kassa

I hate that they keep airing old stuff with new "first broadcast" dates attached. Thought a new season had started Tuesday night, but no.

I know several people (of average adult weight) that were >10 lbs at birth for no particular reason at all, and I believe diabetic mothers typically have heavier babies. I don't know if their mom had diabetes, but I think several of the siblings do, so it's not out of the question. I can easily believe 12 or 13 lbs that became 16 over the years of telling the story.

It will be interesting to watch Vanessa's personality as she continues to transform. How much of the obnoxious, over the top stuff is bluster to cover insecurity because of her weight? Choosing to becoming the center of attention for being loud and crazy instead of/or at least in addition to being the center of attention for her size? Large people have often adopted "class clown" as a personality because it's a socially acceptable role for a large person to play.

I generally assume in situations like this that production staff or friends of the proprietor are used to fill out spaces that should have other people in them. A two hour pub tour shot for reality tv could take 6 hrs and no paying customer would put up with it. Might get people to sign up for free booze ride in return for being a reality tv show "extra," however.

Hospitals don't like operating rooms and staff not working and generating $. Flaking out costs $$. Now maybe this is for the show and in real life she canceled the night before, but just not showing up for surgery might screw future chances for elective surgery at that location. I once lost 60 lbs and only went down 1 bra size. The next ten lbs went down 2 bra sizes, and suddenly people could "see" it. Bodies are weird.

The sad thing is, they'll say "If only she'd taken care of herself better and gotten that surgery." I too deal with weight issues, but if they make you lose 50-100 lbs to get the surgery... do you really need the surgery? As we've seen on all these shows, it's just a "tool" (can you hear Dr. Now?) and most of them fail it anyway. In the meantime they've completely savaged their digestive systems (which to be fair, they've also done by overeating). Going from 500 to 300 lbs is still a victory of sorts. New medications show promise to be equally effective to bariatric surgery. We'll see down the line if they are safer, but hopefully there will be solutions which aren't quite so drastic. That might help people like Tina who can't make the leap.

My great uncle was born in 1903 and a lifelong runner who was definitely considered eccentric for running around suburban Boston in shorts in the 30s... and 40s and 50s and 60s. Then in the 70s "jogging" became a thing but he couldn't run so much any more! Same great uncle was raised next to the pit at the tannery where his father worked. Became a dentist. Combination of being very smart and getting scholarships, working to save every nickel, and tuition really not being that high, all things considered. And parents who valued education and wanted their kids to get ahead (not universal, sadly). A different great uncle was a fireman, at a time when they used horses to pull the firetrucks. So in WWI he was assigned to a cannon company (horses pulled the cannon). He was gassed and came back "different" per my grandmother. I always assumed it was PTSD from the war itself, but learning about his work with the horses makes me wonder how much equine suffering he witnessed in addition to human suffering. He too might have been assigned to kill them at the end. A friend of mine was present when Ruffian came out of anesthesia and injured herself and had to be put down. She couldn't get over it and went full time into rehabilitating (much less injured) horses. I'm nosy. If I saw two neighbors walking daily I'd at least WONDER. Might dismiss it, but I'd wonder. My boss and his family escaped Vienna and got to London. Only months later, he and his brother were evacuated to the countryside. The people who were supposed to take them didn't show up at the train station. They were "given" to another family who had a farm and were very good to them. But barely speaking English, you can imagine the trauma. They were Jewish. I have no idea if their host family tried to introduce them to the Magic of Christmas, but I certainly didn't like that storyline here. Sure, the kid would be curious, but this episode was a weird combination of everybody being wonderfully open minded and interested in learning about Hannukah without any seeming appreciation that singing Christian hymns at a church might not be something her parents would be thrilled about or that she might feel uneasy about. I think he said the paper was literally signing over legal authority to the herd (which would remain physically in place), and "returned to you" meant the process would be reversed. So he literally no longer owned them (though I assume was compelled to continue feeding/watering them!) during the process. I definitely see Siegfried/Mrs. Hall endgame and I'm fine with it.

