Bastet

Yeah, I've pretty well reached the point where if it's about an American looking for a home abroad, I change the channel unless they're house hunting in a city I know moderately well (in which case I like seeing if I recognize any of the neighborhoods ... and in the case of an Edinburgh episode, I actually recognized one of the homes because it was a new, rather out-of-place building when I was there).

I don't like a stainless steel finish on appliances, but I do like granite or similar countertops - though not of the ubiquitous patterns used in so much new construction. It's not the personal preference that bugs me, but the repetition; I don't like carpet, either, but I have come to enjoy when a HH is looking for it just because it's a variation from the usual script. And the combination of dark wood cabinets with long-handled brushed nickle hardware, stainless steel appliances and uba tuba granite countertops will have HHs ten years from now walking in and declaring, "Ugh, this kitchen is so dated; we'll have to gut it."

I miss Mystery Diagnosis and Dr G: Medical Examiner something fierce since Discovery Health Channel went away (I don't get Discovery Fit & Health). Monsters Inside Me always makes me wonder, well, how many of those things are inside me since I do just about everything that show says you're not supposed to do (I can't calculate the percentage of my childhood spent in lakes). Oh, well; death is preferable to over-cooked beef. Trauma: Life in the ER is my favorite, as it feels the most like a the bare-bones documentary I have a soft spot for. Re-enactments drive me crazy more often than not, so I enjoy seeing things as they happen.

To this day, whenever I hear that song, I immediately break out into a face-splitting grin remembering that scene. I also cannot hear "Be My Baby" without seeing Moonlighting's Maddie and David rolling around on the floor. Some songs, no matter how much I liked them before, become permanently linked with a scene in my mind.

I don't much care for Chris or Geoffrey, and I cannot stand Scott. The rest of the judges I tend to enjoy, especially Amanda and Alex. It took me a long time to warm up to Maneet for some reason, though.

I like that line, and when Dorothy says, "If she dies, I'll be an orphan" when they think Sophia is having a heart attack. Losing parents may be the natural way of things, especially at their age, but it's also one of the most profound losses in life. In both those scenes, the show clearly illustrated that.

The watermelon, arugula and feta salad is a staple in my house for the entirety of watermelon season each year. So simple, but so delicious! Every summer, there is someone who says essentially, "I like all the ingredients, but wasn't sure about the combination - wow, was I wrong." So it's also a great party dish.

Over 25 years since publication of its second edition, Molly Haskell's From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies still rings in my head as I watch films.

I've read it was because they didn't want to go down the trite path of having a character get pregnant upon losing her virginity. But that's about the last cliché they avoided in Andrea's pregnancy storyline.

I think this is one of the last seasons I watched, and it's not a favorite. But the night of the double arrest is one of the funniest episodes ever, thanks largely to the illegible "Free Brad" sign.

They probably just wanted to take the time to cover that travesty of justice the best way possible rather than weaving it in to what they already had. I'm figuring it will be a big story on tonight's episode, and I'm hoping TDS can do what it so often does: give me a few shining minutes to laugh about something that absolutely turns my stomach.

I thought of making up a drinking game revolving around Alex's patronizing sexism, but in some games that would leave me drunk by Final Jeopardy.

My bedroom pet peeve is "It's too small." Everything I do in the bedroom revolves around the bed, so if there's room for that, nightstands and a dresser without feeling cramped, it's big enough for me and I'd far rather the remaining square footage go to the living room or kitchen. But a lot of those HHs need room for a bedroom furniture set-up, some sort of reading/eating/TV viewing nook, and enough empty floor space in between to host a square dance.

Oh, yes. And he was going to be working from home, so his "commute" would be a walk down the hall wherever they lived. When she balked about all the time she'd spend in traffic, he ever-so-graciously agreed to "help" with the household chores that should have been equally his to begin with. That was a stupid storyline that did neither one of them any favors (especially with the beginning set-up that presented him as essentially tagging along rather than actually being invited to move across the globe with her).

