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January 25, 2016 — GH & Waikiki Pump

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What I Watched Today

(random, rambling thoughts on today’s TV)

 

General Hospital

Jordan sees Curtis you-know-where. That’s right, he’s eating at the MetroCourt.

Tracy is one the phone with Ned. I don’t know where she is, but it looks pretty good to me. She says she’s luxuriating and I believe it. She smells some weed (!) and gets off the phone. She doesn’t call it weed, but that’s what it is. The dude smoking is Larry Ashton in the next room.

Hayden says getting married is a huge step and she’s not sure she’s ready. Nicholas says she asked first, albeit to protect the company, and he’s not sure what’s changed.

Alexis is going over the lawsuit against the mayor. Julian asks why she’s going through with it, since Olivia is off the hook, and Alexis says she doesn’t want anyone else going through the same thing. She if he’ll address public breastfeeding in the magazine. He says sure, and somehow jumps from that to the conclusion that they should get married asap.

TJ is dropping Molly off at her mom’s and Christina interrupts their good-by kiss.

We see the last scene from Friday where Jason remembers Sam with him on a rooftop in the rain. She tells him it’s a real memory.

Commercial break. It’s that British woman asking if we’ll “go commando.” Please. I don’t want to think about those people sans underwear, k? Thanx.

Jordan asks Curtis if he’s following her and he asks how that’s possible since he was there first. She says she can’t enjoy her meal if they’re in the same room. She says she’d be happy to remove him from Port Charles altogether, but doesn’t have enough evidence…yet. He says what if he was following her?

Sam tells Jason that the colored lights he remembers were Chinese lanterns that she had set up for a romantic evening. She thought it was ruined by the rain, but that wasn’t the case.

Larry suggests he and Tracy catch up. He asks if she’s there on a second honeymoon with Luke. She says hardly; she’s there to get away from the trials and tribulations of Port Charles. She says he was part of them because he was in cahoots with Jerry Jax to take over ELQ.

Christina says that Molly might seem romantic on the porch, but Tj is never going to get any. TJ says it’s none of her business anyway and leaves. Christina tells Molly it was payback for telling their parents her business.

Alexis would like a church wedding. Julian asks who would marry them if he’s the groom? Alexis says she’ll figure it out.

Hayden says that Nicholas didn’t want to get married before, so she’s hesitant. He says he knows it would protect his shares, but he wants to for other reasons. He loves her and so does Spencer. He says they have something real between them even though they don’t know each other that well. He says he’s fascinated by the way she thinks and can’t wait to see what she does next, so he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. He says he’s offering more than a business proposal; he’s offering a marriage of equals. He talks about the island and I’m ready to marry him. She says she can’t, but then says she will. Laura walks in while they’re hugging.

Jordan asks Curtis what he’s after. She says he told her his job is finished, so why is he still there? TJ comes by, does a double-take and says, “Hi, Uncle Curtis.”

Larry says he’s seen the error of his ways and he’s a changed man. Tracy says he’s probably trying to swindle rich widows. He says he’s there to clear his head and try to figure out why he keeps doing the same wrong things over and over. He says he’s found a new life there. He says a return to nature heals both mind and body.

Laura asks if congratulations are in order and Nicholas tells her they’re getting married. Hayden goes to get some champagne to celebrate. Laura asks Nicholas what he thinks he’s doing.

Alexis says she wants all the wedding bells and whistles because this is going to be the last time. Julian says they’ll grow old and grey together. She says old maybe, but not grey. Ha-ha! Yeah, I don’t even know what my natural color is anymore. She says a bunch of romantic stuff, and that she wants everyone to see he’s a changed man. He says if it means that much to her, he’s in.

Sam takes Jason to the rooftop of the penthouse. He asks why they were having dinner up there. She says he was struggling with a difficult situation and she wanted to do something nice for him. She says it was pretty much a disaster, but he says it wasn’t. He says without the rain, he wouldn’t have had the memory and wouldn’t be with her up there now.

TJ asks if Jordan wanted to have their dinner there so they could all have dinner together. Jordan starts to talk but Curtis interrupts.

Apparently, Larry has shared his stash with Tracy and they’re having a rollicking good time. This is pretty funny. He asks what’s wrong with just having a fun time with someone, that it doesn’t have to be that deep, and she says maybe that’s what she’s been doing wrong.

Laura asks why Nicholas wants to marry a woman who’s been dishonest with him. She asks how he’s going to forget what he did to Hayden.

Christina and Molly argue and Alexis comes out to see what’s going on. She says they need to come in and help plan the wedding.

Jason says maybe he’ll remember more if Sam hangs out with him. She says he needs to find someone else to help because she can’t be the one who goes through this with him. What? She says she can’t be objective because it’s her life too.  She says it brings up a lot of emotions for her and it might lead to expectations on her part. He says maybe she’s right.

TJ talks about school. Curtis asks if he has a girlfriend and TJ says yes. He says she’s a year behind him at PCU, and they started dating in high school. Curtis tells TJ he’s sorry he wasn’t there when TJ’s father died.

Alexis tells the girls she wants them to be part of the ceremony and be maids of honor along with Sam. Julian seconds that and the girls agree. Alexis asks Christina if she’ll be able to get out of classes.

Hayden calls Tracy and tells her about Nicholas proposing. Tracy finds this probably more amusing than she normally would and tells Hayden good work. She says Hayden doesn’t have to stay married to him long, that she’ll get ELQ and Hayden will get her freedom. She rejoins Larry and tells him she got good news.

Laura asks Nicholas id he’s sure it’s not his guilt talking. He says no, that’s not the reason he proposed and that he loves Hayden. Laura says an engagement doesn’t have to be short and he needs to think about what he’s doing. Hayden comes back and asks what they were talking about.

Larry asks where he and Tracy were before they were interrupted. Tracy comes back to reality, saying she took this trip to get away from con artists and that she’s regained her equilibrium and wants to get as far away from him as possible. Oh well.

Laura says she has to go, but the two of them should enjoy a celebration. She tells Nicholas to think about what they discussed and leaves. Hayden tells Nicholas they should set a date for the wedding.

Molly makes a smart remark about Christina being able to come and go as she pleases. She says she, on the other hand, has to go back to the dorm and study. Christina makes a snide comment about how she won’t be having sex at the dorm.

Sam says there’s a difference between making peace with who you are and chasing a life you don’t remember. She says his old life is her old life too, and this has to be about him. He says he’s been avoiding his past and it’s time for him to face it. Sam tells him to trust himself.

TJ says he understands why Curtis couldn’t be there when his father died, because he was helping people. TJ excuses himself and Curtis tells Jordan she raised a fine young man. She says she can’t control what Curtis does, but if he hurts TJ, he’ll have to answer to her.

Larry tells Tracy to relax and breathe the tropic air. She tells him to get lost, that she’s got her priorities straight and the only thing that’s going to help her is to get back what’s hers.

Hayden suggests she and Nicholas get married right away.

Jordan tells Curtis to let TJ believe his lies and tells him to promise he won’t break TJ’s heart by telling him the truth.

Christina takes a call outside, and Julian asks Alexis to explain sister drama to him. She says this was minor so she considers it a win. Julian says they should go upstairs and give their bed a blessing. Is that what we’re calling it now?

Christina is on the phone, obviously with a man, and says if he doesn’t say anything to her parents, she won’t say anything to his wife. The professor perhaps? Or maybe it’s Gilligan.

Jason says he’s recovering not just the memory but the feeling and emotion. He says he doesn’t want to stop until he’s finished now. Sam suggests hypnosis.

Tomorrow, Dante talks divorce and Lulu asks if Johnny wants her to help him break out of prison.

Vanderpump Rules

Jax tells Britney that if he wanted to have sex with Lala, he would have. Britney tells him to always be honest with her and he says he will…as he fiddles with his phone.

Drinking time! A couple of the guys are drinking from a beer bong. No good can come of this.

Lala has taken to her bed because she’s an a-hole who thought Jax would out himself. James, Max and Faith go to her room. She says she’s hit her breaking point. Um…she put herself there.  Everyone warned her about this jerk too, so what is the deal? James starts taking off his pants and gets into bed with her.  She tells him to beat it and everyone except Faith leaves.

Scheana asks to talk to Adriana. She apologizes for any inappropriate conversation, since she’s decided to make nice and apologize whether she means it or not. Sensing this, Ariana says it’s a backhanded apology. Scheana says that she believes Tom’s attitude has rubbed off on Ariana. Ariana tries to explain that their feelings were hurt. Scheana says that’s why she’s apologizing. Giving up at making her point, Ariana says okay and leaves. I honestly don’t get what Scheana’s problem is. Tom and Ariana seem like the most normal ones of the bunch.

Shay is getting shayfaced and Scheana isn’t too happy. She wants to talk to him about Ariana, so she’s not pissed that he’s drunk, just pissed that she can’t gossip.

Schwartz is disturbed that he and Katie haven’t had “fiancé sex” yet. Tom says that Scheana has put herself in the same realm as Kristen, trying to interfere with him and Ariana’s relationship. First thing in the morning, Scheana bugs Shay about the drinking. She says the first day was supposed to be about moderation. Didn’t happen. She moves quickly on to the latest on Ariana because it’s all about her.

Lisa calls Max who just woke up. It’s 10 am and Lisa is shocked he’s sleeping all day on vacation. She asks if he’s behaving and if he’s taking his medication. She tells him he can’t drink with it and don’t kiss anybody because he can’t get an infection either. Good morning, mum!

Everyone gathers for a surfing lesson. Jax wears his sunglasses. Don’t do it, bro! I lost a decent pair in a wave once. Lala is barely wearing a bathing suit and the other girls aren’t thrilled. Scheana asks her why she was upset the evening before. She says the way everyone was talking to her was not okay. Scheana says she was once that girl, the new girl at SUR, the one who everyone thought was a slut, and she brings up her dalliance with Eddie Cibrian. She says she’s now redeemed herself. Lala acts all hurt because she says she’s been “genuine” with everyone. She’s the kind of woman who disrespects other women and calls it honesty. She’ll work her way up to The Real Housewives of the OC in no time.

Back in Kristen’s Hollywood apartment, Stassi visits. We flash back to when Kristen slept with Jax (then with Stassi) and it wasn’t pretty. Looks like they’ve made up. They talk about Kristen’s break up with James and Stassi suggests she play the field. Stassi says she and her boyfriend went from zero to old married couple. She’s on a mission to rectify things with the friends she blew off.

Some dude was showing a sex tape she made to everybody, and she’s annoyed that Scheana helped pass it along and thought it was funny. She says if Scheana can take ownership of her inappropriateness (good luck with that), maybe they can be friends.

Ken and Lisa are hanging out at the infinity pool, which has one of those cool pink flamingo floats in it. She’s worried about Max. She wants to call him again, but Ken tells her – Giggy! – it might not be a good idea. She gets on the float and says it’s bliss. It looks like bliss and I wonder if they’d like to adopt and older child.

Schwartz is afraid of sharks eating him, but goes snorkeling with anyway. Jax gets a text from Kristen who says Stassi has come out of the woodwork. Katie says she wants to stay as far away from Stassi as possible.

Jax is trying to iron some outlandishly red pants. Jax tells Britney he saw her hanging out with Lala. She says they’ll never be best friends, but she’ll deal with Lala being around.

Drinking time! The group goes to whatever bar is convenient. The waiter suggests a spiked watermelon bowl that makes me want to throw up just thinking about it. It even looks disgusting. The talk turns to sex. Tom asks how James is doing in that area. In her individual interview, Lala says they attempted it once, but he was too drunk and on top of it, blamed her. No surprise since he’s a total d-bag. Whoa. Lala is wearing hoop earrings bigger than any I’ve ever owned, even all of them put together. James and Lala exchange some words about the unpleasant event and make it even more unpleasant. Not to put my shawl on, but I don’t remember everything being so unhappy when I was their age. And I never got a free trip to Waikiki.

The gang has decided to “get crazy” tonight. How this is different from any other night, I’m not sure. Tom takes Scheana aside. She tells him that he and Ariana have a better than everybody attitude. Tom says Scheana backstabbed them. Scheana says she’s apologizing. Tom says it’s a false apology and she sort of agrees. He asks her where she got her opinion that he’s manipulative at. He says funny too, that Shay says she’s manipulative. She says Shay is the king of not expressing himself and Tom says she intimidates Shay. In her individual interview, she says Tom should mind his own business and in his, Tom says he realizes that it’s getting nowhere so he’ll just try to be surface friends. Tom accepts her apology and they go back to the drinking.

Jax makes a toast to him and Tom’s birthday.  (I meant that to be singular; it’s their birthday on the same day.)

Drinking in Hollywood! Stassi and Kristen meet at a bar. Did I mention they were drinking when Stassi visited? She brought two bottles of wine. Kristen tells her about Tom’s fight with Scheana. Kristen claims she’s over not being invited to Hawaii, but I don’t believe her for a second.

Kristen is calling new guy Kevin an Uber and Stassi chastises her for paying for boys. We’re on the same page there. It’s probably the only page we’ll ever be on together. Stassi says she was going to wait until after they were “a little drunky,” (are we five?) but she thinks Kevin has a serious live-in girlfriend. She stalked him on social media.

Kevin shows up, so too late to elaborate about that. Either that was a fast Uber or he was across the street. More drinks! Stassi brings up the girlfriend right away. Good for her. He says she’s an ex and he doesn’t live with her. He says it’s been on and off. He says he’d rather be on with Kristen, then contradicts himself by saying they shouldn’t rush things. Kristen says as long as they’re not on right now it’s cool. In her individual interview, Stassi says today’s appetizer is her tongue because she’s biting it.

Drinking in Hawaii! The gang is at a club to let loose, which is pretty much all they’re been doing on this trip. Britney makes it clear to Lala that she’s here to stay, it’s over for her with Jax and they should just be chill. In her interview, Lala says one day Britney will wake up. Meanwhile, Jax is telling everyone how in love he is with Britney. We’ll see. They party on.

Everyone wakes up with hangovers. My advice: have another drink. It’s nearly time to leave and Schwartz is still bummed about not having sex. Britney’s phone rings. Jax got arrested. It’s a felony and they’re supposed to keep him 48 hours. He stole a pair of sunglasses. Scheana wonders how much of an idiot he has to be. I wonder why she’s wondering since it’s Jax. Britney wonders what she’s going to do.

Scheana is like, this is a real trial by Jax fire for Britney. They call Jax’s mom to let her know what’s going on. They need eleven grand to bail him out and it starts to sound like a Brady Bunch adventure. Somehow Schwartz gets the bail money, they get him out and they’re on their way to the airport. Jax meets them there.

He tells Britney he got really drunk, walked into the store, said “I’m taking these,” and walked out with the sunglasses. He’s pretty embarrassed and cries in his individual interview, saying this isn’t who he is. I’m not going to make a joke, since it’s not even remotely funny.

Next week, Jax has repercussions and Stassi hits rock bottom. Maybe.

January 24, 2016 — On the Potomac & Atlanta

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What I Watched Today

(random, rambling thoughts on today’s TV)

 

The Real Housewives of Potomac

Karen is going blah-blah-blah to Gizelle about how Gizelle is etiquette challenged. Since Karen hasn’t shown a shred of practicing what she preaches, this is pretty amusing. Karen totters off on her heels. Charrisse is also bummed because Gizelle dared bring a friend she wasn’t acquainted with into her domain.

Gizelle takes Charrisse aside and asks what the blip is up. Charrisse claims to be mad because said friend wanted to help her with her hair, when she’d said she needed help with her hair. Gizelle says they were just joking around, but Charrisse can’t seem to get the stick out of her butt and says she doesn’t joke like that. Gizelle decides to leave. Karen gets re-offended by the hairdressing guy talking to her like she’s a commoner. What is wrong with these women? I’d never heard of Potomac before and as soon as this season is done, I’m going to try and forget it exists again.

Katie’s rabbi is stopping by because she’s going to have a Hebrew naming ceremony for her daughters. He asks her some questions about her Judaism, but I have the feeling she’s similar to what we’d call and A&P Catholic – ashes on Wednesday, palms on Sunday and not much else.

Karen tells her husband she doesn’t think they have any Lipton tea, but he says he’ll check the other kitchen. Her husband Ray’s Aunt Dot is coming over and she’ll have nothing else. Apparently, Karen learned etiquette at Aunt Dot’s knee. Does this mean we have her to blame for this idiocy? The Lipton is found, but unfortunately the tea is not piping hot and Aunt Dot sends it back to be reheated. I don’t think I could take even five minutes with any of these people. Maybe Gizelle.

