BananaPants

The "babe" woman was obnoxious. I don't know how he could tolerate her; she was almost enough to make me stop watching the show. I breastfed both of my kids beyond their 2nd birthdays, but by 12 months they were only nursing twice a day and by 15-18 months they were only nursing at bedtime. People get really judgmental about extended breastfeeding, so I sure as hell wouldn't have allowed a situation where I'd be filmed breastfeeding my 2 year old.

Just finished the 5th episode. I'm not particularly sensitive to crude language, but every other word out of Jason Brown's mouth is an f-bomb or some variant and it's just tiresome. When they show him speaking to the Optimist Club or other community groups he seems to struggle to avoid using expletives. His posturing about his Cadillacs and Cali beach house is silly. He seems to range between borderline to outright abusive toward his players and assistant coaches. That said, he's not wrong re: his players needing to use football as a means to an end. Reality is that even those who make it to a Power 5 school only have roughly 10% odds of playing in the NFL at all, and the odds are far lower for those who'd transfer to non-powerhouse D-I and D-II schools. The education that these guys can get for free, even if it ends up just being an associate's degree, is more valuable than the slim chance that any one of them will be a star pro football player. He's also correct that if they go to every class, hand in their homework, and make an effort, they'll end up with Cs. It's community college and there's no freaking excuse to be there on a free ride and get Ds and Fs because you don't show up to class. The entire purpose of those guys being there is to be able to progress to a 4 year school and lousy grades are going to prevent that. Kerry Buckmaster's story was so sad, he seems really earnest, and I'm rooting for that kid to succeed. I was glad to read that he's committed to play at a D-II school. Malik Henry seems convinced of his own importance; lots of talk about "I was the top quarterback in the nation" and his dad putting a lot of effort into grooming and cultivating his talent, but dude obviously had issues to get kicked out of Florida State and ending up in JUCO football jail. He thinks he's too good for where he wound up, is lazy in practice, disrespects/ignores the coaches, and openly doesn't give a damn about his teammates. And Bobby Bruce is so negative and self-sabotaging - it's heartbreaking. Latonya Pinkard is just great. I also liked the head athletic trainer (Rachel?).

According to my OBGYN, 40 is the new 35 in obstetrics because so many women are delaying childbearing and having babies in their late 30s/early 40s. Being of advanced maternal age is less of a concern if a woman has already successfully carried a baby to full term at a younger age, which a surrogate has to have done (there have been a couple of cases of women in menopause able to be gestational surrogates for their daughters!). I think DJ/Kimmy are 39 or 40 at this point, so while she'd be on the older side to be a surrogate, it wouldn't be exceptional.

I really liked DJ/Matt. The "who will she choose" drama was mildly entertaining, but I would have preferred a storyline of DJ and Matt being legitimately happy without her harboring feelings for Steve - they could have kept Steve and CJ and Rose as the quirky neighbors without all of the romantic tension. Matt was fresh blood, not old baggage. I never liked Steve to begin with and he was truly stalkerish in the 1st season. My kids inexplicably like this show. I liked Full House when I was their age too, so I get it, but it's just so over-the-top.

Agreed, the JFK portrayal was awful - I'm not sure exactly what that accent was, but it was bad. I got a kick out of Martin Charteris relaying to London what was going on in Ghana. "What are they doing?!" "I believe...it's the foxtrot." I find that character so likable and I'm glad that they've kept him in the story here and there.

I had always read that the Queen Mother had quite the sense of humor and wit. Of course she enjoyed luxuries - who wouldn't, in that kind of position? But she was known by her longtime servants and friends as being a friendly and witty person who could socialize comfortably with people from different walks of life. The only evidence I've seen that she was snobbish, vain, or contemptuous was written by a tabloid-level gossip columnist who wrote a biography of the Queen Mother which she also claimed that she was the illegitimate daughter of the family's cook, that Elizabeth and Margaret were conceived via some 1920s version of artificial insemination, and that she spent her entire life scheming to become queen. Said author claimed that her source for all of this was none other than the Duke of Windsor so I take that with a heaping grain of salt...