sempervivum

Why do so many of the many, many 'medicine' commercials include a voiceover warning potential users that they should tell their doctors if they have diabetes. or heart disease, or are pregnant, or whatever. What kind of doctor's office/clinic doesn't have you fill out a lengthy questionnaire before you even get to an examining room? And what kind of doctor would prescribe a medication without doing blood work, etc.?

Just watched the first episode of 'Payback' on BritBox; very intriguing so far, and super acting by Morven Christie and Peter Mullen. Part gangland, part police procedural with an emphasis on twisty financial crime.

I thought Annika and Michael's exchange at the end was poignant. 'I didn't want a father who doesn't love the mother, and then doesn't love the child' she said; he paused, then said 'Shame'. It seems possible that they both loved the other, but for 'reasons', didn't want to say the words. Things might have gone differently.

I can hardly bear to watch the Brit/Andy segments, they're both so awful. Talk about deserving each other. I actually came away from the episode thinking that Louie is kind of cute; I liked him in those glasses. He seems sensible, thoughtful, self-aware and patient. But maybe that's just compared to Melissa.

Last night's episode with Amber and Jessica (of Maurice and Jessica): Amber seems happy with new/old guy Hank. Jessica seems depressed, not that I blame her. She needs to get divorced, but how do you do that if the other party won't cooperate? And of course the ring that Maurice supposedly bought with her Dad's $ is a fake. Their little boy is beautiful and is very lucky to have the support system of Jessica's parents and Maurice's mom. Not sure how Jessica got from a nice house of her own in Vegas to a crummy trailer on a dirt farm, though.

Take away the family drama and there's very little 'mystery' here. Wish the writer spent more time on the murder story and less on 'Morgan is sooooo brave that it inspires Annika to spill her secret during a long awkward contrived scene in a comedy club'. I like Annika, but really, 12 hour-long episodes over 3 years just doesn't connect me enough to these characters to care much about their back stories. I want to see a clever/absorbing plot, please.

If Andy looked like Chance, or Chon, or even toothless Louie, and if he had actually shown up with the promised car, cash and maybe a house with a swimming pool, Brit would already have fulfilled her part of the 'bargain'. She's got buyers remorse. Speaking of Louie, boy, has he got Melissa's number. Kerok's mom seems like a sweetheart, but so did Redd's. Both of them will support their sons over the girlfriends, no matter what. I don't see either of these pairings lasting long.

Kerock sitting at the table looks TINY, like smaller than Derek from last season. I give him props for being able to haul Brittney's (flat) ass over those puddles. I don't think Bri is going to be able to compromise on the baby thing, though. Joynomi is just a mess. We haven't seen any 'throws her legs around jailbird's waist as they meet for the first time' scenes in the previews, so I'm thinking Red/Graylen opts for more misbehavior/additional jail time instead..

I would be happy to watch Andrew explore any old beach location his heart desires. Adorable.

He left without even telling poor old Hayley Mills! (Or did I doze off during an explanatory scene)?

Disappointing. The mystery was dumb, we all knew who would be 'guilty' early on, and I now officially dislike both Jesse and Sunny. I also didn't care about any of the victims, except possibly (as many have noted) Jay. Ebelle was shifty and self-pitying and for me, tarnished my sympathy with her gross, uncaring disposal of her daughter (and I don't believe Ebelle's story about the vodka, I think that she did give Precious FAS). Also, Ebelle was able to get a DNA analysis in 1988? Wouldn't that have been insanely expensive for a private citizen? I very much doubt that Hume could have been convicted of rape on the basis of nothing more than an old letter from a suicidal woman. I also didn't understand why he was 'fleeing' to the continent; once the scandal came out, he'd still be identifiable wherever he went. That said, the police are not there to mete out their version of 'justice', and I believe Cassie would have let Hume go, given the contradictory stories. If Jesse's so damn smart, why didn't she slow-clap Jay (who was also lying)? If Gorgeous Hubby didn't actually sleep with Psycho Sis, who did he sleep with? Because he sure acted guilty.

Seems to be new, and at the top of my 'favorite' list- the Liberty Mutual ad where 'Doug' is told on set that his character is going to have a piano fall on him. The past actor who played the 'Liberty-bibberty' spokesman is taking over! Too funny.

The Jared ad with 2 young women who look vaguely related. One says 'I always knew one of my love languages was gifting'. What kind of pretentious weirdo says stuff like that??

So allegedly Whit is 'just under' 300 lbs., and Hunter is 156? So he's basically half her weight? This doesn't jibe with what I'm seeing onscreen. He's only a few inches taller, and she looks to be at least three times wider than he is.

Made perfect sense to me, and you're right. It was very contrived and-dare I say- irrational.

Jesse deserves better, but his name is in the credits as a producer, so I guess this was what he wanted. I didn't fall asleep, but while thinking about the show 12 hours later, I had to strain to remember the plot and secondary characters. Also, I prefer crimes being solved via evidence rather than some guy (even an 'expert') theorizing. And actually, he needed that 5-year sobriety coin to clinch the case, no? Re. the scarrring, what little there was didn't bother me, but considering that he was burned over 60% of his body, it seemed odd that his neck, chest, forearms and hands seemed fine. I was actually more puzzled by the timeline. The church bombing happened 20 years ago, but Jesse is 54, so why did he appear to be an early-20's college student in the flashback?

Episode 3 of Chelsea Detective: fell asleep for part of it again, so I apologize if this was covered and I just missed it, but was there any foundation laid for the therapist being revealed as a rapist? This seemed to come out of nowhere, which I guess is just how the show rolls now. Also, why is Astrid back again? I thought last time it was implied she would be in Germany indefinitely caring for her mother. Now she's refurnishing her apartment, and already (apparently) has picked up a new boyfriend.

And I got the definite impression that Sunny was not enthusiastic, but that he was warily checking out his partner's vibe.

I even find myself actively disliking Jess's hair and clothing! I have to admit, I never did cozy up to Sharon Rader, either. Respect, but not affection. Let's see if Jess can at least get that from me eventually.

I watched season 2/episode 2 of Chelsea Detective, and I fell asleep halfway through. Is it just me, or are all these characters pretty dull? We only know a few things about Max: he's dyslexic, has an aunt, and doesn't want to accept the end of his marriage. His sidekicks are equally uninteresting, imo. Also, that plot? The suspect has a sister who looks a lot like her, and we only find out about her in the last ten minutes (OK, I woke up). In mystery-plot world, that's cheating. Of course I'll still watch- I do like the architecture, river boats, fancy lifestyles, etc., but this isn't exactly must-see TV.

I think that was a new episode last night? Terrible boob job and pig nose on a double lung transplant patient? Both ended up very much improved. I felt so much sympathy for the lung lady, she has been through hell. Freak of the night Skittles was the stuff of nightmares. He looked like a pink, puffy version of the scary clown from 'It'. I found it interesting that his 2 side pieces were very normal looking, no blown-up bits or crazy body modification.

First actual media report Crash

I watched on local PBS, so I don't know.

Interesting that in the 'behind the scenes' bit at the end of this episode, they made a big point of how they're trying to add humor/lightness to the series. TBH, this one did seem slightly less grim.

Did I miss where the top boss told Jessie that budgetary issues override everything else? I don't recall that being a major plot point in the last/Cassie seasons, but I could be wrong. I don't really understand Sunny turning down the job, if he believed in the value of solving cold cases.