Ottis

I thought that was Putin at first. Which, come to think of it, still would work. This was a good episode, but I thought the audience was low key. Not many reactions besides the directed applause screams. Sometimes it seemed like the timing wasn't quite right on the lines. The ale house with the cops seemed awkward instead of funny, because of the hesitant timing of some lines. Loved the cold open ... if only it were real. And the skit about worst/best Christmas is pretty much a universal experience if you have kids. And I liked the back-of-the-tree skit a lot. Didn't care for the Jungle Bells skit, but I never like the swarmy hotel act skits. Westminster Daddy. Sigh. Wonder what the reaction would have been if it had been a Westminster Mommy skit?

This was dumb. What did Oliver and Barry do that caused any issues? They simply said they were each other. This team has seen enough weirdness that at the very least they could give them the benefit of the doubt. I had stopped watching this show for a season or two because of things like that. Guess I’ll go back to not watching.

True, but the theme of this ep was hyperbole, so that was just one example. I love this show when there are family mix ups that are grounded in reality. I despise this show when everyone acts in ways that no normal person would act in. Which, BTW, is one reason why I tend to not like the Mitch and Cam story lines. Farce is fun, but not on a show like this, IMO. YMMV.

Ugh, the worst kind of episode. Every plot point stemmed from someone doing something stupid and/or lack of communication. The only part I laughed at was Lily having a cellphone for 3 seconds. They might if they fly through Chicago.

I moved to Indiana in the early 90s, and as an outsider my perception of Knight going in was that he was an asshole. I knew that he won, but I would see his antics on TV or read about them in newspapers and think, "What a jerk." After moving to Indiana my exposure to Knight coverage increased, and I would see him in press conferences being an ass to reporters who asked decent questions. "Why the hell do those reporters put up with that?" I would ask. I never, ever understood why so many people in that state loved him. Winning doesn't excuse the behaviors everyone saw, much less the ones that were uncovered and forced him out. BTW, Bob Knight is what made me a Purdue fan. Since then, nothing Knight has said or done has shown any remorse or understanding that what he did was wrong. I've long since left Indiana but visit from time to time. There are many people there who still love him. Wonder what they think of this 30 for 30?

Mrs. Ottis, who normally isn’t one to think among these lines, pegged the Madison couple as swingers. Once we saw the pageant stuff, we knew it would be the biggest house. I grew up in VA. “Rancher” isn’t a thing. It’s sonething that family says.

In my experience, life coaches tend to be people who aren't actually good at anything else! It belongs with beauty products consultant, real estate agent and car salesperson as a career for people who don't have a talent that is a real career. I was with the dude - "So?" Loved that he said it. When I posted last week that when they got around to Dan finding a love interest it would get interesting, I didn't realize it would happen so fast. What I liked about it was how nonjudgmental the family was that a woman was interested in Dan. I thought we might be subject to a lot of, "How could you! Mom just died X ago!" And we weren't. Thank you. I like Darlene and Becky. Honestly, while an occasional line or reaction doesn't hit me right, this feels like a real family. I think about the characters as people vs. characters. That doesn't happen often.

I just now realized that connection. I had assumed it was something about his clothes and Pfunk's costumes. Do'h!

This was on the first vinyl album I bought, as a young teen. I also loved Flashlight, which I was thrilled to discover was shown at the end of the second Guardians of the Galaxy. I actually played tuba in a brass quartet that played Flashlight when we were in middle school. Love me some George Clinton and Pfunk! That was definitely the strategy, to go against type. I thought JM was really into it, and he did fine with line readings. And I'm definitely weird, as I find Gemma hot and those skits always make me laugh at some point (though this one wasn't as good as past versions). The Rudolph skit was perfect. So glad I kept watching instead of deleting.

I liked the concept of the Buddha Box. I hated that song at the end, whatever that country song was.

