Blergh

Hated seeing it ski-slope even faster than TLC and A&E from being intelligent, respectful and helpful to being crass, obnoxious and loud and since everyone else has already gone over the 'usual suspects' of Guy Fieri, Rachael Ray, Alton Brown, etc., I'll skip adding to the dissing of them for now. However; the ones who I believe TRULY deserve disses for how this network devolved have to be the execs/Next Food Network Star personalities Bob Tuschman and Susie Fogelson. Not only were these two incredibly condescending to the contestants but Miss Fogelson in particular seemed to revel in urging contestants to spill their guts at her command like a toxic acquaintance seeking future ammo saying that cooking personalities were expected to totally wash their dirty laundry to appeal to home audiences. OK, when I watch a cooking show or go to a restaurant, ALL I care about is whether the food is good and how clean& efficient the cook and kitchen are. If the cook wants to drop an aside e.g. 'My daughter's soccer teams loves these nachos!' that's fine though not required. However; I truly do NOT need to know their entire life stories, genealogy and psychological struggles. The culminated in Melissa d'Arabian presenting a dish to judges with the tag that it reminded her of her mother who'd committed suicide. Man, I felt sorry for those judges because HOW could they enjoy the food after hearing that bombshell (which was truly no one else's business) yet not feel they'd have been tagged as heels for not praising it to the hilt. Yes, I did indeed feel very bad for her but IMO this is something that one should share with close, trusted friends and family NOT strangers and the whole world. Oh, and to cap it all off, Mr. Tuschman or Miss Fogelson NEVER made the slightest attempt to disclose ANY personal info about themselves (not even any asides about any possible parents, sibs, significant others, offspring or friends). For all the viewers knew they could have been raised by owls and never met another person in their lives before judging this show- despite her dictum that ALL Food Network personalities (which they technically were via this show) were supposed to wash dirty laundry on air .Hypocrites.

You're right about that rather tasteless scene (which ALSO had the leading lady put her hair in bizarre pigtails to make fun of how some folks of African descent wore their hair)- and even back THEN it was not something put in to boost the morale of African-American moviegoers but to amuse tacky, racist,rude white moviegoers [who WOULD have known they were being tacky and rude even if they denied they were being racist]. As for Dirty Dancing? The ironic thing is that moviegoers were supposed to jeer at the jerk who got Cynthia Rhodes's character pregnant and left her high and dry and cheer Patrick Swayze's Johnny character. However; 1963 the Pill had only recently put on the market and the movie made it clear that Johnny wasn't a choirboy but audiences were rooting for him to do more than just hug and kiss Jennifer Grey's character and she could have as EASILY gotten pregnant as Cynthia Rhodes's character under those conditions in that time and place. Yet, evidently by 1987, audiences had forgotten that there it was more than paternal false pride re why Baby's father wouldn't want a fly-by-night crooner making his moves on his younger daughter.

Sun-Bun, at least, she had the excuse of English not being her first language. Then,too, did you ask her if she was doing that to make up for virtually all us US Americans not pronouncing the 3rd of the four S's in the vegetable 'Brussells sprouts'- or could it be that we're merely be taking away an S to from that term to make up for all those extra S's we add to other words? Yes, I confess that I myself call them 'Brussell sprouts' even though they're named after Belgium's capital city and at no point of time did either the city or vegetable drop that tricky 3rd S. My mother is the ONLY person I know who actually pronounces it correctly without having had someone else calling them on it.

If one has vocal cords and not helplessly trapped and incommunicado somewhere, is it too much to ask for someone fed up with their job to actually phone in and utter the words 'I Quit' (or e-mail/text it) rather than not bother to call or show up; thus leaving everyone else scrambling to cover one's work tasks? Talk about burning one's own bridges to try to spite others' faces!

