Stick (Apple+ series, one season... so far)

As of posting this, Season two has been confirmed...

Promotion and Writing


This series was promoted as the next “Ted Lasso”… but with golf.
While this was a good way to promote it, it was also to its detriment. I’d only just experienced that series for the first time this year and it was VERY fresh in my memory.
They have two things in common- the main character is a middle aged white dude, played by a well known actor, and it revolves around some sport.

For me, Ted Lasso was a very “cozy” series. Meaning it was a lighthearted mix of drama, humor and pop culture references… but mostly because I almost never had to worry about the show hitting that “point of no return”- where some irreconcilable drama happens that derails the entire plot and it's a slow painful slog until it gets fixed... assuming it gets fixed at all.

Stick, unfortunately, had a few of those extra dramatic moments. One of these moments spanned an entire episode and it took the entire half hour runtime for a last minute epiphany to magically solve the problem.

Granted, I’m thankful it didn't last past an episode… but it also felt so rushed that I complained the writing wasn’t very good.


Watching this as a golf fan

I hadn’t read many reviews just to keep my perspective pure but I did read one with a notable criticism— it’s a show about golf, but the golfing terminology left something to be desired. This one reviewer complained that this one tournament or going pro was referred to as “the dance”- when that term does not exist in the golf world.
But hey- I’d been watching golf for years. So for me, it was accurate enough and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It also taught me something I spent the last 30 years knowing nothing about. Namely why we have the different numbered clubs, woods vs irons and so on. The number determines the amount of curvature in the club face, which is why some are built better for longer distances.

And while this show didn’t have a lot of the heavy hitters like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy making cameos, they did have Keegan Bradley and Collin Morikawa among others.
If Ted Lasso had any cameos, I didn’t know who they were. But I’m also not a soccer fan and I still don't get why the clock counts upward and how/why time gets added after the initial 90 minutes.


The characters


When we first meet Pryce “Stick” Cahill, he’s working at a pro shop and sells a customer on some heavy duty (not to mention expensive) hardware.
But beyond that, to paraphrase Taylor Swift, he’d been “sleeping… in a 20 year dark night.” He’s on the cusp of a divorce, his house is a mess and he’s still grieving a very traumatic loss.

He comes across Santiago “Santi” Wheeler, a 17 year old prodigy who can drive over 300 yards when he sneaks into the local driving range between shifts at his after school job. So Pryce gets the idea to be his coach and get him into the tour. Of course he has a lot of convincing to do- both with Santi and his mom, Elena, and his friend/caddie Mitts. Mostly making sure he’s in this for the right reasons. That Santi, the kid not the golfer, comes first.
Along the way, they also meet Zero, who later joins the group as Santi’s caddie and later love interest.

At one point or another, all of the characters did get on my nerves over something. They also got on each other’s nerves, whether it’s Mitts thinking Pryce’s idea is crazy or Elena being frustrated with Mitts when he tried to talk her out of investing all of her windfall (courtesy of Pryce to get her onboard) in one thing… you have a lot of strong personalities in close proximity for an extended amount of time, it’s bound to happen. Plus they come to consider each other family and families argue.

I’m not sure if I’m alone in this but I could understand if people found Zero a polarizing character. Especially if those that aren't gen Z.
I’m a year away from 40 and I never felt closer to that age than I did watching this show and feeling out of the loop.
Whether it’s the ever growing “correct pronouns” conversation (which to me is ridiculous when Zero also said “she/her” was acceptable…) or the flagrant disregard for adults and authority figures Zero and the other gen Z characters seem to have… a lot of the conversations involving the younger characters grated on my nerves. So yeah, I've officially become one of those people who gripes about the younger generations.

One plus about the writing, uneven as it can be sometimes, is how it explains and navigates a lot of these disagreements.
Zero worked as a server/bartender at a country club and got harassed by the patrons… so I can understand developing a thick skin and not trusting adults.
Same with Elena in that conversation with Mitts. I understood where he was coming from by encouraging her to diversify her investments. But because she had to fight for her livelihood as a single parent and a woman, it’s important to her personally that she stands up for herself. And she’s done her research so she’s aware of the risks but still willing to take the chance.

And to be honest, Santi got on my nerves sometimes too. Yeah, he’s gifted but when he didn’t listen to Pryce’s advice and things went sideways, he didn’t handle things well.

We also have Mitts the curmudgeon but over time we learn more about him and he grows on you.


The Show

Now we’re getting into some spoiler territory…


For the actual show itself, yeah, it had its ups and downs. It wasn’t perfect but it ultimately came through in the times where it really mattered.
There’s a lot of heart and the characters go through a lot together. And while it had a good finale, there’s room for more story.

The first few episodes are the introductory period, getting to know the characters and their relationships and personalities.
In addition to being his former caddie, Mitts has a history of helping Pryce with various hustles. Usually involving alcohol and heated arguments at bars and Pryce showing the other person up in the end.
The series starts with a hustle and we get at least one more later on.

After this group of misfits come together, Santi has to qualify for the amateur championship. Pryce instructs him as his caddie which clubs to use in different situations. As a prodigy, Santi has great instincts but he’s still young enough where that isn’t sustainable in the long run.
They eventually butt heads and it becomes a slippery slope. We hear about his dad a few times, how he’d coached him and his coaching style put him off playing for a few years and his dad took off.

