S01.E06: Shout Out

[CheshireCat]

Quote

Eleanor moves Hick into the White House while Franklin has the FBI spy on her; Betty works to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, which aggravates Jerry's staff; Michelle pushes Barack to support marriage equality despite his re-election concerns.

Air date: May 22, 2022

[Spartan Girl]

I’ll give Franklin credit for at least telling Eleanor that he wouldn’t play the hypocrite and that he was happy she found someone, but that crying afterwards? Please.

[marinw]

5 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I’ll give Franklin credit for at least telling Eleanor that he wouldn’t play the hypocrite and that he was happy she found someone, but that crying afterwards? Please.

Kiefer is an excellent crier, so I'll allow it. Not sure if FDR was that far ahead of his time. Guess we will never know. At least two of the stories this week had something to do with each other, with Eleanor finding happiness with a woman and same sex marriage becoming law during the Obama era.

[txhorns79]

1 hour ago, marinw said:

Not sure if FDR was that far ahead of his time. Guess we will never know. At least two of the stories this week had something to do with each other, with Eleanor finding happiness with a woman and same sex marriage becoming law during the Obama era.

He did continue with his affairs during their time in the White House, so while I don't know if he was crying over Eleanor, I would presume he did give her a pretty wide berth as to whatever relationships she was pursuing.  And while I get that in the 1930s, the President and First Lady had a lot more leeway as to their private activities, I don't quite believe Eleanor was doing the walk of shame from The Mayflower to the White House without people noticing and commenting.  And I don't know if it is completely obvious, but I do appreciate in the 1930s establishing shots, they at least try to make clear the White House was in poor condition.  The whole place had to be essentially gutted and rebuilt by the late 40s.   

[marinw]

21 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

And I don't know if it is completely obvious, but I do appreciate in the 1930s establishing shots, they at least try to make clear the White House was in poor condition.  The whole place had to be essentially gutted and rebuilt by the late 40s.   

Because of the Depression? A different but related situation: In Canada the Prime Minister's Official Residence, 24 Sussex Drive, is so delapidated that Justin Trudeau hasn't lived there since he took office in late 2015. In Canada the PM doesn't live where he works, but spending a lot of money on the Residence would seem an embarrasing waste. An issue that didn't seem to bother future US First Ladies. I'm looking at YOU, Nancy Reagan and your dishes.

Edited May 24, 2022 by marinw

[txhorns79]

21 minutes ago, marinw said:

Because of the Depression?

Somewhat.  Mostly, it was because the building was old and not properly maintained.  Renovations and additions had been done haphazardly. From what I remember, the Depression played a role in that maintenance was not a priority.  By the Truman era, the floors were rotting, the masonry was crumbling and the whole place was in real danger of collapse.

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

One quibble: The show keeps getting key years wrong. The Ford sequences were labeled 1974, but Susan Ford's prom was held in 1975. North Dakota and Indiana were the only states to ratify the ERA during Ford's presidency, with neither coming in 1974.

Is it really so difficult to get basic facts correct?

[marinw]

2 minutes ago, Sir RaiderDuck OMS said:

The Ford sequences were labeled 1974, but Susan Ford's prom was held in 1975.

Dakoto Fanning is too old to play a teenager. I know adults play teens all the time, but she still seems too old.

[txhorns79]

1 hour ago, Sir RaiderDuck OMS said:

The show keeps getting key years wrong. The Ford sequences were labeled 1974, but Susan Ford's prom was held in 1975. North Dakota and Indiana were the only states to ratify the ERA during Ford's presidency, with neither coming in 1974.

I give them some leeway on the smaller things because they are trying to tell a story, and sometimes events have to be compressed to fit the story, even if they didn't quite happen that way in real life.     

[NoReally]

I know this has been covered extensively here, but I have to comment, because it's driving me up the wall:
 

Viola Davis's (normally such a good actor) mouth gyrations are not only weird, inaccurate, and unfair to Michelle Obama, they're starting to get gross. And they're completely taking me out of her storylines. 

[MaryMitch]

20 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I’ll give Franklin credit for at least telling Eleanor that he wouldn’t play the hypocrite and that he was happy she found someone, but that crying afterwards? Please.

I thought it was sweet; he was realizing he had lost her.

[meep.meep]

I find that closing my eyes during the Michelle and Barak scenes is a great help.  Both actors sound like the people they are portraying and you miss whatever Davis is doing facially.

I liked an episode that emphasized the Presidential daughters throughout the years.

[marinw]

6 hours ago, NoReally said:

I know this has been covered extensively here, but I have to comment, because it's driving me up the wall:
 

Viola Davis's (normally such a good actor) mouth gyrations are not only weird, inaccurate, and unfair to Michelle Obama, they're starting to get gross. And they're completely taking me out of her storylines. 

