Life In Pieces - General Discussion

[ItCouldBeWorse]

2 minutes ago, mansonlamps said:

On 1/15/2017 at 0:26 PM, ItCouldBeWorse said:

If Tyler is that oblivious about credit cards, etc., don't his well-educated parents bear some responsibility for not having explained such things to him at some point? Or is he really too stupid to learn?

Honestly he does come across pretty stupid.  I loved when Tim and Heather were calmly talking to them about paying rent and Clementine was like "why are they screaming at us?"  Lol.

I guess he'd have to be pretty dumb to want to make a life with someone else who's pretty dumb.  Otherwise, he should know that he would eventually be bored by her.

Edited January 16, 2017 by ItCouldBeWorse

[Beezella]

Silence of the Lambs, a Musical! In ELEMENTARY school!

I am confused though, it seemed they had Clarice be both the victim in the hole, and the rookie FBI agent.

[Traveller519]

"...and your father requires a headboard."

I randomly thought of that line while driving this weekend and started cracking up.

This show isn't changing the game by any stretch but it's a comfortable watch at the end of the week.

[Blakeston]

Tyler was supposed to be quite smart when the series began. He was accepted to the University of Michigan (from out of state, no less), wasn't he?

I guess one could argue that he's book smart and just dumb about real world concepts like financial responsibility, but I'm not buying it at this point.

[iMonrey]

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Sam's acting and Southern accent were horrible!  If I had to choose between the girl who couldn't sing and the girl who couldn't act, I'm not sure what I would do. 

You can coach a kid to act. You can't coach someone who has no ear for music to sing. Since it's a musical it's more important the actor be able to sing than act. All the director had to do was tell Sam to drop the horrible accent and tone down the melodramatics, and she would have been fine. The kid who couldn't sing was never going to learn to sing.

[AnnaRose]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

You can coach a kid to act. You can't coach someone who has no ear for music to sing. Since it's a musical it's more important the actor be able to sing than act. All the director had to do was tell Sam to drop the horrible accent and tone down the melodramatics, and she would have been fine. The kid who couldn't sing was never going to learn to sing.

Yeah, I would have chosen the better singer for sure.  Listening to the girl who couldn't sing would be torturous.

People Bingo may be my favorite segment so far.

[Mama No Life]

Matt looked so hot in last night's ep....sports junkie is his groove. 

Hilarious that they made Kurt Warner a klepto jerk.

Also Sophia's trip to the bathroom was funny.

Colleen bugs.  Not sure why, but less Colleen is always better.

[ae2]

40 minutes ago, Mama No Life said:

Matt looked so hot in last night's ep....sports junkie is his groove. 

Hilarious that they made Kurt Warner a klepto jerk.

Also Sophia's trip to the bathroom was funny.

Colleen bugs.  Not sure why, but less Colleen is always better.

I love Colleen most of the time, but she has bugged me a few times this season. It's time for her to move past the "trying too hard to fit into the family" thing. It worked so much better last week when she and Jen and eventually Tim just had fun being part of the family but knowing they'll never really be the family.

The Rams episode got a few laughs, but it didn't totally gel for me. Like they were trying to write an episode around a marketing promotion rather than a good story.

Best part of the episode:

Greg: "Does putting chewing gum behind my ear help me keep my balance?"

Matt: "I don't even remember that one."

Greg: "I do!" (Pulls gum out from behind his ear and throws in on the ground.)

[mansonlamps]

Matt is seriously hot, where has the actor been all my life?  Love his character too.  And I , too, can't place my finger on why I go back and forth on Colleen.  Most of the time she's fine, but then her neediness to be accepted get annoying.

[ae2]

1 hour ago, mansonlamps said:

Matt is seriously hot, where has the actor been all my life?  Love his character too.  And I , too, can't place my finger on why I go back and forth on Colleen.  Most of the time she's fine, but then her neediness to be accepted get annoying.

I think he does a lot of live theater. His IMDB resume isn't terribly compelling, but if you haven't seen it you might enjoy The Newsroom. His character is sort of a dick in the first season, but he really warms up in S2 and S3 and becomes one of the best parts of the show. 

(Okay, if you hate Aaron Sorkin, or super political shows you'll hate Newsroom, and he's not *the* main character, so then you'd be better off googling videos of Don + Sloan. If you liked the West Wing you will probably enjoy it.)

[roughing it]

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Colleen.  Most of the time she's fine, but then her neediness to be accepted get annoying.