Zero comes in around this time and the two of them hit it off quickly. So Pryce gets the bright idea to have Zero caddie and he’ll signal from the sidelines which clubs to use. Plus, with the two of them being around the same age, it might be a better arrangement.
My one little nitpick- and this is another generational grip. Some of Zero’s comments, saying to Santi something like “as long as you feel safe” before leaving when Pryce wants to have a few words one on one, and later about “holding space” or “having space” in a conversation with Mitts and he rolls his eyes at the terminology… yeah I can’t help but agree. Gen Z is weird about stuff like this coupled with this whole “distrust of authority” thing.

But as friends and later a couple, Santi and Zero are great together. It’s nice having a friend your own age on the road but also for someone like Zero who’s a self proclaimed nomad, it’s nice having someone you feel comfortable around enough to be yourself.
But like all sorts of background arrangements in media, the truth comes out and things blow up between everyone. Obviously things would work themselves out but it’s hard to trust sometimes. I definitely didn’t want this to be a 3+ episode arc.

The later episodes revolve around the last chance for Santi to qualify for the pro circuit and it involves getting an exemption from an old rival of Pryce’s.
He reminded me a little of the bad guy from Happy Gilmore although not nearly as antagonistic or stuck on himself… although he spend a lot of his time in retirement riding on the coattails of a handful of victories. Including insurance advertisements, a golfing academy and a fancy steakhouse.
While we don’t get to see Pryce’s infamous career ending meltdown, we get a decent picture of what it was like because this was the guy he ultimately lost to… and I think Pryce beat him up afterwards. It all circles back to the loss Pryce is still grieving… now we sort of know why he blew up like he did. And can you honestly blame him?

The final hurdle takes place over the season finale. When Santi is riding the high of finally taking the lead and going viral on TikTok, his dad comes back into the picture… and it goes about as well as you’d expect.
His dad had a mercurial coaching style where he’d be his best friend when he’s doing well but become hypercritical and dismissive when he was not.
Elena talked about it a few times and here we finally see it and it’s ugly. When you’re having a rough time, the last thing you need is for someone to talk down to you and grumble about you needing to “play better” without any constructive advice on how to achieve that.
Had this not gone sideways, he probably would’ve taken credit for his success even though he didn’t show up until the final day of the tournament. The worst part is him assuming no responsibility for any of the bad turns even when it was his advice that got him there in the first place.
The only thing I wish we had was just someone laying a massive tirade on him or at least Elena slapping him. Either way, people like him we sadly just accept will never change.
Unlike Tin Cup (heavy sarcasm implied), at least we get a decent redemption arc to close it all out. And there’s definitely plenty of room left for subsequent seasons.

As a final note, the Simon and Garfunkel song “Cecilia” makes a number of appearances throughout the series. Pryce said how it was a song he’d recall to ground himself in his uncertain moments and how it guarantees a smile.
Let’s just say good luck getting it out of your head after finishing the final episode…
I can count the number of S&G songs I know on one hand and this became another to add. And yes, I still have it going through my head and that was a couple days ago, lol

The Internship (2013)

Since Owen Wilson’s Apple+ series is wrapping up this week, it felt like a good time to do a post on another of his movies.
With the recent exception of “Masterminds” (as in recent to me- the movie came out 9 years ago and I saw it last month), I’ve never met an Owen Wilson character I didn’t like. I’ve always found him generally likable, but a bit more since seeing Midnight in Paris.
This movie was promoted as the much anticipated reunion of him with his Wedding Crasher partner-in-crime Vince Vaughn. The end result… maybe didn’t meet expectations but even with its flaws I found it enjoyable. We have the DVD in our shorehouse movie collection so we see it at least once a year.

The initial premise- the duo are businessmen who sell watches and they awkwardly learn on a sales call that they no longer have jobs. (By the way- this probably the best use you’ll ever see of “Ironic” by Alanis Morissette in media).
Because of this, Vince Vaughn loses his girlfriend and his house (as well as some of the audience’s respect over his idiotic pronunciation of Barcelona). Owen Wilson isn’t much better off, selling mattresses for Will Ferrell (who definitely has a sexual harassment lawsuit in his future with how inappropriate he is with his “hotter” customers).

Suddenly Vince Vaughn has an epiphany… the two of them can participate in Google’s internship program, which is a gateway to full time employment.
Their interview scene to get accepted into this program is a good showcase of this movie’s writing, both the good and the… for lack of a better word, annoying. Some jokes throughout the movie either do too good of a job showing how clueless these guys are about how technology works or they just run way too long.
They do their interview via Skype (dating this movie a bit... Skype closed up shop early 2025) in a public library and they essentially BS their way through it. They enroll in The University of Phoenix to meet the student requirement and Owen Wilson’s major is physics. Also, they call it “the Harvard of the internet,” which is definitely not true.
The key question they’re asked: you’re shrunk down to the size of nickels and dropped into a blender. What do you do?
They never answer this directly but their answer is clever enough to get them chosen. They do a silly reference to Fantastic Voyager, saying they’ll get out of the blender and go into the mini submarine to save lives. But their whole message is essentially “it’s not about getting out of the blender, it’s what you do next” and how they had been in the blender and this is their second chance to make a difference.

They get to the actual Google campus out in California and all the interns are put into teams. Predictably, they wind up in the team with all the misfits or as head honco Mr. Chetty puts it “the leftovers” and Lyle (who we see campaign for them at the admissions meeting) is their team captain/supervisor. Josh Brener, who plays Lyle, later plays a notable role in the HBO series "Silicon Valley," but he sadly winds up being one of TJ Miller's many punching bags throughout the series.

