Blergh

I'm far from a fan of Mary Ellen and I agree she could be quite annoying but WHY should she have given the kidnapper any kind of break? The girl had practically cursed Mary Ellen's unborn child to die when hers was stillborn and had just kidnapped Mary Ellen's baby! Even giving this one-shot character any kind of doubt's benefit, she clearly had zero idea of how to take care of a baby and could have easily caused irreperable harm! IIRC, after the backwoods kidnapper sniffed that she just took the baby because she lonely, Olivia guilted Mary Ellen to let her hold him one last time- and nothing was mentioned about whether the kidnapper was charged with anything or sent to prison or a mental hospital. Still, I will say the fact that the girl was unmarried, living with her creepy grandfather and everyone avoiding speculating on how this girl got pregnant [and by whom] gave this episode a very icky undertone.

Anyone else see the one with 'Patrick the Chef' [ who oddly never mentions his surname ] ? He says that with his service, folks can order fresh ingredients shipped in specially chilled boxes complete with 'easy to follow recipes' to make fantastic meals AND the company will take off $20 the regular cost for the initial order. $20 less than how much? It never says. And why would having 'fresh ingredients' shipped with recipes guides be more practical than, I dunno, driving to the nearest market and buying the ingredients there or, for that matter, going to a restaurant- both venues easily costing under $20 much less $20 off the unknown regular cost. The only possible advantage to this would be for a homebound chef wannabee aching to throw a party but living in a food desert whose closest outlet is a Kwik Sak 50 miles away. Oh, and the disjointed synch between the audio and visuals of 'Patrick the Chef' brings to mind "WarGames" 'Shall-we-play-a-game?' Joshua!

While I'm glad Jasmine was willing to be supportive of Crosby no matter what he decided, I think she should have at least gotten him to consider that he IS responsible for a family of four and THAT rather than clinging to a personal dream that's turned into a nightmare should be his primary concern re deciding whether to accept the insurance company's on-some-other-planet's windfall. Agree that it was not only infuriating for the collective kids [which is how they behaved] to gang up on Camille like that after she'd already told them everything she knew but I was afraid that that added stress would cause her to have a heart attack. Interesting that Crosby actually mentioned their grandmother being still going at '94 or something' but, if this particular grandmother is Zeek's mother, did anyone consider at least notifying her that her son's life was hanging on the balance even if she couldn't fly out there or do more than send good wishes? Also, too bad no one thought to include HER thoughts on motherhood [even if this was Camille's mother Crosby was talking about] in the otherwise timely and moving multigenerational album that the Braverman women gave Amber -and I'm glad they had the shower in the hospital cafeteria. Not only did I think Drew was getting upset over the car itself not starting while Zeek was possibly dying but I wouldn't be surprised if Drew might have thought that that was a 'sign' that Zeek wouldn't be able to start up again -especially since Zeek was the one who gave him the car. Would have loved it had Zeek said he was sorry for dumping on Drew for not lying to Camille about getting airline tickets but him being happy Drew said he loved him was good enough, I guess. Thankfully, Amber was on her best behavior this episode and as I said, it was a good gift the women of the family gave her. Also thankful no Max or Sydney this episode.

Why are we expected to believe that The Sun is has a not-so-secret identity as a working husband and father who has nothing better to do than tout Jimmy Dean sausage to his wife and coworkers? What would The Sun care if folks opted for cereal instead of sausage for breakfast anyway? And, even if The Sun were an actual person, wouldn't the last person one would expect to be it be a REDHEAD? I know I'm thinking too much into this but I'm puzzled as to how this campaign has been going on for at least five years.

OK, this dates me a bit but I'll never forget the Goth explosion at my then-fave bookstore with the entire two-level store filled with all these folks in black and dark attire in one huge line. Unable to contain my curiosity, I actually yelled out loud "What IS this- Morticia Addams Birthday Party?". NO, they cooly explained ,it was Anne Rice's book signing right after "The Vampire Chronicles" made it big! LOL. Oh well.

