Good Queen Jane

I have seen Peter Pan live with professional stage actors probably 5 times and this production makes me appreciate the difference and the superiority of stage over TV productions. Most stages are 1/4 the size of the the sets they had for this production and yet this seemed so cramped. In the last stage show I saw, the Tiger Lily and the Indians dance number was breath-taking; this one not so much. And they would have been better served to use a real light for Tinkerbell than the graphic that never quite got to the place that it was supposed to be. Also, am I wrong or did Hook fail to pull out his sword at his first meeting with Peter Pan on the rocks and was threatening him with an empty hand? He did get his sword out by the end of the scene. Poor Christopher Walken! I hope they got him back to the home before he fell completely asleep.

U.S. Ladies skater Gracie Gold has withdrawn from next week’s Grand Prix Final due to a stress fracture in her left foot. Gold decided to withdraw from the Final in order to give the fracture time to heal before resuming training for the U.S. Nationals in Greensboro in January. "My ultimate goals for this year are to win another U.S. title and make the podium at Worlds," Gold said. "These are the factors that my team and I used to make this very difficult decision [to withdraw].” Gold will be replaced at the Final by Rika Hongo of Japan, who came in 1st at the Rostelecom Cup and 5th at Skate Canada.

Ratings for skating on NBC aren’t good, according to Sports Media Watch. Trophée Éric Bompard, the fourth event in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, drew a 0.6 final rating and 899,000 viewers on NBC on November 22 — down a third in ratings and 35% in viewership from last year (0.9, 1.4M). However, this past weekend’s NHK Trophy from Japan drew a 0.8 overnight, up a tick from last year (0.7) and even with 2012.

It depends. If the skater makes all the revolutions and then falls, he/she gets the full base score for the element, but will likely get -3 in GOEs and -1 off the total score. A 3/4 under rotation means 1/4 off the base score and likely negative GOEs. If the under rotation is less than 3/4, the jump is downgraded, which means that the base score is lower and could also mean no points for the jump if it was a required element.

The last Grand Prix event before the Final takes place this weekend - the NHK Trophy in Japan. The schedule for live streaming of the competition is a bit odd due to the time schedule in Japan as well as that whole International Dateline thing that I don’t understand. Here are the live streaming and TV broadcast times for the NHK Trophy. All times listed are EASTERN. As always, check your local listings for the times and channels in your area, as well as for any changes. Icenetwork Live Streaming Friday, Nov. 28:12:45 am - Pairs Short Program 2:15 am - Ladies Short Program 5:00 am - Men’s Short Program 10:00 pm - Short Dance 11:45 pm - Pairs Free Skate Saturday, Nov. 29: 1:50 am - Ladies Free Skate 4:40 am - Men’s Free Skate 10:00 pm - Free Dance Universal Sports TV Saturday, Nov. 29: 7:30 am - Men and Ladies Short 12:00 noon - Pairs Free Skate Sunday, Nov. 30: 11:00 am - Free Dance NBC Sunday, Nov. 30: 4:00 pm - Men and Ladies Free Skate highlights CBC Saturday, Nov. 29: 4:00 pm - NHK Trophy Short Programs Sunday, Nov. 30: 1:00 pm - NHK Trophy Free Skate Programs

It seems to me that, in each episode, Team Machine picks up a possible ally or at least someone who starts having doubts about the side he/she is on. The fake John, the international jewel thief, Shaw's protégé, now Dominic's second in command. I can't help but think we're going to get a Harry Potter ending in that when the Final Battle between Good and Evil happens, all these folks are going to come out of the woodwork to fight with Team Machine.

