Inquisitionist

After the brilliant opening of Every Sperm is Sacred, I found the rest of TMoF pretty disappointing. I think I love Grail and Brian equally. The latter has a more coherent narrative, but they are both full of memorable hilarity.

Interesting bit of trivia (well, to me, anyway): When Geraldine Page finally won an Oscar for The Trip to Bountiful in 1986 (after 7 prior nominations), Anne Bancroft was among the other nominees -- as was Jessica Lange!

Interesting point, Sarah 103. Costa Ronin (b. 1979) is a few years younger than Rhys (b. 1974) and Russell (b. 1976). I had thought Oleg was similarly a few years younger than their characters, perhaps more.

She realized they HAD mad a terrible mistake. Killing the poor guy at the greenhouse was never OK, but now learning that it wasn't even for their "cause"? Yikes. I agree, though, that this storyline has felt sloppy and end-point driven. No way that high-level ops like E&P would be sneaking around a greenhouse like that. They're much too valuable as people who cultivate contacts. Ha, that's literally what I said to my husband! Re point 1 above, I noticed E's question as well, and wondered about its significance. What was P's father doing to come up with the things he brought home? Re the second point, I think there is simply too much risk in having Mischa meet Philip at all. Now that would have been a hoot! We've already seen that Philip killed a young classmate as a boy himself. Good lord, how much more traumatic does it get than that?

There appeared to be only one female cast member in most of the Bradley Cooper sketches (aside from the "Sex" game show), and I have no idea who she was. Might have been Michaela Watkins. Was she on the show for only one year?

De Havilland is listed as 5'4" at IMDb, compared to 5'3" for both Davis and Crawford. CZJ and Sarandon are both listed as 5'7" with Lange clocking in at 5'8".

Life expectancy in the US is about 76 for men and 81 for women, and many of us know people who are far north of 80, so when a well-known person dies before 70, it does feel "too soon" to me. Over in the latest episode thread, Ghoulina asked: I recall when it was common for only half the acting nominees to show up. The no-shows were usually working on a current project (film or theater) or lived overseas. I don't think the studios were as liberal about letting them take time off and paying to fly them around back then. Plus travel took longer, and the broadcast was on Monday nights, so more disruptive to filming and theater schedules. Remember that "Anne Bancroft" said in last night's episode that she'd have to miss 3 performances in NYC, and she didn't feel she could do that to people who had paid to see her.

According to IMDb, Crawford was born in March, 1906, and Davis in April, 1908, just two years apart. According to Wikipedia, various sources give Joan's birth year as anywhere from 1903 to 1908. Who's to know? ;-)

Pastor Tim was not in this episode either. Come on, people! :-)

Katharine Hepburn had an even longer span between Oscar wins: From 1934 for Morning Glory to 1982 for On Golden Pond. But I do think there were more options for male actors of that era. I'm thinking, for example, of Clark Gable, who had no trouble being cast opposite much younger actresses like Doris Day and Marilyn Monroe in the late 50s and early 60s. Davis's Jezebel co-star Henry Fonda worked steadily throughout this period. Still, I'd have to agree that the "youth movement" of the 1960s made it more difficult for aging actors of both genders.

Pauline?

From the little I know of it, Merle Oberon's story is very complicated. When your upbringing begins with the fiction that your actual grandmother is your "mother" and that your actual mother is your "sister," and you are scorned for your "mixed parentage," I can understand wanting to create another equally false but professionally advantageous back-story.

Fixed it for you. It was a more subtle historical reference. ;-) I liked this episode a lot. That Bette needed to work, to act, and Joan needed to be a movie star, to be adored is being played very well.

Did anyone else catch WEHTBJ on TCM this week? While the plot relies on many people doing stupid things, its mood and the performance are effective, I think. Davis was not afraid to go all out, that's for sure!

Oh, shoot, I wish I had recorded that one. "I'm Elijah, the Prophet" always gets me!

Lange has actually won two Oscars, but that doesn't change my opinion. Different strokes!

I'm catching up on some later-season 30 Rock episodes that I missed the first time around and came across Bobby Moynihan as an engineer in one episode. Here's a photo.

Her career took a turn for the worse when she had an affair with Joseph P. Kennedy (father of the late president). After she turned to him for financial advice, he decided to invest in the film business and engineered a disastrous movie for Sawnson called Queen Kelly. I think it was way back in S1 that Betty Draper lamented how old Joan Crawford looked in a movie she and Don had recently seen. Different stroke and all, but I've never found Joan Crawford attractive let alone beautiful. I think Lange in her heyday could be quite beautiful, but I've never been that impressed by her acting.

Broderick had a pretty substantial supporting role in Lonnergan's 2000 film You Can Count On Me, another favorite of mine. Great casting, I thought. The girls looked even younger than that to me -- 6, tops. So I figured Lee and Randi were about 30 when the events happened, and in their late 30s in the present day scenes. Practicing Catholics don't do that. Besides, Joe had a burial plot with his parents -- that's where he wanted to be laid to rest, and Lee wanted to respect Joe's wishes as much as he could.

Elizabeth has often been shown preparing nutritious meals. I didn't get the feeling the kids were eating at Stan's due to lack of food at home.

A bit OT, but Hidden Figures was none of those and it has done very well at the box office.

Nice of them to remember BP, but what a terrible episode that was. I hope never to see Colin Quinn on my TV screen again.

Rough doesn't begin to describe it. Awful comes closer. Enjoyed last night's episode. Agree that the execution elevated some material that was kinda sketchy on its face.

Anyone know why he is credited as Dr. Paul Carlson at IMDb? And yet, I think both Sarandon and Lange look better than the younger characters they are playing did at the time. Haven't seen MV in ages. What a treat to see him show up here. "Peter" looked familiar but I did not recognize him as Reed Diamond till someone mentioned it here. His face seems thinner than I remember.

Do you recall its title? Is it by chance Prince Philip: The Plot to Make a King?