Graham, the intern who serves as the antagonist drafts his teammates all based on their colleges- only Ivy League are good enough in his eyes.
While Vince Vaughn regularly butts heads with him and Chetty, Owen Wilson spends the majority of his time essentially stalking Rose Bryne. I love the guy but I just found this character arc so annoying— first because she’s an employee and interns aren’t supposed to date them and second, it just perpetuates the myth that a girl will eventually agree to go out with you if you ask them enough times. I want to scream “she’s not interested in you- leave her alone!”

As for the rest of Team Lyle, we have Yo-Yo Santos, the neurotic son of a “tiger mom” (this term for overbearing Asian moms came into being a few years prior), Neha, an Indian girl who loves anime and Star Wars, and Stuart, a deadpan-humor type of guy who needs to learn the valuable lesson that there’s a whole world out there- just 3 inches up.

The internship program consists of challenges and the team with the highest grand total is guaranteed jobs after graduation.
The challenges vary, as do how well the two guys handle them.
The first challenge is finding a bug in the code… and since they have ZERO coding knowledge and annoy their teammates to death as they play 6 degrees of separation with pop culture references, they get sent away to find the creator of the code… Professor Xavier.
There’s a quidditch match and Vince Vaughn gives a pretty cool halftime pep talk referencing Alex, the steel mill girl with a dream to dance (aka the plot of Flashdance). As a Harry Potter fan, it was a fun scene but Lyle’s comment about recommending a stag patronus in case of dementor attack… ugh, it annoys me cuz last I checked, you don’t choose what your patronus looks like. The form chooses you. Although Snape’s patronus in the deathly hallows might prove otherwise…

Next is a “create your own app” challenge where the team with the most downloads wins… once we get out the annoying loop that includes “on the line/online” and “exchange-a-gram," Team Lyle comes up with their million download idea after a crazy night out off campus. The first time any of the younger interns really get to experience the real world so it comes with a lot of shenanigans but also some cool moments.

After hearing the lot of them bemoan they need to win because jobs are no longer a sure thing after graduating from college, it's nice for them to get away from that stress and find a way to savor the in-between moments.

The final two challenges are the most pivotal to the plot for typical plot reason- one where all hope seems lost afterwards and one that’s a redemption arc.
Josh Gad has somewhat of a small role in this movie until this point, where he sort of becomes a mentor to Vince Vaughn while he’s studying for the customer hotline challenge. He has a cool line about how mentoring him isn't like teaching a kid the alphabet, it's like teaching them a single letter. Pretty deep stuff and the best part… I’ll leave for you to find out. It’s always a cool moment when a background character winds contributing to the plot in a huge way.

Another entertaining detail- in the first class where Mr. Chetty teaches the interns the do's and don't's of the program and outright refuses to “get a cold one” with Vince Vaughn, they have banter about different food items interns can’t take home with them… Aasif Mandvi was a regular correspondent on The Daily Show in his heyday so his improv chops are put to good use. But the funniest part- throughout the movie after that scene, you’ll see Vince Vaughn eating one of the food items mentioned in that conversation.

And say what you want about the guy, Vince Vaughn is a hell of a salesman. At one point I think Owen Wilson says he could sell ice to an Eskimo or some other version of that adage.
Also he co-wrote the script. While it’s not perfect, it’s good in the moments where the chips are down and it really counts.

Why am I extra sad when my favorite female characters leave?

I still haven’t figured this one out.

I thought maybe it was just a phase I was in or just something my younger self got caught up in… but one of the 3 is more recent so it’s not just a passing fancy.
I’m sure the same would apply for all characters I like leaving a franchise or series at the end but there’ve been 3 specific characters, all female, I missed terribly when they went away at the end.

I loved the “Land Before Time” series to death as kid- although that love fell off a bit after they changed the voice cast in the 5th installment.
My favorite character only had ONE appearance in all of the 13 installments. Something I’m still a little bitter about. Chomper the baby TRex had 2 appearances… technically the only guest character to recur in the films but still!
And i honestly couldn’t say now why Ali was my favorite. But I liked her so much that I was sad at the end of part 4 when she and her family left. And I had recurring dreams about tracking down her voice actress just so I could say how much I loved her work in that one movie. I never found her in any of the dreams and in real life, Julianna Hansen only had that one acting credit. I still can’t believe that.

Next was Elora from the second Spyro game. I was still exhilarated when I beat the game the first time, I didn’t count on how much it’d hit me that she just disappeared from the overworld once you 100% the game.
Don’t know why that hit me so hard but I found myself drawing her to make myself feel better.
The saddest part was the epilogue book that says Spyro missed his chance with her… I thought they’d be cute together, why did they have to do that?
So of course I was thrilled she made a cameo in the post credits of the next game.
But fast forward years later with Reignited, she has a new look and new voice and I didn’t feel that same spark as I had for the older version. I still like her of course and it’s nice that she’s more of a love interest this time around but it’s not quite the same.

Finally Serena from Pokemon,
I loved her story arc because it felt like a page out of my own life. A random dream sparked my Pokemon fanfiction idea before I fell in love with my subject. The fact that Serena followed Ash because of her crush on him- I couldn’t help but relate. I loved all those cute amourship moments with them.
And yeah it was sad seeing my favorite season end, the end of any of the Pokemon seasons is a bit sad. But this one was more devastating.
I’d only seen this final episode twice. The second time which was a few years ago… I think I was more broken up about Serena going her own way than the season ending. It was extra emotional and I’m not sure why.
Plus, this was a few years ago. The other two were when I was 10 and maybe 14. So clearly it’s something I haven’t grown out of.