The first of the Dyson Skating shows will be on TV on Sunday November 23. The Family Skating Tribute will air on ABC at 4:00 – 6:00 pm Eastern Time and 2:00 – 4:00 Pacific Time. For those on Central and Mountain time, check your TV listings. This show is on opposite the NBC telecast of the Men and Ladies Free Programs from Trophee Bompard. So for those of you who do not have DVR’s, The Family Skating Tribute will air again on ABC on Sunday, December 7, 4:00 – 6:00 Eastern and 2:00 – 4:00 Pacific. The description of the show: This “family-themed” show features a skating of cast of parents, including Ekaterina Gordeeva, Ilia Kulik and more, along with their children, who will be incorporated into at least one of their mom and/or dad’s numbers in the show. Featured guest artist Amy Grant is also a mom, and she will perform a number of songs live during the show.

Trophee Bompard is the next stop on the Grand Prix circuit. The event is being held in Bordeaux, France, instead of Paris this year. The time difference between France and the Eastern U.S. makes the live streaming times on icenetwork a little more reasonable, and of course, taped replays will be available on Universal Sports, NBC and the CBC for those who can’t watch the live streaming. Below are the broadcast times for Trophee Bompard (All times listed are EASTERN). As always, be sure to check your TV listings for the times in your area and any changes. Icenetwork.com Live Streaming Friday, November 21: 9:30 am - Pairs Short Program 11:00 am - Ladies Short Program 12:55 pm - Men’s Short Program 2:50 pm - Short Dance Saturday, November 22: 7:05 am - Ladies Free Skate 9:20 am - Pairs Free Skate 12:30 pm - Free Dance 2:10 pm - Men’s Free Skate Universal Sports TV Friday, November 21: 7:00 pm - Men and Ladies Short Programs Saturday, November 22: 2:00 pm - Pairs Free Skate 3:30 pm - Free Dance NBC Sunday, November 23: 4:00 pm - Highlights of the Men and Ladies Free Skate CBC Saturday, November 22: 7:15 am - Ladies Free Skate 9:00 am - Pairs Free Skate 12:45 pm - Free Dance 2:20 pm - Men’s Free Skate

The next stop on the Grand Prix circuit is the Rostelecom Cup in Moscow, which will take place this weekend. The live streaming times on icenetwork are at a bit more reasonable hours this week, although it will cause you to sacrifice some sleep, especially if you are not in the Eastern Time Zone. For those who feel sleep is more important that watching an event live, NBC Sports (not Universal), NBC and the CBC in Canada also will be showing the event. All times listed below are EASTERN. As always, be sure to check your local TV listings for the times in your area. Icenetwork Live Streaming Friday, Nov. 14: 7:00 am - Ladies Short Program 8:55 am - Pairs Short Program 11:00 am - Men’s Short Program 12:55 pm - Short Dance Saturday, Nov. 15: 6:00 am - Ladies Free Skate 8:10 am - Pairs Free Skate 9:55 am - Men’s Free Skate 12:10 pm - Free Dance NBC Sports TV Friday, Nov. 14: 11:00 am - Men and Ladies Short Programs Saturday, Nov. 15: 11:00 am - Pairs Free Skate and Free Dance NBC Sunday, Nov. 16: 4:00 pm - Highlights of Men and Ladies Free Skate CBC (Canada) Saturday, Nov. 15: 3:00 pm - Grand Prix of Russia short programs Sunday, Nov. 16: 2:00 pm - Grand Prix of Russia Free Skate

The next Grand Prix event on the schedule is Cup of China, which is going to be held in Shanghai. This Grand Prix will be held at the same venue as the 2015 Worlds, so skaters with aspirations of making it to Worlds will have an opportunity to check out the arena before next March. As usual, icenetwork.com will offer live streaming of the event, although given the time difference between China and North America, the live streaming is probably of interest only to those who think that sleep is highly over-rated. NBC, Universal Sports TV and the CBC in Canada will be offering the event on tape delay, and icenetwork will post the video of their live streaming on their website for on-demand viewing. Below is the broadcast schedule for Cup of China. As usual, all times listed are EASTERN. Check your local listings for the times in your area. Universal Sports TV Friday, Nov. 7: 11:00 am - Men and Ladies Short Programs Saturday, Nov. 8: 11:00 am - Free Dance and Pairs Free Skate NBC Sunday, Nov. 9: 4:00 pm - Highlights of Men and Ladies Free Skate Icenetwork Friday, Nov. 7: 3:00 am - Short Dance 4:30 am - Ladies Short Program 6:30 am - Men’s Short Program 8:30 am - Pairs Short Program Saturday, Nov. 8: 2:00 am - Free Dance 3:35 am - Ladies Free Skate 5:45 am - Men’s Free Skate 8:00 am - Pairs Free Skate CBC Saturday, Nov. 8: 3:00 am - Events from Cup of China 3:00 pm - Events from Cup of China

