Jim: Roundtable time. Remember our e-mail
address is thethirdestatesundayreview@yahoo.com. Participating in our roundtable are The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava, and me, Jim; Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude; Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man; C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review; Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills); Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix; Mike of Mikey Likes It!; Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz); Ruth of Ruth's Report; Trina of Trina's Kitchen; Wally of The Daily Jot; Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ; Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends; Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub. Betty's kids did the
illustration. You are reading a rush transcript.
Stan: Let me. When do I get DEADLINE back? VARIETY and THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER have both ended their obsession with Donald Trump now that he's no longer president. Why can't DEADLINE?
Betty: I know just what you mean. I needed a place, in the last four years, that was Trump free. A place like an entertainment industry magazine should have been the place to go. But no. Over and over all three offered Donald coverage. I just wanted a break from it. And DEADLINE will not let it go.
Marcia: He was a reality TV star. That's what I told myself as their obsessive coverage continued for four years. But now that he's out of office? DEADLINE needs to give it a break. Glad to know VARIETY and THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER have. I will once again be able to read them. Like Betty, I stopped visiting those sites because of their never-ending Donald coverage. There should have been a safe harbor where we could go and focus on something other than Trump but apparently that was way too much to ask.
Jim: Do you think we'll get another reality performer as president in the next few decades?
Wally: Yes! Mr. Biggles!
Jim: Who? Cedric, why are you laughing?
Cedric: Mr. Biggles is Paris Hilton's dog on SOUTH PARK and then she wants Butters to be Mr. Biggles.
Wally: And she and Nicole Richie were the stars of the reality TV show THE SIMPLE LIFE.
Jim: Anybody think Kanye West?
Isaiah: I would not write off Kanye politically. He's an artist of tremendous talent and if he made a real run for the presidency, I would follow the run. I don't know that I'd vote for him, that would depend upon his platform, but I would follow his run and be thrilled that he was running. We need more candidates.
Ruth: This has nothing to do with entertainment but since we are talking about candidates, I just re-read Ava and C.I.'s "Here we go again (Ava and C.I.)" and I want to stress that they are correct that we were told throughout 2019 that there were too many women in the race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. There were six women. There were 23 men. Never did we get told there were too many men in the race. I think Ava and C.I. stood alone in catching that so I wanted to note it.
Jim: Good point. Back to entertainment. Marcia, you wrote "The CW" noting that if you were told you could only have one broadcast TV station, it would be THE CW because so many of the programs you love are on that. And that the ones that aren't your favorite, you could still watch.
Marcia: Right. I could get by on just that one broadcast network if I had to. Even with no streamer, I could survive.
Kat: That's bravery!
Jim: You, Kat?
Kat: Honestly, I stream music. I need YOUTUBE and I need AMAZON MUSIC. I could handle having only one TV station as long as I had YOUTUBE and AMAZON MUSIC. I don't watch a lot of TV and when I do watch I can watch new or old, it doesn't bother me.
Rebecca: What about you, Jim?
Jim: It would be CBS for me. I've got to have THE NEIGHBORHOOD. I also like BOB HEARTS ABISHOLA. And I could get by on CBS. I'd watch the David Boreanaz show --
Rebecca: SEAL TEAM.
Jim: Right. And I'd watch MAGNUM and MACGYVER.
Dona: You getting yet why Jim was no good at TV reviewing? I'm joking.
Jim: Ha ha. Anybody else?
Elaine: I'm with Kat. Give me my music and I'm fine.
Jim: You don't really watch TV.
Elaine: No but Rebecca and I went to college with C.I. and shared a place so we are used to having the TV on with the sound down while music plays.
Rebecca: Yep.
Jim: Rebecca?
Rebecca: Any other year it would be ABC. But they only have one comedy night this year and their Thursday night leaves me bored. ABC really sucks these days. I guess I'd say THE CW. CHARMED, DYNASTY, the new Lois and Superman show, FLASH, ROSWELL, etc.
Jim: Betty?
Betty: I'd get buy on freebies. I'd do PLUTO and CRACKLE and be just fine with it.
Jim: Let's flip it, which streamer could you not do without?
Cedric: This time last year, I would have said HULU. Longterm HULU user but dropped it when they were nonresponsive to us over the changes they made. I now use YOUTUBE TV. I guess I'd say that. I need that. Even without the add-ons.
Ann: We have HBO MAX and STARZ as add-ons.
