S02.E02: Alberta’s Podcast

[rollacoaster]

On 10/7/2022 at 9:28 AM, tennisgurl said:

Also, she's not wrong about podcasts being radio that you can put in your pocket. It makes me weirdly happy that radio ended up finding a strange second life as a medium. 

Ha! I'm 47. A few years ago on my job, a younger coworker asked me if I listened to podcasts. This was at the beginning of them becoming popular, and I wasn't familiar. After she explained it to me, I frowned and said. "So you mean like an old time radio show?"

[iMonrey]

Quote

 I do love this show, but when pretty much all of the characters thought it was wrong to be a "rat," including (and especially) Alberta, but then agreed it was okay to be a "rat" when one felt that someone else got a break and they didn't and because they were being seen as "less than" due to being overweight, it just bothers me to no end 

I'd have to watch again (which I will) but I don't think they necessarily thought it was "OK" that she ratted on Clara, it was more that they understood why she did it and forgave her, and gave her permission to forgive herself. I think all her protestations against "ratting" were sort of a projection on her part because of her deep seated guilt over what she'd done. 

[Daff]

On 10/6/2022 at 9:12 PM, Kiddvideo said:

Wow. There were wayyyyyy too many commercials. I swear there were 8 in the one block about 3/4 of the way through. CBS must be desperate since it’s their biggest comedy.

The episode? Identifying the suspect was the highlight. Otherwise pretty meh for me.

It’s not just this show, not just this network. I really think half-hour shows are dangerously close to quarter-hour content, while hour-long are approaching 30 minutes of content. I even saw the exact same ad run twice, after about 30 seconds of blank screen last week. Thought I’d lost the sat signal. 

On 10/6/2022 at 9:57 PM, edhopper said:

Alberta: "That is literally a radio.". 😄

Funniest quip of the night, especially since “literally” wasn’t an obnoxious, vernacular thing in the twenties! 

[Daff]

On 10/7/2022 at 1:42 AM, kathyk24 said:

Who knew that Flower could be the voice of reason?

Actually, I’ve never found her character to be bothersome, as others here have. She’s actually alright in her lucid moments, and I find humor in how quickly those moments can “switch off”, straight into hippydippydom!

On 10/7/2022 at 7:47 AM, Beden said:

On pretty much every show, yeah. I've gotten to the point where I record anything I actually want to see and watch later, fast forwarding through the ads. Seriously. It helps and is a lot less annoying.

If you’re over 60, it’s the only way…I’ve got no time to waste on ads-especially THIS time of year!

[peachmangosteen]

3 hours ago, Daff said:

Funniest quip of the night, especially since “literally” wasn’t an obnoxious, vernacular thing in the twenties! 

She didn't say 'literally.' She said 'Baby, that's called radio. What you're describing is radio.' It was the 'baby' that really got me lol.

[Daff]

6 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

She didn't say 'literally.' She said 'Baby, that's called radio. What you're describing is radio.' It was the 'baby' that really got me lol.

She said it several times, and lastly, said, (when everyone ignored her), “Literally, that’s radio”. 

[peachmangosteen]

In the initial podcast scene? I don't hear her say literally at all lol weird.

[seacliffsal]

On 10/7/2022 at 4:48 PM, Skooma said:

One person's rat is another person's whistleblower and I always lean to the latter even though this was only about one-to-one revenge.  Besides I have nothing against ratting out someone in general personally and don't know why anyone would hold it as a bad thing to do.  It you are ratted on you did something to get yourself ratted on.  This crazy concept a lot of society (including fictional Alberta here) seems to have of being loyal to someone doing something wrong doesn't ever wash with me.

It's not that "ratting" someone out is bad, it's that she proclaimed her firm belief that one should never rat someone out-ever.  Then, she did-because she was mad.  Additionally, she admitted that she also was involved in bootlegging, so guilty of the exact same thing.

