Inquisitionist

Sounds like Aniston is saying she didn't really know how to act until recently. I haven't seen The Morning Show, but I was not impressed by her in many of the movies she made early on. To this day, I do not understand the raves she got for The Good Girl.

Good god, what were the school administrators thinking?

One of the best movies I've ever watched -- and I haven't been able to bring myself to watch it a second time. It was that devastating.

Heavy on atmosphere, shoddy on story-telling. Reviews suggest this imbalance doesn't improve over time. I'll watch some more, but so far, I'm more puzzled than intrigued.

Sorry, that was a typo. In the book, Evelyn is about 31.

I think the age difference between the characters in the book was deliberate -- Evelyn was about 31 and the rabbi was around 60. The fact that Evelyn was drawn to the rabbi despite her youth and "options" (which were already limited for an unmarried woman over 30 at that time) was, I think, part of the point. Ryder's characterization seems more "little girl lost" than the impression I drew of Evelyn from the book.

Totally agree with your first paragraph. It started with an interesting premise, but did very little with it. Devolved into a bland romcom. And here I'll part ways with you, as I felt no romantic chemistry between the two leads. Also agree with your first parargraph. I wouldn't say I hated it, but at the end, I turned to my husband and said "meh."

Thanks for the Netflix tip. I will look for this.

Interesting. This is one of my favorite musicals!

In the book, Evelyn is younger than Bess rather than older. I wonder if the show runners thought they needed the name recognition of Winona Ryder and therefore made the character older. A friend recommended the book to me, so I am reading it and watching the series on Demand simultaneously (keeping ahead of the show in my reading). My friend loved the book and had some problems with the adaptation to TV. I'm the other way around. The book is told first person by Phil, the younger son, and that perspective gets tiring for me. There are some incidents and recountings that I find to be, frankly, a slog to get through. The TV series isn't perfect, but I find it moves along better, especially with refocusing things to more adult perspectives. I'm particularly enjoying the actor who plays Alvin, and liking his character more on the screen than in the book. (I've watched through episode 3.)

I want to watch it again, too. I miss the characters. I've also been thinking that living a circumscribed life due to coronavirus forms a kind of connection with the characters here, who live circumscribed lives for other reasons.

Gad, how did I miss this news? Thanks for letting us know. Her photos, and general aesthetic, were so influential. I find many reasons to love Best in Show, but Fred is way up there. His line about a dog leaving the show floor in disgrace, like Shoeless Joe Jackson, had me falling off our couch.

Thanks for the tip about the youtube interview. I will look for that. ETA:

In my experience, lots of people do this, so why wouldn't Ross? 😉

I watched The Music Man recently. Great songs and some funny gags, but I guess I'm immune to the charms of both Robert Preston and Harold Hill. I wish Marion had kicked him to the curb but good. Interestingly (to me, if no one else), TMM won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1958 along with 4 other Tonys, including one for Preston. It prevailed over West Side Story, which won only two Tony Awards, for choreography and set design. Fast forward to the early 1960s. The movie adaptation of WSS is released in 1961; the next year it is nominated for 11 Academy Awards and wins 10, including Best Picture. TMM has its movie release in 1962; it is nominated for 6 Oscars (none for acting) and wins only for Best Musical Score (Adaptation or Treatment). What a difference!

I didn't remember much about that Ray Charles episode from when it first aired, but I must have seen it, as the Young Causasians' (or whatever they were called) rendition of "What DID I Say?" haunts me. The episode was a thing of beauty. Ray was so funny, and his musical performances -- wowee! Plus we had Belushi doing impressions of both Mr. Charles and Marlon Brando as the Godfather. Great choice, SNL!

OK, I think I'm missing something. What "full cycle" did you get? Melissa's two-story looked like a lot more space that she could possibly afford in NY. Any idea where she was? Also must say that Brad Pitt's wig and make-up as Fauci were really well done. Doubt that was pulled off with social-distancing.

Now that I've finished S2, I know what you're referring to! But I don't have an answer. Did anyone else have access to the apartment? I'm wondering if the grandson who found the dog to begin with came back for it.

Yes, the Israeli series Shtisel (which I also watched recently on Netflix) portrays a more functional Hareidi family in Jerusalem. While problems abound in that series, just as with any group of people, I was struck by the underlying sense of love and commitment they had toward each other. Shira Haas, who played Esti, has a supporting role in Shtisel, filmed when she was quite a bit younger. She's equally compelling there!