Gizelle is at some kind of event called “Sip with Socialites.” Maybe I wouldn’t want to be around her either. She is rocking a fabulously casual black and white outfit, complete with hat, so I give her props for that. Katie and Robyn arrive. One of the hosts (Ashley, a wife we haven’t met yet) talks to them about volunteering in schools. Gizelle grills Ashley about her married life and asks if her husband needs Viagra since he’s in his 50s. For the love of God, what planet did these women drop in from? They start to dance and Ashley wants to “booty pop,” prompting Gizelle to comment that she must not have been born in Potomac. At this point, I want to stay as far away from Potomac as possible.

Charrisse takes daughter Skylar to gymnastics practice. She’s glad she doesn’t have to focus on Gizelle and the crab boil. No wonder her husband lives somewhere else. She says she needs friends around her who are supportive. Translation: Friends who think and act exactly like her sorry self.

Gizelle decides to send an invite to Charrisse and Karen for a luncheon to talk over the crab boil incident (Guns N Roses next CD). She says she comes from an affluent African American family and knows all about etiquette. She’s having the letters delivered by chariot, so that should put the kibosh on any question about how well she was brought up.

Ashley was in the running for Miss America and ended up marrying a prominent real estate developer instead. She and husband Michael, who’s Australian, are opening a restaurant geared to Australian cuisine. She did not grow up privileged and this is a new world for her. Both she and her husband seem pretty normal, so maybe I’ve found a cast member I can somewhat relate to in this group. She tells Michael about the idiots women she met at the event and says they did well with whatever charity got the proceeds.

Katie is getting ready for the naming ceremony. Robyn says she grew up with Jewish people and none of them looked like Katie. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. (Man, these girls are ignorant.) Gizelle says she thought Jewish people “ran” like Black people and she had a 45 minute leeway in getting there on time, which is actually pretty funny.

The rabbi is apparently a folk rabbi and brought his guitar. Katie says Andrew tries to make it clear they’re not engaged, but she likes to muddy those waters to avoid competition. What? The ceremony flies by (we really didn’t get to see it at all) and we’re on to refreshments. Robyn asks Katie about being Black and Jewish. Katie says she also grew up bi-racial, so it was a similar deal.  Gizelle makes stupid comments about being the only Black person in a synagogue and being looked at like, “you don’t belong here; this isn’t a fish fry.” Both Gizelle and Robyn talk about being mistaken for white because they’re light skinned, but say when they open their mouths, it removes all doubt. I’m not sure if this is a dig at their own race, since when they open their mouths, that’s not my first thought.

Gizelle arrives at lunch with flowers for the girls. Why didn’t we get to see the chariot? Karen and Charrisse read their letters to each other in the limo. They sound like those Valentines that kids exchange, and of course they have to get snarky about it.

The ladies (using the term more and more loosely) sit down with sour faces. Gizelle brings up the “gift” Karen gave her. Karen says it was a joke and we all know that’s not true. Gizelle doesn’t get why Charrisse is even mad. Charrisse says Gizelle’s friend was rude and inappropriate, and invaded her space. Gizelle points out that Charrisse had asked him to do her hair. True to Housewives form, Charrisse thinks we have short term memory loss and says she never said that, even though we see the clip of her saying it again. Gizelle says not only is the dude a sought after stylist, but he’s a friend of hers.  Karen says the friend practically assaulted her, which borders on insane, and that she’ll be paying for her own lunch rather than be indebted to Gizelle in any way. In her individual interview, Karen says Gizelle hasn’t learned a thing and has no respect for either her or Charrisse. I know I don’t. Charrisse tells Gizelle that the sight of her face repulses her and leaves. The Real Housewives of the OC are more mature than these two.

Gizelle says this is a waste of time and Karen might as well go too. Karen says that Gizelle won’t acknowledge her mistakes. Gizelle says she apologized. They get into a discussion about how Gizelle’s daughters helped her write the letter, and Karen makes nasty comments. Gizelle says she even brought flowers for the ladies and Karen suggests she give them to her daughters since she “pimped them out” to write the letter. I don’t even know what she means by that and how is such a lady of the manor using such a lowbrow phrase? In her individual interview, Karen might as well say that Gizelle will never eat lunch in this town again. Karen strikes me as the type of person who has to talk about how wonderful and influential they are because they’re not. More trash comes out of her mouth and she makes her exit. And what is she wearing??? Not a good look from the back.

Next week, Karen says she’s rarely wrong (what a surprise) and Gizelle calls Ashley a thug. And I never want to hear the word “etiquette” again.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta

Kandi is getting close to baby time and she doesn’t feel prepared. She’s excited, but they don’t even have a name picked out. Todd wants to set up a schedule for baby duty. There’s some discrepancy as to when Todd’s shift should be. Todd wasn’t there for his daughter’s baby years, so his diapering skills need to be honed.

Kim’s stylist, Victoria, comes by. They make chit-chat about the kids for a while. Kim tells Victoria she wants to do a brunch with the ladies. She wants to have a “beatless” brunch, celebrating their natural beauty. She wants help with the space and Victoria says she’ll be back later with a list.

Phaedra and the boys are making a birthday card for Apollo. They’re looking at pictures and come across a Christmas picture where Dillon apparently freaked out during the shooting. At this point, it’s been a year since Apollo went to the pokey.

Kim sends a robocall to everyone as an invite to her brunch.

Kandi says she doesn’t even remember how to give a baby a bath. Carmen suggests she use a nanny. Todd says he’s been googling stuff and knows how to change a Pamper. They’re waiting for a lady from some kind of baby instruction place. When she gets there, the first thing she asks is to see the nursery, which isn’t finished yet.

Kandi says she’s going to try to breastfeed for a few months. The woman says babies nurse until 3 or 4 years and hers is 19 months and asks for it. Both Kandi and Todd are a little taken aback. They do diaper practice. Kandi says that Todd isn’t really having a true experience with a baby that doesn’t move around and pee on you. Yep.  They move on to swaddling.

Cynthia is doing business stuff for the eyewear line. They look over photos from the last event. Cynthia wants to do a commercial and spoke with Kim and Kenya about being involved. Cynthia says their collaboration is perfect, but they just don’t know it yet. She wants to use a beach setting.

Phaedra sees her lawyer. She’s ready to move ahead with the divorce. Apollo’s lawyer has been invited as well. While they’re waiting, they discuss the children, as they need to draft a parenting plan. Phaedra says it’s harder on Aidan because he’s older.

They discuss taking the kids to prison for a visit. Phaedra says that when their doctors think it’s okay for them, she’ll agree, but right now they’re too young. Apollo’s lawyer arrives. Phaedra’s lawyer says they’re ready for the divorce, but they’d like it uncontested and would like to get everything settled as smoothly and quickly as possible.

Porsha, who I totally forgot about, is visiting her makeup artist for a touch up. Porsha is having problems with her phone as she doesn’t know how to work it and can’t be bothered learning. The numbers are good for The Dish, but the production manager says with great numbers comes great responsibility. I literally lol.

Kim is nervous before the brunch, since everyone has such high standards. Cough, cough. Kandi picks up Kenya, who’s wearing makeup. Kandi is wearing concealer because she says her husband and kids are the only ones who see her under eye circles. Phaedra is asked if she’d like to check her lashes at the door, but she declines. And of course Porsha has her usual circus clown look.

Kenya is finding this beatless brunch insulting, something about this being a passive aggressive way to say they wear too much makeup, but I don’t see it that way at all. It ain’t that deep, Kenya.

Sheree and Cynthia are good sports and come au natural. They talk about the trip to Washington DC and joke that Phaedra is going to be Kanye’s running mate. Kenya tells everyone about her non-communication with her mother and how her father and she got closer. The breakfast food looks amazing.

Cynthia talks about the commercial, which is kind of an odd topic for the entire table. She says she’d like to have a creative meeting with Kim and Kenya, and would like to do it in Jamaica. Girls’ trip! Kandi is too close to term to go though.

Kim gives mirror compacts to everyone to remind them of their natural beauty. She also gives them a little notebook and pen and wants them to write a poem about natural beauty. There’s discussion about makeup versus the natural look. Kenya says what about things like wigs and boob jobs? Kenya asks Kim if she really thinks they wear too much makeup. Kim says not at all, but Kenya thought the tone of the invite sounded like she did. Kenya states some kind of reasoning, but it sounds ridiculous. Kim can’t figure out why this should seem like she’s throwing shade. I’m surprised at Kenya. I’ve liked her this season and this is out of left field.

The brunch breaks up. Kenya suggests that she and Kim pitch their ideas for the commercial and Cynthia can decide what their roles will be.

They have a meeting in a cute coffee shop. Kim gets there first. Cynthia calls Kenya, who says she can meet later, but right now, there’s something she has to attend to at the house. Cynthia is a little miffed. Kenya is at the house with some dude named Matt who she’s been dating for a couple of months. They flirt while working on the house.

Kim gives Cynthia her idea for the ad. A couple walking on the beach sans sunglasses, but as soon as they put them on, they’re walking the red carpet. It sounds similar to that ad for Diet Coke with the girl on the airplane. Cynthia loves the idea. She still wants to meet with Kenya and she asks Kim if she sees herself as director or producer. Kim says she usually does both and doesn’t co-direct, which didn’t answer the question, but I have the feeling she doesn’t want Kenya on board at all. I kind of don’t blame her and with Kenya not showing up, she doesn’t seem all that interested anyway.

Cynthia asks if Kim can work with Kenya. Kim says if it’s necessary, she can work with anyone, but she doesn’t want to work in a negative atmosphere. Cynthia says she’s willing to take a risk on both of them because she thinks they both have something to bring to the table. She tells Kim she loved her idea.

Next time, Jamaica! And Nene.

January 22, 2016 — GH 2x, Junior Chefs 4x & Quotes 3x

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What I Watched Today

(random, rambling thoughts on today’s TV)

 

General Hospital – Thursday

Sonny tells Carly that the court appointed supervisor is a nightmare and is a stickler with a timer. Carly says Ava is a witch who will exploit the situation however she can.

Kiki tells Ava, who must be glued to a seat in the MetroCourt, that she can’t talk until she has a break. Ava says she isn’t there to infringe, but she’s starving. For some reason, this is focused on a little and it makes me wonder if Ava is pregnant. The subject of Morgan comes up and Kiki tells Ava she and Morgan are good for each other.

Sonny meets with a doctor who wouldn’t shut up about his celebrity patients. Sonny gives Carly a bunch of gossip. Max says that the doctor has worked on Diane’s favorite character on The Housewives of Beecher’s Corners (not a real show, so don’t check your TV guide). Carly realizes the doctor is on the show and Morgan asks if he’s Sonny’s new doctor. I’m hoping for a show within the show, like One Life to Live did with Sorority Row.

Elizabeth asks Jason why Sam is there. He tells her Sam is there in her PI capacity. Sam wants to take a look around and Elizabeth says absolutely not.

Ava says she’s truly happy that Morgan and Kiki are in each other’s lives. Kiki says she’s trying to make sure he takes his meds. Ava asks her to try to keep Morgan from getting into trouble.

Sonny says no way is he going to a celebrity doctor. Morgan is at the hospital to see his therapist. Max has to go and Sonny asks Morgan why he was on the docks on New Year’s Eve. He says there was illegal activity going on and Morgan had better not be planning on getting into Sonny’s business.

Hayden and Nicholas make sweet talk. Hayden’s phone rings and she says it’s the office and takes the call in another room. It’s Curtis, who says she owes him money.

Elizabeth says that the police didn’t find anything, so Sam won’t either. Evil seed Jake pipes up that Sam is the one who broke in and Sam says she’d never do anything to hurt him or his family. He gets sent upstairs where he belongs. Sam says the police could have missed something and asks Elizabeth if she can put her feelings aside for second, or is she worried Sam will find something she doesn’t want anyone to know about?

Nicholas says he spoke to his lawyer and if Jason doesn’t get put in jail, the lawsuit is going to be more difficult than he thought.

Jason tells Elizabeth let’s just get this done. Elizabeth says just do whatever you need to do and that she has nothing to hide. She goes upstairs where she belongs. Sam tells Jason they should finish the walk through.

Sonny tells Morgan that he loves him, but if he’s involved in anything illegal, he’ll ship him overseas. Morgan says he’s a grown man, but Sonny says he’ll do whatever he has to in order to protect him.

Ava tells Kiki that if Morgan doesn’t take his meds, he could find himself in a dangerous situation, like what happened at the cabin. She adds that with Sonny recuperating, Morgan might try to get involved in the business. Kiki wonders why Ava is so concerned, and asks if Ava knows something. Ava says no, and Kiki says she’ll take that at face value, but she’s still suspicious. Carly stops at the table and tells Ava she needs a favor. Sure, Ava says, anything you want. Not really.

Ava asks what kind of favor Carly could possibly want. Carly says it’s a favor for Sonny. Ava makes noises about Sonny’s business, and Carly says Sonny would never let anything happen to Avery. Kiki suggests that to get on her good side, Ava drop the animosity toward Carly, and be civil. She goes back to work. Carly asks if Avery can spend a weekend with her and Sonny.

Sonny says he remembers how difficult it was for him in finding the right combination to combat his illness. Morgan says he feels like he’s not living his life. Sonny says he understands that it’s a feeling of being “flat” with no emotions. He says Morgan can’t isolate himself and it will get better. Morgan asks when it got easier for Sonny. Sonny says he’s not sure, but eventually his feelings came back without the crazy highs and lows. He talks about holding Avery and how it made him almost explode with joy. He says it’s inside Morgan too. He says if Morgan doesn’t take his meds, he’ll have another breakdown.

Hayden meets Curtis and gives him the money. Curtis says don’t ever make a payment until you get the goods, and doesn’t she want to know if the bullet that hit her came from a gun other than Shawn’s? She says of course. He gives her the report and says it’s all the proof she needs.

Jordan goes to see Nicholas. She tells him she’s there as a courtesy to tell him what’s happening with Jason’s case. She says there’s an eyewitness who says Jason didn’t try to hill him.

Sam and Jason don’t find anything, and Elizabeth says they can go now. Jason’s phone rings. It’s something about his case, so while he takes the call Elizabeth and Sam are left along. Sam tells Elizabeth that Jason really knows what’s going on; he just doesn’t want to admit it. She says that there was no sign of forced entry, no strange fingerprints, and even though kids were playing right outside, nobody saw anything.  She says true to form, Elizabeth made it all up and she smashed the photo herself.

Sonny reminds Morgan of how crazy he went when he went off his own medication. Morgan says he’s doing his best, but when he wakes up the first thing he thinks about is his disease. He says he’s getting through the day, but isn’t living his life. Sonny tells him to keep doing what he’s doing. Morgan says he doesn’t feel like a whole person and it would help him to know he was helping Sonny. Sonny says he’ll give Morgan a job.

Ava balks at leaving Avery alone with Sonny and Carly for a weekend. Carly says Sonny cherishes the time with Avery the most when she just wakes up. She says Avery needs Sonny as much as he needs Avery. Ava says no way.

Curtis asks what Hayden is going to do now. Hayden asks why it matters. Curtis says all of a sudden it seems like she’s not as interested in the results and asks if she’s changed her mind. He says she’s only alive because whoever shot her thinks she blames Shawn, and when they find out, they’ll try to kill her again.

Jordan tells Nicholas that the eyewitness saw the whole thing, that Nicholas started the fight and was propelled by his own momentum when he fell over the balcony. She wonders why he really wants Jason put away. Seriously, she’s the commissioner and she can’t figure out why?

Elizabeth asks why Sam thinks she would do such a thing. Sam says she’s trying to manipulate Jason so he feels sorry for her. Jason comes back in and says he’s off the hook with Nicholas. Elizabeth whines to him that Sam is accusing her of staging the break-in. Sam says it was staged by someone who lives there.  Elizabeth says it wasn’t enough that Sam stole Jason away from her; now she’s accusing her of terrorizing her own children. She says Sam ruined her life. No, you ruined your own life, you witch.

Hayden tells Curtis she’s safe and that the man who wanted her dead doesn’t anymore. Curtis is like, are you kidding? And asks her why she doesn’t expose him. She says she’s not ready. He asks if she’s saving it for blackmail. He says that she was lucky and now she’s pressing her luck. He says he’s not going to say anything, but she should “pPut this cat behind bars before he puts you in the ground.” Hayden tells him that he has his money and they’re done. She leaves and Curtis says they’re not done, they’re just getting started.

Nicholas says both he and Hayden told Jordan what happened. Jordan says Hayden waffled all over the place, along with claiming to be hysterical, but they now have a real eyewitness.

Elizabeth says she owned her mistake with Jason. Sam says she was given ample opportunity to do that, but didn’t until she was forced to. Elizabeth starts whining to Jason again. Sam adds that Elizabeth tried to keep him from his own son, jeopardizing his relationship with Danny. Sam says Jason knows this was staged and just doesn’t want to say it.

Sonny wants Morgan to work at Corrinthos Coffee. He’ll be starting at the bottom and Sonny says the physical activity will be good for him. Sounds like stock work to me. Morgan isn’t thrilled, but says he’ll do it. Sonny says he’s proud of Morgan. Morgan leaves for his appointment. Max says he’s been monitoring the dock activities. Sonny asks if he has information about Raj and Max says yes, and it’s not good.

