Boogie Chillen, S01E13, C3P3 (Wed, 5-15-13)

Opal! What a sneaky bitch for snitching on Celia (for the sole purpose of keeping Pete for herself)!

Is it my imagination, or are they showing more commercials now? OTOH, I'm "binge watching" at the moment so maybe it just seems like it because I have to sit through them all one after the other without the ability to FF.

Jeeze, I nearly jumped in my chair! JAR was holding AJ's hand and trying to let him know how much he loved him, and then Dixie suddenly opened the sliding door to the room. The sound effect for the sliding door made it sound like Darth Vader was about to sweep into the room!

I love, Love, LOVE that JAR echoed my sentiments and referred to himself as an asshole! :-)

I agree with Debbie that, angst over Cassandra's situation aside, Jesse and Angie are waaaay overbearing on questioning the beaten patient about the sex trafficking ring. Of course, PVH has never been particularly strict about HIPAA violations.

Whoa! It's not often on a soap (never, in fact, until NOW) that you see a guy with loose briefs that allow his package to jiggle around right there on camera! I am, of course referring to the muscle-endowed henchman/porn actor who grabbed Cassandra at the end of the show.

TAN: Speaking of muscle-men, My mother and I were out shopping and, as we waited for a light to change, we looked at a nearby strawberry stand. A man had gotten out of his car to go to walk up to the stand. The first thing I noticed was that his biceps were HUGE. He was modestly dressed and a little on the short side, so they might have been overlooked if I hadn't been looking at the strawberry stand at the time. I pointed him out to my mother. I noticed that his thighs were also bulging with an abundance of muscles and said so. Mom said "he's also bow-legged". He was. I told her that that was because his thighs were so huge that he HAD to walk bow-legged.

Robin "some muscle is nice--too much muscle, not so much" Coutellier

Boogie Chillen, S01E11, C3P1 (Mon, 5-13-13)

Whoa, Zach was getting pretty handsy with Bianca's knee and thigh in his empathy over Miranda's social problems.

How could Jesse have brought the FBI in to help find the kidnapped Cassie without the FBI contacting Angie?

Griff tells Dixie that JAR is suffering from retrograde amnesia and that what causes that kind of amnesia can also cause dramatic personality changes. Soooo, does this mean he might NOT be an asshole?

Poor AJ. He decides to give his father a chance and goes to see him. He looks so hopeful and even bashful seeing his father awake. JAR clearly doesn't know who AJis and treats him like a stranger; AJ looks crushed. AJ is not a little kid anymore, so it's kind of understandable that JAR might not recognize him right away. OR is JAR pretending in order to avoid responsibility for shooting and killing Marissa? Still, it be pretty hard for ANY parent not to at least give a micro-tell upon seeing one's own child.

Robin "when news gets around that JAR is awake, I think he can expect a visit from Bianca" Coutellier

Boogie Chillen, S01E08, C2P3 (Wed, 5-8-13)

I guess Winifred got over her hatred for Adam; she's back working for him and even RUNNING for him.

Where is Adam going?

Miranda doesn't realize that her biological father raped Bianca; she thinks she "came from a cup" via a sperm donor. Bianca was telling her about how hard it was to have Erica Kane for a mother and how the tabloids ran stories about her being gay. Miranda seemed surprised. Now she's telling Celia about her origins. I think I see some research about her father in the offing. Kendall was on trial for murdering him, but then Bianca remembered that SHE had shot him. That was ALL over the news and tabloids. It shouldn't be too difficult for Miranda (or Celia) to google Bianca and find all sorts of info about her. I put the video on pause to write that, and the next thing out of Miranda's mouth was that she DOES wish she knew who he was or at least what he was like. Foreshadowing much?

Was David FARTING while he was talking to Cara?

How many female characters are on the show right now whose names begin with "C"? Off the top of my head, we have Cara, Celia and Cassandra (Kathy's name starts with a "K").

Ha! Did they just diss The Bachelor (aka, an ABC show)? LOVE IT!

I thought the name of the nail salon was Fancy Finger Nail Salon. The sign on the outside said New Image Nails. New ownership?

Dixie slams Adam for telling the comatose JAR that he's the biggest disappointment of his life. Yet there she is, dumping her frustration that David is back and now honing in on AJ. JAR may be in a coma, but that doesn't mean he can't hear things. WTF? So far he's heard that his father thinks he's worthless, and his arch-enemy is honing in on his son. He cannot even react to it. Adam did reconsider, and told JAR that he loves him.

Speaking of JAR, his face looks very well toned for an alcoholic with MANY severe injuries (not to mention cancer) in his history, who has been in a coma for 5 years. You'd think he would at least be slightly slack-jawed. His hair is also nicely done WITH some kind of product.

Robin "they must have had to degunk JAR's eyes & mouth several times a day" Coutellier

Boogie Chillen, Monday - 5-6-13

Now we know that Kendall and Zach are actually DIVORCED, not just separated.

Celia reminds a little bit of a Christina Ricci.

Zach thinks that Cassie has been kidnapped for human trafficking purposes.

David was NOT about to strangle JAR at the end of Thursday's show. He was checking JAR's carotid pulse. Dixie saw him, though, and is convinced he was about to strangle him.

Bianca is an IDIOT to leave Miranda there in JAR's bedroom for the night. An I.D.I.O.T.  Why? Because Miranda now has a more urgent need to PROVE to others and HERSELF that she's not a lesbian like her mother. And there's AJ, all besotted (not to mention hot and bothered) with her, giving whatever comfort he can.

