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First 3 episodes of season 2 are available now. No reviews. May take me awhile to get through these, between other shows and NBA Playoffs.

Anthony says he will be back. If he appears on another BD show, we know this firing was just the usual BD BS. They struggled to find stews but they just happened to have another chef in their back pocket? I don't watch this show for who is going to be fired, though some do deserve it. But now it makes no difference whether the cast member deserves it. It's predetermined because they have a replacement handy so they just want to find some excuse to turn over the cast several times during the season. It was the lowest tip of the season but still $1350 per person for a couple of days of work. A good tip would have been maybe $300 more per person? They try to make it sound like a disaster. But the tips are fake as well.

Well he didn't give her reasons to stay, like all those stolen glances he and Mariko exchanged. Fuji might have been curious what made Mariko drop her kimono but Blackthorne was too preoccupied with the other one. Toranaga was the chess master. He used Mariko to break up the power Ishido had concentrated and got Ochiba to pull the rug out from under Ishido. He also had the ship destroyed and will destroy the ship that Anjin rebuilds, partly for his amusement, partly to give Anjin purpose and in line. Yabu was remorseful. She wasn't suppose to die. But he owned up to his guilt and to the end he was true to his character, called out Toranaga. But he didn't hesitate to do his duty.

Because I'm not gullible? Because it's obvious that some of the things on the preference sheets are obviously a big surprise to some of the guests?

Preference sheets are completely fictions massaged by producers. Remember the theme parties they want? Completely fake. You can tell in some cases the guests weren't even into the things they supposedly asked for. In this case, they got a bunch of fast food eaters and they asked for vague things and got "5-star" dishes and plating and they didn't really care. Why were such guests cast? To make the crew look bad. Do you really think Bravo and producers leave things to chance? They go for the things they know has worked for them in the past. Do you think any reality show producers just let guests and cast do whatever and hope for the best, hope there's enough drama and potential viral moments? No they rely on what got them the most attention and ratings in the past and try to recreate them over and over. That's why there will always be theme parties, always be staff shortages, always be firings, always be beach picnics, etc.

They featured the teams working together. They even titled the episode, referring to the alliance. Obviously it's not a problem from the POV of the producers.

They stretched out a spicy chicken eating contest over two episodes. Obviously they are struggling to have something interesting happen. They did an abbreviated GTL but they can't keep going to the well on that too much. The guys are all in their mid 30s, most of them with parental duties and all rich so they can afford other types of diversions. It was a nice gimmick in the OG show but they're reaching deep to resurrect pieces of guido lore. So it's not surprising that they are encouraging this "feud." Sammi doesn't seem to have the heart to act like a 20-something guidette, wagging her fingers in another guidette's face, swinging wildly at them. She said a few episodes ago, "stop it, I'm a 36-year old woman" like she can't be acting like a kid any more. Angelina knows that the only kind of personality she can bring to this is the parody of her resentful young self. Producers like it because look at the footage they feature the most on this show now, always Angelina's beef of the moment. Ratings must be good enough for them to keep featuring the same kind of drama over and over again. Also good enough to give all of them except Pauly a very good upper middle class or better lifestyle. But Pauly probably gets more bookings because of the show. Or else he makes so much from his gigs that he wouldn't have to bother to keep doing the show.

Interesting opening segment on Ozempic, now the downsides come to light. Bill thinks it's scandalous that NPR All Things Considered has only Democrats in editorial positions. Why does he single out NPR? Does he think Fox News has any liberal Democrats? And Fox News has a much greater footprint than NPR. He also doesn't like that NPR has different internal groups. So do many other large employers, like they have separate employee groups around gender and ethnicity, because they are looking for people of similar backgrounds, dealing with a similar work culture. At least Meacham tried to bring some reality instead of going along with Bill's war on woke again, there's no equivalence between the far right and the far left. The far right welcomes "Trumpistan." Bills says the Palestinian protesters who tried to block bridges are for terrorists. Jane Ferguson said they are for cease fire. That made Bill put up his sour puss. He won't have that, over 30k civilians killed in Gaza but Israel is defending itself and killing terrorists.🤢 Bill keeps saying Trump is a threat to democracy but he wants to give equal time to highlighting what he considers the excesses of the left as well as MAGA. He really sore that college students groaned at his jokes.

Or she makes her income by selling herself so her Linked In is like people resume's with some inflation of experience and skills. Maybe appearing on HHI helps these people who depend on self-promotion to get clients. She came across strong, more than most house hunters and more than many women of her age. Opinionated people do repel others. But it's not the worst thing in the world for young women to be talkative. Better that than to "know their place" and be lacking in confidence to speak up for themselves. People who talk a lot often end up in politics so who knows where she will end up.

