possibilities

Money is usually at the root of most creative problems. But this show is highly rated. If it was struggling, it would be one thing. But to cut costs just for greed? Or to "teach the cast a lesson" because of the strike? And none of that explains the idiocy of some of the writing choices, either, unless they just decided to not pay for decent writers.

I thought the WHCD was not doing anything this year.

I didn't mind the window jump-- silly stunts are the lifeblood of tv. I thought the jump was actually kind of fun. I like it more when the show leans into campoy superhoro moves than when it goes for gratuitious violence and torture porn. I am also at the point where I'm dangling by a thread to continue watching, though. It's just not working for me anymore.

When Grey's Anatomy first aired, I liked it. I liked that the cast was diverse and the women and people of color were not marginalized. I liked a lot of things about it. But they quickly started writing plots I considered boring, stupid, and absurd. They minimized the things I liked and maximized the things I didn't. The relationships, especially, became what I considered to be draining and irritating and diminishing of the characters. They leaned into what I considered to be the most annoying romantic tropes. And this week I realized the team making Fire Country has Grey's Anatomy on their resumes. But that show is a juggernaut! It's been on the air a long time and it's very popular. So I have accepted that what I like is not necessarily what tv is going to do. Fire Country (and Tracker) have fabulous ratings. They have what I consider to be great bones. But as time goes on, they are moving in the direction of other shows that have great ratings and stay on the air for many seasons, so I can't really act surprised. But because my tastes differ, I'm disappointed. Lately, even shows that have high ratings and long runs seem to be taking turns away from what I liked about them-- like 911-- and I don't know if it's all cost cutting, or if it's a genuine style preference, but I guess I'm just out of synch with the media mood du joir.

We have seen that Georgie does childcare, too. And so does Audrey. Mandy is not some single mother who needs a break, or even a full time parent who has to do all the childcare and never gets a break. She has an active coparent, two grandmothers who want to share the childcaring to the point that they jockey for the right to do it more, and she reacted angrily wqhen Georgie even gently suiggested they cook one meal for her parents who house them rent free. I agree that stay at home moms and working parents need time off. But I don't think this show made even the tiniest of cases to demonstrate that Mandy is actually in the position she claims she is in, where she never gets a break and nobody appreciates her and she has nobody else to thank or who needs pampering or appreciation. If they wanted to make that case, I just think they did the worst possible way of doing it, and actually they did the opposite.

Are there any other tv forums worth anything? If so, I haven't found them.

One more thing: how stupid do you have to be to keep using the phone your stalker gave you? Especially without checking to make sure it isn't bugged with tracking apps? Also, she would have been much safer with the crew on the job than sitting by herself alone, or even hiding out with one companion who was then going to be blamed if they defended her.

I am still rewatching week by week as they re-air the episodes, and I still think the show is even funnier than I remembered. I also love how you really don't know what will happen from one episode to the next. I rarely re-watch anything, because there is too much content to even watch all that I'm interested once, but this is being really fun to revisit.

I'm really hung up on how, when Eve decided to evacuate, everybody walked slowly, like they weren't actually in a hurry. I've never seen such a low energy evacuation in my life. Whether it's slow motion camera work to indicate grief, or slow walking away that's supposed to indicate reluctance to leave, it took me completely out of the moment. Show us some hustle if it's an emergency! I also have a hard time with how this show's firefighters don't wear any kind of gear over their faces, and they don't get smoke inhaltion even when they are covered in soot. I know that TV thinks we need to see faces, but other fire shows have handled this with close ups through the face mask, well-identified names-on-jacket, clear sound so you can recognize their voices, and people saying their names over the radio. I'm not talking about Bode rushing in without equipment because he's breaking the rules-- that's a different issue. I mean Sharon and Vince running into the fire without any protection. They didn't bring anything for the people they were rescuing, either. I love Audrey. What she did was self-defense and Manny acted like she was the one doing the stalking and threatening. He wasn't there, and he comes in and starts blaming the women for protecting themselves against an intruder he knows to be dangerous. He can't claim it's just fear for the way the system will treat them, because he wasn't trying to even find out what happened before he started taking over and hurling commands. I'm sick of Manny. Audrey protected herself and Gabriella, and he's acting like she fucked up. I agree with everybody's criticisms of Bode's arc. Either he's a maniac who needs to be taught to behave or he's a brave hero who needs to be treated like one. Why do they think that making him a disobedient fuck up who never learns and simulatenously an incredible hero who no one appreicates is a good story? Pick a lane or look like your writers don't understand basic logic. What I think is that now they've written themselves into a corner-- he will either go into major moping mode if his family member(s) die (and learn his lesson and stop going rogue, which I doubt because the show doesn't seem interested in that), or he will blame Jake for holding him back from going in and dying with them. Or, he will shake it off like it's nothing, which is also a terrible choice. I don't want to watch any of those scenarios, honestly. I love Eve and I was really excited to see her enjoy her nephew but also say: "I love you but I don't think I'm going to change my mind and want kids." I was disappointed they wrote her girlfriend as wanting them, though, because that means misery ahead. Either they break them up, or Eve caves in and agrees to be a mom, or the girlfriend implausibly drops her own desire to have a kid. None of that interests me. I read some stuff in the media thread that made me think I don't like what they have planned for next season, but before that I was thinking I don't know if I have the right temperament to keep watching this-- because I am full up on stress and angst and horror in real life. I'm just not sure I'm in the mood for more coming from fiction, especially if it isn't well-plotted and serving some interesting purpose. I don't see misery for misery's sake as compelling enough. Some people find it cathartic, and I respect that. But it's not where my head is at lately. They have also reduced the relevance of 3 Rock a lot. I liked when they developed the characters there, like Freddy and Cole, but they seem to mostly only do that with one per season and only just enough to learn their name and then write them off the show. The camp seems to mostly be a vehicle for administrative hassles and background noise for the leadership team. I really like some parts of the show, but I am not sure if the balance tips far enough in those directions vs against them. I don't need a tv show to be totally realistic or totally perfectly written. I can handwave things and get over some missteps. But the things I like best seem to be being minimized and the things I like least seem to be being doubled down on, and that's really disappointing.

