aghst

Well TAR season 34 aired from Sept to Dec 2022 so not unexpected. Wondering when they filmed, was it over the winter or could they still be filming? They could finish in June say and still have 3 months of editing and post-production, assuming they premier in early September. Since season 35, Asia and Oceania have opened and presumably most other regions now. So presumably they're able to circle the globe again. But with most covid restrictions lifted, what happens if a racer tests positive? Do they get eliminated to prevent contagion to other racers and production crew?

They could have edited it so that it seems like they're constantly demanding drinks and little snacks. Also when Daisy goes into her cabin at the end because it's all so much and you hear her sob, that was probably added in post. They have cameras in the crew cabins. So why would they use that shot where you can't see her face? Because they could add the sobbing in post and make it look like she had a little melt down. Daisy is too much of an old hand to be overwhelmed by all this. Being down one stew is hard but normally they have one doing laundry or the cabins and only two doing service. Worse comes to worse she can get one of the deck crew or Colin to help fulfill these little requests. But there are only 6 guests, so two stews serving them while they wait for the tender to take them out to the beach isn't that impossible.

I wonder if being on the show or other FN shows helps these chefs in their careers, like if they work at restaurants or helps them get certain jobs. How do corporations or rich people hire private chefs? Not on the basis of seeing someone on TV? Maybe TV exposure makes people aware of them but they probably have to audition, to cook for these employers on at least a trial basis. So for the show, they amp up the pressure but I guess working in some famous restaurants also brings a lot of pressures, if The Bear, which is coming back for season 2 in early June, is an indication. There, the main guy faced pressures working at a restaurant in NY and then came home to take over the family business, a relatively modest sandwich place in Chicago, yet it was a pressure cooker there too. I don't suppose American television would show the kitchen at a trattoria in Italy, a family business, where you'd think it would be a lot more chill? You get glimpses of it on travel food shows like Searching for Italy, they have the mothers or even grandmothers whipping up something, as if they cook every day at their age for restaurant patrons. Not to say these places don't get hectic but if they looked in some small towns which aren't popular tourist hotspots, maybe the pace at some neighborhood place is too boring for TV.

Roman is pretty awful on paper, the things he did in the first season and then the dick pics to Gerri and now firing two women in the final season. He's damaged but he also perpetrates abuse on others. Sure as rich scion he was going to have privilege but he hasn't shown he deserves anything. He went to that flimsy training course and he bungled the rocket launch. Now he loses it with Mattson and ruins Kendal's plan to make Mattson give up the Gojo acquisition of Waystar. So they portrayed him in ways that could elicit sympathy but random people having to deal with him would only see the spoiled brat, cocky and toxic exterior.

If Geri did eventually file sexual harassment charges, she should do it as soon after the incidents, not keep it in her back pocket. Or she should tell someone soon even if she doesn't formally sue or make formal accusations.

Well if they want the grandparents to babysit, probably a good idea to be closer to them than further away. Plus my suspicion about who helped them financially buy the house, they probably want to ingratiate themselves.

The parts of the house which were finished looked good. They just had to clean up the outside, finish the garden, put up fence. maybe the only place they couldn’t use right away was the end of the big wraparound terrace. it was closest to their parents, who’d be babysitting. how did they have $1.5 million for a first house, especially since he wasn’t going to be working? Parents probably or some other inheritance?

Chefs got in troUble for trying something too different from simple, Italian cuisine? They wouldn’t get criticized for being unimaginative, basic? Yeah it seems like how this contest goes is at the whims of the judges, particularly Alex. Still don’t see see the value of the grand prize which the contestants repeat like some mantra. Some of these chefs have regular jobs. Can they even take time off, especially on top of the time they already took to do this show? Maybe the filming only Lasted a week, because they’re winnowing down the numbers fast, saw two contestants leave this episode, one due to illness.

I didn't see Taragona as a new episode, at least my DVR didn't pick it up. When I go to HGTV app, it doesn't show up as a recent new episode. Instead there was a Alberta to Ajijic, Mexico episode which aired as new last week.