After watching the first 4 episodes with my husband, I just ripped through the remaining 20 on my own while he and I were apart! But I'll gladly rewatch it with him, as it's been one of the few Netflix series we've been able to agree on lately. I thought the 2nd season moved a little slowly at times, and the foibles of Shulem and his son Akiva in affairs of the heart started to feel a little repetitive, but I still enjoyed it. It ended on hopeful notes, but certainly left the door open for further storytelling. It would be interesting to see what the show runners could do with a 3rd season, which would have to be set a few years later given the time that has passed since S2 was filmed (2015, I think). While the focus for much of the series is on Shulem and Akiva, I found myself drawn to the female characters, particularly Shulem's daughter Giti. I though the actress portraying her looked like a dark-haired version of Angela from the office. And while she had a similar reserve and determination as that character, Giti also had a kind heart. I would have liked to see more of her. I missed Elisheva in the 2nd season, though the way her story with Akiva ended made sense. Lastly, I wish a little more had been done with the female painter whose studio was next to Akiva's, Hadassah. She felt like a potential good match for Akiva, though I got the impression her family was not as observant as the Shtisel family was, which could have been an impediment to a match. Yes, it really commands one's attention! No multi-tasking allowed. 😉

Aha, I knew it! In episode 5, the Shtisel family discusses how their father will live once Akiva moves into an apartment with his bride, Esti. So Akiva was lying to his potential match in ep. 1 when he said He really did want to turn her off!

After I had finished Unorthodox, both Netflix and a friend recommended Shtisel, an Israeli about a Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) family in Jerusalem. My husband and I have watched the first 4 episodes (there are 2 seasons, 24 eps in all) and like it very much. I've opened a topic thread in the Other Dramas forum, if anyone else decides to watch it.

Just found this Israeli series from 2015 on Netflix, after watching Unorthodox. Unlike that series, Shtisel (a family name) is set in Jerusalem, but it also deals with an ultra-Orthodox community, in this case referred to as Haredi. I've watched the first two episodes so far (there are 2 seasons, each with 12 episodes). I'm enjoying the characters and the everyday dilemmas they are facing. At the center of things is the youngest son of a rabbi, Akiva Shtisel, who seems to be a tad lost. At 24, he is past the age at which most males in his community are already married, but he can't seem to connect with "the right girl." We see him on a series of "first dates" or meetings arranged by a local matchmaker. The young women are generally attractive and devout, but he's not interested. Indeed, when he told one young woman that they would have to live with his father after marriage, I wondered if he had made that up to turn her off. Instead, Akiva becomes intrigued by a somewhat older woman, Elisheva, the twice-widowed mother of one of the young school boys he has recently begun teaching. Elisheva seems rather amused by Akiva, whom she regards as an overgrown child, but is not interested in marriage with him. The first two episodes both have some interesting dream or fantasy sequences. I was very moved by Elisheva's "hallucination"of imagining of her two dead husbands conversing about her and her son in the kitchen in the middle of one night. There are also storylines about Akiva's father, Shulem, a rabbi who has been widowed for a year as the series opens; Akiva's sister, Giti Weiss, whose husband appears to have abandoned her and their 5 children (the eldest daughter is played by Shira Haas, who was so wonderful 7 years later as Esty in Unorthodox); and other family members. It may feel a tad soapy, but the stories are told with nuance and consideration -- in contrast to the actual soap, The Bold and the Beautiful, that their grandmother discovers in her old age when she goes to live in a nursing home complex where all of her friends have "that box" in their rooms. I hope others are finding this lovely series. I would love to chat about it!

Just started watching Shtisel. If I open a topic for the show, will you meet me there?

I thought the story line in Berlin had too many coincidences that combined to make Esty's transition unrealistically easy. Interestingly, according to the making of video, that's the part the show runners created in order to protect the author's privacy to some extent, while the scenes in Brooklyn are supposed to be drawn more directly from the book. But I loved the characterizations and performances. Shira Haas is a marvel, of course, as Esty. Amit Rahav was also wonderful as Yanky. The open-ended conclusion seems to be setting us up for further episodes. I would continue watching.