I didn't realize these idiots are from Grey's Anatomy, but that does explain a lot.

How is she so thin? It would be funny if one week EVERY CBS show had the same title, with just the number of years off by one number each. Luigi, the guy who IRL is alleged to have shot the insurance executive, seems to have a lot of fans. Maybe Delia will also have fans. It won't make prison pleasant, but it would at least be a psychological support.

1 for me, again.

How many episodes are there? I expected this one to be the finale, but I guess not! I didn't understand why it was such a secret that the kid was adopted and why he was angry at his parents about it. I also didn't really understand why Catherine was expecting her kids to be devastated by their grandparents getting divorced. I'm sure they've seen divorced people before. Her planting the idea in their heads that their grandparents might stop loving them was bizarre and stupid. I highly doubt they were thinking that. And even for her, it was weird. She's a grown ass adult. I know she was projecting her own child self onto her kids, but still-- it seemed to me waaaaay over the top. I felt bad for the dog being left in the care of the mother in law who didn't like her. They seem to be making us want it to be Brett's ex's new husband who is the corpse. Or else Alice's husband's mom. I felt bad for the dog being left in the care of the mother in law who didn't respect actually thought it

She wasn't camping out there until this episode. They told us this week that she's been sleeping on the couch of a friend, until she asked Connor for a few days at his place this episode. I do suspect she will stay longer, and this will be discovered soon, and lead to more conflict. What I don't know is how it will be any different than what they showed us this week: the kid and partner living for free on parental largesse. Jim will definitely not like it, and I don't blame him. Mom will be conflicted because she likes having Connor as her helpless baby but she will have trouble with her baby having a sex life. The girlfriend does have a job, but I bet it doesn't pay well enough to afford housing-- a lot of jobs don't these days. I'm not sure what the housing marekt was like in the 1990s when the show is set, but around here, being unable to afford rent (or find anything not already rented to someone else) is pretty common, even for the most responsible people. So I am not guessing how the show will handle it. But it does seem like it hits on a similar theme to thiss week's episode, with just a different offspring in focus.

Nobody minds the corruption of having the permits be either blocked until the politician intervenes, or granted because he does? I'm not saying it's unrealistic, but it the mix of "accusing him of unethical behavior" while asking him to pull strings.... I'm actually getting increasingly bored and irritated by the plots. The show still has funny quips, but the stories are starting to drive me away. The obsession with Sass being a virgin has been going on for multiple episodes and seems to only let up because he wasn't in this episode. The ghosts disrupt basic functions of Sam's and Jay's business, make them look crazy, obnoxioius, or foolish, and nobody ever learns anything from it so they just let it happen again. And we have no idea how they pay the bills, giuve that they alienate just about everyone who shows up there, whether a customer, a contractor, a politician, or a neighbor... and a lot of the time one of them dies. I get that sitcoms have patterns, but I'm losing interest and it's depressing because the show has such good bones, and so much story potential they are squandering. Of course, the ratings seem to say I'm just a disgruntled malcontent, and overall what they are doing is actually what people want. So I apologize for raining on the picnic.