MakeMeLaugh

Maybe budgets, but terrorism concerns now also play into the destination decisions, I think. Planning travel must be really hard. They should do the filming all on Hollywood sets and just pretend they're in an exotic location!

Exactly--how did she get an interview? Doubtful the law firm was recruiting even the best students from a not top-tier school.I think everyone on the Law & Order franchise went to "Hudson University".

I can't believe David poohpoohed a real law school as not being top tier. How did someone from a not-top-tier school even get an interview with LAL.? I would love it if the newbies got better offers from "top tier" law firms. I have no idea why the plaintiff of the week wants to go back to her old firm with or without a polygraph (really, go back and be known as a thief? No place else she can work?), and why didn't someone else figure out a way to take that online polygraph test for her? Do those NSA frat boys just like laughing about Alicia or are they really expected to find something out? They are the only party team in the room--that would be annoying to be in the next cubicle. Loving Eli's pixie mole--you just never know where she will be perched next to surprise Eli!

Olinsky's secret daughter should just get an apartment with Mouch from Chicago Fire's secret daughter who was in exactly one episode (but interestingly to me, who was played by the actor Mouch's real-life daughter) before Fire moved on. But I digress. Olinsky's secret daughter looks younger every episode--soon she will look like a sixth grader. I could have bought Olinsky throwing away the envelop with the paternity test DNA BEFORE he sent it--but going through with it and then throwing away the results? Give me a break. Halsted and Lindsey continue to be the best looking couple on TV. Halsted continues to have the best-acted chase scenes on TV--man can run and and tackle without it looking like acting. And he's hot. All the time. Atwater looked like he was in way over his head with the poker game. Those old guys are going to take his paycheck in the first deal.

Did Saint Gabby almost go to heaven? The angels must be missing her already.

I also think Fire has lost something. I keep expecting Severide to leave, I really really really hate Gabby and Casey but I guess that's the way it is, I think Molly's needs to fade away, and the EMTs' storylines are boring. Remember when Severide was caught in the first season snogging the commissioner's daughter in the supply room? Remember when Casey was hot? Now that was some good storytelling! Come on, writers, you have a ton of good looking or interesting or funny characters--get us a fire of the week and just a dab of personal stuff. I miss Shay. Brett moping for weeks about the baby is just too stupid. Get us a guy in that ambulance and make him not a clown.

I am enjoying this season so much more than the last one, but (and it's a big butt--yes I'm 12) I really don't like Jason's resting smirk face. I don't get a spark between him and Alicia and hope Show doesn't go down Stereotype Road with them. Eli, Diane, and Cary are all getting the clown treatment. Seriously, Eli, where are you going with this? Seriously, a new age spiritual healer will show Cary the error of his ways in how he perceives old people? Watching everyone put on their old people's Halloween costumes made me wonder why a client would go with a cranky half-blind hobbling wheezing attorney--but then, they wouldn't, because most professionals Howard's age (which is what--do we even know?) I see in downtown Chicago don't seem to be thusly afflicted. The character of Ruth--busy, rushing around, consulting with Peter--is wasting MMartindale's talent. I wanted Ma Bennett from Justified reincarnated in Chicago and I feel like I got Alice from the Brady Bunch running the household. Get a new wig for Alicia. Why, just why, does she have to have that hair? Make Grace a teenager again.

Not to mention many scandals are initially broken in the media by "anonymous high-ranking officials" rather than "Chief Boden of Firehouse 51"--no reason he had to be named. And YES to using at least a rope around the people climbing out of the stalled elevator--isn't a rope part of a firefighter's gear? But sure, why not.

Halfway through the filming Ben is into a particular bachelorette? So he took half the season to narrow it down to the person he has the most interest in. Not a problem in my book. Still half a season for him to be enchanted by someone else (feelings can change). The ones who say they didn't know until the very end are the ones who really don't have a connection (also okay imo but probably good to not commit with the most romantic rose ceremony ever in that case). The seasons like Kaitlyn's, who obviously had picked Shawn right out of the limo according to the spoilers, resulting in Nick being added late for the icky drama, the truncated "home town" dates at a hotel, guys leaving right and left, etc., etc., are the ones that are not fun to watch, again imo.