OK, here's one: while I have liked Julia Louis-Dreyfus's work in the past and like her as a person,I CANNOT stand "Veep". I couldn't make it through one episode and I don't care how big ratings or many awards it gets. . Yeah, I'm not naive enough to be shocked at the idea of folks in public office using profanities off camera [and I know it's a cable show] but she and the rest of the cast use them so much and so often, IMO, it's like trying to sift for a thimble full of water in a toxic landfill re discerning coherent, relevant convos. It would be one thing if Selena [or other characters] only used them in times of intense stress or slipped in an occasional one to punctuate a point but these folks use them so much and so often that I have to wonder what they'd have left to do to get others' attention if they truly were upset - shoot their heads off?! And, everyone is expected to think that she and the others are supposed to be cool and witty by using them but IMO they just show how nasty,dehumanizing and unpleasant they are as people who don't have the excuse of ignorance re non-profane terms to fall back on re their vocabulary options-to say nothing of demonstrating how unimaginative and unoriginal they are in their thinking.

True, but what also would have rank close would be Hank telling Sarah she was the 'best thing that ever happened to[him]'! If Sarah's the best thing not only is that a lower bar than polevaulting over a dime but I'd hate to find out what the worst thing was!

How about not letting the youngest generation get away with stuff just because they got emotional. With the exceptions of Haddie, Victor and Jabbar, it seemed virtually every time a Baby Braverman got upset, angry or cried, the Middle Generation Bravermans would immediately leap in and try to use their emotional outburst as an excuse for not holding them accountable for whatever they did. Max, Amber and Sydney are the worst examples but just once I'd have liked their parents/aunts/ uncles,etc. to have said 'I understand you're upset but that doesn't give you the right to pull [whatever]'

Agree with everyone else re the Kristina/Max epic fail and how Dylan seemed needlessly persecuted by both. I'll just say I got annoyed by Amber constantly dumping on Crosby and Drew's attempts to have 'day jobs' in lieu of constantly building castles in the air. Someone needed to tell her that the 'don't give up the ship' deal was no good re the 'Titanic' after the iceberg. Oh, and why did Amber [and Crosby] have to go to that club so late at night to try to sell that group a Luncheonette gig? Couldn't they have texted or Skypped a good pitch? And if they were going just to sell the group the gig at their studio why was Crosby so insistant on bringing his stash inside? Did he honestly think smoking his stash inside would have somehow helped tip the scales re them buying his and Amber's pitches?

In addition to what everyone said re Kristina's sudden 180 re Dylan and wanting to semi-adopt her, how is it she [as Headmistress] had no previous clue to Dylan's parents' dysfunction? Interesting how Drew has given lots of deep thought re how he needs to have a somewhat reliable means to support himself and help the family. No surprise self-absorbed Natalie would dis that and I hope he considers that she'd likely bail first time he had any tough times. Surprised that Adam and Crosby gave the opposite expected advices to Drew re future planning [and I wonder if the performers might have asked if the writer had switched their lines]. Can't say I missed Sydney or Zeek.

Quite a moving plea from Ben Jealous's ancestor Peter G. Morgan declaring his wife and children who had been legally his slaves to henceforth be free. I was not only moved emotionally by the passion and force of the plea itself but by how verbose and meticulous the content was -especially considering how it had been illegal to teach slaves literacy AND even as a freedman cobbler, there would not have been much motivation on others' part to have wanted him to have been educated so he must have had extra determination to have somehow overcome this to be educated. Somehow this reminded me of how shocked Huck Finn was when Jim confessed that it was HIS dream that once he was free, he'd be able to go back and PURCHASE his family- and I can't help but wonder if this may have been based on an incident from those times that had happened to Mark Twain himself as a youth. Miss Alexander's great-grandfather's death was quite ghastly and I can see why his widow and children would have tried to keep it quiet. Still, he did accomplish a great deal at a young age for that time and place [ though, that may have contributed to why he may have been targetted]. I wonder if it wasn't just white Southerners who dissed Miss Alexander's mother for have a more noticably darker complexion than Miss Alexander's father. Could it have been other African- Americans including Mr. Alexander's own family who were furious re the union - and that may be why she had little if anything to do with them? Interesting account of Ben Affeck's Revolutionary War ancestor who lived to resemble a very ancient toadstool- and I always thought he and Matt Damon were cousins but didn't think they were so distant. LOL

