The TV thread

My wife started season 3 and my daughter was watching something else on the laptop. I told her, you want to see why it’s like working in a restaurant, just watch this. I worked in the industry as a side gig, and man, there’s gotta be a better way to make some cash.

 

I watched season 1 of the Bear, enjoyed it, and had no desire to watch season 2. Not sure why, but not feeling compelled to jump back in.

 

It is basically Interpersonal Trauma: The Series. I love the show, and it can be funny, but it spikes my anxiety so much that I can understand why others would take a pass on it. Unlike a lot of other shows, they're also confident enough to use the camera as a weapon. S3 E1 barely has dialogue; its an oddly quiet exploration of trauma. That's immediately followed by (essentially) a bottle episode where there is no escape for the three quasi-leads of the show.

 

I haven’t watched season 3 yet, and while I love the show, there is a grimness about The Bear in terms of their obsession with the restaurant life which I find annoying. I also can’t get over the reveal at the end of the first season and how it was basically backhanded away in one scene with Oliver Platt in the first episode of the next season. I also don’t think that the actress who plays Sydney is anywhere near good enough to have won an Emmy.

 

I watched the first three episodes of the second season of 'That '90s Show." The first episode was really silly and I probably would have bailed if not for the nostalgia. The next two were better with a cool guest appearance in the second episode. It's still overall too sit-commy. Spoiler alert: Red does threaten to put his foot up someone's ass.

Hulu dropped all eight episodes yesterday.

 

TV season is hitting perfectly for me, there's House of Dragons, Presumed Innocent and now The Bear all available (at least 1 ep per week.) I enjoy the restaurant minutia because I worked in a nice restaurant through college (dishwasher to food prep line to busboy to waiter); excellent life lessons in a restaurant, working as a team, etc., especially a waiter (how to get along with people, how to interact with new people, how to multi-task under a time crunch).

 

I don’t know how anyone on The Bear makes enough money working at that little restaurant to survive.

 

Yeah, sandwiches for $8-10 to support what a staff of 6??

 

My mom owned a restaurant when I was young so I and my siblings didn't have much of a choice. We were cheap child labor, washing dishes, prepping food, moping the floors. It was called the 1895 House, used to be a bordello at the turn of the century when Arizona was still a territory. Had lots of history, charm and ghosts. I got a kick out of telling customers, including the then-mayor of Phoenix, some of the stories. I also dropped his dessert on him. I was 12 and still have nightmares about that and other moments where all I can recall is the screaming.

 

I think you are spot on here. I liked it but didn’t want to sign up for more.

The next show I started watching was The League which is pretty much zero anxiety.

 

I know The Bear might not be everyone's cup of tea but to me it's the best show on TV. Details are amazing.

 

Can’t help but notice on House of the Dragon that Alicent keeps holding her stomach. She’s clearly preggers with Ser Crostin’s child…