Life In Pieces - General Discussion

[Mrs OldManBalls]

I want that sexy calendar.

(Loved when the dad/father-in-law walked in on the photo-shoot and Matt blurted out "It's okay, he's paying me!")

 

This is the second week in a row they had Dan Bakkedahl in cut-offs, and they are getting shorter.....Can't wait to see what they get him in next week! 

[stcroix]

I think this show is too graphic in some private areas like other posters have already said.  The thing I liked about Modern Family is even though Jay is old, he isn't sickening when he runs up the stairs following Gloria because that's where the scene ends.  You don't have to watch his saggy, speckled body peeping out of his clothes as he makes out with her.  The older couple in Life in Pieces are too much like a couple of 18 yr olds and it's creepy.  (And this coming from someone in her 60's!)  When Phil and Claire get 'romantic' the show leaves it to our imaginations as to what's really going on in that bedroom (or hotel room if Clive Bixby is in town visiting Juliana!)  That's what's missing in this show--- really good writing and subtlety.  We're not stupid-- we don't have to be shown what's happening, let us imagine!  Sometimes that's funnier :)

[AnnaRose]

Yeah, I hated the first couple episodes for those reasons.  But the show has thankfully gotten away from that, for the most part, and is much better now.

[stcroix]

Yeah, I hated the first couple episodes for those reasons.  But the show has thankfully gotten away from that, for the most part, and is much better now.

That's good to hear!  I've got the shows recorded but have only watched up to this one.  I won't give up on it :)

[Chaos Theory]

You can't really judge a show by the pilot. Honestly if you skipped the first three episodes of almost every show ever made it usually wouldn't be that big a deal except maybe plot points and stuff. But for a show like this it took a couple of episodes to find its rhythm. I like almost all the characters. The new parents stories are usually the best and funniest. The least funny are the just dating couple The rest are somewhere in between. (I haven't learned names yet. Probably won't for a long long time.)

Edited November 29, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[AnnaRose]

I enjoyed this episode.  The young couple at the hospital were pretty adorable, as was little Sophia being punished for saying "Ass".  And OMG that photo shoot was hilarious.  I really like these characters, and I think the show has improved tremendously. 

 

I wonder if the ratings dropped for this one?  I bet a lot of people expected reruns on Thanksgiving, especially since Big Bang Theory was a repeat and they had all shown their Thanksgiving episodes the week before.

[Browncoat]

Because the football game ran over, my DVR didn't get the last couple of minutes -- anything interesting after the final commercial break (after James Brolin watched the yoga class)?

 

Boudoir was my favorite this week, with Hospital a close second. 

[AnnaRose]

Because the football game ran over, my DVR didn't get the last couple of minutes -- anything interesting after the final commercial break (after James Brolin watched the yoga class)?

 

It cut off for me too, and I ended up watching it online to see what I missed.  Dad was driving them crazy, so they asked their mom for advice.  She told them to give their father a "World's Greatest Dad" mug and that would solve the problem.  They didn't expect it to work... but it did.  And at the end, the daughter asks her mom how she knew that would do the trick... and she opens a cupboard full of "Worlds Greatest..." mugs.

 

I'm totally paraphrasing what I remember, and I hope I am remembering it correctly.  That's the gist of it anyway.  :)

[Browncoat]

Thanks! 

[Perfect Xero]

I enjoyed this episode.  The young couple at the hospital were pretty adorable, as was little Sophia being punished for saying "Ass".  And OMG that photo shoot was hilarious.  I really like these characters, and I think the show has improved tremendously. 

 

I wonder if the ratings dropped for this one?  I bet a lot of people expected reruns on Thanksgiving, especially since Big Bang Theory was a repeat and they had all shown their Thanksgiving episodes the week before.

 

They actually went up to a 2.1 in the demo, their best ratings in over a month.

[AnnaRose]

They actually went up to a 2.1 in the demo, their best ratings in over a month.

 

Wow, that's great!   I wonder if the lack of competition Thanksgiving night got them some new viewers who had never seen the show?