Cam is talking about pumping and then they cut to a shot of her lifting some dumbbells. Then she talked about getting up in the middle of the night to pump. I don't understand, she's pumping breast milk in South Africa but her babies are back home in the US or are they over there with her? Or it's just painful and she has to get it out? Kefla's crack about 4 black men losing in Dominoes, in Africa no less, was funny. They showed a picture of him back from his original season, with the thick black eyebrows. Otherwise I couldn't place his face. He's obviously bulked up a lot since then. Rachel probably gave up some weight but she has more endurance and a better strategy, go low and use her legs almost being horizontal. But in general this favored the bigger competitor, just another form of Hall Brawl, though that big rubber ball in the middle absorbed most of the impact so you didn't have competitors crashing into each other. One of the other recent variations of Hall Brawl also was designed in a way to lessen the impact. Maybe they're worried about liability for people getting hurt. When they used to give competitors football helmets, it was possibly encouraging them to risk head injuries. Football players will use the crown of helmets when given them and they try to go low. Thing is, the longer people wait to try to win a star, the tougher the competition becomes, because you know they're going to winnow out the smaller, less physically imposing players first.

Yeah it's inconsistent. We've seen seasons where there are deckhands constantly in the kitchen, washing dishes if nothing else. Or what about BDSY, Colin was in the kitchen almost the whole season one year, not just washing dishes but doing sous-chef work, like prepping some ingredients or something. So it seems like a choice whether to help the chef or not. As someone pointed out, usually on big yachts, there's a crew of several chefs, not one trying to scramble and please every guest. We all know the preference sheets are massaged by the producers. In this charter, these are fast food people and they just put up generalities like "no seafood" and "no vegetables." A chef might find people who aren't interested in trying new things to be stifling. But on this show, they're expected to come up with dishes with florid descriptions and Bon Appetit plating. So Anthony made fancy ceviches for people who just want a Big Mac. If that's not a setup, what is?

What is Amanda's business? She talked about joining Meet Up groups, meeting other expats. She said she was introverted so forcing herself to meet people helped overcome her shyness. Some Meet Up groups are nothing more than businesses to try to get people to book tours or workshops. But others are people planning get togethers around a common interest. I've done some local hiking groups but never Meet Ups overseas -- never stay long enough to do so. I can understand wanting space to host these events. Otherwise they have to try to take over some restaurant and people may not want to be forced to spend at some place. She chose one that is $1600 or 25% more than her budget. But after the first house she admitted that she set her budget too low. She was inspired by her grandmother to travel. Maybe the grandmother left her money. But I didn't get the sense that she was that well off. She talked about working in LA and leaving because of the high costs of housing there. She could charge some nominal fee to host events, since she may supply food and drinks. Or maybe it could be a potluck situation. But that doesn't seem like a profit-oriented activity. More like she chose to spend more on a bigger place because she wanted to socialize. It may just be easier if she tried to arrange events at restaurants, with everyone spending whatever they wanted to, though the restaurant wouldn't let a group occupy several tables without them spending a good amount of money.

It's fun, not too weighty. Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz must be fans. That one hit must have paid a lot of bills. According to Wikipedia, they're still together, in their early 70s, married in 1977.

All these situations are so manufactured. Barbie is just going to try better to get along with Frasier so problem solved, just attitude adjustment after all this fake drama? Kerry: Doesn't want to let another stew go, it's hard to find replacements and there are only a couple of charters left. Also Kerry: Threatens to fire Anthony the chef because guests with McDonalds and Burger King tastes -- why did Bravo cast them for the show, because they are fame whore who will make a spectacle of themselves on camera -- didn't like the fancy food. Yeah I bet it's much easier to get a chef than a stewardess for just a couple of charters left in the season.🙄 If they really want to state their preferences, why don't they tell the crew to go out and bring back some fast food from shore? There are probably plenty of those places. Or just say burgers, burgers, burgers on the preference sheets. It's funny when I saw those cheap crowns that Kerry gave them, I thought of the cheesy Burger King crowns they give to kids. Biggest fake drama is the whole lead deckhand situation. Kerry doesn't know Ben and Sunny are fucking in the cabins? He's out to lunch. Then they had Dylan go around and complain to everyone else, filming multiple scenes of him talking about how wronged he feels. And you know it was the producers who put him up to it. Then Ben doesn't like that Dylan is talking behind his back about what he's doing as Bosun. So they immediately cut to scenes of Ben trash-talking behind Jared's back when Jared was bosun. See the producers don't mind at all making these cast members look like petty hypocrites, drama queens, etc. That is the point, to make people look bad so there's plenty of drama. Then in the finale it will be a kumbaya moment with each cast member having their exits, about how they grew and so on during the season.

Maybe if Larry is still in good health and feeling restless, there will be a special or two in a few years.

It seems the mission Toranaga gave Mariko was to martyr herself. Force Ishido to let her go or to kill her. Ishido was never going to let her go so he sent in Shinobi. So they must really believe in the after life, to give up life so easily for their lord, like the guards whom Mariko casually sent to their deaths or the first two guards for Ishido, asking for permits knowing they were going to get their throats cut. So the Catholic influence, even though the after life is a big part of their belief system as well, is to disapprove of suicide. Yet the Catholic Regents are willing to kill casually as well and while they are aghast that Mariko is going to going to take her own life. So why has Mariko been anguished all her life about the death of her family or Ochiba holding a grudge about her father? Aren't they suppose to have a more zen view of life and death? Isn't the glorious after life going to make everything better?

