Bastet

It's not about thinking everyone should know what they know, or even that among any random sampling of three people, at least one of them should know it, it's simply being surprised that among three people who qualified for and then further studied to appear on this specific quiz show, a particular clue went unanswered. That may be because it seems common enough knowledge that you'd expect at least one of three people of that caliber to be among those who know it, because one contestant's incorrect guess really ought to have given it away to one of the other two, because there were enough clues within the clue that it's surprising none of the three could reason their way to it even if they didn't know the specific fact at hand, etc.

Because it's 4:00 a.m.? She hated it the first time around, when she and Corky had to fill in. And now she's older when this is her daily schedule. (Which also older Corky is no longer perky about.) She gets that it's the nature of the new job and thus does it, but with grumbling; she's not surprised by it, she's just "holy crap, this is painfully early" about it as are most people who work a more typical schedule for a long time and then have to adjust to one that begins well before dawn.

Two episodes in a row with no assistant? Boo. But other than that, I liked it. Not loved it; it still just doesn’t have the sharpness of the original series. I don't even think I'd like it if it was a new show. But enjoyed it, based on the combination of old and new, yes, and I’m good with that. I love Ed Shannon basically doing the sieg heil salute as he declares “this is our country and we’re taking it back.” Preach away, show, preach away. Murphy: “We’re here to report the news, not become the news.” Floor manager: “And we’re clear. Well, I’ve enjoyed working with all you people.” And then Murphy’s takedown: - “Fact? I’m surprised you could even say that word without bursting into flame.” - “The swarthy crowd.” - “The only crime I see is the way you murder the truth.” - “Don’t you Giuliani me.” - “I just got that what’s going on underneath all that clothing is an old white guy who’s scared of losing his place at the table. You and your friends are all dinosaurs, this is your last chance to prevent progress. You will end up an exhibit in a museum [country club diorama – gin and tonic on one hand and putter in another, ha].” - In response to being called “a woman way past her prime”: “Of all the things you’ve ever said, that was the most predictable.” Would that this was only on TV. And of course someone recorded it and goes viral. “Thank God there were no smartphones when I was drinking.” Murphy and Avery continue to be wonderful; I can’t get over the chemistry between the actors from jump. “You’re on in a very tough time slot. You’re up against, well, me.” And them bonding over 4:00 in the afternoon being bedtime. Plus the dance mix. I love that she keeps on her behind-the-desk pants with her upper outfit and heels. And, “Occasionally, I go rogue. Well, more than occasionally.” I also love Phyllis’s allusion to Cagney & Lacey. And then, of course, JIM! Phyllis as the new Doris? (I love Miles’s “What is happening?”) I need a "Slugger" and “Oh, good lord.” (At least I finally got an “Oh, God” from Miles.) But his false equivalency objection was enough for now. “You don’t have to give equal time to someone who claims Tom Hanks is running a shadow government.”

The "Rose" thing makes me think of when Dan went to get a tattoo of her name, but backed out halfway through because it hurt, so it was "Rose" rather than "Roseanne." He tried to play it off as intentional, but she pointed out he never calls her that. He offered to go back and have it made "Rosey," saying he can handle adding a "Y." No one else called her Rose, either ("It's not my name, it's Mrs. Kennedy's name"), so I think the only way to explain it is as a thing just for the grandkids.

Jessica pronounced the L in balm and caulk, which cracked me up, as that’s how I pronounce them, too – the L is lightly there, but it’s not silent like the other words – and it seemed she was thinking, “Um, I know this is the word based on the clue, but it doesn’t fit the category, so I'll go ahead and ring in but I'm confused.” I feel you, Jessica. So I felt bad for her wrong answer on what seemed like an easy FJ to me, since I knew it despite knowing almost nothing else about Peter Pan other than Tinkerbell. The other contestant who got it wrong, meh; I don’t normally pay much attention to contestants’ appearance, but a bow tie AND suspenders, oh my -- two of my least-favorite accessories on one person and I'll go ahead and be shallow. The “Ap” Biology/”A.P.” Biology pronunciation discrepancy was driving me nuts. WTF with accepting Drop Four for Connect Four? I even did a Google search during the commercial break to see if there’s some regional alternate name, but nothing came up. I wonder what they found in order to reverse their ruling. And an even bigger WTF to accepting just a last name in a category about first and last names with the initials A.P.? N for knight (“they don’t know how to spell” – hee) and Battle of Thermopylae were the only TS that also stumped me, but it was another night where I wasn’t surprised to see any of them go unanswered. The DJ round had several clues I found quite overvalued, such as KGB, Benedict Arnold, and C for speed of light.

