S11.E05: The Girl Who Cried About Wolf

[newcheese]

4 hours ago, eel2178 said:

Actually, "Avery or me," is correct.

According to quickanddirtytips.com, "The traditional grammar rule states when a pronoun follows a linking verb, such as "is," the pronoun should be in the subject case. ... That means it is correct to say, “It is I,” and “It was he who dropped the phone in shock when Jodie answered, 'This is she,'” because "he" is the same type of pronoun as "I."" 

I would guess Murphy follows the traditional rule, so saying "Avery or I" would be correct for her.

[wendyg]

Technically, yes, "Avery or I" is correct. Think of it this way: what if you continued the sentence to explain it fully? Then you'd have, "It wasn't Avery or I who did this thing." It's all about subjects and objects...and granted, it sounds odd in colloquial English. But Murphy is of the age where these things were drilled into you in school, and she's a journalist, so she will have gone on thinking about language and grammar through her whole professional life.

[mojito]

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Actually, "Avery or me," is correct.

If you were speaking correctly, would you say, "It was me?" Nope. Same goes for "It wasn't Avery or me." Any form of the word "to be", nominative case and all that. (I think I can still remember how to diagram this sentence and the "I" would be preceded by a slanted line, right?)

I loved the Ann Coulter skin-shedding line. 

I was thinking about how with an AM show, nobody cares if the door at Phil's isn't closed anymore. So bring back the new secretaries every now and then. I was also good with Corky's hot flashes and think they should make them a sight joke, particularly if she's trying to hide that she's going through one.

I like watching Corky's facial expressions when the others are talking.

[Panopticon]

Avery geeking out over the possibility of the pee tape existing was a thing of beauty. I rewatched that scene three times so I could catch everyone’s expression. 

Thank you, television gods, for Avery Brown. 

[Sarah 103]

6 hours ago, Panopticon said:

Thank you, television gods, for Avery Brown. 

Shallow end of the pool: Thank you, wardrobe department for putting him in tight t-shirts. 

Avery and Murphy are the best thing about this show. I wouldn't mind an episode that was Murphy and Avery trapped in a room (locked in, stuck elevator, etc) talking to each other for almost the entire episode. 

[Peace 47]

6 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

Avery and Murphy are the best thing about this show. I wouldn't mind an episode that was Murphy and Avery trapped in a room (locked in, stuck elevator, etc) talking to each other for almost the entire episode. 

This was my first episode of the revival, and I thought that I would be more drawn to the classic cast, but I agree that these two were the strongest part.  I almost think they missed the boat in not reimagining the show centered around these two working together in some way.  Why is Avery living with her?

I wonder if the director of the revival is not the greatest.  I ask because the newsroom acting of pretty much the whole cast (save Murphy and possibly Miles) seemed very uneven.  Faith Ford seemed especially bad, and I don’t ever remember her being a bad actress in anything that I can recall seeing her in (though it’s been years).  All the acting just seemed stilted and artificial in those scenes, but then other scenes did not have that issue (like Frank and Murphy in the bar), which made me think that it was a directing problem or maybe even a set design problem because it’s like the actors were in a stage play and projecting at the wrong levels for a TV show. 

I was watching this, and a commercial came on for MacGyver and Hawaii Five-O, and I wondered what year it was. 

I’d give this show a B-, in all honesty. 

[wendyg]

If the acting is uneven it's much more likely to be a writing problem.

[wendyg]

For some reason I don't get an edit button on my posts...so to add: the original characters on the show were created by Diane English, and she's the showrunner...so far, so good. But the *other* writers in the room are likely to be more attuned to the character *they* created, which is Avery...and so you have maybe more fizz going into writing that relationship due to that sense of ownership.

[Affogato]

On 10/25/2018 at 10:20 PM, mmecorday said:

I think Candice Bergen looks great ... but who in the world thought anyone would look good in that combination strait jacket-homemade pot holder she wore for most of the episode???

And that is why some person probably named in the credits, or their unnamed assistant, has the job of costuming actors and we don’t!

