aghst

It's suppose to be 5 years since the end of Season 3. Luke is 18 and Ally and Paul are talking about splitting up but say they will hold off for a few months since Ava had found her grandfather on the verge of dying. Christmas time. They show Paul and Ally in a previous Christmas but cuts to the present day, where Ally and Paul are having their talk about when they will let their kids and the grandparents know that they're splitting up. In contrast to the bickering at the end of the previous season, they're amicable and getting along, very civil about how they'd divorce amicably, don't need lawyers, etc. Apparently Jackie and Jim are back together, the revelation that Jim fancied another woman back in the day seems all forgotten now. Leah, Ally's divorced mother, hates Christmas but came to the family get together. Jackie and Jim let slip that Luke will announce at Christmas dinner that he is going to move in with the family of Maya, his girlfriend. Ally and Paul both agree that they can't let him move out. They plan to be agreeable about it, not get mad as Paul used to, when he used to curse out Luke all the time. Their strategy is that they will emphasize how he has to get through his exams for getting into university. At the dinner, Luke announces that Maya is pregnant, hence the reason he's moving in with her family. Ally and Paul, minds blown, Paul broaches the idea that they should consider termination. But Maya's parents know, so they can't be the ones to suggest it because they'll be hated for suggesting it. Meanwhile Darren, Ally's boss, is getting back together with his ex-wife and Ally and Paul go to the re-marriage ceremony. Paul admits after the ceremony that he had fancied Gabby, something which he denied at the time. So they seem to be off the whole splitting up and then amicable divorce track, at least for now. They go to some scan to check on the baby and Ally and Paul meet Maya's parents for the first time. They learn that her father Sunil is also freaked out about Luke and Maya having a baby at their age, possibly sidetracking all the plans they had for university and a different life trajectory. Ava had worried about being overshadowed, not only by Luke but now his baby as well. But she gets to go into the scan room and now says she will be a good auntie. She asks Ally and Paul if they've come to terms with Luke being a dad. Paul says "fuck no" and Ally says "never!"

Laura doesn’t seem the clinger that Luke thinks she is. Onto the next for her. She opens up her arms and says ‘what he doesn’t want this?” So she’s able to poke some fun at herself. Or she doesn’t care if Luke doesn’t want anything more serious with her. Margot says she doesn’t like FBoys but her vagina seems to be saying otherwise. She liked kissing Harry but not feeling like she wants to bone him. Aesha says keep kissing him until the vagina comes around. Tzarina too preoccupied with the one guest that she misses that the other women also aren’t crazy about red meat either. So she hasn’t prepared enough tostadas. So she ordered fish only for the one guest?

Another dumb beach picnic. Primary said he was ready to go. For what, rain-soaked and wind-chilled steaks and lobster? The crew had to hold up the canopy because it was so windy. No sun so why the canopy? They didn’t exactly need shade and here’s a hint, the canopy can’t keep out the wind. But the producers had to film a beach picnic scene despite the coming squall. Those guests dressed up to go on later tender ride, so they can ride a choppy raft. You couldn’t even tell if they were in a nice scenic setting because the weather was shitty. Oh but they have to go on the beach picnic! Laura really thinks one of these guys will wife her, put a ring on it? They really have a way to find people down for anything don’t they, especially when it involves putting it out there for TV? On WWHL, Tzarina noted that Luke really pushes drinks on the crew when they go out. Multiple shots to loosen people up. Margot has some chaste kisses with Harry so no amount of shots will get him out of the friend zone. But Aesha tells her to keep kissing him until her vagina responds. Umm, I don’t think that’s the way it works? Booze or kisses? Or FBoy bravado, which is the best aphrodisiac? In the BD universe it seems that booze and FBoy behavior are all it takes.

What is McBride's background? Is he from the South? He might cause offense if he wasn't a Southerner doing a satire about some Southern characters. Scenes like that Y2K party scene, you know that it's a joke, just over the top stuff. Is it conceivable that real-life evangelical preachers would engage in such excesses or are they really pushing the poetic license to the limit? The Southern accents aren't exaggerated so I don't think they're meant to be mocking. I'm actually listening to an interview with comic Leanne Morganne who has a very exaggerated twang, which may be a reason she books jobs. Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald surmised that the show gets huge ratings, because it draws viewers who normally wouldn't view HBO shows, though I can't imagine people who dislike HBO would subscribe just to watch this show. But is it mostly satire or does McBride identify a little with these characters?