I recall Bianca (before coming out) wanting to prove she wasn't really a lesbian by going out with a boy and trying to force herself to have sex with him. I think maybe Leo interrupted them at the boathouse (AND she had changed her mind, but the guy didn't want to stop).

Robin "some things NEVER change" Coutellier

Boogie Chillen, Thursday - 5-2-13

Oh yeah, I believe there are adult-size jeans that Miranda can't fit into. She's such a butterball, after all.

AJ tells Miranda that the trailer park called and they want their trash back. Has anyone ever sat him down and told him about his mama (and Grandma Krystal, for that matter)? Yeah, there's a hospital wing at PVH named after Babe -- there's also a pier in San Diego where quite a few sailors have carved her name in the wood. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the pier had collapsed from the structural damage!

I see/hear that Griff still sounds like he's about to break into tears with every syllable he utters.

So know we know that JAR is the assh--er--mystery patient (they spelled his name wrong, though (AFAIK). Babe always pronounced it JAR and I'm sticking with it. We still don't know what happened to Tad, though.

David always DID have a hate-on for JAR (and vice versa).

All that medical equipment in JAR's hospital room looks sparkling clean and fresh out of the box. Do they ship in new factory equipment every day for the rich guy?

Now we know for SURE that eBabe (aka Marissa) WAS killed 5 years ago. Well, at least we know there's a gravestone for her, and people seem sad that she's gone.

Pete assures Celia via video that he is NOT a cyber-stalker. He assures her of this via an iPad with the words: TOUCH ME on the screen. In her BEDROOM. There are also flowers for her. In her BEDROOM. Pete's waiting outside her window for her with more flowers. Nope. He's not a stalker. Only creeps who don't respect boundaries are stalkers. Pete's romantic.

The show ends with David putting his hand around JAR's throat. David had decided that JAR being in the prison of his own body was better than him dying; but then he saw JAR's fingers twitching and he's not about to let JAR wake up NOW. So. How long before someone comes into the room and punches David in the face? 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ...

Robin "I appear to be getting some of my AMC snark back; it's like riding a bicycle" Coutellier

Boogie Chillen, Tuesday - 4-30-13

The new theme song for the show is "The Love We Give" by Imaginary Friends.

All signs so far seem to be pointing to Tad being killed or in a vegetative state. There was some nuance that Bianca needs to get over a loss, too, which makes me wonder if Marissa (aka eBabe) bit the dust at the party, too. I hope JAR bit it. Did I ever mention that I think he's an asshole? And NOW people on the show can CALL him that, if he were ever to show up. Erica hasn't been seen, but I think they are still hoping to bring her back. I was under the impression that Michael Knight WAS going to come back, but I could be wrong about that. In Tad's case, in particular, I don't worry at ALL. He's come back from the dead more than once, I think. Certainly DIXIE has, on several occasions.

AJ comes into the living room and starts peeling off his clothes. His team won something or other. Dixie tries to sound enthusiastic, but she's not convincing. AJ tries to be nice to his Grandma Dixie, but he's clearly uncomfortable talking about the elephant (Tad and/or JAR) in the room; he has things to do and people to see.

The new eating/coffee spot in town is called Jane's Addiction, run by someone named Jane. I suspect Jane gives advice to a lot of people.

Bianca is with Miranda at Jane's Addiction and telling her about tickets to a One Direction concert at Madison Square Garden. Miranda is NOT impressed. Yes, they WERE her favorite group, but that was 10 months ago. It's more Gabby's style (Gabby is 13 now). Besides, Miranda doesn't want to miss a school dance. She seems to relent by the end of their conversation, though. She mentions that Bianca hasn't been to NYC for a long time; she LOVES NYC and she should go up there and enjoy it some time. Bianca looks slightly wistful, but agrees.

Okay, either a writer or Debbi Morgan definitely made a mistake with the script on Monday's show, but at least Angie cleared it up TODAY. Lucy is just starting KINDERGARTEN; Maya, Lucy's mother, is the one who graduated and got a job in Portland at an EcoDesign firm. That certainly makes more sense than to have an infant grow to adulthood and move across the country over the course of 5 years.

Jesse calls Zach and tells him that Cassandra was seen getting into a car registered by his casino. It seems like Jesse and Zach have been out of touch for a while. Zach will get right on it.

Joe visits with Angie. He's up from Florida for a consultation. Ruth didn't feel like coming on the trip. It's hinted that she's depressed after what happened 5 years ago. She's going to spend time visiting with Amanda and Jake instead (well, at least we know now that THEY are alive and well and presumably living in or ear Florida, also). Angie mentions how hard it is to get over a tragedy.

Dixie sits by the mystery patient's side, holding his hand (it's definitely a man; either that or a woman with somewhat hairy arms, although the nails seem nicely manicured). Dixie tearfully says: "I'm here, Baby, just like I promised. " She lovingly holds the hand up to her face. It MUST be either Tad or JAR. Several people (Brooke, Angie, Joe) are clearly worried about Dixie's depression.

At Jane's Addiction, Pete, after schmoozing information from a girl wearing a school uniform like Celia's, hacks into the files of Bramwell Hall and sees that Celia's last name is Fitzgerald (and mutters that the school needs a better firewall to keep hackers out). 

The hot guy from school, Hunter, is also at Jane's Addiction and asks Miranda (after Bianca leaves) if she wants to hang out with him later. She does. AJ comes in and is NOT impressed.