[doodlebug]

3 hours ago, Peace 47 said:

This was my first episode of the revival, and I thought that I would be more drawn to the classic cast, but I agree that these two were the strongest part.  I almost think they missed the boat in not reimagining the show centered around these two working together in some way.  Why is Avery living with her?

 

As I recall, all the way back to the first episode, Avery is based elsewhere, maybe New York?, as a journalist.  He just recently got the job with the Wolf Network where his assignment is to travel from place to place interviewing the locals.  He stays with Murphy at her place when he is in town for his work; but isn't there full time.  Murphy has joked about charging him rent when he is passing through. Just this past episode, he said something about getting his own place in the DC area.  I think TPTB were hedging their bets, giving themselves the ability to use Avery as much or as little as needed, based on audience response. Since it seems to most of us that the Avery-Murphy relationship and chemistry between the actors is the strongest part of the show, I wouldn't be surprised if Avery didn't move to DC full time soon.  The two of them hanging at home talking about their lives and work is a real asset to the show; TPTB may need to come up with a reason for Avery to live with Murphy full time.  Maybe Murphy has an in-law suite?  

[chitowngirl]

10 minutes ago, doodlebug said:

Just this past episode, he said something about getting his own place in the DC area.

He says this every episode!

[Bastet]

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Just this past episode, he said something about getting his own place in the DC area.

He says this every episode!

 

He's the new Eldin - he'll never leave!  (Works for me; I like him as much as I did Eldin, and find the scenes of him with Murphy at home as important to the series as those with Eldin and Murphy were.)

Edited October 28, 2018 by Bastet

[illdoc]

On 10/27/2018 at 5:06 AM, wendyg said:

Technically, yes, "Avery or I" is correct. Think of it this way: what if you continued the sentence to explain it fully? Then you'd have, "It wasn't Avery or I who did this thing." It's all about subjects and objects...and granted, it sounds odd in colloquial English. But Murphy is of the age where these things were drilled into you in school, and she's a journalist, so she will have gone on thinking about language and grammar through her whole professional life.

Suppose the sentence was "Avery and (I or me) went to the store". I was taught that if you leave out the "Avery and" part, what makes sense? So if choosing between (A) "Avery and I went to the store" and (B) "Avery and me went to the store", if you leave off the "Avery and" part, you are left with (A) "I went to the store" and (B) "Me went to the store". Obviously, (A) makes sense. 

[ombelico]

4 hours ago, doodlebug said:

TPTB may need to come up with a reason for Avery to live with Murphy full time.  Maybe Murphy has an in-law suite?  

Not necessarily - Eldin never lived in Murphy's house, but spent enough time there to be featured in nearly every episode when Robert Pastorelli was on the show. I could see a scenario where Avery buys a condo or something nearby as his DC home base, but since he and Murphy are so close, he comes over for dinner or to chat several times a week. Avery and Murphy are each other's only family - it makes sense that they would spend a lot of time together when they are both in DC.

On another note - I really love the details that the set designers have added to Murphy's living room. In this episode, I noticed that they have a framed copy of this photo of Murphy holding baby Avery. This attention to detail really makes the Murphy-Avery relationship shown now feel so much more organic and real.

 

[Guest]

This was either my favorite episode of the season or at least my favorite since the pilot. It didn’t have the laugh out loud moments of the pilot but it also was in a better groove. 

Highlights were Avery searching for the pee tape but finding Barney.

[twoods]

On 10/27/2018 at 3:58 PM, Panopticon said:

Avery geeking out over the possibility of the pee tape existing was a thing of beauty. I rewatched that scene three times so I could catch everyone’s expression. 

Thank you, television gods, for Avery Brown. 

If you enjoy the actor, he’s awesome in Greek and Limitless. I am still salty with CBS for cancelling Limitless because it was so good, and Jake was awesome in it. He is definitely the highlight of this reboot and wish we saw more of him.

[Sarah 103]

On 10/28/2018 at 11:45 AM, chitowngirl said:

He says this every episode!

I think "I've got to get my own place" or some variation is going to be a running gag. He'll say it, but he won't do it. I'm glad because the scenes with Murphy and Avery are the best on the show. I never would have expected that. 

[festivus]

That jacket. It looked like somebody rolled her. I missed half the episode staring at that thing in horror.