Cedric: And HALLMARK.
Ann: We don't have HALLMARK.
Cedric: You're always watching GOLDEN GIRLS.
Ann: That's on TV LAND.
Cedric: Oh. Sorry.
Jim: For any who don't know, Ann and Cedric are a married couple. Do we know our packages? I'm not being sarcastic. I mean I don't even know what Dona and I pay because it's auto-pay.
Trina: I used to know. But then my husband added this and then that and now I honestly have no idea. I know we have more channels and streamers than I keep track of. But we do have several grandchildren living with us right now so, for instance, DISNEY+ is probably needed.
Ruth: If I had to live with just one, I would go with AMAZON PRIME. They have a lot of movies on there that I watch -- I am talking the free ones, not the ones you purchase -- and the same with TV shows. And I probably watch the IMDB channel on AMAZON at least once a week if not more.
Rebecca: And that's where Judge Judy's new show will be -- IMDB TV.
Mike: We have way too many but my daughter and I watch everything. We love to watch at least three hours of something on Saturdays.
Wally: I'll say NETFLIX. I still watch SENSE8 and some other things I've seen there. They've had some good programs in the last 12 months. LUPON.
Rebecca: FIREFLY LANE.
Betty: FATE: THE WINX SAGA.
Jim: Has AMAZON delivered anything strong recently?
Mike: Not since season two of THE BOYS. I wish they could do content like NETFLIX -- in terms of delivering new content and doing so regularly.
Ty: AMAZON's always had a problem delivering inclusive content. For yeas, they offered the worst shows in the world and they all revolved around middle aged White men -- as though John Goodman was the standard we all strove for.
Cedric: John Goodman looks like death warmed over. He either needs to put on some weight, he looks like he's ill.
Rebecca: Maybe stabbing Roseanne Barr in the back causes him sleepless nights?
Jim: The cancellation of ROSEANNE. Still a boneheaded move.
Stan: ABC's most popular series and they axe it. It will serve as a sign of just how much rage and hate took place over the last four years. And the 'resistance' tries to pretend it was all the right-wing but their attacks on Roseanne demonstrate that it was also the faux left and center.
Ruth: They stole her show and that is disgusting. Sara Gilbert is disgusting. I have no respect for her or for anyone who stayed with that show. They are backstabbers. To steal someone's work -- their life's work -- just disgusting.
Marcia: They had to steal. No one wanted to watch any of them. They were failures over and over in one sitcom after another -- that's Goodman, that's Gilbert, that Laurie Metcalf. A non-stop string of failures is what followed them after ROSEANNE went off the air in the 90s. They only found TV success again when Roseanne decided to return to TV. They're thieves and whores who lie and steal. They should be ashamed of themselves -- every last one.
Isaiah: And let's include Whitney Cummings on that.
Ann: Good, I'm glad you're bringing this up.
Isaiah: Body shaming is wrong. Whitney has taken it upon herself to weigh in on the odor of men's testicles -- not out of concern, mind you, but to make a buck. I know because my 11-year-old nephew had a freak out over it. Does he smell? He was freaking out and we were all like, "Where did you get this notion?"
Ann: And it was Whitney Cummings -- truly more trouble than she's worth. Could you imagine the outrage if a male comic was going on about how women stink down there and then pushing a spray for them to buy and telling them that they didn't know how bad they smelled because their noses didn't reach down there?
Trina: Okay, I'm offended. For a woman to do that who presents as pro-woman is appalling. We know how women were shamed by Big Business to sell products like sprays for 'down there.' Nora Ephron wrote a famous essay about that b.s. So for Whitney Cummings to be embracing that? I just don't get that. It actually angers me. And I'm not anti-Whitney Cummings. I know she made some awful remarks about Roseanne but I also know she's tried to enlarge her view and is also trying to reach out to everyone. So I appreciate that effort but this is just stupidity and we should all be rejecting it as consumers, as citizens, as spokespersons.
Elaine: I am appalled by how so many people will whore themselves out in the name of Big Business. I will always applaud Lily Tomlin for refusing big money if it would mean whoring her character Ernestine out. We need more Lilys.
Kat: The funniest whoring recently was Bruce Springsteen and Cedric and Wally noted that before the Superbowl commercial for Jeep aired ["Springsteen is just an embarrassment and a whore " and "THIS JUST IN! SOGGY BRUCE SELLS HIS ASS AGAIN!"]. But what makes it even funnier now? "Jeep, if you're going to drive drunk, do it in a jeep." I mean, how embarrassing. And you have to wonder if the news of the DUI arrest had come out before the Superbowl if Jeep would've still aired the commercial?