Greg the motherfucking egg has had quite the transformation over the course of the series. He expressed discomfort with some of the things which were going on at ATN and Waystar. One suspects that he wasn't down with what was depicted in those documents when he saved some of them instead of shredding them all. He objected to things like Tom using some subordinate as a human ottoman. But in S04.E01 (Tailgate Party), he fires dozens of people all at once over Zoom, which allows him to cowardly cut the connection with those whom he has just fired. It's an evolution of the way he handled the Kerry situation -- wanting to be anchor -- which was handed down from Logan to Tom and then to Greg. He offers to fire Ebba as a way to ingratiate himself to Lukas, maybe being unaware or not caring that Lukas has been sexually harassing her. He tells Lukas and Oskar that he doesn't necessarily feel great but HR thinks he's good at firing people and in the end it's just something you have to do, to get ahead. Greg doesn't wear his politics on his sleeve and is probably not liberal like her. But he isn't like Roman or Tom or Logan, all believers in what ATN does. Hell Logan WAS ATN. Yet he wanted to sue Greenpeace, if his grandfather, who abhorred Logan's politics and what he did with ATN, really did funnel his inheritance to GP. He's team Ken-Ro now, with Roman joking in the previews that his team would line up Shiv's team to shoot them.

I think that's the point. It probably seemed exciting and romantic for Sally when she decided she'd go on the run with Barry. Certainly she wasn't enjoying her life, what had become of her career. So Barry evades capture or being killed by Hank but they live a very drab, off-the-grid existence, with Barry trying to right his mistakes with his son -- whom they named with a very generic John -- and Sally drinking herself into a stupor after she realized that life on the run wasn't any better than the life of an actress on the margins of Hollywood. Maybe it's Hader giving his character a Twilight Zone kind of poetic justice. Sally amuses herself by stealing from the till, messing with Bevel, whom she knew was no bad boy. In Succession, Kendall, feeling morose about killing the waiter, steals gum from convenience stores, to feel alive, to try to snap out of his funk. Maybe similar thing going on with Sally. They're living low profile so no fancy cars or other things. Yet Barry and Sally have nice laptops to keep connected to the world they left behind, which involves Sally having to watch her former assistant thrive as a TV star. But Barry won't buy poor John a comforter, the kid has to spoon his mother to warm himself with her body heat. It appears the Google alert that Sally probably set up years ago snap them out of their funk. That means running into not only Cousineau but Hank and others again. It's not going to be as simple as just killing Cousineau, who may be capitalizing on his involvement with Barry but who is probably doing this because of the tragedy with his son. The gang will get back together, just 8 years older. Wiser? Still funny? Definitely the latter, probably not the former.

I am going to miss this show SO MUCH. The re-appearance of Nate -- the mention of Gil again -- brought the show back to the first two seasons, when the clash in politics between Shiv and Logan and the rest of the family drove a lot of the scenes. They were brilliant scenes, including the confrontation in Santa Fe, in Connor's kitchen, when Logan acted hurt and Marcia confronted Shiv. The political differences weren't couched in the same language as the political discourse we hear everyday but it's very much our political reality now. In the past 10-20 years, how many Americans haven't had heated arguments at family gatherings over their political differences? Except Logan isn't just an old man repeating what he hears on Fox News. He IS Fox News, the guy who creates and runs it, drives the political discourse in the country. More and more, these political differences are impinging on the family dynamics. Last week it was the studio head saying it was difficult to get the most talented people to work for Waystar's studio because of the politics of ATN/Waystar and Roman got offended and fired her. This week, ATN may cause this deal to blow up or go through, depending on who wins the election -- which is a much bigger deal in the Roy family than they let on, because apparently it was a tradition for Logan to host a tailgate party before the election, not just an election night viewing party. When Shiv and Tom are channeling George and Martha's characters on that expensive triplex balcony, it becomes apparent that one of the long-held resentments Shiv had with Tom was that he was a Midwest conservative who as president of ATN would not rein in its worst abuses. It may also be a reason why Shiv doesn't want her brothers to get what they want, which would mean control of ATN. She knows they won't change ATN, because it's very profitable and Roman is a true believer, even if he doesn't parrot MAGA narratives all the time. What he does, as shown in the previews for the next episode, is make jokes like "my side wins, we're going to line you up to get shot." She knows Roman didn't make the deal with Mencken to have ATN back him only because it would be good for Waystar and the family but also because he likes Mencken's white supremacist politics. The dialog in this episode is very allusive but it is very much about politics. It touches on things like sexual harassment, which is one of the litmus tests of the moment. Conservatives are waging a full out war vs. #MeToo and woke while liberals are not backing down on vilifying white male privilege. And what do you know, two white male characters, both very rich and powerful, have all kinds of sexual harassment and punching down on female subordinates issues on this show. Connor and Willa don't have the same politics but their relationship works through the difference and ultimately Willa influences Connor to reject Roman's offers and entreaties on behalf of Mencken. The ranking of the countries is great stuff. The dialogue and the acting were all cracking stuff. Yes there wasn't movement on the deal but this show is way more than deals. It's not political satire, though the politics is very cleverly satirized -- as one would expect since the creative team was involved with Veep. The show is a lot more than political satire and deals. It's how these despicable but interesting characters navigate around differences in politics, world views and how they see each other or how they see human nature.