Celia, in the meantime, is upset about how much her "guardian" ignores her, sending her gifts instead of his time. She calls the headmistress Evelyn, even though they've clearly been together for a very long time, taking trips, etc. I don't think Evelyn is her aunt OR her mother. Given that Celia has a guardian and calls someone who is motherly towards her by her first name, I'm guessing that Celia is an orphan or otherwise semi-adrift. She clearly wants to let loose and be like other girls her age, and that is why she is chafing at the constraints set by her guardian. She got off on the tirade about the guardian because Evelyn reminded her that, while she understands Celia's need to do good deeds, the guardian would NOT want her handing out condoms to hookers at the Miranda Center (which is why Evelyn found the condom in her room).

A weepy Dixie leaves the hospital room, promising the patient to be back tomorrow. After she walks out and closes the glass door, the monitor beeps rapidly and the patient's finger twitches. Those hands look too young to be Tad's hands, but they could be using just about anyone to be a body in a bed with a head we can't see yet.

Although the surveillance video seems to show Cassandra willingly going with the man in the video, near the end of the show we see her gagged and handcuffed to a bed. She whimpers and cries and struggles as an evil-looking man stares at her and calmly removes his coat. He's wearing a suit, FWIW.

Robin "will Dixie bring the patient a 'toymama'" Coutellier

Boogie Chillen, Monday - 4-29-13

In case you haven't heard or realized it yet, it's HERE! AMC, as put forth by Prospect Park, is now available via Hulu.com! On a technical note (before you race off to watch it), I've found that navigating it much more likely to be successful using the REWIND ICON (10 seconds) in the browser player window than it is to try to click on a position on the progress bar. Clicking on the bar resulted in odd behavior for me, including losing my audio. I also had problems with Firefox and had to use IE to successfully watch it, but that may be due to some add-ons I have in Firefox. The new show is 30 minutes, rather than 1 hour. I don't know if it will be this way for future shows or just the premiere, but I was able to see it on-line on Hulu by 1-1:30am on (pacific)!

In case you don't recognize me or the "Boogie Chillen" in the header, it's what I called my daily or near-daily comments on the show before it was canceled, and I am now resurrecting it! I have read and posted little in RATSA since the show went off the air, feeling SO betrayed by ABC canceling the show after 41 years! But I'm back NOW. The backstory to Boogie Chillens is that people asked about my comments often and it made it easier to find by giving it a "name". I love John Lee Hooker's music and the Chillen ties in with Children, so that's how I picked the name for it. Please note that BCs are NOT necessarily UPDATES; they are my comments. Certainly this first one for the 2013 resurrection is more of an update, but some days I won't have much to say or will go 2-3 days without commenting and/or lump multiple days together in a single post. I post BCs in rec.arts.tv.soaps.abc on USENET and in this blog.

WELCOME BACK, EVERYONE!!!

AMC starts 5 years from the end of the ABC version, which ended with a cliffhanger. JR was out of control and tried to shoot Bianca and/or Marissa, JR's ex- or soon-to-be ex-wife, who were now a couple. JR was furious that Bianca had "turned" Marissa into a lesbian. Erica got in the way of the bullet as she headed toward the door after Jack. Most of the children are teens now. Oddly Lucy, Maya's baby that Jesse swapped out for he and Angie's baby, who was stillborn, has apparently GRADUATED (high school? college?) and got a job in Portland. Presumably Portland Oregon, not Portland, Maine. And now I keep wanting to spell Portland as "Portlandt". Anyway, Lucy was a BABY the last time we saw her; so far she wins the prize for having the worst case of SORAS (Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome).

Brooke has a nightmare. In the nightmare, David and someone else are wrestling over a gun. She suddenly wakes up, finding herself on the couch. The classic AMC photo album with the words "ALL MY CHILDREN" on the cover is on her lap. Adam rushes to her to reassure her that he's right there for her.

WHOA! A brief, but HOT love scene with Cara and David! I don't know yet if it was a fantasy or a memory. This is DEFINITELY no longer ABC! Cara and David were doing it up against a WALL and showing a *LOT* of skin! A LOT! Maybe I WILL stick around to see how this goes!

Ah, SO nice to see Jesse and Angie in a HOUSE where they belong!  I LOVE Angie's colorful robe, too! I also love that she and Jesse actually look and mostly act like REAL people and they look fabulous doing so!

Dixie looks at a photo of herself and Tad in happier times. She is wistful and misty-eyed, and looks heavenward with love.

Petie is definitely all growed up now (and completely un-dorkified). He had an in-joke while talking on his iPhone, telling someone that it's all changing; everyone is watching TV on-line now :-) He drives around in a sporty convertible and looks like the trendy, hot-shot, rich young man that he is.

Someone has been in a coma or otherwise incapacitated for 5 years, but we don't know who yet. We know this because Cara and Griff, wearing doctor gear at PV Hospital, discuss someone (who is just off-camera) as they look at charts and over to the person in the bed, etc. They obliquely discuss how David would be very angry about whatever it is they have been doing with the patient.

There's a new theme song. It's COMPLETELY different from any of the variations we've heard over the course of 41 years. My closed-captioning gave the name of the song and the artist(s), but I don't remember right now and don't feel like looking for it; I'm sure someone will provide it soon enough. Something about friends and love. The opening montage shows characters, mostly shown in pairs, and has the characters' first names written underneath each one. It's actually a clever way to introduce people to characters, former and new, that they will be seeing.

Adam and Brooke have still not married (the cliffhanger ending was at an engagement party for them 5 years ago). Adam re-proposes. Apparently it's "complicated". AJ comes into the room, mentions Brooke's recurring nightmare, and tells them that it's been 5 years and they need to get over it and move on. Brooke agrees, but can't seem to let go of whatever happened at the party, because so MUCH has been lost.