[shapeshifter]

Twice Alberta refers to herself "as the one true god."
Then at the end, when Jay replaces the washing machine, Hetty yells, "Jay! Who are you to play god?!!" 
I guess the metaphor is that Todd (and other crazy fans) worship Alberta (and other celebrities) like a god,  just as Hetty worshipped the washing machine that gave her pleasure (and like people worship drugs and money and other sources of pleasure).

Also:
Alberta was deeply ashamed of being a rat, just as Hetty was deeply ashamed of being sexually aroused. 

I think there's more meaning to these metaphors that I'm missing, but the A and B plots do succeed as a harmonious tapestry.

[edhopper]

I may have miss-rembered the "literally ", anybody still have it on their DVR?

[shapeshifter]

7 minutes ago, edhopper said:

I may have miss-rembered the "literally ", anybody still have it on their DVR?

Sorry, no "literally."

[edhopper]

It was still funny, even if I'm senile.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

19 hours ago, stonehaven said:

If you want to get technical, aren't all the ghosts rats since they tell Sam whenever Jay lies or when the B & B guests said nasty things?

True, but they didn't write a song about it....

7 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

It's not that "ratting" someone out is bad, it's that she proclaimed her firm belief that one should never rat someone out-ever.  Then, she did-because she was mad.  Additionally, she admitted that she also was involved in bootlegging, so guilty of the exact same thing.

This, too.

[shapeshifter]

10 hours ago, edhopper said:

It was still funny, even if I'm senile.

Probably a ghost👻 in your home, who was watching the show with you, repeated the line with “literally” added. 😊

Edited October 9, 2022 by shapeshifter

[Mabinogia]

On 10/7/2022 at 4:48 PM, Skooma said:

One person's rat is another person's whistleblower and I always lean to the latter even though this was only about one-to-one revenge.  Besides I have nothing against ratting out someone in general personally and don't know why anyone would hold it as a bad thing to do.  It you are ratted on you did something to get yourself ratted on.  This crazy concept a lot of society (including fictional Alberta here) seems to have of being loyal to someone doing something wrong doesn't ever wash with me.

That's my stance on it too. If Alberta had lied about Clara being a bootlegger, that would be horrible as she ruined a woman's life for her own career gain. But Clara is actually a bootlegger. I've never had much use for the whole "Pirate code" concept of criminals not telling on other criminals as if it's something ethical. It is self-preservation. You don't rat on me and I won't rat on you. 

As for her friends being all "rats are bad" then "it's okay you're a rat", I think most of them didn't have a strong feeling either way and said what they felt would make their friend feel better, like when you're friend is dating someone you don't really like but isn't a horrible person, so you just say "yeah, Steve's great" but when she finally ditches him you're like "yeah, Steve is a jerk" because you don't care either way really. 

On 10/8/2022 at 6:50 AM, stonehaven said:

If you want to get technical, aren't all the ghosts rats since they tell Sam whenever Jay lies or when the B & B guests said nasty things?

And yep, they are all rats so clearly they don't have a strong anti-rat sentiment. 

[Daff]

20 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

In the initial podcast scene? I don't hear her say literally at all lol weird.

You are correct. But two of us heard Alberta’s voice say “That is literally, a radio.” I wasn’t looking at the TV when I heard it, but the tone of voice was priceless. Only thing I can say is perhaps that line was cut from the final script, and replaced with the “baby” line (equally funny), but used in the many promos CBS plays during the week leading up to airing. I’d plead “hallucinating”, except someone else quoted the exact line, above (gives me hope I’m not losing my mind). Sorry for the posts wasted on it. 

[Daff]

17 hours ago, edhopper said:

I may have miss-rembered the "literally ", anybody still have it on their DVR?

I did hear it too, and it was memorable. I came up with a possibility above, which is feasible because when I’m actually watching, I never take my eyes off the action. There’s such a large cast, you can easily miss funny reactions. 

