Bastet

That would make sense in terms of taking only Lisa and Nicky when he left Mrs. Healy, but Mark and David both have his last name, so unless he adopted them after marrying their mom, that doesn't fit. He was always referred to as David and Mark's father, not stepfather and it was always "Mom and Dad," not "Mom and [Name]." When Mark and David talk before the wedding, about the Conners being their parents now, and list the ways in which the Healys sucked, I think they would have said something along the lines of "Dad took off, Mom married another loser and then he took off" if that were the case.

Oh, they do; there are two in my area alone, both owned and run by British immigrants. But I'm nowhere near Hartford, so I can't help you there. Your hosts will likely know whether any of the local options are authentic.

A study of gender and race (behind the camera and on screen) in the 2015-16 TV season (and 2016 theatrical releases), the fifth year the study was done, shows "two steps ahead, one step back. But at the end of five years, we see there's not much progress." In a brief summary in Variety, it is noted that women, while still underrepresented on every front, posted gains in all the key employment arenas since the previous report, with the exception of four — film directors, broadcast scripted show leads, cable scripted show creators, and broadcast scripted show creators. (And in three of those categories, they fell further behind.) With respect to TV, women are only 36% of broadcast scripted leads, 45% of cable scripted leads, 19% of broadcast reality/other leads, 30% of cable reality/other leads, 43% of digital scripted leads, 22% of the creators of broadcast scripted shows, 17% of the creators of cable scripted shows, and 31% of the creators of digital scripted shows. Looking ahead to the 2017-18 television season, "the prognosis is mixed with respect to the prospects for further advancement on the television diversity front." While 28 percent of the lead roles for new scripted shows that debuted this season across all platforms went to actors of color, "a figure significantly greater than the shares they posted for either the broadcast, cable or digital arenas in 2015-16," - women lost ground as a percentage of leads in these new shows. And when it comes to the creators of these new shows, the numbers are worse, for both gender and race, than the 2015-16 season. (Another article about the report was linked in the Race/Ethnicity thread.)

I don't think we ever learned what Mr. Healy did; he left (taking the girls with him) so early in David's run that we didn't learn much about him (other than he joined Mrs. Healy in kicking Mark out and treating David like crap - not to mention only wanting two of his four kids).

Praise be Alex didn’t attempt to imitate “Whatchyou talkin’ about, [Willis]?” I didn’t know NCIS or Beaufort, either, but I think I got the rest of the TS. The opal and pearl clue was the big TS surprise for me; there was a picture of both, plus the “-escent” and fragility hints, so come on. None of the three knowing the tallest building in the world surprised me, too – seems like the sort of thing one would commit to memory in preparing for the show. I fumbled for the name, but eventually got it, and I'm just sitting in my living room, not having studied in preparation for an actual competition.

Riley never sleeps in my office chair other when I'm in it, but Baxter used to sleep there by himself sometimes. So if I came in to send an email or something and he was there, I would kneel on the (hardwood) floor in front of my desk to type rather than scooting him out of the chair. @bilgistic, hopefully each time you threaten the girls with a vet appointment because they're not acting right, they'll continue to perk back up.

I'm mostly the opposite. I love pork chops, and I do like back bacon when I'm in the UK/Ireland, but when I get home, my first breakfast contains the big ol' slab of fat that is side bacon (and egg whites fried in a little bit of that bacon fat). And, holy pig, I hate the "Canadian bacon" sold in the U.S.

I laughed pretty hard at her reactions to the nastiest vegan mayo options. Jack told her, "At least I didn't give you fish sauce," but I think she had less of a reaction in that taste test (which was also great; she downed straight fish sauce like a champ). I love mayo, but am so particular about it - Best Foods (Hellman's) is just the start; I only like the regular version, so no light, no olive oil, no whatever (the canola version was great, but they changed it and now it tastes like vinegar, which I loathe) - that I'd have probably made the face she made at the first one at all of them.

They generally get other rescues to foster and place the puppies they get in/find. When they got Caleb and Hannah, one of them noted those were the only puppies they had at the time.