No (except D.J. during his phase - which apparently lasted - and when they were in Ed and Crystal's wedding [no one else got married in a church]). Darlene and Bev didn't believe in any god, Roseanne believed in a higher power of some sort but was not involved in any organized religion, and Dan was the same - he had a talk with his god while in the hospital after his heart attack, but had no use for religion as a whole. (Which is why Roseanne praying at the dinner table in the revival premiere was so out of left field.) This was the great conversation when they found out D.J. was sneaking around to go to church; he says he went because he had questions about "god and stuff," and Roseanne tells him he should have come to them, since there's no one better to answer his questions: D.J.: Okay. What religion are we? Roseanne: I have no idea. Dan? Dan: Well, my family is Pentecostal on my mom's side and Baptist on my dad's. Your Mom's mom is Lutheran and her dad was Jewish. D.J.: So what do we believe? Roseanne: Well, we believe in, uh, being good. So, basically, we're Good People. Dan: Yeah, but we're not practicing.

No, I don't watch The Simpsons, but it would annoy me in anyone. We'll see how this plays out, but the odds of it unfolding in a way that doesn't sour me on Geena are pretty low. Which will be a bit of a bummer, since the girl D.J. wouldn't stage kiss because she's black winding up the woman he married tickles me. The episode when D.J. started getting interested in religion contained some hilarious lines (that entire "what religion are we ... we're good people/yeah, but not practicing" conversation is gold), so Dan wanting no part of this shit will probably be funny yet again, at least.

And then be buried by a robot.

This episode is going to determine how I feel about Gina - I liked her "Yes, I could have" snark to D.J. when he said she could have warned him the couch was wet, but she can miss me with her "pick up a Bible/you're all going to hell" talk. So how she handles this church thing will be a big one -- is it the former, where she wants her daughter to come to church with her when she's home, Mary asks others to come with her and they agree, or is it the latter description, where Geena is demanding people who don't want to go attend anyway?

They might have chosen it precisely because of the disconnect between what "Granny" brings to mind and Roseanne's life when she became a grandma - young, still working, etc. Or she could have done a "Granny" imitation at some point (I'm thinking of the several imitations Dan and Roseanne had done to embarrass the kids back in the day) and it stuck. (Or she just liked it, but - especially in this family - it's possible it was rooted in humor.)

If it's Rodney Peete (former NFL quarterback) and Holly Robinson-Peete (actor), yes, they have been married for a long time.

Y'all are generous, because I'm the opposite; I think they clearly wanted St. Petersburg, but the wording allows one to make an argument for Petrograd (the clue in whole seeks the city that exists, but the beginning phrase about when "this city" was founded gives rise to the possibility of accepting Petrograd). Leningrad, though, I don't see how you succeed in making a case for that one.

Prairie Rose Clayton. Poor dear.

The video clues often eat up time, as do TS and clues where one or two contestants ring in with a wrong answer before someone gets it right. Add up any combination of those - or Alex's inane after-answer babble - and time can be up before all the clues are revealed.

Probably not, unless he reconciled with them. But presumably Mary has a relationship with her other set of grandparents. So maybe Harris and Mark originally called Roseanne and Dan Granny and Grandpa, and then when Mary came along and started calling them Granny Rose and Grandpa Dan to distinguish them from her other grandparents, the other grandkids followed suit. Or maybe when Harris was learning to talk, Darlene asked Dan and Roseanne what they wanted her to call them and Granny Rose and Grandpa Dan were the picks from the beginning. To Roseanne and Jackie, their grandmother was Nana Mary, but to Becky, Darlene, and D.J., their grandmother was Grandma (Bev, anyway; I don't remember what they called Dan's mom). And their grandfathers were both Grandpa. So there's no strict family tradition; it's probably whatever the grandparent or the grandparent/grandkid combo comes up with for themselves. @BeachDays, I was wondering about Bev/the great-grandkids, too, but I don't think we ever heard them address her directly. I think Darlene referred to her as "Grandma Bev" with respect to Harris in this episode, though, so that may be who she is to them.