Jess: My guess is no.
Marcia: Agreed. And how pathetic is he and his liars in the press who kept trying to spin his DWI for him? Disgusting.
Ruth: On disgusting, I am really starting to get disgusted with AMAZON's KINDLE UNLIMITED. I thought it was going to be so much better and it is pretty much useless in my opinion. I feel like I have read everything they have to offer and that I read it all by six weeks into my paying for it. Anyone feeling any different?
Isaiah: Nope. I'm bored with it, honestly. They need more books and they need real books. Whomever called out the HOURLY HISTORY books was right to do so. Those aren't books. They're embarrassments and there are easily 100 of them that show up over and over every time you try to find a book.
Cedric: I'd say I'm beyond disappointed, honestly.
Rebecca: I wasn't needing masterpieces, just some good books, even good trash. And I just didn't find it. Do they update at all or is it the same pool of books? Stan, what do you think?
Stan: Maybe I'm a mood but I'm just not happy with KINDLE with much entertainment.
Jim: A mood?
Stan: Except for CALL YOUR MOTHER and CALL ME KAT, I'm not really pleased with much on TV right now so maybe it's my mood. I hate THE BLACKLIST right now, for example. Every thing Ruth's written, I'm right on board with.
Jim: Ruth?
Ruth: You cannot disappear Liz. It just will not work. It won't. But they have done it again, like they did when the actress was pregnant. And the cast is not strong enough to hold your interest. Maybe if Samar was still on. But with Mozhan Marno off the show, they really cannot afford Megan Boone being off as well.
Betty: I really miss Mozhan. Since she left the show, it hasn't been the same. They should have brought her back. Have her get better or have her lose all of her memories. She had to go into hiding, if you don't watch the show, because she was a former Mossad agent and the Israeli government saw her as a threat because she was having problems with memory and, as a result, might accidentally leak something that was classified. Samar really needs to be back on the show.
Mike: And it's stupid. You don't have Liz on right now, you killed off her mother, Raymond's big enemy. So all we get is the timid new female character. She can't stand up to anyone -- let alone all the men she works with -- and the actress is dull. That might be because the character's written so timidly. But it's also true that 2021 is not time to offer an hour long sausage fest. This is ridiculous. As the father of a young girl, I'm appalled by THE BLACKLIST's inability to offer a strong female and to feature a show with Raymond, Dembi, Harold, Donald and Aram every week and where are the women? It's 2021. Where are the female cast members? This is ridiculous. It would be bad even if Liz was on lately but it wouldn't be as bad.
Stan: I was happy when the show got renewed for another season. But then came these episodes, one after another, with no Liz. And now, I honestly don't give a damn about the show and I'm not watching another one of these bad episodes. I'll wait until Liz comes back. The show sucks.
Ruth: It really does. And I loved that show. I was upset when they killed off Tom, Liz's husband, but I kept watching. The least three or four episodes have been unwatchable.
Isaiah: But, Stan, you still like PRODIGAL SON.
Stan: Yes, but that's about the only hour long show I can stand right now. And I agree with Mike, by the way, WANDAVISION is the worst show of the year. And how dare they, MARVEL, which has spent the last ten years doing movie after movie with male superhero leads and only one film with a female superhero, how dare they take Scarlet Witch and give her this cheesy ass 'sitcom' spoof instead of giving her real episodes where she can use her powers and fight. This show is an embarrassment and honestly reminds me of the SNL parody a few years ago about how MARVEL's first female superhero movie would be a romcom where Black Widow falls in love.
Ann: WANDAVISION is that insulting. I don't respect any critic that refuses to call out the sexism of the plot and of the execution of that show. It's disgusting.
Elaine: I don't get how Wanda, in all the films, had that thick accent yet in WANDAVISION, the accent is just gone.
Stan: I've wanted to write about that but every time, I forget to make that point.
Jim: We need to wind down but what was TV's last good superhero show.
Mike: The MARVEL shows on NETFLIX!
Stan: THE CAPE on NBC and NO ORDINARY FAMILY on ABC.
Ty: SENSE8 on NETFLIX.
Jim: Okay, we'll go ahead and end there. This is a rush transcript.
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Note this roundtable was done the morning of 2/14/21 but we didn't have an edition that week.