Delwyn

"The Tortoise and The Hair" ded.

I want to be best friends with the Russian guy who defined "covfefe" as something embarrassing to regret and when Colbert wanted to show him the Trump handshake was immediately ready to counter with "you be Trump, I will be Trudeau." Stephen looked like he wanted to take him home in his luggage.

I wish I had more than six thumbs to point down about this revelation. Knepper is fine in other stuff, but that facet of Blaine's life is so uninteresting to me. Anders already chews plenty of scenery in a way I enjoy. I don't need his dad eating into that delightful ham time.

I'm pretty sure he was bullshitting Stephen about how rare Tescao is these days, but it seems more popular in Russia than Tibet, maybe? I don't know if I'm ready to expend the effort to find out, but they are teaching kids classes, so... I was surprised how easy going he was with the tom foolery considering all the other terrifying things about him though.

The couple who did Hip hip Chin chin without that section of the song was a self immolation in my opinion.

Late to the game, but I have to say that as someone who has worked in make up and costume shops, Nick can eff off for effing-ever. I'm no Glenn fan, but agree that it was an awful thing to do to a teammate. Jill's not very strong, but maybe her edges wouldn't have looked so bad if she wasn't doing a THIRD generation sculpt at the last minute. If they are going to designate a head of the design team like in the real world, they should have full creative control of the characters, but also be willing to take the fall for a lack of cohesion if they cannot convey that. Nick did neither. His own fairy was not even in the same league as the fairy godfather and as shop head he should have gone home for that alone because the most successful look had almost none of his input. This season is not working very well for me. But I'm still gonna watch, because Face Off. Grr. Arg.

A+

I see your wax president and I raise you 4 more presidents and some Oscar nominees. I love everything about what this show chooses to be.

So, my mom/best friend was diagnosed with breast cancer 6 months ago and she sailed through everything. But I kept crying throughout this season because it handled the terror exactly like we did. Light hearted flippant conversation because that's how we process. So this portrayal on Playing House Rang so true for my experience. She didn't want me at the hospital because it would make it a Big Deal. I have so much respect for addressing the instinct to treat it like any other roadblock while also being freaked out at the implications. That being said, I thought this season was a bit erratic in tone. I binge watched 1-3 over the last week and 3 was really missing a solid story arc in comparison. Mark was on the periphery; he was previously an important piece of the puzzle. I still loved every second of this season though. I don't think I could ever dislike anything these ladies offer me.

The renewal was announced a while back. They start shooting again this summer, August I think. ETA Sorry, I should also add that despite that, it likely won't be back on the air until April, just like this season. Which feels like an insane amount of time to wait for a resolution to this cliffhanger.

I was disappointed that during Colbert's list of Ice Cube's creds he did not include the astounding contribution of Bye Felicia to the modern world.

I tried to give this another chance after they returned to adults this year, but Nigel is leaning so very hard into his indefensibly awful old man shouting at clouds persona that I just can't. I love you forever Cat Deeley and you are magic, but no. Best of luck to what I'm sure are a bunch of talented, hardworking dancers. May you see your dreams come true without Nigel referring to you in a gross way on national television.

"I have fired the horse catcher" is possibly one of the greatest punchlines I've ever heard.

Hasan + Stephen = OTP.

Trevor's interviews with the Syrian documentarians tonight raised an interesting point for me. They suggested that the US has not had the same experience with IS attacks as Europe because they have integrated Muslim communities so well compared to the EU. I don't know that it's necessarily true, but it certainly speaks to my assumption that because I live in a diverse Canadian city with a large and influential Muslim population that we are more safe than other capitals. I really appreciate that Trevor is engaging with people that can shed new light on topics that other nightly shows won't bother with. Sometimes his guests validate my world view, but sometimes they inspire me to dig deeper. I think we're seeing his greater vision for the show in action.

I'm guessing Blaine is an Archer fan, based on his voicemail

I found Kevin Hart delightful. I don't really know much about him, but after that interview I felt like I could conquer the world just by adjusting my attitude.