Does anyone remember the tag line in the very first episode: "my gut is never wrong."? Oh Olivia, how your gut has fallen!

Skate Canada is the next Grand Prix event, and this competition will take place in Kelowna, British Columbia this coming weekend. Icenetwork will be live streaming the whole event, while Universal Sports TV and NBC will be showing portions of it. Below are the broadcast times for Skate Canada on various media. Please note that ALL TIMES LISTED ARE EASTERN. Icenetwork.com Live Streaming Friday, Oct. 31: 4:15 pm - Men’s Short Program 6:10 pm - Pairs Short Program 8:45 pm - Short Dance 10:15 pm - Ladies Short Program Saturday, Nov. 1: 1:55 pm - Men’s Free Skate 4:25 pm - Pairs Free Skate 8:05 pm - Free Dance 10:00 pm - Ladies Free Skate Universal Sports TV Friday, Oct. 31: 9:00 pm - Men’s and Ladies Short Programs Saturday, Nov. 1: 4:30 pm - Pairs Free Skate 7:30 pm - Free Dance NBC Sunday, Nov. 2: 1:00 pm - Highlights of Men and Ladies Free Skate For our Canadian friends, below is the schedule for the Canadian TV broadcasts: TSN Friday, Oct 1: 4:00 pm - Men and Pairs Short Programs 8:30 pm - Short Dance and Ladies Short Program Saturday, Nov. 1: 2:00 pm - Men’s Free Skate 10:00 pm - Ladies Free Skate CTV Saturday, Nov. 1: 4:30 pm - Pairs Free Skate 8:00 pm - Free Dance As always, check your local listings for the times in your area for any changes to the schedule.

What happened to this show? Olivia Pope was a strong,capable woman, a white hat who rescued people who had screwed up their lives. She had a band of gladiators, who had flaws, but pulled it together because of their faith in Olivia and did awesome things. That was the show I signed up to watch. Now we have Olivia Pope, who can't function, who ran away, who is a quivering mess seeking solace in a bottle, a women whose lovers speak of their sexual encounters with her in the most derogatory terms possible to provoke their adversaries. I wanted to be the first Olivia Pope, but I agree with David about the second. What a waste!

Skate America, the first of the Grand Prix competitions, starts this Friday. For those of us who are unable to go to Chicago(or those who want to set their DVR), viewing options are pretty limited. Icenetwork is going to live stream and archive the bulk of the events, with NBC showing only the Ladies final and other interesting performances. Here is the live streaming and viewing schedule: SKATE AMERICA Schedule (All Times Eastern) Icenetwork.com Live Streaming Friday, 10/24: 8:00 pm - Short Dance 9:30 pm - Men’s Short Program Saturday, 10/25: 1:00 pm - Pairs Short Program 2:30 pm - Ladies Short Program 8:00 pm - Free Dance 9:40 pm - Men’s Free Skate Sunday, 10/26: 2:15 pm - Pairs Free Skate 8:00 pm - Skating Spectacular NBC Sunday, 10/26: 4-6 pm - Ladies Free Skate, highlights For the remainder of the Grand Prix competitions, Universal Sports TV will be showing the Men Short/Free Skate, the Ladies Short, the Pairs Free Skate and the Free Dance. Icenetwork will show all events from all the Grand Prix competitions.

