Bastet

Yes, he envisioned the new character as a hot, young thing - so the believing Steele to truly be the boss and fawning over him would really bug Laura - (and how generic and stereotypical does that scenario sound?!), so when Doris Roberts initially expressed interest in reading for the role, Gleason said she's a good actor, but not right for it. She persisted, he gave in, and after the reading, he hired her and re-tooled the character.

Congratulations on the kitchen, and being able to cook again! I love hardwood floors and don't much care for carpet, but I don't understand people giving you a hard time over it. Bottom line: they're your floors. But, beyond that, the hardwood you covered up is new, and all you did was put carpet over it; the tack strips don't ruin the floor, so you or anyone else can always pull up the carpet later and have hardwood again without needing to do much repair. There's no reason for anyone to have a reaction to that.

If the ball drop was intended by the writers/director to be deliberate, it's odd that there's no follow-up or fallout to that choice in the film. It would be this awful action by the main character, that no one else knows about (because if they knew, they'd say something) -- Jimmy, her teammates, Kit, even Dottie herself would have major feelings about it. It would have been another reason for her to walk away from the game and to be reluctant to attend the Hall of Fame ceremony, but it's never cited as a reason for either of those things. Jimmy would be disappointed in her as a player, and personally as well. Her teammates would be devastated and angry. Kit would (and this would be the only bright spot for me) find out she still can't beat her sister when they both play their best; Dottie is just better, and the only way Kit wins is if Dottie lets her. But none of that happens. So, for me, it's not just that Dottie would SUCK to have dropped it on purpose, it's that it's too huge a development to be treated so casually in the film. Maybe if I track down the commentary, or at least see a direct quote, of what Marshall reportedly said (that it was on purpose, and then apparently said at other times it's ambiguous and you can take it either way), I'll have to come to terms with the director intending it one way and me perceiving it another, but for now I'm not convinced.

They were horrible! Someone (Mark, I think) made one half-hearted admonition (a "settle down" type thing), but all in all it was a scene that made me profoundly sad to watch -- no, there was no point; it was totally acceptable, to the characters and to the writers, for everyone to mock her weight right in front of her, as if she was something less than a human being deserving of the most basic level of respect. Nobody reflected on their actions, nobody learned a lesson, we certainly didn't see the impact it had on the patient to be scared and vulnerable and be greeted with ridicule rather than compassion by those she had to rely on to help her; it was just background "comedy."

I love the bittersweet smile Stillwell forces when someone asks to take his picture. He's glad to be there, honoring the greatest time in his mom's life, but he misses her, so it also hurts to be surrounded by all these happy, healthy former teammates of hers.

Over the course of the Acapulco episode, we see Mildred fall in love with the excitement of Steele and Laura's work, after her humdrum time at the IRS, which I think accounts for the general shift in her personality -- she no longer has to play the role of humorless auditor, so she doesn't. But her adulation of "the boss" was rather trying, yes. It would definitely have been nice if she'd hero-worshipped the woman who was forging a life she couldn't have dreamed of instead of fawning over the charmer. And when they sat her down to explain that while Steele is the boss, Laura is in charge, that should have been something she recognized well -- a woman having the ideas and doing the bulk of work, and a man getting the accolades for it. But at least she wanted to have "gal to gal" bonding moments with Laura, and she did - slowly, and with some regressions along the way - come to see and accept what was really going on.

Between Mark's final moments with his dad and Benton wrapping Carter up in a hug and kissing his head, I spent some time crying today. I'm bummed they won't be continuing past season six, because I was hoping seeing the later episodes again would help me figure out when I quit watching; reading episode summaries isn't doing it for me. And I wanted to see the series finale; I can't believe that I wouldn't have tuned back in for that, since I had watched the show for many years before drifting away, but not only did a detailed summary not ring any bells, I had no recollection of half the cast, so I guess I didn't. Maybe I was on vacation.