So now I’m trying to figure out if there’s some sort of pattern to this or I just form random lesbian crushes on certain characters. Elora being a faun and Ali being a brontosaurus also makes this a bit more complicated- if you want to go that route. I’m not.

Maybe it’s all in the voice and I have a thing for voices like Julianna Hansen and Melissa Disney (Elora). But Melissa was also the lead in “as told by ginger” and I liked her a lot but not to this degree.
Or maybe I felt a personal kinship with them and that’s the reason for it. Again, only 2 of the 3. Ali was super shy, just like I am. And Serena was shy and harboring a crush and was hesitant to share with her mom that she had a different dream than her. Things I can all relate to. But I had nothing in common with Elora.

Ali and Serena had a commonality where i preferred them as a love interest for another character or just preferred to them a regular female character in the cast. (Elora could almost fit this argument too except I never played the Legend of Spyro series with Cynder- although between the two I’d picked Elora even though she’s not a dragon like Spyro).
With land before time, Cera was always my least favorite character because she bullied Littlefoot in the original movie and challenged every decision he made. While no longer a bully who put him down, she was still the one character who didn’t want to go along with his plans.
Obviously it’s a kids series so there’s no romance involved but these were the same reasons why I didn’t like Misty in Pokemon. And this was before I found out about her rumored crush on him… if anything I made me feel more antagonistic toward her. He deserved better than the girl who was a bully and only followed him because of her stupid bike. But then you could make the same case for Helga from hey Arnold and I ship for the two of them despite her constant berating of him. I could explain that away for a few reasons but the main one is I understand why she does and she even expresses remorse for doing so. Misty never walked back a rude comment she made to Ash, at least not to him personally.
I’m sure I liked Serena because of her having the crush more than her being a better pairing than Misty but it became more about that later on.
Now that I think about it, I’m not sure if I would’ve picked up on Misty’s feelings if I hadn’t heard her song on the Pokemon soundtrack. And I wonder if I would’ve been more amiable toward her and open to her being a potential love interest if I picked up on that on my own. It was just thrown in my face and it occurred to me that maybe I like him and that’s why I reacted the way I did.
Also in general, I’m a main character girl and it’s a pet peeve when other characters pick on the main character or say they’re not good enough to achieve their goals. Cera putting down Littlefoot bothered me a lot but not nearly as much as Misty… where it felt like that was her one purpose on the show. Friends should be comfortable telling their friends when they’re getting ahead of themselves and need to rethink things but the way it always came off to me is “you’re being stupid, that’ll never work”. Sometimes she’s right but it’s more satisfying when he proves her wrong.
And of course I’ll admit when Ash makes mistakes. I’m just as annoyed as anyone else when he brings out a Pokemon who has a distinct type disadvantage in a fight. He makes it work sometimes but I’m always asking WHY? I don’t understand it but I don’t give him a hard time over it because he’ll either make it work or not. It would just be a little less annoying if he learned his lesson and made better choices going forward. But I’m fairly certain that he used Chikorita in 2 or 3 ill advised fights, like he didn’t learn from the mistake the previous time.
Ultimately this all became part of his training style. Going for unexpected matchups and using quirks in the battlefield to his advantage… when it works, it’s mind blowing and I love it. And it’s even sweeter when the people around him compliment him on it. Even without Serena, the Kalos series was my favorite because Ash had companions that took him seriously and admired him and he didn’t get a super swelled head about it. Not nearly as badly as when he was just starting out.

It’s crazy to think I’d been done with my fanfiction series for a couple years now, but the fact I’m his biggest cheerleader hasn’t changed at all. But I’d also been in his corner since I was 13, which is 2 thirds of my life. The kind of thing that never goes away.
I still haven’t written my retrospective with him leaving the series but I also haven’t seen the finale- but I’m also not in a hurry to see it because I know it’ll be emotional.
I gave up the series for a while when Veronica Taylor and the original cast left but i definitely cannot see the series going forward without him. I won’t do it.

The Edge of Seventeen (2015)

This is another of those high school movies that I might not be able to recommend seeing more than once… but it’s just interesting enough to warrant writing about.

I won’t be giving everything away but I’ll go into most of the key points.

It has a pretty good soundtrack- some songs from the mid 2010s I remember hearing in other contexts. But it’s mildly disappointing that the Stevie Nicks song serving as this movie’s namesake doesn’t make a single appearance.
Also- I’ve always interpreted that song as a more dramatic version of “I am 16 going on 17” so the fact the main character is already 17 makes the title a double liar… unless the whole point is that she’s 17 and a little rough around the edges.

The whole genre of teen angst high school is a little over and done by this point… but this is probably one of the more honest looks at what that means.

The protagonist Nadine, played really well by Hailee Steinfeld, develop a huge dislike for her more outgoing classmates (and all things popular) at a young age. The types of people who attract success anywhere they try and her brother is major representation of that. Between the two of them, he always got the better grades and more popularity whereas she was outcast and bullied for being the opposite.
She finds solace from this in her new best friend and for their whole lives, they’d been two peas in a pod.

But things change when her friend starts dating her brother and through him, gets into better social circles and she feels left behind. Plus betrayed because they used to share a mutual dislike of him. As far as big brothers go, he’s not the most obnoxious (definitely not to the point of Bill Paxton in weird science) but it’s easy to be put off by some of his actions.
I can understand her frustration to a point. I know I’ve lost friends or felt left out because they got into social circles I didn’t feel welcome to join. Or I just wasn’t welcome at all. But there are points where I’ll admit she takes her anger about this betrayal a little too far— how long can you hold a grudge until you get over it and move on?