NBC/Universal Sports TV have announced their figure skating broadcast schedule for the season. Go to: http://www.usfigureskating.org/Story.asp?id=50559&type=media to see the schedule. Basically, Universal Sports TV will show the Ladies and Men Short Programs, the Pairs Free Skate and the Free Dance at the Grand Prix events, Europeans, Four Continents and Worlds. NBC will show the highlights of the Men and Ladies Free Skate plus any other noteworthy performances from those events. Apparently the Pairs Short and Short Dance have been deemed not worthy of TV coverage. For Nationals, NBC will offer coverage of all the Free Skate Programs, and presumably noteworthy performances from any of the Short Programs. Johnny Weir, Tara Lipinksi and Terry Gannon will do the commentary for the NBC broadcasts. No word yet on who will do commentary for Universal Sports TV. Icenetwork.com will provide complete coverage of all skaters at all events to its subscribers via live streaming and archived video

This. It bugged me both last episode and this one. Two months after the November election is January, as is when the State of the Union address is given. January in DC is cold, gloomy, and brown. No way would anyone be sitting outside on a balcony eating fried chicken, especially not in PJ's.

Just when you thought you've seen everything...! Julia Sauter , a 17 year old Romanian skater, did her long program at Nebelhorn to Beethoven's 5 Secrets, a cello piece. Her costume was a black unitard with a cello design on her back. However, the cello was flesh colored and the bottom corresponded to Julia's bottom, thereby making it look like she was mooning everyone. She got a one point deduction for "costume failure." What was her coach thinking? You can check it out here: http://new.livestream.com/accounts/10053677/events/3397094/videos/63271722

Yuzuru Hanyu has withdrawn from the Finlandia Trophy scheduled for Oct. 10-12 due to a sore back. Hanyu hurt his back last week, and, as a precautionary measure, has decided not to compete in the Finlandia Trophy, which is one of the “pre-season” Challenger Series events. Hanyu fully expects to compete in his two Grand Prix events, Cup of China and NHK Trophy, which take place in November. Libby96, Smirnov ruptured a tendon in his knee in October of 2013 and never recovered from the injury in time to compete last year. It will be interesting to see how they do at the Nebelhorn. ETA: The ISU is providing live steaming from the Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany this week. You need to be “sleep challenged” to watch some of the events, but others are in the morning/afternoon in the Eastern time zone. If you want to watch, go to: http://new.livestream.com/accounts/10053677/events/3397094 No logon or passwords required. The Short Dance and Pairs Short are already completed, but here is the rest of the schedule: (All Times Listed are EASTERN) Thursday, Sept. 25: 1:00 pm – Men’s Short Program Friday, September 26 4:30 am – Ladies Short Program 8:00 am – Pairs Free Skate 12:45 pm – Men’s Free Skate Saturday, September 27 4:30 – Ladies Free Skate 8:20 am – Free Dance

He finished 6th overall. The final standings: MEN:1) Richard Dornbush, USA - 237.28 2) Takahito Mura, JPN - 235.79 3) Adian Pitkeev, RUS - 215.90 LADIES: 1) Satoko Miyahara, JPN - 183.90 2) Hannah Miller, USA - 170.26 3) Angela Wang, USA - 160.25 PAIRS: 1) Denney and Frazier, USA - 157.80 2) Manacorda and Machi, ITA - 132.80 3) Bazarova and Deputat, RUS - 130.40 The next event in the Challenger Series is the Nebelhorn Trophy this weekend. Nebelhorn usually attracts some “heavy hitters” and this year is no exception. In Men, the U.S. will send Jason Brown and Alexander Johnson up against the likes of Denis Ten (KAZ), Michal Brezina (CZE), Konstantin Menshov (RUS) and Sergei Voronov (RUS). Ladies will have Gracie Gold and Mariah Bell facing Alena Leonova (RUS) and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (RUS). In Pairs, Americans Scimeca and Knierim and Aaron and Settlage will compete against Kavaguti and Smirnov (RUS) and James and Cipres (FRA). Dance will have Chock and Bates and Hawayek and Baker of the U.S. taking on Weaver and Poje (CAN) and Zhiganshina and Gazi (GER).