Carly asks if they can they have her for an overnight, even if they can’t for a weekend. Carly says Avery needs her dad and Ava asks how Carly would know what Avery needs. Kiki comes back to the table, and says she wished for a father as a child, but she never had that experience until later because of Ava’s machinations. She tells Ava to stop apologizing and show her she’s willing to learn how to be a better mother. She says Ava can start by letting Sonny have his visit with Avery.

Hayden gets back to the castle. Nicholas says he might not have ELQ much longer because Jason has been exonerated. He says it could be worse, but he has Hayden and she’s more important that a stupid lawsuit. He says that Spencer keeps saying n is in love with her and he’s feeling it. Hayden says she can’t do this.

Jordan sees Curtis at Kelly’s. She says he keeps turning up like a bad penny. Curtis asks if she’s meeting her son and Jordan says don’t mention his name. Curtis says he misses his nephew.

Max shows Sonny some information and asks what they do now. Sonny says they wait and make sure everything is done right. He adds that he doesn’t know what Ava is up to, but she’s putting Avery in danger.

Ava says she’ll think about it. Carly says that’s better than a no, and thanks her. She leaves and Kiki says the way to be a better mother is to think of what her daughter would want.

Morgan comes in, says he got Kiki’s text and what’s up. She asks why Ava would think he’s going to get into trouble. He says he has no clue, but he’s going to be doing grunt work for Sonny’s coffee company.

Ava calls someone and tells them not to tell Paul about seeing Morgan at the docks.

Sam tells Jason that Elizabeth is taking advantage of how he feels about the boys. Elizabeth tells her to get out. Sam tells Jason he’s smarter than this and leaves. Elizabeth whines to Jason some more and when she sees his face, asks if he believes Sam.

Tomorrow, Laura asks for an explanation from Lulu and Elizabeth swears to Jason she’d never do anything so terrible. Unless he suddenly has short term memory loss, I’m guessing he’s not buying that.

General Hospital – Friday

Dante is using the punching bag like a mad man and Sonny asks if he’s working out his Lulu aggression.

Laura comes over Lulu’s place. She says Lulu left her with Rocco, ran off, and then later the police were looking for her. She dropped Rocco off at Windermere and now she wants an explanation.

Hayden wants Nicholas to back off. He asks what’s wrong.

Carly is planning something for Jason’s birthday.

Elizabeth says Jason can’t possibly believe Sam. Jason says the last time he asked her not to believe Sam, she was lying, so what makes this time different? Good point.

For the love of all that’s holy, we don’t really need to know that it’s going to snow tomorrow morning. Thanks, ABC News, for breaking into Friday’s GH for this. None of us knew that coastal flooding can cause damage either, so I appreciate that information, as well as letting me know that if it isn’t that bad, you’ll adjust your reports accordingly. OMG – there’s a recording coming in on my phone too. And they’re telling us we should stay inside during a blizzard. I guess no one has been through winter before and we all just fell out of trees yesterday.

And when they were finally done? We come back to a commercial. Because God forbid we miss that. The Bernie Madoff movie looks good though.

Hayden says the thought of love is overwhelming and that she’s never really been in love before. She says when the money ran out, her ex-husband did too. Nicholas says things changed when he was in the hospital and he can say he loves her now, but all he sees is fear in her eyes. Hayden says she’s afraid to love him as much as she does.

Michael tells Sonny that there’s nothing he can do about Sabrrrina. Dante says Lulu would have been facing 15 years in prison if Johnny hadn’t taken the fall for her.

Lulu says everything changed when Dante left Rocco alone with Valerie. She told Johnny he could stay if he’d get Valerie out of her life and that’s how Valerie ended up tied up in the cabin. Laura freaks about the fire and asks if it’s intentional, and did Lulu and Johnny mean to kill Valerie.

Dante explains how Johnny set Valerie up. He says Lulu was in on the set up, but he doesn’t think she meant for it to go the way it did. He says Lulu will never legally be charged, but he doesn’t know if he can get past it.

Lulu says she knows how it looks, but she wasn’t trying to get revenge. She just wanted Valerie to leave town. Laura asks if Dante knows. Lulu says yes, and she’s never seen him so angry. She says the last she saw him, he was going to check on Valerie, and for all she knows, he’s still with her and she has no one but herself to blame.

Sonny said what Lulu did was vindictive, but that’s not her normal behavior. He says Dante should acknowledge the hurt he caused. Dante says he has. Maybe, but he also expected Lulu to get over it in a day. Sonny reminds Dante of his better or worse wedding vows and says that he let anger come between him and Carly. Dante says he and Lulu are nothing like Sonny and Carly.

Sam tells Carly about her break-in theory and says she raised the possibility of Elizabeth being behind it, and Jason was there. Carly asks if Elizabeth responded with tears of wounded innocence or offended outrage. Ha-ha! Sam says she doesn’t know if Jason will be up for a party, but Carly says he might want to be around people who aren’t trying to manipulate him. Carly talks about Jason and Sam getting back together and Sam says she wants him to get there in his own time.

Jason says he can’t move past Elizabeth letting his wife and child grieve for him when she knew he was alive. Elizabeth says they loved each other at some point and what about her opening her home to him when she thought he was a stranger. She says she would never do anything as horrible as frightening her own child and swears on her love for him, she had nothing to do with the break-in.

Jason says their focus should be on who broke in the house. Elizabeth swears it wasn’t her, which means nothing. Jason asks if they’re going to be okay in the house. She says yes, and he says he’ll call her in the morning. Jake asks if Sam made his dad go away again.

Nicholas gets seriously mushy about how love can change your life and it’s a risk worth taking. Hayden says what if she doesn’t deserve him?

Lulu says Valerie seduced Dante, and she has a right to be angry and lash out, but it went too far and now she’s the villain. Laura tells her to slow her roll and hold still until she gets some clarity. Lulu says she wishes she’d listened the first time. Laura says she does too, and she’s sorry, but she has to get back to Rocco. She tells Lulu she loves her, and Lulu says ditto. Laura opens the door and Dante is standing there.

Laura tells Dante that Rocco is at Windermere and everything is fine. Then she leaves. Dante asks if he can come in. Part of me wants them to work it out because Lulu obviously loves him, but the other part wants her to forget about him because he’s such a tool.

Jason comes into the bar. Carly says she and Sam were just talking about how Sam got the attempted murder charges dropped, and Sam acts all modest. Carly wants to celebrate, but Jason says he was just going to have dinner in his room. Sam says that’s cool, but Carly says wait a second, happy birthday!

Jason says he knows he wasn’t born in January. Carly tells him that he’d considered this day his birthday because of being reborn after the accident. Carly says a whole bunch of stuff that I can boil down to today is the first day of the rest of your life.

Elizabeth tells Jake nobody made Jason go away, and that they’ll see him tomorrow. She tells him his dad loves him very much, but they’re not getting married or living together. Laura knocks at the door. It’s Jake’s bedtime, so upstairs he goes. Laura asks if everything is back to normal, since they’re back at the house. Elizabeth says nothing is back to normal.

Sonny tells Michael he hopes Dante doesn’t throw everything away and that obstacles are made to be overcome. Michael says that some obstacles can’t be overcome. Sonny says, the quickest way to lose is to refuse to try. He tells Michael that he hates doing exercises, throwing combinations while he’s in the wheelchair, but he does everything for his family and so he can be the man they need him to be. Really? Is that why he’s a mob boss?

Lulu says he’s glad Valerie wasn’t hurt and that she knows she did wrong. Dante says she jeopardized Rocco. Lulu says she does understand and she’s sorry, but maybe they can make this a turning point, face their mistakes and stop punishing each other. She says she never imagined what was going to happen, that they loved each other and it must be still there. Dante says she did horrible things because she loved him. She says that’s true, everything she did was for them. These people all have bizarre concepts of sacrificing for their families.

Hayden says she started off blackmailing and then grew to care for Nicholas, but didn’t realize how much until he was in the hospital. She says maybe she has too much baggage and that she should leave and they should both start fresh. He tells her to stay forever instead. Because that’s the only other option.

Sonny tells Michael to go to the party Carly is having for Jason to be supportive. Michael says he learns from Sonny’s example every day. Alone at the gym, Sonny looks thoughtful.

Elizabeth tells Laura that Jason asked Sam to investigate the break-in and that she came to the conclusion Elizabeth staged it. Laura acts all surprised and appalled.

Jason says he isn’t feeling it. The chef brings out the cake and he apologizes. Carly says she’d rather he be honest and he can take the cake home if he wants. He says that he’s sorry he can’t be her old friend. Carly gets kind of pissed and says her birthday wish for him is that he stops separating who he used to be and who he is now, and just be himself. She hollers “happy birthday” at him and storms out. Jason tells Sam to have some cake; he’s going out for air.

Dante tells Lulu that when he told Valerie they’d gotten close over Christmas, she ended things, so Lulu didn’t need to go to such extremes. Valerie was already gone. Lulu asks if he was sad, and Dante says no, he was relieved because he’d wanted to be with Lulu the whole time. Ouch!

Lulu says they can fix it and as long as they love each other, they can find their way back. He says they at a time when they should have clung to each other, they didn’t, and now it’s over. Lulu suggests counseling, but Dante says they know too much now. He says he never thought he could cheat on her and he did, and he never thought she could be so vindictive and horrible, but she was. He says they’re not who they thought they were. She says they can be and should for Rocco’s sake. He says for Rocco’s sake they should part and he’s going to talk to a lawyer. He leaves her crying hysterically. This almost makes me want to cry, but because it’s Dante, I don’t.

Nicholas suggests he and Hayden get married. Hayden said they’d already talked about it. Nicholas says she’d offered it as a business proposition, and that when he turned it down, she stayed. He says love shouldn’t be about stocks and bonds, and that all he knows is that his life is better with her in it. He says more mushy stuff and I almost like him. I do like them together, but I love to hate him. He gets down on one knee and asks her to marry him. Awww!

Elizabeth whines to Laura, asking why Sam can’t just wallow in her victory and leave poor, innocent her alone. While she and Laura talk, Jake sits on the steps drawing a scary, dark picture of Sam.  DUN-DUN-DUNNN!

Sonny tries to lift himself out of the wheelchair. He’s able to stand. Sort of.

Michael sees Carly and asks where the party is. She says Jason didn’t want one. She says he was gracious, but she got emotional. She says she got upset about him talking about himself in the third person, as in Jason her friend, as though he was someone else when he’s the same person. Michael says of course he’s the same person, that’s why he being stubborn.

Sam brings a piece of cake out – man, it looks good! – to where Jason is. He says he has to start living the life he made for himself, even if he doesn’t remember making it and appreciate the people living it with him. Sam says he should thank Carly and feeds him a bite of cake. It starts to rain and they run inside. Jason says, this always happens to us, doesn’t it? Sam asks if he remembers something and he says yes, them on a rooftop in the rain. He says he doesn’t just have the memory of them, but he remembers how it felt. He talks about them dancing and kissing. He says he remembers how Sam felt and smelled, and I try not to make a joke here. He tells Sam he doesn’t remember how and why they were there, but it feels real. Sam says it was real

Tomorrow, Jordan and Curtis clash, and Tracy sees…someone.

MasterChef Junior

It seems like the season just started, but we’re down to four contestants.

Ha-ha! The judges reveal the kids’ parents heads on platters (the rest of them is under the table). It’s a little creepy how the kids don’t freak out much.

The first challenge is a soufflé. I’m out. I like to tell myself I’d cook like this if I had that pantry, but that’s highly doubtful.

Not one of the soufflés falls. Even the kids are shocked at themselves. I think the judges minds are boggled too. There are some cooking nuances I don’t have a clue about that will make the decision. My girl Addy wins the challenge.

Addy gets to choose which of the four cuts of pork each of the other contestants has to cook. Of course one is pig ears, which I wouldn’t have the vaguest idea of what to do with. The kid who gets those makes them into a salad that looks amazing, but the strips of ear are undercooked and I go, ewwww! when Graham stretches them like a rubber band. I remember from the Little House on the Prairie books that those kinds of things should be crispy. Unless the next dish isn’t cooked at all, this kid is going home.

The nine-year-old got pork belly and gets some serious props from the judges. Graham says something about luck, and she says it’s not just luck, she’s a competitor. I wasn’t much younger when I  thought it would be a good idea to put a Tupperware container directly on the stove burner to heat some soup.

The nine-year-old is moving on to the grand finale. Gordon is hemming and hawing about how hard the decision was, but we all know the undercooked pork kid is going to go.

YES! Addy is in. It’s going to be her against the nine-year-old.

As for the two who are going home, feel proud of yourselves. Any mistakes you’ve made, none of us would have ever noticed and when most of us were your age, we didn’t even know what a soufflé was, much less have been able to cook one. And this is something you’ll remember your entire lives. Good job!

Next week, the finale. Where does the time go?

The People’s Couch – Quotes

I probably laugh more during this show than anything else I watch. They’re like the perfect friends to watch television with, but better dressed. Galavant has been added to their line-up. Princella describes it as “The Princess Bride with music” and I think that’s a perfect description.

Favorite quotes this week:

We know where Potomac is now. Shadesville. Emerson, referring to The Real Housewives of Potomac.

He is killing this audition to be jack Nicholson for the next four decades. Emerson again, referring to Leo DiCaprio accepting a Golden Globe.

Mob Wives is also back for its final season on VH1, as evidenced by their subtitle, The Last Stand. Karen gave me one other irresistible quote:

She has the mentality of a moth ball.

Even though I wasn’t always a steady watcher of this show, I’ll miss it. It also has one of the best soundtracks on television.

If we all get snowed in this weekend, at least there’s cable.

January 20, 2016 — GH & Oscar Gripe Part Two

Standard

What I Watched Today

(random, rambling thoughts on today’s TV)

 

General Hospital

Nina tells Franco that the magazine circulation is up, and people are even renewing their subscriptions. She thinks Julian is going to be thrilled. Guess again.

Julian and Nina have an interview with the Financial Times and Nina will pitch her new ideas. Julian is convinced the green issue of Crimson is a fluke. Olivia calls and tells Julian she has an emergency. Apparently so, since she’s handcuffed to a chair in the police station. Baby Leo is with her in a stroller, but it seems he’s not charged with anything, or they couldn’t find a pair of handcuffs that small.

Doc tells Elizabeth that with some time and treatment, Jake should be fine, but he’s worried about her.

Jason and Sam run into each other at the MetroCourt. Everyone not only eats there, but lives there now. Sam says Dr. Sheinberg is going to save the day with his statement.

Andre rings Anna’s doorbell. She tells him it’s not the best time. Robert comes downstairs and Anna realizes Andre is Robert’s contact regarding Carrrlos.

Sabrrrina answers the phone and it’s Felix. He tells her about Michael stopping by and saying he made a mistake in breaking up with her. She gets excited about this. Hmm… Hot, suave and exciting Carrrlos or boring, so-so looking and unsympathetic Michael.

Andre has a connection to the WSB and Anna asks if that’s how he knew so much about her. He says he never read her file, but knew her reputation. Robert is surprised they know one another. Andre says they’ve seen each other around, but Anna confesses he was her therapist.

Julian and Alexis come to the police station. Olivia tells them what happened, but not quite. Alexis asks if she was arrested for breastfeeding in public, but the mayor pops out and says Olivia has been arrested for assaulting her.

Jason says he wishes there was another witness. Sam says they don’t need one.  Jason says he isn’t thinking about his own assault charges, but the break-ins at Elizabeth’s. I guess he thinks there’s a connection there?

Doc asks Elizabeth about the whole wedding debacle, and he says on top of everything, she’s having problems with a stalker, so she’s bound to be seriously stressed. He also says he knows her history.

Nina is doubting herself and Franco says she single-handedly saved the magazine. Nina thinks she was a one hit wonder, and says she’d better come up with some decent ideas before the interview. Franco has to leave, but he tells her she can do it.

Olivia says she didn’t assault anyone. The mayor says she was verbally assaulted. Since when can you be arrested for that? We’d all be in jail. Olivia says she lost her temper a little. The mayor says it wasn’t a little, but Olivia says she’s Italian and it was. The mayor tells an officer to take Olivia to her cell. Alexis says she’s now Olivia’s lawyer and she’s not going anywhere.

Andre has created a profile for Carrrlos, and says it will help determine what he would do. He says Carrrlos is also traveling with Sabrrrina and his child, so he’s going to become increasingly desperate.

Carrrlos walks in while Sabrrrina is talking to Felix, so she gets off the phone. Carrrlos says talking to Felix is a bad idea.

Jason tells Sam about the break-in. She asks if he talked to Jake, and Jason says he’s a mixed up kid and said that she did it.