I know! That was awesome to see! Would it be too much to hope or ask for if, before the show ends, Drew calls out Amber in front of Sarah for her offering him booze and pot -knowing (and endlessly regurgitating) their dad Seth's deal? Of course he should own his own choices here but for Amber to do that was far worse than anything Seth pulled on them, IMO so Amber can't get too righteous re Seth again! Relieved Amber saw Drew's point and they seemed to have gotten out of there before they had to deal with Ryan's pill of a mother but still don't see why neither of them bothered to at least phone Sarah or Camille re Zeek's status. Also join the others in being relieved at no sign of Kristina, Max or Sydney. Anyway, IMO, it's ironic that Drew and Amber are able to see Ryan for what he is and not getting upset he can't be different and not pinning any hopes on him becoming different so why is Hank's ex still trying to guilt him to change from a leopard to a butterfly after all these years? Yes, Ruby needs a father but the one she has isn't able to wave a magic wand and make all Ruby's probs vanish. Agree with everyone how great Camille was during this time- and I'm glad even when she was downright frightened of the idea of losing Zeek she still acknowledged that there had been 'bad times'. Yeah, relieved that Crosby seems okay [and thankfully Adam didn't get too upset over the tossed cell] but could he have gotten an unknown blood clot from the accident in addition to the limp.

Funny how both Anderson Cooper and Ken Burns cringed re the revelations of slaveholder ancestors but, if it's any consolation to Mr. Burns, his distant relative President Lincoln had quite a few slaveholder in-laws who were high ranking in the Confederacy. Good point Mr. Cooper made re why the bulk of soldiers who joined the Confederacy were not slaveholders in that they aspired to one day become that and wanted to have the 'right'. Also, I agree it's chilling that the slaves were listed only by ages and gender for legal purposes but NOT by name. It shows how the law [if not the slaveholders themselves] viewed slaves as being virtually equal to livestock (with the sole exception being that they could not be legally killed). As for Miss Deveare Smith's ancestor, Basil Biggs. What can I say but WOW! He lived an amazing and quite heroic life full of sacrifice and risk for his family, community and nation so I'm also puzzled as to why his story didn't get passed down to the present day! The only explanation I can possibly think of is that his direct descendents considered him TOO tough an act to follow and didn't want their offspring judging them by his watermark. And, I totally agree with Miss Deveare Smith that it was outrageous to be told that she didn't have a 'right' to comment on U. S. American history on more than the narrowest of scales and topics- especially since Mr. Biggs showed that minorities were directly impacted and participated in nation-altering upheavals. It reminded me of a 'Cosby' episode in which Claire was asked to participate in some panel discussion about historic topics and they wouldn't let her discuss the Depression saying that she was ONLY there for African- American and womens' topics. In any case, I hope Miss Deveare Smith [or someone] produces a dramatization of Mr. Biggs's life in the near future. Since he appeared to be quite light skinned [and was able to become a free man as well as a property holding veterinarian], I wonder if he may have been born of a union between a slaveholder and slave? Another great show by Dr. Gates.

Not that I missed him but why couldn't they have at least given some excuse for Drew not being there to help celebrate Zeek's birthday. Hello, the old man DID give Drew that classic car that he and Victor had worked so hard to restore! Also would it have killed them to at least say Haddie had flown back East? Oh, well. If Zeek's 72 now, if his mother Blanche's still living that means she's 89 which means she had him when she was 17. It wouldn't be the first time a very young new parent wound up [not exactly]growing up with their child. LOL

Breaking Bad-. Sorry, I don't care how hypped up it was or how many awards it won, I just could not bring myself to watch a show that glorified and conjured sympathy for someone who produced one of the nastiest mind altering substances ever concocted-to say nothing of all the poisons produced by the waste! No sale for me.