AJ comes out of the bathroom playing or pretending to play his guitar to music on the stereo. His towel drops unnoticed from around his waist to the floor. We can see quite a bit! Miranda walks into the room and he gets all modest and says "SHIT!" among other things. Miranda makes it clear that they've grown up together and it's no big deal; she's seen him naked LOTS of times (mostly when they were little, though). They clearly have a very strong sibling-like relationship.

He replaces the towel around his waist, and they sit on the bed and look at a post someone wrote on Miranda's facebook wall. The post asks "Is Miranda Montgomery a VAG-itarian or does she eat meat?" Miranda calls them assholes (no bleeps, no wimpy substitution curse words).

Now we know that Cassandra, Natalia and Frankie are still alive, because Angie talks about how blessed she and Jesse are to have such wonderful children and how well they are doing in their lives.

Angie and Jesse have sex on the couch (we don't see that part, just the afterglow). Angie makes double entendres about the size of Jesse's equipment.

Jesse has a BIG surprise for Angie. She can't get the surprise info out of him, though. She goes to take a shower and makes more comments about he and his BIG surprise joining her in the shower. He does, but that happens off-camera.

Jesse's big surprise is that he has arranged for Cassandra to come to visit. He leaves her a message that a driver will be waiting for her with a sign with her name on it. We see her phone lit up with his call. The call is purposely being ignored.

Cortlandt Electronics is going down the tubes and Petie, who is apparently an apps genius, doesn't really want to deal with keeping it from going under. Opal urges him to do otherwise, for his dear departed father's sake, as CE was Palmer's heart and soul.

Wow, SOME of the lockers at  PVHS actually have LOCKS on them! Not Miranda's, of course. I also noticed that the front door to Jesse and Angie's house apparently does not have a deadbolt, despite it belonging to the Chief of Police (assuming he still IS COP), and despite all the chaos and mayhem that has occurred in their lives since the 1980s. Some things NEVER change. I couldn't quite see if the door had a thumblock.

Cara mentions that David is behind bars for manslaughter (presumably due to someone who died (it sounds like possibly MORE than one person died) at the cliffhanger party 5 years ago); she'll deal with him when the time comes. Oh look, there's David NOW, leaving prison! He's headed for home sweet home ... I predict some more Cara/David skin-on-skin action in the not-too-distant future.

Pete (I'll have to stop calling him Petie) is driving around town and sees a teenage girl wearing a plaid schoolgirl skirt get bumped into on the sidewalk, and her stuff tumbles to the ground. She is wearing a very showy charm bracelet. Pete gets off his wheeler-dealer phone call and helps her pick stuff up. She picks up an apple from the ground and takes a big bite out of it. She has to get going. He asks if she's late for detention. She says she's not a student. She's taking a "gap year". She teaches Art History at her old high school. He says he took an extended gap year from Stanford. She asks about it and he tells her he went to California and started his own company. He asks her name as she rushes off to school. She calls back that her name is Celia. Pete sees something shiny on the ground. He picks up a heart that must have fallen from her charm bracelet. It has a photo in it.

Miranda is all ga-ga because Hunter, the most popular boy in school, said "Hey" to her in the hallway. AJ is not impressed and tells her that the guy is a douche and a player. BTW, AJ is a ginger now. I think. It's hard to tell with the lighting. He's definitely not sporting the childhood blond mop-top hairstyle.

All the regulars are  looking GOOD! I noticed that the outdoor scenes/backdrops are quite realistic (I see plain old houses in the near distance out the back window of the taxi David takes to PV. I don't see any mountains or urbanization of PV, but it also doesn't look like the quaint town from the early days of AMC)

Pete tells Opal that the old CE factory may have more potential than he thought. He looks at the locket in his hand. He's planning to stick around for a few days. Opal gushes over him and wants them to do scrapbooking and tai-chi together while he's home. He smiles patiently at her.

Celia arrives in her room at her "old school", wherever that is, and an older woman, presumably a headmistress (or a mom or someone in some sort of authority over Celia), gets on her case for being late and then wants her to explain THIS ("this" being a condom, mercifully still in its package as opposed to recently having been donned on someone's package). Celia looks annoyed. **Edited to add that I didn't even realize that the headmistress is played by Francesca James, who played Kitty/Kelly on AMC way back in the day and later went on to become a director and producer on several soaps.**

Jesse talks on the phone to the limo driver. The driver has bad news.

David visits a grave. We do not see the name on the headstone. He says he's been in prison 5 years for what happened to "you".  Tears run down his face. But now he's back -- and there's going to be hell to pay!

All in all, I'm impressed with the first new show. I'm hoping that the fact that the show is on-line only and clearly has fewer restraints, may make it a little more realistic in some areas. Don't get me wrong; it's still a SOAP, but they clearly can show more skin and say curse words, so we may never again have to hear an AMC character use the word "crud" unless they are referring to baked-on, hard to clean food-matter in a baking pan that was left in the sink, untouched, for 3 days. It's all SHIT from here on out, and I mean that in the nicest possible way!

The teenagers are quite polished. Of course, when I say "polished", I'm thinking of The Tin Man being buffed by machinery in the Emerald City. The young actors, of course, usually have very nice young, firm skin to begin with, but even that skin has been polished down to an exquisite, doll-like finish. It's like they all just came back from a high-end detailing service. I don't have an opinion, one way or another about their acting skills. I think I like Miranda the best, though.

