Gummo

I've tried. Really I have. But this season just ain't workin' for me. Where's the dramatic tension if NO ONE EVER LEAVES?? There is none. They should just put a revolving door at the tribal council exit. Because that's all it is. And the editing -- which finally started to improve last season -- may be the worst it's ever been. After 500,000 weeks (I may have that slightly wrong) someone finally leaves EoE Island and they treat it like a footnote? I thought it was supposed to be a big deal? And as Mrs. Gummo (and so many of you, too) said last night: There's an Aurora?? And Julie annoyed the crap out of me with her self-righteous high dudgeon at the idea of voting Ron out again -- she said they would be voting him right back to Extinction. NO, YOU IDIOT, HE GETS A CHOICE. (Voting people directly to Extinction without a choice would be a very different game, strategically and ethically.) So I found her misplaced 'moral high ground' obnoxious. Anyone voted out can leave at any time. (And I wish they would. I really, really do.) Of course I'll finish out the season (I'm rather addicted that way, as long as there's no Hantz in the vicinity), but geez, what a disappointment this season is turning out to be.

Maybe it'd be even better if Probst didn't let the voters talk. That way we'd see what's on each person's mind without influence from the others. For instance, it'd probably be in Joe's best interest to vote Chris back in as another big male target. Some who feel in a secure position might vote in Wendy for the chaos. Oh well. Maybe another season.

This will NEVER happen, but.... I'd love if the entire EoE challenge was a fake-out and the remaining players got to VOTE on who comes back! Imagine the scramble! Imagine the arguments! What do you use for criteria -- easiest to beat? Most likely to be grateful & loyal? Best shield? Probst could give them 3 minutes to huddle and then take an immediate vote on who rejoins the game. Like I said, never happen, but I think it'd be so much fun.

... or Leonard wakes up, realizes everything, including meeting Penny, has been a dream, and kills himself. OK, it would be a short episode. We could work in some flashbacks.

I assumed Rick gave the advantage to Aubrey because she was the only returnee on a tribe of newbies and so it might generate some conflict & confusion. Not that it matters now....

2 hours of Survivor is always good, but this season still sits in the middle of the 'mediocre' category. Too much and too little going on simultaneously. EoE has been a big fat bust, nothing happening and leaving us even less time to decipher the choppy editing. It's a shame Reem was the first one there, she has set the tone at sullen, angry and resentful and it sure looks like no one else's arrival has been able to change that. Ugh, what a petty, nasty little person she is. Her only skill seems to be holding a grudge. I say kudos to Keith for finally showing some initiative, so of course they all tried to shut him down. And yes, Reem, you can scream until a blood vessel bursts in your brain, but you did hand that advantage to Keith, in a very public and stupid way. But sure, keep alienating every person you meet, everyone knows that's how you win Survivor, isn't it? Warthog sure is useless. Can't swim, no strength, can't throw. He's a triple no-threat! I'm sorry they've let the whispering thing take root at TC. Just like I was sorry when stealing people's stuff became an accepted thing. But that's the game now. Why even bother with a TC if it's only going to be people having secret convos we're not privy to? Let'em do that back at camp, then they can just vote. Hell, they might as well not even have a TC, just let'em vote at camp if TC's going to be no different from camp life -- I mean, what's the point? I'm left hoping this is one of those seasons that takes off after the merge. We'll see....

Ah, now THAT's Project Runway! Makes me realize just how cheap and threadbare* the Lifetime version has been. Even without Tim & Heidi, it FELT like PR and that was a big relief. I think Christian will be a great mentor, he's done this before and he's actually out there, designing very public and celebrated garments. Nina is the perfect touchstone to connect us to the show's past. In fact, everything about the premiere episode seemed designed to say to us, look, we get it, we're restoring class to the show, from the name brand hair & accessory sponsors to the quarter-mil prize money to the 2 day challenge. And it worked! I like that the contestants run the gamut from hopeful amateurs to seasoned professionals, but who are we kidding, the amateurs have little chance. I also like that they run the age gamut and that the models will be varied in size and shape. Basically, they seem to have scoured social media for fan criticism before this reboot and it shows. Not much to say about the individual designers yet, except that Raggedy Ann is going to get tiresome, and I thought Kovid would be annoying but I really like him. Renee is amazing. Frankie won't last but booting Cavanaugh was the right choice -- she made a basic black dress. Period. It didn't fit especially well and had zero ideas. It was a choice between no ideas and no skills, and no skills won out -- for now.