Now, Maharincess, are you saying that you haven't ever been tempted to live by the code of 'WWLD' [What Would LUCY Do]? Somehow I think Mrs. Ricardo herself would have loved to have done that. I'll leave it at that. ;)

Might as well start the New Year with a post being grateful for my 80-something mother still being in this world in relatively good health as the year opens. That above ALL is what's important to me regardless of what else happens. Somewhat small potatoes compared to that is being grateful to my neighbor across the street for having had an unexpectedly impressive round of fireworks that lasted several minutes that I could perfectly see all details of. I'm not talking one or two cherry bombs and bottle rockets but something that looked as though it could have been used for a small town's celebrations. I don't know where they got these from and I'm not about to speculate costs. However; I was thankful for the fact that this display alleviated my not having wanted to venture downtown to see the city's display and deal with sardine packed crowds of revelers then bumper-to-bumper all the way back home and hoping to encounter none of said revelers who'd scoffed at pleas re designated drivers, taxis and ubers. Anyway, I was safely home the whole time and STILL got to see a truly impressive display to ring in the New Year so that's something to be grateful for

editorgrrl, I know how it goes. I'm also an Anglophile and a history buff to boot. Yet, not only could I not get into either of the above shows, but I also never got into Downton Abbey . Yes, I've always liked Miss Maggie Smith and am glad she got such a plum role. Moreover I really like that the show's setting was the Real Life home of Lord Carnarvon (King Tut's discoverer's patron) and even has some artifacts on display. Yet, I guess it seemed too much like they were making a jacked up Upstairs Downstairs for me to get into it.

editorgrrl, Hmm, how would anyone consume said shakes without spilling any or all of the contents before it entirely melted? At least put it in a catch-all bowl instead of a top-heavy preserve jar (and please don't tell that they don't bother to provide spoons with them).

JTMacc99, auntlada, Perhaps calling a child 'obnoxious' would work best and it's completely gender-neutral! Alas, there's no shortage of it.

YES! I really liked the joint bio of Messrs. Griffith and Knotts! The great irony is that their iconic sitcom was about celebrating life in a close-knit small town, yet both of them grew up as outcasts in their respective birthplaces. Mr. Knotts especially had an incredibly dysfunctional early life that could have easily doomed him to either an early grave, institutionalization and/or destitute obscurity. While neither performer was a saint and the book doesn't shy away from that, it does an excellent job of conveying not only how they overcame sometimes unbelievable odds but how their bond gave them strength even if they believed their show was both a blessing and curse. It's definitely worth seeking out! As for Miss Arngrim's book? Yes, she grew up in a very different time, locale and environment from either of the above- mentioned men but that doesn't mean she herself didn't have an amazing and if at times infuriating story to tell. No I'm not spoiling that one either but suffice it to say that Nellie not only wound up being the hero of Miss Arngim's life but also gave her strength to follow her calling to become a tireless advocate for so many folks in many walks of life who'd previously had no one else in their corners. Again, I highly recommend it (and I found that I wound up laughing a lot more reading it than many other bios even though it definitely didn't shy away from heartbreaking, appalling and upsetting parts of her and others' life).

I know how it goes! I just say 'Let's hope we call can have as good a New Year as possible despite the insanity that's happening'! BTW, where can I apply for a transfer back to 1979- or an Alternate Universe where no one outside their immediate families had had to hear the surnames of Clinton and Trump after the year 2001?

Thanks a lot Kathy Griffin and Ryan Seacrest for making the last two entertaining New Year's Eve Countdown shows completely unwatchable. Yeah I know this is VERY MUCH an UO!

OK, here's a term I wish would be retired soon (yeah, I know, good luck with THAT in this rude, crass era)- 'slut shaming'. Not only do I find the first part of the term offensive in of itself but it seems ,by using the entire term, one needlessly tags the alleged victim whom others had initially dissed instead of doing anything to help or even verbally support said victim.

It definitely says something re Miss Reynolds character that the younger Miss Fisher termed her'Mama' when she was NOT her mother but her own father's first wife and mother of her two eldest half-sibs. Poor Todd Fisher and Billie Lourd losing these two shining lights in their immediate family barely a day apart! Now they may need plan a double-service to salute both Old Hollywood AND Star Wars . I can't help but think that mother-and-daughter may actually have been amused at the thought of that kind of double-funeral. In any case, I'm glad that mother-and daughter WERE able to become genuine friends and like each other for whom each of them were rather than keep holding onto ancient grudges and misunderstandings. RIP, Unsinkable Mollie Brown.

