actor61

But even more annoying than Parson as Bev was Shelly Winters as Bev's mother. She was obviously having so much trouble with her lines that I stopped watching the character and just watched Winters try to read the cue cards. Mary Louise Parker. Liev Schrieber

The pretentious always fall.

How right you are. Lord, was that ever awful! I don't know why I watched the whole thing, but I did. I actually groaned out loud when Esparza sat down at the piano to plunk out "Being Alive". Ludicrous and terrible. I saw him as the MC in "Cabaret" and he just wore me out. Then I saw him in the pre Broadway production of "Leap of Faith" with Brooke Shields, and he wore me out again. (She was pretty awful too.)

I like Krieger too. When her show first started, she was rather dry and shy but now she laughs and makes little food jokes and is much more appealing. I like Julia and Bridget too. I could never stand Christopher Kimball and was happy when he left the show. And yes, I have noticed that Martha has everything marked so she doesn't fuck up. God forbid Martha should ever fuck something up. We haven't discussed Nigella Lawson who is truly in a class of her own. I don't think you could ever call her food healthy but lordy is it ever delicious, and her mini orgasms over lentils or polenta just make me howl. She has terrible knife skills too and her hands sometimes look like claws but she has never pretended to be anything but a home cook and she revels in the messes she makes. I have loved all of her shows and have 2 of her cookbooks. Her recipe for a chocolate fruit cake is outstanding. I have made it for friends who don't like Christmas fruit cakes and they have loved it. I'm glad that the various hacks have kind of died down. I know that Guy Fiere is ubiquitous on the Food Network but I don't watch him and never will. Rachel Ray has that dreadful talk show and she is pushing organic dog food called Delish in commercials but I haven't seen her preparing one of her nonsense recipes in a while. Maybe I just haven't looked. A Los Angeles food critic once wrote a scabrous but very funny article about her recipe for pasta carbonara once that I actually cut out and framed in my kitchen. At the time on her show, she was touting "healthful" meals in 30 minutes and proceed to make carbonara sauce with bacon fried in her fucking EVOO and butter, then added heavy cream and shaved parmesan. The critic actually calculated the fat and calorie content and came to the conclusion that there was nothing healthful about the recipe and called her a fraud. I put her and Paula Deen together in the basket of kitchen deplorables.

I often travel with my sister. We are both in our 60s and snore. We have always been very close and get along beautifully when we travel but the deal is that we get separate hotel rooms so we don't bother each other. It's a little more expensive but it's the perfect solution. She hates television and I'm a news junkie so we don't have to argue about that. She spends hours in the bathroom and I'm a quick shower and out kind of person, so it's nice to have separate quarters for that. I'm a neat freak and she is very messy, so there's another reason to lodge alone. Her long marriage broke up a few years ago due in large part to her husband's worsening snoring. As he got older and his various ailments became more serious, his snoring increased to the point that they moved into separate bedrooms and they eventually divorced. My ex was a silent, motionless sleeper. I often moved to the couch or our second bedroom after lovemaking so I wouldn't disturb him with my snoring. He sometimes got up in the middle of the night to ask me to come back to bed with him, which I found really endearing. But I was always a little embarrassed by the noises I made in my sleep. After he walked out on me (not because of snoring), I hated sleeping alone but I've grown so used to it over the years that I think it would take me a long time to adjust to having someone next to me again. Of course, at my age, I doubt there's any risk of that occurring!

Have you ever hired Jon Ramsey? I'm going to Boston on business next month and he looks perfect. He has great reviews too.

The worst cooking show is the one with Maryanne Esposito, another Italian cook. She is just awful.

I'm in firm agreement with you on all of these shows except one. I actually keep a pad and pen handy to jot down ingredients, measurements and methods. I'm afraid Lidia is not on my list. As another posted below, she never gives quantities or amounts in her recipes and it drives me nuts. Martha is very precise in giving measurements and the ladies on the new America's Test Kitchen do likewise, but Lidia just chops away and throws the stuff in a pot and we're supposed to guess how much. And there's something about her manner that really irritates me. I can't say what it is but when she utters "Just like that" for the 15th time, I want to smack her. I stopped watching Ina for the same reason - her catchphrases really grated on me, particularly "It's not a party until you have to call the Fire Department", and "How bad can that be?" Speaking of America's Test Kitchen, I think Dan Souza is a dish. I know the consensus on here is that Paul on "Great British Baking Show" is the hunk of the kitchen but I find Souza really hot. But I've always been attracted to that nerdy type. He is now the editor of a monthly cooking magazine I subscribe to and that combination of knowledge, erudition and nerdy handsomeness really pierces my heart. Sigh. The Great British Baking Show is the best. Ever. I still watch the reruns knowing full well who's going to be Star Baker or who's going home. And I never miss Paul and Mary's Master Classes. Her madeira cake with chocolate ganache on top is the best cake recipe I've ever learned. I make it every Christmas and it's a "showstopper".

Me too. The 2 most annoying characters ever on SVU were Judith Light as DA, then judge, and now Esparza as DA. Maybe it was ordered by the producers but both of them were/are always so angry, annoyed, pissed off, irritated, judgmental, sardonic and dictatorial. Especially Light. Her character was in a foul mood all the damn time. I stopped watching while she was on the show. I watch it pretty regularly now because I like Kelly Giddish and Peter Scanavino a lot (the newish detectives on the team), and Hargitay can always be relied on to be good but I tend to read the paper during any of Esparza's scenes. He really takes himself seriously. I've seen him in 3 Broadway shows and even in comedies, he's arrogant and angry appearing.

