may flowers

If Joe does a promotional tour for the book, it will be interesting to see how he handles actual questions on his actions during the 2016 campaign since he’s regularly so defensive about it. Other than the friendly space Vanity Fair offers, have they been interviewed by real journalists outside the echo chamber MJ provides them? They’ve spent so much time burrowing into their own alternate reality, where Mika is the KYV toast of a new generation and Joe a respected elder statesmen and a Wise Man, how will they handle challenges to their bubble?

Interesting question that I’ve wondered about personally. For me, it’s that she’s radically transformed herself for a man - ending her marriage, changing her body, and taking on his opinions-and in exchange Joe takes care of her professionally and personally. Then she hypocritically lectures other women on knowing our value. To me it seems as if her value is determined by Joe - she is simply a reflection of his perfect woman. I remember reading articles where Mika referred to Joe as her stylist and her publicist - he literally accompanied her when she was being interviewed and steered the conversation. It’s an extraordinarily co-dependent relationship, and it’s hard for me to view them separately. Once upon a time, I felt for her - overbearing father, overbearing Joe (I didn’t watch the show for a year after Joe snapped his fingers at her), not as academically achievement-oriented as her family - but when she started disrespecting viewers by mumbling while others spoke, cleaning out her pocketbook on live TV, and demonstrating her lack of preparedness by skimming an author’s book while the author sat next to her, that empathy was strained. Then came their blatant, vociferous support for Trump and their unwillingness to accept that their undisguised Hillary hatred and Trump favoritism helped Trump get elected...well, it all adds up to not liking Mika...or Joe . I just don’t respect either of them.

Donnie gives Joe a run for his money in the arrogance sweepstakes on a normal day. However, since getting his own show focusing on politics he's become insufferable. He's taken to mansplaining when he's on with Nicolle, and that is truly annoying. Then today, he was clearly in his bloviating pundit persona. Having been in branding my whole career, I once found his insights interesting. No longer. I changed the channel and didn't go back.

Exactly. She’s finished with the enhancements and now she’s happy.

The NYT has a proprietary method for determining its best sellers. I believe Amazon’s list is based on sales on their site, as Suomi points out.

I just checked the NYT bestseller lists, and the book isn’t on it ( Howard Stern is at #1 in non-fiction). It’s the June 2 list, so it’s the current one. Mika is probably sad, so it’s a good thing she has the Mueller news to distract her.

No, not at all. I do think what that illuminates, though, is why this show had, and continues to have, an affinity for Trump - a shared world view. Joe still seesaws from criticizing Trump to complimenting him.

That raises a question I had - has Jasmine (I think that was her character’s name) been on the show before? She said that Sam and Callen were her mentors at NCIS - is she someone from an earlier episode?

I lost respect for Nicolle for her Mika segment, and for referring to Mika as her mentor. This is why Joe and Mika crow about having “their people” on the network, and why they have, or are perceived to have, such power there.

Has Joe ever said who these “blue checkmark Democrats” that he rails against are?

The Obamas actually live in Washington, DC. President Obama was never Joe’s favorite because he didn’t seek Joe’s approval. Joe & Mika were Trumpists from the start and would still be if they could. Joe enjoys thinking of himself as influencing politics like he influences NBC.

If I remember correctly the issue was that no one was listed as Deeks’ next of kin. Hetty had Nell research whether a man - I forget his name - was still alive. The man, a convict, had been killed in a car accident after his release from jail. The man was revealed to be Deeks’ father, so the implication was that Deeks had no next of kin so Hetty volunteered to be his person. His mother was never mentioned in that episode, so it was quite a surprise when she showed up! (This is based on my memory of the episode. I’m sure others know the series better and will have more information. )

If I remember correctly, LVP and Ken did try to get Tom and Tom more involved in design when they went to Vegas to meet with the designer. I think the Toms partied and were late/didn’t show up to meetings. The Toms might have tried to make up later in that trip, but I think that it was too late.

I too found seasons 1-7 the best. I like the Tahir and Callen’s family stories because those seeds were sown in the early seasons and it’s nice seeing the twists and turns the stories have taken over the years. Callen, Sam and Hetty have always been the heart of the show for me. That’s part of the reason I’ve missed her so much all season.

I cannot believe that they have Susanne Craig on, who broke the NYT story on Trump’s taxes, and yet they spend 10 minutes on stupid stuff, including soccer. And really, Mika should just crawl into Joe’s lap - it’s clear that’s where she wants to be. They are so frustrating when there is breaking news and they choose to mug for the cameras. They didn’t even have questions ready for the reporter. Why couldn’t it be Ali Velshi and Steph Ruhle instead?

Courtesy of Presidential historian Michael Beschloss’ Twitter account, looks like Ducky had dinner with...Robert Mueller! Is NCIS on the case?

The same could probably have been said about Lauer. I tend to agree that hubris will be their downfall. Sooner rather than later is my hope - the newly religious Joe is truly annoying.

As if to prove this story true, Joe retweeted Halperin this morning. With that, I’m pretty sure we’ll see him on MJ soon. They took no lesson from boosting Trump, did they?

Mika and Joe’s direct actions to bring back Halperin, including developing an online only show with him, are despicable. Not only is this anti-brand for Ms. KYV, but it’s also a reminder how, like they did with Trump, Mika & Joe champion the powerful men and degrade the women (see Clinton, Hillary). Oakville can speak more knowledgeably to this, but Mika and Joe have been highly successful at seeding “their people” on MSNBC (except prime time) and are fairly powerful there. I wouldn’t be surprised if they got their way here - disgusted, but not surprised.

I also think it helps that Rogers doesn’t seem to take himself terribly seriously. He does seem to have a sense of humor, which Moseley didn’t. That works on this show.

If I could I would like this a million times.

I turned on my set to hear Joe say “Mika and I think...”. So they share a brain and are incapable of independent thought?

The amount of shilling these two do for their other jobs is shameless. If only it seemed like they put as much effort into their show...

I wonder how John Heileman would feel if his former partner came back? I’ve read that their break-up was bitter. Halperin’s victims numbered more than a dozen. And Mika tried to exploit them 1) to help Halperin and 2) to juice ratings: https://money.cnn.com/2017/12/22/media/mika-brzezinski-mark-halperin-victims/index.html This episode was when I lost all respect for her. Her instinct is always to protect the powerful man.

She really is stuck in her childhood. Wasn’t it Carter, for whom her father worked, that committed adultery “in his heart” back in the day?