The adults all look marvelous, and yet more realistic than they ever did on ABC. I LOVE that so many of them are still there! It makes the transition to the revamped soap so much easier.

Robin "here we go again!" Coutellier

ON THE NEXT AMC:

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Bianca tells Miranda that she's the coolest mom EVER. Miranda asks why. Bianca says that her friend, Mallory, just scored 4 tickets for a One Direction concert at Madison Square Garden.

Jesse and someone at airport security are viewing video. The guy at the computer says the guy going through some glass doors with someone looks like a driver, presumably with Cassandra. Jesse protests that the driver HE hired said he never even picked her up or even SAW her.

Jesse tells Zach over the phone that he will never guess how "that car" was registered -- under his casino. Zach turns in his chair toward the camera and says "My casino?"

BC - Wed-Fri, 8/17-19

Wasn't Zach's bed on the other side of the room on Tuesday?
Kendall and the boys are ready to leave the hospital. Griff offers them a ride and Kendall accepts. Uh, how did they get to the hospital in the first place. Wouldn't both boys need age-appropriate child safety seats? That made NO sense under the circumstances.

Robin "and then Griff asks her if she can find her own way back to the hospital - what a prince!" Coutellier

BC - Mon, 6/20/11

TIDBIT:
In a hospital scene on Hot In Cleveland, they paged Dr. Bender, whom we often hear being paged at PVH Susan Lucci has played herself on the show several times, and she got another shoutout on the 6/22 show.

Does Greenlee have too much Fusion Gloppity-Goo in her hair or does she need a shampoo real bad?  PLEASE tell me that's not the new fashion!

Why would anyone care if a celebrity recommended that a notorious doctor who has committed numerous crimes and lost his license more than once be reinstated? As for the hospital, how can the liability the hospital takes on POSSIBLY be worth less than a celebrity's opinion? Even more than that, how can an INSURANCE COMPANY, whose only stake it in it is profit, allow it? For that matter, can just ANYBODY buy a hospital simply because they have the money? Wouldn't that have to have some sort of official approval? Erica is a convicted felon (more than once). Would she be ALLOWED to own a hospital? She's an addict and a baby-stealing, embezzling, constantly-on-trial celebrity.

At some point, there will be two Erica's in a room and her loved ones will have to decide which is which. So what can Erica ask them to ask her that only SHE would know? Maybe Jack will have to reveal that VERY special thing he likes her to do in the bedroom (you know, diaper him, burp him and sing him a lullaby), or possibly that doggie collar thing, given that he's such a lapdog.

I loved it that when David walked in and started to taunt Jake, Jake said:  "Hello, ASS!"  All things considered that must be soapspeak for "Hello, F**KFACE!"

Annnnnd here it comes ... Amanda and Jake start making out in the hotel room and then they have sex. Did anyone NOT see that coming from a light-year away? It's not quite grief sex, but certainly consolation sex (as JAR so eloquently described it). I hope they gave each other STDs.

Is Amanda still not using birth control? I didn't think so. Does she not have the slightest memory of what happened the LAST time she got pregnant? I didn't think so. And the last time she was pregnant JAR was one of the baby daddy candidates! And how do they plan to resolve this, given that the show is ending in September? Are they going to FF 20 years so we know how things turned out for everyone, or will they just leave it dangling?

Robin "Erica would NEVER use notecards to remember her speech" Coutellier

BC - Wed-Thu, 6/15-16/11

[NOTE, my previously BC headed as Wednesday, 6/15/11, was actually for Tuesday, 6/14/11]

LOD:
Opal: "I mean, I used to have trouble understanding the mechanics behind Dippity-Do!"   As I was a child in the 1960s, it brought back memories (although even as a child I pretty much understood the mechanics of it - it was like jello for hair).

Okay, Tad and the blue hair? That's just plain stupid on SO many levels. I can see if they went blond, shoe-polish black, carrot orange, or even if it all burnt off in patches - all of that would have had a comic factor. Halloween blue, OTOH, falls completely flat for me. There is no WAY Tad would have left the house with blue hair. Either a) he would have shaved it off first, b) he would have Opal apply another color or otherwise try to alter it from Halloween blue, or c) he would have had her get him a wig/toupee. Going to the Yacht Club with blue hair to meet Cara is just plain stupid and NOT funny.

Jesus, does Amanda go to PVH EVERY SINGLE DAY to make out with her husband? Grow UP, Amanda!

Robin "I really don't want to see my doctor slobbering & pawing over someone while I'm waiting for him to help me make a major medical decision" Coutellier

BC - Thu, 5/19/11

Today's product placement:  Emma suggested that her baby sister be named Tinkerbell, who happens to be a Disney character.

The doctor made a big deal about how easy it is for a baby on a respirator to get an infection and asked if Madison and Ryan had each scrubbed for at least 10 minutes.  So why aren't they wearing masks?  Okay, so only the hands are going into the incubator.  I still think they should be wearing masks.

Did anyone else think it was hilarious that Jane was remembering back to her plastic surgery and wearing bandages around most of her face, yet she was wearing heavy eye makeup? 

Robin "she was probably wearing FMPs, too" Coutellier

BC - Mon, 5/9/11

Is anyone else struck by how often spouses and sweethearts visit their loved ones at the hospital or other places of work?  Have you ever seen that in real life?  Yes, people occasionally will visit at their SO's place of work, particularly if it's an informal place, such as Krystal's but normally that would be frowned upon if it happened on a regular basis (even at Krystal's, if the person visiting was, for instance, the busperson's girlfriend or wife).  It's unprofessional.  It seems like Amanda goes to the hospital and makes out with Jake on a near-daily basis.

