S01.E03: Reality Shock

[shapeshifter]

S01.E03: Reality Shock
Airs April 4, 2024, 10pm ET / 9pm CT

Quote

When a larger-than-life reality TV star is found dead in her bathtub, Elsbeth and Kaya investigate the circumstances around her death to determine if it was an accident or murder. As they get deeper into the events surrounding her demise, they meet Skip Mason (guest star Jesse Tyler Ferguson), the mercurial producer behind the popular, guilty-pleasure reality series "Lavish Ladies," who becomes a prime suspect after he is accused of going to dangerous lengths to concoct "good TV."

 

[SoMuchTV]

I’m boycotting the “thanks” reaction at the moment, but thank you @shapeshifter for starting these episode threads, and even more, formatting the season/episode consistently in the titles, and including the original air dates. Very helpful for those of us who discover and catch up with shows years later! 

[shapeshifter]

14 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

I’m boycotting the “thanks” reaction at the moment, but thank you @shapeshifter for starting these episode threads, and even more…

You're welcome. 😌

Moving the rest of my reply to the Small Talk: Distracted by Penguins thread…

Edited March 12 by shapeshifter

[MMEButterfly]

11 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

You're welcome. 😌

Heh, I'm not only "boycotting" the no-way-in-hell-is-that-a "thanks" reaction, but when I come across an old "thanks" I gave now looking like a smile melted into tears, I change it to a Like, Heart, Applause, or Useful.
At the same time, I realize a lot of people had no idea what the rainbow circle was supposed to signify, so maybe it's better to use the others anyway.

And, also like you, @SoMuchTV, it drives me a little nuts when the thread titles are inconsistent — which is why I started these threads now instead of waiting.😉

I hope it wasn't too soon. We shall see.

I agree, though I hadn't thought of boycotting. Now I will. Be gone bi-polar face.

[shapeshifter]

52 minutes ago, MMEButterfly said:

I agree…

Replying in the Small Talk: Distracted by Penguins thread…

 

 

Edited March 12 by shapeshifter

[EtheltoTillie]

PSA. Two episodes airing tonight

[AnimeMania]

Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Skip "Skippy" Mason, reality TV producer of “Lavish Ladies" 

Tavia Hunt as Valencia

Nadia Dajani as Wendy Wexler

Deborah S. Craig as Shusie Lash

Tracy Crenshaw

\

Julie Ann Emery as Patricia Floyd

Fredric Lehne as LT. Dave Noonan

[PupCal]

Who plays the white detective with the fierce bob, Donnelly? She looks very familiar.

Edited April 5 by PupCal

[Calvada]

1 hour ago, PupCal said:

Who plays the white detective with the fierce bob, Donnelly? She looks very familiar.

That was Molly Price.  She's appeared on many shows, just about most of the one-hour dramas over the past 20+ years.  I recall her from episodes of Elementary and The Mentalist. She was one of the co-stars of Third Watch, playing a NYC police officer.  Her husband appeared on the show as a firefighter with FDNY, which was his job in real life.

[voiceover]

And there’s Nina (“the Face”) Katz (Nadia Dajani) from Sex & the City as the murder victim!

The casting people must be having a great time with this series.

[Kleav]

18 hours ago, Calvada said:

That was Molly Price

Thank you! The voice was familiar, but I couldn’t place the face. 

Edited April 5 by Kleav

[shapeshifter]

I thought the decision to put 2 episodes back-to-back almost smacked of "burning off" the episodes because the series is doomed.

I hope not. 

But maybe they can't afford all the costume changes? 
I loved them.

[voiceover]

3 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

 

I thought the decision to put 2 episodes back-to-back almost smacked of "burning off" the episodes because the series is doomed.

 

I just assumed they were making up for lost time — as in, the highly moronic decision to premiere the series the week before March Madness.

[HelloooKitty]

This is a fun show and I am enjoying the “case of the week” and how it allows so many guest stars. 

[Driad]

Three episodes, all involving murders.  I hope they will have more variety of crimes.

[possibilities]

I think Columbo only did murder stories. 

 

[MerBearHou]

The ads building up interest in Elsbeth were so frequent and annoying to me that I hadn’t planned to watch the series.  But after checking in here and also reading some good reviews, I thought I’d give it a try.  And I’m so glad I did.  It’s fun and entertaining and I love the NYC vibe.  Carrie Preston is doing a great job with a quirky character who could be “too much” and yet, I like watching her sort things out a la the fumbling-but-savvy Columbo.  

Edited April 6 by MerBearHou
Fixing spelling of Elsbeth

[AnimeMania]

I think they should mix it up, sometimes show us who the killer is and sometimes make us guess, the show could be interesting either way.

[shapeshifter]

4 hours ago, possibilities said:

I think Columbo only did murder stories. 

4 hours ago, Driad said:

Three episodes, all involving murders.  I hope they will have more variety of crimes.

Matlock and Perry Mason only took murder cases too. 
And then there’s all those shows featuring homicide divisions.