[edhopper]

It was; "Honey, that's radio. What you're describing is radio."

[peachmangosteen]

3 hours ago, Daff said:

You are correct. But two of us heard Alberta’s voice say “That is literally, a radio.” I wasn’t looking at the TV when I heard it, but the tone of voice was priceless. Only thing I can say is perhaps that line was cut from the final script, and replaced with the “baby” line (equally funny), but used in the many promos CBS plays during the week leading up to airing. I’d plead “hallucinating”, except someone else quoted the exact line, above (gives me hope I’m not losing my mind). Sorry for the posts wasted on it. 

Ah, it being in a promo is probably what happened. They probably did multiple versions of the line.

39 minutes ago, edhopper said:

It was; "Honey, that's radio. What you're describing is radio."

It was baby. And like I said before, the way Alberta said 'baby' made me fall out lol.

[Barbarblacksheep]

Ok, just went to the CBS site and watched the first few minutes of the show. The line is:

"Baby, that's called radio. What you're describing is radio"

(I tried to do a screenshot with captioning, but I'm not that adept)

Anyway, just chiming in to say I loooove this show. At the risk of sounding REALLY snotty, I don't watch much network TV. I definitely don't watch network sitcoms (The Connors was the long holdout on that, but I gave up on that mess). This show has me laughing/snorting every few minutes. The writing is funny & sharp and I'm a little in love with all the ghosts (including Nancy in the basement). I watched the BBC version first, and the American version is just as funny...not something I say often!

[edhopper]

To quote Chandler, "Could I be more wrong? "

[North of Eden]

"Oh...this guy."

Hands down Issac is the best character! I know he can't be front and center all the time but I was sad to see him have such a small role. However I am always happy when they give Flower something to do

...with that said though this was the first time I didn't like a subplot. The whole thing with Hettie was something you would see in CBS's trashy sex-coms (TWO BROKE GIRLS I'm looking at you). GHOSTS is better than this so I was dissapointed. How's that for twist of plot Thorfin?!

Also not a fan of Pete's crush on Alberta...I just don't see it. Someone on this board suggested maybe an across the fence love affair for Pete with the 1950's chambermaid ghost over at the neighbors house...I like that idea and would love to see the show run with it.

Speaking of love I would hope we will revisit Sas's true love story where the female love interest in somewhere stuck in town.

No guests? A B & B would need a steady supply to keep it profitable.

Being 45 minutes north of Ulster County I always get a kick out of the idea this is "happening" nearby.

[ZuluQueenOfDwarves]

9 hours ago, North of Eden said:

Speaking of love I would hope we will revisit Sas's true love story where the female love interest in somewhere stuck in town.

Didn’t Sas say he was married when he was alive? Presumably not to Shiki, given the dead deer gaffe. I could swear he mentioned a wife during the whole “I had sex 43 times” thing from last year’s Halloween episode. 

[Daff]

13 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

Ah, it being in a promo is probably what happened. They probably did multiple versions of the line.

It was baby. And like I said before, the way Alberta said 'baby' made me fall out lol.

Too bad we don’t get “behind the scenes, deleted scenes, or on the set segments” for Ghosts. I think we’d all enjoy those! Thor might raise a fist, proclaiming, “More riotous laughter!”

[shapeshifter]

59 minutes ago, Daff said:

Too bad we don’t get “behind the scenes, deleted scenes, or on the set segments” for Ghosts. I think we’d all enjoy those! Thor might raise a fist, proclaiming, “More riotous laughter!”

Oh, I like to think such a bit would likely get included.😄

[Katy M]

On 10/6/2022 at 9:10 PM, Annber03 said:

I also loved Isaac, Sasappis, and Trevor all waiting patiently for Todd to turn the page in the diary, and their reactions when he flipped back to the page he'd been reading

I think you're playing fast and loose with the word "patiently.

On 10/6/2022 at 10:03 PM, phalange said:

saac being pleased at everyone finally gasping dramatically was great.