Tad thinks Cara has too much time on her hands because she alphabetized the spice rack.  What's wrong with that?  It can be difficult to find a particular spice; most of the containers look pretty much alike, after all.  The better stores alphabetize them.  I realize he's just antsy and thinks Cara would never think to do something like that if she weren't antsy, too, but I thought I'd throw in my opinion about alphabetizing spices :-)  Since they are both antsy, perhaps they should consider that they are both HORNY and just DO something about it.

Whatever the tabloid magazine is that eBabe is holding up, it costs $4.49 in Canada.  Are tabloids really THAT expensive nowadays?  Sheesh, how do they stay in business?  Who can afford to regularly buy them at THAT price.  I remember when they used to cost about 35 cents (which is about the last time I bought one).

Not only does the Yacht Club have rooms that only have flimsy louvered closet doors on each guest room (a long-time pet peeve of mine, as many of  you know), but the handles apparently don't have locks, either.

I see Griff is still wearing his Unibomber "yeah, I'll blend" disguise.

Wow, I did NOT expect it at ALL when Miranda got upset at school because a classmate called her mother a "Lezzie".  Is that going to be a whole storyline to try to keep viewers through September, or was it just an opportunity for eBabe and Bianca to bond over what a good Mom Bianca is?

I think Cara should be arrested for insisting on visiting the sick child against the parents' express wishes.  At the very LEAST she's probably trespassing.  Then the father walks in and finds Cara lovingly caressing his little girl's face!  I would go BALLISTIC if I were him!  If they don't have a restraining order on her yet, they should get one pronto so she CAN be arrested the next time.  It doesn't matter if the child wants her to visit!  Yeah, it's a sad situation, but it's none of Cara's business, particularly when she's already suffered repercussions for prior contact with the child.  Since Jake LET her do it after only giving lip-service to keeping her away from the child, both he and the hospital should be SUED!

Robin "in a much better mood today" Coutellier

BC - Fri, 4/22/11

At Kendall's instructions, Cara drugs the guard to Griffin's room (I don't know WHY she had to do that -- it's not like he or any other guard has kept ANYONE out of Griff's room, although I suppose the made sure Griff stayed IN it.  I recall, however, that there was a guard outside of JaNut's room when she sneaked out of the 4th floor window (with the aid of a butterknife), climbed down the walls, scaled UP the walls to Will Cortlandt's apt, killed him with a crowbar, climbed back down the side of his apt building, scaled back up to her room and scampered back to bed, all without the guard having a clue she had left.  Oh, and she was 8.5 months (or more) pregnant with Amanda at the time and was in the hospital due to high blood pressure or something like that.  Yup, PVPD DOES have a tradition to uphold of shoddy policework.

So anyway, after Cara drugs the guard, she creates a diversion (in order for her brother to escape) by pulling the fire alarm.  In a HOSPITAL.  How despicable is THAT???  Never mind that there are hundreds of patients in the hospital, some, no doubt, with heart conditions. There are also, no doubt, babies in the Neonatal Unit who may have to be evacuated.  There are comatose people on respirators.  And all the hospital personnel now has to deal with whatever they have to deal with when a fire alarm goes off.

Why are so many police officers (not to mention the Chief Of Police) on the upper floor where Griff was?  Did they all respond to the fire alarm being pulled?  Why didn't the PV Fire Department respond?

Kendall tells Griff to leave; go saves lives -- and don't look back.  Is that supposed to be a veiled message to soap fans?

Kendall promises Griff that she won't take any unnecessary risks.  Really?  Has she MET herself?  From the moment she wakes up until the moment she goes to sleep (or is knocked unconscious or is comatose), she takes unnecessary risks.  She says that even as she insists she wants Ricky to look her in the face and tell her what he did, regardless of what that will entail.  How about getting him locked up (or otherwise permanently occupied) and THEN "making" him look her in the face and confessing?

Robin "thinking of the times my Mom & one-legged stepfather have been in the hospital & if a fire alarm had gone off" Coutellier

BC - Thu, 4/7/11

Wow, I'm STUNNED!  Jake actually asked Cara to take MOMMY and baby into room 424 to make sure the baby is okay.  A PARENT being taken in with their infant?  In PINE VALLEY HOSPITAL???  Unheard of!  Oops, spoke too soon; there's Cara and Jake in a room with Lucy and Jesse and Angie are elsewhere in the hospital.

That Ricky is a hands-on kind of guy, isn't he?  They've said that he sabotaged Zach's plane, thus killing Zach, but showing him strangling a woman to death puts him in an even more sinister light.  He looks WAY too pretty and baby-faced to have led a life that includes murdering people with his bare hands.  Then again, the best serial killers are the ones no one would suspect.

David said that they (he and Liza) had 14 years of foreplay.  Does he mean that's how long they've known each other?  If so, that's odd because he delivered Colby at an inn when the roads were washed out.  They need to make up their mind as to how long he and Liza have known each other vs how old Colby is.

Will the mayor win the next election?  If she doesn't, how will David be able to hold a hammer over people's heads?

Robin "he'd probably find a way to make Liza the mayor" Coutellier

BC - Wed, 4/6/11

Scott says he was a film major at NYU.  BZZZZZT!  He went to film school at UCLA.  He returned to Pine Valley and Greenlee followed him.  Unless he dropped out and then FINISHED at NYU.

