DoctorAtomic

I should have clarified first about Bill pushing back when Tyson was going on with the nuclear weapons. Tyson was getting out of control. Tyson talking about population density and how you approach the response was kind of what I was getting at. Typically Bill let's Tyson just do his deal. I do think Bill was also correct to shut down his smugness about well; I didn't get it and you did. Bill retorted, oh you probably got it and didn't know, which I think might be more likely. I wonder if I got it myself. I have no idea how I would know. I do think Bill was correct in saying 'everyone has to do this,' nationwide was fair to criticize, but sure, we had to do something, but at the same time, public figures could have been better on communicating uncertainty too. Tyson just generally puts me off because I just don't like people who always have to have a sardonic comment on everything about anything. Sardonic isn't funny unless you're turning it in on yourself. I forgot to add before - I do generally agree with some of final New Rules to a point. Bill also pointed out many times on other episodes that a lot of it is just 'owning the libs'. With Walker, I think that's more of it. Warnok (Walker's opponent) isn't really the type of candidate Bill was describing. Does anyone listen to the podcast?

I was pleasantly surprised Bill pushed back on Tyson. And I don't necessarily agree much with Bill on his medical perspective. Tyson is just a boor and not nearly as smart as he thinks. He's completely devoid of any social context of science. There's not no radiation at all to tactical nuclear weapon. Yes, it isn't the Hiroshima style that people think of. That's not the point. A nuclear weapon is a social construct as much as it is about nuclear physics. It's just flat out myopic to separate the two. The real question they were asking on the show was 'Is Putin a rational actor?' Firebombing Tokyo wasn't entirely 'way worse' because of the chronic effects of the fallout. It kind of frustrates me because when they criticize the response to covid, which is entirely fair, it's actually about risk communication and uncertainty and targeting risk mitigation. Bill is too much 0 and 1. Yes, they were wrong in saying that you can't catch covid if you get the vaccine. They should have said it's likely you won't but some will. But - if you do, you definitely won't go to the hospital. You can't pick out the one thing and paint the whole system as unstable. Though I was again pleased to see them say that a one size fits all response was not the right approach. On the other side, I don't agree with Bill's criticisms either. I just wanted to point out I'm in agreement with the facts of what happened with covid in your post. I criticize the communication of risk and uncertainty. As Bill was incorrect in calling out Sweden; Tyson was incorrect in saying 'we don't have any alternative realities.' Well, no, but we can look across the world to see what people did. Not a lot of it worked. Bill was also right in saying that Tyson might have gotten it an not known. I didn't really have much of an issue with the overall discussion. Tyson needs to know when to shut up though.

They had a name when it started. *Two* times this episode - 'fucking muffins'. I think we all knew Ray was the mole. Archer again had a good plan, and everyone really took it up a notch. Selfishness aside, I think Archer was sincere to Lana in the end, and Mother would have been proud.

That was the entire m/o of the SciFi channel in the mid 00s. I stopped watched altogether after I think Eureka and W13. Bill Russell parodied the White Shadow on Saturday Night Live way way back.

To be fair, they were being shot at a lot. Some couples aren't touchy feely or PDA either. I'm very much not. Also in this episode, much of it was 'Eva' turning down the proposal while being shot at a lot and chasing down a murderous drug kingpin. I'd concede that at the end when Ben set it up for them to talk about marriage over dinner later could have warranted a kiss.

Yes, very meta. I thought the same. It ended like that though with Bart and Lisa limping out of the woods together.

I totally forgot that.

When Steve said, "I'd like to hear that" re:Bullock and Centerfield; I said, they'd better have that. You're not having Patrick Stewart in the episode and just dropping it. Minimal Roger tonight, but he knew right where Stan was. I love pretzels at baseball games, so I liked Klaus enjoying his snack.

The colored pills came up today re: Halloween, and I delighted a co-worker by bringing up the razor blades in the apples. The younger folks were cracking up because they thought it was too preposterous to be real, but he backed me on it being a big deal back in the day. Anyone see the tweet about the One Ring and the snickers?

Maybe the leapee is just hanging out in the closet. They constructed a waiting room. The person would have still been there. Here, they could be assuming that this new 'leap map' code means Ben might get stuck. Technically, if Sam didn't leap, they just figured out Ziggy was wrong and figure something else out. Sam still would be stuck there. They're banking on Ziggy a lot more now for some reason. To be fair, in the second episode, Ben and Addison figured he only had to save the astronaut's life, which he did. They were wondering why he didn't leap, and it was because now everyone died. So Ben was 'stuck' in a sense; he did what they thought he should do and didn't leap.

