BusyOctober

I do like this show. Every character is great... except for Liz. I can't stand her. Hated her in Season 1 and she's been nothing but insufferable Season 2. Are we supposed to feel bad for this spoiled privileged bully? She's miserable and mean, yet everyone loves her? They are all complicit in making her feel she is so superior to them. I know Christa Miller is married to the show runner, but her character needs to take a backseat in the caboose of a very long train. And she really needs to stop the injections and fillers and botox. She speaks as if she has lockjaw because her facial muscles are so frozen.

I wasn't so sure about the 1st episode, but hoping next one grabs me more.

Oh my God, these people are all just so punchable. I like Gordon and Lisa. Like their businesses, the shows they’ve done, etc. Even the totally fake, over-produced Hell’s Kitchen and Vanderpump Rules are more tolerable than this horrible excuse for a tv show. Other than Roman, every single one of the contestants is so annoying. His was the only marketable product in the semifinals. The other four don’t have a drop of charisma, or self-awareness, or any real knowledge of the business world. The semi-final products were horrible. For all their claims of marketing skills, all the videos for “social” advertising were amateurish . Is that guy Nick in some kind of ambulatory coma? No affect at all. Ally and Jess just make me stabby. Jess reminds me of a woman I work with. Same “I’m an influencer” faux peppy personality, same unfounded self pride in their unremarkable achievements. Ally just seems lost and clueless. Why was her main talking point, “Hey, I know you love your dog, but he won’t be around much longer!” I feel guilty for wasting the energy it took to power my tv so I could watch such a bunch of lackluster losers.

What the hell is this show? It’s a joke, right? None of these wannabes can be serious business people. I’m here for LVP and Gordon because I enjoy their repartee and snark. The bar concepts were dumb, the “business” decisions must have been producer suggestions, and the execution was laughable. Of course they only had 24 hours to do it, but why can’t Fox (or the kabillionaire hosts) pony up some money to make the rooms look complete, and fill in the blank space. The Regency period thing was doomed…no one is gonna have time to announce every guest. And if I’m a customer trying to hangout with friends, do I want to hear “Lord and Lady Snufflington!” variations all night? None of the contestants were really in Regency period clothes. Men certainly wouldn’t wear hats indoors. The drinks and food were lacking. Desert Oasis or whatever had a little better presentation, but it was still a sad ass space. No non-alcoholic option? Just inexcusable. Again I call shenanigans…the belly dancers were probably instructed to really push the R rated gyrations to get a reaction.

I hope that was the end of the series, for everyone’s sake. Matt and Caryn, Amy and Chris, even the adult kids and their children all deserve to live happy lives, doing what makes them happy. There’s no need to be on tv anymore. Matt, Caryn, Amy and Chris all seem content and have come to terms with all the layers of their shared histories. They have clear thoughts on what their next chapters will be, and all of them appear to have made peace with the past. I hope Jeremy, Jacob and Molly and their spouses keep lines of communication and their homes open to each other. I won’t include Zach and Tori in that hope because they are stubborn, immature and lack the emotional IQ to ever reconcile. Zach keeps waxing poetic about his childhood, and believes he can recreate that “magical experience” for his kids. Maybe it can happen, but for all Matt’s control issues and grand plans, at least he had the drive, ambition, vision, know-how and access to resources to make his dreams come to fruition. Zach lacks most of those qualities. Tori is a dou, entitled, pessimistic, selfish brat. She has hair-trigger mood swings, especially when it comes to Lilah*. The two of them are probably content to continue to isolate from the rest of the Roloffs, and that’s their choice. It’s very sad for Jackson, Lilah and Josiah and their grandparents. * Tori doesn’t let any opportunity to belittle Lilah go by. When they went shopping for Josiah’s bday gift, making fun of her before and during Lilah’s dance class and recital, prepping for the sleep study, the backyard camping night…the little girl is mocked all the time. In the last episode, everyone was having fun picking and eating berries. Then Lilah sat down too close to a pile of sh**, and Zach and Tori acted like it was Lilah’s fault for entire event. You idiots live on property with wild berries, stream, trees, etc. you claim to love the untamed nature you bought as a knee jerk reaction to not getting the farm for free. You know what comes with all that nature you love? Wild animals that eat and sh**. It could have been your own dog’s poop that Zach was too lazy to pick up. But Tori gets all pouty that her idyllic romp in the meadow is over because a 4 year old got too close to poop? She stomped off all grumpy, muttering, “Why is it always Lilah?? EVERYONE gets a bath now!” What a bitch.

