Dots And Stripes

NBC has started showing gymnastics already! We saw all four from the US team on floor. Wow, Simone really flew off the floor there. She has so much power.

That's what NBC said when they replayed it this afternoon. A reporter asked the rider from the Netherlands what happened and she said she didn't realize the Austrian had gotten away.

I had the same thought when Phelps was in the booth. Phelps definitely doesn't have Rowdy's polish yet. A three person team doesn't seem unreasonable if they are dead set on having Phelps there. I think he's probably better for other segments and not calling the races, which is where Rowdy shines. Dan is still there. Phelps just commented on a race or two.

I had forgotten how much I enjoy NBC's diving commentator lady and how much she hates splashes. I didn't forget how much I love Rowdy Gaines who remains delightful as well.

She has. This was covered in Golden, the Peacock documentary following her and a few other gymnasts trying to make it to the Olympics. It's worth a watch. MyKayla is not my favorite. I don't blame anyone for not liking her or things she has said or done. That said, her teammates seem to like her which speaks volumes more than stupidly liking some tweets. Again, it's fine if people aren't fans (I'm not really) but some of the glee at her pain feels unnecessary.

I wasn't saying she would be on the regular team. I was saying that it wasn't quite as clear Mykayla would be completely redundant. If Jade wasn't 100%, Mykayla could have edged her out for floor or vault finals.

Yes, but that doesn't change my point that the US couldn't know she would be 100% by the Olympics. That was clearly the plan, but it's still hard to predict where someone will be in their recovery.

The U.S. apparently didn't have better options. There was a bar specialist in the running, but she fell at trials. From what I saw from fan comments, it doesn't sound like she was good enough to be a lock for a medal anyway. As it is, the U.S. qualified the maximum number of finalists in each WAG event. It seems like the US realized no individual really gave them a better shot at a medal so they gave the spot to 5th place AA. Also, Jade wasn't at 100% at trials so she definitely wasn't a lock for floor or vault. Apparently Mykayla likes everything that mentions her. She should know by now it gets her in trouble. I really don't think Jordan would care all that much. She was smiling and dancing in the last youtube video I saw from Mykayla. They seem fine with eachother. Both Jordan and Mykayla looked dour at points last night most likely because the meet wasn't going the way they wanted it to. We haven't seen Jordan on camera since Mykalya started liking tweets that she deserved Jordan's spot.

It looks like the U.S. could have done that without a change to the medal count. That's hindsight though and Jade didn't compete everything at trials. Interesting to think about though.

It looks like there are a bunch of mics set up over there. I'm not sure if NBC was the first or was just able to get him after their commercial break. Being live may have also helped too. I agree that being overwhelmed probably makes it a lot harder to answer questions.

Somewhere an NBC exec is crying after they realized someone older than Phelps is still competing.

Wow! How exciting to see the swimmer from Tunisa win gold! Love seeing an upset like that.

I finished season 1. With only eight episodes, it didn't take long. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I'm a sucker for comedies that get sentimental. One of the problems with such a short season is it doesn't give the cast much time to develop chemistry or explore different group dynamics (we got mostly Dawn/Wickie and Summer/Gloria). The husband featured heavily in episode 6 of 8. His absence was a little odd in the last two episodes, but it wasn't all that long. I'm definitely curious how Peacock landed on only 8 episodes. I wonder how much of that is pandemic related. I Imagine scenes with a crowd were probably expensive even if I'm certain they used some Hollywood magic to make crowds look bigger than they were.

Some members of the Parks and Rec cast will be guest voices on the season premiere of Amy Poehler's animated show, Duncanville: https://tv.avclub.com/fox-renews-animated-series-duncanville-for-a-third-seas-1846632659.

Oh, she has another role, but I won't spoil that if you are only on the first episode. I agree that I tend to like the more subtle jokes on her show. I tend to roll my eyes at a lot of the broad, absurd jokes that are thrown in. I've found that this show has some of those jokes, but not as many as Mr. Mayor (which is more fully a Fey/Carlock show).

Peacock offers a 7 day free trial and it's also free for Xfinity cable subscribers. I *think* Nation's brother lives in the family's former vacation home in New Jersey? It definitely could have been clearer.