I am able to read this WaPo article on the show and the history of US involvement in the war without being a subscriber. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/2024/04/14/sympathizer-vietnam-war-history-context/

So the main character doesn't have a name, just known as The Captain, a Vietcong mole who managed to ingratiate himself to one of the top generals of South Vietnam. But they humanized him. He had gone to college in America so his English is flawless and he loves American culture, especially popular music, which also gets him close to Claude, a CIA honcho. He seems to have genuine affection for some of these people, at least Bon, a South Vietnamese paratrooper. The Captain is not only a drinking buddy but also the godfather to Doc, Bon's toddler. Turns out him and Bon, as well as Man, who's also Vietcong, were all close growing up, saw themselves as The Three Musketeers. He's trying to get names of all the South Vietnamese secret police and The General gives him the assignment of choosing which ones get some of the limited seats on the escape plane for America. The Captain makes sure to keep the worse ones in Vietnam, so that they will face trial and reeducation when the Vietcong takes Saigon. He doesn't even want to escape to America but Man, who's his handler, tells him to go to America with The General, to keep tabs on him. The Captain seems to believe in the Vietcong cause but also seems to have nostalgia for Vietnam before the war.

I believe the strikes pushed it about a year later than originally planned, Meanwhile looks like Moss has had a couple of other projects which will have been released before THT season 6. Coming at the end of this month exclusively on Hulu is the limited series “The Veil.” But bad news for viewers if THT who couldn’t stomach June Osborne being too much like a badass female action star, beating up people. Looks like in The Veil, Moss plays a badass female spy, who will presumably do her share of beating up people, including probably men bigger than her.🤭

Beautifully filmed and he seemed to enjoy many of his experiences. Certainly seemed more game to try more things. Liked how he recalled enjoying a train ride at 8 years old to New York and how he hadn’t ridden trains much as an adult. Apple TV + likes to showcase the picture quality so it puts in golden sun-drenched scenes as much as it can, even on shows like Trying or Bad Sisters, which take place in England and Ireland, which are not known for a lot of sun. But no problems finding sunny scenes in St. Tropez, Andalusia or Greece. So no shortage of scenery porn and this season they related a lot of Eugene’s personal life like visiting Scotland where his mother grew up. His narration talked about doing another trip as he looked at those whales close to his boat so he seems willing to do more episodes.

I get that she has family back in Scotland but that has to be a downgrade on lifestyle. Big adjustment in weather. Guess they liked cashing out on selling their Melbourne home and saving money on housing in Scotland. Usually, Australians move to the UK for career opportunities but that doesn't seem to be the case here.

Daily was a fun setup. Must cost money to have a crane available and all those nostalgic vehicles. yeah the first team which did it kind of got screwed. Janelle probably makes good income and has a comfortable life. Prize is not enough to make her put up with the aggravation. The Challenge and other reality shows want confrontational people, especially when they get drunk. Janelle is a mother of young children and a professional. She doesn’t need to get loud and angry on TV. Makes you wonder why she came back for a second All Stars season, I thought she said she had some friends among this cast. So TJ explained the game before either Laurel or Nicole committed to competing, like he was trying to entice one of them. He never gives the game away until the competitors are determined. Nicole may be right, Laurel still has feelings for her and she’s putting up a coldhearted front. Laurel doth protest too much.

Main thing about this episode is that they pushed the prize money down. No more million dollar prizes? It must cost money to fly down so many to South Africa. That Challenge house looks expensive. Did they build the water slide just for this season? Maybe also filming so many variations and releasing/broadcasting each year — feel like we’ve been Getting 2 or 3 seasons of the different flavors each year — they have to spread the prize money more. Or maybe TJ is wetting his beak into some of the prize money.😊 The Daily and elimination were good. It wasn’t about running up and down that hill more than others, looks like the star winners studied the next box and then went back and looked for the right configuration of pegs. The elimination didn’t necessarily favor the stronger guy but they will probably spring Hall Brawl and Pole Wrestle at some point. Though I’m not sure how Tyri built up a big lead unless he muscled Steve out of them. i recognize a lot of the faces and names but some of these people haven’t been on any of the Challenges in over 20 years so I don’t recall their antics at all. Averey couldn’t have been on the show that long ago. She must be at least 5-7 years younger than any of the others. Well maybe not Leroy and Cam, and Derek and what’s his name the guy who quit the Final because he couldn’t eat.

Mike observed that Sam being silent and not looking at him indicates there's some emotions there. Did he say hate, love, indifference? I can see the first two but not indifference. That's what Sam is trying to project, that she's moved on, she's in a good place in her life. But is it denial or repressing something. Fact that Vinny mentioned the note and that ticked her off suggests something is going on. I don't think she still has feelings for Ron but her trying to play it off like she has no emotions for him may be denial too. She thought she was ready for it, that she could coexist with him within the big group. But it's not so easy if she shuts down almost completely while he's around. Maybe she'll argue with Angelina so she doesn't have to think about it, though all the roomies are poking, saying "awkward" every few minutes.

Great for her career but he's young to not be working in a career-track job himself. They chose to have a family rather early, just before she got the big job. But they did seem to sightsee around France a bit, there were some snapshots including a selfie with Mont St. Michel.