Wiendish Fitch

I just finished reading Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted, which is about the making and legacy of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Very fun and informative, a must for fans of classic TV.

Re: Danny Masterson It very much reminds me of all the people who defended Larry Nassar: how "nice" he was, how much he did for the community, what a family man he was, and all that crap. Bad people can be "nice". Bad people can hide behind charitable works. Bad people can have spouses, children, homes in the suburbs in the "real America", etc. There are bad people who never so much as look at drugs and alcohol. Bad people can don incredibly good disguises*. The sad, frustrating thing is that, like Nassar's defenders, Masterson's defenders will most likely die on this hill. *Or mediocre, banal ones that somehow pass moral muster, like Josh Duggar.

I saw Sweet Home Alabama once. Once was too much.

Shopping for a good bra is a part-time job that I have and never asked for.

A resounding, deafening THANK YOU!!!! Hell, look at the Thin Man movies! Or any version of Tarzan! There are plenty of others! Thinking of Sweet Home Alabama and China Seas, if you're going to have the tension stem from our protagonist realizing their true feelings for someone else, you have to give us a good, compelling, believable reason why they would choose one over the other! It can't just be because the plot demands it, or because the leads are popular! Considering that Patrick Dempsey and Rosalind Russell's characters are, in fact, wonderful, and the people they get dumped for are demonstrably not... well, can you blame this particular viewer for feeling frustrated?!

Re: Sweet Home Alabama My #1 criteria for hating a movie is if I'm rooting against the people and/or events the story wants me to root for. If I'm pulling for the other man/woman, any antagonistic characters (the social worker, detective, etc.), unwanted event, or even (God forbid) the villain, then the movies fails my personal test miserably. China Seas? Rosalind Russell's character was 1000 times the woman Jean Harlow's was, and Clark Gable was stupid for dumping her. FAIL. The Hannah Montana Movie? I don't see a problem with a shopping mall being built. FAIL. Lost in Translation? Hell, if I were married to someone as dull and solipsistic as Bob or Charlotte, I'd cheat on them, too. FAIL.

Why do we even shame people to begin with? You don't know this person, you don't know their life, and even if they are living on Easy Street, what business is it of yours, anyway? For those who insist that all moms are the "most selfless, generous people in the world", I suggest you look up Susan Smith, Gertrude Baniszewski, Louise Turpin, and Debra McCurdy (just to name a few) and tell if you still hold fast to that belief. One last time, for those in the back: the oldest Millennials are now over 40, and the youngest Millennials can now rent cars. When you talk about them like they're pesky young kids, you sound objectively stupid and worthy of ridicule. If you must bitch about the younger generation, know which generation you're fucking talking about! And another thing: I'll take the "entitlement" of the current generation having week long birthday celebrations to the disgusting, barbarous entitlement of the older generations wanting us to revert to life in the 1950s and legalization of child labor.

Same. If I may be so catty, I think Gillian Flynn is a better writer than Karen Hamilton.

Most people associate "All Star" with either Mystery Men or Shrek. Me? It reminds me of the finale of one of my favorite comedies, Rat Race.

I just finished The Perfect Girlfriend by Karen Hamilton. Suspenseful, but ultimately depressing, one of those "nearly everyone is a terrible person" stories. I'm over Fatal Attraction and/or Gone Girl ripoffs.

Embarrassingly late with this news, but Al Fong is under investigation for abuse. All I can say is FINALLY. Similarly, an article examining the abusive culture of gymnastics coaching.

I don't hate "Truly Madly Deeply" by Savage Garden. You're all laughing and/or scoffing at me, aren't you? Yeah, I figured...

Ok, fair, and if I'm being honest, I can think of some people, too. We'll just quietly nod in agreement and go about our day.

Re: Gilligan's Island I've always liked the theory that the castaways actually died during the storm and the island is Hell (or maybe just Purgatory). Well, if you can think of anything worse than being stuck with Gilligan for all eternity, I'd like to hear it!