Raul Esparza

I've always been on the edge about A Prairie Home Companion. I found some of the sketches very funny, and some of the guest stars over the years have done unusual and unexpected things that made the show really delightful but I always found Keilor to be a big bore. I much prefer reading his stuff to listening to him. Chris Thile is a charming, talented, sincere guy but the show has become rather sophomoric in his hands. I used to turn the radio on in the kitchen on Sunday afternoons while cooking for the week and listen to the show while working away but now, I tune to the classical channel for the live broadcasts of concerts and operas instead. I saw Thile singing Christmas songs on a Sunday morning show last week and he was wonderful but as the new host of Prairie - meh.

Anne Hathaway. Mandy Patinkin. Keifer Sutherland. Imelda Staunton. Oprah Winfrey. Judith Light.

I agree. The Dr. Blake Mysteries is rather boring and pedestrian and A Place to Call Home was just glamorous soap. I kind of like 800 Words, although it can be a bit plodding.

So did I. Loved it.

My favorite t.v. couple was on a short lived series called "The New Normal" with Andrew Rannells and Ellen Barkin among a superb cast. The male couple who hire a surrogate to have their baby was loving, funny, eccentric and even had a sex life. I really liked that show even when it was just a tad over-the-top. Strangely, I don't like the new "Will and Grace". I know - sacrilege!

Yes! I have experienced the same thing with an optometrist here. She said she found something in my retina that signaled imminent blindness. I went to a retinal specialist who did a scan and said it was a normal "wrinkle" and absolutely nothing to be worried about. I returned to the optometrist the next day (stupid me) for a follow-up and she performed another retinal scan but didn't tell me that's what it was. The insurance company rightly denied payment as I'd had one 24 hours before which they did pay, and the optometrist then sent me a bill for over $700 for the one she had sneakily performed. I scheduled an appointment with her office manager/biller armed with documentation and she canceled the charge for the second scan as a "courtesy". I told her that I would never, ever return and they called me about half a dozen times afterwards to persuade me to continue care with them. I let the calls go to voice mail. And your experience with your dentist's office manager matches one I had exactly. When I signed in at the desk for my check-up, she presented me with an estimate of costs for procedures I had neither requested nor needed - all of them cosmetic, and over $8,000. I crumpled it up and asked if she had a wastebasket behind her desk.

I have a dentist I like very much. Her office is a 5 minute walk from my place, she's professional, thorough and very pleasant. My problem is the upselling. I go every 6 months for check-up, x-rays and cleaning and she insists every time that I should come in every 3 months because there are some "issues", although she never specifies what these issues are. My dental insurance will not cover visits every 3 months; my 6 month visits are 100% covered. When I tell her this, she says, "We can make a deal with you. My office manager will be happy to make payment arrangements." I always decline. When I'm in the chair, she tells me all the things I could have done, most of them cosmetic, and again states that her office manager will make a payment arrangement with me for what is not covered by my insurance. I decline this as well. I'm 66 years old, I'm in excellent health, take no medications except low dose aspirin, have always had excellent dental hygiene and care and really don't feel the need to have bleaching, plugs, caps, fluoride treatments or any of the other selective treatments she suggests. I had braces in my 50s and wear retainers at night. She looked at them on my last visit and told me she could make new ones for me for $500. When I answered that the ones I'm using worked just fine, her laughing response was "You'll have to pay a lot more if your teeth go crooked again." I left pretty angry that day and considered finding another dentist. I'm really beginning to resent being treated like a customer rather than a patient and politely told her this on my last visit. Have any of you experienced this as well?

It's not just kids who are disruptive in the theatre. I saw a show at a prestigious theatre on Wednesday night and had to ask 2 people to stop texting - 1 in front of me, 1 next to me. The woman behind me talked so much an usher finally shushed her. People bring coffee and wine to their seats, then discuss the quality of their drinks with the people around them, and of course, somebody in the middle of the row always has to get up to go to the restroom during a scene. Just sayin'.

I saw the show in Chicago last year when it was on its pre-Broadway tour and found it surprisingly delightful. It got terrific reviews here and was predicted to be a hit when it finally reached New York. Looks like the critics were right.

I've never owned an automatic. I've only driven them when I've rented cars out of town and my left foot kept reflexively pushing down the non existent clutch!

So happy to see the Sara Ramirez character join the team. But I'm getting a little tired of Tea Leoni saving the world single handed every week. I love the show but the plot lines are a tad preposterous at times. It's better than "Designated Survivor", though. That one just stinks like old fish.

I loved the "do it in the shower" reply too! It was unexpected and very, very funny. What really made me laugh out loud, though, was that it's exactly the advice my older brother gave to me years ago.

Holy crap. He was an actor playing a role. End of story.

I'm not a Renault fan, although I did enjoy "The Mask of Apollo". I couldn't get through "The Persian Boy".

I've posted about this before and people wrote and wrote and wrote about how unfair I was being to the actress but the ad that makes me gag is the one for Irritable Bowel Syndrome medication in which there is a young woman in a tan leotard and a horrible red wig portraying the IBS that is plaguing the other young woman in the ad. It's offensive in so many ways and the haters are going to come after me again but what I object to the most is that the actress portraying the disease appears to be mentally challenged (as the character, not the actress herself). I'm embarrassed for her and horrified by the ad campaign. I think the Mark Wahlberg ads are horrible too. How broke is Anjelica Houston that she accepted a job in which she stands behind a curtain and then exits wearing a dollar sign over her dress? Okay, haters, bring it on! And what about the English woman who gave people ass wipes as they went into the bathroom and then asked them about their "experience" afterwards? Or the animated bears touting toilet paper? And the networks wonder why viewership of commercial TV has declined so dramatically. It's the commercials, stupid!