Uh, I'm missing a key piece of logic here.  If they kill Kendall, wouldn't the casinos pretty much HAVE to be sold since neither one of the owners would be alive?  The kids would probably inherit everything.  Would they then try to persuade a guardian (Bianca?) to sell it?  Would the guardian even be ALLOWED to do that?  And if they kill Kendall, and everything goes to the kids, wouldn't the books STILL have to be gone over with a fine-tooth comb in order to do that?

Ryan invites himself to Madison's OB appointment.  WTF?  I don't care if he IS the baby's father, he has no right to butt in on an OB/GYN appointment!  They are not only no longer together, but he's married to Greenlee.  What's he going to do, watch her get a pelvic exam?  Yes, they did an ultrasound, but Madison didn't SAY they were there for an ultrasound, she merely said they were there because she had an OB/GYN appointment.  For all he knew, she had a yeast infection.

Not only am I askance that Ryan insisted on going to Madison's OB/GYN appointment, but, HELLO?  Emma?  What if Emma gets upset and runs out of HER appointment?  Emma seeing a shrink IS ostensibly why he and Greenlee are at the hospital in the first place.  Besides, NO ONE sees their doctor right away unless they are the first patient of the day or after lunch, so they'd just be sitting in the waiting room and they'd probably STILL be there when Emma came out to find herself abandoned, yet again.

Robin "considering how hell-bent Ryan is to know everything he possibly can about the genitalia of every woman in Pine Valley, perhaps he should go to school and become a gynecologist" Coutellier

BC - Thu, 3/24/11

Isn't the bachelor auction about to happen, like "today" at  PVH?  So why is JAR only just now hearing about it from Amanda?  Why is pretty much everyone only just NOW recruiting people?

Griff's a doctor, right?  He knows lots of rich people in PV (like Kendall, for instance).  Why doesn't he just BUY antibiotics to send overseas instead of stealing them from his workplace?  Yeah, I know it would mess with the storyline to do something, oh, I don't know, LOGICAL, but really, this is just plain stupid.  He says he meant to do it with the money Zach was going to give him from the casinos, but now that's in limbo.  WTF?  Just how many antibiotics IS he stealing from PVH?  If he has to wait for the big windfall from the sale of the casinos, that's a SHITLOAD of antibiotics which, generally speaking, are much cheaper than MOST medicines except for the super-antibiotics.  A 10-day supply of Amoxicillan from Walmart (WITHOUT insurance) is around $4.  He must need a forklift to do the swiping from PVH drug cabinets in order for it to be too expensive for him to buy on his own (he must have a credit card or two) or enlist the help of all those rich people. 

It's pretty hypocritical of Griffin to write a blank check to give to Cara to make sure someone other than Kendall bids on him (and wins) at the bachelor auction rather than just buying some antibiotics with it to send overseas.

I'm not buying Ricky with Diana.  Between her harsh, cold attitude and her size (she's kind of an amazon) she's not very feminine, no matter how much makeup or jewelry she wears.  Every time I look at her I wonder if she's a guy in drag.  She also reminds me of Grace Jones and the dominatrix in Zoolander, especially with those wing-like things she likes to wear.  I wouldn't want to meet her in a dark alley (or even a well-lit one).  Maybe it's the blunt-cut bangs and all that sneering.

Robin "she scares me" Coutellier

BC - Wed, 3/23/11

Bianca is an heiress and a business mogul in her own right.  She has big bucks and two small children.  Reese wants to take the children away (and possibly a lot of her money).  So what does Bianca do?  She hires a newly minted lawyer.  I don't think eBabe even has an office.  Her license probably hasn't even arrived in the mail yet.  She has NO experience whatsoever in divorce cases other than her own (where she just got fooled).  Hiring eBabe is a pretty stupid move for such a smart woman.

Why is Caleb even in Pine Valley?  He's a non-player.  All he does is stand around and brood and Michael Nouri is just phoning his lines in.

Erica and Jack have set a wedding date:  May 14, 2011 (a Saturday).  We'll see.

Did I miss an episode?  Nope, I see I did a Boogie Chillen for Tuesday.  All this stuff with Griff going to the casino and trying to force himself into Diana's office and consequently being beaten up seems to have happened off-camera.  I even went so far as to fish Monday and Tuesday's episodes out of the Tivo recycle bin to double-check.  The last we saw of Griffin he was about to escort Kendall to her car after it was verified that the fund-raising event had been canceled.

Wow, that was a loud snowball.  What are those snowballs made of, rocks?

What grounds would Reese have for getting sole custody of either ONE of the girls?  How heinous, irresponsible and unfit is Bianca as a mother that Reese would be able to do that?  And has Reese become a French citizen?  They have as much as said that the lawyers for Reese will try to get the girls back to France and the French courts will then give sole custody to Reese.  I'm under the impression that they are ALL American citizens, so why would the French courts favor Reese who, as it has been pointed out numerous times, has not even made the slightest effort to see the girls in a very long time.  Where has she been, prison?  If not, there isn't any valid reason for her not to have done so.

Here's a thought:  Reese may become engaged to a man so she can renounce being a lesbian and marry him (or at least SAY that's the case) in order to get custody.  Then she can attack Bianca as being unfit for still being a lesbian.  Of course, if push comes to shove, Bianca could do the same thing.  It wouldn't be believable for either one of them to hook up with a man, considering they are well-established as lesbians, but believability has never stopped the writers at AMC, and it would be a storyline they haven't done on AMC yet.  Reese might have a slight edge in that she at least TRIED to be heterosexual before she met Bianca, but Bianca has never been anything but gay, having only had one dismal date in high school to try to fit in.