This is why I can't watch the new Will & Grace, BTW. So much shouting. I keep wondering what kind of cop she was, because the choices we see aren't just bad, they are dumb. Maybe she was a police counselor or something. Also, I thought Dan showed tremendous restraint with Peter in the restaurant. I think that's right. This is less about this particular guy than it is about Darlene finally learning there are other types of relationships, and they aren't all wrong just because they aren't what you prefer. The guy I can take or leave, aside from the fact that he must be a good guy, so that we are looking at Darlene's thoughts instead of focusing on a guy who sucks. The interactions with Darlene, where you can see her pondering a different path, are what matters. Overall, this ep wasn't as funny as last week, but I like where they are going as they stretch characters. If the show lasts long enough for Dan to find a new love interest, THAT will be interesting.

Interesting. As we watched this ep, having some familiarity with conservative Kansas as well as the adjacent Midwest, Mrs. Ottis and I both said this couple needs to move somewhere other than Wichita! I guess the article above says they moved because of another job change (didn't they move to Wichita because of a job change? If you have that many job chances, maybe you shouldn't buy a house each time), but I imagine there was more to it than that. Hope they are happy wherever they are!

The Netflix skit didn’t even make any sense. Netflix just canceled 3 Marvel shows, including the very good Daredevil. The Dad Christmas skit was offensive, and even the audience felt it. Only made it to WU. Might add more.

I actually dug the look of these shows, and some of them (especially DD) had a lot to offer. I thought the different franchises should have been connected more, so that you have this world where the backdrop is the same and the heroes mix but each hero has his/her own burdens. Having completely different shows (aside from a cameo or two of lesser characters) was A LOT of content. In any case, this feels to me like Disney f*ing it up. Removing competition so that their own, inferior versions of this content is the only game in town. That's what Disney does.

I'm amazed at how nonchalant buyers seem to be over HOA fees. Because unlike your set house payment, HOA fees keep going up. If you sign up for $500 a month in HOA fees, in 5 years it will be $600. Or more. And often you rarely use the amenities those high HOA fees cover. A club house? A fitness center? I don't want to be paying indefinitely for those things. My current favorite HH silliness is the 25-30yo new homeowner who calls the home they broke the budget for "our forever home." YOU ARE 30! All sorts of things will change in your life, including most likely where you live!

I know. I've been part of those discussions. But my recollection is that, for the most part, in those earlier episodes Mark wore clothes out that were typical for a boy. At the mall gathering election comments, for instance, Mark was wearing pants/jeans (they were decorated, but they weren't a skirt). The Halloween stuff doesn't count because it's Halloween. And it doesn't matter what he wears at home, as the family has addressed it. But to school? I know that schools are better at handling this than they were, but I lived in neighboring Indiana, have relatives there now and it would seem like wearing a skirt would be a step too far even for a school trying to be aware. I would have liked the show to have addressed this in passing at least. My fear is that, without at least some commentary, the show will make it a central issue when some schoolmate punches Mark over it. Ugh.

Agree. This may have been the best show so far for me. The writing and reactions were tight, and everything was plausible vs. people being stupid to create TV drama. Well, except the overall lesson that the Connors are a village to raise Becky's baby. That's a great sentiment. In reality, the Beckys of the world having a baby usually sucks for everyone, including the baby. The one part that seemed out of place was Jackie making the chickens into something around Dan not wanting her there. Purely in the context of this episode, that came out of left field. There was no evidence that Dan's disinterest in chickens had anything to do with Jackie. Dan (rightly) thought it was an expense they didn't need (and apparently when he caved in, he paid for it in more ways than one). Jackie suddenly making his initial refusal into something about her seemed very self-centered. Maybe in the original Roseanne two decades ago Dan didn't like Jackie hanging around? The lesbian couple thing was a bit herky jerky but I get it. I mean, IRL getting a baby shouldn't boil down to a conversation in a bar and then a distraught pregnant woman on your doorstep, and then losing the opportunity to adopt shouldn't be the distraught pregnant woman saying "never mind" without paying any attention to the disappointed couple. But this is a 30-minute TV show. Becky carried this ep, and while her delivery still seems a bit programmed to me, she seems to be blossoming post-Roseanne Barr. I do have a question about Mark. So Mark is definitely a he physically and in the way others address him, but goes to school in skirts? I am a huge supporter of LGBTQ rights and respect those who face gender identity struggles. However, unless schools have changed drastically since I was in them, a boy wearing a dress would not be without issues - especially in the Midwest. On this show, no one even mentions it. Mrs Ottis even asked during this ep whether we had missed that the family had started treating Mark as a girl and that matter was closed, but then Darlene said "he" so guess not.