If Emily "wasn't funny", I blame that more on how she's written rather than Helen Baxendale. She wasn't given that many funny lines (though she did have them, and I thought she delivered them just fine). Regardless of how one feels about Ms. Baxendale... why bitch about her and her TV character now? James Burrow sounds like a petty jerk. Furthermore, considering that Emily was written to get unceremoniously dumped by Ross, does it really matter at this point if they "had no chemistry"?? You don't hear about Bob Newhart trashing Jennifer Holmes from Newhart just because her character was boring (also not Holmes's fault).

I'm absolutely willing to believe the visual effects are out of this world, but here's the thing: if visuals are all a movie has going for it, it's like a blind date who's super hot, but has nothing in the way of a personality. After a half hour you're going to be bored silly, and looking for the nearest exit.

Michael Bolton may be a total cheesehead... but I can't bring myself to hate celebrities who engage in honest-to-goodness self-deprecation, so I say good on him. And, if I'm being honest, "Go the Distance" from Hercules kinda gives me the feels.

Happy to make your day!

One of the reasons that Mary being an unmarried librarian is supposed to be viewed as a fate worse than death is because Frank Capra was a loud and proud anti-intellectual. Capra honestly sounded like a right douchebag to me. @Ohiopirate02 had this to say in the Unpopular Opinions thread: I think this is brilliant. If the little boy were Mary's brother, then his death would not only be traumatic on its own, but he died at the hands of beloved pharmacist Mr. Gower (yes, we know it was an accident, but still), and that would certainly create trust issues that won't go away overnight. I mean, Mary was at the drug store the day it happened, maybe she could feel guilty that she didn't know it happened and therefore couldn't stop it. That, and maybe a failed engagement with Sam (Sam's a bit of a jerk, but I don't buy that he'd be abusive) is what caused her to be a withdrawn "spinster". BTW, I still think Donna Reed looks nice even as a tragic librarian. It's akin to Grace Kelly's "dowdy" look in The Country Girl.

My husband watched it with a friend yesterday, and he said that Maverick is the biggest Gary Stu ever (sounded to me like it's even worse than in the first movie). From the way he described it to me, Top Gun: Maverick sounds like it was adapted from a fanfic Tom Cruise wrote. Note to all screenwriters: It's fine- nay, crucial-for protagonists to be wrong once in a while. Characters who are always right are insufferably boring.

Lynda Carter didn't play Wonder Woman. Lynda Carter IS Wonder Woman.

FYI, here's the topic forum for It's a Wonderful Life to sing its praises or gripe about its flaws.

Yes to all of that. And don't get me started on It's a Wonderful Life. If you like living in a small town, fine. If you don't like living in a small town... also fine. It's no reflection on you (unless you're a jerk about it). If you want to see a delectable subversion of the "woman is changed for the better by a quaint small town" trope, please check out The Last Seduction.

I hate how easily I can believe this. To anyone who throws away their money on such a thing...

I personally always felt ripped off that Phoebe, usually the Queen of Brutal Honesty, never called Rachel out on her behavior (or if she did, it wasn't nearly often enough). I've always, always, ALWAYS hated storylines involving Ross and Rachel. They were the ickiest, most awful, toxic, downright loathsome couple on the show. There are too many reasons that I could ramble on and on about, but I think number one on my list that neither of them could ever just let the other be right. I feel like a right weasel "both sides"-ing this, but I don't think I'm that far off. Ross could have just admitted he made a mistake. Rachel could have just chosen to forgive Ross. Either one of them could have just accepted that their relationship wasn't meant to be, and just let the other be happy. But they never did. It was just this miserable cycle of obsession, sabotage, breaking up, making up, etc. The show seemed to paint this as cute and funny, when it was anything but. If this was a show in the vein of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, then sure, it could be amusing, but this is Friends, and it's like the writers never realized how truly awful Ross and Rachel were! It aggravates me to this day.