film noire

I never liked Heather much or trusted what I thought was her 'playing to the camera' real grrl persona (what grown ass woman goes snooping through other people's bedrooms to report back to la Principessa on private sexual matters?) but her behavior at Aviva's party slapped a whole different level of ugly all over her, imo. If my husband ever spoke to me (even in a heated moment with someone else) the way she spoke to Jonathan -- as if he were a pestering fool undeserving of even being heard, a peon to be brushed aside with a curt, dismissive brush-away - we’d be knee-deep in counseling immediately. That kind of casual, underlying contempt is pure poison.

When tv is at its best, absolutely -- off the top of my head, Don Draper standing with his children in front of a whore house, telling his children, "This is where I grew up"; the killing of Adriana, Claire Fischer's arc in the final Six Feet Under montage,the first episode of The Daily Show post 9/11; further back, the ending of MASH, the finale of MTM, several moments in St. Elsewhere -- yeah, they all brought a tear to my eye. I agree -- so ham-handed.

I’m at the point where I’m almost sure (actually, pretty damn close to a state of absolute certitude) that everyone on the show is just a character in Max’s mind. Nothing else makes sense. It's the ol' Little Tommy with autism on St Elsewhere bit; the final Parenthood episode will be Max playing with a snow globe in a grubby apartment and in will come an exhausted Adam -- he's the janitor, not the owner of the recording studio -- and he'll try to talk to Max and Max will (quite sensibly) push his father away and return to his lovely fantasy world full of aunts who are either playwrights or photographers or bartenders, depending on Max's mood, mothers who run for mayor of major American cities at the drop of a hat, uncles who inexplicably -- and suddenly -- leave marriages for no discernible reason, one very special playmate who has the same problems Max does -- but he's bigger and taller and older so he can keep Max safe (especially from the other playmates who are either crippled or given to peeing in canteens, who are then banished, never to be seen again in Max World). And lastly, two sisters who fade in and out of Max's fantasy at will -- depending on his state of boredom -- everybody in his head moved around like paper dolls, no rhyme nor reason to be found other than the hyper-activity of an autistic mind seeking novelty and stimulation. This whole crazy, illogical, sorry mess of a show is all in the damn kid's head.

From recipes to Ree to the ranch, this is the place for Pioneer Woman snark -- so pour yourself a lemonade, serve yourself a sheet pan of oven toast and set awhile (all credit to grisgris for one of the most inspired topic titles ever).

I think flirting is fun and fine and wonderful (regardless of age) but two things made my toes curl while watching her; the young men clearly weren't into it and had no graceful exit available to them, and Carole was so needy & desperate for attention, I felt like I was watching a stray dog begging for a home. None of it felt like fun-at-the-beach; just poignant and sad and off-putting. Or they'll get into the cordial and do nothing but fight:)

What a great -- AND BELIEVABLE -- idea (you could always accommodate the inclinations of the actress by having Amber find her into becoming a music therapist for troubled kids).

Inability to make plans and follow through, difficulty grasping other's needs, unwillingness to change course; all qualities Joel NEVER showed before. I swear, it's as if Asperger's has taken over the writer's room and they can't create anything that isn't seen through that prism.

For me the two ugliest events which haven't lessened with time and what remains (friends don't let friends pun drunk!) is Aviva’s disgust when she described Ramona and Sonja in bed together (borderline homophobic, to my ear) and calling Ramona and Sonja (calling anyone, for that matter) “white trash”. Classist and possibly gay-averse; not my favorite twofer.

Hello, Previously TV (dig the name). I am a TWOP user as well (nine years posting/forever reading before that) and I'm very happy there's a place welcoming all the TWOP dustbowl migrants -- thanks!

Carleton, the leather queen -- of skin, not sex -- spent her whole season in search of a storyline and imo, never quite found one. Sex room, sex toys, dry-humping her own mother-in-law (not that dry-humping anybody *else's* MIL would be more palatable); a version of Wicca that even Endora would reject; Pentagram-gate interspersed with random rages about labeling, bigotry (while Carleton herself was busy labeling everything in her sightline). Plus homework with her child, to provide some sense of normalcy, I assume. (Shot all to hell when she told her own daughter "Tell them your mama is hawt" -- wtf, say again? Am I watching "To Catch a Predator" all of a damn sudden?) It was one of the weirdest "one and done" housewife arcs ever for me. (And I would love to have a season of The Real Housewives of One and Done; how frantic and manic would *that* show be?)

Ha! I'm not usually a fan of Kyle or Joyce's hair (to my eye, when it comes to their styling it feels like The Ring vs. the Thing) but you have a point about Joyce being a stealth hair-player; how did she make her bitch-fight debut? By touching Lisa's locks -- which erupted into the all-too-tiresome Hairgate --coincidence? I think not!

Even after a full season, I am left mystified why Joyce jumped into this thing. Her husband is an actual Hollywood player, she's in a show on network tv and she doesn't need this kind of publicity to promote herself -- wealth, access and contacts are already in her hands, she's no Mildred Pierce frying up chicken to get ahead -- so why associate with this low-rent, gutter-sniping "bitch down in aisle five" show? I don't get it.