Trophy Wife and Slave Sister in Aruba: The couple "needed" thousands of square feet because their kids had too many toys Mickey Mouse Law School Lady: The only "X months later" reveal I have watched with my mouth hanging open. I had no idea so many Mickey Mouse themed items existed in this world, let alone that they'd ever be found in one private home. (As an aside, it took me until the end of the episode to realize her dog Walter had been named after Walt Disney.) The parents of Preston Barrington III: They really thought they were hot shit, and then we see their cupboards stocked with plastic cups and the stately library ruined by his frat house decor The Christmas Tree Family: The parents were obsessed with the whole family being able to be in one room at the same time, including much paranoia over the kids sneaking out, and he was also obsessed with where their Christmas tree would go in each house they toured The Turtle Lady: She took her turtles on the road with her, and needed a room for them in the house

Bobbo crawling over the back of the couch was so perfectly creepy that when a friend and I were at a concert shortly thereafter and saw a man who looked a lot like that actor, we were freaked out.

Everyone in my family still likes to say "The owls are not what they seem" at perfectly random moments.

I love this season, despite missing some things about the season one dynamic. I like the movie theatre opening credits, especially the empty chairs at the end. And I like so many episodes from this season. Red Holt Steele is one of my all-time favorites, and in this season we meet people like the Pipers and Major Descoine. Unfortunately, we also meet Anna, which would have worked had she not been played by the same women who played Felicia. Like most of its contemporaries, this show re-used actors, and particularly actors who were connected to the stars or producers, but having Cassandra Harris play Double-Crossing Woman From Steele's Past #2 when she has already played Double-Crossing Woman From Steele's Past #3 was silly. Which is a shame, because the script (by my favorite of the show's writers, Susan Baskin) is a good one.

The thread to talk about "The Boss" who isn't really the boss. "Mr. Steele, you're not Mr. Steele." Sometimes he had me gritting my teeth alongside Laura when he'd enjoy taking credit for her work far too much, and I wish it wasn't so hard for him to be honest with her, but I just love the guy.

I'm bringing the "Harry" discussion over here. I haven't made myself watch the finale in quite some time, but I don't believe we learned his real name. Harry is what Daniel called him, yes, but because that's what Mr. Steele happened to be calling himself at the time they met. If I recall correctly, Steele turns around to find out Daniel has died just after he asks what his real name is. So he never finds out, nor do we. Which I like, on several levels. Fundamentally, I like unfinished endings, and we'd already learned his parentage - and FINALLY got Steele and Laura into the bedroom - so I like this one thing not being wrapped up. Beyond that, no name would have been good enough.

Since we're not supposed to talk about the show in this thread, help me come up with clever titles for some more season and character threads.

"I know what a reservation is." "I don't think you do." The way Jerry delivers that line is so perfect, any time I have the chance to say the same thing I do, imitating his inflection.

I remember seeing that Kindle ad quite a few times, but that was a while ago; I hadn't thought about its absence from the airwaves, but I wonder if it was yanked due to complaints. I always liked it, not just for the casual inclusion of a gay marriage, but for the woman. She doesn't assume he's hitting on her and either flip out or get snotty; she maintains the same natural tone and works her husband into the conversation just in case he is hitting on her. Well played.

Sadly, I think the problematic nature of drawing out "Will they or won't they?" too long is also a legacy. Call it the Remington Steele Curse, I suppose. The season one finale closes with them on their way home to consummate the relationship (following their conversation in the bank about waiting for the right time risking something happening to one of them before that time ever came), but season two opens with them not having had sex. There are explicit references throughout the series about them not yet having made it to the bedroom, and I think there is such conversation even during the scenes after their "marriage" when they are desperately trying to find time and space alone. On the DVD features, at least one of the writers freely admits they'd end episodes with the implication of sex, but then continue writing future episodes as if they're not sleeping together. It's shrugged off as "That's television," and to an extent it is -- it's not real-life believable for them not to be having sex by the second season, but it is TV believable ... up until the third season, maybe. You just can't ask audiences to suspend disbelief for for years. Once they broke their Cannes pact ("strictly business," which they never could stick to because they're friends at the very least by that point), they should have broken it all the way.

Let's not already get moderated for talking about the show in the non-show thread. Anyone who comes up with a clever thread title for Krycek, Skinner, seasons, etc. - start 'em up. I'm coming up creatively dry this early in the morning. Speaking of thread titles, when the show forum request was converted into this Small Talk thread, it was noted that we could ask for a title change if we collectively wanted. Do we want to stick with this or change it to something else? If something else, do we want to poach the "Hangin' With the Action Figures" title from the Meet Market, call it "The FBI's Most Unwanted" or "Down in the Basement" or ... ?