S01.E06: Shedonism

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Diana tasks Liza with running a book launch party for a demanding author; Maggie encounters an old crush; Kelsey starts to fall for her new author.

[dubbel zout]

I loved the sly, almost throwaway comment by Jane Krakowski's character to Liza (paraphrased): "The hands give you away."

 

Otherwise, this episode was sort of treading water.

[lizzy07]

 

I loved the sly, almost throwaway comment by Jane Krakowski's character to Liza (paraphrased): "The hands give you away."

 

That was AWESOME. Especially since the character was stoned & drunk out of her mind and then suddenly she made this completely accurate assessment of Liza.

[CarolMK]

I've been wondering if anyone is  going to suspect that Liza is older than 26. The makeup artists have done a pretty good job with making her look a lot less than 40, but there is something in a person's face and bone structure that gives it away..no matter who you are, a 25 year old and a 40 year old look different, sound different, and carry themselves differently from each other. The differences may be subtle but they're definitely there.

[MaryMitch]

I've been wondering if anyone is  going to suspect that Liza is older than 26. The makeup artists have done a pretty good job with making her look a lot less than 40, but there is something in a person's face and bone structure that gives it away..no matter who you are, a 25 year old and a 40 year old look different, sound different, and carry themselves differently from each other. The differences may be subtle but they're definitely there.

I've noticed when she has something around her neck, she looks a lot younger. When her neckline is bare, there's something that makes her look her age.

[red12]

It's her jawline and forehead for me that make it unbelievable that she is under 30. I strongly believe that 5 lbs and bangs can be nature's Botox, but even without the presence of a lot of wrinkles, skin elasticity doesn't lie.

 

I am sure I will receive hate for this, but I honestly think to make the secret last longer than 1 year, they should have hired an actress of color because melanin. Bianca Lawson, for example, has played teenagers and vampires most of her career and at 36, she could easily pass for Hilary Duff's peer. An actress like Lucy Liu is the same way. There is no way in hell I would have guessed she is 47.

 

Casting an actress who genuinely can pass for the 20's would also take away the need to cast someone over 50 Liza's college best friend.

 

The unbelievable way they style the shrew 43 yr old boss character would be negated as well. She can still be an ass without looking like some sort Cruella Deville rip off. When she showed up at the club to pick up her drug using friend/writer, my husband and I could immediately see why they keep that actress looking so severe during the scenes in the office. With her hair down and an attractive outfit, she and Sutton look closer in age than Sutton does to any of the younger actresses who play her friends.

Edited April 29, 2015 by red12

[Julia]

What preternaturally attractive taut worlds you folks must live in, where no-one drinks and everyone gets enough sleep. I work in advertising with kind of a lot of attractive young women Kelsey's age, and believe me, there are comparatively few whose cheeks you could bounce a quarter off of. Part of being successful when you're young is being willing to burn the candle at both ends. I would absolutely buy Sutton Foster as a twentysomething striver.

[Ms Blue Jay]

Among my peers I do not think I look young for my age at all, I'd say I'm perfectly average.  In Ontario the drinking age is 19 and at 32 I regularly get carded.  I am of the firm belief that a lot of people can pass for a huge range of ages, Sutton included.  And from what I hear, smoking can make the hands look a lot older than they are.  I have horrifying eczema on my hands and if you looked at them in the winter you'd think I'm double my age.. anyway.

 

I do agree that the neck helps give it away though.  And I agree with the comments that styling makes you look very young; whenever I get my hair re-dyed I'm bound to get carded.  Bangs is young, lack of makeup, hat, backpack, sneakers, hoodies,  etc.   I'm suddenly reminded of 32 year old Joey Tribbiani trying to pass for 19 to get an acting gig on Friends.

 

red12, my favourite examples always include Stacey Dash (48) and Keanu Reeves (50).....  

 

Anyway I'm still loving the show and surprisingly, really loving Debi Mazar.

Edited April 29, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[allonsyalice]

I do not like Kelsey's relationship with the author guy. it's gonna be nothing but trouble, it's stressful. I'm also going to also echo my comments from last week where i said how I like how this show doesn't revolve around Liza+Young Hot Buff Tattoo Guy. This episode proved it as well. I get so much of pretty girl's life revolves around young hot guy that it is so refreshing. Do i approve of what Liza is doing? eh? maybe? I still find the premise of this show intriguing. This episode, even though it seemed to slow the action down, a filler episode, it was still enjoyable. I also love how Liza's mom instincts come around when Kelsey is making a bad decision. (which is....more often than I would like it to be, honestly.) We all need a mom friend. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

This week's ridiculous "old people don't know about technology" thing - Liza asking Maggie to tweet at the party only to have Maggie ask if she could send it as an email attachment instead. Look, I get that not everyone tweets but I don't know anyone under the age of 50 who is so clueless about it that they would think emailing an attachment is close enough.

[red12]

Don't get me wrong. I find both Sutton and Debbie to be talented and attractive. I was purely commenting on my not seeing Sutton as 26.