It's fun debating this! There was a scene in the finale (I think, possibly one before) of Fisk walking to a microphone while "the public" chanted slogans against him, holding up signs. And as he talked about how he was framed and they were manipulated, the jeers died out and the crowd became quiet. Then, later in the episode, we hear some dialogue from a radio or TV show (or maybe it was a conversation DD could hear), where a regular Joe or Jane says Fisk was framed and didn't do those things. The point of all of that was if Fisk can manipulate powerful people with resources, then manipulating the public is a breeze for him. Going public might have alerted more people to what was going on, but Fisk would have had an answer for it and turned it to his advantage. And the only way the FBI could stop it would be for an incredibly courageous leader to step up (a la Gordon in Batman), and from what we saw, that wasn't likely (and even if it happened, Fisk's superpower is persuasion and planning, not wanton violence - could Gordon have beaten Fisk? Seems unlikely). So I think the show addressed this point adequately to not go in that direction. YMMV.

That's part of the problem for Karen and team, though - how far up, and how wide, is the corruption? I predicted the female FBI boss as a stooge almost as soon as we met her, because there was something off about the way she listened to Nadeem's theories without objection, as if she were going to then inform someone. But as far as Karen, Matt and Foggy know, anyone can be part of Fisk's circle. That's why Matt felt he had to take matters into his own hands. Meanwhile. Foggy tried "the system" and, for the sake of the show's themes, it also worked. As for Karen, given all her poor decisions all season long, I'm not sure I would count on her to pick the best path, anyway. That is exactly the way we looked at it, and I loved that the show gave him a super power. And that Matt saw it and warned people that "this is what he does - he finds a weakness and he uses it." It creates a unique relationship between DD, who ultimately has to use blunt force, and Kingpin, who uses his super power and then goes to blunt force when DD or others can shake Kingpin's self control. WAY better than fighting 172 ninjas from The Hand.

That's where the second half of season one went, and that was disappoint ing. It cheapened a great premise. But the idea of having Fisk have a similar goal but different means is intriguing and like I said, I wish they had spent more time on that.

Really liked this season and this series. Lots of philosophical discussion underpinning it all. And Fisk is fantastic, IMO. My only wish would have been that he returned more to his season 1 point that he, too, wanted to improve HK, just in a different approach than DD. Well done, show. You need to come back...in less than two years.

Now I’m sick of Foggy. You know, if you send these bad guys in jail, Foggy, they will just run things from there. Matt is right. I just want Nadeem’s like to know the truth about his dad.

Given Karen's ability to screw up everything she touches, with others paying the price, I'm not sure that would have been a bad thing. I skipped through a lot of Karen's back story, because whatever. It doesn't seem to have made her wiser. Pretty good with a gun, though. Matt needs to figure out how to beat Dex. He's DD after all.

Given how Fisk plans, you have to assume he has made it clear that, if that were to happen, measures would be taken even after his death.

Well, lighting the church in DD red was pretty cool. Skipped through much of the Karen origin story. Tough town, drugs, whatever. WTF, Matt. Beat this guy. Called FBI boss being under Fisk. Was surprised at how many others were also bought.