Mark losing both parents fairly close together is sad (I know more time has passed than it seems, given this 15 episodes per week schedule, but it's still a short frame of time to lose both your parents). But if his mom hadn't died, he'd have never developed this relationship with his dad -- his dad would have gotten sick in San Diego, his mom would have taken care of him, and Mark would have made sure the medical care was appropriate, called to check on his mom, maybe visited a couple of times, and then his dad would have died with them never having progressed beyond the distant, strained relationship they'd had to actually get to know each other and talk to each other about things beyond the weather and projects around the house.

I think for most people, once they reach adulthood, age isn't a huge factor in friendships. Via work, college/vocational school, social activities, and other shared interests, don't most adults form bonds with people based more on those connections than age? I think high school was the last time all my friends were the same age as me, and I believe my life wouldn't be as rich had I only ever associated with people in my age cohort. Being of similar age is a factor in who one connects with, of course, but that's largely about being statistically more likely to be at the same stage in life than having a similar number of candles on a birthday cake. So it stands to reason having DS would similarly bridge the age gap. Rachel is noticeably older in some ways, but in a lot of ways it's irrelevant. As is true for anyone, but I imagine DS would be a significant bond.

Two different things -- the immersion blender is what you have (I love mine, too!), and the immersion circulator is what you use to control the water temperature for sous vide cooking.

"We're all fingers over here." I love Becky's astounded, "Wait, you weren't mad when you thought I did do it, but now you're mad that I didn't?" Great characterization for both Becky and Roseanne. Becky the goody two-shoes getting some street cred at school without getting in any real trouble at home (all she had to do was help Dan with the car, which was really just keeping him company), so going with the lie. Roseanne not getting worked up over her teenager daughter engaging in some silly ritual, but having quite a problem with having to take time off work to be treated like a bad mother by the principal.

I'll have to see if I can rent that version to hear exactly what she said (mine has no commentary). Here's all that's said of it on that linked forum: If her intention at the time of filming/editing was, indeed, for Dottie to have dropped it on purpose, this movie would plummet down my list; that would make Dottie as crappy a character as Kit. To screw over her teammates and coach - again, and worse (she'd already left them in the lurch by leaving right before the championship series, then she swoops in to reclaim her position - and deliberately fails at it) - because her sister can't handle reality? "You wanted it more" meaning, "So I gave it to you"? Well, I guess that would be the only saving grace if that's how it went down -- that would mean Kit still didn't beat her sister; just like the scout only took her because Dottie insisted, she only won because Dottie let her. Let Dottie drop that into conversation the next time Kit is blaming Dottie for her own inadequacies.

If she did, I'd love a link to it (even though it would pretty well ruin the movie for me); as far as I've ever been able to find, Marshall, Davis, Ganz, Mandel, etc. have never said.

They had some heavy hitters (prestige and/or longevity in the industry) as characters' moms on this show -- Parfitt as Corday's, but also Mary McDonnell as Carter's, Sally Field as Abby's, Beah Richards as Peter's, Piper Laurie as Doug's, Bonnie Bartlett as Mark's ... undoubtedly more I'm forgetting.

Yes! Even taking time at each commercial break to note what I'd loved about the segment before, I still missed things -- that's how pitch perfect it was. Lydia as the most unbridled source of emotion. Kovac, the newcomer who's survived a war zone, as the one best able to focus. There isn't anything about this episode I don't like at best or, more often, love, and that doesn't often happen. I remember (during original viewing), as things got going in the two trauma rooms, I figured they were going to kill Lucy off. It was so intense, and her injuries so widespread and severe - I figured Carter would be safe, but that they were going to double (triple?) down on killing off Gant by having Lucy succumb to her injuries. But that sense of the conclusion to come took nothing away from watching things play out, and, in fact, knowing how it all went down, doesn't take much away from it all these years later, either. That's cool. Even if she's just happy to get the residuals, she didn't have to say anything - she'd get paid regardless. For her to be on top of the scheduling and promote it indicates more than that, and that's nice to see.