Then there’s the fact she was daddy’s little girl and he died of a heart attack a few years earlier and the family is still navigating the grief of that loss. (There was one funny punchline where she uses her dad’s death as an excuse for not doing her homework and her teacher says that excuse expired after the first year… it was 4 years ago).
But as much as she feels like the world is against her, she comes to realize she’s not alone and just maybe she’d been wrong about the people in her life because she didn’t consider their perspective.

It sort of blew my mind later on when her brother came out saying he works so hard to be perfect to keep their family together. Their mom works hard to provide for them and she and Nadine fight so much. He feels compelled to go to a local college when he could easily have made Ivy League to make sure he’s there in case he’s needed.
And just maybe, he likes hanging out with her friend because she helps keep him grounded like she had in their friendship.

Most high school movies have that one teacher character. This one was tailor made for woody harrelson and his wry sense of humor. In fact, he makes this whole movie. Not just because he matches her wit tit for tat but he’s extremely supportive when stuff in her life spirals out and she feels she has no other confidants.
She also makes a new friend who takes part in an indie film festival at the end of the movie… won’t spoil his animated short but it is super cute. Then when she comes over to his place, she learns his family is actually pretty wealthy yet he’s very unassuming about it. Not crazy rich Asian rich (although he is Korean) but definitely richer than most of her classmates. My jaw dropped when I saw the house— but I’m a sucker for a good Victorian style house.

Nadine is very outspoken and gets in trouble a few times because of this. One moment particularly when her lack of impulse control gets the better of her. She’s not the first teenager to make this mistake but that doesn’t make it any less cringe worthy to see how it plays out.
She talks a few times through the movie how she’d fantasized about this one classmate who works at a pet store. Then she texts all these errant thoughts to him (a lot of weird sexual stuff I always wonder how teenagers know about them cuz I sure as hell didn’t at that age) by accident and he’s interested.
Then she awkwardly realizes as it’s happening that she didn’t really mean what she said and he’s super bent out of shape for the mixed signals. It sort of reminded me of a situation I got into in college where a guy I met on Facebook asked if I’d ever kissed and suggested when we watch American idol together as planned we try. Somehow that got misinterpreted and he wanted to turn the entire show into a make-out session. To his credit he backed off when he saw how uncomfortable I was about it… but yeah… be careful what you say to the opposite sex online. Don’t put out the wrong message so they don’t get the wrong idea.

Luckily she had her teacher for an exit strategy and she gets to learn a bit more about his life while spending him at his house to decompress from everything.
I’ll say it again- Woody Harrelson totally makes this movie.

Four Weddings (TLC series)

I’m one of those people who balk a lot at the fact a certain channel is still called MTV… when it hasn’t had anything to do with music in decades. #IwantMyMTV

In a similar vein, I remember a time when TLC used to stand for The Learning Channel… although the only show I remember watching was Professor Iris- which was an educational show with puppets and a lot of musical numbers.
Now… TLC is chock full of shows about trashy reality shows featuring long distance relationships and people struggling with weight issues. More real than the people on Jersey Shore type shows (gag) but not what I consider entertaining.
Mind you, I’ve only seen commercials for these shows but I just don’t get their appeal.


Four Weddings (along with Say Yes to the Dress) are among the TLC shows my sister watches.
Both have their flaws as well but they have more of the reality show stuff I enjoy more.

I come from a large family on my mom’s side so I’d been to several weddings in my life. Admittedly most of my experiences were just ok… speaking as an introvert that has trouble mingling with people for long stretches of time, most of them just ran too long and I got bored. Never mind that I wasn’t drinking age when I attended most of them.
Given how much I got into this show, I think I can say weddings might be more fun to watch or read about than to actually attend.

The whole concept of the show is that four brides go to each other’s weddings and after judging various criteria, the winner wins a honeymoon package.

The dress, venue and food are ranked from best to worst. But overall experience is out of 10.

Overall experience

The system is set up the way it is to keep women from underscoring the others to cheat. But you can bet they still find a way to do it.
Also it’s the one score we hear until they end because they obviously can’t rank everything else until going to all 4 weddings,

Sometimes all of them are in cahoots and give each wedding the same average score but usually it’s a single person who gives every wedding a 6 or less and you’re rooting for them to be punished with a last place finish.

My interpretation is whenever all 3 vote 6, they’re not being genuine. They’re deliberately keeping it a close race. If they rank the wedding 6’s and 7’s with occasional 8, that’s ideal.
Once I think I saw one show where all of them gave a wedding a 4… which was shocking but I think they at least had some good reasons.

All of the other marks should count toward the overall score but it’s a bit cheap to give a wedding a low score because the venue or the food was not up to the person’s expectations.

A few criticisms I never understood:giving a low score because the theme wasn’t original. (Original compared to what? Not everyone is that creative)
Low score because they don’t like fake flowers. (Goes both ways- some don’t like real flowers…)


Food


I think I saw one wedding where the brides just ordered pizza. I don’t remember if it was because the food was bad, it was cold or it took forever for them to get food.
But according to a story my dad read online a few months ago, people have done this for other reasons… particularly after word got around beforehand that a menu would be all vegan or vegetarian, people were freaking out and some were offering to order pizzas.

Some people like buffets and others hate them. Not all buffets are created equal- I’d been to good and bad ones and not just at weddings.
Some have had really fun options like grilled cheese bars or make your own s’mores or baked potato.
The alternative is having a fixed menu with a choice of meat, fish or chicken. Sometimes this works out and other times, there’s complaints about lack of flavor or the food is cold.