[Primetimer]

After an unimpressive pilot, Tara gives the freshman comedy another shot. Did it deserve one?

[AnnaRose]

This was an awful episode to tune back in.   I too absolutely hated the pilot, hated the second one almost as much... but then it got much, much better.   To the point where I've actually been enjoying it and looking forward to this show. 

 

...Until last night which I thought was pretty terrible.  Especially the grandparents' segment which was beyond idiotic.  So disappointing.   I actually wondered if it was the same writer from the pilot that was responsible for that mess.

 

My DVR cut-off at the end, as usual, so I don't know if there was any kind of pay-off to the ping pong story.

[KateeBar]

I've tried this a couple times, because I feel like I should like it. There are enough cast members that I am generally really into. But it turns out that their combined power cannot overcome my complete aversion to the junior Hanks. I have to add him to my list of "thespians I have an irrational issue with" I guess.

[Chaos Theory]

As someone who has an irrational hatred of sitcoms/comedies I actually find it ironic that I like this one and no one else does.

[Browncoat]

This was the least good episode, I thought.  The only bit I even sort of liked was the ping-pong one, and that's likely because I have siblings, and there is rivalry.

 

Tara -- it wasn't the ping-pong ball that knocked out the tooth, but the paddle.  The first time, years ago, was when the paddle slipped from the brother's hand and flew across the table to hit Colin Hanks in the mouth, and this time, Colin* slammed the paddle edge-wise into the table, and it bounced back and hit him in the mouth.

 

The end bit had Colin and family posing for Christmas photos, and when Colin smiled, there was a huge gap where his tooth had been.

 

*I really should learn the character's names!

[BananaRama]

It's a bummer that you tuned back in on this series with last night's episode, because it was a real clunker. I'm telling you - this is a really great show. It is much better than Modern Family. The two episodes that you saw were sexist but the show isn't always like that and it doesn't try to make its audience laugh by using crass humor.

[Latverian Diplomat]

Jen's line about how whenever Greg takes Heather he ends up acting like (acknowledged idiot and Heather's husband) Tim, was the best moment of insight from any character to any other character the entire season.

One of the stories a while back was how Manchild Matt was a surprisingly good choice for a godparent for Greg and Jen's little sprog. But every storyline before and after that one seems to indicate that he is in fact, a terrible choice. They even say in this one that he shouldn't be trusted with their housekeys. One expection from a show like this is that characters should be consistent from week to week, but in fact, they are adjusted as needed, not just once a week, but four times if necessarym, in service of the "stories".

Lastly, grandpa was basically giving sextoys to minors in that last bit. Problably at least a misdemeanor in their somewhere.

[whatsatool]

Don't judge by last night's. It's a good show

[possibilities]

Yeah, I was coming over here to ask which of the kids got the sheep sexdoll, and why if they weren't going to keep the merch, Granddad was blowing said doll up. But asking questions like that is just asking to sink deeper into the quicksand, when identity thieves don't generally send things they buy to YOU, but rather try to buy things for themselves. Frankly, even the fast food place running out of milkshakes strained credulity, but at least it wasn't both criminal AND unlikely, just the latter.

 

I like Colin Hanks and I laughed at his whooping like some of the more theatrical professional tennis players do. But I can't even get into the depths of what was wrong with the rest of what was going on with him this episode.

 

The less said about vasectomy hijinks the better. I was trying to forget about that BS entirely, and am regretting the part of my brain that was asking "what was the other plot this week?" and wouldn't let it go until I remembered.

[leighdear]

Awww, just the episode with Cheeto alone makes this show my favorite comedy this year.  Not every single epp. can be fabulous, but I think this show hits more out of the park than most.   I always laugh, even at the absurdity.  

 

Still fun to watch, I'm not giving up on the Short family.  

[Chaos Theory]

Lets see.  In order of my favorites.  

 

I don't know anyones names but what I like about the show is that there are couples in different stages of marriage and life.  

