Bastet

I am not bothered in the slightest by a former member of a police department wearing a t-shirt that says police. Had she shown up in uniform, then I'd give her the side eye. I still wear a jacket emblazoned with the logo of a company I left nearly 20 years ago, t-shirts and sweatshirts bearing the name of my alma maters, etc. I also wear clothing with insignia from teams on which I have never played. I was quite annoyed by one of the judges (Zakarian?) following up Ted's recounting of Diana's accomplishments and fortitude by saying Laila Ali is also a force to be reckoned with because she's Muhammad Ali's daughter. She has her own record of accomplishment, jackass. I've still only caught bits and pieces of this, but I did see the judges' recap of the three courses, and from that Diana's win seems perfectly reasonable to me. At any rate, I'm glad it's over and we can return to "normal" episodes.

He works for an ad agency.

I think this has potential, although it will be a balancing act to see how many stereotypes are parodied versus how many are perpetuated. I like that Andre's narrow definition of what it is to be black was both coming from a loving place and called out as ridiculous, so I'm hopeful. And it was funnier and less sexist than I expected it to be based on the clips I'd seen, so that was refreshing. I enjoyed Tracee Ellis Ross and Laurence Fishburne a lot. The two older kids felt like fairly realistic kids, but the young ones felt very much like TV kids. But it's a pilot, so that could very well smooth out.

Having seen numerous people wear t-shirts emblazoned with the logo of organizations of which they never were a member, let alone organizations to which they used to belong, I didn't give a moment's thought to the "Police" shirt. I only saw bits and bieces, so it's hard to weigh in, but my viewing snippets added up to the final two we saw.

Having lived through this same nonsense, I love that commercial.

While eating lunch today, I caught a glimpse of the episode in which Ina makes mussels with breadcrumbs mixed with garlic, basil, lemon juice, pine nuts and sundried tomatoes. Which reminded me ... I have an iffy relationship with sundried tomatoes, as I can love them in one dish and hate them in another, and I hated them in this one. I can eat mussels just about any which way, but this was unappetizing -- the sundried tomatoes were overpowering, even the second time around when I halved them. The third time, I left them out entirely, and finally it was a delicious way of enjoying mussels. The breadcrumb mixture really does get in to every mussel, and it provides a nice flavor complement without being overwhelming. I still prefer a more simple presentation, but this is a nice change of pace.

I loathe Jimmy. Let's review: He causes an accident because he can't refrain from running into the car in front of him even in the middle of nowhere. His mother teleports herself to that corner of Bumfuck, USA, and proceeds to file a claim like a rational human being, unlike Jimmy who continues to stand around complaining. When her polyester-clad self volunteers to sit on hold through the six callers ahead of them, instead of her son's gratitude, Jimmy's mom instead endures the continued discouragement of Jimmy Junior's love for her and the snappish response, "You're not helping." Really, Jimmy? I don't think you understand what helping means, because your mother is the only one in this scenario doing so. And I could have liked you, since "I have blah blah insurance, so person come help" is my favorite of the made-up jingles non-State Farm customers use in their attempts to summon a helpful agent. I go so far as to sing it along with you. But then you keep talking, and all I can do is hope your mother has left her entire estate to your son, in a trust that doesn't allow you to manage a penny.

The triple stumpers in the category about rock stars' art work were rather surprising to me - especially Paul McCartney and Grace Slick - and the moment in which I thought Bill Moyers was going to be a TS (in another category) was depressing. But on the whole it was a good game, and there's something about the middle contestant I quite liked. I came up with FJ, but at the last second; I don't think there is any way I'd have done so - let alone written it down - under game conditions.

No, those are two different actors. I haven't seen the State Farm actor in anything else, but that one with the awful voice seemed to be everywhere for a while.

It's the way she says, "Oh, I'm in this now." And the way she says she changed her mind, and David can come live with them. When Roseanne connected to the material, her lack of acting training didn't matter -- she nailed it.