I definitely agree she should have been there for surgery. Maybe it was the way it was edited - something like "I had to leave the day before Valentine's Day and that's a big sacrifice for a relationship" not "My wife had surgery scheduled in the near future, so that's a big sacrifice to be away at that time." I came way with the impression that going in she either had a hard deadline to be back for the surgery or the surgery came up while she was away.

Interesting that she said she was leaving whether he came back or not. Hope that doesn't mean he came back earlier than he should have because the show didn't want to hire yet another replacement captain. That said, if you're over 50 and being apart on Valentine's Day is "a big sacrifice for your relationship"... grow up!

Ah, I missed the Harris' age part. Now I'm thinking of her line in the discussion with Fred about numbers "well, slept with..."

Not to mention all the amenities they start demanding because they want life just like it was in the higher tax place they left... only without the taxes. Doesn't work that way. In the meantime, the regular people who already lived there who don't have 10,000 sq ft houses watch their bills rise and rise. I assume the proximity to the other houses is because they're basically building walled city states and the front is just a facade for the street. Life is lived inside and out back where you can't see the neighbors. From what I gather, she wasn't included in the planning phase. As others have pointed out, they had a schedule, so she had to know what was going on. Sounds like she was trying to justify to herself that she couldn't go anyway because of her workload, but then it just festered until it blew up. She was tearful when she said she had to stay and work - the developer saw it, and so did the camera, but not her husband. That said, she's a grown woman and has to speak up. I think the deeper issue is that in these situations "speaking up" amounts to asking over and over to be included, begging, if you will. You're not a principal player if you constantly have to ask if you can come, too. Maybe she had shrugged it off and figured she'd work and do makeup but the reality of the camera crew and everybody else leaving while she stayed back like Flagg's uninvolved boyfriend was a bad look for the client. Whatever, there was no excuse for her behavior at dinner. That's a fight you have in the privacy of your room (camera crew optional). Josh... I felt for Tracy in the moment and later as the enormity of it landed on her. Not just that it happened, but that it would air, and her daughter would have to deal with it. I do agree that she had let things slide letting her daughter air her antagonism so openly - inviting children into adult-style banter generally doesn't end well because one side or another crosses a line. As for Josh, the temperature in that car dropped about 50 degrees when he said that, and even after Tracy slapped him he kept grinning, pleased with himself. No, he can't read a room. Josh's boyfriend acquitted himself well, but he has cartoon character features (couldn't say which one). Good looking, but he looks like a drawing. I like the director's house pretty much as is structurally. Take out the dark bars and heavy draperies and the ugly wallpaper and I think you could still make it adorable without making it antiseptic.

Was I the only one who thought Fraser was running off the ship to throw himself into Captain Lee's arms, only to see he was getting the cake? I took Lee's statements to mean he was panicked about his symptoms and the doctor basically told him it was sciatica and it sucked but it was a pain issue not a sign of anything more sinister that needed immediate correction and he decided to tough it out. (Not dismissing the impact of great pain on one's ability to function, just saying that sitting on a boat in the Caribbean as you suffer increasing pain would be a frightening situation that you'd want to get to the bottom of ASAP.) So maybe all along it was "I need to get home for a drs appt and a CAT scan and best case scenario I'll need to miss 2 charters" as opposed to the open ended situation we were presented with. (Obviously had the testing/examination showed something that would have changed everything). Both Hayley (finally learned her name this week!) and Rachel need to tone things down. I noticed the last Below Deck rerun show where the old deckies watch episodes most of them visibly and audibly being disgusted by some of Rachel's statements. I hope production takes a hint. Even if they say nothing to her they don't have to air every scatological comment, especially when she's spiraling out trying to be funny. I was confused by the "they're the nicest people" "I wish everybody was that nice" comments from the crew and wonder if they truly were super nice (except for LaQuish) and maybe a little demanding, but the staff extrapolated their niceness to expectations of a big tip, and once they got the small tip they were angry and blasted them in their talking heads? If it weren't for LaQuish's demands and the gay guy's attraction to Fraser, did they provide any show content at all other than wardrobe changes?

