Kromm

I don't think they did in-show, but it seems to be in press coverage of the show. Progressive supranuclear palsy. I was wrong about when the swallowing issues happen. Apparently it's mid-stage, not the advanced stage, but it gets a lot WORSE in the advanced stage and becomes dangerous.

What really frustrates me is that they could really have some fun with her having to change up her speech for different people. And have some more fun with people starting to think her American accent is strange and getting suspicious of her. And the show is doing none of this, because it's not very clever.

Bad writing. They say "show, don't tell" but all they did with Ace's dad was tell us. He seemed like a nice guy, not "hard to deal with". Even his "get out" moment was drawn out as justifiable, not curmudgeonly and unreasonable. Are we supposed to conclude that his supposedly grudging moment of pride at his son was extraordinary? Oh cry me a river. He came off as the kind of guy who might not say those things, but who certainly wasn't unpleasant to be around. Be the stupidest plot device ever? Or that this was just badly written.

How come I figured out that lady was the poisoner before Nancy (and before her friends)? Oh yeah. because I watch TV, know cliches and IT WAS OBVIOUS. The cure crap was crap. There's no magic cure that would act like that. Bullshit. This show really irritates me. I do keep watching though, hoping that eventually the scripts catch up to the quality of the visuals and production (both of which are good).

Speculation: there are no adopted parents. They're a digital illusion used to create past memories for her. The current version of her mother was a computer program, and the past versions were created scenarios. My further speculation is that she's actually only been alive a short time. That missing scientist created her and her sister, unleashed them on the world, but then something happened to him. The computer program is still running of course, and tried to protect her. I do get the impression that she didn't know she had a twin (she didn't mention one, right? Or am I misremembering?) and the fact that the OTHER sister knows is significant. It's supposed to make us question if maybe the other sister is ACTUALLY in the know about what she is. The preview implied that the guy spying on her thinks she doesn't know, but this seems like some kind of double bluff situation.

One episode in... I am... unsure. Which isn't as bad as it could have been. I will say I am pleased that they wound up with the "Daughter of Data" angle, because I absolutely feared the much speculated on "Daughter of the Queen Borg and Picard" one, which I wanted to (figuratively) hock a big wad of spit at when people were tossing it around. This, in contrast, is actually a good idea, even if the actual execution feels shakey, and the world building of the current Federation potentially cringe inducing (it's not quite there yet). Here's what I am fearful of. I don't want this to veer toward the Dark N' Gritty we KNOW this production team creams their pants on. Stewart himself tossed out a few hints that he actually pushed them more towards "a changed Federation" than had even been planned, and in this case Sir Patrick may not be totally in line with me. I KNOW they also likely feel they need to tie this in to the next season of Discovery, which we already know is based on the premise that IT will be the hopeful show, but built on the skeleton of a scenario where the Federation is all but destroyed and needs to be revived. I fear that means that "Picard" will be seen as the setup for that fall of the Federation, meaning this can ONLY end dark. We shall see.

"To Tell The Truth" was in it's prime (and filmed in New York) during the period this show covers. And Midge is EXACTLY the kind of panelist they'd have on. Ditto for "I've Got A Secret" and "What's My Line". "Password" used slightly higher caliber guest stars (those first three would use socialites, stage performers, newspaper columnists, and mid-range comedians, whereas Password generally used guests already established on TV), so it's the least likely.

The Tonight Show was out of New York until 1972. In other words, it's very unlikely we'd have to see Midge travel to L.A. to appear on The Tonight Show, not that it would really be that big a deal for a comedian we'd already seen on big stages in Miami and Las Vegas. Carson's talent scouts were always on the lookout in New York particularly for standups to fly out to L.A. to do the show. Often this would be bundled up by agents with auditions for TV pilots--another potential storyline for this show. However, since this show isn't likely to go as late as 1972, I imagine they'll get Midge out to L.A. via some other method besides The Tonight Show to get those TV-pilot stories. Bruce's real influence was AFTER he was gone. His legend grew. In his day, he was notorious in the newspapers and indeed was regionally famous, but I don't think the average American household necessarily had ANY idea who he was the few times he did pop up on TV.