It's become obvious why this season sat on the shelf for almost two years: It sucks. These are all winners of PR and THEY CAN'T MAKE A GOWN?? WTF?? A caftan is not a gown, Anthony. A 1940s Hollywood musical dancing dress is not a gown, Irina. A 3-piece whatsis held together by who-knows-what is not a gown, Dimitri. And MIchelle, there's a reason people don't put together clashing colors -- it's been tried over and over again and it doesn't work. It's ugly. It doesn't mean you're edgy, it means you have no taste. I am an old straight white guy who wouldn't know fashion if it hit me upside the head, but Jebus! What a pathetic ending to this show. Everyone seems over it, especially the designers.

Okay, yes, last season was one of the most entertaining Survivor seasons ever, and yes, often the season doesn't really get going until the merge, but JEBUS THIS SEASON SUCKS SO FAR. Week after week, I wait for the season to start and it just ... sits there. The worthless EoE twist and the tribe non-swap means we're now following FOUR groups of people and trying to make sense of Survivor's lousy editing (what happened to last season's editors? Come back, all is forgiven!). It's annoying and not fun at all. As to individuals: Remind me never to play a game with Reem. She's seems like the type who'll turn over the table and threaten your children if she loses and never ever give up her grudge. She's completely given up on the game, her only goal now is to be as big a petty, resentful bitch as possible. You're all suffering together on this island, how about some positivity? Nope, she greets each new arrival with her trademark harridan shriek and insults. Charming. Look, I really wanted to like Wendy, she started off kooky and yes, rather attractive. But what a selfish, entitled camera whore she's turned out to be. 1. Those are not YOUR chickens, they belong to the tribe. 2. So NOW you decide to go vegan, and you think you have the right to impose your choice on everyone else? Fuck you. 3. Unfortunately, she's good in challenges so she's not going anywhere soon. Sigh, what an asshole. So: stop with the returning players. Stop with the redemption islands and the exile islands and the extinction islands. You can keep the 500,000 hidden idols if it makes you happy. But elimination should mean elimination. Let Survivor be Survivor. I have a sinking feeling this season isn't going to get any better. But of course I'll keep watching (the only seasons I ever stopped watching partway thru were the Russell Hantz seasons -- I don't find pathological sadism entertaining). Again: sigh.

Pretty good eppy! First we had the Return of Mean Girl Penny, who we haven't seen in years (remember when she browbeat Amy & Bernadette into writing her community college papers for her?). At least here it was in service to a good cause, her career. And I loved her remark (from memory), "Mediocre shlock actress, great sales rep, who knew?" Like others, I was sure the Experiments with Babies book was either by Beverly or at least would have an intro or blurb from her. That was a missed opportunity, I think. But Amy's flawless manipulation of Sheldon was great -- we've seen it before, so adding Raj as spectator/chorus made it seem fresh again, seeing it thru his eyes, as it were. It took me back to when she made him feel more affection for her by playing Star Trek nurse-doctor or making him his favorite kid meal (spaghetti with hot dogs cut up in it -- a real Eyetalian treat, as his mother would say). As she pointed out to Raj, she's been at this a long time and she hasn't failed yet! I wonder if we will meet one or more of Leonard's siblings in the last few episodes? We finally met Penny's family (Mr. and Mrs. Nolastname), and Leonard's father -- I'd love an episode where Leonard and his brother or sister compare notes and discover their mother was doing the same thing to all of them, pitting them against each other and making them compete for her affection. The fallout would be grimly hilarious. ETA: Yeah, the inconsistency in Howard's character is grating. I like him better as a grown-up.

In one episode, Wendy has gone from cute but annoying to despicable. Plotting to deprive your tribemates of needed food -- protein, no less! -- is about as low as you can go in this game. I'm talking Hantz levels of despicable. There is nothing adorable, noble or uplifting about it. Even her swimming ability isn't worth keeping around someone this selfish and untrustworthy. Stealing the flint is almost as bad. Luckily, they didn't need it for fire so yeah, fuck you, Wendy. She thinks she's soooo cute. She's not. Otherwise, yeah, what a comedown after one of the best Survivor seasons of all time. I agree with the poster who said the EoE twist has thrown off the whole rhythm of the episodes, leaving each feeling curiously unfinished. I sure hope things pick up; so far I'm enjoying David's return, Ron Bergundy and, surprisingly, Warthog. Thanks mostly to the editing, I barely know any of the women (no surprise from Probst & Burnett). Still waiting for this season to start....

