Featherhat

Yeah I have issues with how Carol and Susan treated Ross. I think the writers wanted a "Two Mommies is good" storyline, which is great and it was one of the only shows doing so in 1995 but it did mean Ross got treated as a sperm donor and no one really sympathised with him about that. If Carol had left him for another man who wanted to be Ben's only other parent no way everyone would expect him to be ok with it or be friends with them.

I remember that because it was the show that Hayden Christensen was on when he got cast as Anakin Skywalker and as a baby SW fan I watched it to see him. I liked it a lot actually and looking at the cast list its stuffed with TV stars and HITGs.

From the show it seemed like most of the couples weren't expecting or experiencing mutual sexual attraction, with the emphasis placed on other aspects of the marriage and "incidents" where things got "out of control" showing where the lay of the land was so to speak. Whether or not any human is 100% anything, let alone those guys is besides the point for me. It seemed like all the guys continued to "struggle" with "SSA" and it was damaging their marriages, whatever they actually feel for their wives. In a culture which tells you to marry young, you may not have the option of waiting for a wife whom you are attracted to and who will also accept the SSA. If you're of the mind set that you have to marry for religious and "being a member of the adult community" reasons then you're more likely to marry the first woman who shares you ideals, that is a good enough friend who says she can cope with you SSA as long as you will be a good husband to her etc than waiting possibly for a long time for a similar person who is one of the few people of that sex you are attracted to. For a lot of them the glib "dump the homophobic religion and move somewhere accepting" just isn't workable on a practical or personal level for some people and marriages where you go in honestly are better than a not giving the woman a the chance to make a decision and lying to her. And breaking away from a culture you desperately want to be a part of and agree with, but which can't accept you and is possibly teaching you not to accept you is horrible. But I wonder how many of guys in these marriages are secretly on the Down Low without their wives knowing, a fair few I would imagine.

I think some of these couples are "lavender marriages" where everyone is "same sex attracted" or however they want describe it. It seems like it would be more supportive and less fraught with pain or "incidents" if both parties acknowledged their lack of attraction to each other. Less pressure to "perform" when making babies as well. However I suspect that wouldn't have been interesting enough for TLC, they need the tension of the wives struggling to keep it together.

My first very young encounter with "Real person fic" was Hayden Christensen/Natalie Portman before Ep2 had even come out, when they were rumoured to have dated. It also included their non famous (real life) families. I thought it was horrible and have stayed away ever since, not to mention the general cringe factor. One fic author I know and admire who writes RPF said "but you read my fic when it was labelled Padme/Anakin" and it's basically the same thing. I still don't like it one bit, but people who write those fics aren't actually dealing with the real people, they're writing characters (sometimes) based on the vague personas of actors, or even just their character with the names and places changed. It's not hugely different from the types of TV shows which recreate political stories/ripped from the headlines without the permission of the people involved in the end. This isn't an endorsement but it's basically what a lot of tabloids do all the time. Now if you taunted an SO with your views that would be a different matter.

I think a lot of it is probably teen based, but in some fandoms there are a surprising number of people who claim to be older women, often married with kids, think “Twilight Moms” and I think it is/was also prevalent in the Supernatural fandom. I think a lot of people use fandom and TV as a harmless hobby and we’re all here to discuss TV in detail, but people do get over invested, not necessarily because “this is what “society” has come to but as an outlet for other pressures or issues on them, if nothing else is going that well or you’re using it as a break then its very easy to get over invested. One of my favourite authors once wrote a post on a mailing list that is dedicated to them, that rudeness in fandom has been going on as long as people have been obsessing about entertainment and making it mean more to them than just words on a page or people on a screen/in a theatre. In other words forever. There are descriptions of people getting very angry because they didn’t like the ending of one of Dickens serials and other “hatemail” from the Victorian period. It’s just like everything in the modern world communication can be world wide and instant.

Twisted certainly had a premise with potential that they started squandering in the 2nd episode. The Socio plot to a backseat to Jo's Pain at all times. Lacey's potential pain about a leaked sex tape with a guy she was famous for calling a socio a few weeks earlier took a back seat (and was no big deal) compared to Jo's Pain that Lacey and Danny were together behind her back. Jo even took forefront when it was revealed that Lacey's Dad had been on the Down Low for years.

Shouldn't that be "My Husband's bisexual"? Which if you were actually ok with it would be no big deal and TLC would have no footage, so I suspect its going to be "I think my husband's gay and married me because our church said so and I secretly hate it". It would be more interesting to me if the women were also lesbians having a marriage to a man for cultural reasons as well. As it is, having seen some Mormon "I'm gay but married a woman whom I totally love" videos I can smell the disaster from here.