I had a very similar thought! I see similarities between Ted and Josh, but having watched all of season 1, I can confidently say Josh is much worse than Ted. Ted at least is very into being a vet. Josh barely does his job. He's there to do a podcast centered around Nathan's drama and yet he's only met him twice? We only see him "working" maybe two or three times even though the rest of our main characters should be integral to his project. His relationship with Reagan raises all sorts of ethical concerns too. I totally agree that seeing a one-dimensional male love interest isn't the worst thing as Hollywood typically produces more than their fair share of bland female love interests. I do find it more frustrating that in a cast of five main characters Josh is so one dimensional.

I'm through seven episodes so far. It's not bad and it has a lot of potential. It feels unsure if it wants to be more of a dramady (which would require really figuring out the plot more) or a straight-up comedy (it needs more jokes). While I generally like that Schur is not afraid to let characters have honest moments without jokes, this show could use more jokes throughout. From where I am in the series, it feels like only a handful of characters are full realized.

Chris really did dominate conversation this season. 😉 The blowpipes would be an issue. I went to The Corning Museum of Glass this summer and they had to change the way they do their demonstrations. They created a foot pedal to blow air instead of using their mouths. Every item made during the demonstration was then recycled because they said they were still having their artists get used to the new equipment. It would also be hard to keep the artists separate because they have to use very large, heavy equipment that requires a lot of power to run. It might be possible, but I think it would be hard, even in a bubble, to have people working with equipment that was touching people's lips. I thought the talent pool was more even all around. Elliot clearly emerged as the front runner, but last season I remember feeling that half the field was just not in the same league. Cat, Nao, Elliot, and Mike were good personalities for the show. Even Chris was great casting. He was fairy benign for a reality show villain and it was interesting to see him turning so many heads by trying new things in the hot shop. I wonder how much Elliot's edge all season played into the final deliberation. I do wish we heard more of the judge's deliberation after they talk to the artists. I liked both Elliot and Cat, so it's hard to be mad at the outcome. Both would have been worthy winners.

The other way to think of it is reality tv loves a villain. He may have been seen as better tv than some other artists, both for his willingness to give arrogant sound bites and his liberal interpretation of the briefs. He said early on he wanted to win the challenge or go home and I kind of think he was being honest. His ego would have LOVED to be the uncompromising artist who was misunderstood by the inferior judges. I don't really find this week's decision to be at odds with past eliminations. I think more artists were eliminated for bad craftsmanship rather than easy technique. Cat used an easy technique, but apparently did it well enough to get the desired effect. I also think it's all about the degree to which the execution is flawed or the piece misses the brief. I wasn't crazy about Chris or Cat's piece this episode. I wonder if the springs were meant to show fire's movement?

I was wondering about the COVID protocols for season 2, and it turns out this may have finished filming just as everything was starting to shut down in March 2020: https://www.distractify.com/p/when-was-blown-away-season-2-filmed. That makes me feel a little bit better about shared equipment and close face to face conversations.

I appreciate Elliot's self-awareness that his hurdles are much less than what others face. That said, I don't think the brief was intended to turn this into a competition of who has suffered the most. Without a doubt, everyone has dealt with a defeat at some point in their lives. The guest judge made a good point about the importance of sharing our struggles. I think if Elliot had incorporated some personal element his piece would have been a home run with the brief. No doubt Chris also avoided brief he didn't like earlier on. The later in the series we go, the bigger a risk it is. It's harder to count on someone else missing the mark more as fewer artists remain.

I tried to keep expectations low because reunion series generally suck and this was thrown together under strange circumstances. This totally exceeded my expectations! I loved seeing all of our old friends from Pawnee. Bobby Newport was the perfect start and Dennis Feinstein had my fav commercial bit. I thought it was all very silly and fun. I thought Amy did an amazing job carrying the whole thing too. It felt like Leslie never left. This was the tv show equivalent of a warm hug. It definitely lifted my spirits. Posting here about this is even bringing back memories of going to TWOP after episodes.

If anyone's interested: 'The Good Place' Creator Opens Up About Bringing Peace to Its Universe in Series Finale

Did not like them all going through the door (except Tahani, thank goodness for small miracles). I still reject last week's premise that the door was necessary. I still see it as eternal suicide. Eleanor feeling abandoned by Chidi wrecked me. Michael getting to be human and Tahani's endings were the only character endings that made me happy. Also, Nick Offerman is always welcome.