By far, the criticism that drives me the most crazy… giving a wedding less than a 6 because “I’m vegetarian and I left hungry”.
I understand dietary restrictions on religious grounds and allergies… but for the rest, I wish the casting department brought this up in auditions (“would it be a deal breaker if if a wedding had no vegetarian options?”) and didn’t cast these people at all.
This is a hot take but whatever… you’re a last minute guest, practically a stranger off the street. Why should a catering company go out of their way to make a vegetarian meal for just one person?

Dress

I’m not an expert so I can’t do a proper discussion.
Personally I’m not a fan of strapless dresses or any dress with excessive cleavage. Not just at weddings but as a general rule.

One divisive point when it comes to scoring is when there’s two different dresses. One for the ceremony and the other is a dress specifically for dancing at the reception.
Some like the two dresses and others prefer just the one dress for both because it’s more traditional.
I don’t have an opinion either way, honestly. It’s the bride’s special day. Whatever you feel comfortable and beautiful in- go for it! As long as they go with the dress, you can wear sneakers to the altar. I won’t judge.

Venue


The variety of venues on this show is probably the most fun component of the show along with the theme.
Sometimes they rent out entire venues- one was at the Pittsburgh Steelers stadium and a few had been at museums. Then some are as simple as a backyard wedding— one of those actually won the big prize at the end.

As awesome as it would be to have an entire wedding themed around one particular thing or a common interest between the bride and groom, I can’t imagine myself going that extra mile.
But I’m also someone who never took the time to imagine what their wedding would look like… considering how I’ve never even been in a relationship.
However, if I was lucky enough to wind up with a fellow Prince fan, you can bet that’d be the theme. All beginning with the ceremony’s first words- “dearly beloved, we are gathered here today…”

Getting back to the show, probably the most common complaint is the venue not having enough room or seating. Which is fair.
If the guest list is around a couple thousand, surely you can compensate for 3 extras. And if seating is limited, don’t have food that requires a knife and fork.
If there’s a lot of upbeat music, there has to be a dance floor or at least plenty of room to move.
Some people like it dark or prefer mood lighting… I personally don’t and I’m sure others have complained about it. Or not being able to hear the vows being exchanged or the toasts because they got stuffed in the back of the room.
At the ceremony, there are times where there’s a cultural or religious difference between the other brides and the current bride’s background so they feel left out of the ceremony because they don’t understand what’s going on. Especially if most of the ceremony is done in another language.
Another issue is the transition between ceremony and reception… the venue being too far from the church with confusing directions. Or the cocktail hour being too long and not enough food or entertainment for the guests while the bridal party does photos and other related activities.
A few times, there was an outdoor venue for one or both parts of the wedding and it was too hot or there were too many bugs. The weather, sometimes that can’t be helped. But bugs… I know that would be an issue for me. All the more reason summer might not be the ideal time for weddings. Especially if you’re in southern New Jersey and it’s green-head season (IYKYK)

Fake flowers vs real flowers is one thing. Another is centerpieces and it varies. Once or twice there’ve been complaints about the centerpieces being too big and you can’t probably talk to other people at your table. One way combating this was having tall skinny vases so the view isn’t obstructed nearly as much.
Some decor is homemade and others aren’t. Some people like the originality while others… it’s not their style.

The grand prize


It’s always kinda fun to find out where people wind up going for their winning honeymoon.
The only time none of us are super excited when we all watch the show- they’re either going to Mexico or Dominican Republic. We went to Cancun once on vacation and it wasn’t a fun trip— getting harassed by people selling us stuff was just one of the massive turnoffs. And unless it’s Punta Cana, I haven’t heard many nice things about Dominican Republic.

Most of the typical prizes go to the Bahamas or somewhere in the Caribbean, Bermuda, Turks and Caicos or Hawaii. Easily Hawaii is the top destination although I’d been to some Caribbean islands. The mileage varies… I know someone who went to St Lucia for their honeymoon and I’m sure they loved it. The only time I went there was part of a cruise and the rain that day didn’t allow much freedom to enjoy the scenery.
But once or twice, they either went to Tokyo or the Maldives.

Of course we have our exit interviews at the end… I mean, the ideal attitude from an also-ran is that they’re happy for the winner or they were just happy their wedding went well and they still feel like a winner because of who they married.
But a few times… it’s the opposite. One bride being bitter about losing or trashing the winner’s wedding. Luckily the sore loser isn’t a common occurrence.
It’s fun seeing how these different weddings are orchestrated and comparing them. But once the show is over, you should come away with the satisfaction you’ve found the love your life. And who knows- you might have wound up having more fun on your honeymoon than the winner.
The show is all repeats now and has been for several years… but I can’t help but wonder if any of the people who’d been on the show got divorced… and tried auditioning again for another chance to win. But if TLC was going to do anything right with their programming, they wouldn’t allow anyone to double dip like that.

Your Friends & Neighbors (1 season... so far... on Apple+)

A few years ago, Jon Hamm did a promo for Apple plus where he was complaining about how everyone notable in Hollywood has their own Apple series/movie except for him…
Well, he finally got his wish and it was worth the wait.

For whatever reason, I never got into Mad Men when it was on. But I liked Jon Hamm enough in the Top Gun sequel and that tiny role he had in SuckerPunch as “the high roller” (considering how much of the movie's plot hinged on that character, I still can't understand why the majority of his screentime was only available on the extended blu-ray edition) to follow him to this series.

And it was a good series.