Monk briefly branched out to PI work, as did Castle, but almost all the cases wound up being murders.

But Elsbeth isn’t assigned to a homicide division, is she?🤔

 

 

3 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

I think they should mix it up, sometimes show us who the killer is and sometimes make us guess, the show could be interesting either way.

Were there ever any Columbo episodes that deviated from the reveal of the killer to the audience in the opening scenes?

How about in Poker Face?

Edited April 6 by shapeshifter

[possibilities]

8 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Were there ever any Columbo episodes that deviated from the reveal of the killer to the audience in the opening scenes?

How about in Poker Face?

I don't think so.

[zoey1996]

Old school Perry Mason had a variety of cases. Most involved murder, but not all. We've been watching old reruns of Perry Mason, and I was surprised when I saw one without a murder. 

I loved Elsbeth's character on The Good Wife and The Good Fight, and she's delightful here.

[EtheltoTillie]

Columbo also always had celeb villains. So I guess they’re keeping up the tradition. And I’m here for it. 

[Yeah No]

I really liked this episode.  I love Elsbeth's wardrobe.  She's supposed to look quirky/cute and it works for her.  When "Skip" told her he could get her a stylist I said, "Noooooooo"!!

I somehow knew Katrisha was wearing a wire.  I just duh'd out on it being in the envelope.  I thought it was in the hat!

I sympathized with Kaya not wanting people at work to know she watched "Lavish Ladies".  I wouldn't want my coworkers to know I watched some of the trash reality TV I watch, LOL.

I kinda like that I don't have to figure out who the murderer is every week.  I've gone through too much of that on "Only Murders in the Building" and I need the break.

And I too like the celeb villains/guest stars.  I've recognized many of them from everywhere.

[shapeshifter]

22 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

…I love Elsbeth's wardrobe.  She's supposed to look quirky/cute and it works for her.  When "Skip" told her he could get her a stylist I said, "Noooooooo"!!
…

I agree with your entire post. 
I am currently only able to watch the episodes without interruption (pixelation) on my laptop on CBS the day after.
(Antennas, and Rokus, and streaming passwords, oh my!)
So imagine my dismay when I thought I had perfect screen captures of at least 5 of Elsbeth's wardrobe changes in this episode to share here, only to see they were plain black rectangles. 

There are a couple here. But nothing on WornOnTV.net yet.

I may go back and take pictures of my laptop with my phone later.
Unless someone else wants to. LOL.
If nothing else, it might be "fun" to note how many wardrobe changes she had.
But likely all that will come out in an interview later.

Edited April 8 by shapeshifter

[PupCal]

Yeah, a lot of streaming services don't let you take screencaps.

[AnimeMania]

4 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

So imagine my dismay when I thought I had perfect screen captures of at least 5 of Elsbeth's wardrobe changes in this episode to share here, only to see they were plain black rectangles. 

This sounds like you should create a new thread just for what Elsbeth and others wear, instead of putting it in the episode thread.

[Yeah No]

6 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

This sounds like you should create a new thread just for what Elsbeth and others wear, instead of putting it in the episode thread.

I don't think Elsbeth's wardrobe is going to generate that much conversation that it would warrant its own thread.  There's not enough interest in it and her clothing repertoire is fairly limited.  We're not talking the wardrobe of the cast of "Sex and the City" here.

[AnimeMania]

1 hour ago, Yeah No said:

I don't think Elsbeth's wardrobe is going to generate that much conversation that it would warrant its own thread.  There's not enough interest in it and her clothing repertoire is fairly limited.  We're not talking the wardrobe of the cast of "Sex and the City" here.

We are not just talking wardrobe here, she also carries a number of bags. It would be nice if someone was tracking what she pulls out of those as well. I think she is like "Felix the Cat" and can pull anything out of her bags, but she can only pull out one of the item. A pair of chopsticks, no, but one chopstick, yes.

[Yeah No]

8 minutes ago, AnimeMania said:

We are not just talking wardrobe here, she also carries a number of bags. It would be nice if someone was tracking what she pulls out of those as well. I think she is like "Felix the Cat" and can pull anything out of her bags, but she can only pull out one of the item. A pair of chopsticks, no, but one chopstick, yes.

My opinion on this still stands.  Even on the SATC wardrobe thread there were only 100 posts and that was over the entire time the thread was active over many years.  And there were several women on the show for which wardrobe and bag choices could be discussed and probably more active posters on the threads.

Edited April 8 by Yeah No

[Johannah]

5 hours ago, Yeah No said:

My opinion on this still stands.  Even on the SATC wardrobe thread there were only 100 posts and that was over the entire time the thread was active over many years.  And there were several women on the show for which wardrobe and bag choices could be discussed and probably more active posters on the threads.

I would want a separate post if only so I can avoid it.  So many shows I watch have people commenting on the clothes, and I can honestly say, I don't remember what anyone was wearing - unless it's totally off the wall.  I just skimmed past a lot of the comments in this thread because of clothes-talk.  