For those NOT trying to duck politics, here are some new recommendations (I've made plenty in the past). For a fairly whimsical, yet newsy, take on Impeachment, try Buzzfeed's Impeachment Today: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-impeachment-today-51569975/ It certainly won't claim to not take a side (guess which?) but as these things go is fairly entertaining. There's also NPR/WNYC's "Impeachment: A Daily Podcast", presented by well known talk radio host Brian Lehrer: https://www.npr.org/podcasts/767280204/impeachment-a-daily-podcast It's less whimsical, more straight newsy, but gets major guests (the same kind who go on the news networks, except this is longer and more in depth). Less centered on the Impeachment, but still arguably political, is The New York Times' podcast, "The Argument" It's basically three NYT opinion columnists, who'd I'd say range from far left to center left to medium right, debating all kinds of stuff. I'm calling the classic conservative on the panel "medium right" just because while in other days he'd be more identifiable as far right, he seems not to be totally in line with the current administration, so... medium right (a little to the right of a genuine centrist Republican, if any still existed): https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-new-york-times/the-argument

That's not so much a problem as it is a lost opportunity. I mean he actually interacts a bunch with Sona and some other staffers on his TV show, but it should be even more.

They're certainly going to address that last thing next Supergirl episode. But as I said above, the payout to Lex being beloved is I think meant for the Superman show. Yeah, there was some pretty awful writing in there among a few gold nuggets.

It's a classic Superman storyline, ultimately leading to Lex being elected President, which I think will be teased by Supergirl, but really left for the upcoming Superman and Lois Lane show. New for here. Classic for the comics.

Yes, the memory thing was really clumsy. I actually can get the possible appeal of the heroes having to deal with not having memories of this world. But that would get unweildy as hell after 1-2 episodes. Making their allies remember the other reality makes this even more awkward, because then you either get tons of awkward exposition explaining things, or even worse NO exposition and some lame device like "oh, this is that thing you told me about". Or even worse, eventually not even that and it acting like magic with the heroes just knowing what they need to. They just needed to go with a structure where the heroes remember both existences. Another "magic" explanation, sure, but at least an easy one to write around. They seem to have done it this way JUST for the shock of Supergirl reacting to "Good Lex Luthor". I DO have to compliment the setup of GLL though. While it's clear this will play on into Supergirl, it's ultimately got to be paid off in the new Superman and Lois Lane thing coming up. President Luthor is CLEARLY where this is all headed, and it's a classic storyline.

I thought the flow of this last episode was really bad, a lot of the writing clunky, and the cheese over the top, but I have to admit to loving the very last scene, even if it was the cheesiest of all. They got a lot of interesting details in. The Justice League IS supposed to be 7 heroes. They certainly had to adapt which ones, but one big key has always been Martian Manhunter as a founding member, and at least they got that right. Plus A Canary (even if not this one) and Black Lightning were definitely in the second tier of Justice League, so moving them up to founders isn't that weird. Batwoman for Batman, Supergirl (in a way) taking the Wonder Woman slot, those certainly make sense. Poor Aquaman gets shafted yet again. He doesn't even get a parallel taking his place. In the TV-verse he isn't even suggested as existing (unlike Wonder Woman, who at least we know exists on the Titans Earth). Gleek? Ah well. It could be worse. They could have also teased the (ugh) Wonder Twins, or even worse, Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog. Thank god not.

This utterly sucks, but is kind of appointment trainwreck TV at the same time. The lack of actual interaction is part of the premise, but also a huge weakness too. Joey kind of turns my stomach, but I can see why he'd appeal to many people. I guess it's growing up with people not too different from him giving me wedgies and sneak punching me from behind in the school hallways.