New People bingo square - "Colleen - desperately trying to be accepted"

[NYCFree]

The Rams episode kind of felt flat to me, but it was sweet to see the Sophia and Tim bond.

I have played people bingo a couple of times in my life. One situation was in staff meetings when I was a teacher. It was an excellent way to bond with my fellow teachers as well as keep our interest at events that were full of jargon and insulting to our collective intelligence.

[iMonrey]

As someone who doesn't follow football at all, this episode was clearly not meant for me. All the Kurt Warner stuff went right over my head. That said there were still moments I enjoyed, like all the stuff between Greg and Matt. Colin Hanks is usually MVP of this show anyway as far as I'm concerned. But I hope it's not true he didn't have any friends because he couldn't throw a football. 

[ae2]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

As someone who doesn't follow football at all, this episode was clearly not meant for me. All the Kurt Warner stuff went right over my head.

There's honestly not much to it. He led the Rams to a Super Bowl win in 2000. So "big time sports legend for our team is a klepto and a cheater", but it's made even funnier because Warner is a very devout Christian and is very open about it.

That said, it didn't really go anywhere and they really needed to come back to it later in the episode. Maybe he could have cheated his way into the halftime competition, or Greg actually won it only to have the prize stolen by Kurt.

[Traveller519]

I've liked the centrally focused episodes in the past, but like Colleen, this one just seemed to be trying too hard. It would have made a lot more sense if they aired in during the regular football season, but I understand production lead time issues.

I did find, Kurt Warner's a jerk mildly entertaining. It would have been really good if when someone (I can't remember who) made the "future hall-of-famer" someone else made a "Y'think?" face. Warner is the most debated "is he worth induction" players out there.

[Perfect Xero]

Been catching up on this show, going back to the Flashback episode, was it just me or did young Tyler and Samantha look too close in age? He's supposed to be 4 or 5 years older than her, but you could have told me that the kids in the flashbacks were twins and I'd have bought it.

Also, given that Greg didn't know how to pack a suitcase when he was a young man it's probably not at all surprising that Tyler doesn't know anything about adulting.

[Mrs OldManBalls]

Loved Sophia in the men's room and Tim's comment that she wasn't tall enough to be in there. (Also, when she confessed that sometimes she pees in the sink)

The lies Greg believed! OMG!!!

[Traveller519]

Good god, James Brolin as the Greek Chorus during the Sophia's Independence plot was dialed right into what I needed last night.

Tyler and Clementine being totally outrageous actually kind of works for me. I'm glad they get each other.

[Blakeston]

When Sophia said something about her mother having the hair removed from her lip, I thought the joke they were going for was that she misunderstood what that Russian woman was doing to her mother (ie, Heather was having hair removed from...other lips.)

Clearly I've watched too many filthy sitcoms.

Anyway, I enjoyed this one a lot. I loved that Tyler and Clementine's mail gets accidentally delivered to Sophia's playhouse.

[ExplainItAgain]

Where is the other daughter?! She's always missing...

I am not a big fan of Greg, although I love Jen. Colleen really is starting to get on my nerves. I guess the wedding will be the season finale? There could be 4 separate interesting stories there.

[iMonrey]

Greg seems to be devolving into more and more of a man-child. That sometimes happens as a sitcom begins to age - the characters become 2-dimensional caricatures. One wonders what Jen ever saw in him.

The story with Sophia in the grocery store was pretty funny, though. They managed a little social commentary on helicopter parenting without being so heavy-handed as to insult those parents guilty of that behavior. I don't know that it's really so much a "different world" now, as Heather believes, so much as a different perception of the same world. The fact that she wouldn't even let Sophia cross the street - to go to her own grandparents' house - was over the top. 

[HawaiiTVGuy]

On 1/20/2017 at 10:21 AM, ae2 said:

There's honestly not much to it. He led the Rams to a Super Bowl win in 2000. So "big time sports legend for our team is a klepto and a cheater", but it's made even funnier because Warner is a very devout Christian and is very open about it.

That said, it didn't really go anywhere and they really needed to come back to it later in the episode. Maybe he could have cheated his way into the halftime competition, or Greg actually won it only to have the prize stolen by Kurt.

That was what I was expecting when they panned the other competitors, him standing there staring down everyone else to intimidate them.

[Mrs OldManBalls]

I work in the industry and the segment with the waxing was like a horror movie: she blew on the wax?!?!? Big no-no. Then she double dipped the spatula?!?! WAAAAAAY BIGGER NO-NO!!!!

I shudder to think Colleen's ass was waxed ( double dipped), and then Heather had her lip done. 