Amy has a reputation for being disorganized and clueless about timelines, but TLC ahead to have some manufactured drama. That event would have been setup and completely ready in a few hours if managed by any non TV people. But we as an audience were tortured with WEEKS of talk and inaction over something that should have been 2 partial episodes worth of air time. I’ve planned and executed several PTO events- food, games, entertainment, awards - for 150 guests with a committee of 3-5 people in 3 weeks’ turnaround time. It isn’t that hard if everyone pitches in and tasks are assigned. That event should have been set with tablecloths, auction stuff, chairs, games laid out THE DAY BEFORE! Normal fundraising things don’t start cleaning stuff 3 hours prior to show time. The only stuff that is as last minute as possible is food. Amy should be embarrassed and kissing Deb, Matt and Caryn’s butts for doing all the work she was in charge of. She is a bad friend. Tori asked the question I have been asking about that workshop…why do they need a 2nd house sized building? Do the kids not have a playroom in the main house? Zach and Tori both need “offices”…for what? The social media and kids schedule stuff they do can be done from a laptop at their kitchen table.

I have rewatched both episodes aired so far on PBS. I still don’t understand what the programmer guy at Fujitsu was showing the former P.O. guy, Michael, when he went on site. The IT a guy was showing him how to manipulate the data, but WHY?? What was the point of showing a P.O. employee how easy it was to f*** with the system? IT guy was almost giddy showing him, but then got pissy when Michael was surprised/horrified that IT guy made a deliberate error and was hesitant to fix it. I get that from that point on, Fujitsu started the cover up, erased Michael’s visit, etc. Why would the guy do that in the first place?? And why wouldn’t Michael have reported it ASAP? What am I missing? Did PBS chop out a scene (or 5) from the US version?

Liked the bike seat, glad they got a deal. I knew the wedding package couple wouldn’t get a deal. There are definitely companies out there doing same thing. Not unique or patent-able. Don’t understand muscle scraping soap, but Mark is good partner for it. Did not like the bling thing or the mom who invented it. Call me a skeptic, but I don’t believe God has time to tell people what the world really needs is a Dollar Store gadget to adhere plastic gems on hair. Aside from pageant toddlers, sororities, and attendees of bachelorette parties, are there really other consumers for this thing?

The more I think about Jill’s behavior, the more convinced I am that she didn’t even know the other guests. I think she was on vacation with GAHH-ry because she knows Below Deck is filming. She met up with (aka - stalked) these unsuspecting Bravo invitees at dinner, and just talked her way on to their charter.

For whatever reason, Fraser is not ever going to get along with Barbie. He takes everything personally, and gossiping with the other crew about her is a horrible thing for a manager to do. I feel so bad for Anthony. He was put in a shitty position with all these guests and their ridiculous, mostly made up for drama food restrictions. To make 3-4 different apps, entrees and desserts for 8 people is just setting up a chef for failure. Jill just cannot shut her trap for 2 seconds. She thinks she needs to be involved in every conversation, and that her opinion on everything is of the utmost importance. How can any stand to be around her? I hope after watching this, the primary guest (whoever she was- she wasn’t ever on screen long enough for me to remember her) feels bad about the low tip. For all the hoops the crew jumped through for their food issues, and for having to deal with Jill, that tip was not commiserate with the service provided. They should get a bonus for not keel hauling Jill for attempted mutiny.

I loved the Matt Damon-Jude Law movie, and the book. So glad to see this interpretation with Andrew “Hot Priest” Scott. I agree the black and white is beautifully done. I also like the director’s camera angles. All the sharp angles of the villa’s stairs plus the B& W make it feel “Hitchcock-ish”, but not in a derivative way. My only complaint is this version of Tom and Dickie look 10 years older than the “post-grad” 20-something’s in the book. So believing Dickie is still running from his dad (and his dad still chasing him) as a mid-30 something is a stretch. But Johnny Flynn and Andrew Scott are making the most of their characters.

