The Good Place and other things..

Took today off -- mainly because if I didn't, I'd lose the day. It's the last personal day of the year, and per contract they give you back a percentage, not the full amount of the day if you don't take it prior to Thanksgiving.

Also, I wanted a break from work and commuting.

Saw a few television show fall finals this morning. They are calling them "Fall Finals" now, we can thank streaming and cable for this change. Before they just didn't tell us, and would show reruns or maybe an off-shoot standalone in December and two in January.

If you want to know why this happens? ( Read more... )

The Good Place

Frigging NBC puts a ton of commercials right before the last five minutes of the show, so as a result, the show runs over the allotment and my DVR cuts off the last two-three seconds, which are over the credits. (It's a nifty trick to get me to watch whatever is programmed after it. Which would be fine if I liked what they programmed after it. I do not. Which is why I don't remember to tape it just so I can see the last two seconds of The Good Place.)

Anyhow...I asked the FB Good Place Fanboard which is entitled "The Boundless Void"...

( Spoilers )

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend -- I fast-forwarded through about 80% of this weeks episode. I'm finding it harder and harder to watch. And not at all funny. There were two musical numbers -- but neither really worked. I can see why this is the final season. And they are doing a good job of wrapping things up, I guess. I'm hanging in there out of curiosity, but it's fading.

Grey's Anatomy and Station 19 both ended on cliff-hangers. Liked Grey's better. Station 19 hasn't quite found it's footing.

blackish -- did a tribute to Prince, which was a wee bit too over-the-top. It made fun of people who'd never heard of Prince, but was a tad over-the-top in how it went about it.

Everything but...the kitchen sink

1. Slowly making it through the old DVR recordings.

*Shows I may give up on? The Gifted and Riverdale. I find them frustratingly slow.

*The Connors was the highlight of the week. It and The Good Place are the best sitcoms I've seen in a while. (Keep in mind that I don't tend to like most American Situation comedies...I tend to prefer British humor to American, and find most American sitcoms to be copy-cats of each other. So I may not be the best judge of this.)

This week's episode was quite good. I laughed during it. It was more subtle in it's humor and had far less reliance on the cringe-inducing insult or slapstick embarrassment comedy that plagues the American comedic landscape.

That and I can relate to the people. They are my co-workers. And various extended family members.

Best bits?

( spoilers )

This is Us

It's at its best when it is focusing on the children or offspring of Jack and Bec. Jack and Bec annoy me a bit. Although I loved her song in the last episode. But Kevin and Zoe's scenes were really good, particularly the scene where she tells him about her father and why. Also enjoying Toby and Chrissy Mertz's characters. Randall...admittedly annoys me, I do not know how Beth puts up with him.

New Amsterdam

I find it comforting. Freema Agyeman is in it -- the British actress from Doctor Who and Sense8? She played Martha Jones in Doctor Who, and the transgender's wife in Sense8. I love this actress. (I was among the few fans who preferred Martha Jones to Donna and Rose. My favorite Doctor Companions are: 1) Rory/Amy/Doctor Song, 2) Martha Jones, 3) Billie, 4) Donna, 5) Rose, 6) Clara. ) Also Ryan Eggold (the husband from The Blacklist -- who was the only actor that interested me in the Blacklist outside of Spader), and a few others who are also very good. I love the psychologist and the Indian Doctor.

The series tackles the medical system in NY and how it is broken. It focuses on the plight of a new hospital administrator at a major public hospital in NYC and his staff. I find it kind -- sort of a kind version of ER. Or ER meets St. Elsewhere.

I can totally see why it is so high in the ratings. People want to be comforted. Also it has one of the most diverse casts. Actually that's true of almost all of the new series. It's a requirement now. I find that re-assuring. You have to understand - I grew up in a time in which it was rare to see anyone who wasn't white in a televisions series, unless it was as a guest actor or a minor supporting role. And up until roughly 2010, my workplaces were mostly white with a few token minorities. Now, it's very diversified and in NY, a requirement. You can't work for a NY State Agency without employing minorities and women in some manner. That's progress. It's also becoming more and more the norm, and less a result of requirements. Just look at the commercials.

2. Books

I'm in a major reading slump.

No matter what I read...I lose interest in it quickly. ( Read more... )

Am writing again, sort of, so that's something. ( Read more... )

3. Politics...Snowstorms...And Voting...

( Nancy Pelosi - if you don't know who she is? Don't worry about it. )

Our Esteemed Mayor decided to have a press conference over the nightmare snowstorm that NY yesterday. Why he felt the need to do it today, and at 3PM, I do not know. But hey, he's the Mayor and of course the news outlets had to cover it.
( freak snowstorm )

( voting )

Sometimes I think hell is other people. Which is why I need to take periodic vacations from them.

4. I found this poem on DW - posted in the poetry community. It's rare that I like a poem enough to repost it. Or that it moves me. But this one really did. It said so much by saying so little and so beautifully.

THE CAPACITY OF SPEECH
Austin Smith

It is easy to be decent to speechless things.
To hang houses for the purple martins
To nest in. To bed down the horses under
The great white wing of the year's first snow.
To ensure the dog and cat are comfortable.
To set out suet for the backyard birds.
To put the poorly shot, wounded deer down.
To nurse its orphaned fawn until its spots
Are gone. To sweep the spider into the glass
And tap it out into the grass. To blow out
The candle and save the moth from the flame.
To trap the black bear and set it free.
To throw the thrashing brook trout back.
How easy it is to be decent
To things that lack the capacity of speech,
To feed and shelter whatever will never
Beg us or thank us or make us ashamed.