AND the ships are not drifting slowly & cautiously through a relatively small space as they're depicted, they're hurtling at anywhere between hundreds and thousands of miles an hour in the approximately quarter million miles between the moon and earth, speeds and distances at which only computers and Kaylons could fight in real time. The crew would be sitting there clutching their armrests as passive observers . . . which has a dramatic content of exactly zero, so yeah, l get it, you have to show'em doing something. I thought the whole point of the scene where Primary orders Isaac to choose a new name was Isaac hesitating and not answering, as if he was "feeling" reluctance and resistance to the idea of leaving his current identity behind. He was beginning to realize he wanted to be the being his human companions thought he was; he wanted to be a better being ... but did he realize he was adopting the mindset and frame of reference of the biologicals as to what constitutes a "better being"? Or has he succumbed to his own personal Stockholm Syndrome, accept the outlook of his 'captors' without even realizing it? Or to a sentient robot, would the morals and ethics of biologicals appear something like a religious cult, since we declare fealty to things like "justice" and "mercy," which have no analogue in the real world -- so to the Kaylons, sure, Isaac's a traitor, but do they also look at it like he's joined this weird organic cult? BUT (again) when I think about that moment when the Kaylon said to Isaac something like "you will be forever alone," are the Kaylons the cult and Isaac an apostate to be shunned (but that would put us right back in the old ST mindset of Humanity, For All Her Flaws, Is Always Right And the Our Values, Though We May Fail to Live Up to Them, Are the Right Values)? Sure, the show will probably never address these questions in any meaningful way, but I love that I find myself thinking about this stuff and I'm so entertained at the same time -- that's what good sf does (gaping plot holes and all)!

I wonder what the fallout will be in Isaac's own head -- he is obviously evolving into a being with some rudimentary emotions and conscience and he just betrayed, almost to species death, people who took him in, trusted him, befriended him and made him part of the family (in the Finns' case, quite literally). I wouldn't be surprised if at some point, Dr. Finn has to treat Isaac for the robotic equivalent of depression or even suicidal tendencies.

Y'know, I haven't commented on the last couple of episodes because I was getting sick of myself sounding like a teenage fanboy, but OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS SHOW! Most of what I would say has already been said, but I'd just like to comment on the Pee Corner: yes, it was funny, but it was also so real, and exactly the kind of grubby, dirty, very human detail that other sf shows, especially space opera, shy away from. Loved Yaphet not only getting a ton of screen time, but being the hero! It was great to see another side of our favorite giant snotball! I hope his heroism isn't forgotten next eppy, that he gets a medal, or at least a party. Interesting that Union command was talking about "deactivating" Isaac -- if you accept him as a sentient being, then you're not deactivating him, you're executing him. He may or may not have deserved execution, but don't dance around the idea with euphemisms. So "Isaac" = the sacrificial son? Interesting.... So, just to reiterate: OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS SHOW!

Exactly. I was wondering if they were focusing on Georgie's first real female "friend" because they want to tie it into his BBT appearance as an adult with a family and successful business.

I wonder if it's going to turn out that Georgie actually married* Veronica? * Marries? Who knows what verb tense to use in these discussions!

LOL! Whenever Tim Gunn enters the workroom, everybody lights up. Whenever Anne walks in, the whole room sags: "Oh shit, here comes the dreamkiller." Isn't a mentor is supposed to guide and inspire you? All Anne does is make people feel shitty about themselves. Maybe it's just hindsight talking, but this whole season is just so blah and tired, it would be easy to believe they KNEW it was the last season and were just going thru the motions. That the producers had to put that stupid "Previously Recorded" message up over most of the episode was sadly hilarious.

One more thing that bugged me about Reem: Her behavior was incredibly condescending. Everyone out there is an adult (well, technically, not Keith) and I doubt any of them wanted or needed Reem "teaching" them how to dry their clothes or drink water. But she just assumed she knew best and started dishing out unwanted advice and messing with people's stuff without even a by-your leave. I just wish she was gone for good.

