Aquarius

That's my favorite, shamelessly stolen from a fellow poster here. (Sorry, I don't remember who, but thank you!)

Yes, I agree, some people are not worth helping or are beyond help. But on a show that purports to be about helping people, and whose host is constantly bragging about his crack investigative team (who NOTHING gets by) and his own finely tuned Bullshit-O-Meter (don't you DARE think you fool me!) - how do these people get on? Are we to believe that Phool makes a decision about whether or not these people deserve help as the conversation rolls out on camera? I don't. So then what is the point? What's the point of the show then, to parade out cases that don't deserve the Good Doctor's Host's help? To gape at their hopelessness? To admire Phool's resolve in withholding his services? (Because the resources are PRECIOUS, we've been reminded). These aren't random callers, FFS. They're screened. So cut me a break.

"Prove you're as wacky as Ree and collect them all!" Yeah, no thanks. Why does Helen Keller look like Deborah Harry? https://www.themercantile.com/collections/rees-picks/products/finger-puppets-fridge-magnets?variant=28275295171 And Rosa Parks looks like Sammy Davis, Jr. https://www.themercantile.com/collections/rees-picks/products/finger-puppets-fridge-magnets?variant=28275295427 And Eleanor Roosevelt. I don't think there's a word in English to describe this. Maybe "covfefe". https://www.themercantile.com/collections/rees-picks/products/finger-puppets-fridge-magnets?variant=28275295683

You got used to it. She's even more of a lollipop since she started starving herself.

Yes, that episode is painful. I understand what they were trying to convey, but I didn't need to spend a half an hour watching it. Very unfunny. My hate, hate, hate reunion episode is Cliff's birthday. I just cringe at how mean Carla is. I got acerbic on Cheers, but in this episode she is just downright mean and nasty. Acerbic I can laugh at. Mean and nasty I cannot. I hate that I even watched this, because it sort of ruined Carla and Cheers for me forever.

I could have sworn I've seen Ree make boil-in-bag eggs before. I thought the advantage she gave then was that your guests could mix up whatever they wanted, all the bags go in the water at the same time, and all the custom "omelets" are ready to serve at the same time. Which makes a certain kind of sense (personally, I'd just make a couple of quiches in advance, or scramble some eggs and serve them with sides, but to each his own). But just as a "hack" to make the eggs, no.

I tuned in late. She was calling her mother "Vicky" or whatever and carrying on about children, and I honestly thought her mother was her ex-husband's new wife, or her sister. Wow. A rough 40 for sure. Her mom looks younger than she does and so does her dad. I noticed the tongue thing. I first noticed it when she was listening to her brother, but then she was doing it later, This whole thing could have been a one-parter. About forty-five minutes of today's consisted of unconstructive yelling. What s the point?

I have seen the clip of Nicole spitting out the foccacia before. I'd never seen the whole thing, and now that I have, it's put a whole new spin on it. Giada was awful, as usual, at one point shrieking, "And the woman who CAN'T COOK rolled a perfect ball!" Maybe that's her way of being playful, but it comes across as shrill and not very nice. And Ellen started jawing on that foccacia long before Nicole ever said anything about it being tough. Seeing the whole thing, it comes across less that Nicole was mean girl and more that Nicole was riding a train that had long earlier gone off the rails (albeit a bit gleefully).

I could be misremembering, but I thought a point was made about Frasier not actually having signed the contract (just considering it), so that's how I always interpreted the ending as well. I actually liked Frasier on Cheers (although IMO he's very different on Frasier). But I agree, no one on Cheers was likeable . . . I never noticed that until it went off the air and I was watching in re-runs, which I will no longer do. And the character's guest appearances on Frasier? Barring Lilith and Diane, I was left thinking, "These people are odious! Why did I waste so much time on them?" I never could view Cheers again the same.

I'm down for Bobby, Valerie, and Tyler, but I could go for that too.

Nah, I think your rage is reasonable.

I didn't see the show or Robin today, but at the end of Monday's show she looked like a scarecrow walking out with Phool. A bobble-headed scarecrow. In the Wicked Witch's dress.

Martita was the one shoved into the Fiery Latina box by LBH. Susie Jimenez was accused repeatedly by Medusa of "running from her heritage" until she finally caved and started telling stories about her abuela while making carne asada. I don't even think LBH was a regular yet. I felt so sorry for Susie. She was so enthusiastic about what she had learned about French cuisine, but that never mattered because she was born Mexican, and Mexican she must cook.

I'm similarly in denial, and math-challenged as well, so there are times I've said things to my husband, "But that was 1996! That was only about 10 years ago!" It always comes as a shock when he corrects me. :-( The aughts have really messed me up.

I know it's your culture and you would never tire of it. But I think the rest of us have, at least what's mostly represented on TV. I know I have, including Lidia, although I will tune in when there's nothing else because she's so comforting. Trends come, trends go. When it's not your culture, you're looking for something different . . . and Italian no longer is. Alton may have once brought the acid, but towards the end he just made the dish bitter. I don't miss him. I agree that Bobby and Giada need some counterbalance, though.