I immediately flashed to Fisher and how much worse that situation would have been had she been pregnant. And who's to say she wasn't? Would add layers to one of the best (and best acted) storylines of the franchise. Heartbreaking.

They've rebooted Frasier - no Niles, so be forewarned. I get the whole rally 'round the expectant mother thing. Really... what can you say? If you believe and respect that it's a choice, you can't badger a woman into not making a bad one. What you CAN do is lay down ground rules - if you expect this family to help you raise this child, there's going to be a committee giving input. A discussion that includes Ben and Becky. The family unit can work together to move everybody forward, but it can't be play it by ear day to day, and the heaviest weight can't fall on the people who aren't the parents of the child. They need a plan for the year, for the month, for the week. What needs to be done, who's available to do it. I'd move Mark and Harris (until she has the baby) in with Dan and his wife who's barely ever there anyway. That way the older folks only get stuck with the least intrusive family members (and Dan's been lonely anyway). When the baby's born, Harris and baby go to Darlene and Beverly Rose and Becky move back with Dan with strict house rules about living separate lives and no child care unless it's pre-arranged or a true emergency. I feel bad for Ben, but he's got to speak up, and in this family that means yell until you're heard. But for a kid who never did that before, you can see how it could be something that slipped through the cracks when it was previously automated.

Nobody's snobbier than people who serve the ultra rich. Except maybe the nouveau riche. I don't know about the deck crew, but most of the chefs and chief and second stews we've seen have worked untelevised on superyachts and dealt with rich people one step below those who own their own yachts, and sometimes those who do own their own yachts. I'm sure more than a few of them want a turkey club sandwich at an inopportune time, but they also sleep in, sit around, request a standing Special K and yogurt breakfast, go into town and shop/dine, go to bed early, and aren't keeping them running 24/7 in order to fit as much into their 3 day experience as possible. I'm curious about the confines of the charters we're seeing. Do you think it might be the boat's owner or Bravo restricting their movements? As in no fuel allowance to move anywhere more interesting, access only to the horrible beach with no explanation as to why they are not permitted to go to one of the other 10,000 beaches within launch range? (Maybe Bravo would not pay the Dept of Tourism to film in good spots?)

Not that I know of. But judging from what's aired and what's shown in the previews, that sure isn't a marriage I'd consider "together."

All I get from Louie is that he's one of those guys that love bomb a woman and separate her from family and friends, enveloping her completely into his world at the expense of her own, egging on her every grievance, making himself her salvation. We know how those relationships end up. I think Joe Gorga IS actually over it at last (trailing Melissa, who has been over it for a while). I find the whole Jersey Italian-American family dynamic (as portrayed on this show, but not unfamiliar to me from life) such a contrast from my Irish-American Boston family dynamic. Family members stop speaking... and nobody mentions it, EVER, let alone makes it the centerpiece of group interactions. Eventually at a wedding or funeral they will speak, pick up as if it never happened, and no one will ever refer to it again. Don't like Dolores' new guy, especially since it seems his presence is focusing even MORE attention on Frank instead of less. And who exactly is the market for this calendar? Is she counting on each model ordering a dozen for his friends/family? New blonde lady is exhausting. I like Jackie -- as close a housewife to me as there has been, except maybe Eileen from BH, in terms of reacting like a normal person in this weirdness. I'm also no fashion plate - I don't really care about clothes. But that doesn't mean I don't know clothes out of hamper when I see them. Jennifer is going through some stuff this season, clearly. I've never been crazy about Bill since we saw him drunk (when I see somebody ugly drunk, I can't ever go back to respecting them) but he seems genuinely pained about shooting with her, as if they called the marriage off long before filming but are having to relive the breakup for a storyline. And the whole kids/housekeeping/$ thing - she enjoys encouraging behavior that aggravates him, even if it makes her look bad and isn't good for the kids. I hope in the divorce he withdraws permission to film them. I know he initially permitted it which would normally probably override later objections, but I think between the first daughter's bullying and the way the other one is acting now, he can make a strong case that he is seeing the effect on his children and even if the kids want to film, they will regret having these scenes out in the world for the rest of their lives.

