ShellsandCheese

That’s how they competed. Teams were paired off based on qualifying and instead of having all of country A go it’s A-B-A-B-A-B. I like the format and I hope they do it for the women too. Since ROC and USA qualified 3-4, they were paired together. I think Artur and David (ROC) are so cute and so short, lol. Actually Nikita’s not bad either.

Martha and Bela’s impact on women’s gymnastics in the US is so overstated! Mary Lou Retton won in 1984 because the Soviets were boycotting. Kim Zmeskal, Dominique Moceanu, and a lot of their other gymnasts completely flamed out. I would argue that the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the demise of the USSR had a bigger impact because a lot of Soviet coaches packed up and headed to the US and other places. Add to that the collapse of their sports machine systems that churned out champions in the USSR and Romania disappeared or dramatically changed. It’s kind boggling to me how people want to give the Karoyli’s all of the credit when there were clearly a number of factors that have led to the US Women’s current gymnastics dominance and that in itself isn’t as impressive as what the USSR and Romania did over the course of decades not a decade.

Since we've been talking about the two gymnasts per country rule, I just realized that Viktoria Listunova the reigning Russian National Champion + European Champion and the inaugural World Jr Champion won't be in the all around even though she finished sixth overall in qualifying - unfortunately, it was behind three Americans and two of her teammates. I would be willing to compromise (lol) and say it's fine to keep the cap at two per country for the individual events - but I really think they should go back to allowing at least three from each country for All-Around. Also, does anyone know - are countries are allowed to substitute someone in if there is an injury? Because I was also wondering if there might be a Tatiana Gutsu - Roza Galieva situation on our hands.....

Yep. And I would argue that the Russians are now usually better than them on bars. In fact, whatever happened to the Chinese in women's gymnastics? Everyone was expecting them to dominate and they've really been underwhelming. Also for those asking, I've been watching the Gymnastics replays via the NBC app. And they generally show just about everything.

I know. I was not counting USSR or the Unified Team. I meant Russia as an individual country, I could have sworn they won team gold in between Atlanta and now. Although I don't understand your second sentence, why would every medal Russian athletes win at these Olympics be a first when Russia has been competing as Russia since the 1994 Winter Games.......

Happy for Nikita and team, and as others have pointed out, the four person team in Men’s Gymnastics is just so silly and unfair. I can’t believe that Russia’s only Team Gold was 25 years ago in Atlanta - I could have swore they had at least one other one before today. And I definitely preferred the Olympic Athlete from Russia (OAR) designation at the 18 games over the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) moniker this time around.

Generally abusive and horrible people. But they ruled USA Gymnastics after the American team beat Russia in Atlanta in 1996. This was allowed even though subsequent teams continued to place 2nd and 3rd to the Romanians, Russians, and Chinese and they didn’t win team Gold again until 2012.

Yeah. I hate a lot of the changes. I wish they would go back to at least a six person team. I also wish they would just admit and acknowledge that there are a handful of countries that are head and shoulders above the rest of the world. Those athletes shouldn’t be punished for being from one of those countries - go back to allowing up to three from each country in the individual all around and I don’t think there should be any caps in the event finals. I want to see the best people competing, not the sort of kind of best. And I know this will never happen, but just like figures in figure skating - gymnastics would benefit from bringing back compulsories and harsher penalties for big mistakes.

I hate wolf turns! Hate hate hate them. And I love Simone Biles but the judges give her so many breaks when she has mistakes and I get start value and difficulty, blah blah blah. But I think it’s time for an overhaul of the scoring system (again). And I know I’m supposed to hate Russia but my favorite gymnasts have always been Russian with a few Ukrainians. I would be okay with ROC winning the team gold - the Americans have been overlying on Simone Biles and benefitting form her dominance for the last 7-8 years.

I highly doubt she’s patrolling the forums on Primetimer.

Truthfully, I'm bored with Olivia and Paula. Not interesting at all. The actress who plays Paula is quite pretty but I don't think she or Sydney Sweeney (Olivia) are good actresses. I agree with the comments about the Mossbacher family, if Nicole is this huge CEO, why is her entire family + a family friend staying in a suite with just one bedroom? Make it make sense. I would also like to add that both Mossbacher parents are shitty for allowing their daughter to rule the roost and treat her brother the way she treats him. No, it's really not. But HBO is obsessed with shows about teens doing drugs and having lots of sex even though sex and drug use amongst teens has been steadily decreasing - and it was never that high in the first place.