Doc tells Elizabeth that her level of stress could send her into another breakdown. He says high levels of stress often precipitate conditions someone has already. He tells her if she’s feeling overly stressed, to call for help. She says she will, but IMO that’s highly doubtful.

Jason says Jake is just confused and angry at the situation, and there’s no way to really explain things to him. He says Jake is seeing a therapist today, but he wishes he could figure out what’s going on. Sam says it sounds like a personal issue. Jason wonders who might have a vendetta against him. Oh come on. I know he remembers very little of his past, but does he really need to ask this question?

Elizabeth gives Jake some coloring stuff, and talks to the therapist. She says they have more trust building to do, and all he wanted to talk about was his father. She recommends art therapy in conjunction with talk therapy. Franco sees Jake coloring and asks how it’s going.

Sabrrrina says Felix called her, but Carrrlos says anytime the phone is used, it’s a risk. Sabrrrina says she’s having a hard time getting used to life on the run. She also tells him Anna is looking for her.

Andre and Anna discuss various particulars of Sabrrrina’s and Carrrlos’s personalities. Andre says Carrrlos will want to be in a place with adequate medical care, since Sabrrrina is close to her due date . Anna adds that at this point, Sabrrrina can’t fly.

Brady from the Financial Times comes to Nina’s office. She tells him Julian is tied up and they should reschedule. Brady says they don’t have to because Nina is the brains behind the operation. Nina wants Maxie in on the meeting, but Brady says he wants to know how she came up with the green issue and what she’s doing for an encore. While I don’t pretend to know anything about magazine publication, but I don’t think you’d be giving away future ideas in an interview.

Alexis asks the mayor what the subject was of the verbal assault. The mayor says it doesn’t matter because she’s extremely clueless. Alexis sets the scene and says the mayor did exactly what she’s accusing Olivia of and when Olivia tried to remove herself from the situation, she jostled the table. She tells the mayor that breastfeeding is legal and she’s the one who should have been arrested for harassing Olivia. She says if it goes to court, she’ll make sure this comes out.

Julian suggests that there must be a way to work things out. He says he doesn’t want a scandal that will bury the mayor. Leo starts whining and Olivia wants to feed him. The officer asks where the bottle is, and Olivia says in her bra and that if she was feeding him with a bottle, they wouldn’t be here in the first place. Alexis helps her finagle the baby, since she’s still handcuffed.

Nina tells Brady about her vision of the green issue. She says she wants the next issue to reflect the readership that made the green issue a success. Brady asks about the readers and Nina makes something up after looking at a soda ad, using words like “effervescent.” Brady says he knows exactly what she’s up to.

Sam brings up Franco and tells Jason about how Franco had a brain tumor removed and changed his life around. She says she still thinks he’s dangerous, but wouldn’t jeopardize his new life to get back at Jason.

Elizabeth balks at Jake having therapy with Franco. Both Doc and the therapist say Franco gets results and they would never put Jake in danger.

Andre, Anna and Robert come to the conclusion that Sabrrrina and Carrrlos are in Canada.

Sabrrrina says Anna was under the impression that Carrrlos was still alive. Carrrlos says she has no reason to, and they have to get used to their new life. If I was with Carrrlos, I’d get used to it really quick. He says he’s going to make sure Sabrrrina and the baby have everything they need, and doesn’t know what she sees in Port Charles anyway. Well, it does have the MetroCourt, all things to all people. He says she has to say good-by to everyone she knew there. I assume he means figuratively.

Brady says he knows Nina is going to reflect the glamour of real women, and gives her a whole bunch of new ideas. Nina says he’s read her mind. He thanks her for the interview and wishes her luck with the next issue.

The mayor says she doesn’t see any press at the station. Julian says since he publishes the paper, he’s going to tell the real story and it will be political suicide. The mayor asks if he’s threatening her. He says he actually voted for her and wouldn’t want to see her career go down the tubes. Did this mayor just drop in out of the sky? She should lose her position just for sheer stupidity.

Anna thinks Carrrlos would head for Toronto. Andre says Carrrlos would want to go somewhere more isolated, like Halifax.

Sabrrrina tells Carrrlos he’s right and throws her phone into the wilderness. Carrrlos says from now on it’s just the two of them and Sabrrrina says baby makes three. She says she’s curious as to how he’ll be as a father. He says they’ll find out soon.

Sam says Jason should hire an investigator. Jason asks if she’s volunteering. They decide to check out Elizabeth’s house.

Julian calls Nina and she says they did the interview without him. He tells her the short version of what happened with Olivia and says he’ll talk to her later. A light bulb comes on over Nina’s head.

Elizabeth asks Doc friend to friend if he thinks the art therapy is a good idea. Doc says he absolutely does. Elizabeth goes to get Jake, and Jake gives Franco the drawings he’s finished. They leave and Franco looks at the drawings.

The mayor gets a clue and says let’s pretend this never happened. Olivia, Leo and Julian leave. Alexis tells the mayor that she doesn’t think pretending is a good idea and she and Olivia are filing suit.

Andre is certain about Halifax and Anna says that’s where they’re going to go.

Franco shows Doc Jake’s pictures. He says he used to make drawing s like that as a kid and they’re not necessarily a good thing.

Jason and Sam are at Sam’s house and Jason goes through what happened the night of the break-in. He says the police didn’t find any unknown fingerprints and there was no evidence of forced entry. While they’re talking, Elizabeth and Jake come in. Ha-ha! Elizabeth’s face!

Tomorrow, Carly asks Ava for a favor, and Sam asks Elizabeth if she’s afraid of what Sam will find. She should be, since I’m certain it’s either her, Jake or both “breaking in” to their own home.

The Academy Awards – Controversy Part Two

Part one was the usual yearly gripe about who got “snubbed.” Like I said, there are tons of superb performances that don’t get recognized at all, so be grateful people are talking about you at all. Especially for what you get paid.

Part two involves Jada Pinkett Smith suggesting that African Americans boycott the Oscars because her husband didn’t get nominated for one because of the lack of diversity. While I can applaud the cause, I can’t applaud this as a means to achieve the goal.

I’m with Whoopi Goldberg in that this is a concern during other times of the year, not just prior to the Oscars, and with Wendy Williams, who found the timing somewhat suspicious. One wonders had Will Smith been nominated, would a boycott have been suggested. Highly doubtful. But most of all, I’m with Janet Huber. Although I’m pretty sure Aunt Viv still has an ax to grind from her Fresh Prince days, she’s right, “it ain’t that deep.” There are plenty of areas to focus on rather than something as shallow as the film industry.

Most of all, I feel sorry for Chris Rock, who has found himself in the middle of this stupidity. This innocent bystander is being shot from all sides, and he’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. I hope he follows his own heart and mind, but I also hope he doesn’t bow out as host.

I also hope this woman is proud of herself. She did little to help any actual issues, but a lot to hurt the very people she claims to want to support. Wait. Maybe she should run for office.

I’m a quarter Native American and have always been proud of my heritage. If anyone has cause to gripe, it’s us, having been misrepresented both in story and with casting in film. While that has changed somewhat over the years, I’ve never felt bitter. As a matter-of-fact, I still think, as I did when I was a child, that Tom Nardini was the hottest “Indian” ever in Cat Ballou. When I was ten, I had no idea his last name was Italian. All I knew was that he was cute and funny.

It ain’t that deep.

January 19, 2016 — GH, BH & the H & HN

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What I Watched Today

(random, rambling thoughts on today’s TV)

 

General Hospital

Anna and Robert meet at the MetroCourt for a meal. Seriously, does no one eat at home anymore? They talk about missing Robin, but Anna says she knows Robin made the right choice. She tells Robert she’s concentrating on work now and she’s going to take Paul down.

Olivia sees Ava with Avery. Ava is looking for the Mommy & Me yoga class. Olivia, who is headed for the same class, makes some rude remarks and says she’ll take the service elevator.

Jordan and Dante and looking at speed cameras to see if they can figure out where Valerie is. Andre brings Jordan some coffee. She says she’s sorry she missed their dinner date, but it was because of Valerie’s disappearance. He says his ego is safe then. I love Andre. He’s all kinds of cool.

Maxie runs in and asks Dante if she’s heard from Lulu. She sees the picture of Valerie with Johnny.

Valerie and Lulu apparently did spend the night in the car and survived. They get out and do some jogging moves to get warm. Valerie thanks Lulu for saving her, but then asks how she knew where to go. She asks if Johnny and Lulu set her up.

Johnny has been apprehended. Jordan asks him where Valerie is.

Anna fills Robert in on the chain of DAs before Paul. She questions whether Mayor Lomax should be in office and says it should have been Felicia. I have some vague recollection of Nicholas being involved with the election fix.

The mayor and Paul discuss focusing their efforts on Sonny. Mayor Lomax says Sonny is a Teflon Don who nobody has been able to nail yet. Paul asks if he should back off, but she says no, just be smart. The mayor notices that Anna and Robert are there.

Dante gets Johnny alone and shakes him down about Valerie. Johnny asks why he cares, which hits a nerve. Nathan says Johnny is his collar, so he needs to take him for questioning.

Lulu tells Valerie she saw the fire from the road. Valerie says Johnny made a phone call to someone to bring his bag and the last thing he told her was that someone would find her. Lulu says she sounds paranoid and Valerie says Lulu sounds guilty. She adds that this begins and ends with Dante.

Jordan tells Johnny that if Valerie gets hurt, he’s going to regret it. He says he’s been read his Miranda rights and until his attorney gets there, he’s not talking. On cue, Scotty comes in and Johnny is like, no way.

Ava sees Olivia at the bar and asks if anyone turned in a toy Avery dropped. They did and Avery gets her giraffe back. They talk a little about babies and yoga, which weirds me out since there was such animosity five minutes ago. Ava leaves and Mayor Lomax approaches Olivia about hosting an event at the hotel.

Paul says hello to Robert and asks what brings him back to Port Charles. Robert laughs about Paul becoming DA and Paul says he owes it all to Anna. He says together they’ll eradicate organized crime. He asks Robert if there’s anything he should know in a professional capacity.

Johnny says having Scotty as an attorney is a conflict of interest. Scotty says Johnny was involved with the death of his son. Jordan asks if Johnny can afford his own attorney, and he says he wants a public defender. Jordan says none is available right now, so all he’s got is Scotty. She says either Johnny talks or he’s going into the slammer. Scotty tells him not to answer the first question. Honestly, a real PD would not have him standing in as Johnny’s attorney. I don’t mind suspension of disbelief while watching a show, but sometimes GH stretches it a little too far.

Lulu says she was driving to clear her head. Valerie says she’s lying and there’s no way the fire could have been seen from the road. Valerie has finally put two and two together and realizes she was set up. She says she didn’t know Johnny and he had no reason to kidnap her. Valerie keeps going on and on, asking if Lulu wanted her killed, and Lulu finally lets it slip that she just wanted Valerie away from Dante.

Anna tells Paul that she and Robert have more in common than the WSB, and Robert is here on family business. Paul says he admires that, since he and Tracy can barely have a civil conversation. He says he’d just been commending Anna to the mayor, and hopes to see Robert again.

Olivia and the mayor are going over the event menu. Leo starts fussing and Olivia begins to breastfeed. The mayor freaks out like she’s never seen or heard of such a thing. Really?

Paul isn’t buying that the meeting between Anna and Robert was just quality time between exes. Ava comes to his door and says she has something for him. I’ll bet.

Johnny insists he didn’t contact anyone in Port Charles. Jordan says they’ll interrogate everyone he knows if he doesn’t speak up. He says if that includes Maxie, even though she turned him in. Scotty keeps telling him to shut up, but he says that no one helped voluntarily and he threatened Lulu to get her to help him.

Valerie and Lulu go back and forth. Valerie says Lulu’s marriage was a three-way train wreck: her, Dante and Lulu. She says that what happened with Johnny was way out of line. Lulu says she only wanted her to stay away from Dante. Valerie says she’s so stupid that she didn’t realize what she had and still does. Valerie smacks her and they both start to go at it. Dante suddenly arrives.

Dante asks what’s going on. Valerie says Lulu tried to kill her. When Lulu says Valerie hit her first, Valerie says that she’s not talking about that. Lulu says Valerie is making stuff up, but Dante tells her to shut up. Valerie tells Dante about how Johnny set her up. An officer arrives to deal with the crime scene and Lulu freaks a little because her phone is in there.

Johnny says he told Lulu if she didn’t help him, he’d hurt her family, but he didn’t really mean it. He says he didn’t target Valerie, but they’d run into each other when her car broke down, and he thought it would be a good idea to have a rookie in his pocket and bribed her, but later she relented and he left her in the cabin.

Paul tells Anna that there’s another reason Paul is interested in her, and that Paul has the hots for her. Robert says that’s her way in and a way to bring Paul down.

Paul tells Ava that they weren’t supposed to see each other publicly. She says she thought their next exchange should be made in private and shows him a painting that she invested the proceeds from the gun sale in. She asks if he’d like her to stay and he says suit herself. They kiss.

The mayor says that breastfeeding should be done in private. Olivia says when her baby is hungry, she’s going to feed him. The mayor threatens her with public indecency. The mayor who has never been on the internet or even read a recent newspaper. Olivia tells her that breastfeeding isn’t illegal. The mayor continues on about how breastfeeding in public is indecent, and Olivia suggests that the last time she was half-naked, it was probably the stone age.

Ava and Paul are basking in the afterglow. That was fast.

Anna says they’ll be wearing overcoats in hell before she seduces Paul. Robert says she doesn’t have to do all that, but she could warm up to him a little. Anna says that he’ll get suspicious if she’s suddenly friendly. Robert says Paul isn’t fit to shine her shoes , but he’s an egoist who doesn’t know that. He tells her to worry about Paul and he’ll take care of Carrrlos. He has an expert who might be able to give him some insights as to where Carrrlos and Sabrrrina might be.

Andre and Jordan flirt. He tells her congrats about Johnny, and that he’s going to continue to try and get a third date out of her. She tells him the power jaguar is working.

Lulu and Valerie are at the hospital. Valerie leaves for an examination. Lulu tells Dante she can explain, but he says that’s not possible.

Ava says art, sex and money is the basis for their relationship. Paul wants her to make some inquiries in regard to the next shipment. She asks some questions, but Paul says it’s better if she doesn’t know.

Anna says she feels like this is her last chance to get justice for Duke. The doorbell rings.

The mayor acts like a huge jerk. Olivia wonders why it’s mostly women who have a problem with public breastfeeding. I can hazard a guess as to why men don’t, but the mayor says it’s because women don’t want to have to explain things to their kids, and that Olivia is not only being indecent, she’s annoying a public official.

Dante says he made a huge mistake that destroyed half of them as a couple and now Lulu finished the job. He tells her what Johnny told them and says he might hate Johnny, but at least he has a shred of decency. He goes to check on Valerie. Maxie arrives, and Lulu collapses in her arms, crying.

Tomorrow, Doc is back and Olivia has an emergency.

BTW, I knew I recognized the mayor, who is now a different actress. It’s Shari Belafonte and she looks amazing!

The Haves and the Have Nots

The “dead” Quincy grabs Candace’s ankle. He begs her to call an ambulance and she says no. He tells her to remember he loves her. She says she remembers her own begging for an ambulance when he broke her jaw. She remembers him pimping her out too, and she asks if he really wants her to remember anything. She tells him she’ll never help him and that no one is going to miss him. She says she’s going to sit there and wait for him to die. She’s cold, but I don’t blame her.

The cop (I wish they’d say his name) brings Jeffrey to some isolated place and pats him down. He starts asking Jeffrey questions about Candace. The cop says Candace told him Jeffrey was gay and he can’t stand “queers.” Methinks he’s a closet case. He asks if Jeffrey wants him and Jeffrey says no, but he says he can see it in Jeffrey’s eyes. He says Jeffrey makes him sick and tells him to get back in the car. What that was all about, I have no clue.

Ohhh, wait. He’s getting in the back seat with him. I know what this is about now. He asks Jeffrey what he likes to do with guys. The cop uses the word “fellatio,” which I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone use IRL. Just as it’s about to get dicey, the cop gets a radio call asking if he’s picked Jeffrey up and that the DA needs to talk to him. He says he’ll be there in five minutes and orders a tow truck for Quincy’s car.

The cop tells Jeffrey that what Jeffrey was about to offer him was illegal, says he could bring him up on more charges and tells him he’s disgusting. The cop gets back in the front seat and drives to the station.

Quincy continues to beg Candace to help him and says they have a son together. She says he never cared about that before. Quincy says if she doesn’t get an ambulance, he and her son will both die. He says their son needs medicine. Both Candace and I have no idea what he’s talking about and he won’t elaborate unless she gets him some help. Candace tells Quincy his son is better off with him dead.

Quincy says when she finds her son dying to remember she let him die. Candace tells him good-by and to rest in hell. Exit Quincy.