I agree with those annoyed by the Olds don't know sh*t trope. I also dislike the way they do the Joanna Prince v. Wonderwoman bun and no bun styling as if we can't tell which version of Liza she is if she just told her daughter and worthless husband she got highlights and bit of a style update in order to compete in the job market.

[springbarb]

This week's ridiculous "old people don't know about technology" thing - Liza asking Maggie to tweet at the party only to have Maggie ask if she could send it as an email attachment instead. Look, I get that not everyone tweets but I don't know anyone under the age of 50 who is so clueless about it that they would think emailing an attachment is close enough.

I'd have to rewatch, but I took it as a joke; Maggie probably knows exactly what Twitter is, but isn't on it and certainly isn't going to spend the party tweeting.

[methodwriter85]

 

Bianca Lawson, for example, has played teenagers and vampires most of her career and at 36, she could easily pass for Hilary Duff's peer. An actress like Lucy Liu is the same way. There is no way in hell I would have guessed she is 47.

 

It doesn't just have to be WOC. Shiri Appleby is 36 and she could easily pass. I kept thinking she would have been good to cast in this.

 

I do think a person's mid/late 20's is when you start to see how people age differently. For example, Tyler Hoechlin looks like a 35-year old. Evan Peters was born in the same year- 1987- and he could still believably pass for late teens/early 20's.

[Snarklepuss]

This week's ridiculous "old people don't know about technology" thing - Liza asking Maggie to tweet at the party only to have Maggie ask if she could send it as an email attachment instead. Look, I get that not everyone tweets but I don't know anyone under the age of 50 who is so clueless about it that they would think emailing an attachment is close enough.

 

I'm 56 and I don't know many people my age who are that clueless about it.

[Betweenyouandme]

I agree that a lot of how old someone looks has to do with styling and how a person carries themselves. Take a woman who has had tons of botox and fillers. Even with no wrinkles, you can tell they're not 25. And, I've seen 18 yr olds with wrinkles, but I still knew they weren't 35,40+

[Bort]

I know it was a cheap joke but I loved the scene where Liza was trying to order peacocks and was getting hens peddled at her and the whole thing devolved to her yelling COCK loudly into the phone. It sent me into hysterics.

[Snarklepuss]

I've been wondering if anyone is  going to suspect that Liza is older than 26. The makeup artists have done a pretty good job with making her look a lot less than 40, but there is something in a person's face and bone structure that gives it away..no matter who you are, a 25 year old and a 40 year old look different, sound different, and carry themselves differently from each other. The differences may be subtle but they're definitely there.

 

This is so true.  I also think her height is a factor.  If she were shorter and more petite it might be easier to seem younger.  But it's definitely in the attitude.  She seems to struggle to seem younger.  I'm not sure whether that's intentional to show the character has trouble with it or just that Sutton Foster has trouble with it.  It seems painfully obvious to me that she's like the older sister to those 20 something women.  I know one of the reasons I have always seemed younger is my attitude.  That and the fact that my face didn't develop that sunken in look and I don't have a long neck that sticks out like a sore thumb.  Plus expensive skin cream, lol.

[Mabinogia]

I do think the height plays a big part in it. It's odd because supposedly you stop growing at a certain point but all these 20 somethings seem petite. Sutton sticks out because she's like a head over all of them. Part of it is, she's trying too hard (Don't know if it's part of the character to be trying so hard or if the wardrobe people are trying too hard but some of the outfits they have her in are ridiculous and don't make her look young but like an older person trying to look young. It's too "trendy". I think Sutton could easily pass for 20-something in a tee shirt and jeans. I think she looked and acted a lot younger in Bunheads which was only a couple years ago, so she wasn't a kid then either. But she had a more free spirit that came across younger.

 

It doesn't bother me though because I've seen 21 year olds that look older than her and myself at 43 get looks of shock when I tell people my age. I hang out at work with a group who's average age is 27 and they all thought I was in their age group. While I'm easily as tech savvy as they are, though I could care less about this weird social media lifestyle the youngens are into, one guy I hang out with spends half his lunch hour flipping through Tinder. He doesn't look like he's having fun, he barely even looks at the girls, so I don't understand what he gets out of it, but apparently that's what the kids are doing these days LOL

 

I think they go with the tech stuff because it's the easiest target The truth is, it's more pop culture stuff that would be tripping Liza up. The childhood references. Luckily for me, all my life I've been more juvenile so I was the college kid watching Disney shows (still do) so I get a lot of the references, but not all. I wish they'd tone it down because I can't imagine Liza not knowing so much but again, it's the most common, easiest thing for them to hang the "look folks she's old and doesn't get the youth culture" since at least some of the audience is older and won't understand either when the "kids" start on about their tinder or foursquare or whatever. (I actually don't know what foursquare is, since I don't care, but I think it's something to do with restaurants or public places and reviews?) okay, I guess I do get where Liza is coming from. If she's not interested in social media she wouldn't know what twitter really does.