Uhoh, what if JM reads this thread haha--she is going to be jealous of Christopher Mcdonald's PreviouslyTV fan club--no more scenes with him!

This times 100. Let yourself fall on a perfectly safe zipline and get pulled back up, let yourself be led around a perfectly safe wild animal preserve with multiple handlers to spy a very visible large bleached white skull, go into a perfectly safe croc cage with a a photographer and stick a piece of bait out the cage.... No racing, no skill. Thank God they at least had to balance the fruit bowls on their heads for at least some suspense and a tiny bit of skill, but they didn't even have to start over when the bowls fell, they just picked up where they were and kept going.

I only knew one cop bar in Chicago and it was pretty secretive, not the popular noisy bar Molly's has become. But nimbys shuttting down an existing cop bar just is not going to happen in real life I wouldn't think. The whole plotline for it is too predictable.

So the FBI has the judge under the tightest surveillance but Eli's communication with him re the sting goes undetected? And what if the case really deserved to be dismissed or not? And did the judge already turn down the bribe based on Eli's tip but no one told the undercover guy--was the judge going to be taken into custody if he dismissed the charges? Before he was Shooter, Christopher Macdonald was Cybill Shepherd's husband Louie in my favorite cheesy movie Chances Are. Apologies in advance but I am absolutely loving Howard now--he is really good and more believable than the senile leering partner that for some reason could get away harassing ypung women. And I like Jackie so much more now in this episode. I thought the two of them made a most believable couple.

This episode was hilarious. Who hides stuff behind the finished off drywall, and what, did the dead stripper do the install, taping, and painting decorating herself? Please. If Voight and Bodin ever get in a conversation with just the two of them using those gravel whisper voices, my volume control doesn't go high enough to hear them. Gabby is much more believable in the arson office than she is as a firefighter. She should stay there. Forever. Our two paramedics looked like they were working on their Girl Scout paramedic badges in their beach rescue. Oops I accidentally shocked the innocent bystander and stopped her heart--can I still get my badge? They don't exactly inspire confidence. The whole investigation re the crack house seems so fake--the higher ups must be involved but why???? Will House 51 be able to solve the mystery and take down the conspiracy against them (duh, by Thanksgiving, no sweat)? Don't these people know anyone in the media to drop some tips to? (Next Dick Wolf show, Chicago News?)

Dr. Platt (actor Oliver, not character Trudy-- and doesn't any TV public services psychiatrist use an office, or is all the therapy on the fly at a coffee shop, bar, what have you, any more?) and Halsted's brother aren't the only crossover characters--I want to see Fire's Mouch's daughter he never knew about hang out with Olinsky's daughter he never knew about. What, Olinsky, undercover cops can't use condoms or they would blow their cover (heh--I totally did not do that on purpose)?

Loved it. Michael McDonald as overall boss, so good. Mouse, omg--overpowering the desperate Dad (and Jay's "what took you so long?" To him!) secretly taking out the bullets. Trudy, in charge, impossible to read, so serious. Erin, so sincere with kidnap victim plus perfect makeup in the dramatic el car scene. Markie Post: she defines selfish and despicable without any redeeming qualities--love an actor atretching herself so convincingly. Yes we watch too much TV here in the MML household, but on a latenight Murder She Wrote last night, there was a young Jason Beghe, identifiable by his head movements but not yet whisper talking. And Josh Segarra! I thought he came back just to be killed off but apparently not? He will always be the Sirens-stealing Billy to me.

I have zero interest in seeing any of the previous bachelorettes reprise their roles and I can only hope Becca comes out of this looking like the idiot she apparently is instead of being the producers' pick for F3 and potentially the next Bachelorette. Because I definitely won't watch that show. I was looking forward to Ben H.'s season, too. :(

Thanks, caitmcg. I was completely unaware of Sally Mann and obviously she was the inspiration for a ripped from the headlines story. Maybe it's my Chicago perspective and perception of Chicago art galleries, where the exhibit takes place. (Interesting link, and also the articles it cites within the piece. Mann says she will stop publishing her daughter's nudity when she reaches puberty as if that's noble of her--why then? I get the sweet freedom of naked kids but not the publishing of their innocence to the world. But I digress.)