Very much so these days; the hipsters have gentrified what, decades ago, was an enclave of the middle class Latino community - basically, a suburb for union workers downtown - and then took a downturn when unions were decimated and Los Angeles manufacturing jobs dried up. Silver Lake is a central location with great old houses and a lot of good restaurants and, for now, is a cheaper alternative to similar areas. It also has a significant LGBT community.

I like and dislike things about both gas and electric, and the ease of cleaning a glass cooktop is what's going to tip the scales in favor of electric when I renovate my kitchen (I grew up on electric, and currently have a fantabulous late '50s electric GE oven/range, but had gas in my first place where I lived for many years, so I'm adept at cooking on both). But when I was under the house tapping into the gas line for another purpose, I went ahead and ran a line into the kitchen, in case whomever my beneficiary sells this place to wants gas. I think most cooks have a preference, and that's usually gas, but as long as there is a gas line to the house, it is easy - certainly in the grand scheme of home purchasing and/or renovation - to run a line to the kitchen and buy a new stove if the house has an electric stove and the buyer wants a gas one instead. These HHs who act as if the presence of an electric stove is a deal-breaker annoy me every bit as much as the ones who behave as if the presence of a refrigerator with a finish other than their preferred stainless steel crosses the house off their list.

I liked her, but I never liked her nearly as much as the show apparently wanted me to, and I didn't think her (and Doug) leaving was that big a deal; it's an ensemble, and she was at least halfway down my ranking of favorite characters (as was Doug). I also never got invested in them as a couple; I believed they loved each other, but I thought they were both rather shitty as romantic partners, so it was not anything I rooted for or got excited by when it happened (nor did I root against it; because they both sucked as partners, I thought it nice they got together and spared the rest of the world having to date either one of them).

He's named Mark, presumably in honor of David's late brother, so I think we can assume both kids are his. Back when the revival was newly announced, either when they were casting or had just cast the role, Mark was described as gender fluid, but from that article a few posts above, it sounds like they decided to just leave it as he sometimes dresses in feminine clothing. Either way, as I said at the time, Darlene and David are ideal to raise a child like that, and Dan's history of freak-outs any time D.J. did anything stereotypically feminine should make for an interesting dynamic.

@MargeGunderson, happy half birthday to your kitties, and quick recovery wishes to the one dealing with a UTI. Maddie was prone to UTIs, and they were always from the same bacteria, so I knew exactly what antibiotic was needed -- after the first couple of ti mes, all I had to do was call my vet to report Maddie had another UTI, and she'd call in the prescription. No need to stress Maddie with a vet visit, or stress my wallet paying for a culture. I really appreciated that. @bilgistic, I hope the girls were just in a mood of some sort, and that things stay normal. I, too, sometimes ask the universe why the cats prone to chronic conditions, emergencies, and the like all seem to find me, and then I just give thanks that they do; better for me to deal with the stress than the cats to live with someone who can't or won't take care of anything that comes up. Same with you. But, yes - and especially during your period of unemployment - it would be quite nice if they'd hold off on the special needs for a moment!

I am the one American who hates that meal (I would literally rather skip dinner than eat it; I hate every element of it), but pretty much the rest of the country loves it. (It's my mom's favorite meal in the entire world of cuisine, so clearly there was a baby mix-up at the hospital.) Your guests are going to be so happy you made that for them -- it's nice to get a home-cooked meal while traveling, and to have someone make you comfort food from back home? You're giving them a very nice weekend!

Poor Unicorn, having nowhere to go. At least she was covered in that carport, but she had, what, a foot of leash to work with? She was stuck in her own pee and shit, and with any food and water long gone. I hate people. I will never tire of the VRC folks marveling at how accepting of people neglected and even abused dogs can be; those tail or even full body wags when they sense that this particular human is there to help them are always moving. The producers are really pushing the swimmer pups hard this season (probably because VRC hardly ever has puppies, and they figure puppies are a bigger draw than older dogs for much of the audience, but I'm the opposite). I hope that, being puppies - not to mention puppies with a sob story but one that doesn't create an ongoing special need - they both found homes in short order. Especially since Hannah was on the Puppy Bowl; I've read that most of the puppies featured on that show each year get adopted fairly quickly. I'm glad the adopters were clear that their own preferences were meaningless in the face of their existing dog's choice, and that he and the new dog bonded so quickly. What a nice little family they must be now; I missed the update segment at the end, but I can't imagine it being anything other than positive.

