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Yeah that’s my suspicion, it’s Annabeth Gish who hired Barry through Fuches. But then she might figure out who Kenneth Goulet is. It’s very irresponsible, Fuches is potentially sending those people to their demise. He’s burning bridges with Barry, soon coming to a point of no return as far as any kind of reconciliation. Hank made all the wrong choices for setting up the Detonate app.😊 I thought for sure Montegna would turn Cousineau around, be happy about his expanded role and notice in Variety. But know it was a bag full of money. Yeah Sally dumped Barry more because of getting 98% on Rotten Tomatoes than Katie telling her that Barry was violent. Based on what? That one time he yelled at her? He didn’t yell at her other times or hit her. She called him Boo Bear. Does she really believe she’s breaking some pattern of choosing violent men or she thinks she’ll just find a more successful Boo Bear? Maybe Barry should have brought her a big bag of money as well.

I'm not a big pork eater. I've enjoyed various salumi -- charcuterie dishes with red Italian wine is a great combo. But I don't tend to go for maiale dishes at restaurants. Haven't even tried porchetta, though I've been to Italy many times. Also have avoided pigeon dishes too. Absolutely love Assisi and Orvieto. Perugi is okay but like the smaller towns more. CNN had an article about how Lake Trasimeno, which is just on the Umbrian side of the border with Toscana, has fish dishes unlike any other part of Italy, because they feature lake fish like pike and perch. I'm a picky eater so Umbrian cuisine, other than the pasta dishes they showed, may not be for me. But it's a beautiful place. So I don't know if filming in the fall was intentional. Certainly you can argue with the beautiful foliage colors. But I get the sense that they got a late start and was only able to film enough for 4 episode, unless they filmed more around the same time but haven't edited it. The last episode being in London also seems to indicate that they rushed through the shooting and production of this mini season. Or maybe Stanley prioritized other projects. Hope they're planning to shoot again soon so they could have new episodes by spring next year at the latest.

Paramount + said Road Rules reboot this year right? Any sign of filming? Because they're running out of time if they're not shooting to premier it this year.

They could be doing something of an upside down sexual harassment plot with the woman harassing the man. True she's an underling but her father has power over Jimmy. But they seem to be mostly playing it for laughs, with Kayla being over the top.

I don't know if this episode grew out of a story idea or a thought experiment. How common are people like Aaron, who deny his mixed heritage, passes himself off as white, to the point of engaging in racist language? I didn't know about Kevin Samuels, who sounds like a highly controversial figure. The Ringer Prestige TV podcast has been breaking down each episode. The podcasters in this case are two black men so they're familiar with Samuels and all the signifiers of blackness that the Robert S. Lee character demanded from the scholarship applicants. They said this episode was abstract or even kind of like a Twilight Zone episode. It discussed things about black culture and made some jokes, like now Aaron has leaned into his blackness by the end of the episode and he's a playa, pursing the white woman. They thought not only was pitting Aaron vs. Felix heavy-handed, it was like using a sledgehammer. Then the fact that Felix didn't meet the criteria for being black until he was shot by the police. Also, how often are black people involved in wanting to (literally) burn things down out of anger? That is what some racists use to justify their racism, that black people are angry and given the chance, they'd enact violent reprisals against white people. They tried to portray groups like the Black Panthers as indicative of blacks wanting to wage a war of vengeance. But black men aren't burning things down or perpetrating mass shootings against non blacks. Today, there was an apparently racially-motivated mass shooting near Buffalo, where a guy dressed in tactical uniform went and shot up a store in a predominantly black area, live streaming it. At least 10 fatalities. The suspect is reportedly white. Overall the Prestige TV podcast guys say this season's episodes have been "surreal" and these standalone episodes don't let you connect emotionally to the characters like the episodes when the regular cast is featured. They speculate that despite the brilliance and freshness of the first two seasons, Glover may have all along wanted to do this kind of show, with several anthology episodes, maybe to delve into some social issues. It would be interesting to see which version of Aaron black people would connect to more, the one who denied his heritage and hung around with white friends who think black people can get into college much more easily because of affirmative action or the playa who's leaning into some stereotypes of young black men? Or which version they'd find more offensive.

