The Third Debate

US Presidential Debates

I am feeling ambivalent about this debate.  I think that people are so polarized that it isn’t really an effective tool this election cycle.  From what I hear, the debates are not helping the undecided to decide.  The debates seem to be making them more confused and even more undecided.

This is going to be an ugly election.  I think it Trump wins it will be a horrible thing for the nation.  I don’t think he understands the limits on the presidency and that he will turn into a nightmare when he finds out it doesn’t work like he thinks it does. I think if Hillary wins Trump with turn into a completely different sort of nightmare and will contest it, fight it, and make a general nuisance of himself.

I feel an actually, physical sensation of nausea and disgust when I see Trump’s face.  I got as far as the hand shake at the start of the first debate and had to change channels.  I watched a weird channel that wasn’t showing debate stuff. I would really like to have the option to what real programing and not a debate that makes me ill.

The second debate was a little better for me.  What really annoyed me is the way Trump kept stalking Hillary and hovering over her.  He was whinny, like a toddler.  He said they only tried to stop him for going over time but they were doing the same thing to Hillary and he said they were not.  He sounds like someone who doesn’t really know about what a president can and cannot do.  But at least I managed to keep my stomach under control while watching him.

I was looking forward to my regular programing tonight.  So I’m cranky.  But I will attempt to watch this.  I think it could be a train wreck.  Everyone says the second was worse than the first one and the second wasn’t as vicious as I was expecting.  Although the reporting on it made it sound worse.  But if each escalates, and the attacks that went on after it, I think tonight will be much worse.  I guess it may be more like I was expecting last time.  All I can do is try.

Part of me wanted to avoid all social media and try to avoid this election until voting day.  Mostly because of the visceral reaction I have towards Trump.  To be honest, I’ve had the reaction to him as long as I can remember.  Which is one of the reasons I could not watch the apprentice.  I stopped watching beauty pageants before he bought out the Miss America or Miss Universe or whichever one he took over.  So I can’t blame him for not watching them anymore.

Mama’s Family, two shows, one name.

First Series

Because I moved recently, I’ve had the t.v. on a lot as I’m trying to unpack and sort through my stuff.  I’ve been a little confused with Mama’s Family.  There seems to be two different versions of it.  One is much better than the other.  So I had to do a little research on it.

Turns out there were two versions of it.  The first one wasn’t very successful.  As a result, it was canceled.  A few years later, someone decided to give it another chance and, after a few changes, produced a more successful version of the show.

The first show had Mama living with a maiden aunt, (her sister, not her own aunt) and her son had moved home with his two kids.  He then takes an interest in Mama’s neighbor.  Betty White and Carol Burnett occasionally pop in.  Mama’s grand kids are really annoying and the weakest part of this show and Rue McClanahan, who plays Mama’s sister, isn’t rally much better.  The actress playing Naomi is good but she comes across as a much sweeter person.  Mama’s husband shows up rarely.  It isn’t a shock that this show was canceled.  Despite Carol Burnett’s guest appearances, it doesn’t live up to the character of Mama as in the Carol Burnett show.

Second Series

The second attempt at Mama’s Family was better.  Mama is more like the character as reflected in the Carol Burnett show.  The show has her husband having left her and her sister has moved out.  Actually, I don’t think she is ever mentioned.  The grand kids never are and Carol Burnett and her husband have moved to Florida to explain why they never show up now.  Instead, there is a new grand child, Bubba, who is Eunice’s son.  He gets sent to live with Mama after a stint in jail.  Naomi is now married to Mama’s son.  Naomi come off as much harsher and less wholesome than the character was before.  Wikipedia indicates that Naomi and Ed are more dimwitted than in the first series, that is probably true.  They are less assertive while Mama is more assertive.  I don’t see that on the part of Naomi but I do see it on the part of Ed.  And yes, Mama is a bit more abrasive.

All things considered, the show just worked a whole lot better.  And the new neighbor, Iola, was an improvement over Rue McClanahan and Betty White both put together.  Moving on to Golden Girls was a good move for both the shows.

Now I know why it felt like I was watching two different shows.  I really was.

Venture Bros. Deconstructed

Just read a really great deconstruction of Venture Bros. You can find it here.

http://news.yahoo.com/venture-bros-more-men-mad-men-110600354.

I particularly like the fact that they say Venture Bros shows what would happen if more psychologically REAL people found themselves in roles traditionally thought of as Ultra Masculine.

Obsession

I signed up for a Pinterest page.  I now understand how people say it can get obsessive and one can get lost in it.  Hopefully I will emerge from it soon. 

Things I’ve found on it:

Books, Movies, Food, Art, Decor, Homes, Style, Space, Science Fiction, Star Wars, Comics, Daleks, Tardis, Doctor Who, Nature, Scenery, and pretty much everything under the sun.

 

Angels

I keep seeing Facebook posts of photos of angel statuary.  They are doing it for the people involved with the school shooting that happened yesterday.  Now, I know it is wrong.  It is probably in bad taste.  I know what they are really getting at.

But I keep feeling this overwhelming urge to comment and say, “Don’t Blink.”

 

Commercials and Actor Changeovers

I realize that I’m better off without t.v. when I see all the commercials I’ve been missing out on.  I’m glad I’m missing them.  They are bad commercials.  Stupid commercial are even worse than just bad commercials.  Like the commercial that looks like a trailer for a really bad Christmas romcom that is actually an ad for appliances, maybe it was Sears, not sure.  And the commercial for a treatment program that claimed that because it wasn’t a 12-step program, it could actually cure, completely cure, addictions, just pissed me off.  I think it was also faith-based and that pissed me off more.  The idea that you can completely ‘cure’ alcoholism is just wrong.

I have to mention one commercial I saw for Law and Order SVU.  It ‘looked’ like a static photo.

It is a post-Elliot add and the new new people are closest to the front.  Well, except for Olivia. She was right up front.  The thing that annoyed me was that Munch was shoved in the very back.  You could barely see him.

Suddenly, Richard Belzer, the actor who plays Munch, shifts back and forth, like he is trying to fit better in the gap at the very back so people can see him.  The image isn’t a static shot.  Everyone else is just so still that it looks like a photo instead of ‘rolling’ film, so to speak.

It really bothered me that a character that had been on the show since the start was shoved all the way to the back like that.  I haven’t seen it in a few years. At least not the new seasons.  I’m almost glad.  It’s not the same show without Elliot Stabler.

When they started adding characters to Law and Order CI, without Goren and Eames, the show was not the same.  And as much as I love Goldblum, I didn’t like him on that show at all. I just couldn’t watch it.

In England, shows like this usually change out the lead characters every year or two.  That way, the show doesn’t become tied to the performers.  They want the show to be bigger than the characters.  On this side of the pond, we get attached to our characters and very loyal to them.  without those characters, the show becomes a different show and we can easily lose interest.

It is probably the one thing that really bothers me when I watch British shows like MI5 and Prehistoric.  To much cast change over drives me bonkers.  In fact, after one of the change overs, I haven’t watched MI5 in over a year.  I can’t remember how many seasons I watched.  2.5?  3?  Not really sure anymore.  It’s been a long time.

Netflix could tell me.  It remembers where I was at.

I Love Frisky Dingo