Jill Zarin needs to fall down a well and never be heard from again. What an obnoxious twit. She hasn’t changed one iota since her first season of RHONY. How and why she came to believe the Earth revolves around her I will never know. I think she just has such low self esteem that makes her treat people as if they are beneath her. She is only “Bravo Famous”, yet acts as if she is Mother Theresa, Oprah, Beyoncé, Madeleine Albright and Cleopatra all rolled into one supreme being. How is anyone friends, or God help them, a romantic partner with this harridan is just beyond my understanding. She is so damn annoying. I wanted the captain to tell her to STFU and take many seats because she isn’t the person in charge of the charter, the boat or the crew.

Amy is such an Eeyore about everything… Looking at the house and grounds with Chris, she was her usual sour puss. When she asked to see Caryn’s ring, she couldn’t have been more disgruntled or disinterested. Telling Matt there’s no violins for him because he got up so early was just unnecessary. Although, I personally hated that house! Looked like the movie set for a B-list 70’s “ABC Movie of the Week”….or a ‘70’s porn film. She keeps talking about this fundraiser as if she’s planning the next Met Gala, but it’s a small group of local friends, right? Tori was so annoying when she was talking about all the spring birthdays coming up…”Everyone’s birthday is April/ May….except Lilah’s.” I swear she sounded bullshit that Lilah was born in a different season. Is that why the poor kid is treated like a forgotten dishrag? Every time I see Lilah or Jackson frolicking in that godforsaken, wanna be ‘farm’ of theirs I just hope emergency services are close by. Have they taught the kids to swim? I hope there’s never an incident with a scooter or mini car in the drainage ditch with a topheavy, unbalanced, non-swimming, child under it. I don’t think the glasses are helping Lilah’s eye, and we know for sure Lilah isn’t getting speech therapy she needs. She speaks some one word responses clearly, but I don’t think her longer sentences (of 2-4 words) are very intelligible. Is Josiah’s nickname name pronounced “Sigh-Sigh” or “C-C”? Either way, I don’t like it. Man, that kid looks just like Matt!

I am not a tea-totaler, I have been drunk many times in my younger days. As a 50-something now, I have an occasional cocktail, and honestly, very well made Mai Tai or French martini gets me a little loopy. I can’t remember the last time I ordered/finished 2 drinks over the course of an evening out with friends. I am just blown away by the depth of plastered some of these guests can get to! Are they technically alcoholics, so their tolerance is just sky high? How are people like Eileen not dead from alcohol poisoning? Or cirrhosis? (Or from someone just murdering her from her mean drunkenness?). And Tina and the ‘husbros’ were equally repulsive.

Why didn’t anyone call out Dorit for her cultural appropriation with that ridiculous outfit? She may have a mix of various DNA in her ancestry, but I don’t think there’s a high percentage of Indian in her chart. Maybe Dorit, the sole college graduate in the group (wtf?) earned her degree from the Taj Mahal Institute? Her major was Fashion!Fashion!Fashion! With a minor in Affected Accents. None of the outfits were really great. AM, Crystal and Sutton landed on the best of the Meh list. Didn’t like the hair much either. AM is not as repulsive as the most repulsive One-Timer ever, Diana. AM is just dull. She doesn’t have enough of a story or personality to carry off a segment, never mind a season of this show. She should be proud of her accomplishments as a nurse, and there is no need for embellishing or amping up her career to allude that she is a doctor. Most nurses, whether in the OR, ER or on the floor of a hospital, are the ones who do the heavy lifting in medical care. They are the people who observe patients more frequently, and can catch when something is ‘not quite right’ compared to manyo doctors. I’ve had doctors just peek in from the hall, and never really interact with me. Erica looks more and more like a caricature of an aging, D-list wanna be/never-was. Her make up is just soooo severe. She has a perpetual sneer. I will not watch her BS documentary or special episode of her train wreck Vegas show. I can’t stand her, but Andy loves her, so ErICKa is here to stay.