[MaryMitch]

Those waxing scenes made me think "what have we become that women feel the need to be as hairless as a child?"

[needschocolate]

19 hours ago, ExplainItAgain said:

Where is the other daughter?! She's always missing...

Maybe she is hanging out with Chuck Cunningham and Judy Winslow.

[mansonlamps]

23 hours ago, ExplainItAgain said:

Where is the other daughter?! She's always missing...

 Wasn't she just in last weeks episode in the silence of the lambs plot?   Although I do agree that she gets used a lot less than the other two kids.  Which is a shame because she does bored teen girl very well without being too obnoxious.

That little Sophia is a gem, though, she has amazing comic chops for her age. And she really plays well off of pretty much every other character.

[ExplainItAgain]

She was in last week's episode, but she seems to be missing quite a lot. The show seems to go out of its way (with the whole 4 separate stories thing) to make sure everyone has a least a little something every week. Even if Sophia and Tyler aren't focused on they seem to be around. It's not like she's missing half of the time, just enough to be noticeable...

On 2/3/2017 at 3:33 PM, iMonrey said:

One wonders what Jen ever saw in him.

That's pretty much all I was thinking while watching this episode...

[kat165]

Sophia and Jen are my favorite characters on this show. I usually prefer shows without children, but Sophia is the best. I'm so impressed with the actress.

[Packerbrewerbadger]

I have such a hard time with the ridulous teen marriage story. On top of being too young , they are also extremely immature on top of it!  I know it's a sit com but kids don't get married that young, and I shudder at the stupidity whenever they're featured.   Who's paying off their ridiculous credit card bill ?

[kat165]

Packer, the young marrieds don't really bother me that much, they're just kind of there. I like the red headed boy, the girl not so much. What really bothers me about them both is that they are so dumb! I really have a difficult time with characters who are too stupid to live. Which is why I also don't care for James Brolin's character either.

[Featherhat]

On ‎03‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 8:33 PM, iMonrey said:

Greg seems to be devolving into more and more of a man-child. That sometimes happens as a sitcom begins to age - the characters become 2-dimensional caricatures. One wonders what Jen ever saw in him.

The story with Sophia in the grocery store was pretty funny, though. They managed a little social commentary on helicopter parenting without being so heavy-handed as to insult those parents guilty of that behavior. I don't know that it's really so much a "different world" now, as Heather believes, so much as a different perception of the same world. The fact that she wouldn't even let Sophia cross the street - to go to her own grandparents' house - was over the top. 

Yeah last season Greg and Jen were my favourites. I still like Jen a lot and I like Colin Hanks but Greg is devolving quickly and it's only halfway through the 2nd season. I am willing to write the whole Rams storyline off as promotion but I hope his character comes back to where he was last season as a bit dorky but not a man child than Jen wouldn't have looked twice at.

I don't think it was so much a different world as much as that we are now more aware of everything. You can look sex offenders in your neighbourhood up online, you hear about many terrible things that happen across the world instantly rather than at a few weeks/months distance or not at all and people are beginning to be more open about abusive situations that "everyone knew but no one did anything" etc. That said crossing the street, when you could look out the window and let her parents know she was coming was just sitcom caricature ala Greg.

[ExplainItAgain]

I'm surprised they didn't do a Tyler and Clementine plot about Valentine's Day. They were both missing but we got the return of the other daughter! Ha.

This episode was kind of meh. None of the stories were really funny.

[roughing it]

I kinda wish this was an hour long sitcom, but then again maybe no. 

The part where Molly Shannon busted through the glass door was funny, but it would have been even funnier if we hadn't already seen it in several commercials.  Just like the trailers for movies, they show the funniest part to get you to go see it, and then it's a complete let-down.

Edited February 10, 2017 by roughing it

[Traveller519]

As soon as Molly Shannon shows up you know where the plot is going. And it went there. Still it was good to see Greg as a semi-competent human being in how he planned the evening and managed the Chef.

I liked the little call back to the "Heater" tattoo in the bumper preview

[iMonrey]

I think Sophia is one of the best characters on the show. I cracked up that at first she said she felt like a princess "Just like Anne Hathaway," then later she said "I'm a monster . . . just like Anne Hathaway." 

I got a kick out of Matt and Colleen navigating the pretentious hoops of adopting a dog, especially when that lady told them to communicate through her instead of directly to the dog. That dog was a real cutie, too! Poor thing, I wonder how it lost its leg.