I can't truly believe that all those people were living in that hotel room together. Maybe a night here and there for the cameras, but weeks? There were no occupancy regulations? And they never discussed "well, this is the time for you guys to get working on your exit plan"? I just... don't believe that. I CAN believe Tina agreeing to it as a plotline to keep the show going, and her husband not thinking it was worth it and wanting her to get out of it. And the producers saying the only way out of it is to do it during the bachelorette weekend (because of COURSE that's when you'd spring this on an unsuspecting freeloader).

Angela Davis in the DAR reminded me of Tammy Duckworth's opponent mocking her ancestry which also goes back to the Revolutionary War. Sarah Palin is another Brewster descendent (as are millions).

My favorite line from this ep was Sandy saying how amazing Fraser's composure was. And all I could think was "yes, because he hates your guts and will until the day he dies, but he doesn't want to sabotage his career. The show will end, he will keep working in the industry, and he will never stop telling people to beware working with you." I actually half believe she KNOWS he hates her guts and she kind of admires his ability to carry on in spite of that.

I just wonder if they're playing with semantics. Seems like she'd be even more upset that he went behind her back to call the doctor and have someone come onto her boat without her knowledge than that he cut his foot and didn't say anything. Feels like a big puzzle piece is missing.

I do retain questions about how the doctor/NP came to the ship. To my recollection we've never had the Chief Stew make such a call before - it always went through the captain. So did he go to her to request a consultation and she told him to go ahead and call, or did he just call? If he just called without her knowledge, did she not know that somebody came onto her boat without her knowledge? She would be justifiably angry if that were the case. The fact that after the whole Malia business she kind of shrugged away the "I should have been told" as if it were a minor piece of the problem makes me believe she knew about the doctor visit and told him to have it checked out, and he didn't report the results to her... but she also never requested the results. Maybe she was "off duty" in some capacity and he ran it through the first officer and she was aware that THAT had happened and so couldn't fault him on going around her back, merely on not filling her in on the diagnosis in time for her to reschedule her public shaming event? I hope they explain that bit of business, because something is being left out of this equation.

Lee's central rule is not to embarrass him or the boat. The passengers have been happy and given good tips. Other than drama within guest earshot, I think he would have stayed out of all of it. And if Alyssa said "cool, cool" to him he wouldn't have devoted screen time to pacing and tugging at his hair in "whatever shall I do, audience?" mode. He would have told her to watch her mouth or get off his boat, and she would have slunk off.

I actually agree that it's the grandkids that are making him crazier than anything. He seems to always have loved little kids (when they're at the Dad is Superman stage) and by everybody's account was pretty involved with them. In his MIND he's still that guy. Pictures of Christine and Janelle with the grandkids make him go "awww - I need to get over there and have some grandpa time." Which he may or may not get around to in person. But he probably fires up the face time and gushes and talks about how much they look like him. But seeing another man in the inner circle holding those babies? Having an ongoing relationship with those babies? That's one step away from making a painting showing Christine's New Guy in Kody's place. Because that's what divorced people DO, as he knows very well.

I can't see Camille being the reason. Fraser, maybe, but not Camille. I think he definitely considers Fraser and Rachel "his" and would flip if she fired THEM without his input. NEVER MIND - he has, indeed, said publicly that he was not happy that he learned about it after the fact, not before. Fine with the firing, but thought when she called him about it that it hadn't happened yet.