Back in Quincy’s neighborhood, which has the cleanest looking graffiti I’ve ever seen, some guy asks Quincy’s sister (Queen) if she’s seen him. She says no, so the dude suggests she trace his phone. They have a discussion about a job coming up and some money. She says Quincy is going to want his cut. I don’t think Quincy cares about his cut anymore.

Judge Marx comes in to congratulate DA Jennifer on collaring Jim. She wants the judge to sign off on Wyatt’s trust fund. She says if they can’t get him to leave the house, they won’t be able to get him to testify. The judge signs the paper and says they’re rooting for her.

Tony and his girlfriend show up at the tow yard. Benny is on the phone and he’s obviously very busy. Tony tells his girl to answer the phone. Benny asks Tony if he’ll work for him. Tony wants to know how Benny got the tow yard in the first place. Tony says Candace must have hooked him up. He’d run into her and she said she came into some money. Benny asks if he knows how she got it, but Tony says no. Tony says he’s a thug, and Benny says it’s time to go legit.

Enter Mitch. Tony and Mitch start arguing. Benny tells them to chill and says that he needs some help. Mitch wants to know how Benny got the tow yard, since he said he had no money. Benny explains that his sister got it for him. Tony looks seriously puzzled. Benny says however she did it, she paid for it and it’s all on the up and up. Benny says just because it’s bought and paid for doesn’t mean it will pay the bills, and he needs their help. Tony asks where Candace is now.

Hanna calls the front desk. She wants to stay another night, but doesn’t have the cash. She asks if she can do some work for them, but the desk clerk says they have all the help they need. Hanna calls the social worker, who says she’s been trying to get ahold of Hanna. She asks what happened to Hanna’s house. Hanna says there was a fire and she and Quincy Jr. are staying at a hotel. The social worker says that’s not a stable environment and she’ll have to pick him up. Hanna asks if she can wait until Monday evening. She says she’ll give Hanna until 3 on Monday. Geez, I guess they don’t give much leeway.

Quincy Jr. Is awake and says he doesn’t feel good. He says he’s hot and Hanna says he doesn’t seem to have a fever. He asks when they’re going home and says he needs his medicine. Hanna asks what he’s talking about. He says he doesn’t know, but it makes him feel better. Hanna says the hospital didn’t say he needed anything, but she’ll check with them in the morning.

Maggie’s assistant, Landon, has given the story she wanted to the press. She gets a call and sets up an emergency hearing for David. Landon asks what’s up with that, and she says David is being released. Landon says he doesn’t feel good about it, and Maggie says good thing he’s not her then.

The clerk at the police station calls Jennifer and says Jeffrey is coming in. Jennifer says to keep him there. The clerk (Sally) says that won’t be a problem since he just got arrested for a DUI. Jennifer asks Sally to arrange three empty cells together and put Jeffrey in the middle one. After some discussion in which we hear that Sally wouldn’t have her job without Jennifer’s help, Sally says she’ll see what she can do. She also tells Jennifer to check her email. When Jennifer does, she sees the press release. Jennifer tells Sally to get copies of the paper and make sure Jeffrey and the others see it.

Nameless cop brings in Jeffrey. Sally looks nervous as all get out.

Wyatt’s doorbell rings. Pete the drug dealer is at the door and Wyatt asks if he has what Wyatt asked for. He says yes, but where’s the money? Wyatt says he has jewelry and the dealer says he’s not a pawn shop. Wyatt says he has no cash, but Pete says he’ll take a credit card. They take Visa now? Man, I am out of the loop. Wyatt hands over some credit cards and Pete gives him a kit to pass a drug test, along with a bag of heroin. Wow. This is some service. Pete says he’s not giving him everything until he has the cash. Wyatt says he’s getting a $12 million inheritance and asks if Pete wants to be replaced after he gets it. Pete says it’s $80 grand worth and the guy he got it from will kill both of them if he doesn’t get paid, so Wyatt had better come up with the money. Pete says let’s share a hit for old times’ sake.

A newspaper is tossed into Kathryn and Veronica’s cell. Kathryn looks at it first and gives it to Veronica, asking if she had an affair. There’s a picture of her with Benny on the front page, but only Veronica’s face can be seen. Veronica immediately knows Maggie did it to get to David. She tells Kathryn that Maggie told her as much. Kathryn says she gave Maggie the ammunition and asks who it is in the picture with her. Veronica gets testy and then apologizes, but says she can’t talk about it there because the walls have ears. Kathryn asks if she thinks David has seen it and Veronica says he’s probably seeing it right now.

Yep. Jim asks David if Maggie wants him to run for governor instead of him. He says he understand why Maggie would want to separate the two of them, but why would she want to separate David and his wife?

I think Quincy is dead now. I think. There’s a knock at Candace’s door. It’s Tony. He asks to come inside, but she says it’s late and wants to talk outside. He forces his way in and shakes her down about giving the money to Benny. He pushes her down the hallway and the two of them practically trip over Quincy’s body. This should be good.

Next week, Maggie demands David be let out and Veronica claims she was raped.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

Kyle is opening her pop-up shop in the Hamptons. It’s a very cute store. Clothing and accessories and some books.

Eileen, in the limo with some of the other women, feels like she offended LisaV. Bethenny is the first to arrive at the store, where Kyle says she thinks Bethenny might have offended Erika. Are you getting all this?

Kisses all around. Kyle and Eileen are discussing Erika’s alter-ego. For some reason, they’re all wondering why she’s also a disco queen or whatever, especially since she doesn’t need the money. Um…there are other reasons to be an entertainer. I get so wrapped up in looking at the store merchandise, I don’t know what they said.

It’s Bethenny’s book that’s being sold and she’s doing a signing. An aunt Kyle is close to, who reminds her of her mom, comes and gives her a cool old photo. Lisa arrives. Giggy! Oh, Ken is there too.

LisaR tells Bethenny about a weird exchange she had with Kim last season. She says she was Kim’s worst nightmare because she was like a mirror. By that, I assume she means she was honest with her. Eileen joins the conversation. Kyle and her aunt also discuss Kim. Lisa says she feels like there’s no resolution since she can’t talk about it without bothering Kyle, who isn’t speaking to Kim.

Kyle comes by and Bethenny tells her, in surprisingly diplomatic way, what they were talking about. Kyle says it does keep her up at night, but now it’s time to focus on having fun.

Giggy! Everyone is sitting down to dinner at Kyle’s and she forgot to set a place for Giggy at the table. How dare she? Eileen and LisaV start talking about how Eileen feels she offended Lisa, when all she was doing was explaining how she felt. Ken tries to interject, but backs off when Eileen says she was having a conversation with Lisa. Kyle says Lisa has a way of turning things around and making the person who she should be apologizing to say they’re sorry to her.

LisaV says Erika is getting a good picture of what goes on in listening to the various conversations. Erika says they talk about Brandi a lot and that they’re obsessed with her. I think they’re probably just trying to get over all the bad stuff she did and letting the feelings out that they couldn’t when she was around. LisaR says it was a difficult time with Kim. Kyle says it’s impossible to deal with because her stuff is out there for everyone to see. LisaV says she should figure out a way to protect herself.

LisaR says if Kyle knew how she really felt about Kim, she’d never speak to her again. She says the whole thing affected her greatly.

Erika says she got a text from Yolanda and hopefully, she’ll be coming home the next day. LisaR says that she hopes Yolanda is better but wonders what the blip it is making her sick. Kyle asks what Keeps LisaV up at night and Lisa fudges around and tries to be funny. Kyle says she wonders if Lisa doesn’t want to dig too deep. In her individual interview, Lisa says that there are things in the world that make her cry, but she doesn’t have any personal issues going on right now.

Eileen wonders why LisaV is so guarded. Erika says she thinks Lisa wants to get everyone else’s story but is guarded about her own. Eileen suggests they all tell something about themselves they’ve never told each other before. Eileen starts with saying she’d been in an abusive relationship. She had the crap beat out of her and no one would think someone like her would be dealing with an issue like that. She finally had her nose broken and made the decision not to go back. The ladies give her kudos and hugs. Eileen says she’s an ugly crier. In her individual interview, LisaV doesn’t understand why Eileen can be so open here and not when Lisa was asking her questions.

Kyle says it was an awesome weekend and that since no one had wine thrown at them, it was a 10. Erika says they’re a bunch of tough bitches.

Erika goes on her private plane to pick Yolanda up in Ohio. It looks pretty fancy inside that plane and Erika gets a little snippy with the attendant over a tea bag. On the other hand, since she’s the only one on the plane, what else does the attendant have to do? When Yolanda gets on board, Erika asks how David was, and Yolanda says he was a great nurse. She says the doctor never saw a person with as much leakage as hers. In her individual interview, Yolanda says the implants were pushing on her lungs and she took a deep breath for the first time in a long time. She tells Erika that the worst thing is that a lot of people thought she was crazy and they lacked compassion. She says she feels sorry for people who have no empathy for fellow human beings. In the interviews, Yolanda looks and sounds a million times better. I have no clue why someone didn’t steer her in this direction years ago.

Giggy! Faye Resnick is visiting Kyle. (Giggy isn’t with her, but there was a gratuitous shot before this scene.) Faye designed Kyle’s store and has done other work for Kyle’s family. Now she’s helping Kyle redesign her closet. Faye tells her she should reach out to Kim since she might regret it later. Kyle says she doesn’t know how to help her. Faye says just don’t close the door.

LisaV is hosting an event for the Hero Dog Awards at Pump. Giggy! The girls and more cute dogs, one of which is a Pekingese puppy, join the crowd. Kyle tries to get LisaV to hand over the Peke, but Lisa says no way. I’d hang on to him too. Kathryn, the other of the new BH Wives, arrives. She’s friends with LisaR, so they chat. Kathryn says she was never that ambitious of an actress, but we see pictures from her modeling days and she looks familiar.

Kathryn was married to Marcus Allen who was O.J.’s best friend, and there were rumors Nicole had an affair with him. LisaR brings it up and Eileen says she dated Marcus a few times. Kathryn is married to someone else now, a retired linebacker nine years her junior. LisaV comes up and Kathryn says she’s a huge supporter of Lisa’s charity and that she loves all animals, but especially dogs. LisaV says she likes dogs more than people. Me too.

Kyle wonders if Kathryn, who is sitting at another table, knows Faye. In her individual interview, Kyle says that Faye wrote about Marcus’s affair with Nicole while he was married to Kathryn, although he’s always denied it.

Yikes! All the ladies are fanning themselves and Kyle says it’s 105 degrees. No, no, and just no. Camille Grammer is there too. They start looking for tequila and move on to a bar. Kathryn joins them. She orders a vodka and soda and I wonder if the house vodka is a good brand or she doesn’t care. LisaR asks if Kathryn knew Yolanda back in the day, but Kathryn says she only saw her from afar. She says she was a lazy model.

LisaV arrives last. Eileen talks about how her sister loved Italy and was learning Italian when she passed away. She says she’s going to scatter some of her sister’s ashes in Italy. She hopes it will bring her more closure.

Kyle asks if Kathryn knows Faye, but Kathryn says she never met Faye. Kathryn says she never read Faye’s book, but she knew Faye had misjudged her. She says she didn’t hang out with that group and wasn’t married to Marcus that long.

Next time, Ken takes a lease on a sex shop and Eileen scatters her sister’s ashes. And Kathryn meets Faye. It doesn’t look pretty.

January 18, 2016 — GH, SUR in Hawaii & Some Chefs

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What I Watched Today

(random, rambling thoughts on today’s TV)

 

General Hospital

Sonny, Alexis and Christina are having lunch at the MetroCourt because no one cooks at home anymore. Alexis and Sonny are commending Christina on her great semester in school. She must want the floor to swallow her up right about now, and she deflects the conversation to Alexis’s wedding.

Sam knocks on Jason’s hotel suite and Elizabeth answers. Elizabeth acts like he’s there, and says they’re getting ready to go to bed. Then Jason comes up behind Sam with Jake and I laugh my head off.

Dante goes through the pictures of Johnny and Valerie, but I don’t think he’s buying what Johnny had wanted them to convey. He tells Jordan that he thinks there’s some connection between Johnny’s sighting and Valerie being MIA.

Valerie struggles against her bonds and knocks over a candle, which starts burning trash on the floor.  Lulu drives up, calling for Johnny. Valerie is still struggling, but apparently that candle is one of those trick ones, because now nothing is burning, and then we see the candle light everything up again. Hello? Editing department?

Sonny brings up Christina and Johnny, which was at a time when I wasn’t watching. Christina promises not to contact him and also promises not to marry Ryan Gosling, since she says there’s about as much chance of that. Sonny says his check for the next semester was returned uncashed.

Jake acts like the bad seed he is, insulting Sam, and Elizabeth acts like the good soul she’s not and tells him that’s rude. Jake goes to bed, and Sam tells Jason and Elizabeth about Dr. Sheinberg, and how he’s going to come forward. Elizabeth acts like she’s grateful that Sam got involved and Jason kills all her hopes by telling Sam he’s staying down the hall. Ah-ha! in Nelson voice.

Dante tells Jordan about the conversation with Dillon and how he saw Johnny. Jordan wonders why Johnny was in Lulu’s company as far back as Christmas. Dante says Johnny wasn’t necessarily in her company. Jordan wants to talk to Lulu, but Dante says he can’t get her on the phone. He shows Jordan the photos.

Lulu keeps beeping the horn, while the flames get closer to Valerie who is yelling her head off. As much as you can with a gag anyway.

Elizabeth asks Jason how Jake was when they were out. Jason says that he’s a kid and he wants things he can’t have. Elizabeth says she can’t stop thinking about what Jake went through with Helena. Jason says thanks to Sam he might be able to avoid jail. Jake pops in and says Sam isn’t as good as Jason thinks she is.

Alexis wonders why the check would be sent back. Christina makes up something about it being an electronic error and that other students got checks back. She tells Sonny to just give her the check and she’ll deliver it personally. She leaves to talk to Sam, and I don’t think Sonny or Alexis are believing her.

Jordan and Dante look at the photos. Dante judges the dates by what Valerie is wearing. Jordan says it looks like Valerie was on the take. Dante says he doesn’t believe that. Jordan says she doesn’t want to either, but he’d better figure out how to prove that’s not the case.

Lulu decides to leave, but sees the fire. She jumps out of the car and runs to the cabin. Don’t call 911 or anything.  No, that would be too easy. She goes inside and sees Valerie unconscious with flames dancing around her. Let her burn and all your troubles will be over. Just turn around now.

Jason and Elizabeth grill Jake about brushing his teeth. I ask again, how old is this kid??? Jason asks what Jake meant about Sam. He says she’s greedy and wants everything for herself. Jason says that’s not true and Jake says she broke the picture of their family.

Christina tells Sam her parents are being intrusive. Sam asks her what’s going on. Christina asks her not to tell her parents, and when Sam promises not to, she tells Sam she’s been suspended.

Alexis tells Sonny his clashes with Christina are probably because they’re so much alike. He seems to think there’s something going on, and suggests maybe she’s embarrassed having a father who didn’t finish school and is a crime lord. I suggest that if this was a problem, they would have known by now.

No progress has been made at the PCPD. Jordan asks Dante how he thinks Lulu might be involved. Bobbi comes in and Dante asks for her help. He tells her about the photos. Bobbi asks if they think Valerie is in cahoots with Johnny. Jordan says not necessarily, but both of them are missing. Bobbi says she knows Valerie wouldn’t throw in with Johnny and that if Valerie is missing, it’s probably foul play.

Lulu runs to Valerie. She puts her jacket over Valerie’s head and gets the ropes untied. Lulu tries to wake up Valerie, but no luck. She pulls her out of the chair and starts doing CPR. Is she not breathing or does Lulu think this is how you wake up an unconscious person? Lulu screams at Valerie to wake up. Finally, she sits up and Lulu gets her outside.

Dante and Jordan ask Bobbi if Valerie has been stressed lately. Bobbi says yes, but she was concentrating on her career. She says that Valerie was used to money being tight, but she was looking for a job and she wouldn’t have taken money from Johnny. Jordan says that’s it for now, but they might have more questions later. Jordan tells Dante this doesn’t explain the pictures

Elizabeth asks Jake if he saw Sam break the picture. He says no, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t do it. Ha-ha! Jason tells him he shouldn’t make up stories and that Sam didn’t break the picture. Jake asks how he knows that. He says he knows Sam and that she knows lies are a mistake and that they never take you where you want to go. Jake says maybe she didn’t break the picture, but she wants to steal his family. I still say that kid broke the picture himself.

Alexis says Christina loves Sonny and that if she’s irritated, it has nothing to do with him. At the bar, Christina says her last break up was bad and she skipped class for a while. By the time she went back, she was failing. She tells Sam that she didn’t tell her parents because she thought she could catch up, but it never happened. Sam says she should talk to her professor. Christina says she tried, but she didn’t ask him “the right way.” When Sam asks what she means, Christina says she asked him if there was anything else she could do to pass the class.