I'm glad that he got to be present for that, because I was bummed he wasn't there when Sam gasped earlier.

[proserpina65]

20 hours ago, North of Eden said:

The whole thing with Hettie was something you would see in CBS's trashy sex-coms

If it were just played for raunchy comedy, I might agree with you.  However it was more part of Hetty's slowly (very slowly) becoming more acquainted and comfortable with being her own woman and not just under some man's control, and as such, I find it both hysterical and rather touching.

[iMonrey]

Quote

Didn’t Sas say he was married when he was alive?

No, he never said he was married. Shiki was the love of his life but he never told her.

[Sakura12]

58 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

No, he never said he was married. Shiki was the love of his life but he never told her.

Didn't he kill a deer, gave it to her, then he died?

[ZuluQueenOfDwarves]

11 hours ago, Sakura12 said:

Didn't he kill a deer, gave it to her, then he died?

I think that’s what he thought he should’ve done, in hindsight. 

[Neptune]

[Kiddvideo]

15 hours ago, ZuluQueenOfDwarves said:

I think that’s what he thought he should’ve done, in hindsight. 

I just watched the scene, and he said she was the love of his life and he thought she felt the same. He killed the deer, gave it to her family, and he never heard from her again. Then Sam told Jay that Shiki ghosted Sass, and the ghosts were offended by the phrase. Pete asked if the point was “ghosts have no manners?” Sass didn’t specifically say he told Shiki how he felt, but I think the gift made it clear. Then Jay started composing texts for Sass: ‘sup.

[SusieQ]

For any of you who had kids in the past 25 years, the club owner was played by the actor who voiced Buster Baxter(!!!) in the PBS kids show "Arthur". 

[Annber03]

10 minutes ago, SusieQ said:

For any of you who had kids in the past 25 years, the club owner was played by the actor who voiced Buster Baxter(!!!) in the PBS kids show "Arthur". 

I don't have kids, but I definitely remember watching "Arthur" when I was younger! Awwwwww. That's cool :)!

[SmithW6079]

On 10/6/2022 at 9:57 PM, edhopper said:

Alberta: "That is literally a radio.". 😄

Best line of the episode. 

Also, gross that one of the storylines is a ghost masturbating herself on an unbalanced washing machine. 

[Scarlett45]

On 10/6/2022 at 8:57 PM, edhopper said:

Alberta: "That is literally a radio.". 😄

When my Mom asked me what a podcast was I told her it was like talk radio you could store on your device and play back later. She said “ah!”.

[LexieLily]

"It's your body, isn't it? I mean, you're in charge of it, right?"
"You mean since my husband passed away?"
"No! Since always, man!"

If it didn't hurt for ghosts and Livings to touch each other I would give Hetty the biggest hug ever. It broke my heart a little bit that Hetty didn't even know what was happening to her on the washing machine and it's oddly sweet that Flower (Flower!) of all people was the only one to figure it out that Hetty didn't know. The Hetty/Flower scene in the second half of the episode was sweet but more I just felt sad how ashamed Hetty was of going back to sit on the washing machine that she confessed to Flower. How many different times in Hetty's life did she have to confess "bad" things to her father or Elias?

Isaac was so happy to get a good dramatic gasp from everyone once they realized Clara was at the mansion the night Alberta died and that makes her a suspect. Somehow I forget that the older ghosts have been there all this time and see everything. 

Trevor, Sass and Isaac screaming at Todd to read the book faster and turn the page, dammit, was my favorite scene of the entire episode. That is totally me, I'm a fast reader and most times I'm finished with both sides of a page before the other person's finished the left side. I feel ya, ghost boys :p. I also loved how sad Trevor was about the podcast they were listening to at the beginning of the episode, about a Pilates-doing hot girl named Haley (as all the Haleys are!) being murdered. Hee.

