S03.E16 Insta-Friends

[AnnaRose]

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Insta-Friends (Season 3 | Episode 16)

8:00PM Tuesday EST | ABC

Katie feels left out and slightly jealous when Greg becomes fast friends with the newest member of the Westport Historical Guild. Meanwhile, Oliver fears Cooper is ditching him when he sees on social media that Cooper lied about his weekend plans.

Airdate:  Tuesday, March 26, 2019

[AnnaRose]

Did anybody watch the new episode?  I thought it was a good one.  It's always great to see Cooper B!   I have a huge character-crush on him.  His scenes with Oliver were great, and I love his joyful appreciation of Mrs. O and her meatloaf. (All of her recipes are just meat and supermarket seasoning packets!)

The actor playing the sad basement-arcade attendant was fantastic.  "Fourteen tickettsss.  Well dooonnnnne."  And the montage at the end killed me.

I was glad to see Trip again, too, and he had some funny lines.

And Anna-Kat, I know exactly what you meant about men brushing off a suggestion when it comes from a woman, but then all of a sudden it's terrific advice when a man says the same damn thing.

I liked Greg's storyline with his new friend too, and Katie being upset because she wanted him to have a friend, not a new best friend.

Edited March 28, 2019 by AnnaRose

[joanne3482]

I like that the actor/show really makes you feel for the poor, little, rich boy, Cooper B. 

Franklin's knowledge of holiday themed napkins cracked me up.  

[halfpint ingals]

I went to high school with Katy Mixon for a year in Florida, so I loved it when she mentioned both high school and Florida at the end.

Seeing Thomas Lennon always makes me think of Joey's hand twin on the Vegas episodes of Friends . 

[Snow Apple]

They need to tone down Katie's meaness and anger. There used to be a humor and even warmth to her but not anymore.

Other than that, I enjoyed this episode too. The children's friends are quirky but I really like them. They say strange and funny things.

[iMonrey]

Cooper and Tripp are the best things about this show for my money. I felt so bad for Cooper when Oliver brushed him off because he really didn't understand what was happening. "Well, technically it's an estate." I just can't imagine living in a mansion where you have your own private arcade that's an ice rink half the year. And a full-time employee who does nothing but take care of it. (That's where the absurdism really plays heavy on this show.)

And I'm so glad Taylor is back with Tripp, who grabs an umbrella to watch a meteor shower. "Always thinking!"

It's odd that all three kids have such weird friends. 

I laughed when Ana-Kat said Oliver was listening to "the dumb one" and when Taylor objected, she said "Oh, I didn't mean you," and that was enough to satisfy Taylor. Good Lord, if Taylor and Tripp get married they're going to have some awfully dumb babies. 

[Snow Apple]

If Taylor make it as a singer, I hope her parents or somebody trustworthy handles her money. And by trustworthy, I don't mean Oliver. lol 

[CrazyDog]

I also just love Cooper and Tripp. I wanted Tripp to be in the family photo at the end!

Cooper is just a great character. He could have been written so much worse, but he's such a decent guy. I like him and Oliver as friends, and let's face it, as Oliver's unofficial brother.

And Greg is so great. He's just so happy all the time. I liked his friendship and his "D pics", lol. 

I didn't mind Katie being jealous at first, but she did cross the line into full-on mean when she was chanting Dane sucks or whatever it was. That was just uncalled for.

Girls night out...ha. Just the same as breakfast, but with wine.

[MargoChanning]

I think this show could be better.

[readster]

14 minutes ago, MargoChanning said:

I think this show could be better.