Jason lectures Jake on what a good person Sam is. Jake says that Sam is bad because she took Jason away from them. Elizabeth tells him to go to bed, but he says he can’t sleep. Jake goes wherever, and Jason tells Elizabeth they’re not going to panic, he’s going out to get ginger ale and he’ll be back later.

Christina adds that the professor is hot, and Sam assumes she slept with him. Sam gives her a run down on why this is a bad idea. Christina says she didn’t have sex with him, but she offered it. Instead of taking her up on it, the professor turned her in and she got suspended. This sounds ridiculous, and I seriously doubt it would happen in real life. Christina says she can’t tell her parents. Sam says she’ll ultimately have to.

Alexis and Sonny confer on what’s up with Christina. They rule out love life. Alexis tells Sonny that she has better communication with Christina and she hasn’t heard a peep. She also suggests that Sonny go back to school if he wants to speak Christina’s language and thinks it’s creating a wedge between them.

Dante tells Jordan being on the take isn’t like Valerie and she knows it. He says whoever sent the photos was setting her up. Jordan says if she was being set up, then by whom? Johnny doesn’t make any sense and who else would do it? Think hard, Dante.

Lulu and Valerie are outside. Lulu realizes she left her phone in her jacket inside the cabin. She wants to walk for help, but Valerie says they’re in the middle of nowhere and she’s going to freeze. And if they stay here, they have this huge fire to keep them warm. She really didn’t say that last part, but I thought it was funny.

Sam tells Christina she can’t wish the problem away, and that if she doesn’t tell her parents, Sam will. Christina says she’ll get a crappy apartment and work a crappy job and go back later. She also doesn’t want to burden Sonny with something else. She begs Sam not to tell and Sam relents. She gives Christina the keys to her place and tells her to keep it clean. She makes Christina promise to give her weekly updates and stay away from the professor.

Sonny tells Alexis that Julian is a snake. Alexis says they almost made it through a conversation without arguing about him. Sonny reminds her that Julian had Duke killed. Alexis leaves.

Christina gets a text from Parker. Who?

Jason comes into the bar and sees Sam. Jason explains about why Elizabeth is in his room. Sam says she appreciates it, but he doesn’t have to explain anything to her. He tells her about telling Jake how she searches for the truth. She says she wasn’t always that way; that he taught her to be like that. She leaves.

Jake asks Elizabeth if they’ll ever be together as a family again. She says anything can happen.

Dante keeps trying to get Lulu on the phone. He leaves a message saying he knows she’s in the middle of the Johnny/Valerie mess and wants to know what the blip is going on.

Valerie and Lulu huddle under a towel. I’m assuming the car won’t start? Even if that’s the case, why don’t they get into the car? At least their weather is on point with the real world. It’s freaking freezing out.

Tomorrow, Scotty is back! Valerie wonders how Lulu found her and Paul wonders how long before Ava disrobes.

Vanderpump Rules

After a plane ride I’m glad I wasn’t a passenger on, the gang arrives in Hawaii. It’s absolutely beautiful, and I can just imagine what a waste this trip is going to be on this group. Of course someone says they got laid when presented with a lei upon landing. Sigh.

The rooms are spectacular and the drinking begins immediately. That’s if it ever stopped. Lala tells Faith that James thinks he’s going to get with her, but he’s not. Ariana shows Tom a series of texts between Scheana and Ariana’s mother discussing Tom in a negative way with Scheana as the instigator.

More drinking before dinner. Max is still recovering from his surgery. Tom announces tomorrow’s activity, a hike with him as guide. There are also upcoming surf lessons. Ariana is stressing over the Scheana texts and isn’t fully enjoying herself. I guess I’d be pissed too.

Ariana makes a toast to the birthday boys, Tom and Jax, using the word “awesome” a lot. Lala has said PDA is James’s thing and she’s right. Jax says something stupid about people who aren’t here who should be and people who are there who shouldn’t be. Lala says Britney needs to “control her man” and I wonder what planet she’s from. What is wrong with that woman? An argument starts between James and Jax. A-hole awards all around.

More drinking. James is bending Max’s ear and complaining about Jax. The rest of the crowd joins them at a very NYC looking bar. Scheana says she and Shay are going to have alone time while everyone else is going on the hike. Tom brings up the texts. Scheana tries to act like it was Ariana’s mom who initiated the conversation, but Ariana got the texts straight from her mom. Tom reads them out loud. Scheana acts like she didn’t do anything wrong and says Tom has a superior attitude.

Ariana can’t figure out the motivation, but I’m wondering if it’s because they don’t want to be friends with Kristen. Tom says he’s been a stand up guy with them. Scheana says she sticks by her words, what’s done is done, and she’s going to bed. Tom tells Shay that if it was him, he’d be pretty angry too. If this was me, I’d ignore them for the rest of the trip and have a good time.

Giggy! Lisa is worried about Max. Aww, we see pics of Ken with Max as a baby. Lisa isn’t thrilled that James is on the trip because he’s erratic and unpredictable. I don’t blame her.

Katie has jet lag. Schwartz tells her he recreated Justin Bieber’s nakey pic on their balcony while she was sleeping. Yep, he did. And he Instagrammed it. Lisa sent them flowers and they give her a call. She asks how Max is doing and she tells them how worried she is. Katie says she’s as tough as a mother as she is as a boss. Lisa says she gets concerned when the bunch of them goes somewhere together. Again, I don’t blame her.

Scheana, who is totally disappointing me, is gossiping about Ariana and Tom to Jax.  Britney is tired of Lala flirting with Jax and says she’s going to talk to her.

The group, minus the Shays and Katie, goes on a hike. This is the kind of thing I would love. They go swimming in a place that has a waterfall. We flash back to some of Stassi’s birthdays and her control issues. Tom promises not to act like that. Lala and Faith take their tops off. Jax says he’s going to look, but the trick is looking without Britney seeing. Schwartz has the opposite reaction in that they’ve seen so many, it’s no big deal.

Scheana hopes Shay can master moderation on this trip because she can’t grasp that he should not drink at all. Don’t come whining to me when he disappears for days again.

The hikers stop at a clearing. Schwartz asks what’s up with Ariana and Scheana, and Ariana explains. Schwartz says he doesn’t think Scheana is right, but Tom has been a little snippy lately.

In the meantime, Scheana is telling Katie how she’s her best friend now, and Tom and Ariana act like they’re on a pedestal. Because we’re all 14.

Britney confronts Lala about having no respect for her and Jax’s relationship. Lala says she’s crossed the line flirting and she apologizes. She says she didn’t know they were together. Jax says no way he said that. Lala says at first she thought he was just leaving out details, but now she knows he’s a liar. This is true, but she’s also a sleazebag.

Jax goes humana-humana and Lala tells Britney she does respect relationships. In her individual interview, Lala says she could say a lot that Britney doesn’t want to hear, but sees no point, and Jax says he dodged a bullet.

James asks Max if he supposed to be drinking right now. Max says no, but James justifies it by saying it’s a disinfectant. Okay. Lisa calls Max to check up on him. He thinks he assuages her fears, but probably not. Lala and Faith join them and Lala tells James about Britney’s confrontation.

Schwartz tells Katie about their day and says he saw Lala’s boobs but didn’t look at them. Katie thinks it’s wrong for the girls to be taking off their tops around other people’s boyfriends and I agree. Schwartz tells her about the texts. Katie disagrees about Scheana being in the wrong and says Schwartz isn’t being supportive.

Even more drinking! This time it’s those drinks in pineapples. Ariana brings up Lala’s toplessness and says it wasn’t appropriate. Lala says she encourages every woman to go topless. Scheana says she totally understands Katie’s side, but what did she expect? Lala says what It really means is she doesn’t trust her man. Boys would probably be a more accurate description for the males in this group.

Now that she’s had a few pineapple drinks, Lala decides Britney should hear the truth . She takes Britney aside and tells her about Jax playing a part in their flirting, and that he said he wanted to get with her. Britney says she’s confused, since Jax has acted innocent. Britney tries to pin a little on Lala, but somehow Lala turns it around. Lala says she’s not going down with the ship anymore. Britney says she’s going to talk to Jax. Way to have fun on vacation. I don’t know who’s a bigger d-bag, Jax or Lala. Probably James will trump the both of them.

Britney takes Jax aside. I think he knows what’s coming. Britney tells Jax what Lala said. He repeats her words, which usually tells me that the person is thinking about what answer they’re going to fabricate. Jax says Lala was drunk and is just reaching. Britney calls Lala over. Lala insists she told the truth. Jax repeats that she was drunk and insists he never said it. Scheana sticks her nose into it, but says she didn’t really hear anything. In her individual interview, Scheana says she has her suspicions, but didn’t want to rock the boat. Lala starts getting animated and Jax continues to insist he did nothing. Lala says she’s only been honest and she’s done.

She walks away to be alone.

Next time, more drinking! Stassi and Kristen get together, and Jax gets arrested.

MasterChef Celebrity Showdown

If they rerun this, I highly recommend watching. As well as having celebrities compete, a trio of MasterChef winners compete against the final three from this season of MasterChef Junior, which includes my girl, Addy. Christine, winner of MasterChef’s season three, was also a favorite of mine, as she’s blind. Everyone was surprised that she ended up the winner, but it was logical to me, as I thought her other senses would be more keen. All of the entrants got a donation to their charity of choice, and the big winners get an extra donation.

Best of all, it’s food porn at its finest.

January 17, 2016 — A Potomac of Etiquette & Nene’s Return

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What I Watched Today

(random, rambling thoughts on today’s TV)

 

The Real Housewives of Potomac

First up, Gizelle. She tells us Potomac is one of the most exclusive areas in the country and only pedigree or cash can get you in. Her father was big in the civil rights movement. She was married to Jamal Bryant who was a bigwig pastor and also a civil rights leader. Unfortunately, he was also a cheater, so she’s now divorced. She also has three young girls, and so far, everyone looks pretty normal.

Katie is next, meeting her boyfriend, Andrew, for lunch. He orders for her. Enough said. She has three kids under the age of three. Now really enough said. She wants to go to the Preakness, but Andrew wants her doing something to support his career. She mentions that she’d like to get married again. She can’t imagine why Andrew doesn’t want to marry such a great catch. I’m sure it won’t be long before I figure it out.

Robyn comes from a family of doctors and lawyers, but she’s in public relations because she’s not into a suit type job. Gizelle comes over. Robyn says Gizelle has a rocking sense of humor, but a lot of people in Potomac don’t get her. Robyn lives with her ex-husband, Juan, and they’re raising their kids together. While this isn’t unheard of, they also sleep in the same bed, so I’m not so sure how different this Is from being married, since she also says neither one of them is dating. Gizelle says they tried to get rid of Juan, but he only went to the mailbox and back.

Next is Karen. I can already tell from the previews that she’s a piece of work. She says her husband Raymond is the Black Bill Gates. She says money isn’t everything but she’s never met a happy poor man. Really? Has she ever left her yard?

Karen arrives at Gizelle’s house where she has a problem negotiating the steps in those sky high heels all the Wives wear. In her individual interview, Karen talks about her leadership position in the community. Her youngest daughter is getting ready to go to college and the ladies talk kids for a while. Gizelle says that anything you can do, Karen can do better. She says she also feels judged by Karen, but it comes with the territory.

Katie and Gizelle meet at a family restaurant that also has a burlesque show going on, which seems like an oxymoron or something. Robyn and Cherisse show up. Cherisse’s husband is some kind of coach and that’s how Robyn knows her. She’s also a good friend of Karen, in whose honor this luncheon is being thrown. There’s some disagreement about who should get the middle seat. As the honoree, etiquette dictates Karen should have it, but Gizelle isn’t budging, so Karen acts passive aggressive. Let me get this straight. You’re having a lunch at a burlesque house and you’re worried about the seating manners?

Cherisse’s husband travels a lot and she says it’s good with her. Sounds like a good way to keep the marriage going to me. They toast to Karen and the compliments flow along with the champagne. I gag because I’m sure these women don’t all love Karen. I certainly don’t.

Charisse is going to have a crab boil as another tribute to Karen, and needs Gizelle’s help with learning how to boil crab. Gizelle brings a stylist friend along, and apparently three or more people are needed for this operation. The second they open the bucket, all the crabs take off running. Can you blame them?

They’re not much better at this when they round up the crabs and get them inside. Why didn’t she just have this catered? When Charisse is getting dressed, Gizelle and friend look through her kitchen. Friend asks about the Coors Light in the fridge, as though rich people might not drink that. The two of them make so much noise, Charisse can hear them and starts to get annoyed.

Gizelle and friend goof around with the housekeeper. Charisse acts all indignant that these two are being playful. They start coming upstairs and she asks them to wait downstairs, threatening to kick them out. Her nose is so far up in the air, she must trip on sidewalk cracks a lot. Oh, wait. She probably travels by a sedan carried by servants.

Because Charisse is taking so long to get ready, Gizelle greets the guests. Karen arrives, annoyed that there’s no valet parking and she has to walk twelve feet. Gizelle talks about bringing her stylist and Karen is aghast that someone dares to hang out with the help. She also has some weird notion that Charisse shouldn’t have brought the help to help.

Karen brings up Charisse sitting in the center at her birthday. Oh brother. Karen says etiquette is everything and gives Charisse a framed set of etiquette rules. These are all rules that apply directly to this birthday lunch, which BTW, Karen was late to. This is possibly one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen on a Wives show and that’s saying a lot.

Some friend of Charisse’s goes running upstairs to tattle that Gizelle complained about her. Charisse is acting like Gizelle is being ghetto just because she’s acting like a normal person. Gizelle says she has a legacy and a pedigree and Karen comes from a farm. This is said during her interview segment, but I have the feeling she wouldn’t be afraid to say it to Karen’s face. Karen gets ridiculously wound up and offended, and walks away from Gizelle.

Next time, the girls take a vintage photo, try on bathing suits, and surf. It also looks like the drinking guns come out. This season, lots of shade and drama.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta

Phaedra and her boys are going to Washington DC to support the Million Man March. The boys are helping her pack, which basically means not helping. Phaedra is also meeting with some politicians for support with her organization, Save Our Sons. Porsha , Kim and Sheree are coming too. Does Porsha know what Washington DC is?

Todd and Kandi discuss opening a restaurant. Todd says Kandi has a fabulous book of recipes and they should share them with the world. Wouldn’t it be simpler to publish a cookbook? Todd wants to meet with the relatives about using the recipes.

Kenya continues to have work done on the money pit house. She’s behind her timeline, but now that she’s back from Detroit, she’s determined to get the project finished. Cynthia comes by the construction site and asks about the reunion. Kenya tells her about the better relationship with her father, but also about her mother’s snub. She also talks about her mother calling her Aunt Lori and then Lori leaving the reunion. Cynthia says she would have kicked the door down, but I think she’s being rude in saying that. You never know what you’d do in another person’s shoes. To her credit, Cynthia weeps a little with Kenya.

Kenya says she hasn’t spoken to her Aunt Lori and she hates the tension between them.

Phaedra gets a call from Apollo in prison, which sounds like the name of a band or B-movie. He talks to Aidan and Aidan tells him about their impending trip. Apollo tells him he needs to behave better in school, as he’d gotten a bad report. Phaedra says she tries to get Apollo on the phone with the kids as much as possible.

Congresswoman Wilson is a friend of Phaedra’s and has a program to help send young Black men to college. Phaedra is going to meet with her in DC as well. Phaedra has a team coming with her because it takes a village, but on the other hand, Kim likes to handle her own stuff, so she’s going to be juggling a couple of kids on the trip.

The ladies check out the House of Representatives and meet with the Congresswoman, who is wearing quite an outfit, including a sparkly red cowboy hat. She also has some kind of cool table runner with 3D giraffes on either side in her office. Phaedra asks to pick the Congresswoman’s brain. She’d better look out or she won’t have anything left when Phaedra is done. Porsha makes noises about wanting to learn about her heritage, but I’m guessing this is just a passing thought.

The Congresswoman starts talking about how America hates young Black men and I flash back to Michael Meyers’s face when Kenye West spouted off about President Bush and he looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him up. Kim excuses herself with her boys because she feels the topic is a little mature for her kids. Phaedra says she doesn’t want to “sugar coat” things with her sons, throwing shade at Kim. I toss it back, thinking, I suppose not, with dad in prison and all. Kim explains things to her kids in a more appropriate way in another room.

Aunt Lori comes over to Kenya’s, along with someone else (a cousin?). Lori says they want to talk to Kenya about something. They all sit down with a drink. Lori says she never wanted to be in the middle with Kenya in her mom. She says she loves Kenya, but she also loves her sister. Lori says Kenya’s mom was young when she had Kenya and had every right to give up her child. Kenya says she’s not judging her for that, but objects to her treatment of Kenya in later years.