 

 

1.  Burn:  I always like the "new family" the best.  I always find this one insanely sweet even when its not.  Colin Hanks is brilliant in this.  I loved the idea of his character wanting to make things better for his wife but ending up making things worse but tin the end he kinda did let her burn off steam.  

2.  Milkshake.  The older couple know each other very well.  The husband knows how to get his wife down off a melt down.  This is kind of a parallel from Collin Hank's story on how he just waited it out.  The father did what he had to do and got his wife the milkshakes she wanted.  I also loved the phone call aspect.  That was fun to.

3.  Pong.   The competition was great as well.  I usually don't care much for the "Just dating" portion.  Maybe because I have seen enough dating show but this time it worked.  Maybe it is not so bad when they are with the entire family.

4.  Vasectomy  I am disappointed I like the one the least because the whole reason I started watching the show in the first place was Betsy Brandt.  However this one was my least favorite.  Although I did find it funny when the husband was singing (I forget what song) and she was running to try to stop him from getting th procedure.  Other then that.  No my favorite.  Maybe next week,  

[BananaRama]

Awww, just the episode with Cheeto alone makes this show my favorite comedy this year.  Not every single epp. can be fabulous, but I think this show hits more out of the park than most.   I always laugh, even at the absurdity.  

 

Still fun to watch, I'm not giving up on the Short family.

Cheeto! That episode was funny!

The "children + sex toys" and "vasectomies" tropes are tired and about as funny and provocative as a character speaking in front of an audience with his fly down.

I am still bummed that Tara's eyeballs and ears were polluted by this episode.

[Tara Ariano]

Tara -- it wasn't the ping-pong ball that knocked out the tooth, but the paddle.

 

My mistake! Will fix.

[Browncoat]

The Cheeto episode was great, and I loved the Thanksgiving dinner one with the cauliflower and that gorgeous turkey.  If you give it another go, try one of those!

[Pop Tart]

I enjoyed this one a lot. I loved the first scene about "controlled burn" when the CH character asked his b-I-l Tim what he should say to start the fight with his wife and without a beat Tim said they didn't have the same problem since his wife didn't work and the fight was on. I laughed at the brother and sister talking from their respective bathrooms.

And while the vasectomy bit wasn't the funniest, I did appreciate that it happened. The usual sitcom trope is for the wife to suggest it because they have enough kids, hubby then discusses it with at least one buddy with stupid jokes about masculinity and then guy doesn't go through with it.

I also laughed at the parents and their dilemma. She's trying to remain fair and polite while working through the customer service phone tree and he's blowing up the sexy sheep while insisting she just ask for the supervisor.

[betsyboo]

I'm not ashamed to say this ep had me guffawing. I usually FF thru the grandparents' story, and this week was no exception, esp once I saw Mr. Streisand trying to inflate something. I fully admit that the resemblance between Colin and his father is part of why he makes me laugh. (Gosh, his mannerisms are so like his father's!) Yes, it was obvious to all how the plot line would turn out, but his delivery of the "You should lose more weight" had me howling. Colin made clear how uncomfortable his character was saying those things. Yet he still kept spewing them! And ZLJ: "I see your mouth moving so I know you're talking, but when the words get to my ears..."

 

The ping pong game had me crying laughing - if for no other reason than the St Elmo's Fire theme in the background. Plus the ridic over-exaggerated playing and the whoops, etc. Plus, there was an element of Forrest playing pong for the President...

 

This made me laugh like the diaper-run and tree one. That one played (I think) the theme from American Anthem while they hacked away. This is a lovely mindless, mostly-funny half hour for me.

[AnnaRose]

I think I was too critical of this episode when I posted earlier.  I rewatched, and I still hated a lot about the grandparents story.   Calling customer service and trying to speak with a human (preferably one that speaks English well) is something we all go through, but it's been done to death and I just didn't find it fresh or funny.  And the two conversations at the drive through window wasn't amusing to me either.  And then there was the whole WTF-ness of giving the kids sex toys for milkshakes?!  And she needed six or more fast-food milkshakes?  That whole story cast the episode in a negative light for me.