The problem is, the show is starting fall into the classic TV troupe of: "bring out the worst in character traits and damn the logic of it." Let's face it, I love what they have done with the character of Cooper, but come on, his parents come off as not only a cliche, but hell they be fined with child neglect. Cooper is still a minor. Then add in how Greg and Katie go over on Taylor going to college, when the show can't make up their mind if she is just not book smart or just dumb dumb like her boyfriend. Same goes with Oliver, at what point can he just be happy with what he has instead of constantly saying: "We are so poor and being rich is better." When he has been hit over the head from Cooper to even when Spencer was alive that having money does not equal happiness. Plus, all the house wives would have been in prison or divorced by now the way they act and the fact their husbands just throw money at them to shut up and leave them alone. When NONE of them came from money and now feel they are better than everyone else. 

[floridamom]

I watched the show yesterday. I agree that Katie's character, IMO, is bordering on un-likeable. I'm getting a bit tired of her always yelling and acting up. Her behavior at her husband's historical dress up club social was unacceptable even for a TV show. She is usually pretty mean and disrespectful to her very nice husband, who IMO is much more intelligent and mannerly than she is. Don't care much for Katie any more.

I think this show is turning in to a parody of characters, not at all real ones any more. The rich, neglected son, (Oliver's friend) is a sad character. He is so alone and abandoned by his parents, I would think that Katie and her husband could be warmer to him. 

The two older children are ungrateful for what their parents are able to give them. Ana Kat is being written differently too. They dropped the special needs in her and she's beginning to be the best of the kids.

I hope they fix this show because the premise of it was that the mother was a 'housewife' with a somewhat healthy home life and household.  Just not a perfect one. Her friends that she breakfasts with are also becoming weird.

My favorite character is the husband who gets mistreated and disrespected by his family, which should not take place. He is a good man and should be treated as such.

[iMonrey]

I meant to add that I give a big thumbs up to Tripp's choice of snacks. Chicken in a Biscuit, all the way!

[AnnaRose]

11 hours ago, floridamom said:

I watched the show yesterday. I agree that Katie's character, IMO, is bordering on un-likeable. I'm getting a bit tired of her always yelling and acting up. Her behavior at her husband's historical dress up club social was unacceptable even for a TV show. She is usually pretty mean and disrespectful to her very nice husband, who IMO is much more intelligent and mannerly than she is. Don't care much for Katie any more.

I think this show is turning in to a parody of characters, not at all real ones any more. The rich, neglected son, (Oliver's friend) is a sad character. He is so alone and abandoned by his parents, I would think that Katie and her husband could be warmer to him. 

The two older children are ungrateful for what their parents are able to give them. Ana Kat is being written differently too. They dropped the special needs in her and she's beginning to be the best of the kids.

I hope they fix this show because the premise of it was that the mother was a 'housewife' with a somewhat healthy home life and household.  Just not a perfect one. Her friends that she breakfasts with are also becoming weird.

My favorite character is the husband who gets mistreated and disrespected by his family, which should not take place. He is a good man and should be treated as such.

They have needed to tone down Katie for a long time.  And I think her friends have been weird a long time too.  (Doris is even worse than Katie and I wouldn't be sad to see her go.  They are the worst part of most episodes IMO.)

Greg is wonderful and I too would like to see him treated better in general.

[Yeah No]

Ditto on needing to tone Katie down and them taking some of the characters' quirks a little too far to find entertaining.  I'm just so over the dumb boyfriend thing and Taylor not being so bright either.  "The Middle" tried pairing Axl up with a too-stupid-to-be-believable girlfriend and the audience hated it, then thankfully they got rid of her, but not after Axl actually MARRIED her.  I don't know why these shows seem to think this is something people want to watch.  It's like they are scraping the barrel for a joke.

This show was better in the first season, then in the second it started going all over the place and sliding into mediocrity, sadly.

[floridamom]

I see a similarity in the way ABC writers are writing the characters of Katie and the mother on Fresh Off The Boat (can't remember her name right now.) Why do they think audiences would love to see borderline abusive mothers? I, for one, don't like it.

[Yeah No]

1 hour ago, floridamom said:

I see a similarity in the way ABC writers are writing the characters of Katie and the mother on Fresh Off The Boat (can't remember her name right now.) Why do they think audiences would love to see borderline abusive mothers? I, for one, don't like it.

