millennium

I switched on this morning, just to hear the reaction to Friday's events. Prior to the Mar-A-Lago pilgrimage, Scarborough would have gone full "flame-on" after something like that press conference. Today, disapproval is expressed with sober faces and somber tones. He said there were several things about the Oval Office meeting that were "questionable." He asked a guest if Trump's brusque treatment of Zelensky was a part of Trump's process? "Is this the art of the deal?" That was enough for me.

The last two episodes have been better than usual, I think. Even the shootings seem improved, the head shots especially.

I don't get Maggie as Olivia either. The last few episodes, I've been thinking it's too bad nobody ever tapped her for the role of Batgirl. I did expect a twist with Joel, like somehow he was part of the trafficking gang. I had just about gotten over the news that Isobel is married, now she's AWOL. This show.

My thoughts exactly! Really inferior episode. How did that petite receptionist manage to abduct 3-4 women? I don't buy it. And cutting out their uteruses? With a Native American artifact? No, no, and no. Maggie's history with that freak was far more interesting.

Tough room. I binged all three seasons this week for the first time. I thought it was good, at the very least superior to most horror shit foisted on us these days. I like most of the actors, in particular because almost all of them are new faces to me. I recognize Harold Perrineau (whom I couldn't stand as Michael on Lost but like very much here). The Acosta character just doesn't fit. I'm not one to second guess characters on a show like this, whether they should have followed Elgin or not, etc., chalking it all up to unnatural circumstances can lead to unnatural choices. I'm not sure Jim is really gone. I think Kristi was shortchanged this season. The Kimono ghost wasn't very terrifying. Dale's fate was well-deserved and very satisfying. Elgin was a sap and a bore, so no tears for him. I suppose they had to introduce time travel to explain why Ethan and Julie keep aging between seasons. We really aren't getting Season 4 until 2026? Angphooey!

I tried Monday, yesterday and today. Monday, lasted about 25 minutes before disgust set in. Yesterday and today, no Scarborough, so 14 minutes and 10 minutes, respectively. I thought about what the problem is, and it comes down to I just can't pretend that any of this is normal, let alone suffer those who do for a paycheck.

Making Brianne an Olympic hopeful figure skater was an absurd and transparent plot device to make her more sympathetic. Take that away, and what's left is a murderous abuse victim who apparently never considered going to the police or anyone else before winding up Jake. Probably a case could have been made that she emotionally manipulated Jake into killing the Bedfords. Meanwhile, Sydney seemed so 180 degrees different from Brianne and Jake, especially in temperament, that I didn't buy she was ever close with them. IMO, the worst episode of the season (so far).

Hey, FBI agents! The fugitives are getting away in a car! In plain sight! We the viewers can see the make, the model, even the license plate. Don't you want to, oh I don't know, call it in? Alert local police or maybe the rest of your team that two fugitives wanted for a double homicide and kidnapping are speeding down Getaway Lane? What's that? Oh, you have a personal call to take? Never mind. Later: Remy: "Congratulations, kid. Your sympathetic black orphan routine cut right to the heart of my white guilt. No way will I investigate Brianne's involvement in this. I will simply take your word that she's completely innocent. I won't even consider the possibility she goaded you into murderous behavior or that she said "kewl beans" upon hearing you offed the Bedfords. As for the dead security guard at the ice rink, it gave me the chance to get off a Zamboni joke, so let's just call it even." Later: "Hi, this is Nurse Miranda -- you know, the healthcare professsional your father has reduced to an old goat's masturbation fantasy? Well, his brain is about to explode like an overripe tomato. If he bumps it or even moves it the wrong way ... What's that? You'll bring him to the hospital yourself? Sure, why not? I was about to suggest we send an ambulance with EMT's to stabilize him properly since this is a life and death situation, but if you say you got this, that's good enough for me. Watch his head when he gets into the car, k?"

"May the odds be ever in your favor!"

I have a solution -- 1. Bring in a new host: c And 2. Change the name of the show to "Immortan Joe." Nice smooth transition. I'm not sure the viewers would even notice.

How is Burger King getting away with tormenting -- literally tormenting -- the television viewers of America? The shitty off-key singing commercials have been going on for what, 2 or 3 years now? Every new one is worse than the one before it. And it's not just that. It's the frequency of them. Every single commercial break, sometimes twice in the same break, no matter which cable channel I watch. The mute button isn't really an option either. I don't care how fast on the draw you may be, it's not fast enough to avoid the initial "BK Meeeeelts ..." I know I come here and snark a lot and indulge in occasional hyperbole, but not this time. These commercials are ruining watching cable TV for me. The worst of it is that I feel powerless to stop it, like the only choice I have is to watch commercial-free paid platforms (and even those are introducing commercials now) or give up TV altogether. All because fate brought together this one company and that smug fucker who sings the commercials. It's relentless. It's like having a supernatural entity in the house that is hell bent on driving me out. It's like what's done in sleep deprivation experiments, where the subject is allowed to relax just a little bit and ... "BK Meeeelts" booms out of a speaker. I can't understand Burger King's perverse marketing strategy in making potential customers HATE the company.

It has always been my general opinion. I simply don't believe she would have lasted in the more traditional kind of final that might have involved miles and miles of running, racing up a mountain on foot, standing in one spot throughout a long cold night, having to receive intravenous hydration just to keep going, etc., and of course eating challenges. As for Michelle's "weak competitor" narrative, that goes all the way back to Survivor.

One of the worst seasons, far more typical of the so-called fourth era than any of the other three. One of the worst finals ever, too. Did MTV cut the budget? It was almost nothing but swimming. Probably a merciful thing Cara was eliminated just before the final. She would have been put through hell, only to finish worse than Tori. There was no unpredictability in this final, no equalizing task, no entertaining eating challenge, no running, no climbing. IMO, if it had been a true Challenge final, Michele would have been unable to finish. The introduction of karma points probably sounds the death knell for even the most minor drama on the show going forward. Sad to see The Challenge devolve into a popularity contest. Sad to see Bananas clearly just phoning it in. Sadder to hear him complain of hemorrhoids and bad hips. In spite of my gripes, the final provided some grim satisfaction. First and foremost, Michele's comeuppance. A former swim-team member, she was handed an all-swimming final which she mostly aced and STILL lost miserably. I mean, in the end she lost by ONE POINT. And why? For the sole reason that people don't like you, Michele! I guess she thought that without Jay on the show this season she had a chance to rehabilitate her image. Thankfully everybody saw through that. For a moment I feared she might actually win and I would have to wrangle with the same emotions I experienced after Devin won (how fitting they found each other). The look on her face at the end, the utter absence of the smug, phony smile, was priceless. I was also pleased to see Tori taken down a notch. I haven't liked her much since she became Devin's ride or die, a feeling only amplified by her participation in the "Vacation Alliance." I did appreciate that she tried to make her rendition of "Show Me the Way to Go Home" seem heartfelt. (How is it possible that not one of them referenced Jaws while singing that?) Farewell and adieu to you, fair Spanish ladies!

I see that as part of the joke. Although It's possible, I suppose, that I have gone noseblind to commercials after years of toxic exposure to Burger King ads ("Mee-ee-ee-ee-lts") every damn commercial break.

As you may know, I am a frequent contributor to the outrage thread and rarely seen here in favorites. The Outback spot is so ludicrous that it's good, and the actress nails it. She flips the board game as it were performance art and her shriek of frustration hits the perfect note.