No, Nero was outside, and not only survived the blast, but was found - she left him to stand guard in the loft, heh, and he was sitting on the piano when she came home and found it. Unfortunately, subsequent writers forgot he existed and we never saw him again.

And then he starts going on about how he's going to create jobs by offering tax break incentives so businesses will come to Lanford. "Union jobs?" [No.] So, you're going to let companies come here and offer scab wages, while we pay the taxes to make up for their share?" "Is your husband home?" Heh; I love that scene. And, yeah, there isn't a storyline of the real Becky's that I don't find both realistic and well done. By far, one of my favorite TV teens. I liked her as a young girl in the first couple of seasons, too - embarrassed by her parents, crushing on boys, hanging with her friends at the mall, wanting to do well in school, etc.

Megan: I love you Me: The hell? You've been on two dates. Kris, a second later: Did you just say, "I love you"? You're just getting ready for your third date! "So, I'll start becoming co-dependent on the fish instead of you? Okay." Kris was making me laugh a fair bit. (Everyone trying to find her a man was not; jeez, people.) I know it's painfully obvious where Kris went too far building Megan up and not far enough helping her navigate reality, but I don't dislike her. Everyone else on this show had a partner in raising their child, and most if not all were older; she was young and doing it on her own. Cristina asking if she can take pictures of her parents with her to the apartment was sweet. Steven comparing Megan to his mom (the two women who can make him feel calm), not so much. Steven realizing Megan is clingy as all hell was kind of funny, and I like the way his dad handled their conversation - it must be such a hard balance to try to draw out his thoughts rather than just saying what's up. The conversation in the furniture store between Cristina and her parents was the most interesting part of the episode to me. No father wants to hear about what his daughter and her fiancé will be doing in her bed, so there's an aspect to which that conversation has nothing to do with her DS. But, there are other aspects to which it does (like the fact she talked about cuddling as if that's all that goes on in bed). I keep saying that the issues surrounding sex and consent are among the most interesting to me, because that's one of the times when the fact they are adults in age and other ways, but are still effectively children in other ways, seems to make things trickiest for their parents.

Carter talking to Lucy's mom is like Peter talking to Dennis Gant's dad.

I cannot stand Kit. She's an overgrown baby, who needs to be told to grow the hell up, not coddled. Boo hoo, her sister is prettier than she is, and a better player than she is. Welcome to life, Buttercup. Like Dottie said, she got her on the train, but Kit got herself in the league -- she was good enough to make the team, and she loved playing. So play the game, and become the best player you can be. Don't go cry in the damn dugout in the middle of the championship because someone got a hit off you. I initially thought Dottie purposely dropped the ball, and was enraged -- screw over your whole team for that whiny brat, rather than making up for the fact you'd initially left them in the lurch? But once I watched it again, I decided she just legitimately couldn't hold on. She's competitive (in some of the deleted scenes/original script, it's clear she's in fact rather ruthless), she's finally admitted to herself how much she loves the game -- I just can't see her throwing away the championship. I still don't understand the decision to have the Peaches lose, though. We spend the whole film with them, and then one character splinters off to Racine, and that one character (who is not the main character) and a bunch of people we don't know wins the World Series? If I didn't hate Kit so much, maybe I'd like the twist on the typical ending. Especially since the larger point was about the league as a whole, anyway.