Thor was on fire this week - not literally, fire would interfere with his power in a super-unfortunate way - but oh my god, I loved his back-and-forth with Alberta about her "Don't Be A Rat" song (him singing at later was GOLD) and I might have actually coughed up my drink at this exchange:

"The point is, there's nothing lower than a rat."
"What about ground rat walk on? Yes! Thor win mind fight."

On 10/6/2022 at 7:47 PM, ams1001 said:

"Would you just die already so we can be best friends?" 😄

I don't know how these writers do it - on any other show it would be an extremely distasteful sentence but on this show it's oddly sweet. Poor Pete and Jay want to be friends and connect so badly, I hope it happens before the show is over, somehow. 

[Annber03]

37 minutes ago, LexieLily said:

"It's your body, isn't it? I mean, you're in charge of it, right?"
"You mean since my husband passed away?"
"No! Since always, man!"

If it didn't hurt for ghosts and Livings to touch each other I would give Hetty the biggest hug ever. It broke my heart a little bit that Hetty didn't even know what was happening to her on the washing machine and it's oddly sweet that Flower (Flower!) of all people was the only one to figure it out that Hetty didn't know. The Hetty/Flower scene in the second half of the episode was sweet but more I just felt sad how ashamed Hetty was of going back to sit on the washing machine that she confessed to Flower. How many different times in Hetty's life did she have to confess "bad" things to her father or Elias?

Ooh, well, there's a heartbreaking thought to imagine :(. 

But yes, that's a fantastic scene between Hetty and Flower, and it ties nicely into that bit in "The Vault" from the first season, where Hetty's telling Elias about all the things she's been learning from the other women of the house. She gets to learn how a marriage should be by observing Sam and Jay, Alberta had impressed upon her the importance of women voting and using their voice, and now Flower's letting her know it's okay to embrace her sexual side, and take control of her body however she wishes. I really like the idea that despite being the oldest woman in the house, Hetty still finds so much to learn from the younger women who are there, both living and dead. 

Quote

Isaac was so happy to get a good dramatic gasp from everyone once they realized Clara was at the mansion the night Alberta died and that makes her a suspect. Somehow I forget that the older ghosts have been there all this time and see everything. 

It really is wild to think of all the things they've observed with the ghosts that came after them while they were still alive, isn't it? And yet, even then, despite having lived with Alberta for almost a full century, there were still some things about her they didn't know, either. It's fascinating, this idea that they can know so much about each other and yet there's also still so much they don't know about each other, too, that there's still so much for them to learn. Certainly keeps things interesting, at least. 

Quote

Trevor, Sass and Isaac screaming at Todd to read the book faster and turn the page, dammit, was my favorite scene of the entire episode. That is totally me, I'm a fast reader and most times I'm finished with both sides of a page before the other person's finished the left side. I feel ya, ghost boys :p. I also loved how sad Trevor was about the podcast they were listening to at the beginning of the episode, about a Pilates-doing hot girl named Haley (as all the Haleys are!) being murdered. Hee.

"You wrote a book, read one!" XD. And then the way they talk themselves into deciding to keep reading the diary, "for Alberta's sake", LOL. 

Regarding the podcast, I always laugh at the bit where Jay dismisses the idea that the husband was a suspect and Sasappis is like, "Says the husband." :p. He's got a point!

Quote

Thor was on fire this week - not literally, fire would interfere with his power in a super-unfortunate way - but oh my god, I loved his back-and-forth with Alberta about her "Don't Be A Rat" song (him singing at later was GOLD) 

As hilarious as that was, there's something also kind of sweet about the idea that he'd become so familiar with her songs that he could sing them so easily. It makes me think of that bit in the first season where Alberta's surprised that he mentions Louis Armstrong and he's like, 'You talk, I listen." I feel like this is a nice little continuation of that theme with them :). 

I share your sentiments about Pete's line to Jay, too, and wanting them to find more ways to connect and be friends.