In Fitz's defense, he grabbed Mellie to stop her from trying to give him a blow job he didn't want. She was the aggressor and the one who wouldn't take no for an answer until Fitz grabbed her and yelled at her to stop. That aside, while her political ambitions may have been clear - the show did a piss-poor job actually showing the audience any of her accomplishments or laying the groundwork for her to have a successful Presidential run. To me, Mellie ending up President felt very unearned and very much another case of someone having an immense sense of entitlement. For all the talk about Fitz's sense of entitlement, Mellie was his feminine counterpart - a spoiled whiny brat with a lot of privilege. She felt entitled to be President, or rather, in her mind she earned it because she graduated top of her class in law school and sacrificed a promising career to be a stay at home and politician's wife? Her sense of entitlement was just as bad, if not worse than Fitz's.

This show was so good! I wish it was getting the kind of non-stop buzz that the silly Sex and the City reboot is getting. I know this was plugged as the season finale, has Starz confirmed that it has been renewed? I know that Amber Stevens West recently announced that she was expecting baby two - I really need more of this show, it better be renewed and I hope the magic continues. This first season was practically perfect.

I was really distracted by how much Clarice and Tyson Hagen looked alike. LOL. I guess everything was wrapped up, which was nice since the series was one and done. One thing, I noticed that I thought was definitely a diversity mistake was the fact that so many of women who escaped from captivity appeared to be women of color. There's no way a man like Nils Hagen would try to have heirs with nonwhite women.

Just discovered this show and I am kind of obsessed with it. I really like Selena's kitchen and I want her Vitamix Blender, alas I don't have $500-$600 bucks to drop on that particular model at the moment. I'm going to try my first recipe from the show next week and I'm so excited. I am obsessed with Kelis and her second act, that's how you live a life.

Eh. Ritchie is such a punk. No way does he suddenly have the balls to try and take out dear old dad. Dana is better then him and actually competent.

I enjoyed the episode. Honestly, I not so lowkey want Richard to get out of this somehow. That would be reality. The good guys don't always win. Richard goes free and then ends up dead in a ditch. Dana and Angela take over the family biz. Little Ritchie who? He is worthless.

Yep. But people have it in their heads that these issues didn't exist in the past. They did, folks just didn't hear about them for a myriad of reasons. The plot with Ardelia actually does not feel shoehorned in and it's obvious it's been building all season. I wish they would cut the stuff with Catherine. She's not a part of the FBI, she's not related to the three murdered women arc, etc - I could do without her. I may be an outlier but I don't mind a dose of reality in TV shows, it adds authenticity and makes them more believable and relatable to me.

Malcolm is such a punk! It’s obvious that Malcolm really has not dealt with his daddy issues at all. At. All. But I need more of this show. I really need this show to lean into Ainsley potentially being just like daddy. Or perhaps both children are just like daddy. At the same time, this show is nothing without Martin Whitly/Michael Sheen! So if he really is dead, perhaps it’s better that it is over.

I agree that the shows biggest problem is casting. I really enjoy Tom, Connor, and Denise and the parents but I really don’t care for Sarah or Marina and neither has real chemistry with their spouse. With Carla Souza there’s just something very unnatural about her line delivery; she annoyed me on HTGAWM too. I feel like the show should be and could be better than it is but is being harmed by some bad casting decisions.

Agreed. Although I wouldn’t go so far as to say I like it. It’s so silly and ridiculous, it’s like I can’t stop watching.

I can’t believe so many people are/were fans of Gina. I thought the actress was okay but the character was blah and the whole honeypot storyline was silly. And I hate to be mean but if Richie had half of brain, he would have suspected something was up with her from the get-go. I pegged her as a plant/cop from the jump. It’s too bad the Dylan is one arc and done - he has chemistry with everyone and I wish the show had more time to explore the relationship between him and the daughter. The son is a total total waste of space and screen time. And her death scene was silly. I may be the only one but I hope she really is dead.

Exactly. I cannot imagine that her Doctor would be happy with a pregnancy either. She wants to be loved, it's clear as day. But getting pregnant by someone you haven't been dating for very long while you are still morbidly obsese is not the way to go. If Naomi were to get pregnant right now - she'd never lose the weight and would probably be right back where she started from in a few years. She needs to continue therapy, work on herself -- and then try to find the right person to have children with.

I’m over Jenny, Cassie, and Jerrie. Scrub the cast and start fresh. And Jerrie, no you don’t know Ronald. She’s insufferable and the actress is so so so bad and wooden.

I’m sorry but I need them to put this Ronald storyline to bed - and that includes getting rid of Jerry/Jerrie because the actress is so dull and one note. I hope they start season two with a fresh arc. I’m over Ronald and I’m over the Kleinsassers.