aghst

Why would they use concealers though? Seems like the choice of tight clothing would indicate that showing certain features is the point?

First two episodes set up some high expectations, especially for action scenes and tension. Maybe that's what people are missing? I think the dialog is still pretty cracking, like the first conversation between Harper and Chase and now Harper and Angela.

Oh I might have to actually watch that episode.

Yeah the Algorithm is another thing the producers throw in that lacks transparency. Sure it's completely random ...🙄 Remember, a hallmark of The Challenge is that they can change the rules at any time. The infamous twists that TJ thinks is good showmanship to throw in. But these twists obviously can benefit certain competitors over others so the producers can manipulate certain results or outcomes or have the kind of matchups they want.

I definitely agree that for overseas, it would make more sense to rent first. Especially in Europe, the red tape is said to be a mess. I can see buying if you move within the US and you know that a real estate market is hot and there's a good chance to build equity and make a good profit. Especially if you've sold a home in your previous location, there's a tax advantage to do an exchange, rather than cash out of the first hoe.

First she's shocked that Birdman killed off the TV presenter as she nudged -- BTW, wouldn't her tweets be visible? Then Freddy returns to that smirk, like she got someone doing her bidding again.

I thought Harper figured it out after Julian the assassin told him about the mole. Apparently Angela/Emily and Joel Grey and the assassin were the ones who knew that Harper hired the assassin to kill Chase. Yeah you had these voiceovers from Abbey talking about dark places where the light and sound or voices can't reach. Then young Abbey reveals that she has been helping the Soviets kill off rival warlords so Hamzad could take power as soon as the Soviets left. Talk about darkness. But then she leaned of all these mineral riches and decided Hamzad can't know about that, because he would become too powerful too fast. It would have been okay if Hamzad is president of Afghanistan but not the king. Choose a lane lady. We know that the Taliban took over, between the time the Soviets left in 1989 and 9/11/2001, when the Taliban's complicity caused US to invade Afghanistan. So Hamzad was never in power in Afghanistan in the period when Abbey and Chase ran away, which was April 1987? But Hamzad got rich and apparently pulls a lot of strings in the US govt. They're twisting to justify Zoe still being in the series, now she has some superpower so Chase asks her to come with him on a possible suicide mission for him to kill Hamzad. With just 2 episodes left, there won't be a resolution, maybe old Hamzad makes an appearance but they won't be done with him until at least the second season.

I don't think they'd ever have a pure athletic competition. There will always be puzzles rather than letting them run or swim x yards. I do think though in All Stars season 03, Wes and Jonna took leads on the run to the first check point and they maintained it through all the check points. So there's a value to being very fit for some distance runs but they're not going to have outright sprints. But being able to jog a distance faster isn't a guarantee, you have to be able to get through the check point. They do have some eliminations where size and strength disparities come into play, like Hall Brawl and the battle for wrestling the pole from each other. Those are obviously unfair and we never have visibility on when such eliminations are going to be used on a given episode. But in the Final, being the most fit, running or swimming some distances, climbing up mountains usually confer an advantage but it's not the only thing.

I don't think it's aired yet. My DVR shows S07.E01 set to record on 7/11, this coming Monday. But it appears to also be available on demand. I think Peacock app. will also let you stream a week in advance.

Sirico was really in OC, went to prison for it. I think he was in some documentary about former mobsters. That may have helped him get cast for this role.

The regular Challenge had gotten ALL political, little to do with performance. I actually like the last place team or competitor going into the elimination automatically. Because it's too easy for some to just quit, not try certain dailies. And it looks like the casts already had informal alliances already so if they voted, BB and Survivor would have just systematically eliminated the TAR and LI cast members. I'd like to see some races during the Dailies, so that it's transparent and we don't have to rely on producers timing the performances, with no on-screen indicator.

I don't think it's B/M driving this. It's more Paramount, which needs cheap content for Paramount +, which is an also-ran in the streaming wars. Look at how many Challenge series they're going to crank out now, the original, all-stars, USA, World. Paramount + announced last week that they were rebooting Road Rules and also doing more of the Homecoming series. I assume B/M produces all these as well. But I think it's a lot easier for them to crank out the Challenge since they've been cranking them out every year, especially the last couple of years when they also had the Challenge, All Stars, the Pros vs. All Stars, etc.

Kathryn no longer needed him. People have forgotten her monkey emojis.

