S:01 E:03 Show Them Who You Are, Baby

[JayDub1987]

Didn't see a thread for tonight, so I figured I'd start one.

[JayDub1987]

OK, so I guess starting the thread was a vanity move. I just needed somewhere to post my live reactions to this train wreck. Now that my wife has checked out on the show (hey, she survived 2 horrible weeks), the people who come here are all I've got to talk to about this mess. Yes, I'm hate watching, and no, I'm not sorry.

• So we're opening up this country soap opera with a bad cover of a bad song by Lizzo...Because that's a thing that I needed to have happen. I will concede, I had to Google a portion of the lyrics to find out who sang whatever the hell that was. I've never heard the song before, nor have I ever heard any Lizzo song. I think I'm good with that.
• Whew. Thankfully we're back to country covers by the third scene. Has anybody on this show heard any country music that came out in the last 15 years? Breathe? Thanks for ruining one of my favorite memories...
• That pop version of "The Brambles" was a nice reminder that someone did write at least part of an original song for a show about music.
• Speaking of illegitimate children, we all saw the whole Gigi's wife being knocked up by the brother, right? I mean, this is a soap. If somebody doesn't get knocked up by their significant other's relative, we don't even have a show.
• OK, so the way Nicky found the Dottie song about Albie's cheating was kinda cheesy, but FINALLY they used some original lyrics in a song to really set up something that went on in the show. Do more of this!
• "Mom, something just came in under the door." "Maybe it's your Monarch contract!" Yes, because record labels slide contracts under the effing door of a motel!? Jesus, who wrote that shit?
• Can't lie, the whole thing with Nicky and the "other woman" was kinda fun.
• Tanya Tucker can friggin' sing. Truly one of the most under-appreciated female voices in country music. 
• When the lip-syncing to"Kerosene" started, I thought, "Oh! They finally picked a relatively recent song!" And then I realized that it came out 17 years ago (2005), and that I am in fact much too young to feel this damn old. 
• Of course the estranged husband found the empty bottle of dear Mama's pain pills in the box with his pocket squares. That's where anyone who helped their mother commit suicide would stash the evidence, right? 

I want to like this show. I really, truly do. They're just making it hard. But I'll be damned if I don't have to tune in next week to find out who took that unnamed body out of that hole. 

Edited September 28, 2022 by JayDub1987

[pasdetrois]

The show is dreadful. I'm also a long-time country music fan, and a southerner, but the show's poor quality, clumsiness, bad acting, etc. is just too much to overlook. It's like the actors see each other the first time they get together to shoot a scene; no chemistry, no fluidity. Just everybody marching around and citing their lines.

Horrible.

[JayDub1987]

26 minutes ago, pasdetrois said:

The show is dreadful. I'm also a long-time country music fan, and a southerner, but the show's poor quality, clumsiness, bad acting, etc. is just too much to overlook. It's like the actors see each other the first time they get together to shoot a scene; no chemistry, no fluidity. Just everybody marching around and citing their lines.

Horrible.

You're right. It's really hard to watch. The southern accents are some of the worst I've ever seen on a TV show. 

[DearEvette]

Naw.  I'm out.  This episode was even worse, if possible, than the previous two.

The writing is execrable.  The pacing is worse.  They are burning through every soap opera cliche in record time.  People find out things sooo quickly and easily.  And they react with all the emotional resonance of a paper bag.

- Dottie hides a flash drive in a boot heel, so of course a fit of rage causes Gigi to throw the boot and conveniently find the flash drive. 

-The cops see a truck driving at night near the woods, so of course it is soooo suspicious they run the plates and then roll up to the house to question Albie because "it was late to be driving" what? Do they have nothing else to do?

- Nicky takes Kayla to lunch fr Sushi and Sake and Kayla doesn't eat it so of course Kayla immediately figures out Kayla is pregnant.

-Nicky hides her mother's empty pill bottle in her husband's drawer so of course he finds it just as she is blowing up his life.

And so  many other ridiculous things.  T here is no anticipation of anything, there are like 16 plot things happening at once.  Who gets a song contract delivered with flowers?  Beth Ditto can't act for shit.  And she and  her wife together have all the appeal and chemistry of gum and mayo.  How did these two ever get together?  It doesn't help that Luke and Kayla actually do have a lot of sex appeal together but that might be because the show is deliberately writing it that way.  And Nicky's husband is such a two-dimensional sleezebag.  So over the top.  Not even the cheesiest of soaps have written characters so bad.

And I don't want to get into the horror of using a Lizzo song for a country music showcase.  Come the hell on. 

So, yeah, I'm out.  I wanted to like this but I can't even hope watch. 

[JayDub1987]

1 hour ago, DearEvette said:

And she and  her wife together have all the appeal and chemistry of gum and mayo.

I'm gonna need to use this going forward. Legit made me LOL.

When this thing started, a lot of people that I talked to (here, other platforms, and in real life) told me how great this group of actors/actresses was. I've yet to see anything remotely good. At this point, Trace Adkins may be the best actor of the bunch.

Will I continue to hate watch? Of course. There's nothing else on on Tuesdays right now, so I might as well. 

[pasdetrois]

11 hours ago, JayDub1987 said:

Trace Adkins may be the best actor of the bunch.