 

The first story was predictable, but I do like the actors enough that it was still okay for me.   It was pretty hard to believe Colin's character would at any point think picking a fight by basically calling his wife fat was a good idea though. 

 

I generally don't like vasectomy stories, especially with the way earlier episodes loved to be way too TMI about things, so I wasn't looking forward to this segment.  But I have to say that I really love the actor who plays that husband (I should really look up these names {/lazy}) and I think he managed to make the whole thing a lot more amusing than it had any right to be.

 

I did like what I saw of the ping-pong match, but was irritated that CBS can't end their shows on time so I missed the end. Again.  (We record two shows at nine so can't record over.)   I thought Colin's pregame stretch on the table, the audible grunts and whoops, the soundtrack and the reactions of the rest of the family were all pretty hilarious. 

 

So all in all, if I remove the grandparents segment that was more annoying than funny, the rest wasn't bad at all.   Not my favorite, but I still enjoy most of these characters enough at this point to get some decent laughs even from one of the weaker episodes.

[ferretrick]

But it turns out that their combined power cannot overcome my complete aversion to the junior Hanks. I have to add him to my list of "thespians I have an irrational issue with" I guess.

Dan Bakkedahl is the one I couldn't stand. What an awful, idiotic, annoying, and unfunny character. The character is terribly written, and charisma suck Bakkedahl isn't capable of rising above the crap he's given. I tried with this show because Zoe Lister Jones is the best thing in it (just as she was in the short lived Friends WIth Better Lives). Mostly I ended up just FF Bakkedhal's scenes. But then I hit the episode where all 3 guys went camping together, so it wasn't really the same separate stories framework, and Bakkedahl was front and center. That was it-deleted the remaining episodes off my DVR.

[ferretrick]

Oh, and speaking of offensive, how about the golf episode where James Brolin's character kisses Tim on the lips and uses gay panic to win the game?

[ChipBach]

I love this show... So kill me.

[stcroix]

I don't like Dan Bakkedahl either in this show.  I don't know him from any other, so I don't know if it's his material I don't like or just him.  He's not funny to me, just odd and rather dumb in a non Phil Dunfy type of way.  I think they were going for a Phil type character, but this guy doesn't have the charisma to pull it off (in my opinion!) . 

 

I thought the first 3 segments were ok(small letters for sure) but I thought the ping pong segment was very funny.  In fact I backed up the actual game a couple of times and laughed, especially at Colin Hanks sincerely throwing himself into the character!  When he approached the table and threw his leg up for the yoga stretch the other actors in the background were having trouble not cracking up.  And all the whooping!  Made me lol for sure! 

[whatsatool]

The whooping was good.

[mansonlamps]

OMG that band was bad. No worries about them going on the road and being successful lol. Glad they had a segment with the son, though, I don't know why but I find him very funny. Sadly I still don't know a lot of their names.

Liked this episode okay, but I'm starting to find Brolin's clueles character a little tiresome. It's very hard to believe he was a successful career person, what did he do for a living again, can't remember.

[MaryMitch]

OMG that band was bad. No worries about them going on the road and being successful lol. Glad they had a segment with the son, though, I don't know why but I find him very funny. Sadly I still don't know a lot of their names.

 

I know! As I was listening to them I was thinking "Boy, I must be old because they sound like they're torturing cats!"  I'm glad to know that they were supposed to be bad!

 

Liked this episode okay, but I'm starting to find Brolin's clueles character a little tiresome. It's very hard to believe he was a successful career person, what did he do for a living again, can't remember.

I believe Brolin's character used to be a pilot. Have they ever mentioned that he's a bit senile?

[ae2]

The parents (grandparents) are consistently the worst part of this show for me.

[Blakeston]

When James Brolin's character said that his friends were all gone, I really thought he meant they were all dead.