Lori tells her “enough is enough.” Kenya says she saw her mother at family functions over the years where her mother talked to everyone else, but ignored her as though she didn’t exist. This sounds just incredibly bizarre. No wonder Kenya has issues. Kenya asks why Lori left the reunion. Lori says her sister had been alone when Kenya came by, was frightened by Kenya, and she should have called first. Kenya says it’s her mother. The cousin says something about it being a sensitive situation with the family. Lori says Kenya has no idea what went on behind the scenes and that it doesn’t matter what happened but it’s time to let it go and move on. Kenya says that when she left her mother’s house, it was like a dark cloud blew away. The cousin, who turns out to be Lori’s daughter, says Kenya can share her mother. It’s all good at the end of the meeting and everyone hugs.

Phaedra has put together a luncheon for the members of Congress who have helped her out. I barely know who my Congressman is, but she seems to know all these people personally. One of Kim’s kids starts screeching and she has to go. Sheree suggests that Kim should have brought a team. Kim says these activities are not for kids.

We flash back to Porsha thinking the Underground Railroad was an actual train. She’s come a long way. Maybe. Sheree goes out to the limo and suggests Kim come back in and not be disrespectful. Kim says she’s not; she’s trying to take care of her kids. Sheree is incredibly dense and seems to have forgotten what it’s like to have small children. Well, it was a long time ago. Bloop!

Kandi is having a family dinner to butter the relatives up about the recipe usage. Mama Joyce is loving on Todd who’s wondering who this woman is. Todd compliments all the women on their cooking and says he and Kandi were thinking about opening a restaurant. One of them is like, I’m not doing the cooking, but Kandi explains they would just be consultants. Aunt Bertha seems hesitant, but the others are liking the idea.

Phaedra and Porsha have room service. Phaedra says that Louis Farrakhan called her personally to be on stage during the march. The ladies get in some kind of limo bus and head for the march. Kim is leaving early for an event supporting lymphoma research, and both Phaedra and Sheree have a lot to say about that, just not to her face.

Phaedra introduces some mothers of murdered sons to the ladies. Porsha acts like she understands what’s going on.

Nene is coming to visit Cynthia. Interesting how the very person propelling her reintroduction is the same one she thought should be let go from the show on Watch What Happens Live. Cynthia tells Nene she can unblock her on social media now and everyone acts like nothing happened, although we get reminded with some flashbacks, including Cynthia burning their friendship contract.

Nene says she’s had the time she needed and now she wants to start a friendship again. Ugh! Does Cynthia understand what she’s getting into? It’s not like Nene has changed. When Cynthia says that she’s friends with Kenya, Nene makes a fish face. Cynthia brings Nene up to speed on the group.

Nene says the queen is back. But I don’t see RuPaul anywhere.

Next time, Phaedra makes plans to take the kids to visit Apollo and Kenya calls Kim a pretentious piece of tootie.

January 15, 2016 — GH, Little & Big Chefs, & a Couch

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What I Watched Today

(random, rambling thoughts on today’s TV)

 

General Hospital

At the hotel, Elizabeth asks Jason if there’s been any news. He says the police haven’t made any discoveries yet. Elizabeth says she doesn’t want to stay in the hotel any longer.

Tracy is on an island somewhere getting a massage. I wish I was there too.

Nicholas is back home and Hayden is fussing over him. Nicholas says they seem to be working things to their advantage. He tells her about the deal he proposed to Jason and that Jason didn’t take him up on it.

Sam shows up at a hotel room. A large, bald man answers the door. He tells her she must have the wrong room. She asks if he’s a Dr. Sheinberg and says he’s her only hope. Because he’s secretly Obi Wan Kenobi.

Dillon asks for Valerie at the station since they’re supposed to meet there and go out to dinner. The desk cop says she’s not there. Dillon hears him say something about Johnny being on the loose and mentions that Maxie saw him today.

Lulu answers the door to Laura. Laura says she saw Johnny is back in town and Lulu says she’s shocked.

Valerie calls for help, but Johnny says don’t bother.

Jason suggests that Cameron come and stay with them. Elizabeth says having the whole family together will confuse Jake even more. Jason says it doesn’t make sense for her to go back before the case is wrapped up. Jake pops in and is thrilled “daddy is home.”

Dante runs into Dillon and asks what’s going on.

Lulu tells Laura that Dante told her about Johnny and that Johnny had contacted Maxie. Laura says Luke’s daughter should be a better liar and asks if she was hiding Johnny on The Haunted Star.

Johnny ties Valerie up inside a ranger cabin. Valerie asks why Johnny is doing this. He says she should be asking what she can do to get out of it. She thinks it has something to do with Luke, but Johnny tells her to keep her mouth shut and let him think. He’s actually a little scary here, but I don’t like Valerie, so I’m okay with it.

Nicholas wonders why Jason would risk prison and being separated from his sons for ELQ. Hayden says her statement had some inconsistencies and asks if Nicholas thinks their case is iron-clad. He says considering Jason’s background, it shouldn’t be a problem,

Sam says she knows Dr. Sheinberg is meeting someone other than his wife at the hotel. He thinks she’s there to shake him down, but she says he was there the night of the fight and she wants her suspicions confirmed. He says they were at the window checking out the view. He keeps talking about the dark haired man, meaning Nicholas, and the light haired man, meaning Jason, but don’t they have pretty much the same hair color? He says the dark haired man threw the first punch and was the aggressor, and that the dark haired man’s momentum carried him over the balcony. Sam asks if he’ll tell the police. He says he can’t do that. She says then they’ll hear it from the recording she just made.

Elizabeth says the longer they stay, Jake is going to think they’re getting back together. She says being there with Jason is difficult for her as well. She say the nicer he is, the more she regrets what she did and the love they shared doesn’t just go away. Please, Jason, do not fall for this.

Johnny freaks a little when he hears a siren in the distance, but it passes. Valerie says the next one will be for them. Johnny says no one will be around at least until morning. Valerie tells him sooner or later someone is going to find them and Johnny should turn himself in. Johnny says she’s more trouble than he expected, but he has a solution. I don’t think it’s a good one for her, since he used the word “unfortunately.”

Tracy says she can’t relax. The masseuse asks if there’s anything he can do to help. Is he hitting on her?

Nicholas says because of the fall, he sees how much Hayden cares for him and she has a loving, generous heart. The phone rings and Hayden answers. It’s Tracy, telling her it’s the voice of doom calling. Tracy says she probably prefers Hayden to Rachel, and calls her Rachel throughout the rest of the conversation. She asks how Nicholas is doing. Nicholas asks who’s on the phone and Hayden tells him it’s a medical follow-up. He says he’ll handle it.

Johnny sees the text from Lulu and Valerie asks who he’s calling.

Lulu tells Laura that she hasn’t seen Johnny and doesn’t know where he is. Laura asks who she was in the stateroom with. Lulu says she was by herself and when Laura came she was cleaning up. Laura says she’d buy that if Lulu hadn’t tried to keep her away from a duffel bag that was there. The phone rings and Laura asks if it’s Johnny.

Johnny whispers into the phone not to call him back, but bring the bag with his money in it.

Dante and Nathan say Dillon is being “weird” about Johnny. Dillon says okay, he does have something to tell them, but he wants to do it privately and they’re not going to like it.

Dr. Sheinberg is all how dare you and says Sam can’t use the recording. Sam says au contraire, in the state of New York, she can. She says it would be better though if he would back it up. Dr Sheinberg says he’ll say he was lying. His girlfriend walks in.

Dillon says anything he tells them is off the record. He says he wants anyone who was helping Johnny to have immunity. Dante says no way, and Dillon says good-by then. Dante says he’ll charge him with aiding and abetting, and Dillon says fine, his lawyer is the DA.

Laura wants Lulu to show her the phone. She says she’s working too hard to be evasive and no one shows that much righteous indignation who’s an innocent. Lulu says okay, it was Johnny, but he’s gone and it’s over with. Laura asks why she would do this. Lulu says if it wasn’t for Valerie, she wouldn’t have.

Valerie says she had dinner plans, so they’ll be looking for her. Johnny tells her to shut up and wonders where his bag is.

Jason asks when Jake’s appointment with the therapist is and says they should stay in the hotel at least until then. Jake pops in again, asking about the ice cream Jason promised him. Elizabeth tells them to go, even though it’s late, because how know where they’ll be tomorrow. Please, stop with the dramatics.

Dr. Sheinberg  tells his girlfriend, Veronica, it’s nothing and says don’t talk because Sam will record it. Sam tells them Jason is innocent and will go to prison if they don’t tell what they saw. Dr Sheinberg says it will cost them dearly and there must be some other way. Sam says there isn’t and tells them the backstory. Dr Sheinberg asks how fair is it for them to screw themselves to help her. She says it isn’t fair, but she’s asking them to do the right thing.

Hayden says she’ll handle the call. Tracy says she’d better get it together by the time Tracy gets home or she’ll spill the Rachel beans.

Nicholas tells Hayden he needs her and asks if his vulnerability is sexy. They start to kiss.

Veronica says she’ll support whatever the doctor wants to do, but adds he knows what they should do. He says he doesn’t want to lose her, and that maybe it’s time to go public. He says that if a man’s freedom is at stake, they should help him.  Sam shows them a bunch of paperwork, and it turns out the doctor is the one who ran the DNA test for Carly.

Jake asks if they can go out for ice cream every night. Jason says they’ll be doing lots of things for a very long time.

Dillon says he saw Johnny weeks ago before Christmas on The Haunted Star. He says Lulu said it was just for one night, but Dante puts two and two together and realizes that Johnny was hanging around longer than that. Dillon says Lulu told him there was nothing going on.

Laura says she knows how much Lulu has been hurt, but how is Valerie responsible for anything with Johnny? Lulu starts to say if it wasn’t for Valerie, she wouldn’t have…and stops.

Johnny puts a gag in Valerie’s mouth since she won’t shut up. He says he’s leaving and she freaks.

Hayden and Nicholas are going at it. For someone who was in a lot of pain a few minutes ago, he seems to be doing pretty well.

Tracy is back to her massage and feels more relaxed after the phone call.

Dr. Sheinberg and Veronica see Jason at the MetroCourt and the doctor tells him they’re going to the authorities tomorrow to clear his name. Veronica tells Jason not to thank them, but to thank his wife. Dr Sheinberg says he’s a lucky man.

Sam knocks on the door to Jason’s suite and Elizabeth answers. I’d love to wipe the stupid smirk off her face.

The desk cop shows Dante pictures of Valerie taking money from Johnny and also of them in a car together.

Johnny says it’s bad business to leave witnesses. He says luckily there’s gasoline so he can make a clean getaway. Valerie totally freaks.

Lulu says if she and Dante were together, she never would have considered helping Johnny, so it’s all Valerie’s fault. Laura says that’s a bit of a stretch and I have to agree. Laura goes to tend to Rocco, and Lulu gets the message about Johnny’s bag.

Valerie tries desperately to get out of Johnny’s Boy Scout knots and knocks over a candle.

Tomorrow, Elizabeth gives Sam the wrong impression and it looks like Lulu might be the one to save Valerie.

MasterChef Junior

Down to six. The kids have to cater a lunch at Gordon’s place for culinary world luminaries. Whatever that means to you. They’ll be working in two teams of three each. My girl, Addy, is one of the team captains.

Of course Gordon has a fabulous property, but the best thing about it is his little French bulldog, King George. Gordon gets a headache pretty early on. These kids crack me up though. So sophisticated one minute, and the next, claiming they don’t know what to do because they’re only in elementary school. When I was in elementary school, I was lucky I could make peanut butter on toast.

This is great! I finally know how you say gnocchi.

Holy! One of the kids spills a hot pan full of venison and butter onto Gordon’s leg and into his shoe. He handles it a million times better than I would. I didn’t hear one bleep.

The red team wins and Addy is the only one from the blue team who is safe. My money is totally on her. The two going home take it extremely well and they have a lot to be proud of. One is twelve and one is eight, and they’re cooking 3 Michelin star meals. I can’t even imagine how much they’ll accomplish by the time they’re grown-ups.

Hell’s Kitchen

I always love how they do the opening titles. This season, the chefs are trekking through snowy mountains. The show itself is stationed in Las Vegas this time around.

With way too many contestants and it being too early to care about any of them, the first challenge is making a signature dish. There’s an audience, which is weird and I’m not so sure I like it. We learn a little about the contestants as Gordon tastes the dishes. Nope. Don’t like the audience. Whether it’s enhanced or natural, their reactions to Gordon’s critiques are too loud. He gives each dish 1-5 points.

The men get slightly more points, so they get to have fun, while the women get to peel 50 pounds of shrimp and 1000 pounds of potatoes for a buffet. Woohoo. Welcome to Vegas.

During the first Hell’s Kitchen dinner presentation, some chick named Vanessa is wigging out. She says she’s on the app station where most people die. I’m not sure if she means die as in fail, or a lot of accidents happen there. She can’t seem to make the pizza appetizer without burning it. My first job was making pizzas, so this is something I can actually do. It’s probably the first time I’m saying that in the history of my watching chef competitions. The men can’t cook a pizza either, so I’m extra stoked.

Uh-oh. Risotto is involved. That never goes well. You can tell who’s going to be leaving quickly by the way they react to the first scolding from Gordon.

The men’s blue team totally screws up and Gordon kicks their sorry asses out of the kitchen completely. I guess that means they lost this round. Deer-caught-in-the-headlights guy goes home.

Next week, the chefs drink too much and are hung over. There are also Sumo wrestlers.

The People’s Couch

I don’t really recap this, but it’s one of my favorite shows. This season they’ve added The Haves and the Have Nots to the mix, and I’m excited about that. I’m really glad this show has done well. What makes it so much fun is that they’re having fun.

I can’t say I ever thought I’d be watching a show about watching people watching TV.

It also gives me the quotes of the week:

Oh my God, I wanna drive through a house. Julie referring to a scene in The Haves and the Have Nots.

There’s always one drunk on every show. Teddi while watching The Bachelor.

January 14, 2016 — Crimson Success & Oscar Snubs

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What I Watched Today

(random, rambling thoughts on today’s TV)

 

General Hospital

Nina keeps bugging Julian on his cell phone. He thinks the magazine is going to tank, but I think he has another think coming. Especially since everyone is walking around the MetroCourt with a copy and he’s like, wha…?

Robert and Mac are having drinks. Mac asks Robert to stick around for a while. Robert is hesitant.

Jordan and Anna check out Sabrrrina’s place. They don’t see anything disturbed. Anna thinks maybe Sabrrrina booked with Carrrlos. Now this makes total sense why she didn’t take a bag. The doorknob starts jiggling, and they draw their guns. Um…Felix lives there too, yo.

Maxie tells Nathan he’s right, that Johnny contacted her and she saw him.

Dante calls Olivia and tells her Rocco is sick, so he won’t be visiting.

Johnny gets into Valerie’s car. She tells him he can pay her back for the ride by helping her go through her exam questions. He texts his “friends” to tell them he’ll be late, but he’s really texting Lulu to say Operation V is a go and Valerie will be out of Lulu’s life tomorrow.

Michael comes into Sabrrrina’s apartment and he’s like, whoa, don’t shoot. Anna and Jordan explain why they’re there. Anna says Sabrrrina told her about the baby. Michael says he came there earlier to tell her he made a mistake, but she’s gone.

Robert says he has too much responsibility to the WSB to stay put, and now that Robin is gone, he has no ties to Port Charles. Mac says he should make it his home turf. He says Robert still has ties there, Anna being one. Robert scoffs at that, saying Anna would like to see him gone, but Mac says he’s not so sure about that.

Julian tells Alexis it looks like the magazine is going to make money. Told ya.

Nathan brings Dante into the conversation with Maxie. She says Johnny showed up at the apartment. Dante asks if Lulu was there and she says no, and she got rid of Johnny immediately.

Olivia shows up at Maxie’s where Lulu is staying. Olivia says Dante told her Rocco was sick and Lulu asks if she was checking to see if it’s the truth. Olivia says only a little bit. They talk about Valerie. Olivia tells Lulu about their conversation. She says Valerie isn’t the only one who’s made mistakes and maybe it’s time to stop putting all the blame there and start working on her and Dante.

Johnny gives Valerie directions to the restaurant he’s supposed to meet his friends at. Valerie says she loves to cook and Johnny gives her a million compliments. Her police scanner says something about a heist at a liquor store. Johnny says he thought she was just a cadet, and Valerie says she likes being prepared.

Maxie says she didn’t help Johnny or tell him anything. Dante asks if he knew Lulu was living there, and Maxie says she didn’t tell him. Nathan asks if Lulu would have said something if she’d seen him, since she was just there.

Valerie says she likes to keep up to speed with what’s going on and tells Johnny she’s totally focused on her career. She also tells him a little about the fling with Dante without naming names.