Grandpa Dan.

If Geena is going to be around (they're using the actor in a lot of promotion, so I suspect she will), then it could be her; she got pregnant while home on bereavement leave in episode one, and thus can't remain on her overseas assignment. They threw in the "my boyfriend" line for Becky, so it could still be her (she was my original guess), but I'm so hoping it's not her or Darlene that now I'm keeping my fingers crossed it's Geena. (I wish they'd skip the whole thing, but that ship has sailed.)

Unless something has changed in recent times, they put uncovered clues back in the hopper for potential future use (whether that be in a category that's basically the same, one with a different focus but where the clue still fits, or, often, a potpourri category). But, apparently (according to an interview with one of the writers or producers), between uncovered clues and the extra clues they create for each category that don't wind up on the board, they have a lot of never-used clues.

This just ended on TV right now, so of course I had to watch part of it yet again, and: Forget the damn ball (no, it wasn't on purpose), my longstanding question has always been why the hell present-day Marla gives Mr. Capadino (Jon Lovitz's character) a kiss on the cheek and calls him "honey" when they're looking at the tryout day picture and she says, "That's the day you changed my life." He was a total jerk. I find it hard to believe he reformed somewhere along the way and they got back in touch so that she instantly recognizes him and is friendly with him. It also always strikes me that the actor playing present-day Marla is mixed in among the real-life players watching the game.

No, they were owned by the same Sutter and both along the American River, but they're about 50 miles apart.

Okay, because we’re all anonymous here, I will admit that I’d managed to go my entire life until tonight without knowing what a capella means. Now, I knew it means singing without instrumental accompaniment, but I didn’t know it means “in the manner of the chapel” in Italian. So I was stumped by that one just like the contestants. I did know babushka in that category, though. I hate war history categories, and the WWI category wasn’t any exception to my bad record, although I could guess barbed wire and Scotland easily. I was surprised that DD was missed; it seemed obvious it was about people who wear some sort of skirt, and skirts + UK = Scotland (kilt). I don’t think any of the TS surprised me tonight, though. I knew most of them (including all the Band Books ones), but I can’t say I’m sitting here shocked by any of them going unanswered. Including Glenda Jackson, even with a picture, or Java, even with a map. FJ wasn’t an instaget, but I didn’t find it "tough" as Alex described it; multiple name changes plus northernmost got me there fairly easily. And, sorry to those who hopped in the wayback machine, but I think the verbiage calls for the current name (“The northernmost city with a population over 5 million, it was founded in 1703 and its name was changed 3 times in the 20th century”). I also think if they'd been prepared to accept any of the previous names, Alex would have rattled them off: "Yes, St. Petersberg. Or, Petrograd or Leningrad."

And that overdoses can happen accidentally, not only recklessly, by taking just a little too much; Roseanne didn't swallow a bottle full of pills over the course of a day, she took pills, went to bed, and with her other health problems it was enough to stop her breathing and she died in her sleep.

That has been driving me crazy all day, too, @2727.

Mary Steenburgen wasn't made up like Mary Steenburgen walking the red carpet or as another, more glamorous character -- she was made up to look like a small town woman who is drinking herself to sleep because she's dealing with profound guilt, harassment, and constant questioning. That's not how the actor looks (not that there's anything wrong with that), that's how this character looks under these circumstances.

As a kid, I didn't care for greens, but it turned out that was because they were cooked to death. Once I had them prepared differently, much more lightly cooked, I discovered I love them. (It makes sense - I don't generally like vegetables to be cooked beyond al dente, but it seemed like a different rule applied to greens and everyone cooked the ever-loving hell out of them.) I got my mom to start making them my preferred way half the time, and then that's how I prepared them once I started cooking. I don't know why so many people insist on doing that when someone says they don't like a particular type of food. "Have you ever tried them prepared X way?" is a valid and potentially helpful line of inquiry, but declaring, "You'll like them this way" is ridiculous. There are things we simply do not like, no matter how they are prepared.