TheOtherOne

I can't believe Olivia believed her father. Jake isn't the one who knew Olivia desperately wanted Fitz to win--Rowan was. She should know this. She said it RIGHT TO HIM RIGHT BEFORE THE KID WAS KILLED. I kept waiting for her to say, "No, YOU are the one who knew how badly I wanted Fitz to win. Plus, you wanted to break us up, and you hated my mother enough to frame her." And yet somehow, despite having her father clearly articulate a motivation that only works for Rowan himself, she buys it as a motive for Jake? Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. I can't stand characters being this willfully stupid--and bad guys just walking around getting away with it because of the stupidity. It's not entertaining. It's So Fucking Frustrating.

I'm starting to wonder if I completely misread the ending, because I haven't seen anyone mention what I thought happened (yes, I read the thread) and if I'm right, then all the things so many viewers are unhappy with about Clara are actually deliberate choices on the writers' part. When The Doctor was looking at her all suspiciously at the end, and then claimed that she had been an exceptional Doctor and goodness had nothing to do with it, it's because he knows there's something off about her--which is basically what Missy's subsequent moment a second later confirmed. Clara's complaining about all this stuff because she really DOESN'T want to be traveling with the Doctor, she'd much rather be with Danny back at the school, but Missy has done something to her that's compelling her continue traveling with The Doctor so she can continue serving as Missy's plant so Missy can spy on him. That would make sense with last week, where it seemed to be leading to Clara leaving at the end...and then she didn't, for no discernable reason. Because Missy's done something to make it so that she can't. And now The Doctor's seen something in her behavior that has shown him something's off about her. Anyway, maybe this should be in a speculation thread (I don't think there is one), but that's how I read the ending. (And no, I don't have any spoilers or anything.) But the writers making a companion who's being compelled by outside forces to travel with him against her will makes more sense than just a whiny one who doesn't want to be there, but won't just cut the cord, IMO.

Wow, that was a roller coaster ride. After the first round I thought Amanda's team was so clearly inferior that Jacob was going to walk away with it...only to have his team become terrible in the letter and doo-doo rounds and seem to throw it away...only to have her team completely choke (and a couple of those songs were performed perfectly well and were easily guessable from where I was sitting). Geez. Martha Stewart was predictably terrible, but Suvari and Wolf were also dreadful. I would have picked Margaret Cho for the final round, too, but she wasn't good at all (Star Wars for the first Neeson clue? Ouch). Not that contestant was all that great either (Bale took way too long). Ugh. Not good, and not very fun to watch.

They've only done "Sound Off" twice now, but it's already one of my favorites. I think I could watch an entire episode of just that game. Just so fun. I felt bad for the contestant on the Montgomery/Probst/Thiessen team though. She was really hardcore on that game, and it was clear how unamused she was at how much time they were wasting (couldn't blame her). They made up for it on the chain game though (and then she blew it on that terrible final round. No one to blame but herself.) I thought David Alan Grier was the worst and I hope he doesn't come back. That chain game was painful with how much time he was wasting. The only explanation I can think of is that he simply wasn't paying attention during Tim's turn, which is inexcusable. Speaking of Tim, I loved how he was the only one to really get that game. Unlike all the others, who wasted time by saying the answer, then going back and repeating all the previous ones and saying his answer again, he played it as directed (and how the players did the last time they did this game), not giving his answer at all until he'd said all the previous ones. The time he saved was much needed with Grier dicking around. That final round was enjoyably tense--during the final few names I was convinced time was going to run out, especially with Selena Gomez (I wouldn't have had any idea what to say)--and it was nice to see someone win again.

I can't believe they went there so soon with Justin and Nicki, or how happy it made me when they did. I think it was a smart move, like when NewsRadio put Dave and Lisa together in episode 2. Refreshing that they didn't drag it out. I just like this show. All the reviews promised the first episodes were the weakest and it progressively got better, and I think that's definitely proving to be the case.

Arsenio's talk show was just canceled today. That means half of the celebrities in the episode are now unemployed. Tony Hale has no reason to worry, since Veep likely isn't going anywhere, but Berkus and Devine might want to brace themselves....

I liked it, mostly on the basis of the characters, and it looks like it did well last nght. It was the highest premiere for a summer comedy in five years and did better than anything NBC's had in the timeslot since October or so. And it stayed steady from the first episode to the second, so most of the audience must have liked what it saw. I'm always rooting for a multicam, so hopefully that means the show will end up being more than just a summer burnoff. It wasn't the best thing ever, but it was better than most purported comedies the networks turn out these days (case in point: its timeslot competition "The Millers." Ugh.) http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/05/30/tv-ratings-thursday-decent-debut-for-undateable-hells-kitchen-hollywood-game-night-up-gang-related-steady-black-box-last-comic-standing-down/268728/ (PS: I don't know anything about Chris D'Elia and don't really want to know anything about him, so I'm avoiding whatever he did or said. Finding out about actors always ruins them for me, like how my nostalgic fondness for 90s era Dean Cain was destroyed by 2010s era rightwing nutjob Dean Cain. :( )

Boy, bringing Ackerman and Whitford on to promote "Trophy Wife" didn't really work out, huh? Too bad they didn't air the episode earlier. (Or did NBC hold it on purpose? Hmmm...) I was rooting for the other contestant and thought it sucked that they didn't have to play some kind of tiebreaker. I mean, yeah, it makes sense that the one who won the most games gets something out of it, but I just liked the other one better (and she had to deal with how terrible Whitford was in that final round. Oof). And I bet she would have done better in the final round. God knows she couldn't have done worse. Kind of a middling episode. Not the best, not the worst. The song guessing round was my favorite this time. Both contestants seemed to do better than they usually do, which made it a lot more fun.

The Critics Choice Awards nominations are out. Was thrilled to see Bellamy Young get a well-deserved nomination for Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Joe Morton was nominated for Guest Actor. http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/05/28/critics-choice-television-awards-nominees/

Just to give some love to someone who hasn't been mentioned: I enjoyed Taran Killam, not just because he was fairly good at the game, but because he clearly wasn't having Angie Harmon and was sitting on the arm of the couch as though he couldn't get far enough away from her. Couldn't blame him in the least.

Valerie played the final round in a previous appearance, and while she stumbled a little at times, she got the job done and her contestant won with time to spare. I remember because she did get Barack Obama in that round and she said, "He is our president." So at least she's smarter than Mekhi.