I thought about him jumping but I also thought Shiv would drop the mike by telling him that she's pregnant with his baby. Jesse Armstrong told the actors that this episode would be a nod to Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf? That balcony scene nailed it. I don't doubt that Tom was and is earnest about loving Shiv but he's such an obvious suck up, that's his nature. He was not even hiding it when he tried with Mattson, who called him out on it -- "which do you value more? I can do both, I can multitask!" How does someone rise to his level being so obviously bad at sucking up, despite having so much practice at it? How richly ironic that the frog gives the Lucite gift to the scorpion.

They try to portray this cast as real life friends who bicker but are like a family. Theres always the potential for Jerry Springer moments. It started out tribal in the original show, the supposed guido subculture but otherwise they were strangers and had no reason to get long. Then they came together, rallied around Snooki being punched and indulging in idiosyncrasies, like GTL, the over tHe top hairdos, etc. Now edging towards middle age, they trade on the fmily who still bicker, who can still party excessively and project big personalities. That’s their brand. Except most of the scenes they end up airing are contrived and false. The cast are playing parodies of their former selves and hamming it up for the cameras. that’s not to say there aren’t real moments, like the skydiving gender revel when everyone seemed excited as well as peeved in the case of Laurens who didn’t expect to see her husband jumping out of a plane. The reaction tO The proposal seemed genuine for tHe most part. They saw it coming but they couldn’t believe it was happening. The women seem flabbergasted because Vinny 2.0 probably proposed in a more heartfelt and gallant way than their own significant others did. I can see in real time Angelina felt Jenny and Zack were slighting her, if not in words than with their facial reactions and body language. most people would make a mental note of it, might tell someone else their impressions. But of course this show can just leave it at that, they have to try to make a Big deal out of it. So they set up a bunch of convos of several couples in the hotel rooms, with people in bed, as if they were having private, real honest conversations — in a way they wouldn’t be as honest around the whole “family” when they’re gathered together. but obviously there are camera crews, producers and other crew behind the scenes in these hotel rooms. If they go through the trouble to set all that up, they wouldn’t just turn on tHe cameras and film whatever was in the minds of the cast. That is the illusion they gave but the producers have to have an agenda. If they just leave it to the cast members to talk about whatever was on their minds, the resulting convos are unlikely to be “good TV.” the producers are coaching them and suggesting what to discuss, in this case the smoke Angelina has for Jenny and Mike — the whole Mediation schtick a sure sign of them being performative rather than being real. they probably do several takes until They get tHe discussions they want and it flows smoothly and seems natural. meanwhile Angelina is being coached on how to show being offended . Like I said it is more difficult to manipulate the big scenes, when they were ll at the restaurant, but not impossible. But the talking heads and the voiceovers of Angelina complain8ng about Jenny not being happy for her were filmed AFTER the big restaurant scene but edited together to blend the, together, to make it appear like she was gettIng upset in real time. Angelina will play the villain role, since she needs to have a niche on the show. The boys will laugh and whoop it up when Angelina and Mike are accusing each other, because they know this is the show. I guess that’s the condition they demanded from Sammi to join the show, come in and be another villain, all defiant and in your face, even though that wasn’t her persona in the OG show. are they going to try to have drama between her and Ronnie? Probably not and she probably said she wouldn’t do it, since she may be married or in a serious relationship with someone else. so this villain role may be what the producers came up with.

Well he used alternative treatments, not what his doctors were recommending. Until it was too late.

Usually they warm up with a half dozen to a dozen episodes before the cast are at each others throats. Chase coming for Gary on the first charter he returns? Most of the things he supposedly muttered under his breath was with his face turned away from the camera so they could have dubbed that in post. if they feel they have to keep faking drama to keep viewers turning in …

So it’s a departURe To have the worst performer or tHe perceived worst one be eliminated. At least among competitive reality shows that I’ve watched. I get the sense that the host/judges were apprised of what the teams were discussing in the kitchen, the friction between chefs and they used that info. To crIticize the dishes. Like they heard that guy say he was going to make the best out of only preparing mashed potatoes so they said the potatoes were the best part of tHe whole meal. Or the women disagreeing about overcooking the duck or not slicing it enough so the judges went hard after the duck dish.

Another celebrity gets into the food game though I’m not sure this is travel related.