There's no one or distinctly American tradition for that, but most people would toast on an occasion like this - gathering to dine with friends you don't often see. Typically, you as the host would do it (after the drinks are poured and before you start the meal), but at a casual gathering like this it could also be a guest, toasting you for your efforts. It's a simple, straightforward thing - say a few words about how happy you are to be together, clink glasses, drink, and dig in. My friend's mom is Christian, and she says a prayer before meals, but only those she's hosting in her house - she doesn't do that at a restaurant or when she comes to my house, or anything like that. In more religious areas of the country, this "saying grace" tradition would be more common, as noted, but I still wouldn't think it would be anything your guests would expect of you even if that was their thing. I hope you're having a nice time.

I thought of that, but even split between two people (as the cake generally would be, too), that's 1000 calories just from your appetizer. Mostly, I'm just wondering what the hell they bread and fry it in to turn an onion into 1950 calories/155g fat/3840mg sodium. That's nuts.

To entertain myself (okay, to further procrastinate on cleaning the house), I just looked up the Outback menu; I'd only eat a few things offered and I'm an omnivore! (It's obviously very meat and potatoes, and I'm not; I hate potatoes, and I only like beef in a few forms.) I saw very little that was vegetarian, never mind could be made vegan by leaving off the cheese or butter. Yikes. Yeah, eat at home and keep the drinks coming. Sorry you've had such a dud of a birthday, but hopefully the company and conversation is nice. (I further entertained myself by looking up the calorie content of one of the few entrees I would eat, the chicken and shrimp pasta dish, because I wanted to see just how sky high it was -- 1210, heh. And, holy crap, that bloomin' onion thing is nearly 2000 calories! That's unreal; even the chocolate cake has fewer calories, at around 1500.)

That's Darlene's son, isn't it? I had somehow missed until that article that Wanda Sykes is involved in this project (as a writer/producer); fantastic!

And they call you the fussy eater?

Yeah, whenever I offer to take someone out for a birthday lunch or dinner, one of my first questions is always, "Where would you like to go?" If the hosts are suggesting a restaurant instead, that's fine in theory, but suggesting a steakhouse (and a shitty one at that) for a vegan's birthday dinner is both stupid and rude, and the boyfriend agreeing to it is just beyond. All he had to say was, "I don't think that's a good idea; remember, she's vegan, and they have almost nothing she can eat." They don't need to suffer through a vegan restaurant, just choose a happy medium where everyone has several good options to choose from.

Yeah, that was the first clue of the Master Class category I was complaining about. I thought it might pick up, and it really had to - and did - from that ridiculous starting point, but most of the category remained almost as simple.

I take wanting to be the best of the competitors as a given, and wanting - as a member of one or more under-represented groups in this competition and the profession as a whole - to be the first X to win as the bonus of being an important example on top of the personal victory. If I'm ever trying to do something that I'd be the first woman, or middle-aged woman, to do, damn right I'd want it even more than I want any other achievement for that very reason; it's not just about me.

I don't use social media or otherwise hang out on the internet as much as the average bear, so I'm stunned that FJ came to me instantly yet it was a TS. Pennsylvania Avenue as a TS surprised me, but maybe they weren't thinking of it as a byway? (Any other Roseanne fans think of the Wellman gang's argument over what a byway is when the category was announced?) Pot-bellied pig was the other TS that surprised me. Well, maybe the three Rhyme Time TS, too, but I don't think I should be surprised; I got all those quickly, but some people's brains just don't work for those types of clues. Mary embarrassed herself in the first round; ouch. Isn't she a human rights lawyer? I wanted to root for her (I’m a civil rights lawyer), but damn. At least she picked it up and blended in as the game went on. I like sports movies, but mostly football and baseball movies, so Battle of the Sexes was the only one I knew in that category. I cannot believe how easy most of the Master Class clues were. And Alcatraz? Is this the kids tournament? I know it was a low-value clue in the first round, but it had a map and everything. Come to think of it, that whole Rough Waters category had easy clues.