It's interesting to see the sense of entitlement that Benny and Magda have. And to a lesser extent, Brittini and Culver. It can't be an accident. Producers have to be encouraging this attitude and behavior. Look at BDSY, which is also airing now. There the bad behavior is spiked by alcohol but Ashley is just acting out. Certainly if they let her know that her behavior wouldn't be acceptable, she might have changed or behavior or maybe she wouldn't have done the show, since her goal seems to be to expand her Only Fans notoriety. But again, producers enable the behavior with all the booze and license to party on the boat, the hot tub. Maybe I'm forgetting the pre-pandemic seasons or the early seasons of these BD shows but didn't they mostly get drunk off the boat and then returned and went to their cabins mostly, certainly not freely use the hot tub, the bar/lounge or the guest cabins to have sex. In the last season of BDM, didn't they say using the guest cabins was prohibited but a couple of cast members did and they didn't get fired for it. So the BD producers seem to be progressively condoning or even encouraging bad behavior, especially with the drinking and partying. But Benny and Magda are behaving badly even when they're not so drunk.

Shang Chi is just Disney wanting to capture more money at the Chinese box office. I haven't seen it but it's suppose to be good, though I don't know that it represents AAs in particular. A comic book superhero is hardly anyone's role model. Dynasty, Succession and Billions never claim to represent a wider group of people, let alone white people all over the world. Succession is clearly social criticism and satire, with way more weight than CRA. Maybe the creative people and the producers for CRAs aren't making such claims either. Certainly the media coverage has tried to spin it that way. There are a number of smaller movies which attempt to depict various parts of the Asian or AA experience but these are not blockbusters and are never going to get the wide media coverage and hype that CRA got. But then again, smaller, independent movies also depict the lives of people of different European ancestry much better than any big movie. I'm trying to think if there was ever a movie comparable to CRA made about Irish or Italian Americans. Sure there are plenty of smaller films, some of which may have reached millions in theaters and home video but don't recall the same type of hype. There will continue to be more movies featuring Asian or AA characters which more AAs can identify with. Most of them will be little-know and be seen by comparatively few people compared to CRA.

This was an okay movie but I don't understand the broad appeal, a story about a one-percenter family, which is suppose to represent how Asians want to be portrayed in the Western media? Especially after all the hate crimes endured by Asian-Americans since the onset of the pandemic? AAs are aspirational and at least as brand-conscious as any other group. But they're also hard-working overachievers, whose successes are earned, not inherited through generational wealth, though I guess the children in this movie are portrayed as wildly successful despite coming from a family which is going to pass down generational wealth to them. But is this true? Scions of very rich families are often slackers, not driven to succeed. Many have guilt about their inherited wealth and try to compensate by doing a lot of charitable and non-profit work. None of this is depicted in this movie. It just seems hard to identify with people who are worth what, 8 figures, 9 figures, maybe billions, even if they're the same ethnicity?

I wouldn’t say a dipping pool is completely useless. On a hot, humid day, maybe it’s like a reverse hot tub.

OK, you're right. Vocal fry doesn't usually bother me that much. But this woman seemed like she was consciously ending sentences up.

I can tell you that here in the West Coast, they don't have cement construction for homes or other buildings. Reinforced concrete probably for high rises. But I've also heard that when they retrofit to make homes more earthquake proof, they used wood beams because wood flexes where as a slab of cement may be more brittle.

Wonder what Ava thinks of Linda Ronstadt or Elton John. Decor inside Deborah's mansion is dated, as are the vinyl-laden booths at Vegas casinos and lounges. Didn't she roll her eyes about working for Deborah initially or working in Vegas? Sorry I got the name of the actress and her character mixed up. Hannah Elbender is only 26 so she'd be almost young enough for Gen Z? So Deborah's decor, music, style must be jarring for her.

The Puerto Morales couple seems to want to stick to a budget so they can improve it and possibly flip it. They said they study the renovation/flip market back in UT and wanted to do the same down there. He knows flooring but I guess he can do other construction and renovate all the things a house needs in order to flip for profit. He noted that they use cement construction to make the building more durable vs. earthquakes and storms. I thought wood support structures withstood earthquakes better than concrete or cement. Or maybe they don't plan to work forever so they have savings and they have to stick to a budget if they don't want to work. Sounded like Puerto Morales isn't as expensive a housing market as other big name resorts or other towns near Cancun.

