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12catcrazy

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Everything posted by 12catcrazy

  1. I think New York was one of the last holdouts for chains and fast food places. I grew up here and never ate at a McDonalds until I was almost 15 and living in Canada (and granted, I am 66 now). When I came back to NY in late 1988 I was surprised at how even by then, chains were rare. Now in 2023, chains are everywhere as well as the fast fold joints. It still boggles my mind that people will eat at Olive Garden here rather than at a good non-chain Italian place (and they're starting to go the way of the delis and diners). Americans seem to like food that is predictable and mediocre and the cheaper the better. High End places do well in a tough economy because the carriage trade always has money; the fast food joints do well because you can eat lousy unhealthy food on the cheap. The middle end places go under because the folks that go there (like me!) stop going because eating out is a luxury and when times get hard, you start looking at needs and wants and what to cut, and nights out are one of the first things to cut.
  2. It was interesting seeing both the 48 Hours and Dateline episodes (and so close together) on the Zombie Hunter guy in Phoenix. We learned more about the victims on Dateline but more about the killer on 48 Hours and seeing both episodes gave one a better all around feel for the case. Interesting though how Dateline didn't mention the ex-wife and all that she had to say about Brian Miller. And I also wonder about how much of what Miller said about his mother was actually true as she was no longer alive to defend herself. And for bleeding heart lawyer, all I can say is he's lucky that none of Miller's victims were his loved ones. People have gotten the death penalty for crimes a lot less horrific than what was done to those two young victims - and those two are only the known victims of Brian Miller. I agree with the cops - there are probably more. My guess is that the only way he is going to come clean about more crimes is if they commute his death sentence.
  3. Sorry - brain and fingers not in synch. I corrected my error - thanks for pointing it out.
  4. Bluepiano, I don't know if you still live in New York but diners are a dying thing. I live on Long Island and I've seen a lot of them go out of business in the last few years (the trend started even before COVID). I think chains like Applebees have helped to do them in and also that the younger generation doesn't want to work in the diners that their parents and grandparents started. I've kind of given up on diners because my last eating experiences have been pretty bad (and I always opt for breakfast type of stuff because that is what diners do best) . You'll still find a good one every now and again but it's not like it was when I was growing up in the 1960s; it's not even like it was in the 90s. As far as the health inspectors go, there aren't enough to go around. A friend of mine was once a health inspector and he told me that some of the stuff that he saw really put him off on going out to eat. Maybe Gordon Ramsay shows us some of the worst of the worst but I don't think the health dept catches even half of it.
  5. Yeah, but why in hell did she have friends who hooked her up with the guy? In her defense she probably thought that if her friends thought he was ok (and didn't murder his wife), he was ok. And she was also coming off a difficult first marriage and divorce and maybe Nick was being kind to her in ways that her ex-husband was not. Not to mention that she probably didn't watch Dateline, because then she'd be savvy like us and run like hell in the other direction at the mere hint that the guy killed his wife.
  6. EXACTLY! Look, I'm old so I just don't understand this business of oh yeah, she's left a young child and she either just sends an occasional text saying she doesn't want to talk or posts something on Facebook, so we're not really all that concerned.... How many of this Datelines have we seen where the victim has been dead or missing for weeks and everybody is all "well they sent us a text so they must be ok". 100% agree - if the family had gone to the cops within a couple of days, there would have been some evidence in the apartment and maybe even a chance to find Bethany's body.
  7. Did he deserve it because he signed her up for the open mike at the comedy club? That was a crappy thing to do to her (nothing like hostility disguised as "just joking"). Strange how Annika considered the comedy club a "safe space" in which to make her announcement. I'm really looking forward to next week's episode.
  8. This is the show that I turn to when I don't want the deepness (or depression) of British detective shows or the total idiocy of Portofino Hotel. It's not as well done as say, NCIS, and the actors range from really good (Jesse Martin, and the actress who plays his sister) to really bad (some of the weekly episode actors). The stories could be tighter and the running thing about the ex is already getting old (she's dating but I think starting to reconsider, and he is still wearing his wedding ring). And so much about the show screams Cheapie Production. If it was a CBS show it would be dumped after one season; my guess is that it will be a one and done on NBC, but I've been wrong before and may be wrong again.
  9. I enjoyed the case and am getting more used to Annika talking to the camera. But enough already with the dithering on telling Michael that Morgan is his daughter. Ok, we get it - she's worried that Morgan will prefer the family with the Dad, Mom who actually cooks and seems to be "fun" and the younger sibs, but it's pretty selfish on Annika's part to not let her daughter be part of a nice family and also to not let Michael know that he has another child. Michael isn't a "selkie" and isn't going to run away with Morgan out to sea (and yeah, it's meant to be metaphorical) but with all of the rotter guys out there who would be very happy to turn their backs on their child, Michael hasn't been written that way. As an aside: what is the story going to be with the young woman cop being pregnant? Will that be a case where her baby daddy is a stinker and not wanting anything to do with the baby and there will be a contrast with Michael not being that way towards Morgan? Or is this a case where the actress is actually expecting and they're writing it into the story so she won't have to hide behind large potted plants and file folders held in front of her?