Vancouver, Washington to Dublin. She wanted short commute to work in Dublin centre and he wanted a big property with big yard, big kitchen. He was going to stay at home and he did the cooking. Budget was $3000. Predictably, the properties closer to the centre were smaller and lacked big yards, though they were cheaper in this case. The 1 hour commute property had a huge back yard and big house, over budget at $3400. But he talked her into it. Not sure who's going to mow that huge grass field, which looked like it could fit at least half a soccer pitch. Better for the young kids, who liked being near farm animals and such. But isolated from classmates maybe and fewer chances for the husband to socialize with locals. She talked fondly about Irish step grandmother, which made her like Irish accent and culture. But was that the real reason they moved the whole family? Maybe as sold breadwinner, her career just moved that way, for her to work in Ireland.

Living + quotes: https://www.tvfanatic.com/quotes/shows/succession/episodes/living-plus/

I was going to post on the Living + thread or the End game thread because people are speculating about Greg possibly being the big winner at the end. But Greg deserves his own thread. Oh and CPK stands for California Pizza Kitchen. Remember how much he was looking forward to CPK meal with his first paychecks from Waystar? Instead he had to have some noodle soup from this sad little Chinese place to placate his grandfather Ewan. Then the same night he had to resist Tom's exhortation to eat the Ortolan, because that's how rich people live. Can't recall if Greg partook. But even if he didn't, Greg may no longer be content with fast casual chain food any more. He's gone from PR babe Comfrey to Roman's contessa to Arctic foxes, so his culinary tastes might also have shifted. How has Greg lasted this long? Greg is much younger than the Roy children so they probably didn't play together that often, just occasional family gatherings. So the Roy children don't dismiss him completely out of hand, though Roman kind of does and Shiv is rolling her eyes hard at him in this final season. Kendall has been more tolerant of him, told him that he likes him -- he says that to everyone though -- but uses him to do some dirty work here and there like in this episode, unwittingly getting him to get a Deep Fake of Logan. Greg takes the ribbing okay, like being told he was out of her league when he told them he was interested in Comfrey. Or is that just that he's a savant at being a suck up? The only person to whom Greg has tied his lot is Tom, who is now scrambling since Logan's passing. But is it because he has some affection for Tom or that he had no other options? If one of the Roy kids drew him close, would he dump Tom? On the one hand, his naked ambition to suck up to power makes for some good comic moments but OTOH, he's not just about latching onto anyone who'd have him. He turned down the $150 million from grandad Ewan by choosing instead to latch onto Logan and the Roys, whom Ewan disapproved of. Either an incredibly brave or incredibly stupid decision. Then being salty at Greenpeace, which may have gotten his inheritance, is epic. People think Greg hasn't been as entertaining this season. But it's not over yet, don't give up.

Obviously a tie in promotion with the movie. Let me guess, this new Transformers movie is a Paramount movie and this promo was on Paramount +. See how that works? No matter how much how many times this was going to be a “sick” Daily, it was more sickly. Why didn’t they have the one person do more than make two easy jumps? Everyone completed it easily. Not sure why Darrell drove the dune buggy but he blew it, he didn’t come out clean out if the trailer, instead veered out to his right rather than going straight down the ramp and accelerat8ng. Kaz just gave in to the vote even though they concocted the plan with her absent. The she sees Jordan is being fake, rooting for Kelly Anne and what’s his name when he voted them into the elimination. Will she stand her ground next week? Will she wear anything other than a sports bra or bikini top, even when cold, wearing a coat over that look? Not that I mind, like probably every other male viewer. Yes and Emily went along with the house vote but do they not suspect that they will be the next target? Elimination was okay. They did have to develop some skill or adaptation to carrying the puzzle pieces but I think some of the drops of the pieces came down to bad luck more than anything. Hoping for better Dailies. looks like there will be more than 10 episodes, unlike the All Star seasons or even the Challenge USA season.

Best thing is if Thomas is an absentee father who delegates to nannies while he's busy chasing young women.

She probably has little use for the kids now, since they didn't land her Thomas as a husband. Plus parenting is a drag, don't you know?

Jeremy Strong sits down with Rog of Men in Blazers to discuss his character Kendall Roy. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rogs-hbo-succession-podcast-with-jeremy-strong/id908407811?i=1000611212421 I think this was recorded months ago, no references to the current season. So it's more general discussion of his character and approach to his character. It sounds just like that article from a couple of years ago that his hardcore method acting approach leaves him apart from the rest of the cast. Yeah he takes himself a little too seriously but can't argue with the results. Nor the results of other cast members who take a different approach.