Adaptation of Elena Ferrente novel (like My Brilliant Friend). Trailer. Giovanna if 15 going on 16, the only child of two left-wing parents, one an academic. This is Naples in the '90s. One day she overhears her father Andrea saying that she is starting to look like his estranged sister Vittoria. So she becomes obsessed with meeting Vittoria, who lives alone in an impoverished part of Naples. Vittoria is blunt and quick to badmouth anyone and everyone, so Gianni, as Vittoria calls her, is drawn in even more into her orbit. Giovanna is impressionable to what her aunt says to her stays with her. She then sees her mother playing footsie with the father of her best friends Angela and Ida. In fact they're close family friends, with her parents socializing all the time with this couple, the parents of her best friends. She learns later that her mother went no further than playing footsie with the man but her father actually has been having an affair with the wife -- the mother of Angela and Ida -- and eventually leaves Nella, Giovanna's mother, and Giovanna. She becomes hostile to her father especially and also to her mother for not despising Andrea for his infidelity. Also pushed more towards Vittoria In the end, Vittoria has been lying to her as well and Gianni maybe becomes disillusioned about love, makes a pact with Ida to be cynical in their first sexual experiences and run away.

Finished it. It's not as preachy as I imagined it. It just shows how different people lived with the results of climate change. But the trial at the end was kind of ridiculous, blaming over 100 years of pollution on one guy and he was convicted because he chose not to use the carbon removable device to remove enough carbon. Some are desperate, like that guy who took on roles just to keep alive his memories of Lola. You'd think Gemma Chan would have made him forget about Lola. Or Anna, who stole the Lifepause ticket because she was also living a marginal existence, barely making ends meet. Of course the guy in Mumbai, taking on odd jobs. Apparently the Euro is the most prized currency in the future. He had stopped believing the world oould become better again but really went to the hilt to finish his mission, tried to save his more hopeful partner. They showed extreme effects of climate change as a given. They didn't use special effects to show dramatic effects, which climate change deniers used to instantly dismiss some movies on climate change. For instance, it was simply reality that people couldn't go outside during the day in the Mumbai episode, so there were curfews until dawn. In fact it was dangerous when the bulb temperature reached certain values.

So the siblings are all together for now. I guess the next season will be about how they fall apart. Evangelical church is going to be okay with Kelvin being out with Keefe, considering that some parents objected to Keefe previously? Considering how LGBTQ rights are under assault in the South and other religiously conservative states, this could be a bold statement by the show but maybe they don't lean too much into Kelvin's sexual orientation or how much out he chooses to be. But the siblings seem to instantly be accepting of the kiss, which was as much a statement by Kelvin. Literally took an act of God to bring about a happy ending, which includes the NASCAR driver dying and bequeathing his estate to the Gemstones? I thought the problem they laid out in the first episode of the season was the decline in membership, not necessarily generous donors? Maybe they built another monster truck since everyone in the family seems to enjoy smashing things up with the Redeemer.

No chance Evie and Colin were going to get it on, even when he'd dropped his pants. Because she'd have to give up her support group. Lazlo was great, taunting the Antipaxons? Then they decided he was the guy foretold in their mythology. They're living in present day Staten Island and still believe in the old superstitions. Smigel was a good guest appearance but rather have seen his more famous alter ego. Imagine if he trolled the vampires.

Did Laura volunteer in her TH how she would have handled it if she were Chief Stew or did the producer ask her how she would have handled it if she were Chief Stew?

Yeah the dummy kept the gun which he used to kill the wrecking crew and used the same gun on the judge. Then left it to Sandy to get rid of the gun. He's not exactly keeping a low profile. The cops know he's the one and it's just a matter of getting the evidence. But I'm guessing he will have dumb luck and Sweetie will get killed or somehow his plan to turn in the gun for immunity won't work. Otherwise, this would be a short season of putting away the supposed Big Bad for the season. I assume Raylan beating him up allowed Mansell and Sandy to walk? In one scene they were all being interrogated separately, the cops telling both of them that they were ratting each other out. But then the next scene they were out, trying to get the Albanian guy to show them his panic room. The Ringer Prestige Podcast is doing episode recaps. They say that in the book, this story really centers on detective Ray Cruz, not Raylan. Apparently Cruz is also significant figure in the Elmore Leonard universe.

My TiVo recorded a 5 minute sneak peak of new season. Setup is Mike supposedly won a trip to PA, where Angelina shot her ex husband in the face. She is still at war with the meatballs from last season so she gets the idea to get an ally on the trip, which is supposedly only OGs, no wives for significant others. Well Sammi is an OG and she is supposedly going to be Angelina’s ally. They show a poster of the cast with Sammi in the middle. But they briefly show Ron arriving so it might just be a short appearance for him rather than being on the season all the time. So Sammi has to go through the gauntlet if she wants that sweet MTV money.😏

I think East Bound and Down and Vice Principals were only 2 seasons each. Wonder what made McBride really go for twice as many seasons this time around.

Thing is they complained about the roadblock but apparently they were going to turn off that road and go into the forest anyways. I guess it's to show what criminal masterminds they are but it's not that easy to hijack a plane and make the British govt. jump like it's been depicted on the show.

No, don't listen to the podcast. But Jason was texting normally and Culver was using all caps as well as exclamation marks. Would be a weird thing if this new deckhand hadn't even met Jason but now it makes sense. She also said she had a great ass or something like that. Didn't look bad in undies.