Yay, Survivor's back! My only regret is that Reem has a chance to come back. If I was on that beach and she was touching my stuff without my permission, I'd go ballistic. The woman has serious boundary issues. I could do without any returnees, they always distort the game. I'm with the guy who said having returnees there kind of ruins the wonder of Survivor for the first-timers. That said, if there had to be veterans, I'm glad to see David and Aubrey. Man, David's entire affect has changed! He's so comfortable and confident now. Not rooting for anyone yet but quickly getting to the point of rooting AGAINST a few. And yes, this premiere was way too short. Might have more thoughts later but work beckons!

So Seth McFarland is just a big ol' softie, who knew! This was an episode that could have gone wrong in so many ways; instead it was one of the best yet. If Seth had made this plot 15 years ago, the whole point would have been Isaac as a walking talking sex toy ha ha ha; instead that whole idea was dealt with and dismissed in a simple throwaway line by Claire herself and instead we had a delightful and entertaining look at relationships and even sentience itself -- Isaac may be a robot but as a sentient being he's capable of change ... more change than he himself ever imagined! Life among humans does have that effect on a being. Bortus with a porn stache -- priceless. Though the tension is still palpable between him & Klyden, which may be realistic but it sure is uncomfortable. They should have another child, though, or Topa's gonna figure out real fast that he can manipulate his parents by taking either one's part against the other -- in fact, it looks like he may have figured that out already! And Isaac may still be studying humans, but he's already learned enough to not take dating advice from Gordon! LOL! Always a treat to see Yaphet -- sorry to say, he looked more alien as Norm McDonald than as a collection of gooey ones and zeroes (oh Norm, please leave your face alone!). I thought for sure (and I bet Fox did too) that Orville was going to be a one-season get-it-out-of-his-system Seth McFarland vanity project. Well, it may be a vanity project (he wrote, directed & acted in this one!) but it's become Must See TV in the Gummo household.

Well, that was a weird edit when they announced the winner -- does anyone else think there was some big ugly drama edited out there? There was a sudden obvious cut and suddenly everyone looked frozen and Alyssa was laughing nervously and muttered something about 'all the drama' and that was all we got. Geez, show, I thought drama was the whole POINT! Don't edit out the good stuff! In other news ..... Django should have gone home with Julie. That was amateur hour on steroids -- wrapping a green bedsheet around your model and tucking in a t-shirt under her boobs so that they look hideous -- this is the work of an ALL-STAR?? Dmitry: "How dare anyone sew with a needle! I invented sewing with a needle!" OK, maybe not that bad but c'mon.

*small voice* I like Michelle - I think she's funny. *runs & hides*

I didn't think ANY of the white skirt outfits were "travel wear." Who travels in blinding white? That's a stain just waiting to happen. Most of the outfits were serviceable and some were clever, but there weren't any (great) jawdroppers like we've seen in previous seasons of PR and PRAS; as for (hideous) jawdroppers ... Hi, Seth Aaron! He can't really have thought that was GOOD, can he? Feels more like he decided once he was there that he just didn't want to be on a game show again and checked out. I felt like some of the old Anya was back with that breezy, colorful outfit. I thought she was going to be in the top three. And yes, Jasper was robbed. His outfit was gorgeous and something I could actually see someone flying in. And I like Michelle's snark. ALL the designers used to be that nasty ... *sigh* those were the days! So is this the last season of PRAS on Lifetime or the last season, period?

Well, if you asked me which network show this week was going to feature a sensitive story about a troubled, failing marriage, my answer would NOT have been The Orville! This show continues to surprise and delight.

Put me in the vocal minority that LURVES Restaurant Wars! Sure, it's totally artificial and nothing like that happens in real life, but so what? This is a game show, there's nothing real-life about it. It's all about putting these contestants thru hell and seeing if they can still focus and deliver their best work. I also think the early 3 way restaurant wars is good in that it destroys the contestants' expectations for the season. TC has been on long enough that the rhythm of the season has been well established - at least 1 of the chefs mentioned that he expected RW at 8, just like it's always been. That's reason enough to shake things up and keep the contestants guessing. Yes, the designers really screwed all 3 teams, but it's still better than the seasons when they sent chefs off to buy tablecloths and centerpieces and who knows what all else. And as regards dish choices, seems like They Never Learn. As other posters have already pointed out, pulling out complicated, labor-intensive dishes for RW is just stupid, yet here we are. I could tell by the 40 minute mark that there was no way they could finish in 1 episode. Not sure why so many feel put out by that; haven't they split RW into 2 episodes before?