The U.S. International, held last week, was the first Senior international event of the season, so it’s not surprising that the skating wasn’t particularly outstanding. The whole purpose of these competitions is to try out programs, get feedback from the judges, and figure out what needs to be improved. Most of the skaters went home with a list of things to work on. Here are the results: MEN: 1) Max Aaron, USA 2) Ross Miner, USA 3) Daisuke Murakami, JPN LADIES: 1) Polina Edmunds, USA 2) Courtney Hicks, USA 3) Riona Kato, JPN PAIRS: 1) Scimeca and Knierim, USA 2) Calalang and Sidhu, USA 3) Aaron and Settlage, USA DANCE: 1) Aldridge and Eaton, USA 2) Orford and Williams, CAN 3) Cannuscio and McManus, USA GENERAL COMMENTS: - Several skaters lost points in both the Short and Free Skate under the new scoring rules. Those popped jumps and tacked on singles no longer got points, much to the dismay of some of the skaters. - U.S. Figure Skating might be experiencing a bit of “buyer’s remorse” by giving the host country’s choice in Pairs to Aaron and Settlage for Skate America. Calalang and Sidhu, who are coached by Jenny Meno and Todd Sand, looked very good in Salt Lake City. They won the Short Program and gave Scimeca and Knierim a run for their money in the Free Skate. Aaron and Settlage, in contrast, finished 3rd in both and weren’t really in contention. - Now that Pairs no longer get extra points or higher levels for changing hands during the death spiral, none of the Pairs did that move. I thought it made for a much cleaner line and a better execution of the element (no fumbling hands or crossing arms during the element). I liked seeing the death spiral back in its original format. - Max Aaron has let his hair get long and curly, and it wasn’t an attractive look. One minute into each of programs, his hair was flying wildly around his head, and at the end of the program, it stuck out and around his face in complete disarray. Max, it’s time to get a haircut. - Ross Miner seems to be developing “Jeremy Abbott syndrome”. The judges love the way he skates, giving him high component scores, and he gets Level 4 on all of his spins and footwork. It’s just those pesky jumps that give him problems and keep him from being really competitive. - Among the usual coaches at the boards (Tom Z., Frank Carroll, etc.), there was one surprise. John Coughlin was at the U.S. Classic coaching a skater from Mexico in Men. I guess John is doing some coaching in between show gigs this year.

The first international event for Seniors takes place this week in Salt Lake City with the U.S. International Classic, which is part of what’s now called The Challenger Series (a nicer name than just “B Competitions”). There are 11 competitions in the Challenger Series, including the Nebelhorn Trophy and the Finlandia Trophy, and skaters’ placement at these events will add points toward their ISU ranking. A skater’s ISU ranking is important because, among other things, it determines which group a skater will be in for the short program draw at events such as Europeans, Four Continents and Worlds (e.g. the “not ready for prime time” early skaters or the last two groups). Skaters also can attempt to get required minimum technical scores at the Challenger Series events, if they haven’t already achieved them. For many skaters, these events are a good “warm up” for the Grand Prix series, not to mention a chance to get a shiny medal and a few thousand dollars in prize money if they end up on the podium. Skaters also can get feedback on their programs’ format and execution from international judges, as well as see how they stack up against the competition, before competing in the more prestigious events. In addition, the Challenger Series gives the ISU a chance to experiment with some changes. The ISU is going to test a new judging panel format in the Men’s and Dance events at the Nebelhorn Trophy in late September. The 12-judge panel will be divided into two groups; seven judges will be assigned to mark the component scores and five will evaluate the grade of execution (GOE) for each element. Four of the five judges doing the GOEs also will be assigned one category in the component score to mark. The idea is that more accurate scoring could result from judges not trying to evaluate all the elements in two categories at the same time. It’s an idea worthy of a test. Whether the federations, judges, coaches and skaters like the idea is still to be determined. The field at the U.S. International Classic is smaller than in past years. In the past, the U.S. International drew skaters from the U.S. and Canada, as well as international skaters who were training in both countries. However, Canada has decided to host its own Challenger Series event in October, and this has cut down on the number of entries from that country. There will be 10 entries in the Men’s event in Salt Lake City, including Andrei Rogozine and Jeremy Ten from Canada and Ronald Lam representing Hong Kong. The U.S. skaters will be Max Aaron, Ross Miner, Jordan Moeller and Doug Razzano. In Ladies, American skaters will be Polina Edmunds, Courtney Hicks, Mirai Nagasu and Ashley Shin; their main competition among the 14 entries will be Alaine Chartrand of Canada and Brooklee Han, who skates for Australia. The organizers managed to round up 5 Pairs for this competition: Jones and Reagan who skate for Canada, Ono and To representing Hong Kong, and American Pairs Aaron and Settlage, Calalang and Sidhu, and Scimeca and Knierim. In Dance, the 7 couples competing will include Orford and Williams of Canada, Hurtado and Diaz of Spain, Aldridge and Eaton of the U.S. and Cannuscio and McManus of the U.S. Icenetwork.com will provide live streaming of this competition for subscribers.