I suppose HHI may have paid for their wines when they filmed them at tables. They'd also have to arrange with the pub to let them film there. Does Manchester have a lot of places with tables outdoors or maybe they set one up for filming. Yeah going to grad school, no job but they mention shopping a couple of times. Still you'd think the paltry "closets" in that dream home wouldn't be enough for any kind of wardrobe, even for guys.

So these criminals were two steps ahead. If they get away to north Africa, how do they still have power over their organization back in the UK? Why would cleaners and all the other henchmen continue to carry out their bidding? But they were caught before so I don't buy that they get out of the UK without getting their plane shot down.

I knew the new deck hand would be a handful when he used all caps and exclamation marks on every sentence. And they just happened to have Culver handy so that was BS. Yeah Laura is casting shade at Aesha but in the talking heads. So is she undermining Aesha to Margot and other crew or only doing it in the THs, where she could be prodded by producers? There isn't any sign yet that she's coming for Aesha's job so could be fake drama. In any event, all this because these guests wanted ice in their wine? Come on do better than that if you're going to stir up drama between the cast. I could see if there was another love triangle, which as we've seen from BDSY is also contrived. But Margot has put Harry in the friend zone already so there's not much triangle to concoct. Yet apparently in previews, Luke and Laura make up so maybe Margot will figure out he isn't worth it. Then again, she said she only dates assholes.

That was Luke who stole the kiss. He's aiming to be the Gary of this BDDU season. And Margot is up for it. She did say she only dates assholes. Laura is high maintenance but she is competent and a hard worker, so far. She does the table scapes, trains Margot and did the dancing. Probably the Moulin Rouge party was concocted to show off her dancing. She takes a long time but the editing showing the timer while she's in the bathroom, hmm, they decided early that they would make it a thing for this season or while she's still on the show. Adam is trying to tell other deck hands how things should be done, even though they seem to have more experience.

I should have said northern Europeans, not Northern Europeans. I've seen the UK, Netherlands and at least northern part of France described as northern Europe, because the climate is distinct from Southern Europe In any event, Latvia and Poland are pretty close, one hour and 15 minutes direct flights from Warsaw to Riga, about 8-8.5 hours by car. That's comparable distance for San Francisco to LA or to San Diego, all California or western Americans.

Yeah I have to say even when Judy is engaging in some bravado about how great her pussy is, there's some vulnerability as her voice quivers subtly. There is still the little girl who got bullied so insecurity underneath that bravado.

Looks like they're going to release a lot of episodes in the first week: https://ew.com/tv/the-challenge-usa-season-2-full-cast-list/#:~:text=The Challenge%3A USA season 2 will kick off with a,CBS and streaming on Paramount%2B. So two episodes on Aug 10, one on Aug 13 and then 2 episodes a week on Thursday and Sundays for the following two weeks before once a week on Thursday?

Looks like Bravo is going to start airing 2 episodes a night starting tonight. Odd, season 1 they streamed only on Peacock, then months later aired on Bravo. They recently raised the price of Peacock. Glad I don't have to decide whether I was going to subscribe. Probably wouldn't have, they don't have much else I would watch.

It's as if driving the monster truck gives you superpowers or something. All these militia men were mouth agape as the kid was wrecking everything. Maybe they forgot they had enough rifles for an armory? Wasn't until too late that they started shooting at him. I was laughing through the ridiculousness of the rescue though, great fun. It ran through an outhouse and the guy who was in it got out just in time and I think he ran over a cow? Wouldn't kidnapping be referred to the feds, especially with the demand for $15 million total in ransom? And everyone knows Peter has kidnapped them. If the local cops can't muster enough bodies, the feds can. But in the previews for next week, the children are all salty that Eli wouldn't pay up for them. Baby Billy didn't want Bible Bonkers forgotten in all this kidnapping/abduction drama.

What do each crew member get, like $20-25k in tips for 6 weeks of shooting? That is their pay for appearing on the show plus whatever else the senior members may get for doing the show. Hell if some Southern Charm cast members were getting half a million a season, you figure the captains and senior staff also get 6-figure pay for a show which has higher ratings than SC.

Yeah but if you watch the BDSY reunion, Daisy said a lot of celebrities reach out to her and other cast. There are now 5 BD variations? I guess they all get enough ratings and make money for Bravo. You would think with all the fans, more of them would just go looking to book charters if these guests were spontaneously booking charters only to find Bravo is filming a BD show and they asked to be on TV. They obviously have to sign waivers to allow Bravo to use their image, as opposed to having to blur out their faces. But unless there were so many people thirsty enough to be on a BD show or on TV in general, why would anyone sign away the rights for Bravo to use their likeness on shows which make millions in profits for a multi-billion dollar corporation? And supposedly pay well into 5-figures for these "charters."