Lulu says she thought Olivia was on her side. She says everything was fine until Valerie came along. Olivia says Valerie just wanted to know her family. Lulu says Valerie skipped all the family members and just went straight for Dante and also became a police cadet to be close to him. Olivia says it’s Dante’s fault too and adds that Lulu shouldn’t have lied about being with Dillon. She says Valerie took advantage, but if there was nothing wrong to begin with, it wouldn’t have happened.

Michael says he checked with Sabrrrina’s family in Puerto Rico, but no one has heard from her. He says he came back to shake Felix down some more. With soap opera timing, Felix walks in. Jordan and Anna tell him why they came over. Felix says he knows where Sabrrrina is.

Anna says she isn’t in any trouble, but she wants to talk to Sabrrrina. Felix says that she’s at a cousin’s house in Puerto Rico. Anna says that might just be a cover story.

Mac tells Robert the world needs heroes who will drop everything at a moment’s notice to fight the bad guys, but that heroes come in all shapes and sizes. He says dads are heroes too. Robert asks if Mac wants him to stay as punishment for being a deadbeat dad. Mac tells him he’s being thick, and that there are other people who need him. He says Anna is struggling right now and needs his help.

Julian says that if the IRS sees that his legitimate business is making money, they’ll look closer at him. He says the government was never able to nail him for other reasons, and he might go the way of Al Capone.

Lulu tells Olivia she’s wrong. Olivia says if Valerie was gone, it wouldn’t make everything all right again. Lulu says it would give them a chance, especially since Valerie is related to half the town, which puts Lulu at a disadvantage. Olivia says their problems are bigger than just Valerie, and she and Dante need to sit down and talk. She says if Lulu could take the focus off of Valerie, they could work on the real problems.

Maxie says that Johnny told her he just needed a breather from running. Nathan and Dante seem to believe her, but they need an official statement. They also want to put out an APB on Johnny.

Valerie asks if Johnny is single. He says he’s flying solo, and she asks if their chance meetings were really coincidental. He says yes, and that after she drops him off, she’ll probably never see him again because Port Charles isn’t for him. With more soap opera timing, the scanner says the police are looking for Johnny.

Alexis says that as Julian’s attorney, she’s not going to let anyone put him away. He says he thought putting Nina in charge of Crimson would give him a huge write off, but she seems to be making it work. Alexis says it’s probably a fluke.

The scanner describes Johnny, who sounds like – yep, Valerie said it – half the population of Port Charles. She asks if Johnny is really leaving town. He says he’s also involved with someone who’s emotionally unavailable.

Maxie calls Lulu and tells her what happened. She says she didn’t tell them anything about Lulu’s involvement and that she told them Johnny showed up at her apartment when Lulu wasn’t there. She says she’s sorry, but Lulu tells her she’s not mad. There’s a knock at the door. Lulu thinks it must be Dante and Maxie asks her to please tell Dante the truth.

Sure enough, it’s Dante at the door. Lulu asks if he’s there to check out if Rocco is really sick. He tells her Johnny is back in town.

Jordan gets off the phone and tells Felix that Sabrrrina’s family hasn’t heard from her. Felix says if she’s not with her family, where is she? Michael says she shouldn’t be alone so close to her due date.

Mac tells Robert about the Carrrlos situation and how Paul is trying to manipulate Anna. Robert asks how much danger Mac thinks she’s in. Mac says as long as it stays as it is, not much, but he’s concerned that Anna isn’t thinking clearly.

Olivia brings a bottle of champagne to Julian and Alexis’s table at the MetroCourt. She says she wants to congratulate them properly. She says she appreciates that Alexis being gracious about her being part of the family and she wants to throw them an engagement party.

Johnny goes through the exam questions with Valerie. She asks where the restaurant is, since this seems to be out in the middle of nowhere. He says it’s not too much further and that it’s off the beaten path.

Dante asks Lulu if she’s seen or heard from Johnny, and to please tell the truth. Lulu asks if she should tell him the truth the way he told her the truth? Oh, snap! He says Johnny is a murderer, and Lulu counters with Johnny would never hurt her. Dante asks her to think about it and if she comes up with anything to let him know.

Mac has to leave. Robert is staying for another drink. Mac asks him to think about staying. And leaves him with the check.

Julian thanks Olivia. When Alexis says thanks, Olivia says she’s the only person who can make a thank you sound like a dismissal. Apparently she never met Helena. Olivia flounces off.

Anna sees Robert at the bar. She tells him she needs someone with international connections and says he should stick around. Robert says he’s all hers.

Michael tells Felix he should have realized that Sabrrrina was just scared and now it’s too late. Felix says not to worry, that Anna and Jordan will handle it.

Maxie tells Nathan she’s done giving her statement. Nathan says he appreciates her telling him the truth.

Dante says he doesn’t like that Lulu is there alone with Rocco, especially since Johnny stopped by. She says she appreciates that, but he shouldn’t worry and she’ll let him know if anything happens. After he leaves, Lulu texts Johnny to call off the plans and tells him to leave town immediately. Johnny tells Valerie to drop him off and he’ll walk the rest of the way. They wish each other good luck. Johnny says maybe they’ll run into each other sometime.

He gets out of the car, but suddenly appears at the driver’s side. He yanks open the door, telling Valerie she’s made a huge mistake. Then he howls at the moon.

Tomorrow, Tracy is the voice of doom, Johnny has Valerie all tied up (literally) and Sam tells someone they’re her only hope. Is it Obi Wan Kenobi?

Oscar Thoughts

I just heard there’s some big backlash over the Oscar nominations. Believe it or not, I rarely pay attention to the Academy Awards. I used to watch them every year, but now I rarely do. In 1985, both Bill Hickey (Prizzi’s Honor) and Bill Hurt (Kiss of the Spider Woman) were up for awards. I’d known Bill Hickey as a teacher for many years and had worked at a theatre where Bill Hurt was appearing in a play and was acquainted with him.

Bill Hickey lost out to Don Ameche in Cocoon, but Bill Hurt won. It was all downhill for me from there. I’m not likely to have even seen all the films nominated, much less know anyone in them. Face it; it’s like a wedding shower. It’s not that exciting if it’s not you. And that’s the closest I’ll ever get to it being me. Or to it actually being exciting.

BTW, Bill Hickey said he wasn’t going to the awards ceremony unless he could bring his dog. I didn’t see the dog in the audience, so I guess Bill relented. I’ll bet he wasn’t wearing socks though.

Anyway, the newspeople were saying something about Oscar snubs and I thought,  there are probably hundreds of performances that will never see the Oscar light of day and are a million times better than any of the nominations. So to those who were “snubbed,” just be grateful you made a movie that people saw.

** Important information: The People’s Couch begins this Friday, January 15 at 10 pm.

January 13, 2016 — Adios, Sabrrrina, Carrrlos & the Hotal Cortez

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What I Watched Today

(random, rambling thoughts on today’s TV)

 

General Hospital

Nathan meets Maxie at the MetroCourt/Floating Rib/whatever it is.  He asks her what’s going on and she flashes back to seeing Johnny.

Johnny startles Lulu In the park, grabbing her from behind while wearing a ski mask. He’s such a laugh riot!

Dante is beating the crap out of a punching bag at the gym.

Carrrlos calls Sabrrrina back.

Jordan meets with Anna and Paul. Jordan says he needs to come up to speed and passes the ball to Anna.

Valerie is applying for a job at the MetroCourt and Olivia comes by to discourage that. Valerie asks what it will take to make things right and Olivia tells her a time machine and suggests she go back to PA. Now tell us how you really feel.

Michael tells Dante that he should aim higher if he’s thinking of Dillon. Dante says that he doesn’t like Dillon, but he’s the one who ruined his own marriage. Because he gives up easy, when Michael suggests counseling, he brushes it off. He also insists Lulu slept with someone else on New Year’s Eve, even though he has absolutely no real evidence of this. Please, Lulu, run off with Johnny while you can.

Lulu tells Johnny he shouldn’t be goofing around like that because someone could see. She says he shouldn’t take chances because both Dillon and Maxie know he’s around. She says Maxie can’t keep a secret for long and Johnny says he knows Maxie almost as well as he knows Lulu and she won’t tell. If he knows her that well, he should know she always ends up telling.

Nathan tells Maxie he’s been keeping up with her fashion stuff online, which shows once again what a great guy he is. Nina comes by and gives him a copy of the green Crimson issue. Nina says it’s their fashion revolution and I think of Little Edie Beale. Nina says she bought all the local copies and is giving them out for free.

Anna says she’s never been convinced that Carrrlos shot Sonny, so she investigated on her own. Jordan says as far as the PCPD is concerned it’s a closed case, along with Carrrlos’s death.

Not so dead Carrrlos tells Sabrrrina he missed her and she pretends to be talking to her dad while Felix is there. When Felix leaves, she tells Carrrlos she thinks Anna is on to him and not to come back to Port Charles. He tells her he never left, and doesn’t want to leave without her.

Maxie says they can’t get an accurate read on the sales if only one person buys the magazine. Nina says there are plenty of places where it’s still for sale and that when the bloggers and cool kids find out about it, it’s going to take off. Nina tells Maxie she needs to have faith in her ideas. Nina runs off and Maxie says she needs to tell Nathan something, but he has to jet.

Lulu tells Johnny the last time Maxie covered for him, she almost lost the best relationship she had. Lulu says she’s bound to tell Nathan. Johnny says his Valerie plan is almost done and pretty soon Valerie won’t be able to show her face anywhere in Port Charles.

Valerie asks if the answer to everything is her moving out of town. Yes. Olivia says this is Lulu and Dante’s home and they’ll find their way back to each other, and Valerie should get out and stay out. Valerie says Olivia is taking out her own failings with Dante out on her. She says too bad, so sad, she’s not going anywhere and she’d rather shovel snow than work for such a hypocrite. I still can’t figure out how Port Charles has snow when nowhere else in the area does IRL.

Dante says that when the newness of a relationship wears off, that’s when you have to work on it. He says he and Lulu didn’t mean to hurt each other, but they did and are paying the price now along with Rocco. God forbid he should take his own advice. What a jerk. Michael says he has to go.

Sabrrrina asks why Carrrlos is still in Port Charles. He says he couldn’t leave her and the baby, and he’s made arrangements for both of them to leave. She says she’s broken up with Michael, but she still can’t go. She asks why he didn’t go when he said he was going to and he says because he loves her now more than ever. He says if she won’t go with him, he’s turning himself in to Anna and she’s going to kill him like she tried before. Sabrrrina is like, what? because she didn’t know about that, but he doesn’t really explain. He says know that he loves her forever and to tell their child he’s sorry he couldn’t be a father.

Anna says she’s willing to drop the whole thing. Paul says it’s a minor discretion in the grand scheme of things. He says she’s a valuable asset and he’s sure they can work things out, but he has to go. When he’s gone, Jordan asks why Anna lied to him. Anna tells her the mole is Paul.

Lulu tells Johnny time isn’t on his side. Now I have an earworm of Time Is on My Side by The Rolling Stones. He tells her to relax because he’s wrapping it up tonight. He says Valerie will be there soon, so Lulu needs to scoot.

Valerie tells Dante she appreciated his offer of help, but she thinks it’s better for them to keep their distance. She leaves for a run and Nathan gives Dante the eye.

Carrrlos meets Paul at the docks. Paul says he thinks someone is on to them.

Jordan asks what motive Paul would have to help Carrrlos. Anna says she’s not sure, but they need to bring Carrrlos in for interrogation. Anna says they need to focus on Sabrrrina and she wants 24-hours for surveillance and phone tapping.

Michael goes to Sabrrrina’s apartment. Felix answers the door and says he’ll let him in if Michael hears him out. Felix says he thought Sabrrrina would never smile again after losing Gabriel, and Michael had brought joy back into her life. He says obviously Sabrrrina lied, but Michael should have cut her some slack. Michael says he wants to get back together with her, but Felix says it’s too late since she’s gone.

Paul says Carrrlos needs to stay dead to the rest of the world, that it’s the only way to keep him and those he loves safe. He says Carrrlos needs to get on the boat now. Carrrlos says it’s smooth sailing ahead for both of them and that he’s no danger to Paul and neither is anyone he cares about.

When Paul leaves, Sabrrrina shows up at the docks. Sabrrrina says no one knows where she is. Carrrlos says their boat leaves soon and wonders why she doesn’t have a bag. Sabrrrina asks why he was talking to Paul.

Michael leaves a message for Sabrrrina to call him and insists Felix tell him where she is. Felix says that’s not his job and if Sabrrrina doesn’t want to hear from him, he’ll have to live with that.

Jordan tells Anna no way are they tailing Sabrrrina.

Dante tells Nathan that what was between him and Valerie is over and they’re not even friends anymore. And adds that should make everyone happy because he’s such a whiner.

Nina shows Olivia the magazine. Olivia says that her cousin started the magazine and it’s practically a fashion institution. Nina says they need to save the magazine and that they can’t keep doing everything the same old way. Olivia starts to say something critical, but then says who is she to judge.

Johnny pretends to be talking on the phone with someone in the park when Valerie comes by.

Maxie is trying to give out copies of the magazines, but she’s distracted by the secret she’s keeping from Nathan. When Nina asks why she still has magazines left, Maxie kinda sorta tells her about it without telling her. Nina talks about how she has her own background of lies, but they eventually led her to Franco.

Nathan asks if Dante will be able to work with Valerie when she graduates. I don’t get why this is even an issue. Why would Jordan ever schedule them even near each other? Nathan says maybe Dante and Lulu can patch things up and that he should at least try. As if on cue, Lulu comes in.

Valerie asks Johnny what’s up. He says he’s not seeing eye to eye with a tow company. He says he’s got a dead car and they’re telling him it’s an hour wait and he needs to be somewhere. Valerie says she’ll drive him.

Jordan says as soon as she sends a request to the judge, it will tip Paul off. She suggests they work on their own.

Michael says he can’t let Sabrrrina go without telling her he wants to make a family with her. Felix says he doesn’t know where she is. Michael is about to hunt her down, but Felix has an envelope for him. He says Sabrrrina told him to give it to Michael if he came by.

Carrrlos tells Sabrrrina he made a deal with Paul about turning state’s evidence. Sabrrrina asks why he didn’t tell her. He says he was only buying time and that he’d be dead if he testified against Julian. He asks her to please disappear with him. He says Port Charles holds too much pain for the both of them and they should start a new life somewhere else as a family. If she doesn’t want to, I totally volunteer.

Olivia looks through the magazine and tells Nina it’s not bad. Nina gets a call from the circulation manager. She asks if Crimson is a success and from the look on her face, it is. Ha! I knew it.

Lulu tells Dante it’s not a good night for him to pick up Rocco because he has a bug. Dante acts like she must be lying and that she, Dillon and Rocco are cozying up together.  Dante acts like such a freaking idiot, Lulu can’t get out of there fast enough. While Nathan starts to talk to Dante, Maxie comes running in and drags him into the interrogation room. She says she has to tell him something. Nathan says that what he’s been working on has something to do with her. He says Johnny might try to contact her. Funny you should say that, replies Maxie.

Johnny says he doesn’t want to be a bother. Valerie says she owes him one for fixing her car.

Anna knocks on Sabrrrina’s door and there’s no answer. She and Jordan bust in with their guns drawn. The place is empty.

Michael takes the letter to the park to read it. The letter says that the time they spent together was the happiest of her life and he didn’t deserve her lying to him.

Carrrlos tells Sabrrrina the choice is hers and asks if she’s coming. She says yes, and goes with him. All right!

The letter continues about how grateful Sabrrrina is, and that Michael will find someone he deserves. She says she’ll always love him, but she’ll do it from a distance. She says that Port Charles is his home, but not hers, and says good-by.

Tomorrow, Maxie tells on Johnny, and Alexis and Julian make faces at something they’ve discovered.

American Horror Story: Hotel – Random Thoughts

This was a nice finale. It hasn’t been my favorite season – that was Freak Show – nor has it been my least favorite – that was Coven because I thought it was too busy – but Hotel was well crafted and the acting was fabulous. I thought the story was a little repetitive at times, and that if I wanted to watch True Blood, I’d watch True Blood, but it had glorious moments. I loved the serial killers’ dinner, used again in the finale.

Denis O’Hare was wonderful and Lady Gaga was a joy to watch. There was recently some Twitter brouhaha about her getting a Golden Globe and that she lacked acting talent. I didn’t understand that at all. Did we see the same show? I also recently saw her in Machete Kills and she was totally on point. It bothers me that the anonymity of the internet allows people to say appalling things about someone that they would never say to their face. And a total stranger no less. But I digress.

What makes this show great is that whether it’s the best season or the worst, it’s always reborn in the next. So while we bid adieu to the Hotel Cortez, we look forward to whatever wild ride the horror story takes us on next.