The scene in the store was a big set piece, at least the way they envisioned it. Amusing, Jimmy gets the perfect assistant and has to take Kaley back to try to protect Hannah, who comes clean to Deborah right before he calls to tell her. They were in Sedona and they drove by those mesas? Looked amazing.

Yeah the stride they hit in the first season is still there. Looks like they’re expanding Jimmy’s character but he also seems to be an EP or showrunner because he does an Inside the Episode with two women who are behind the scenes and look like him ethnically, if not related. Deborah and Hannah push each other’s buttons so their relationship seems like it will always have ups and downs as opposed to reaching some equilibrium or steady state, which would describe for instance Deborah and Marcus’ relationship. But it seems more that Hannah doesn’t want to let Deborah down than losing her job.

Didn't recognize Sharon Stone -- remember they had a press release about her being cast to play Cassie's mother. I don't know how important her family dysfunction is in the context of this season. Could be interesting in its own right but they plopped it right in the middle of a suspenseful plot. Supposedly Stone surprised the cast and crew by improvising the slap, which wasn't in the script. They threw in a lot, not just bad CIA moles but North Koreans operating with impunity in the US? You'd think the CIA would know about them and at least be monitoring them. Max hacks the couple and figures out they're tracking Cassie but the NSA doesn't? Cassie's life is a mess. If she survives all these forces targeting her, it will be a miracle. Megan is not doing much better, evading both the FBI and the North Koreans. Really the odds are not great that these civilians would evade these professional killers and spies, much less outwit them to an extent. On top of that they have emotional and drinking problems? Then again, Cassie and Megan were shown to be highly functional as flight attendants last season. When they make the international spy plots more complicated, with higher stakes, then it hurts credibility that these characters would be able to survive as long as they have, without more active involvement and help from professionals and agents like Shane.

So they probably had plans to keep Heather around and they can't have Eddie calling her out for using racist slurs. What a show. Probably the captains get paid enough and maybe some cast members who are popular enough to keep coming back. He did say they get paid more than regular yachting but not enough considering BD shows are the most popular on Bravo. That means on top of the probably concocted tips on the shows.

Is it a thing in Australia for young women to fondle each others' breasts? Aesha fondled Brittini and in this episode Brittini fondles Tumi. Good times. Crew are a mess and leave a big mess for the captain to discover in the morning. He wakes them all up to clean everything up. Now the deck crew are becoming judgemental about each others' work failings while Jamie, who's competent as he showed rescuing that guest, is just too laid back in putting his foot down against Benny, the slacker taking photos when he's suppose to be piloting the tender. Jaime puts Brittini on nights, because he can't trust slacker Benny but then Benny encourages the guests to go fishing at 1 AM so Brittini would have to deal with them. She gets pissed and wonders why Jaime didn't tell Benny that he wasn't doing his work at nights, which is why he replaced him. But even easy-going Jamie has had enough when Benny almost screws up the jet ski crane and won't own up to his mistake. So it ends on a cliffhanger with Jaime telling Jason that Benny has to go and Jason saying he wants to hear Benny's side of the story. OK, guess Jason isn't too impressed with Jason's work either but way to back up your bosun. Good on Aesha for confronting Magda and Ryan about them trash-talking behind her back but as with all Bravo confrontations, this may have been scripted. But at least for this episode, Ryan is responsive to guest requests, without arguing back. He doesn't know Jason has been trying to replace him and can't find anyone right now. Magda also stops slacking off, blows off her boyfriend during work hours (though previews show she relapses), actually does some good work for this episode. So how popular are kangaroo meat dishes down there? Didn't encounter too many on menus but maybe didn't look too hard.