Not that you can't talk clothes if you want, just that people like me - or maybe just me - will skip your post once the clothes talk starts - and I would like to read the other comments.

Feel free to skip past my posts, too.  😁

 

Is the main guy she is investigating in charge of the homicide division?  I would expect most episodes to be homicides if that's the case.  Besides, how many juicy accountant embezzlements are there?

Edited April 8 by Johannah

[Yeah No]

6 hours ago, Johannah said:

I would want a separate post if only so I can avoid it.  So many shows I watch have people commenting on the clothes, and I can honestly say, I don't remember what anyone was wearing - unless it's totally off the wall.  I just skimmed past a lot of the comments in this thread because of clothes-talk.  

Not that you can't talk clothes if you want, just that people like me - or maybe just me - will skip your post once the clothes talk starts - and I would like to read the other comments.

Feel free to skip past my posts, too.  😁

 

Is the main guy she is investigating in charge of the homicide division?  I would expect most episodes to be homicides if that's the case.  Besides, how many juicy accountant embezzlements are there?

I don't know if it matters that much to most people and honestly how much have we talked about wardrobe here on this thread to change it just to please a couple of people?  Not much.  I think the mods. would only consider it if it was a big issue and I think it's way too early to consider it one.  Recently when it has become an issue I've seen the mods. take polls on stuff like this and usually people vote to avoid too many threads for one show, especially one like this that isn't generating much board traffic.  Just my opinion.

[Irlandesa]

On 4/5/2024 at 5:56 PM, shapeshifter said:

I thought the decision to put 2 episodes back-to-back almost smacked of "burning off" the episodes because the series is doomed.

There are ten episodes to this season.  The finale is May 23rd which is probably still within the "sweeps" period if that even matters anymore.  If they didn't double up for these two episodes, the finale would be during the week of Memorial Day. 

It'd be more concerning if they did a bunch of double-up weeks.

[shapeshifter]

21 hours ago, Johannah said:

I would want a separate post if only so I can avoid it.

There is now a Wardrobe Thread.

Of course, that does not mean Elsbeth’s wardrobe will not be mentioned in the episode threads. But having a dedicated thread should minimize our anyone's tendency to gush.
Did I already say how much I coveted that polka dot blouse?😉

Edited April 9 by shapeshifter

[Yeah No]

I like her wardrobe but don't expect me to gush.  My interest in talking about it is limited.

Does anyone remember the Darren Star show, "Younger"?  The cast's wardrobe was a frequent topic of conversation in the episode threads, especially Miriam Shor's increasingly out-there statement necklaces and yet no one ever asked for a separate wardrobe thread.  But that was then.

[possibilities]

I figure anyone who doesn't want to read about wardrobe simply doesn't have to read the wardrobe thread. 

I never used to care about or usually even notice wardrobe, but lately I find I do. And there seem to be a bunch of sites that track what people on TV are wearing, which I find interesting. Some shows dress their characters off the shelf, some in expensive fancy designer stuff, others in accessible normal clothes (like from Target, not "high fashion" designers), and some sew their own (or a mix). I find it interesting to figure out where stuff is coming from.

I'm heading over to the wardrobe thread now....

[kwnyc]

I think Jessie Tyler Ferguson loved playing a baddie! And since the show shoots in NYC, I look forward to a lot of cool guest murderers.

Also, if they are going to repeat detectives, I hope they bring Molly Price back. I've loved her since Third Watch.

 

[SoMuchTV]

I have to laugh at how this episode thread is about 90% non-episode conversation (and I feel like I can say that, since I’m one of the posters who contributed to that)!

 But I will say that I’ve enjoyed this one the most so far. Can’t exactly put my finger on why; I’m not really a Housewives’ Ladies fan. 

[Simba122504]

She has great chemistry with the villains. The last show like that was "Closer." 

[Milburn Stone]

Thought this episode was a big improvement over the previous one. The villain was better-written, with quite a bit of wit, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson gave a great comedic performance. The satire on "reality" TV was good (even though not the first time that's ever been done, I'm sure), and the murderer was sufficiently heinous (and the murderee sufficiently undeserving of getting killed) that I actually gave a damn that he get caught. And Elsbeth was sufficiently un-ridiculous.

[Stats Queen]

As a Real Housewives addict, this episode was hysterical. They really captured the Real Housewives and how it is produced.

[LisaM]

I really enjoyed this episode. Jesse Tyler Ferguson was great as was the actress playing Katricia. I cracked up at her downing all of those tequila shots. 

For me, the best part of the series is the relationship between Elsbeth and Kaya. 

Elspeth's quirks still annoy me a bit but I am getting more acclimated to her. 

Love seeing the shots of NYC. 

[tkc]

On 4/5/2024 at 7:13 AM, voiceover said:

The casting people must be having a great time with this series.

Let’s have Michael Emerson, please!