I agree! Even when he makes those hypotheses I don't agree with, I think it would be fascinating to discuss why- without having to worry about him biting one's head off for dissenting. I like and respect his work a great deal and I, especially, like how he presents the stories and detective work in a way to appeal to virtually anyone watching it to want to do their own investigations.

OK, forgive me for sounding this sour note to what had, otherwise, IMO been a good episode, but I can't say I was entirely comfortable with Dr. Gates's attempting to hypothesize that outstanding athletic performances might somehow innately be tied to genetic heritage. No doubt Dr. Gates himself has nothing more than benign intellectual curiosity re the hypothesis but, alas, there have been those who've actually used the concept of genetic disposition to manipulate and exploit others on a grotesque scale. Besides, it seemed to be that every one of the guest athletes appeared to have family support re their desire to be the best in their respective athletic fields even during times when society at large may have discouraged this [e.g. Ms. King's parents] so merely inheritting ancestors' physical building blocks wouldn't have been enough for them to have become phenomenal athletes had neither they nor their families had been interested or inclined.

Interesting how Dr. Gates uncovered Ms. King's grandmother's actual heritage but I wonder if 'Grammie' Moffet knew she was even adopted much less that her birth mother had been single at the time of her birth? Many adopted folks were NEVER told they were adopted or, if they were, their adoptive parents would just tell them that they didn't know what became of the bio parents and no way to find out- and it could be that 'Grammie' Moffet avoided discussing her family because she had a poor relationship with these adoptive folks. Still, it was amazing to see what Dr. Gates uncovered and 'Grammie's birth mother DEFINITELY had a strong physical resemblence to Ms. King. If I may digress, I know that Ms. King goes by the surname of her now-former husband and that's the name she became famous under but I wonder what if any effect on her fame it would have had had she kept her original name of Moffet? Interesting, too, about Derek Jeter's paternal grandma's side [and odd that that the great-great-grandfather was recalled as being a prominent person but NOT that he was a minister re family legend]. However; I wonder why wasn't there any effort made to find out WHO the 'unknown' paternal grandfather was. Had Mr. Jeter specfically previously said that he wasn't interested?

I always got a little scared of it because it sounded to me like it was a toy that was about to explode in our faces if we hung around much longer or got too close to it. LOL As for the 'Jessica' song in 'Santa Clause Coming to Town'? Yeah that was a weird one but I guess they put it in there so the tiny viewers' teen big sisters/babysitters would think this was too 'cool' to change the channel to something else before the show was over. LOL

How did Ruby go from an awkward 11-year-old to a pill of a 15-year-old over one summer? Oh well. Also, I agree that Zeek could be the red herring but instead of Camille I think they could have the really unexpected twist of it being Amber who dies perhaps in childbirth [not unheard of even these days]. Agree nice bonding with Amber and Haddie and am glad Amber finally told Sarah. Also, refreshing that, instead of Sarah doing her usual bit of either being totally gushy or going into a rage, she just was so stunned at the news that all she could do was say 'Oh,' With all that texting re Zeek's condition to the kids, I wonder if anyone thought to notify his mother Blanche [or are we supposed to forget she exists like we did Haddie for most of the last season]. Not exactly happy that Drew's with Natalie but, at least for now, she seems willing to be cordial to his family and even helpful so at least for the time being it's working. Also, while I agree that who Snowflake Academy deal was poorly pitched to Max [who likely viewed the late Gwen solely as someone who merely took away Kristina's time from HIM] , I did like that, after Adam's talk, Max FINALLY did something for another person's sake that he didn't see had any direct benefit to him or his hobbies.