I think they are baiting with "queer bating" but not necessarily "on purpose". SQ has been so very prevalent in fandom that they seem to feel the need to address it but aren't prepared to "go there" (nor do I think they should for that particular pairing). However as you say, so much of their "base source" (Disney) barely has any queer characters. Frozen and Brave are famous for having a eponymous princess who doesn't get married at the end, and they are almost the only ones. However I really do think they could do better, and not just SQ teases which I agree again are annoying. However there's no excuse for a "lesser" fairytale heroine to not find her princess or gender reversal, even if just for one episode.

I imagine that like Ruby/Meaghan Ory it was a case of "we love that actor/character" and if we don't sign then right away they are going to get another gig rather than having any specific storyline for them. And I think they might have signed him before they got final permission to do Frozen, which probably derailed any ideas they were going to use him for. As it is he had a bit role in 4A and I agree, I can't see it getting much better for 4B with everything we know so far.

Some of the cast and crew might play it up on social media right now, it gets a lot of retweets and discussion going (both grumbling and squees) and its better than getting called "homophobic" because you don't bother to mention them. That said I don't believe they are planning to move it any further to canon than it is now so a) its throwing them a pointless bone b) can come across as if not exactly queerbaiting, definitely annoying on that score, for all that I think its a crackship personally. I don't think Michael Coleman was lying when he said they've make fun of the ship and its fan on set, but that's another fandom blow up.

If they want to attempt to move the show to Scotland they need to introduce either or both Darnley and Bothwell this season, unless they are planning on Bash becoming one of them. IDK if its about Mary being strong whilst Francis is weak. They are both fairly poor monarchs, its just that Mary gets a lot of the pro action speeches whilst Francis doesn't. His whole arc with Narcisse was fairly terrible for me though, especially the Not Telling Mary or his mother to "protect" them malarkey. If it had ever come to it, no one would have believed that they had zero knowledge of a proven plot, their enemies wouldn't have cared if they were innocent or guilty and if you are a medieval or nearly-post medieval King one noble manoeuvring to try and blackmail you or become "the power behind the throne" is a blessing because usually it was 8 and you probably had *publicly* killed your predecessor.

I've heard it a lot from writers of different shows "writing happy people is boring, even if the audience says they want it, they hate happy couples!" etc. And that might be true to an extent, but that's not the same as simply always watching them wash the dishes. In 1a I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed Snowing in the Fairybacks, they took an often trite "True Love" type story mixed it around without being too cliché about that either, managing to show exactly why the curse was such a tragedy on two dynamic people. Katherine also gets multiple layers and moments of interest when the temptation was there to show her as a complete villain in Storybrooke even if she wasn't in EF. Since then they've very much floundered with relationships having anything but wallpaper depth. It's not enough that OQ are declared to be True Love by Tink if we never see that actually happen despite "obstacles" (his wife and kid). It would be like having to take on faith that Snowing were great back in the EF which justifies (or doesn't) their current situation without ever seeing why we should root for it. Beginnings of relationships generally aren't the "boring" part even in the real world. I think a lot of people living under the strain of near death all the time find ways to cope or else they just fold (or they fold and get back up again which would also make for interesting TV). They are often the ones most likely to grab five minutes for a bit of personal snuggling and call it a success, it's the reason "gallows humour" exists, but sometimes these characters do seem to go from crisis to crisis with no real emotion what so ever.

So true, future generations are going to mock the hell out of the Ugg boot as well. Fashion does change quickly I was thinking recently that the Sienna Miller - esque "boho chic inspired" fashions were all the rage around 9-8 years ago but totally disappeared and they still appear in episodes of British shows from around that time and it jars me a bit. I also grew up watching mid 90s kids TV in the UK and the clothing isn't so surprising but the Addidas tread really dates it now, along with the "more wholesome" jeans and sweaters that were better than the 80s versions but not by a whole lot.

Yeah, it seems like a Gina nom was considered a long shot but plausible after the many "breakout performer of the year" tags she got, although looking at her competition and the other people who could have filled that slot it was only faint hope, but the show was definitely a complete wild card. It must have been a roller-coaster of a week for the crew, prestigious AFI top 10, bad ratings, then a GG nom and into the (CW) history books and as the only network show in competition. Side note after seeing Mockingjay: Yael Grobglas (Petra) is playing a somewhat thankless role with some layers and was previously on Reign trying to do the same. But before that she was in the CW's 2nd attempt at a series on "The Selection" as the lead "America Singer" (who guess what? is a singer and a hater of oppressive tyranny etc) which still failed to get a green light but was supposedly better than the previous completely "Disney" attempt. It was supposed to be more Katniss- but I really can't see her in a physical role, is any of her Israeli work more physical? Then again the books seem more light weight than Disney's Sleeping Beauty.

