if you're wondering if we haven't seen the last of this guy? Maybe.

Though heartbreaking, I'm kinda glad they did a guilty verdict. It was much more realistic, not necessarily for this case where the police pushed for a specific suspect with no evidence and seemed to investigate nothing and they didn't give us a background to suggest he was otherwise a suspicious guy, but in general, weak cases regularly wind up with convictions. Did I miss Hope trying to get the confession suppressed through procedural rules with the judge? It seemed all she did was poke holes into the police's case in front of the jury, but never tried to get the confession and any mention of it thrown out. Also, maybe, again I wasn't paying attention long enough, but she seemed to gloss over the harsh conditions of the confession with the jury - the length, the lack of food, minimal water, etc. And went instead with you got the wrong guy because we said so, not because we have proof of it, but we have enough of a suggestion. Don't get me wrong, it was plenty in theory to get him off of the charge, but this is how people end up in jail everyday. The reasonable doubt barrier gets lowered substantially when it shouldn't by juries and they are very willing to convict despite holes in a prosecution's case. Nate Torrence is great and happy to see him breathing a comedic tone into the show. Wouldn't mind it on a much more regular basis. And I liked Sandra and Kate being cordial and then downright friendly by the end, if only for a brief moment in time.

I'm glad Cavanagh is gone. I couldn't believe she was acting high and mighty when she had her model sewing. And yes, I was already done with her after her twin bed and fabric prima donna comments, but the attitude made me so glad she was gone. I like how her departing comments don't make you miss her at all. I guess she's hoping people don't realize she lied to the judges completely on the runway about what happened to her jacket. Someone like her can easily ruin a season's good vibe, so I'm not hung up on the reasoning, I'm just glad we won't have to see her past this. I thought I liked Nadine okay, but I don't care how bad Frankie's look was, that she felt the need to loudly whisper while sitting directly behind Frankie on the runway for no one else to worry, that's the losing look was a step over the line. And then she was one of the ones who went over and hugged her when she was safe. It'll be hard for her to recover with me after that. It was so completely unnecessary and she might be more two-faced than you'd think her to be. I'm not sure of the talent of some of these overconfident designers. I felt ho hum on plenty of the looks at the beginning they may have spent weeks executing. So I wasn't nearly as impressed with them as they were with themselves. Karlie felt like dead weight. But otherwise, I enjoyed the panel. Christian was a welcome surprise, he didn't make it about himself at all and wasn't over the top and I appreciated that for the premiere.

I didn't mind the blood storyline at all in a general sense of what I thought it was trying to accomplish where blood was concerned. I wasn't a fan of what it does to how the audience views Grace's dad though. But I thought the show was just calling back to a time when there was a perception that blood from gay men was tainted in some way. That men who had sex with men, which is how the FDA refers to it, were given a lifetime ban for donating blood until a recent change. That they have improved the law in this area, but that it is still highly prejudicial and subjects them to a one-year deferral from giving blood. So this may not have been the most well written and executed storyline the show has had, but I wasn't questioning why they did it. As for them being in NYC and there being a donor around? New York has blood donation shortages just like everywhere else does. And for a rare blood type? Even more so. Nothing about that is unrealistic. They were asking for donations on the local news a few weeks ago when I was visiting my sister.

Can I tell you what a bad idea I think it is to rush these two movies? The first in both series were clearly rushed productions from the shooting schedule and announcements to when they aired and the scripts showed that in spades. In Mystery, they didn't know what they wanted to do with Kristopher's character with his temperament being completely different from beginning to the end, and in Ruby, they had it located in Seattle and writing and directing operating like they were in the smallest of small towns to the point of being able to burst into the lab in a police station where the ME is examining a dead body unimpeded and no one bat an eye at it except the detective she is sparring with who didn't grill her on that particular point. Both franchises need time to develop and write the next scripts if they are truly meant to take over for GSM, a series that did exactly that from first to the second movie when it was greatly revamped for the better. Find a decent director, and for Ruby, let's recast that mom and sister stat, gray up Shawn's hair a bit to age him (or better yet, axe the mom and sister and make him her young uncle), and fill in the supporting cast with more Hallmark regulars instead of the weak bench they brought in last time. There's definitely some GSM actors with suddenly clear schedules that they can call on first.

Nurse Sheila is looking ROUGH. Plastic surgery is not her friend. If she hadn't sounded the same I doubt I'd have realized what the deal with that scene and the later callback was.