[needschocolate]

Has Molly Shannon's character been on the show before?  They talked about her as though they already knew her, instead of "introducing" the character. I felt like I came into the middle of that segment (although I watched the recording from the beginning).

The rest of the episode wasn't horrible, wasn't great either.  Lots of posters have mentioned their favorite and least favorite characters/couples.  I find it interesting the that favorites of some are the least liked for others.  Personally, I could do without the grandfather.  They make his comments/actions so ridiculous that the family should have him checked for dementia (they had a flashback showing that he was always this way, but how did he survive to adulthood, let alone raise a family and live to retirement age?).  One comment about paying extra for the car was fine - people accidentally misspeak and it can be funny - but to do it multiple times - too OTT (wow , I didn't know I felt that strongly about him).

[jbrecken]

It was weird having two Office people in the same episode.

[Perfect Xero]

3 hours ago, jbrecken said:

It was weird having two Office people in the same episode.

They were really similar to their Office characters too. Angela with the animals, Stanley talking about his ex-wife.

[Jodithgrace]

In the brief photo that they showed of "Stanley" with his ex-wife, was that Molly Shannon as the ex-wife? Didn't she say something in the first segment about her husband leaving her in a used car lot? I don't have the episode saved so i can't go back and rewatch. But it would be a fun twist if it were. 

[mansonlamps]

3 hours ago, Jodithgrace said:

In the brief photo that they showed of "Stanley" with his ex-wife, was that Molly Shannon as the ex-wife? Didn't she say something in the first segment about her husband leaving her in a used car lot? I don't have the episode saved so i can't go back and rewatch. But it would be a fun twist if it were. 

I thought the same thing.  This was definitely one of my least favorite episodes.

[Mrs OldManBalls]

On 2017-02-11 at 1:39 PM, mansonlamps said:

 This was definitely one of my least favorite episodes.

It was not great. 

[Traveller519]

The term Sophomore Slump is starting to come to mind, as much as I enjoyed the first season, I haven't gotten much rise out of this season. Last night's episode had some good laughs, and it was nice to see Tyler not acting like a complete moron, but an old people on Facebook storyline? That would have been relevant 7 years ago.

Come on, guys. I know you're better than this!

[roughing it]

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an old people on Facebook storyline?

Still relevant.  I just played almost the same scene out about a month ago with my mother-in-law, and her gobstopping fear of someone, somewhere hacking her account.

[Perfect Xero]

I thought that the goldfish story was hilarious, one of the best they've ever done on the show. The in memoriam montage in particular had me laughing out loud at 2am.

[iMonrey]

Yeah . . . that was exactly what I go through with my parents when it has anything to do with computers. The fact that they didn't understand their password would work on every computer rang so true to me. Once my parents actually called me up because they thought they had re-programmed their VCR by accident on the computer. Then they got mad at me for laughing at them.

How creepy is it that Greg's old girlfriend looked exactly like his mother?

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 The in memoriam montage in particular had me laughing out loud at 2am.

Yeah - and the sad Sarah McLaughlin song - that was pretty funny.

Edited February 17, 2017 by iMonrey

[ExplainItAgain]

The goldfish story was funny. That Sophia is real cutie.

Tim is so dad-ish, he plays that part well. Their little bonding at the end was sweet.

Colleen is just so annoyingly perky and smiley.

[LucyEth]

Again I will say I really like the show and most of the characters.  Colleen is my least favorite.  I love Sophia and Jen, just hope they don't go overboard with Jen's smugness and make her unlikeable. Glad this episode showed Gregg as capable.    I thought the Facebook stuff was funny.

[mansonlamps]

I agree, love Jen, but she could easily become unbearable if they don't temper her condescension with other genuine qualities.

[Mrs OldManBalls]

I was so taken aback by Tim's leather blazer, that it took me a few minutes to notice his shiny tank top...

[Sarahsmile416]

On 2/20/2017 at 11:01 AM, LucyEth said:

Again I will say I really like the show and most of the characters.  Colleen is my least favorite.  I love Sophia and Jen, just hope they don't go overboard with Jen's smugness and make her unlikeable. Glad this episode showed Gregg as capable.    I thought the Facebook stuff was funny.

I agree. I don't know what happened because I was fine with Colleen last season...but now I can't make it through an episode without feeling annoyed.

For the most part, I like Jen, but yes, her smugness can bug me after awhile.  I get tired of her constant lack of patience with her PIL. Especially after the first episode when she and Joan shared that wonderful moment together, I was hoping maybe she would start showing them less contempt...but no...