CoderLady

I was delighted to notice that the song playing in the background during Buck and Tommy's dinner date was "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered".

On the other hand, I'm glad the show isn't going to divert too much time and focus away from rescues and crime investigations, to do angsty rebellious teenager drama. These storylines tend to be pretty predictable, and for me it's always a letdown when a show that I've been enjoying for its unique worldview starts doing the same damn things other nighttime dramas do.

I hope not. We were just getting started. They drop a bunch of newly edited videos on their YouTube channel like Top 5 lists and full episodes just before resuming the TV season. I'm watching for that since there have been no announcements.

That was excellent and completely unexpected.

They're back, and they're started off excellently. It's a tournament that spotlights the schools across the country that teach metalworking, some of which are over a century old and have rich histories in their communities. Each of the four judges (J, Dave B, Ben & Doug) chooses a school to sponsor then he and Grady go on site for the qualifying competition. Three students forge a complete object in a day and after testing, one gets eliminated. The remaining two go home and build awesome weapons which are judged at the Forged in Fire forge by the sponsoring judge, the winner advancing in the tournament. The winner gets a cash prize as usual, but the school is also given $10k to spend along with this valuable exposure. This being the History Channel, there's perspective on the role of metalworking in these communities. From each school, a driving force member is participating throughout the competition providing observations and opinions and who stands with the two final contestants as a silent competitor. I like that they're making it easier on the contestants by meeting them locally instead of making them haul ass across the country for the initial competition, just for the final. It's odd seeing only one of the judges per episode, but they'll probably come back together after each school's contestant has been chosen and they have to compete against each other. I'm enjoying it. It's the same good vibe but with a little extra for now.

It is! Can't wait! They're also doing something different and travelling to other forges around the country for the competitions, at least initially. That could be interesting, but I hope they're not completely abandoning their original format.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think if this is the first time an episode of a show is being aired on a particular network, it could be considered new to them even if it was already shown elsewhere. Entire Battlebots seasons have run on other networks than Discovery like SciFi as new and the recording dates in the online guide are the only giveaway.

And in both cases the old friend will do a bunch of inexplicably stupid things that all point to them being guilty. They will initially refuse to clarify the situation even to you, who is trying to help them. Eventually and without much significant help from the friend, you figure it out and someone will get killed or arrested though it won't be the obvious person.

Mythbusters tested whether or not cheap vodka could be filtered into tasting like top shelf vodka and the answer was "no." They put a bunch of cheap stuff through multiple filters and had an expert blind taste the results. He could always spot the crap. To me, all hard liquor tastes like I thought the contents of the plastic bottles under the kitchen sink would taste if I as a toddler managed to get into one. I've never been able to shake the "Oh, shit" reaction to drinking flammable liquids but there are plenty of wines in the world, so I don't really feel deprived.

I was ok with either Sawblaze or Huge winning. I like both of them a whole lot: Huge for how it's stepped up its offensive abilities this season and Sawblaze for what a first-rate engineer Jamison Go has been for years. I have to admit I'm happy Sawblaze won, though. Watching it grab an opponent, line up a shot, pause, then WHAM! with the blade never gets old. All in all, it was a great tournament! I can't wait for the next one!

Tony Curran. He made me wish I had a lawn to feed. Also played one of the most bad ass aliens on SyFy's Defiance.

Yeah, it sucks. Either Stealth Assassin Will Bales shows up and pulls off a surprising upset or perpetually clumsy but endearing Lab puppy Will Bales shows up and gets unnecessarily torn to pieces.

TV writers may not agree, but I think if you're a woman and a successful head of a criminal enterprise you don't need to be sexy. Once you're at the top and there's no one to kiss up to, you can stop wearing the wigs, makeup and uncomfortably tight clothes and just concentrate on crushing your rivals and maximizing your profits. I would. Theoretically, of course.

I totally agree now. Ethan Kurtz is a shady little weasel. And I'd love to shake Adam Wrigley's hand.

I'm still snort-laughing about your mom resurrecting the Spam and eggs dish. Now, aren't you sorry you reminded her? Re the stir-fry in the commercial: I didn't remember how all the Spam I had had to eat as a kid tasted and the ad made it look good. Plus it seemed to be a good pandemic pantry staple, so I tried it again. Stir-fried like in the commercial, it's greasy and pasty and salty. However, if you dice it into tiny cubes and slowly render it down in a nice medium-hot sauté pan, it makes pretty good brown crunchy meaty bits to sprinkle on other foods. Even eggs.

Yup. In the time-honored TV tradition of forcing children onto the childfree, either a previously unknown child shows up on your doorstep or a dead relative has made you their guardian without your knowledge or consent, and either way you're supposed to suck it up and be happy for the sake of the children.

Sometimes the episode titles are completely apropos. On the Australian drama A Place To Call Home, a character gets brought into the mix in the hope that she'll chase off another character. Not only is she unsuccessful at that but she goes on to be responsible for causing a shitload of misery and death to a whole lot of other people and becomes pretty near unstoppable. Episode title when she's introduced? "Cane Toad."

This Helen instantly took to spy craft with no fighting, threat assessment or weapons training, just yoga and language teaching. On the other hand, this Harry doesn't have to be Arnold but at least shouldn't appear so incompetent and unprepared when things go badly on a mission. Neither one of them is very interesting at this point but might improve. But my biggest gripe is that this was not fun, not in the least. It made me appreciate how all the principal actors in the movie including the scary bad guys (and the roof horse!) had great comic timing. This show could use some of that.

True Lies last night, right? I noticed that even when they changed locations the Eiffel Tower was always in the background. Every road and street in Paris must be circular, with the tower in the center of everything.

As you crouch there in frozen horror you see a shadow on the louvres getting larger and larger, then the door is flung open. If you are not important to the story it will be a killer, but if you're closely associated with a major character, it will be your rescuers.

AKA "budgie smugglers."

I want more insane 9-1-1 rescues per episode which involve the whole team and fewer crime drama investigations featuring Owen and his family. Sure, it's cheaper and easier to stage these scenes but they're nowhere near as interesting.

Ugh, any Ewert. There's another one whose first name I don't remember who was given the opportunity to say something nice or funny about what he would do if his own bot and Jake's got into a fight and Jake's won, but instead grunted "I'd kick his ass." Ewerts are jarringly unpleasant compared to almost any other combatants. In fact, I can't think of others.

Flame weapons overheat opponents' electronic components and melt weapon belts as well as set other internal parts on fire. I don't remember if any bots use fire as a primary weapon, but I always welcome the drama it causes.

@SuprSuprElevatedYou've posted some of the best pet-related cartoons ever, but this time you have outdone yourself. Feeling this one big time!