So much icky. Hard to believe a museum big enough to have a gift shop selling special exhibit mousepads, teeshirts, etc., is going to risk child porn publicity. A call to the press and the biggest donor would have solved the problem right away. And who paid Alicia and notKalinda--is bad Mom really going to pay the kid his back pay etc.? Go away Mamie Gummer. Take Howard with you. The new investigator is like Gary Cole's son (is Christine Baransky's character still married to him?). Although underpaid, he is allowed to freelance unlike the terms Lockhart offered. I predict the old investigator is going to work for Lockhart and cause all kinds of trouble for Alicia. Ruth is too smart and experienced (that's why Peter wanted her over Eli, right?) to pull that "tell me what Eli's up to" ploy with someone whose allegiance she is not sure of. Not believable. Alicia can be on the election board by agreeing to vote No on whatever the first vote is about. Is she going to be a scapegoat yet again or does she think she can turn the tables on the machine? Boring storyline either way imo.

Geez I hate Jake and Amy. Send Amy away--too late to unring the bell. Send Holt's nemesis away too. Soooo tiresomely repetitive. And why is Holt's kicked-upstairs PR storyline even on this show that's supposed to be about a neighborhood precinct? Two captains in two episodes. Ugh. So much talent and comic geniuses in the cast the first two seasons, and now we have the dilution that more famous people will cause to the original cast's time on screen and story lines. Come on, Show, quit it!!!!!

You wrote my post except for the Canning commentary. Margo Martindale, the Apple-Pie moonshine-making, dead-husband-clothes-wearing matriarch of the marijuana growing Bennet family who made the second season of Justified, my already all-time favorite TV show, pop off my screen??? I would watch her in anything. I'm so in on TGW now, just to see her character and Eli's scrapping--I could tell from their faces how much they are loving this development. I actually felt like new blood was pumping through this show last night. Maybe the remainders of the original law firm need to just fade away and let the new storylines grow--Cary watching the boring old people was just boring. Goodbye to all of them (and I actually would send Michael J. Fox away too). I didn't even realize there was a wig involved.... Hmmm.

Thanks, RemoteControlFreak--that's a cool shirt but not the one he wore on the show (it was green and different wording). Inspired by your efforts I found a photo of it which I am not able to post (something about the URL not being acceptable) but it says, "It'll be a bummus if you don't try our hummus".

(A) What do those edible cups and plates taste like and (b) who in their right minds and older than a five-year-old would even want to eat something compared loosely to fruit rollups (which has many more fun uses than dishware)? Palate cleansers? $600k for a fad product? But, sure, why not! (per Tara Ariano in Under the Dome series finale recap). I had already noticed Lori's phenomenally long eyelashes before Mikki made her pitch. If the idea of $200 false eyelashes doesn't make people bat an eye (heh), I don't want to hear anyone complaing about their cable bills anymore. Hummus in Publix. Who'dathunk it 25 years ago. Go O'Dang. I don't get the name but maybe I missed something. And he should have left his jacket off or at least unbuttoned so we could have seen what was an apparently punny but clever teeshirt. A big Yay that he didn't give a shit about Mark Cuban's coy late entry into the bidding. I don't care about Splikity--won't keyed-in passwords and usernames be in the "what's that" column along with rotary dial landline phones in five years or so?

If we are being told what brand of clothng any of these yingyangs are wearing, that is 100 percent shilling in my book. Who asks for free clothes, and more importantly who would provide them, otherwise? I hate that we are having any repeat bachelorettes on. No fun in that, not fair to the majority of newbies. And it shifts the entire focus of the show from the star to the returning famewhore. Make it an "all star" season with all rerun women, or make it all new.

Nice recap! "Sure, why not" is now my all-time favorite phrase and will drive all my future writing and indeed my life decisions.