Danushka: I can't possibly smile and talk at the same time. It's an Eastern European thing. Bitch, please. You were raised in Canada. My Polish grandparents (from Poland) had no problem smiling while they talked. So Rock'N'Roll Sushi didn't work out in his season (who woulda guessed?). Josh decides to take it in a different direction by invoking his 3-year-old son. Like I care what he feeds his precious little crotchfruit. Apparently Tyler and Valerie agree. One point for them. Emilia is a mommy? Ooooh, stop the presses, that's so unusual! Because I don't know any other mothers who cook . . . what a unique viewpoint! During her season, Joy was a mother to five. Now she's a mother and stepmother. Working a new angle? Either way, she's as annoying as she was the first time. I'm surprised her IRS problems didn't prevent her from reappearing. OK, I'm disappointed that her IRS problems didn't prevent her from reappearing. I didn't watch Jamika's season. But I think she looked beautiful. I loved her hair and her jewelry.

Yes, needy stupidity covers it. Which is the reason I hate the catfishing episodes. I can't get into calling people out on such a sad thing. It's sort of like making fun of the handicapped. And self-aware enough to mention that his patients fear that he's overcharging them to compensate for the amount he's into with the con game. Inconceivable. Something is wrong with him. So, what is Phool's latest theme? Bringing on badly behaved children and then hanging it all on the mother? Today's show . . . the father was sitting right the F there, but Mom has to answer for all the snotty-assed sons do wrong? Did I miss the part where the father said he's not involved in any of the decision making in that house? Why should she be called to task for all the stupid decisions and mixed messages, while her husband gets to sit there unchallenged? Isn't Phool all about same-gender role models in the household? According to that belief, the one who should have been put on the spot for his bad parenting was Dear Old Dad.

Yes, I forgot about the super-extended scene of the check being ripped up. Complete with a close-up of the pieces being ripped ever so smaller. Lame indeed. I hate the catfishing episodes. Absolutely hate them. But I was too lazy to get the remote on Friday and ended up seeing the second half of the dude taken in by "Kimberly". At the end there was an update on Dr. Mark, where Phool's crack team of super investigators found the real woman behind the fake photo that took him in . . . and I just don't know what to say. This guy is still trying to get those steel boxes out of Nigeria, and he doesn't want to see the real woman behind the picture because he's used to dealing with the fake and she's got a certain personality that he's used to . . . so he knows he's being conned but he's fallen for whoever is behind the pictures. Man. That is one sad case of I don't even know what to call it. Willful delusion?

I'm very sad too. My parents would not pay for cable. I got married in late 1992 and it was the first time I had unlimited access to MTV. My sister and I were addicted. My husband would come home after working on Saturday and find us glued to the TV and he would just sigh, "Are you watching MTV AGAIN?" The addiction lasted a few years. Heavy on the rotation during that time was the video for "Black Hole Sun." I already loved Soundgarden but that video made me fall in love with Chris Cornell (That line, that delivery, "Til you all just disappear"). I've loved him ever since. I cried in the car when I heard this morning.

Yes, I was older than that but in a bad place when I discovered Soundgarden and Alice In Chains and Sonic Youth and the rest of it. There was catharsis there. Kurt Cobain's suicide shook me but by then I could be a little bit analytical. I don't know that many will understand this, but Courtney Love got me through that. Her reading of (parts of) the note - her raw reaction - that picture of her and Frances in the park - her spinning a little out of control in the aftermath - her bringing it together as best she could being as she is a mess herself - I don't know how to describe it, but I figured if someone as messed up and damaged as Courtney Love could survive, I could too. Might not make any sense but I'm sad about Chris Cornell and some pinot noir is involved, and there it is.

I often think that about the footage that comes out later, whether the person is a victim or a crime, attack, or police brutality. Whatever. There were people standing around with their smartphones facing forward who just . . . filmed. It's so inhuman.

I was not at the concert, but I heard a report this morning on my radio station that said Chris Cornell was "ebullient" during the performance and in unusually good spirits, eliciting more audience participation than usual. Since then, I've been bracing for the news that it was a suicide. It happens, someone who has been suffering so long and finally comes up with a plan and a date and a decision - it's like a load off, and they can relax and be happy. It will all be over soon. I've heard some really nasty unsympathetic reactions to suicide, but having been there and looked into its face, and only having backed away because I did not know for sure what would happen to me after death . . . in essence, my cowardice kept me from completing the act . . . I can never ever judge. Whatever pain makes a person take that step, I can only imagine how bad that pain must be, to choose that. I loved you, Chris Cornell. I hope you found the peace you were looking for. Thank you for everything.

Not only is all of that true, when he told the mother and boyfriend to liquidate the expensive stuff to pay down the debt, he said, "You heard her. It's all your fault. You need to deal with this." If that was sarcasm, Phool needs to work on his delivery, because it didn't come off sarcastic. And the "OK, fine, goodbye" came after he asked the mother whether she would sell the things she bought her daughter, and the mother said, "Well, most of them." Then Phool did the whole dismissing-the-person-who-refused-his-help . . . as if this WAS the mother's and boyfriend's problem to fix. It was so weird, this episode.

Ted Nugent (I actually despise him as a person) The Who Red Hot Chili Peppers Van Halen Radiohead most R. E. M. Rihanna Lynyrd Skynyrd

I agree. And the stupid things she said, unchallenged by the good "doctor", it really felt put on for effect. Rosie Mercado said something about being thrilled about working with the Dr. Phil Show and the way she said it made it seem permanent or at least recurring. So maybe this was her introduction as the undercover . . . what, I'm not sure . . . but they seemed to spend a lot of time on her story for just a one-time appearance as. . . what, I'm not sure. No. That actually would have been refreshing, this episode was so very bad.