I think Dean Stockwell gives the film's best performance, which is sort of a backhanded compliment; I just don't think the cast works very well in this one. Gregory Peck I normally like, and he's not bad in this, but he's not particularly compelling, either. Dorothy McGuire I'm almost always "meh" about, and this is no exception. Celeste Holm is better, and has the better character, so seeing Peck go off with McGuire instead is a bit disappointing. I don't even much like Anne Revere's performance in this one. Maybe I want the film to be more than it is, but I find it a letdown.

TV can be educational: I learned about leaf peeping from The West Wing.

My favorite part is "Losing feeling in my toes" as Manning sits in the ice bath.

Brenda -- I think the gloves made the outfit, plus the dress looked better with Brenda's coloring than Kelly's.

He never did a thing for me in the '80s and '90s, but when I tuned back in for the final episodes, I was stunned by how attractive he'd become.

I only saw the Anderson Cooper one, but I'm not surprised to hear it was a category-wide problem; the "identify this highlighted country" form of clue has been rampant in recent years.

Let me get this straight: Even though the name of Anderson Cooper's ancestor was basically Dutch Van den Dutch, they took the additional step of highlighting The Netherlands on the map?

I just got caught up on the episodes from this week, and I liked the mocking tone of the Michael Che sendoff, especially when Jason called him Wyatt. Except I was enjoying the casual racism bit and wanted it to continue. The "Threatflix" segment on the ISIS video was rather ho-hum, but I did like Jon's comment, "You can always get a job creating graphics for CNN." I loved the NFL segment, from the alliterative descriptions of the players to the fucked-up nature of needing an "in-house special victims unit" to the "beer pressure" joke I saw coming a mile away yet still laughed at when it got here to the takedown of Hannity's special brand of spiteful ignorance to the proposed Madden cover of Michael Sam kissing his boyfriend. The only thing better this week was the segment on Lindsay Graham's reputation for even-keeled understatement. That could be a weekly bit and I'd never get sick of it.

I'm in love with the segment on the Science, Space and Technology committee hearing. The willful ignorance has reached a point where all I can do in response is sputter, "Are you fucking kidding me?" and "I don't even know what to do with that," so to see Jon go off with the same exact words is ridiculously comforting. I will find a way to work "pushing a million pounds of idiot up a mountain" into my vernacular.

I like Harlow in her atypical role in Wife vs. Secretary; with her typical roles, a little goes a long way for me -- the foursome in Libeled Lady makes for the perfect amount of screen time. But Dinner at Eight is thoroughly entertaining. I think that's the Harlow litmus test; if you don't enjoy her in that, you'll just never like her. (Plus, you get Marie Dressler as a bonus.)

Given my viewing habits, there are likely many such episodes I haven't seen. But the ones I have, I almost always enjoy. It's one of those rare "Oh, here we go again ... Hey, cool, here we go again!" tropes.

I think it helps to understand the overriding rule here is "Don't be a dick," rather than there being a series of specific rules; you may screw something up, but unless you're trying to be rude, it's easy to correct. When deciding if a thread exists for a thought you'd like to express, go by the title - ignoring what it may have meant at TWoP - and the thread's introductory post and either post in the most-appropriate one of the existing threads or create a new one, understanding that if you create a thread for something best contained within an existing thread/forum you'll simply be directed to that spot.

I'm always bemused by the effusive praise for Connie Britton. I've only seen her in Spin City and The West Wing, so maybe she up and turned spectacular in the years since, but in both those shows I found her unremarkable.

I'd be amazed if you only saw her in one other film; she worked a lot from the '30s through the '60s. In her younger days, she was often the best friend. (And, of course, she later delighted as Verbena in The Parent Trap.)

The imaginary third syllable that annoys me most is realtor being pronounced real-a-tor. It's one of the reasons I had to cut back on my house hunting shows.