I suppose the sun could be closer depending where everything is. Not that that helps at all. I don't know what else Rav could have come up with for a plan, since everyone was burying their heads in the sand. I didn't feel bad for Karen either. Who is the Other President? Was that mentioned last season?

I think it would be the bar as well.

I still like the running gag about Hannah wearing sweaters. Gordon teasing her was brilliant. LGTV! Winking is always funny. Rachel Bloom plays mortified just fantastic. Selma kills me. "The 83 Sixers should have given *me* a ring." Then they found a nude Selma with a young Gabe Kapler. I set up the metronome joke for a friend last week and he totally lost it. The writers' room probably has the best scenes for me because I like all the zingers. "She has two cats. Tilda. Swinton. Lesbian." It kind of reminds me of Arrested Development. All the kid movie titles are hilarious too. I don't feel too bad for Reed. He could just have said, "Bree is yelling at me for some reason. It's probably something else insane" to Nora. I really liked the scene with Knoxville and the director not accepting his apology. Knoxville is doing really well. He face just fell. I liked the point that the hulu exec had to say no to Zack because of the double standard. Funny resolution too.

"Don't worry kid, I was free up here... I was always free." Wow, I'm pleasantly surprised Magic spilled the beans already. Stellar monologue by Hudson. Ian's reaction shots really sold it. I really like when actors don't get saddled with overwriting and get to actually act. I probably should have seen "Carla" coming. I didn't think she was telling the truth, but I was still also surprised. And I didn't think she would shoot the guy. The show seems to have its legs after these last two. I liked here how Ziggy wasn't really of use because Carla disappeared so they had to figure it out. Please let this happen. That would be brilliant. Given Magic has seemingly all of Sam's leap data, I'm not sure how a mention of the waiting room might be missed though. Magic didn't seem to have any recollection of it, so he might not be specifically looking for it. Or they could say Al wasn't the best at filling out mission reports. Which is entirely consistent. One thing that annoyed me about the original was that even though Sam did sleep with some women, he was still kind of prudish overall. I don't think the original would have handled the proposal here with the overall nonplussedness or just being a woman, as it was here. Addison is getting some quips in. "30 seconds as a woman and you've been harassed, assaulted, and insulted. I liiike this leap!" I do think, as it was pointed out, that this might be the sweet spot in terms of minutes on the leap v the lab. I think they got a lot in though. You really only need one big lab scene; here, Magic and Ian.

It seems that this new code Ben uploaded was a workaround to the constraint of leaping within one's own lifetime. The QL staff was even surprised.

You know you all want a regular regular sized smoothie.

I don't have the time to make anything anyway. Sure, I'll hand out candy and have a good time, but I'm buying a bag of whatever at the store.

Yes, that's entirely true, and I hope that we do get that kind of content, but that wasn't quite my point. The original question was is it better for Ben to leap into a woman or gay guy *at this point in the show*. Show-wise for new viewers, leaping into a woman makes more sense from a world building standpoint. In terms of the direction of the content and leap plots, I certainly hope they take a page from the original. The last episode seemed to do so for me. Granted, the leap plots are shorter than the original but I think they hit the marks on what story they wanted to tell. You originally said that you didn't know what else could be explored by Ben leaping into a woman, but now seem to be on the other side of it in terms of the audience learning something. I'm with that all the way. I was saying whether it's a woman or gay guy, Ben probably is sensitive to unequal treatment, but actually being that person still will be an experience for him. That's a separate, though important point, from producing the tv show and drawing in an audience. Certainly anyone is allowed to change their mind, but it seems that this conversation has general agreement that whomever Ben leaps into has value.

That's not how I envisioned the Seanchan, but they are terrifying. I wonder if they're going to talk all weird like in the book. That's going to be hard to pull off with so many people.

I don't know who writes the 90s jokes for Alanis, but she clearly loves belting them out. Didn't she say Beck bit the head off something? Rich is what is makes me! I'm not Human Cat Cafe Lisa Loeb!

Was that the one on the train? They didn't prevent the 'big thing', but they ended up with a new senator on the panel that was the swing vote for the funding I think because Sam saved two people on the train that ended up getting married or something. Only Al saw the blue glow when the senator changed. Ah, ha. Nice work. https://quantumleap.fandom.com/wiki/Honeymoon_Express If they had a 2.4 billion budget back then I can't imagine now.

Back in my day the news was all about don't take apples from anyone when you're trick or treating because they put razor blades in the apples!

Related, there is a piece today on PBSNewshour about Berkeley repatriating local Native American artifacts back to their tribes.

That's basically a death warrant on tv. I don't think this show would go in that direction though.

That's good to know. Then I think my point about the plot being indicative about the times is even more apt. I'm sure someone like the brother wasn't one who was really going to be talking about it unless really confronted by Ben.