Not really. It's all computerized. The Technical Specialist enters the jump into the computer which assigns the base value. The Technical Controller keeps track of the illegal elements and falls and enters those in the computers. So in the example of Amber Glenn above, The Technical Specialist, who is supported by the Assistant Technical Specialist, enters each double toe jump. The Technical Controller notes when the third double toe is called and enters a deduction. Only if there is a disagreement within the Technical Panel about a call would the tape be reviewed before the score goes up. Also, the skaters submit a list of elements in the order expected to be skated before each competition and the Technical Panel attend practices, so they have a pretty good idea about what to expect and pay special attention if there is a deviation.

It's as though the jump never happened. For example, Amber Glenn in the Free Skate in JGP France did a double toe as the second jump of a triple lutz combination; she had already done two double toes as part of a three jump combination, so the third double toe was considered a repeated jump and didn’t count. So instead of getting points for a combination, she just got points for the triple lutz as a solo jump. And since she had done a solo triple lutz earlier in the program, this triple lutz was treated as a repeated solo jump and scored at 70% of its base value. So instead of starting with a base score of 7.30 for a triple lutz/double toe, Amber had a base score of 4.62 for a downgraded triple lutz. I can't imagine why people say they don't understand the scoring in figure skating these days!

The Junior Grand Prix of France - the first international competition of the season - was held this past weekend. The U.S. brought home one medal - a bronze in Ladies by Amber Glenn - and had respectable placements in both Men and Dance. There was no Pairs event at this competition. The JGP of France was the first competition in which the revised ISU scoring rules were applied, much to the dismay of some of the skaters. Some examples of the impact of the new scoring rules: - A WEEDed (wrong edge entry deduction) lutz in 2013-14 was scored with a base value of 6.60; with the negative GOES for the WEED, the final points for that jump were about 5.75. This year, a WEEDed lutz receives a base value of 4.62 (30% lower due to the error); with the negative GOES for the WEED, the final points for that jump were about 3.35. That’s a difference of 2.4 points between last year’s scoring and this year. Quite a few Ladies lost points on a WEEDed lutz. - Several skaters had jumps declared invalid because they used the same jump more than twice in the Free Skate. The new rule is no double jump (including the double axel) can be included more than twice in total in a Free Program (as a solo jump or as part of a combination/sequence). - One skater - Alexander Samarin of Russia - received a 1 point deduction in his Free Skate for a late start. Samarin made several circuits around the ice after his name was called and didn’t reach his starting pose within the required 30 seconds. If you need a “skating fix” or want to see the performance of a skater (or skaters) at the Junior Grand Prix events, the ISU is using YouTube to make the Junior Grand Prix performances available.

i missed parts of this episode. Did they show Emma actually stealing the prescription pad?