Friday, May 13, 2011

MANAGEMENT REGRETS THE ERROR, WHICH IS TOTALLY NOT OUR FAULT:  As Blogger.com explains, they're hoping to restore the last 48h worth of posts soon.

What that means is that this is an open thread for discussion of everything we would have discussed in the past day had we been able to do so -- NBC's Thursday night lineup, the Ashton Kutcher signing, the American Idol audience's decision (a) finally to respect female competitors or (b) to choose mediocrity over rawk, and whatever grammatical/linguistic issues you're having today.  Happy Fridays.

28 comments:

  1. Maret4:47 PM

    I like the Ashton Kutcher choice. I didn't watch 2 and a Half Men before* and beyond the first Ashton episode, I doubt I'll watch it still, but as Alan said, it should work well with the show, he's a good sitcome and comic actor, and I think it was smart, given that Hugh Grant, who would have made me watch the show, said no.

    Gramatically, Adam, that link you tweeted was designed to make me insane. Commas and periods belong INSIDE quotation marks, not outside.

    *With the exception of being in Panama for two weeks, and finding only one English language TV station that constantly played Two and a Half Men, so during thunderstorms or at night I watched many episodes. Since I skipped being online that whole trip, I came home knowing WAY too much about Two and a Half Men and having no idea of anything that happened at either the Democratic or Republican Conventions in 2008.  

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  2. I think I'll handle that one formally next week; I'm someone who does outside-marks on occasion.

    And I wish they had hired Hugh Grant.

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  3. Benner5:00 PM

    There's a major that/which error in the italicized portion above to the extent it completely changes the meaning of the sentence.  ("If only there were an English language playing Two and a Half Men constantly!  Damn you, Jimmy Carter!") 

    Our good friend Dan Adler keeps up the pop culture connection with Patti Duke (Sean Astin's mom): http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/dem-congressional-candidate-runs-bizarre-ad-we-minorities-should-stick-together.php?ref=fpblg

    Unfortunately, he has some additional ads, which me no rikey. 

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  4. Jordan5:04 PM

    Parks and Rec made jokes about my freshman year dorm.  That's certainly a new one for me.

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  5. Hugh Grant would have been a better move from a critical standpoint, but 2.5 Men has never been about getting critics on board.  Kutcher is smarter from a commercial standpoint because he skews young, which is exactly what CBS desperately needs right now.  (It has loads of huge total viewer hits that aren't big demographic hits--NCIS and Good Wife leading the way.)

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  6. littleredyarn5:08 PM

    The 2012 Winter Classic, of course! Flyers against the Rangers at Citizens Bank Park on January 2nd. That's also going to be one great alumni game. I wonder if helmets will be mandatory. 

    Oh, and Echo won't let me add links. Damn you, Echo. :p

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  7. If you highlight the text to be linked and then click on the "chain" button, does that not work?

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  8. littleredyarn5:18 PM

    Now it does...when I posted my comment it wasn't happy about it at all. 

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  9. At least unlike at least one other candidate in that race, he hasn't said anything totally and wildly anti-Semitic on the campaign trail.  (At least as far as I know.)

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  10. Nigel from Cameroon5:26 PM

    Perhaps lost in the J Durbin kerfuffle-- he wasn't very good on performance night

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  11. Who else is seeing Bridesmaids this weekend??

    I might actually watch Ashton Kutcher.

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  12. alwaysfiredup5:59 PM

    Re: Survivor:

    Rob is still sitting pretty.  Choosing Natalie over Grant was a gutsycall.com.  It was funny no one seriously thought of getting rid of Phil, as I would have.  I also wanted Rob to tell Grant he had to send him to RI to beat Matt and Mike instead of blindsiding him, which might have better saved his loyalty.

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  13. Maret6:12 PM

    LOL. Oops. Now I sort of want to travel the world seeking out locations with many many channels only playing Two & A Half Men. And then I could write and AJ Jacobs style book about my pop culture journey. Who wants to fund me?

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  14. Absolutely seeing Bridesmaids, though may not get there till next week.  My one big concern (and it's mitigated based on the reviews I've read) is that Melissa McCarthy's character gets used as nothing more than a series of fat jokes.

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  15. calliekl7:11 PM

    Bones (although I'm sure I'm the only person here who watches it)... I couldn't believe who ****, and the fact that we think other people may have *ahem*. This is the first episode in ages that I have stayed awake until the end to watch.

    Big Bang Theory... How awesome is Bernadette? and Raj? and Howard's mom? Such a fun show.

    Big Bad BRUINS.... Tomorrow night can't come soon enough. We need to get this started, although I do wish Bergeron had a couple more days to recover. And I never got a chance to say it, but I was very impressed with how the Flyers handled the series (even with FartSmell on the team)... very different atmosphere after playing the Frenchies the series prior. A pretty classy team that got effed by a seriously TERRIBLE set of goalies. That being said, it felt amazing to exorcise the ghosts from last year, and to be able to move on. GO B's!!!!!!!

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  16. He wasn't.  But I thought Lauren was worse.

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  17. Joseph J. Finn7:39 PM

    Bulls!  Heat!  Bulls in their best position since 1998!  Non-Bulls fans going for the non-Heat!

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  18. Adam C.8:16 PM

    Exactly my point from last week's Survivor discussion. Saving grace for Rob - at least at this point, Grant doesn't know who, between Rob & Phil, betrayed him since Probst only had to read 4 of the 5 votes. Rob could figure out a way to use that, I'm sure.

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  19. Slick9:03 PM

    Have added Rob Lowe air-banjoing to the list of things that are never not funny.

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  20. calliekl9:08 PM

    As a Celts fan, I will definitely be rooting for the Bulls... not that they'll need it, they have way more heart than the Heat can even comprehend.

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  21. That's not entirely true, though the character itself is a bit of a stereotype. It's not crazy offensive to me, but it was a bit tiresome. For the most part, the movie works well, and is very funny.

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  22. Joseph J. Finn11:13 PM

    I did kind of want a rematch against the Celtics, after the past couple of years.

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  23. Hannah lee11:38 PM

    I'm glad that Parenthood got renewed and that Brothers and Sisters got put out of its misery.  As far as large ensemble family dramas go, I think that's the right call. 

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  24. Adam C.2:48 AM

    Also new to the never not funny list: Ron Swanson hopped up on SnakeJuice.

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  25. Tracy4:55 AM

    Maret, no funding here, but you can skip Finland and Sweden. I can vouch that we have ample opportunity for 2.5 Men watching in both places.

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  26. I think there is a very good argument to say that Lauren and Haley have provided the four best performances of the last two weeks, between
    N the two of them.

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  27. Very excited about the Parenthood news. Although I watched Brothers and Sisters up to the end and was hoping for one more season, I thought the enjoyable season finale worked well as a series finale. The odd part of it was that the biggest loose end involved the character played by Calista Flockhart, who supposedly was going to have a very limited role if the show had gotten one more season.

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  28. That actually was from me. I'm still getting the hang of my iPhone, and my fat thumb accidentally pressed an "h" instead of a "g."

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