No, you didn't. As what was presented here, the elder Mr. King had been born 'Donnal Pollock' but had, at an unknown time for reasons at this point lost to history, changed his name to 'Donald King' evidently informally and without legal sanction prior to meeting and marrying Stephen's mother. Dr. Gates displayed Mr. King's family tree which seemed to show a death date for the Donald King nee Donnal Pollock but it was shown at too wide a shot with the entire 'King/Pollock' tree for my nearsighted glance to pinpoint what it was. Still, I have to admit that I was very impressed at the scope of the geneaological research re that family by Dr. Gates as well as Mr. King's fascination to learn how his family had fared in the US having emigrated from Ireland after a mass famine. As to Gloria Reuben? Again, it was amazing to learn about her father's family having been Jewish though I'm not sure his earliest Jamaican ancestors were Sephardic Jews who'd fled Castille after the 1490's or Ashkenazic Jews who had fled Central or Eastern Europe shortly before being granted full citizenship by the British Empire in 1830. Also, what of Miss Reuben's paternal grandmother? Was she descended from French Creoles instead of being from that Jewish community? Also, fasicinating that they found Miss Reuben's original African ancestress on her mother's side but, sadly, we have no way of knowing what the woman known as Leonora was originally named or where in Africa she had originated [same with Phillis Wheatley re her original name and birthplace]. Lastly, quite an amazing tale Dr. Gates uncovered re Courtney Vance's tragic father's orgins. It seems his motherless paternal grandmother had been kicked from pillar to post back and forth from a tiny Arkansas town to Chicago when she met up with that Chicago minister and found herself pregnant at 16. Even though it turned out via legality and DNA, he was NOT Mr. Vance's actual grandfather, I think it must have taken some guts on that 17-year-old's part to have intiated that court case in order to try to provide for her impending son. Now why she went after him and none of the Arringtons [who seem to be paternally related to Mr. Vance], is a mystery. However; I think it's quite possible that she made sure she was close by to try to watch him grow up when she gave Mr. Vance's father to his foster parents. I wonder if Mr Vance's father knew this neighbor was his actual mother and, perhaps, had even heard whispers of the court case? Regardless, I'm very happy this series has returned and am looking forward to how next week's athletic guest will react.

Doctor Zhivago- liked the train ride, liked the scenery but hated how were expected to root for these two incredibly selfish folks who couldn't have cared less that the world was blowing up around them nor the slightest concern for even their own children- much less their loyal spouses who suffered via their selfishness. Oh and if I had to hear yet another rendering of that theme one more time, I'd have thrown something.

Moby Dick- The classic monstrosity that was foisted on me in high school which made me root for the whale because I knew with the whale's KO, it had to end ! I'm convinced that those 1850's readers and reviewers who HATED Mellville were absolutely RIGHT and that this only became a 'classic' after some Lit profs in Massachussetts in the 1920's were convinced that the current [1920's Jazz Age] students had it too soft compared to their WWI brethren so they unearthed it from its totally deserved obscurity to punish the students and too many teachers have wasted too much time on this doorstopper to not want new generations of students to be punished like they were. Oh, and it wouldn't surprise if Mellville's MO for writing this book came from Mrs. Mellville getting annoyed with him hanging around the house and telling him 'Herman, go to the study and write down that drivel but get out of my face!'

Once I attempted to fry chicken but wound up with a bunch of birds coated in with nothing but grease -and every morsel of batter caked at the bottom of the fryer. Oh,yeah, the fryer had to be pitched along with the chicken and it was an heirloom to boot.

Saw the one with the Romanian expats who now lived in Hawaii with their kids and her parents. Disappointed that they chose the place closest to the wife's fave beach instead of one of the two larger places because even though they all seemed to like the new place and appeared to get along, it was decidedly more cramped for the older couple- and the older couple didn't appear to speak any English so it's almost certain that they have no one besides their immediate family to interact with. Yes, the family has two live in babysitters who care for the kids while the parents work or surf and it's likely their Hawaiian home's more palatial than they'd have had in Romania but the parents appeared to be no older than their mid 60's so they must feel in an odd kind of limbo knowing they will have no autonomy or friends in a strange land for the rest of their lives.