It’s interesting. Andrew Cooper (most people just call him Coop) isn’t meant to be a likable guy. Most of the people in his neighborhood aren’t meant to be. They’re all affluent people, almost all white, and have more money than they know what to do with.
He gets set on his trajectory when he’s fired from his hedge fund firm and thanks to a non-solicit clause, he’s not able to get hired anywhere else. Then the few interviews he does get, he cops an attitude and sabotages himself. Seriously, if he wasn’t good looking or charismatic, you wouldn’t be rooting for him.
Another thing that’s not going well for him and hasn’t for the last few years- he’s divorced after his wife cheated on him with a basketball player. Prior to that, he was already an absentee workaholic husband and father so he’s not on the best terms with his family.

So what he winds up doing to keep up appearances… he starts breaking into his neighbors’ homes and stealing valuables, which he turns around for cash at a shady pawn shop. Or at least the only one who’ll entertain him because he’s selling pricey watches without receipts and certificates of authenticity.
The question lingers in the air of if or when he’ll eventually be found out. The missing valuables haven’t all gone unnoticed. He gets in over his head with one of his stolen acquisitions where one of his friends becomes collateral damage. And for good measure, he becomes the leading suspect in a murder plot… it’s teased in the first few minutes in the series and by the time it circled back, I completely forgot about it, haha. That’s what I get for only watching one episode a day.

It’s a drama series but there are plenty of humorous moments to break the tension. Maybe a little too much sexual content for my tastes but that’s just me.
One funny comment mid-season that may as well be a fourth wall break— someone mentions how there’s been an uptick in violence lately. To which I replied “no kidding- the first four episodes only had language and sexual content” and pretty much every one after that also had violence listed in the viewer discretion column.
Aside from DNA, one thing linking him to the crime scene is him having a fight with the eventual victim… don’t remember what it was even about but the dead guy wasn’t super likable anyway.

What I liked most about the series, I think, was the relationships. Particularly between Coop and his family. Both of his teenagers are talented in different things and I couldn’t help but root for him to get back on good terms with them. It wasn’t like they preferred Nick the basketball player, either.
Nick was great but maybe too great… I kept expecting something to be wrong with him because he was too nice at times. Especially with the cold shoulder Coop would give him whenever they’re in a room together… which is kinda frequent with how close the neighbors are. There is one fun moment in the series when they’re able to set aside their differences and they go out for a night of gallivanting, along with Barney, his financial advisor. Especially the scene they’re night-putting at the country club until the sprinklers go off in the morning.

One character who steals the show is Coop’s sister, Ali. He takes her in when she has nowhere to go and the sibling loyalty runs deep both ways. Ironically, it’s the only good relationship either of them have at particular times.
She has bi-polar disorder and she’s managing it better than she had in the past. She’s also a talented singer who gets a steady gig at a local bar. And more than once, she winds up being the most sane person in the family.

To say anymore would be giving too much away so this is a good stopping point.
But it's a series I'd highly recommend and there's plenty of story left to tell, in the event it gets renewed for subsequent seasons.

Update: Jon Hamm announced on his appearance on Kelly & Mark that the show had, in fact, just been renewed for season two.

"The Morning Show" and "Lessons in Chemistry" (1 season- Apple+)

I figure these shows have enough in common that using one post to discuss both of them would be best.

As someone who never streamed any series before this year, I selected the series I chose to watch on a different set of parameters than most.
I saw a trailer for both of these shows years ago. They starred people I knew and that was it. I had no clue aside from the tiniest bit of detail I got from the trailers as to what they were even about.
And in both cases, the subject matter was about more than I bargained for… would it have changed my mind about watching them at all? I don’t know.
I just know I wound up with one series I chose not to continue and the other— it had one season and I might have watched more if there was more. But I was satisfied with the ending I did get.


The Morning Show


Initial impression- Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon play anchor women who butt heads on and off camera

Actual premise- a daytime show struggles to salvage its reputation after its lead anchorman is fired for sexual misconduct

Basically it’s a #MeToo series. Steve Carrel’s character Mitch being modeled after other disgraced anchors like Matt Lauer. And we find out through different characters how little accountability was taken and how deep the corruption went.
It isn’t until the last few episodes of season 1 we get a sense of how it all went down. The closest I’d personally been to this issue was the documentary about the gymnasts who spoke out against Larry Nassar so it was both eye opening and unsettling. I went from watching one episode a day to two the last few days because I had to see how it all resolved.
One season I watched ultimately ended in a way I was happy with: everyone who was involved or covered up for Mitch was ousted on air and fired. In case the subsequent seasons took this progress in reverse, I didn’t want to be there to witness it. I’ve gotten more in the habit of stopping certain series if all they do is annoy or upset me… life is too short.

During this latter portion, trigger warnings started to precede episodes. I understand why but part of them didn’t like them because they essentially spoiled what was going to happen. So I’d be bracing myself for whenever the thing happens and it compromised the whole experience.

Another thing I’m still kinda sad about was how the fallout of this impacted another relationship on set. They were keeping things quiet for a while not to attract too much attention but eventually they were out in the open. And one of Mitch’s accusers talks to the girl and her experience wound up convincing her the relationship wasn’t a good idea. Except for maybe rushing to a public dinner date, he never did a thing wrong… I don’t know if they eventually reconcile or not, but I was rooting for them.

