Vee

That's why they all hate it - Greenwald, much of the Intercept staff, the Sanders camp, and then of course the right. In the end, while degrees and points of critique may change, all it ultimately comes down to is that they hate the Democratic Party, and suggesting Russians may have infiltrated our political system and unfairly swung the election undermines their core tenet and belief, which is that Democrats suck and they were right all along. The alternative makes them all look like fools.

The advantage today is that a lot of people are now longer clouded by the fog of 9/11 and know Bolton's name and history. People see through the neocon [!@#$%^&*] after living through it, and the media is calling Bolton what he is. Will that stop anything, I don't know. I can't wait to hear the contortions the Greenwald/Bernie Left do to justify their past choices re: Clinton with John Bolton riding again.

There's more good reviews circulating in the press today, which I am pleasantly surprised by. I still have a lot of reservations, but I like a fair amount of the clips I've seen. It'll just be nice to see them all again.

Wow:

Variety gives a mostly decent review (from Sonia Saraiya, who I can't stand). I've heard before that the pilot has the cast a little awkward in their rhythms, and this seems to bear that out. This bit about the pilot's Trump/Hillary plot and stuff in future is interesting (spoiler tagged):

Aaaaand a couple more: Lisa Coronado (the hit and run mom), Mary Reber (Alice Tremond/the real-life owner of the Palmer house from Part 18), John Pirruccello (Deputy Chad) and Zoe McLane (the supermarket girl who runs afoul of Sarah Palmer).

Jake Wardle (Freddie) got his final fight script on a post-it note the day of: His interview with a fansite. Additional interviews with Mark Frost, producer and Lynch right hand Sabrina Sutherland, and James Grixoni (dreamy Deputy Jesse).

And even more big news:

Whoa: Meanwhile, after a weak statement re: the CA scandal, Mark Zuckerberg is going on CNN soon to try and salvage his rep.

Rough day:

The mortifying backstory of Don Jr. and Aubrey O'Day continues to unfold.

Eccleston talks with the Radio Times some more about why he quit DW in Series 1 and how it destroyed his relationship with Russell T. Davies.

The BBC did this BTS TV doc featuring a week on the set of Roseanne in '91. The Roseanne portion of the doc was stripped from American airings, but here it is. It's something else: You can see a young Amy Sherman-Palladino in there in the writers' room, along with Chuck Lorre, etc.

ETA: Nevermind, I misread. I do think the GOP are in trouble there.

Good luck, suckers!

I think there's probably plenty of blame on both sides throughout - she is bipolar and possibly more erratic than ever in some areas now, and she made so many writers' lives hell. But she also put on a damn good show for years, and I think a lot of that was due to her perfectionism, until it curdled in the final seasons. I suspect Sara Gilbert, as EP, knows exactly how to handle her in ways many other past producers or staff did not. I also note a number of her longtime comedy friends (Norm McDonald, Wanda Sykes, etc.) on the new staff. That being said: The only episodes we have crew details on have writing and directing credits for several old regulars from the original show, including John Pasquin (director) and Sid Youngers (writer). I have a feeling the pilot may be the broadest and possibly worst of the new episodes, at least according to some early reviews that say the show improves after. But that is not uncommon for pilots. As long as they're not waving a Trump 2020 flag - and there is no way Sara Gilbert and co. would go for that - I'm okay.

A couple older articles, both from Roseanne's POV which is unique and may need a grain of salt, but fascinating nonetheless - one from a few years ago and one from '89, both discussing the power struggle with co-creator (and future creator of Home Improvement, which I despised) Matt Williams in S1, as well as candidly discussing her personal life, her family and divorce from her first husband. Both very worth reading. A small excerpt of the latter: ...Oh, and there's also pretty gruesome detail on her then-new sex life with Tom Arnold.

Another funky legend I discovered which may or may not be untrue: John Goodman was widely rumored to be at the end of his rope in Season 8 and ready for the show to be done. And it's known that much of the cast thought it was their last, as did Lecy Goranson which is why she agreed to return, only for Roseanne to agree to one more year. As such, Goodman took off for other commitments like The Big Lebowski for much of the season. The new part of this story, which may or may not be true, claims that Goodman's last regular appearance was to be the Season 8 finale, where he and Roseanne have their huge fight. Originally, the story goes, Dan would only appear once more to be killed off. TPTB supposedly managed to convince him to make recurring appearances in Season 9, but the affair story + death in the finale clearly seems punitive on Roseanne's part. I always was disgusted by his treatment in the story that year and while neither behaved perfectly BTS (Goodman was a longtime alcoholic) I am glad those two patched it up.

A couple surprisingly mostly positive reviews: THR and Chicago Tribune It does sound like the election issue is handled broadly but that the show moves on after the pilot, for which I am glad. I didn't know the premiere night next week is a full hour - two episodes.

I wouldn't even be shocked if George Clooney turned up to cameo again like he did during the original for a Halloween ep. I doubt it, but it's possible. He came back to ER twice. He likes doing that kind of stuff, he's a class act. I liked Seasons 5 and most of 6 quite a lot, and after that the show began to have real trouble though it wasn't unwatchable to me til the final year. But I did think the decreased presence of Roseanne and Dan's other friends from the old days hurt. (I'm pretty sure Natalie West is also confirmed)

I remember reading somewhere that the wife is serving in Afghanistan, but I dunno if that's correct. I hope Becky's life improves a bit since we know she is still working in the service industry - I get that it's realistic, but I always held out hope that at least one of the kids would get out from under as planned, and Becky had the rockiest road of it due to her rash choices. I just rewatched the Season 5 two-parter where she leaves and Roseanne tries to hope for the best, that Becky will finish HS (which I think she does) and then go to a local college. I can't remember if she ever did when they moved back; I don't think so. And that rang true then, but I always hoped she'd eventually get back on track. We know Darlene and her children move back home in the new series due to hard times (I think Darlene lost her job), but I hope it hasn't been nothing but misery for her either, as she was the big hope later on.