He seems "medicated" in most of his scenes. They prop him against a wall and he intones his lines. He delivered better performances in his country music videos 20 years ago.

[JayDub1987]

25 minutes ago, pasdetrois said:

He seems "medicated" in most of his scenes. They prop him against a wall and he intones his lines. He delivered better performances in his country music videos 20 years ago.

Everything you said is true...and I still think he may be the best actor of the bunch. Nicky moves around like she's wearing a back brace, and delivers her lines with the enthusiasm of a mannequin. Gigi...oof. Everything she says sounds like she's delivering lines straight from an index card while trying to remember to "sound southern," and Luke constantly has a look on his face like he's trying to hold in a fart.  

[Lethallyfab]

First Lizzo had to endure the wrath of a million racist haters AND she had to endure this cover?  She is having a rough week.

There are literally dozens of other options to give a thumb drive containing a song telling the truth about your marriage to your daughter other than hiding it in a boot that she *might* break in a fit of pique.  I’m not saying the odds of that are a million to one but they are very very bad odds.

Nicki’s amazing, career-changing performance to compete for the next Queen of Country title involved a LOT of awkward twirling.  A whole whole lot of twirling.  The only two choreography steps were “feel yourself up” and twirl.

Nicki’s going to clock Kayla as being pregnant *immediately* but the fact that Gigi is drinking bourbon at what is clearly breakfast goes unremarked upon.

I could not possibly care less about the aspiring singer so inevitably she will prove to be a secret illegitimate Roman and/or have an affair with Ace.

Edited October 2, 2022 by Lethallyfab
Grammar

[nilyank]

13 hours ago, Lethallyfab said:

I could not possibly care less about the aspiring singer so inevitably she will prove to be a secret illegitimate Roman and/or have an affair with Ace.

Both. He is adopted. Albie cheated on Dottie 40 years ago. The mom of the singer would be the right age for a surprise baby from said affair. So if Ace and Emma get together there is no shared dna.

Luke is right. Nicky is a horrible liar and Dottie was setting her up for failure by dragging her into her suicide by pills death.

Dottie was a piece of work.

Fun fact, young Dottie in the flashback was played by Eva Amurri, real life daughter of Susan Sarandon.

[DanaK]

I don't entirely hate this. I like most of the singing, I'm somewhat intrigued by the mysteries and plots, but everything is heavily soapy and Susan Sarandon leaves a big hole to fill that's not being filled by the other actors. I'll see how it goes over the next several episodes as I think there's less than 13 episodes in this season (Wikipedia indicates 8)

[DearEvette]

On 10/2/2022 at 1:33 AM, Lethallyfab said:

There are literally dozens of other options to give a thumb drive containing a song telling the truth about your marriage to your daughter other than hiding it in a boot that she *might* break in a fit of pique.  I’m not saying the odds of that are a million to one but they are very very bad odds.

Right?  What if they'd had a charity auction or something and decided to donate the boots and someone else got them and whoops!  There goes your family secret?  Dottie may have been the Queen of Country but she wasn't bright.  If she wanted Albie to have that flash drive why not leave it to him in a sealed message with her lawyer with instructions to be opened only by him in private?

y'all are gonna have me continue to watch this just for the snark factor. 

[JayDub1987]

On 10/3/2022 at 10:20 AM, DearEvette said:

Right?  What if they'd had a charity auction or something and decided to donate the boots and someone else got them and whoops!  There goes your family secret?  Dottie may have been the Queen of Country but she wasn't bright.  If she wanted Albie to have that flash drive why not leave it to him in a sealed message with her lawyer with instructions to be opened only by him in private?

y'all are gonna have me continue to watch this just for the snark factor. 

That's all I'm here for at this point. 5.5 hours to go until we get more snark! 

[Tdoc72]

On 9/28/2022 at 9:12 AM, JayDub1987 said:

You're right. It's really hard to watch. The southern accents are some of the worst I've ever seen on a TV show. 

Is the brother, Luke?, even trying?  All I hear is his British voice. 
I think this show is horrible, but then I watch again just to see if it gets even more horrible. 
 

Edited October 7, 2022 by Tdoc72

[Thumper]

Well, I think this episode put me over the edge.  Soapy plots and scenes, bad dialog, bad acting.   Nikki (sp?) marching and twirling on the stage, was such an apt description by someone up above!!  Cringe!

I may keep watching just to find out the mystery body, though. 🥴 😂😂

[Josh371982]

I hope it's not intended for me to have any sympathy for Luke and Gigi's wife being scumbags behind Gigi's back. At least Gigi will know her wife is a scumbag soon enough 

[HighQueenEB]

On 9/29/2022 at 6:58 AM, JayDub1987 said:

and Luke constantly has a look on his face like he's trying to hold in a fart.  

LOL - you're inadvertently giving me Galavant flashbacks where Joshua Sasse once had to say the line "Die in a fart" with a straight face - but that was a much better show and comedy.  But, seriously, if you were an actor on this show, given the absolutely horrible writing, I'm not sure how you could get through most of your scenes without looking like you're trying to hold in a fart.  

At this point, I'm just watching, waiting for next soap opera cliched shoe to drop with each scene.  The writers don't seem to understand foreshadowing or even how to let things just settle before bouncing to introduce the next ridiculous, likely villainous character.