  10. The whole New Jersey stereotypical "Guido" thing was a turn off from the get-go. I have no clue why this woman would open a restaurant having no experience with that kind of business and then having her oldest son (who also seemed to have no experience) try to be pizza chef and manager. I actually felt bad for the kid as he seemed to be trying to work hard with basically no support from dear old Mom. Maybe Gordan Ramsay gets a kick from doing these shows but you have to ask yourself why he bothers with some of these places. Why did these people deserve a total restaurant makeover and the free publicity they get from being on this show? Melissa would have been better off taking some of the 500k she sunk into this restaurant and sending her older son to the CIA where he'd learn how to actually cook and manage a restaurant instead of making him a slave to a glorified pizza joint in a strip shopping center. And for a personal comment - why the hell does a 18, 20 year old kid need a 35 THOUSAND dollar watch, and what kind of values are the parents raising their children with? (why am I asking as I live on Long Island and see these "values" all too often). Oh, and I checked the Yelp reviews, which are very mixed. People either seem to really like the food or they're totally not impressed - very odd.
  11. Sigh. A show that I'm watching because it's better than football. The clothing and scenery are still beautiful and the acting and storyline are still the pits. This seems to be another show where AI could have made for better writing, and the actors all seem totally bored or majorly hamming it up (Bella's husband and his bitchy girlfriend in particular). I guess this show is for the eye candy crowd - from all other standpoints it's like something you'd get on the CW, except with period costumes. Don't know if I can stand 6 episodes.
  12. When they brought up the boyfriend who was taken in by the family for a while, I pegged him as the killer. You watch enough of these Datelines you kind of pick up on stuff like that, especially since it looked as if the husband and son were not being interviewed in a jail (although sometimes they try and fake us out with letting them wear shirts on top when they are on camera). This was another case where the cops thought they were going to pin it on the husband. Not that it's a bad idea to look at the #1 choice at first, but sometimes I think they get closed off to other ideas. And while most of you don't like the husband, I was glad that he was cleared - he was kind of weird but also seemed like a straight shooter. He was former military - maybe some kind of Special Forces? Those guys are pretty much brainwashed to think in a certain way (even to get them through their training), so to most of us, the "I've failed as a man" thing seems weird and over the top, but that's how many of those guys think (I was in the Air Force 40 plus years ago, so I get it). The same thing with all the guns. Maybe it's a macho thing or a local hobby but people in rural states have arsenals and nobody thinks much of it. 2nd Amendment rights and gun culture. Julius was a real moron though as why go to rob a house where the owners are armed to the teeth and usually home at night? If I remember, at the beginning of the episode, at least some of the family had been away, so did they come back early, or did Julius think they were still away? What a stupid senseless crime though - this family had been mostly kind to him and this is how he repaid it. Evil does walk in this world.
  13. I don't think that money was much of a motive. Tim was an abuser - his main motive was to make Nicki's life hell. Nicki being involved with another man was too much for him so he manipulated Colleen into being the hit person while he had the alibi of being at the preschool. Neither one of them was exactly a criminal mastermind. Tim THOUGHT that he was but he wasn't as smart as he thought he was. Nicki probably has good reason to be worried - egomaniacs like Tim usually don't change and he'll probably be out of jail in 10 years.
  14. I think the DNA analysis would have been a good old-fashioned paternity test. I don't know if they can do that off of saliva on a drinking glass but I'm going to chalk it up to the writers getting fanciful on what one could do with DNA in 1988 and it's affordability. I don't think Ancestry.com or 23andme existed back then.
  15. Ok, I am now officially a fan of this series. I'm glad there is going to be a season 3. Now we will have the mystery of what happened to T's father and the backstory of his mother and the Dean (or whoever that guy is). It would be something if HE is really T's father and not the guy who T's mother was married to.