The mother on "The Kids are Alright" isn't much better.  Lines like, "If you wake the baby, I'll beat you to death WITH the baby".  Plus all sorts of illegal, mean spirited and ethically questionable behavior.  Like this week she had someone else take her drivers test for her, sit for the photo for her and then she went out driving.  Then even though the police caught her there were no consequences and her husband didn't even get mad at her.  If kids are watching this stuff what kind of adult behavior does that model for them?  Not that every sitcom parent should be a saint (Frankie on the MIddle wasn't) but this is going over the line in my opinion.

[readster]

1 hour ago, Yeah No said:

The mother on "The Kids are Alright" isn't much better.  Lines like, "If you wake the baby, I'll beat you to death WITH the baby".  Plus all sorts of illegal, mean spirited and ethically questionable behavior.  Like this week she had someone else take her drivers test for her, sit for the photo for her and then she went out driving.  Then even though the police caught her there were no consequences and her husband didn't even get mad at her.  If kids are watching this stuff what kind of adult behavior does that model for them?  Not that every sitcom parent should be a saint (Frankie on the MIddle wasn't) but this is going over the line in my opinion.

I really love The Kids are Alright, but at times they make the mother too pissy. I mean I get it's the 70s and they have 8 kids, but really? When she said that and similar things including: "Momma, did you miss me?" her reply: "What do you think? Now get out of my way!" It was meant as a cheap punch lines where she could have said: "What do you think? Now... I need to lay down." 

 I also get tired of the dumb dumb kids or girlfriend/boyfriend even being dumber. I don't know why writers think it's funny and when they even have characters of the show acknowledge it, doesn't mean it's great writing. It just proves you don't know anything better to do with the characters. Katie's friends, especially Dores are getting to the point I'm surprised they aren't being arrested. I mean these teens are not little kids in 1st grade. They are in high school, in fact about to get OUT of high school. I'm in education, you even make a joke or something, these kids at 14 will go: "Hey, I can get you sued or arrested." I mean, even Taylor and Cooper's friends could have had all the "mean housewives" arrested or charged with child abuse at this point. They really are going to need to get it together for season 4 because they are starting to go downhill. 

[Yeah No]

32 minutes ago, readster said:

Katie's friends, especially Dores are getting to the point I'm surprised they aren't being arrested. I mean these teens are not little kids in 1st grade. They are in high school, in fact about to get OUT of high school. I'm in education, you even make a joke or something, these kids at 14 will go: "Hey, I can get you sued or arrested." I mean, even Taylor and Cooper's friends could have had all the "mean housewives" arrested or charged with child abuse at this point. They really are going to need to get it together for season 4 because they are starting to go downhill. 

You're right, I didn't even mention Doris.  She is even worse than Katie at times and that mean music teacher thing was not funny at all, and was outright child abuse.  I feel like the show has switched directions several times and right now is headed straight into the toilet.  Maybe they couldn't keep the best writers?  I haven't followed that.

[readster]

1 hour ago, Yeah No said:

You're right, I didn't even mention Doris.  She is even worse than Katie at times and that mean music teacher thing was not funny at all, and was outright child abuse.  I feel like the show has switched directions several times and right now is headed straight into the toilet.  Maybe they couldn't keep the best writers?  I haven't followed that.

I remember on twitter they said they were making a joke on JK Simmons character in the movie Whiplash. On how he was literally punching his adult music students. I also remember a few episodes ago when Doris just walked in and dropped Ana Kat off and the teacher asked if she had a pass/late slip from the office and she just manically laughs at the teacher in like: "You dumbass, I am beyond that!" Um.... no you can't just drop a kid off like that in ANY school. It was like a while back on the show, Splitting Up Together where Martin busts into his daughter's high school class thinking the teacher is making moves on her, when it was the daughter who thought the teacher was in love with her. First of all, no way a parent can just go into a school, walk down to a class and then act all high and mighty. Not the way schools are built and handled now, TV shows act like everyone has forgotten things like: Columbine, SandyHook, ect. Or that most students especially in the 87% statically proven that high school students might see an attraction to a male or female teacher, but are all about "personal space" like if someone brushes against them by accident they act like they are groped. 