The main cast was really good. Luckily Steve Carrel looks a lot different than he used so it’d be difficult to rewatch episodes of The Office after this. Not so much what he did but his attitude, ugh! There was zero admission of wrongdoing and he learned nothing from the whole thing.
We all know Jennifer Anniston. This role was different from Rachel in so many ways. It’s revealed through the season how the station was looking to replace her (because women apparently age out of show business and she lacked the same fire she used to have) but find themselves in a bind after what happened with Mitch. We learn she’s terrible at the work life balance and is getting divorced. And as the pressure gets to her, she has breaking points.
Then Reese Witherspoon- she’s so fiery as Bradley. This gets her in trouble a lot but her reporting is much fresher than what the majority of the morning show people are like. She goes viral when she tells off a protester and ends up getting recruited to join the show. Later Jennifer Aniston makes her co-anchor- not so much for her accolades but because it would get under the skin of her superiors. And having the option to choose her co-anchor was something she wanted in her updated contract.
I’d heard of Billy Crudup but never saw him in anything and he was good as the new creative director of the show. He’s a maverick when it comes to certain things and it tests his superiors a lot, particularly his attitude about being immune to being fired. Then Mark Duplass (I’d previously seen him as a midwife in The Mindy Project ages ago) as Chip the executive producer- he’s unfortunately culpable in the Mitch situation and I think he loses his job at the end of the season. Despite his flaws, he’s in a similar boat as a lot of the other main characters. Even if they do things I disagree with, I still find them very likable.

One storyline I remember most is when the two of them go to LA to cover wildfires and they sort of have a breakthrough moment as colleagues.
With California being what it is with climate-related disasters, this was always going to be timely but it was interesting and kind of eerie to watch this while California was dealing with the Eaton and Palisade fires earlier this year. And also how news during these times are covered. I think I remember there being a story of rich people paying extra for firefighters to protect their homes, drawing resources away from poorer neighborhoods. Not the type of stuff morning news shows cover (it’s more of slanted CNN/fox news type story) but I still found it interesting they went there. Also a huge yikes if that’s actually a thing.

My only other critique of this series… there was a lot of yelling laced with expletives. Maybe it’s just me but in normal conversation or in professional situations, you don’t talk to people like that. I get that frustration was there but… seriously, would it kill you to expand your vocabulary beyond using the f word every 5 seconds?!


Lessons in Chemistry


Initial impression- Brie Larson plays a chemistry teacher

Actual premise- Elizabeth Zott, a female lab tech in the 50's struggles to get support for her research and winds up becoming a TV personality… and finally a chemistry professor at the end of the series

I’m not sure if I’ll be able to talk about this series without giving everything away so consider yourself warned.
This series makes me think of an Ed Sheeran lyric about “watching shows they recommend that don’t get good until the end.”
The latter half of this series was loads better than the first half.
I know it’s based on a book and it’s about self reliance and overcoming adversity… but some things need to be said before I can go forward:

1) if a woman stabs a man with a pencil, there’s probably a good reason for it… she isn’t the one who should be forced to apologize
2) Don’t make me fall in love a character…and kill them off. Especially when they’re the one ally the main character has
3)if a woman states they don’t want to be a parent, don’t make them a parent because “biology”— this is just something that annoys me. Writers need to get more creative and write more female characters who find success and happiness with every other aspect of their lives.

Now that that’s out of the way…
Elizabeth reminds me a little of Sheldon from Big Bang Theory. Maybe it’s just a genius thing but both of them are very matter-of -act and don’t always notice sarcasm. Her tendency to take things at face value ruffles some feathers but these quirks help bring levity to the story.

It’s a little disappointing in retrospect that she doesn’t achieve the goal she set out to do- earn recognition in the science community for her research.
But she does achieve a lot through the series. After losing Calvin Evans, the love of her life, and dealing with the challenges of being a single parent, she gets a gig doing her own cooking show on public broadcasting.

This was when where things started to get really good. She’d already become good friends with neighbor Harriet Sloane (I’d previously seen her as one of Keating 5 in “how to get away with murder”) who has her own storyline fighting for their neighborhood— they’re putting a freeway through it specifically because it's predominately a black neighborhood— probably one of the best integrations of civil rights in a recent series I’d personally seen. I don’t think they won the fight to keep the neighborhood but she definitely fought tooth and nail for it.
At the TV station, they had Dwight from The Office being a not-always nice guy and Stuart from Big Bang Theory helping her get her foot in the door. His character also gets progressively braver and willing to take more chances to help her succeed.
Then of course her daughter Madelyn, being the product of two geniuses, becomes a prodigy. So much so that her teachers are constantly annoyed at her for being smarter than them.

So the supporting cast overall is super strong. It’s also nice to have the military husband angle for the neighbor and he comes back home alive from Vietnam… I guess the show didn’t want to kill off more than one significant other.
We also learn more about Calvin's backstory- how he grew up in an orphanage and when his father came looking for him, the orphanage people kept them apart because they were using his genius for their own gain.

The show within the show is different than the Julia Child show we’ve experienced or seen one way or another. She still cooks on set but she also grapples with product placement issues. Most of which she doesn’t approve because they’re not made with natural ingredients. Then at one point, she turns a lot of heads when she held up a box of tampax as their latest sponser.
I mean, the rabid fan base of the show was mostly housewives so it’s relevant but the fact she went there was a good laugh. She also makes a controversial stand for the local civil rights movement and thanks to her fans, they keep her on the network... and Dwight loses his job.

In the end, though, she sees how her newfound fame has been affecting her relationship with Madelyn- they dont see each other as much anymore- so she leaves the show. And finally becomes a chemistry professor… and it ends there. I kinda wish I saw more of her in that role but for everyone, it was a good stopping point.