S03.E01: No Direction Home S03.E02: I thought that with the original child actors, depicted as barely older than toddlers, and then production delays due to the pandemic, where we saw new actors for the children during season 2, they were having to adjust because of the long durations in between seasons. But now I'm starting to think it might have been the plan all along, just to show the relationships over time, especially as the children aged. Or maybe they adjusted on the fly. Season 3 starts with Paul out of the house, watching his family playing a game through the security cam, texting Ally. Cliffhanger in season 2 is that Luke refused to live in the same house. He punched Paul and kept looking to run away so at least temporarily, Paul decided to hang out as his mother in law's house, because as it happened she was away on an extended trip. First two seasons, there were numerous scenes of Paul cursing out Luke from the time he was an infant. Luke blames his panic attacks on the verbal abuse, so Paul seems chastened and accommodating, though him being away from home puts all kinds of stresses on Ally and Ava resents that Luke has altered the family dynamic, with Paul's absence. In flashback, they remember a time when Paul had to take Luke to a public toilet and sing him some soothing song so he can go number 2. Meanwhile, Ally takes Ava to a store and she disappears, boards a bus carrying girls her age from a school. For that Paul screams at Ava, who's maybe 5 or 6, to never do it again. Ava is going through her own issues, having her period, not telling Ally, instead stealing some tampons to keep the secret. Paul goes home for dinner, it gets late and he and Ally talk about him spending the night. So Luke is off to sleep over at a friends and Paul tells him to stay home, he'll go back to his mother in law's place, where he meets an attractive neighbor Gabby. Ally is at the end of her rope, with work issues and the burden of carrying for both children by herself. Finally Luke invites Paul back to the home, because he had a panic attack about a school presentation when Paul wasn't home. Paul is somehow able to be more charming, not just with the neighbor but is kind and warm with the children, even helping Luke get out of doing the school presentation by making up a story about a sick family member and pulling him out of school on that day. Will it hold? After about a decade of verbal abuse, he's going to just stop? Well they have at least 8 more episodes this season and maybe future seasons. Are they going to depict these characters when the children are almost grown up, either going to university or at least out of the home?

Didn't the cartel at some point know about the lab? And they didn't immediately go to Defcon One and have Gus killed? In fact they wanted to make WW and/or Jesse go down and run their lab, because the WW product sold like crazy? So Lalo's search for the lab or to confirm that Gus is building one doesn't seem like it should be that big of a deal?

They only show one Los Pollos Hermanos on BB and BCS don't they? I know it's suppose to be a regional chain. But most fast food restaurants have industrial refrigerators and freezers I believe, since most of the food that gets to them is frozen. So the cover story isn't even that plausible.

So would that be the evidence, that Lalo finds proof that Gus is building a lab? And the evidence is what, the little ruler or instrument in the Lucite? That would get the cartel to approve them killing Gus? Such a long way to get to that. Seems like it would be easier for him to get some men and have surveillance. How do they excavate all that space and not have to pull out the dirt and dispose of it somewhere? Plus it's immaculate down there. I guess Kim smoking and drinking more and more is suppose to show her spiral. She's also sleeping poorly too. Yet she looks great in that tight tank top and shorts. They may not show it but she must be working with a trainer. I know the actress probably is but Kim Wexler must be, right?

That Bonn house hunter's voice. Vocal fry? Always ending sentences with an upwards tone. Too old to have vocal fry.

Just saw a commercial for it. So ridiculous they fly a fighter under a bridge with afterburners on full thrust. The opening is tall and narrow so the jet has to rotate 90 degrees immediately to fit the opening.🙄 First it’s not exactly a subtle move in a civilian area. Second, they’re taking risks with aircraft that costs hundreds of millions if not more. How would a hot shot pilot not get grounded for pulling that kind of stuff? The reality is that drones, controlled by AI, will make the equation for expensive fighter nets and the millions it takes to train and support fighter pilots untenable, if they haven’t already. The other thing is US doesn’t engage fighter jets, especially expensive hardware, until we’ll after air supremacy is established in theater by heavy cruise missile bombardment and now now deployment of drones. So what’s depicted even in the first movie has little relation to American pilots. But maybe the sequel will discover the next Meg Ryan or Kelly McGillis.

Have watched both episodes of Nomad now. I guess these food travel show hosts have to be willing to eat anything. I certainly am not an adventurous eater. Carlton definitely has a much wider lexicon or capacity to express what he tastes than Stanley. No doubt his background as sommelier and chef has trained him to describe tastes. Then again, sometimes the way people describe wine, it seems they’re just making things up. So does Carlton have a refined palate or just a lexicon for expressing his reactions to foods and wine? Probably both, since he’s willing to eat any and everything, he’s attuned to all kinds of flavors and can probably compare different foods. In both episodes he seems to hunt for meaning like these places will both be culturally significant. How about these were nice places that he visited and he enjoyed these meals? Of course Bourdain liked to wax poetic too, using florid language to imply great significance to everything shown.