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As a single parent, my poor mother was always frazzled about what to do with us during the summers. My sister and I did non-swanky day camps -- so many braided crafts -- and one time she paid a neighbor to look after us, which mostly consisted of her making lunch and ignoring us the rest of the time. I'm not sure any of it was particularly dangerous, but yeah, the day camp supervisors were young teens working on their tans around the pool. We took a taxi to day camp, for which mom bought prepaid tickets. We didn't realize it at the time but we stiffed every single driver with no tip. Pretty sure mom looked forward very much to the three weeks we spent with dad each summer.

I would have appreciated a little bit of shock from Wells and Jack/John/Stevenson/Ripper (what are we shitting calling him!) about the scanty clothes women wear in these here times. I agree with Chris Huff about sticking my fingers in my ears and la-la-la-ing through all the time travel business. Whatever you say, writers. It's fine. FINE! I'd prefer not to end up on a fainting couch needing someone to loosen my corset due to stress.

DeAnn sucks at her job. I mean, come on. Everyone sees Lisbeth approaching for her photo shoot and DeAnn just allows them to stand awkwardly around, then lets Kyle be maneuvered into an unwanted picture? Kyle was done. WALK AWAY! Later, DeAnn lets Kyle have his prearranged moment with Lisbeth at the reception, takes Megan away to the bar and proceeds to ignore her, setting up another "unhappy" moment for all present to see. If DeAnn is doing it on purpose for some devious reason, then I call backsies. Perhaps Megan getting her own personality worn down is part of the story arc? She was more interesting last week. I haven't seen Vartan in any of his other projects, but he's kind of scarily thin.

The best part of Lucky Dog for me is seeing Brandon's different training techniques. He worked wonders on one dog with separation anxiety and others who are timid/frightened. I don't think the Malamute mix in the recent episode is ever going to be outgoing, but she was a LOT calmer and more confident when he got done. I do wonder how long his training takes; the narrator has mentioned "weeks" in some episodes. Flamingos! Sure, give them names but I'm surprised people can tell a flock of pink birds apart enough to do so. I am loving The Zoo although those barking sea lions would have driven me to move my office into a concrete bunker with no windows. The mammal handlers being required to take on some reptiles/snakes made me laugh, just because we've all had to deal with being given new assignments at work that we know nothing about: "Here ya go! Learn it or quit!" I was impressed with the care they took to train and acclimate the sea lions to their moving crates.

It's sweet how Jeff always talks up Petra in his interviews -- graduated top of her class! Good to see him back coaching and doing what he loves despite his pain. He's pretty darn stoic himself. I tell ya, I am NOT the sort of person who could stand for long periods of time doing fiddly surgery on teeny tiny bones and arteries. I would be throwing scalpels after the 4-5th time trying to fit fragments of bone together. I'm not even a guy but the phrase "split the penis" made me shudder. Did I hear correctly that the other clinic who screwed up the catheter charged the owner for botching it?

Thanks, @halopub. That's an interesting article, mostly because the two types look so different and yet the breed characteristics are the same! Cuckoo. I used to have a Dalmatian back in the 70s that we showed locally and I'd go to a few benched dog shows a year. It was an enjoyable hobby at the time, especially the obedience trials, but I've since developed a dimmer view of dog breeding in general.

Perhaps my clone traveled to another timeline to watch because I loved this episode. Thought it was zippy and fun. I was sad for the haxenpaxen's brief period of freedom. I still don't like Julia, but she and Kady could have used the protection (probably why he had to die). The wretched child abuse stuff was so searing and dark last season that I'm enjoying the "regular" dire magic now.

Every woman on TV is also insane for shoes. If not, she's a lesbian.

Ha! And if the person is dead, there's a 90% chance the shot we see of them will be overhead from the ceiling.

"Huh. Who's the tall guy? ... contributor to the Huffington Post ... Nick Simmons, Nick Simmons ... he looks so familiar ... new comedian? ... have I seen him in the show before? OMFG, it's Gene Simmons' kid! I watched that danged reality show for six years. My brain, I tell ya.

With exceptions for those with health problems, nobody I know sleeps with three pillows propping them up at a 45 degree angle. Every couple on TV does because it's not easy to film conversations with the actors lying flat. If one person is shown sleeping on his/her side, it's only so the other person can slide over to spoon them and we can see that he/she is not really asleep. If someone is alone in the bed, they're free to sprawl flat on their stomachs with only a sheet (barely) covering them.

Yes to everything, @kib Network suits aren't exactly known for staying cool and taking the long view. Letterman used to have mini surges and overtake Leno for a bit before settling back to #2. It's not unheard of. If anything, my guess would be that the uptick for Colbert is primarily due to new viewers who don't typically watch talk shows (or previous Colbert Report fans coming back), rather than people switching from Fallon to Colbert. And honestly, who in this damned day and age doesn't just watch both if they want to? Only counting viewer asses in seats watching live is phenomenally backwards and skewed. TVbyTheNumbers includes DVR ratings for prime time cable and broadcast shows but not late night. Don't get me started on network exec's fanatical focus on the 18-49 demo to the exclusion of anything else, either.