Doll Eyes, Sorry for not replying earlier (and this will be my last one on this particular subject on this thread) but I guess I was too stunned by Miss Fisher's passing (and I had to go to work). Respectfully, you make a good point about evil triumphing re good people doing nothing. HOWEVER; when one refuses to believe that there COULD be good in people (or even not entirely evil people) among the voters of someone one despises, one DOES help evil by shutting out the possibility of building a bridge with potential allies. One could certainly agree that Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been abused and persecuted by evil folks yet they didn't say 'ALL English people and their supporters/ ALL white people and their supporters are totally evil without any possibility of any person among their group being an ally' . Instead they appealed to the humanity and tried to see the good within even when badly abused, taunted and tormented and they DID find allies among those whom one might not initially been willing to consider. They saw that one could NOT protest bigotry and injustice with any credence if they themselves were willing to be bigoted to those who were different from them. Even Anne Frank said in one of her last journal entries that she still believed people were ' good at heart' in a time and place when she knew that she could DIE in the next five minutes merely for being different from others yet while she certainly and justly denounced NAZIs and their credo she didn't denounce the possibility of humanity of other people. As I said, this will be my last post on this subject within this thread, but I've studied history all my life and I don't see how it is of any benefit to anyone to act like Madame Defarge by being eager to persecute those one wants to believe has guilt by mere association even when they themselves have done nothing to hurt others via words or deeds and may want to reach out to help others and be an ally to those who otherwise would have no voice.

I literally gasped at that news! I was hoping she'd survive to write about somehow finding humor in having a heart attack on a plane. Her poor family- especially her mother and daughter! No parent should have to bury a child!That's just too sad.

Maharincess, Please change as many numbers, physical addresses and social media contacts as you can as soon as possible and make it a point to send her one registered letter spelling out that she is not to attempt to contact you in any form ever again if she doesn't want legal consequences meted upon herself (and KEEP any future attempts in a safe place even if you don't feel like prosecuted her at this time so you have ammo in case the harassment becomes completely intolerable). No point in having your own corner of the world overwhelmed by someone like this when you already have plenty on your plate as it is!

Yes, I agree that Miss Henderson and Senator Glenn were the biggest guts for me this year. However; they still don't compare to how devastated I was in '89 when Lucy died. That's the biggest non-family gut of ALL time for me!

Witnesses and even videos have proven faulty through no fault of their own re identifying actual perpetrators on occasion. Hence, I think suspect is perfectly correct until there's been an actual conviction.

I'm sorry about that, JTMac. Well, what we each need to keep in mind is that regardless of how gloomy things may seem, there is ALWAYS the possibility of a future being brighter than one may think at the time. MUCH easier said than done but not impossible to do.

What's especially ironic is that in the Star Trek movies set in the distant future, there was no internet. Yes, they had very complex computers, data banks and even holograph simulation rooms but no chat rooms, Kindle or YouTube (or the equivalents) for characters to waste time entertain and communicate with each other.

Mr. Michael hadn't always had a smooth road so I hope he was able to find his peace at the end.

Grateful for a nice, quiet Christmas with my mother with just a few presents under a prelit fake tree with NOTHING to cook or clean up- then us adjourning for a GIGANTIC meal at a local fave restaurant we knew would be open today. Nice to have that.

Today my mother remarked how it used to be there were five of us for Christmas but now there's just two of us celebrating. As sad as I was for my 80-something mother to have to ponder that, I didn't have the heart to bring up that it will be even sadder when I have only myself to celebrate the day. I just want HER to have as happy celebrations as she can for as long as she can.

Somewhat along those lines, if one actually looks forward to NOT seeing a onetime friend and dreads seeing them, the friendship's definitely run its course!