When I saw the title of this show for the first time, I thought it was an ill-advised sequel to the CW's Star-Crossed from a few years ago. I read somewhere that the book was used as the bones for the first season and (if it makes it), the idea for future seasons is that all of Shakespeare's characters exist in the same universe, so there likely will be cross-overs. Looking forward to MacBeth murdering Hamlet for whining too much. We also have a Dante's Peak/Volcano and Armageddon/Deep Impact situation on our hands with TNT's Will premiering this July. I'm half expecting Will to be more enjoyable in a trashy trainwreck sort of way.

The David Gray version of this song that also samples Into the Mystic by Van Morrison is one of my favourite songs. Aziz absolutely crushed my soul with the way his performance slowly built up and shifted with the song. At first it was just disappointment; the gradual and relentless climb to feeling heart-sick caught me by surprise. I had to take a break from the show after that to just sit with it and I hope he gets the kudos he deserves for the work he put into the scene - just sitting there with a camera on you for that amount of time, exposing your emotions and taking the audience with you.

There's no denying that ratings wise, the Trump coverage is working for them right now. But I hesitate to conflate better ratings with better show. Maybe it just speaks to how people consume media these days. It could also be a bump from a few other things at the same time, though. Hasan's WHCD. The Comey/Special Counsel insanity. All TDS correspondents were just on Colbert, which is doing a lot better now. The show is off this week, so we'll see if that holds. Either way, I hope increased confidence in the show lets him really spread his wings.

I have seen every episode since Trevor started. Sometimes it's a reflexive action, I'll admit. I bailed on regular commenting because for a long while, most comments were about what he was doing wrong or how he was different than Jon (not just here; pretty much everywhere, because it was such a crucial and eventful time in politics to be doing a handover.) I don't know if it's because I was around when Jon took over from Kilborn and I felt that Trevor was being judged through a lense of nostalgia: Jon took a long time to get his tone right and a lot of his success came from really great correspondents. It was hard to see Trevor getting dragged for not being perfect from day 1. Comparing his lows to Jon's highs that he had had more than a decade to perfect was pointless to me. One quibble that I have with the show still is that sometimes they struggle with the balance of overwriting and underwriting the material. Just writing down all the insane stuff that happened in the last 24 hours is not cutting it. But Trevor and Roy and Ronny are also not great with material that leans heavily into a "skit" format. Their talents lie in momentum and charisma. I find Hasan and Desi and Jordan to be the opposite. They do better with a character and an arc and flounder with the more off the cuff interactions. I've probably said this before, but I think the show would benefit from a small format shake up to make its own mark in a crowded field. Colbert has finally turned to merciless but on point mockery. Oliver has his deep dives. Seth has a closer look. (And Amber, whom he is very lucky to have.) But Trevor gets a diverse and interesting range of guests that the others don't have. I'm not a producer, but he could take the best of all the worlds. Make Monday a sort of broad recap of current events. Leave all the "ways Trump is lunatic" from each day on the cutting room floor, since the media has probably regurgitated it for us a million times before 11pm EST, unless the writers can offer a unique take. Pare down the interviews to two really interesting and more extensive discussions with guests per weeke. Fill that with more great, well fleshed out editorial pieces from performers like Michelle, Neal and Adam. Tuesdays could be a field piece day. The Alabama weeklong series was neat: multiple perspectives that you didn't expect from the correspondents' previous work. They have already experimented with these ideas to some extent. It's time to tighten up the voice of the show and Jordan leaving for his own gig is the perfect time to do that. Reboot a bit as Trevor always intended and commit to that vision for a while. Sorry, I guess I had a lot of feelings on the subject. Boring, lengthy feelings.

I love you, show.

Two continuity thumbs up for slipping in another Clive/GoT superfan reference. "I thought you went full warg there for a second." Seamless.

FCC and Ajit Pai come for Stephen Colbert; John Oliver says "Hold my beer." ETA: I found this hilarious fact sheet on the FCC site that kind of seems like it's trolling Pai just a little bit: https://www.fcc.gov/document/open-internet-process-then-and-now

Waking up with Jon Batiste is one of the most delightful segments I have seen on this show. "I get it, you wanna finish your dream about your middle school dance but all the people are fish."