Saint Tropez is about 2 hours east of Nice. It's a small village which attracts the rich so has a lot of luxury boutiques and such. It's near a lot of very famous beaches with private beach clubs. You will see a lot of exotic cars at those beaches. But the whole coastline attracts the rich. You will see huge yachts from the coastline. I've not been to Bordeaux. Barcelona is a huge city, which has a lot of interesting places to see which are far away from the waterfront. Cinque Terre are small villages which nevertheless attract huge crowds of people every year -- they blame it on Rick Steves. It doesn't have the very rich people vibe of Monaco or St. Tropez. Nearby Portofino is that for the Ligurian coast.

Rave reviews so far, from Dennis Lehane (The Wire, Mystic River, The Outsider) https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/black_bird/s01/reviews?type=top_critics

Some cars may not have bluetooth built in. Or maybe Kathryn hasn't bothered to pair her phone to the car. I have bluetooth but I much prefer wearing an AirPod when I drive, so the other ear can still hear road noise. But AirPods wouldn't work for TV show because they want you to hear both sides of the conversation.

Now I remember him, you're right they did bully some other teams on their TAR season. They denied being bullies IIRC because they were gay and had gone through being bullied in their teens? Afghanimals were too much. Only the woman was tolerable in her TAR season.

She talks about better work-life balance and entertaining open plan kitchen, which are worn-out HHI tropes so those probably aren't real concerns. She talks quite a bit about their backstory, they had moved to Berlin for her ex-husband's job and then they divorced. Probably a bigger deal than she lets on. She's gained a lot of weight since those Berlin pictures. Maybe she wanted to get away from Berlin because of the bad personal associations. Even if it meant uprooting her two daughters to a new city and country. Maybe also a way to keep them from her ex? The girls are subdued at times as well.

Berlin to Stockholm, single mom with two teen daughter both wanting their own bedrooms. As usual, budget too low for what they were asking for. Mom wanted to be in city center where her job was. Also kids had to go to school so they didn’t join the house hunt so presumably their school was already Set. Two of the homes were near city center and only two had 3 bedrooms so the girls wouldn’t have to share. They quickly eliminated the one with only 2 bedrooms. Mom wanted the cheaper one, which “technically” was 3 bedrooms. But older daughter pushed for the one with three bedrooms, bigger and not interconnected like the cheaper choice. The one they chose was 30 minutes from city center, from her job and their school. But commute time and the restaurants which the mother talked up are probably not big issues. She said the $300 over budget would force a lifestyle change. Like moving them to another city and country wouldn’t? But a 15 year old teen girl probably wanted privacy from her 11 year old sister.

Venita is like this season's version of what's her name, always in scenes to let some other character vent. Well at least they gave a role to a POC. They actually have two now, appearing in all the episodes of the season so far. Guess after 7 seasons of mostly white cast, they have to catch up a bit. But Caleb looks like he may be bouncing soon.

You knew they were going to milk the story about Craig and Naomi supposedly fucking a couple of times. The previous episode was ridiculous with everyone weighing in. Why would it be any of their business if they're true friends? But reality TV friends get to be nosey and then act hurt because dull white guy #1 didn't tell dull white guy #3 all the details. Now their make-believe friendship "could" end because Craig wasn't all gossipy about his supposed personal life with the guys? GMAFB. Talk about being out of ideas. Yeah Ms. Camel toes, again putting out their supposed relationship business on camera. How many takes to play along with this story? Old Shep won't commit, old Shep likes to have fun, doesn't want to be tied down with responsibility. Well he doesn't have any other role to play.

This episode was released not long after July the 4th when they have binge eating contests of hot dogs. Hot dogs can be gross but it's not entrails of some animals. Yet for most people stuffing all those dogs in a race is unappealing to watch. Yet enough people must watch because they keep doing those contests.

Supposedly she ran marathons, trained in MMA? She said she's repelled down buildings in her training for SWAT but she still didn't win or even place in the top 3.

Like I said, if they were really moving to Nice, they could have sold their CA home and get a nicer, bigger place. The teens should have their own rooms, which is the case back home in CA. They would be going away to college in a few years but they'd be able to sell a 3 or 4 bedroom home if they needed to. Maybe she wanted to see if she could generate the same kind of income in France, though again, there's the question of getting a work visa, which usually isn't instant, unless there was an employer willing to sponsor her.

Would have lost all respect for Keri Russell if she dated him. I think around that time, Keri actually went to the Scientology headquarters or whatever it is, probably more to secure that role, because it was probably the biggest movie she was in. If you listen to her in interviews when she was on The Americans, she swears up a storm, kind of belying that goody two shoes image. So that might not have been good for Cruise.