Viola Davis is beautiful. Michelle Obama is beautiful. Viola portraying Michelle is ...not as beautiful. Also I think that Michelle is not quite that self righteous. And she is funnier than she is portrayed here. I admit that I am making this observation based on seeing her on TV and online.

Franklin and Eleanor have an "understanding" about each other's private activities.

Edited May 23, 2022 by marinw

[monakane]

1 hour ago, meep.meep said:

find that closing my eyes during the Michelle and Barak scenes is a great help.  Both actors sound like the people they are portraying and you miss whatever Davis is doing facially.

It's very distracting.  If I were Michelle Obama, I would not be happy.

[Hedgehog2022]

On the speculation about the "open" marriage of FDR and Eleanor...after the betrayal of the Lucy Mercer/FDR affair, Eleanor proceeded to make a life professionally and personally of her own. Her affair with "Hick" was real and putting her stamp on the role of the First Lady was her primary goal. As the years went on, Eleanor had a separate home in  upstate New York near the family home...FDR actually encouraged her to buy it and make it place where she could have workshops, events and gatherings that she supported and interested her. It's now a National Historical Site. She and FDR led separate lives for years...I will be interested to see how they portray the relationship of Anna and Eleanor later on in life. Anna remarried and her new husband was a colleague of my Dad...they often came to our home for dinner parties. At that time, Anna had been estranged from Eleanor for some time up until Eleanor's death. She expressed a deep contempt for Eleanor to my parents...much their surprise and sadness...I remember my mother telling me her hatred of Eleanor was visceral.  Later in FDR's life, Anna helped facilitate his "visits" with Lucy Mercer after they had rekindled their love affair. 

[Marley]

11 hours ago, NoReally said:

I know this has been covered extensively here, but I have to comment, because it's driving me up the wall:
 

Viola Davis's (normally such a good actor) mouth gyrations are not only weird, inaccurate, and unfair to Michelle Obama, they're starting to get gross. And they're completely taking me out of her storylines. 

Yes I’ve gone on about it quite a bit but it honestly gets worse each episode. Like how could no one say anything. It’s almost ruined the whole show for me. Whenever that time thing changes to recent times I get ready to FF.

Betty and Eleanor’s parts are good.

[Hedgehog2022]

3 hours ago, Marley said:

Yes I’ve gone on about it quite a bit but it honestly gets worse each episode. Like how could no one say anything. It’s almost ruined the whole show for me. Whenever that time thing changes to recent times I get ready to FF.

Betty and Eleanor’s parts are good.

Same here…I can’t watch Viola Davis at all…what was she thinking? What was the director thinking?

[One Imaginary Girl]

On 5/23/2022 at 9:02 AM, Sir RaiderDuck OMS said:

One quibble: The show keeps getting key years wrong. The Ford sequences were labeled 1974, but Susan Ford's prom was held in 1975. North Dakota and Indiana were the only states to ratify the ERA during Ford's presidency, with neither coming in 1974.

Is it really so difficult to get basic facts correct?

Thank you!  I wondered why Susan was discussing end-of-school-year things like the prom and graduation in 1974 when the Fords didn't even move into the White House until August of that year.  On the other hand, at one point a White House staffer suggested that Ford mention the evils of "revolutionaries" in a regular speech, not a campaign speech, but we were definitely before 1976.

Another thing that bothers me is the music choices.  Some of the songs for the Betty segments have been from the early to mid '70s but not really right for older people in those days, such as "Coconut," "I Shot the Sheriff," and "Rock the Boat." Plus I don't get why "Enola Gay" at the end of this episode--it was from the early '80s, not 2015, and did the person who chose it think that because the word Gay is in the title that it's about an LGBTQ matter and not the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb?  

Edited May 24, 2022 by One Imaginary Girl

[hoodooznoodooz]

Was there an actual typographical error in the newspaper article about Louis Howe’s death?
 

Roosevelt Adivsor 

[hoodooznoodooz]

The Golden Retriever portraying Liberty is the cutest.

[monakane]

9 hours ago, hoodooznoodooz said:

The Golden Retriever portraying Liberty is the cutest.

I remember when Liberty had her puppies.  

[Mellowyellow]

My husband, who is very much a golden man, just melted when he saw photos of real life Liberty. He said he could see that she had a loving and genuine soul (he's a tad salty because his real life golden girl is a dramatic diva)

[kassa]

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Another thing that bothers me is the music choices.  Some of the songs for the Betty segments have been from the early to mid '70s but not really right for older people in those days, such as "Coconut," "I Shot the Sheriff," and "Rock the Boat."

I totally buy Betty as a Top 40 gal. AM radio was still king then, and those were what was on the radio.  Everybody's mom was listening to the same songs we were (I was 10-11 at the time).