Cheat Work Thursday

"APPEARANCES ARE DECEIVING" I have a friend who "remembers Boston Rob" when I once brought up Survivor in passing. Boston Rob and Amber. As in her last recollection of Survivor was Boston Rob and Amber on All Stars. OMG. Yes, people who frown and ask, THE SHOW IS STILL ON. And firework emoji to that! The new season of the only show on earth which proud superfans know what casuals are, and it's NOT them, starts with an explanation of the theme, David vs Goliath, followed by about 10 minutes of hammering it in, followed by an obstacle and puzzle reward challenge right there on the starting boat. The twist is, the Goliaths get to choose which two players to compete for each tribe, and the Davids get to decide which tribe does what challenge. Picking what challenge to do is a huge advantage for the Davids, but Christian also practically flew their way through the slide puzzle, so he and Lyrsa win David the shelter building kit. That's enough for eac...

I love when TV series know when to end their shows ie before I start to hate them *squints at The Walking Dead*. The Americans ended its run this year. The finale, packed with suspense, was also an understated tearjerker — tugging at your heartstrings with goodbyes (one unsaid, one confrontational, one blindside: Henry, Stan, Paige), devastating revelations to some (Stan, Henry), and an unfair ending to others (Oleg). And this was done without having to kill any of the main characters, which is great and welcome in the era of The Walking Dead is contractually obligated to kill a main character in the most gory way every season, and Game of Thrones killing a character and calling it breakfast. So by the end of the finale, we were rooting for the Jennings and wanted to give them a hug, obnoxiously forgetting that these two, rarely with hesitation, have manipulated, used and killed everyone standing in their way — many of them are innocent — because “it’s their job and they want to...

Emmy is in a few weeks. Not that I’m staring at my calendar waiting for it, but I'll probably watch it to root for The Americans winning the Outstanding Drama Series. Past winners still nominated this year are The Handmaid’s Tale (2017) and Game of Thrones (2015, 2016). And other nominees rounding out the category are The Crown, Stranger Things, This Is Us and Westworld. I’ve never seen The Crown, there is nothing particularly exciting about Stranger Things S2, This Is Us shouldn’t be dragged into a second season, and Westworld S2 should just burn itself to ashes. Seriously. So that leaves us with three. In my perfect world where TV shows are made specifically to please me, The Handmaid's Tale would move along. Thirteen episodes in season 2, three more than its first season, and June is still f-ing living with the Waterfords! I’ll give it credit, though, for still being able to traumatize us and make us sick — the child bride episode left me speechless, Omar’s fate ...