This episode provides for some of the best acting in the whole series; the characters' reactions are perfectly written, and perfectly performed. Especially: Kerry - Her horror upon finding them, that she has to swallow back until they get them transferred from ER to OR so she can go outside and puke. Her anger at having walked into a party, and no one knowing what was going on. Her trembling when trying to intubate, and her brief moment of "this isn't how I wanted it to happen" hesitation when she gets to use her beloved sternal saw. Handing the killer patient off to Mark. Her face upon getting the call about Lucy's fate. Being the one to cover her up. Peter - Tearing down the stairs, around corners, into the trauma room and demanding "Is he conscious?!" Wanting nothing to do with being called into the other trauma room, until he hears, "She needs to trach Lucy." Being torn between the two rooms. Needing to be calmed down by Anspaugh to save the kidney. Wanting nothing to do with the other OR patient. Elizabeth - Her face when she got the page. Her frustration at needing to fumble her ID out of her purse in order to get through security. Having to thin Lucy's blood right after major surgery, in order to deal with the PE. (I love the foreshadowing heading into the elevator up to the OR, that Mark tells Malucci not to squeeze the bag so far, because they don't want an embolus.) "We wired the damn breastbone together." Staring off into the distance at home. Romano - Going from cocky, breezy, "We put too much time and energy into your training to lose you now" to all seriousness when he realizes she's thrown another clot, and then throwing a fit and trying to get Elizabeth to shock her again when it's time to call it. Closing her chest himself after she's dead. Carter - Turning his head after coming to in Trauma and seeing Lucy through the doors in the other trauma room. "I'm glad it's you" to Peter in the OR. "Lucy's dead, isn't she?" when Peter tries not to answer his questions in Recovery. Every conflicting feeling he's ever had about her is written on Noah Wyle's face. Lucy - Listening to the recitation of everything that happened to her, and wanting the trach plugged so she can whisper, "Thank you" to Elizabeth. Mouthing "PE?" when she realizes what's happening, and not wanting the versed, so she remains aware of what's going on. The killer patient's wife - Realizing he really is mentally ill, and really did stab two people. Everyone at Doc Magoo's, sharing stories about Carter and Lucy, and then getting the news. Mark having to keep the ER running - made harder by the fact they're down a doctor and a med student.

I, too, find it interesting that Becky's bratty behavior is often noted, but Darlene - who I think (d)evolved from typical teenage brat to complete asshole once she moved to Chicago - doesn't generate the same type of commentary. Don't get me wrong, I love both characters - even though they're, like everyone, quite unlikable at times - the first four/five seasons, I just think audience reaction is interesting. As fairly recently discussed in the Episodes thread, the way Becky was treated, to an extent, as the third adult in the house (something never foisted on Darlene, even when she'd gotten a bit older and Becky was gone), was well done and an interesting aspect of her character. I always found the push-pull of Becky's over-achieving, responsibility-bound characteristics versus her self-centered impulses and yearnings to rebel great to watch. This isn't the only series to explore that aspect of teenage life, but I don't think I've ever seen it done as consistently well as with Becky Conner. Becky telling both Roseanne and Darlene off in that episode where she writes Darlene's paper for her and gets shit on for it are two of my favorite Becky moments of all time. And I love that they both hear her.

Even though Michael Fishman was pretty awkward as an actor in the show's later years, I love that season nine episode where D.J. and Heather don't have sex. She asks him if he's disappointed, and he says no, truthfully, he's relieved. It had a very natural feel to it, and a nice exploration of that not a kid, but not yet an adult age. Of course, I also like the humor earlier in the episode, when he pages Mark at the wrestling match, looking for a condom.

Waiting until tomorrow won't be as bad as waiting a week the first time around, but damn, do I want to be watching All in the Family right now. Even knowing what was coming this time, I still let out a little gasp when the patient became visible behind Carter. That shot of Lucy, when Carter discovers her, is one of the few things that has remained clear in my memories all this time. And I remember so many details from the next episode; I can't wait to see it again, on a huge TV this time. One of the gazillion things I love about it is Romano's reaction to Lucy's death. I had forgotten, until last week, that they'd worked together with that heart transplant patient, and he respected her tenacity.

Yes, but they were using condoms ("for diseases and stuff"). She decided to go on the pill as extra protection against pregnancy. I like the way the show handled both girls deciding to have sex. They made responsible decisions of complete free will -- they had boyfriends who wanted them to and parents who wanted them not to, but neither side pushed, respecting it as their choice to make. And no one made the huge fuss out of it so many TV teen age girls (and their parents) do. It was refreshing.