Under shows I cancelled, bye bye bye: I recently quit Call the Midwife in its 6th season. Cast members have come and gone but the basic tone hasn't changed and it remains that I think is quality programming. The acting is top notch and I enjoy the historical setting and atmosphere. It seems like the showrunners make a genuine effort to sprinkle in some happy moments and end each episode on a positive/uplifting note. Overall, though, the sadness and tears are unrelenting and it's just not how I care to spend my time any more.

Is Seth off for two weeks? Wah. I don't really begrudge the staff their time off but miss my four-nightly fix.

Bubba Gump Shrimp = vomit joke! I'm glad it was Flula who was penalized for violating the Cheesecake Factory treaty. He's significantly unfunny to me. My antipathy towards Alex Baldwin just increased. He just can't help the smug entitlement.

I'm too cowardly to research puppy mills because of possible photos, but don't major pet store chains not sell cats and dogs any more? Is it mostly small local stores or private individuals who pretend to be breeders? It looked like a lot of the animals at National Mill Dog Rescue were small/toy breeds, which I guess makes sense from an animals-per-square-foot perspective on the part of the mills. I have a lot of admiration for people who step up to adopt former mill animals.

After reading the "And Yet I Survived: Stupid Stuff I Got Away With" topic, I think all of us should spare a moment to be grateful we're alive!

After watching my recording for a while, I started wondering just how long this danged episode was. Two hours, what? It dragged a bit for me since, as others mentioned, it was one fuckup after another letting Stevenson escape, escape, escape, escape. I'd be sufficiently entertained watching 19th century visitors gawp at/adjust to modern times, but the writers were determined to throw them immediately into a crime thriller. I don't have a lot of confidence about where they're are going to take it. I cannot watch an entire season of everyone chasing Stevenson and trying to prevent his crimes. What was the point of Stevenson not killing the female hostage? Why pretend to stab her, and for whose benefit? I don't trust Vanessa or her husband. We're not supposed to trust the "I'm just walking here" baseball hat guy, so probably he'll turn out to be an ally.

The Zoo: This episode was fun. I liked seeing how the diamondback was handled to ensure safety for her and the staff. I'd never seen the plastic containment tubes used before, but they're simple and make a lot of sense. The two cheetahs were THE BEST! Raising them with dogs was interesting, as was the handler's disclaimer that said dogs weren't overweight. That sent me looking up British Labradors, but the online pictures of those look pretty much the same as the American breed. The ones on the show were stumpier, so I must have missed something. Pure bison breeding was also something I'd never heard of. Although most of my time during that segment was spent wondering who the PhD consultant from Colorado looked like -- she really reminded me of some celebrity or other. Dr. Chris/Bondi Vet: Yeah, we're all wishing that never-had-dogs-before couple who adopted two Great Dane puppies the best of luck. Yeesh. Dr. Jeff: It's not surprising that PPP would go above and beyond to take in rescues for adoption but I would have liked to hear more about their process and requirements, just out of general curiosity. Wasn't Jeff shown doing a home check last season with, I believe, a women who's disabled? It seems like some groups make it very arduous to adopt through them.

Everlasting peeve: me and my bad financial decisions. I invariably make the wrong ones, and while I know there's no such thing as being cursed, I still think I am.

Now all I can think about is having Clark Muban on as a guest shark. He made his dough in pharmaceuticals, overdoes the Botox, and is heavily invested in the beauty and cosmetics "space." In my mind, he looks and acts a lot like Todd Chrisley.

I'd need some kind of autotune filter to remove the vocal fry, uptalk, and at least half the instances of "like" in order to enjoy My Favorite Murder.

Ha! There was an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond about that, and you know Marie Barone was not happy. Once when my mom and step dad went on vacation, my sister and I proceeded to have every high school movie version of a teen party at their cabin in the mountains. For three weekends in a row. One guy fell off the balcony and rolled quite a ways downhill, sentimental objects were broken, beer and vomit were generously spilled, there were drunk driving arrests for partygoers, cops were called, etc. My sister and I had some vague idea that we'd be able to clean everything up before mom came home, but my grandfather drove up during the week to do some repairs on the property and ultimately ratted us out. Then: "GRANDPA! God!" Now: "Good for him."

I really liked it and hope for another season of striking surprises. I was mostly entranced by the otherness and imagery of Oz, but also intrigued to see how the original Baum stories would be incorporated and/or subverted. I enjoyed being carried along and didn't try to poke the bubble too much.

Huh. Mock if you must, but I watched and didn't know until just now reading here that it was a crossover episode. I figured the run time was off, or I missed the first few minutes, or this was some peak TV version of throwing the audience into the ocean and letting them learn to swim on their own. Because, man, there was zero buildup or backstory. Even so, I thought it was entertaining. Not enough to watch any of the other Chicago series or Law & Order, mind.