 

I got sick of not knowing the character's names, so I looked them up:

 

James Brolin: John

Dianne Wiest: Joan

Their son who lives at home: Matt

His girlfriend: Colleen

Betsy Brandt (Joan and John's daughter): Heather
Her husband: Tim
Their son: Tyler
Their older daughter: Samantha
Their younger daughter: Sophia

Colin Hanks: Greg

His wife: Jen

Their daughter: Lark

 

I believe Brolin's character used to be a pilot. Have they ever mentioned that he's a bit senile?

I don't recall them saying that, but it would make so much sense. I hope they come out and say it, because it would make his childishness a lot more tolerable.

[Latverian Diplomat]

I thought the lice thing was going to be a fake story that Heather made up to freak Samantha out. I would think a mall santa giving kids lice would be a huge scandal, but maybe malls are better at covering these things up than I realize.Sophia's entrepaneurial spirit was charming, but I'm not sure how she got "custody" of the medicated shampoo.

 

The appeal of mall santas eludes me anyway. I have a friend in retail who hates the Santa line that winds past their store. It's a menagerie of bad behavior and worse parenting.

 

Grandad is a self-centered jerk, and every story involving him seems to require that he behave that way, or there's no story. 

Edited December 20, 2015 by Latverian Diplomat

[Blakeston]

I thought the lice thing was going to be a fake story that Heather made up to freak Samantha out.

I was shocked when it turned out Heather didn't know.

 

I found it kind of hard to believe that girls Samantha's age, who were trying so hard to look like adults, would want their pictures taken with Santa to begin with.

Edited December 19, 2015 by Blakeston

[Latverian Diplomat]

I found it kind of hard to believe that girls Samantha's age, who were trying so hard to look like adults, would want their pictures taken with Santa to begin with.

 

Well, they were doing it ironically, but still a bit a of a stretch, I agree. And if there were any sort of a line, I can't imagine kids that age standing in line just for that.

[Chaos Theory]

I liked most of them. I still haven't managed to learn anyone's name (My Bad) my favorite was the College one The College one was my favorite. I actually loved the solution for the teenage boy wanting to be in a band. The band was so awful he would be back in college by the fall and mom wouldn't take the hit for killing his dream.

[Browncoat]

I can see Sophia trying to sell the medicated shampoo to her sister (and I can totally see the blackmail) but once her mother was involved, nope. 

[MaryMitch]

I laughed out loud when Dianne Wiest / Joan bounced off the air mattress

[Browncoat]

 

I laughed out loud when Dianne Wiest / Joan bounced off the air mattress

 

Oh my god, yes.  And then after they'd traded with Greg and Jen and Jen needed to get up, she told Greg to bounce her out.  I nearly fell off the sofa laughing.

 

And is it wrong that I want to know all the lyrics to the naughty 12 days of Christmas?  Is it real or was it written just for this show?

[Latverian Diplomat]

And is it wrong that I want to know all the lyrics to the naughty 12 days of Christmas?  Is it real or was it written just for this show?

 

It seemed a little clean for the "military grade" naughty version. But, if they were performing it publicly, maybe they had to clean it up a bit.

[Perfect Xero]

Well, they were doing it ironically, but still a bit a of a stretch, I agree. And if there were any sort of a line, I can't imagine kids that age standing in line just for that.

 

I don't think it's ironic as much as "I want a picture to show everyone how cute and fun I am on Instagram."

[Machiabelly]

I think the sons girlfriend is Clementine

[Blakeston]

I don't think it's ironic as much as "I want a picture to show everyone how cute and fun I am on Instagram."

I wouldn't expect 11-year-old girls to do the "it will be so cute if we act like little girls" thing.

[Perfect Xero]

I wouldn't expect 11-year-old girls to do the "it will be so cute if we act like little girls" thing.

 

I thought they were supposed to be a couple of years older than that? Either way, I think to their thought process it's less acting like little girls, and more acting like the older teenage girls who do that sort of thing on social media.

[mansonlamps]

I don't think it's ironic as much as "I want a picture to show everyone how cute and fun I am on Instagram."

Not trying to be a smart-ass, but isn't that what we mean by doing it ironically? Sometimes I feel so out of touch with the ironic concept these days.