I've never been a fan of Sugar Bear even at the height of this show's popularity, but even if he was cheating on her seven ways to Sunday, she's still dating a man who was convicted of several incredibly nasty rapes of children plural, including her own daughter. She automatically looses the "who is shittier?" Competition. I could see that he might drum up some interest in the local area as whilst I don't think he has much going for him he *is* on TV and that's an aphrodisiac to a lot of people. With the assumption of TV earnings and being famous for 15 mins combined with a "harmless" persona he might even have been considered a catch for a while, compared to what else might be on offer. That said I think almost all of what June said is BS to deflect the atrocious publicity she has, and she makes it worse every time she opens her mouth or writes on a keyboard.

Wow, I enjoy the show but I didn't see this coming. Yeah chances for a 2nd season even if they get a .02 just got way higher. It's particularly impressive because its the only broadcast show.

Ah that was it, yeah I didn't forget Snowing but I wondered if it was a "thing" and not just #thingswelearnedfromfriends. Aliasscape you have summed up internet (not just fandom) celebrity in one post.

It is hopelessly romanticized, but the timeline mess ups were deliberate. The author of the book called BS on Jacob having to wait 14 years to marry Rachel, saying that with life expectances in those days Rachel would be considered old or at least middle aged by the time he married her, and not young and fertile. Obviously she has trouble conceiving in the story but not because she was considered old. IIRC she said something about 7 years signifying "a long time" kind of like the theory that "40 days and 40 nights" isn't supposed to be literally that but a way of saying "after a long time". I'm not an historian or a Biblical scholar so I can't comment on the accuracy of that.

Wasn't there an old thing where if they had chemistry it meant they *weren't* doing it? Because if they were then all that chemistry would be used up actually having sex.

The way they twist fairytales around there's absolutely no reason why they shouldn't have Mulan and Aurora end up together. Fuck, you had Mulan in love with Phillip. LOST was fine on diversity, but I guess the writers see that as the difference between an international plane crash and largely white "beloved" (money making) cartoons. Not that they can't change that up lie they've changed so many things but it seems like its half hearted in this regard. Partly I guess is that they need an approximation in the same Disney dress at least once to keep the Disney synergy going. (All the time if you're Elsa and the best selling Halloween/Christmas princess dress ever etc). I would love if they bring in Tiana. I think she'd fit in well for an episode or arc. Having Chinese actors yes, having actual ancient Chinese customs is probably asking too much of this show, and even the "source" Mulan movie is a very, very far cry from the original source of her story, IIRC its ending is basically the opposite. As viewers I think its great to say what we hope might come up, even if no one from the network will read it because Hollywood execs *and* writers spend a lot of time hiding behind the shield of "oh well of course we'd love to but viewers are haters, watcha gonna do?"

That sketti made me feel sick when I saw that clip. It’s absolutely gross. Not even appetising in an “I know this is junk but it’s delicious in its full of sugar and, butter and processed carbs” way. There were also a couple of food bloggers who proved it’s actually cheaper to make a healthier meal with at least 500 calories less even if its more involved than just microwaving crap.

I just like the fact that it made me realise for the first time (As a teen thankfully) that there was a whole side of the Bible that struggled(es) to get acknowledged and had awesome stories to tell.

The female Peter Pan thing is because it happened in a lot of (historically British?) pantomimes/plays. Dick Whittington? Usually female to this day. As is at least sometimes, Jack in the Beanstalk, Aladdin (Chinese and Twanky version) (saw this trope in action last year at a big theatre although I'm aware not all venues use this). I'm not sure why it started and for some characters it seems arbitrary and based on who they can cast (I've seen a professional production with Cinderella's Prince as a soap actress as well) there is a tradition with some male characters being female and some female characters being played by "Panto dames" or dramatic equivalents.

Anna wouldn't be the first person in her situation to set up a donation page, and some of them succeed very well. I guess she thought that because she rightly deserves sympathy for what she went through and the public way she is going through it again thanks to her mother, then she would get a few thousand dollars at least. Some bloggers I've read over the years pretty shamelessly wave the tip jar (and some of them became well known hoaxes). I don't entirely blame her Essential Oils seem to be a big "business opportunity" for her "unfinished education, early baby and marriage" lots of pyramid company type schemes seem to be around, even (especially?) in the fundamentalist/conservative Christian young mothers blogs as its one of the only ways they can market a product. Anna isn't precisely that but the same "not even a GED" issue is there. If their little family can't survive on her husband's paycheck then her best bet is to see if she can get babysitting for even a part time job (her husband's family, are they in Alabama? I can't remember) or the same but part time community college and if they can manage it, a small job on top of that. There are ways that she can enhance her prospects, especially if any news source is willing to fund an "Anna is fighting back by being a Mom *and* going to college" article every now and then for the next year. Because unless you have a real way with words, you aren't going to make much with MLM and home business schemes these days.