Caleb tells eBabe that he doesn't really want to run Cortlandt Electronics without Erica.  Good.  Leave.

If Kendall didn't know Griff was in the hospital room with Cara and Tad, why did Kendall so boldly stride into it as it if were her destination?  She seemed utterly surprised to see him there.  She had to know Cara had just walked in, yet she didn't even glance at Cara as she strode in, making me think Cara was not the reason for her intrusion. 

Robin "but then, Kendall reasons rarely make sense" Coutellier

BC - Thu-Fri, 3/17-18/11

So Annie came back to PV to ... what?  Panhandle in a park where everyone knows who she is?

Annie tells Greenlee "I would NEVER leave my daughter alone!"  How about that time she kidnapped her and locked her alone in an abandoned church which Emma then accidentally set on fire?  For that matter, she just told Emma (I think, it's hard to say what Annie's reality is at any given moment now) to go take a shower while she went to find them some food.  I can see where, being on the run, she might go downstairs and leave Emma in the room, but telling her to TAKE A SHOWER while she left the room?  Of course, anything Annie says or does about her intent at the moment is kind of a moot point since she appears to be schizophrenic. 

David and Griffin are standing in front of an assignment board.  In the center of the list of procedures that are being done, is Meniscectomy.  When I first glanced at it, though, I thought it said Meaniesectomy.  That made me wonder why David was standing there and not being prepped for his Meaniesectomy [BRRRRRUMPT-TING!]  (P.S.  Meniscectomy is knee surgery.)

While David and Griffin were standing there, there came the LOD.  David stated his opinion that, despite Griffin's plans, Griffin was now in PV for the long haul.  Griffin begged to differ.  Daivd:  "Are you kidding me?  Your sister just married a MARTIN.  If this place were a chocolate factory, they'd be the Oompa-Loompas." 

Why do we see women in PV going bonkers on a fairly regular basis, usually due to their feelings about one man or another, but we rarely see the same thing in the guys?  I think the last time we saw that was when Aidan kidnapped Kendall.  Oh we see guys get obsessed with the women in PV all the time, but we almost never see them dragged off to Oakhaven because of it.  They get amnesia sometimes after being bonked on the head, shot or otherwise physically damaged, but the women usually only get amnesia from mental trauma.  To be fair, Ryan did get a combination of the two when a bullet grazed his head and he subsequently (but not right away) forgot who Annie was, despite the fact that they were married and slept in the same bed (he forgot who Emma was, too).

Robin "women in PV FAINT from physical trauma, but only go bonkers over men or the loss of a child" Coutellier

BC - Wed, 3/16/11

Do Kendall's kids ever play outside at their own house?  It IS a big place with lots of grounds and even a pond, after all.  Do Bianca's kids ever play outside at Wildwind, which has about 20 miles of land on it?  I know Miranda sometimes rides a horse.

Why is Miranda the only child wearing a hat outside when it's cold enough for snow to be piled up all over the place?

Given there is snow piled up all over the place, why is Kendall (amazingly enough) the only one wearing sturdy shoes (boots, I think); Bianca and eBabe are wearing pretty flimsy shoes.  To be fair, though, I think eBabe joined them on the spur of the moment.  Still, she was walking through the park dressed like that.  I'm a California native, so I don't know what it's like to play or just walk around outside when there's snow all over the ground, so maybe that's normal back East.  All I know is that my feet and ears would be so cold that they would feel crunchy.

The actresses playing Bianca and eBabe look WAY too much alike.  I'm constantly having to re-orient myself when they are in the same scene.  The first eBabe might have been annoying sometimes, but at least I always knew who she was the moment I saw her.

I'm glad to see that Amanda toned down her makeup to at least only halfway black.

Dr. Joe, who is only visiting, is going to the board meeting and is going to recommend that Cara be hired on a full-time basis.  I see that the Martin talent for nepotism is still well-entrenched.

Robin "Trevor will be on-staff before you know it" Coutellier

BC - Fri, 2/4/11

I really like the blouse Colby was wearing as she stupidly taunted Annie after telling her that she recorded Annie's confession (such as it was) about assaulting eBabe and stealing her stuff. Here's an idea: record a conversation and then take it to whomever you plan to take it to, WITHOUT cluing in the perp about it before anything can be done. Not that the recording would likely hold up in a court of law, since it was not legally sanctioned, but at least others might hear it and know that Annie DID do it.

The three main doctors at PVH all abandoned their posts to go out in an ambulance looking for Kendall. So who's running the hospital? Maybe Dr. Kravitz and Dr. Bender are holding the fort.

OT/TAN: My latest commercial annoyance: the Amazon Kindle commercial where a man in the sun is trying in vain to read a book on his ebook reader, but there's too much glare. He asks the woman next to him, who is engrossed in whatever she is reading on HER ebook reader, how she's doing it. She smugly says that it's a Kindle and it's only $139. Even more smugly, she remarks that she paid more than that for her sunglasses. Must be nice to have money to toss out on such expensive sunglasses, let alone an ebook reader. It might have been tolerable if she simply stated that the price was $139 and left it at that, but the sunglasses part makes me want to SLAP her. The gist of the commercial that really stood out to me, though, is that while they show the screen of the man's ineffective ebook reader in the sunlight, they do NOT show the screen of the Kindle in the sunlight. So how do we know how much better it is in the sunlight it is than the man's, other than going by the smugness of the bitch with the expensive sunglasses?

Robin "talk about a glaring omission" Coutellier