  People can argue: "It's a sitcom just deal with it." Yeah, but there are things like: "following the law" and you can't just do what you want to do. Going back to the music teacher, just how much money did Doris throw at her from Doris: "rich husband who doesn't care" to even act like that. Then to have Doris in some secret monitoring room, that is going way, way too far. 

[lark37]

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Plus, all the house wives would have been in prison or divorced by now the way they act and the fact their husbands just throw money at them to shut up and leave them alone. When NONE of them came from money and now feel they are better than everyone else. 

To be fair, do we know that none of Katie's friends come from money? I don't think that has ever come up which is an issue that has bothered me from season one. How did Katie become friends with Doris and Angela? Did they go to college together?  The original premise was a working class housewife in a rich suburb where she struggles to fit in, so maybe I missed the explanation of why Doris and Angela, who are wealthy, are so tight with Katie. Anyway, I still love this show but agree that it's getting stale. Hope they can fix it. 

[readster]

4 hours ago, lark37 said:

To be fair, do we know that none of Katie's friends come from money? I don't think that has ever come up which is an issue that has bothered me from season one. How did Katie become friends with Doris and Angela? Did they go to college together?  The original premise was a working class housewife in a rich suburb where she struggles to fit in, so maybe I missed the explanation of why Doris and Angela, who are wealthy, are so tight with Katie. Anyway, I still love this show but agree that it's getting stale. Hope they can fix it. 

Pretty much is they were "kicked out" of the Mean Girls Club too and enjoy just getting back at them now.

[Kip Hackman]

Finally got around to watching this.

I could watch 30 minutes of Thomas Lennon working in Cooper's basement.

[msrachelj]

On 3/31/2019 at 6:45 AM, floridamom said:

I see a similarity in the way ABC writers are writing the characters of Katie and the mother on Fresh Off The Boat (can't remember her name right now.) Why do they think audiences would love to see borderline abusive mothers? I, for one, don't like it.

there are a bunch of lying, nasty, snarky, cruel, mean mothers on tv sitcoms for sure. sometimes it's funny and sometimes it's not. 

[readster]

49 minutes ago, msrachelj said:

there are a bunch of lying, nasty, snarky, cruel, mean mothers on tv sitcoms for sure. sometimes it's funny and sometimes it's not. 

I agree or ones that bash their husbands or siblings and it comes across as: "How are you not divorced or dead by now?" 

[Aussie]

On 3/30/2019 at 4:27 AM, floridamom said:

I agree that Katie's character, IMO, is bordering on un-likeable. I'm getting a bit tired of her always yelling and acting up.

Yes, although I'm in the TV industry and understand that a character is not the actor, Ms. Mixon seems to be a one-trick pony in this role. It's all growling and nasty behavior towards others, with tons of defiance about unhealthy weight. She is obviously a gifted actor; I wish her role here could have more dimension. IMO, the character seems insulting to hard-working moms who realize they, nor anyone, is the center of the universe.

[readster]

1 hour ago, Aussie said:

Yes, although I'm in the TV industry and understand that a character is not the actor, Ms. Mixon seems to be a one-trick pony in this role. It's all growling and nasty behavior towards others, with tons of defiance about unhealthy weight. She is obviously a gifted actor; I wish her role here could have more dimension. IMO, the character seems insulting to hard-working moms who realize they, nor anyone, is the center of the universe.

Which also doesn't help that all the other mothers act the same way and shame Katie for not being like them. Yet, their personal lives are pretty miserable and when they can't be the center of their own universe, they raise utter hell. It isn't funny and you don't want to root for anyone.