  16. This was a weird one last night. I have to agree with TVBitch in wondering about a serial killer angle. So many weird deaths in Emily's life. And yeah, I wanted to know more about the water container filled with vodka instead of water - if Emily was drunk, it would make it much more likely to be suicide. I can picture a scenario where maybe Emily and Matt had an argument (maybe even earlier in the day) and she had been drinking and left to go walking in the woods and had the idea of "just screw it all" and tried to hang herself on the branch with the charger cord. My guess is that she probably strangled rather than "hanged". Considering how close to home she was, it is mind boggling how long it was before any of the searchers actually found her (and I think the ladies who found her didn't know her personally). The husband seemed like kind of an odd guy but from the sounds of it, she seemed kind of odd also. I don't think that he killed her because it was such a weird set up. You'd think if he murdered her, he bury the body somewhere or dump it in the woods, rather than this stupid hanging her from a branch in the underbrush. From a logical point of view it makes no sense. And would he have gained anything from the murder? Life insurance, the home, what? And for the friends who kept saying that Emily wouldn't kill herself, denial seems to be a really big thing among people who have had a friend or family member commit suicide. I think that people like to tell themselves that they would've seen it or the person would have come to them for help. Suicide is such a big taboo subject in our culture that people just can't accept it. I had a friend who seemed like such an easy going, carefree happy person, married with two kids he adored and he hanged himself. Everyone who knew him was in shock (even his wife) because he always seemed so happy and not depressed. Some people hide their demons very well until something happens and they snap. That this case happened around COVID lockdown time doesn't surprise me. It was a stressful time for people who normally were mentally healthy - for people already close to the edge, it probably didn't take alot to push them over it.
  17. I enjoyed this past episode and have to say that I have no clue who the killer is (though can guess who it isn't). Lena had like a 30 second walk on and I really dislike this woman - there is something about her that just rubs me the wrong way. I haven't seen the actress in anything else so don't know if it's her or just how the character is being written. But at this point, I wish she'd become a victim and just disappear already.
  18. So now I'm totally confused. I figured on Lord Hume being Precious' father, not Ebele's. We haven't been told anything about Ebele's mother and what also confuses me is that Ebele (to my ears) sounds as if she has an accent that isn't from England. I assumed that her people were from some former British colony and migrated to Britain when she was a child. And what is the deal with the dead "other" son? Its an odd thing to throw into the mix this late in the episode game.
  19. The Grand Daddy of these shows with the search for the elusive Big Bad was a show in the 60s called "The Fugitive" where the hero spent like 3 or 4 years searching for the guy who murdered his wife (a crime which he was accused of committing).
  20. This show struck me as being lightweight. Almost seemed more like a CBS Sunday night show rather than NBC, which is ok, because not everything has to be heavy, heavy, heavy. I liked the actor playing the lead (I wasn't watching TV when he was on L & O) so I'm not familiar with him. The actress playing the sister was good (but I also think that she is too young to be his sister - as somebody else said, she looks like she could be his daughter). The soon-to-be ex-wife was good; wasn't too impressed by the students or the blond DA. The writing needs to be punchier and less cliched. So far, its one episode, we'll see where it goes.
  21. This was a good story arc. I'm okay with the two new cops; I think the female new cop is still getting her feet wet and isn't quite sure how to act in certain situations. Guess that is part of the learning curve on working murder investigations. And I totally love the coroner (does anybody not?). That scene when Lena comes into the bar and even though she's told it's not a good time to talk to Piet, still attempts to, while he is surrounded by his co-workers (including his boss) was cringe worthy. I kept thinking "and this woman is a DOCTOR?" and do the writers think this is going to endear the viewers to the character? Lena comes across as a total flake who seems to have emotional problems, so somebody will think that this is the person who will bring "happiness" to the brooding hero of the show. In the immortal words of Moonunit Zappa - Gag me with a spoon!
  22. I can't understand why the sister actually blabbed to Jess that she was the "other woman" in the affair with Jess' husband. Especially if you know that your cheated-on sister is hard-nosed and not exactly likely to forgive you and that it will cause a riff in your family. And yeah, it was over the line telling your mother that she should no longer speak to her other daughter because of the affair. Talk about putting Mom in a hard place. But it also seems that Jess is somebody who wants to call the shots with those around her. The case is certainly interesting. I'm usually good at calling out whodunnit but there are so many possibilities here that I'm thinking that the son didn't do it (but saw who did) and that Lord Hume had something to do with it. And still, his wife is the sister of the person who had owned the house and even though we don't see much of the wife, knowing who is playing her, still makes me wonder...
  23. I think that the bottom line here is that Sunny is married to his job. The fiancee will always come second (as will any children) to the job unless Sunny decides to not make it that way. I'm wondering where this soap opera is going - Sal miscarries and she decides that Sunny isn't going to be the guy for her, or the pregnancy is saved and Sunny and Sal have a long talk about what they both expect and what the relationship is going to be. My guess is that the pregnancy will come to term and the baby will be named after Cassie but that's because that seems to be the TV show cliched way of doing things. Maybe this show will surprise me but I doubt it. And what is the deal with the woman cop who volunteers to lend Sunny an ear when he needs to grieve - why am I spacing on who she is?
  24. I second that episode #2 was better than last week's. Pretty good case, the whole team was involved and there was some character development. I'm actually looking forward to next week.
  25. My guess is that the "unwanted" will wind up being wanted (the lady certainly seemed like she didn't really mind the idea, and neither did Sunny) and the baby, no matter what it's gender is going to be named after Cassie. And it's going to be for Sunny, well, death happens (Cassie's) but now there will be new Life (the Baby). I can hear the goopy music now. Rolling my eyes at the cliche.
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