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zee-rambles · 1 year

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Lets. D0. This.

(Please note: Post will be updated as I find more resources and think of more strategies)

(Please do not re-use gif without permission…unless it’s to save Rise…)

Mutant May

YOU can watch Season 1 and Season 2 of RISE right HERE!

So I’ve seen a a lot of people still wondering if Rise of the TMNT can be saved.

There’s is a lot of hope, especially with the boom of fans joining the fandom after the movie dropped last year, people making more art on tumblr, twitter, tik tok, and so on. But also a a lot of doubt, especially after JJ Conway’s post on twitter.

BUT…I still think there is a chance…a GOOD chance. WITH ORIGINAL CAST AND CREW! Why?

We live in the internet. Information is more then easy to get out now thanks to social media. There is all kinds of ways to get the word out to people. Let’s abuse it. 😎

Fans have brought back shows before.

We need a MAJOR push through social media, more fans, more art, it’s up to us…and I think we can do it!

Fans convinced Netflix to bring Sense8 back for a finale

Fans convinced fox to bring back “Futurama” after it was cancelled in 1999.

Hey Arnold got the jungle movie thirteen years after the show was cancelled

Animaniacs got a 3 season revival 22 years after it stopped airing.

Brooklyn 99 was cancelled in 2018, and the fans convinced NBC to pick up the series.

Arrested Development was canceled after 3 seasons, but AFTER it was cancelled, it grew an audience and they made it come back!

Fans saved the original Star Trek in the 60s with letters.

They did it. Why can’t we?

So what can we do?

Well…

1. PETITIONS TO SAVE RISE that we can all sign…

PETITION 1 (The strongest one, but the more petitions signed, the better!)

PETITION 2

PETITION 3

PETITION 4 (save the content that was cut/we missed)

PETITION 5! (Make an ROTTMNT season 3)

2. Pester Nickelodeon and Netflix on social media (THE BIG ONE Y’ALL, THIS IS THE MOST DIRECT AND IMPORTANT)

Be polite, be non-toxic (don’t be rude or mean, the boys would not want that, and the Nick/Netflix won’t listen), but be LOUD, PASSIONATE, AND ANNOYING! Ask for DVDs of the show/movie, and then BUY THOSE DVDs!

MAKE SURE TO ASK FOR THE FULL ORIGINAL CAST AND CREW TO COME BACK, INCLUDING ANDY SARIANO AND ANT WARD.

Sample DM/Letter (but try to come up with your own. Too many repeats and they will ignore it)

“Dear Nickelodeon/Netflix/Viacom, I can’t tell you how much Rise means to me, and I really love that you put the show on air. But it was not fair that the show was cancelled before it got the chance to reach the audience it deserved, only because of a few bad reviews and a lack of advertising. The show is great, there’s tons of fans, tons of art, and people, including me, want so much more! Please bring it back! We want the original crew to come, Flying Bark, for the show to get it’s full second season restored, and it’s five season run like it was originally intended. People hated the 2012 TMNT when it came out, but it got it’s chance and now there are people that love it. Why can’t Rise of the TMNT have the same? It’s clear that the creators love their work and there’s a growing fan base for it. Rise just came out at the wrong time, but it deserves it chance to shine.”

The more personal you made the letter, the more you say what Rise means to you, the better.

As for me? I’m sending them a picture of Pizza Pigeon with the #wewantmoreriseoftheTMNT and #saverottmnt

Request movies/seasons on Netflix.

Ask for Rise Season 2, another season, another movie. Just keep asking!

Nickelodeon’s facebook page (Look, I know that facebook is a relic at this point, but the more people go there and PESTER Nickelodeon, the better!)

Rise’s facebook page

Leave good reviews. Share. Leave TONS of comments

Nickelodeon’s instagram

Nickelodeon’s Twitter page (treat carefully, there be Musks out there…only use if you are over 18)

Nickelodeon’s TikTok

Niceklodeon’s letter inbox

Nickelodeon, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036

Rugrats was brought back because fans bombarded Nickelodeon with letters saying they wanted it back. Might as well cover our bases. This one is a BIG DEAL!

Nickelodeon’s Corporate Number

1-212-846-2543 Call them! Annoy them! Ask how we can get their attention! Tell them why you love this show! Why it deserves to come back.

Contact Paramount

Paramounts Request form

Official Fan Page Rise’s Instagram

The more followers the better.

Netflix’s instagram

Netflix’s facebook

Netflix’s Twitter (Treat carefully. There be MUSKs out there…only use if you are over 18)

SPAM NICKELODEON’S EMAILS!

[email protected]

If anyone has any more, any deeper more direct points of contact, or more ideas, please share!

3. Leave good reviews for Rise anywhere and raise awareness everywhere you can!

One of the key reasons Rise did not do too well because it was unfairly review bombed before people could give it a chance…so get out there on tik tok, IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, and ESPECIALLY youtube.

Make reviews! Analysis! JOKES! Support other content creators! When the Rise Reanimated video comes out, share it like no tomorrow!

No one paid attention when How to Train Your Dragon came out, but word of mouth and people saying it was good, made it the success it was. Let’s repeat history!

Anytime there is NEW RISE CONTENT on Nickelodeon’s YouTube channel, watch it, share, spread it.

Share this post on social media, across various sites, use the information here to spread awareness about how people can help and what they can do. Be relentless! (Like Leo in Lair Games)

Ask influencers to review, react, and give RISE a chance without placing judgement.

4. Make. ART!

Draw, Write, TWEET, Make MERCH, Sell MERCH, Make Tik Toks, Videos on YouTube, posts on instagram, discord, what pad, demanding more Rise, spreading the word, and just showing how much you love this show! Not only will it attract attention, but it’s also good for all of us. There will be more Rise content either way.

Make sure to @ nickelodeon on ALL of your art! SPAM THEM! ANNOY THEM! DROWN THEM IN LOVE FOR THIS SHOW! Demand DVD’s and Blue rays of the SHOW AND THE MOVIE! It’s not fair that we can’t have access to it!

PLAY THIS GAME!

If you see official Rise MERCH in the while, buy it if you can! Also support as many rise content creators as you can. If you can’t draw? Write! If you can’t create! Like! Share! Comment! Support each other!

Rise April ART Challenge

Keep in mind…there WILL be pushback.

Companies as big as Nickelodeon and Viacom care about their bottom line: $$$…money. BUT pushback, whether they are taking down your videos on Tik Tok, striking artists on twitter, mean that they’re taking NOTICE. So don’t. Give. UP!

One last thing to remember: DO NOT harass fans for enjoying other versions of TMNT

Even though Rise is the first and only TMNT I have ever loved, I don’t believe in shaming other fans for looking forward to, or enjoying other TMNT series. Gatekeeping like that was what stopped Rise from (heh) Rising as high as it should have. All Rise fans are welcome, and all TMNT fans are welcome. Rise deserves to reach more fans, it deserves another season, and it does not need to knock down other TMNT series to do it. Show them your love and your need for more Rise, without making other TMNT fans feel unwelcome.

Share, spread the word, give it your best shot! A village can move MOUNTAINS! SO let’s do it.

So that in the near future…we can MAKE THIS JOKE!

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linawritestwst · 1 year

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Hey, Lina!! I hope you don't mind me making a request! How about hcs for Rollo with a reader who really enjoys the city of flowers and often visits? Yk like dates at local shops and stuff! (imagine rollo seeing soccer mom jill while on a date with the reader omg /j)

Thank you and I hope you have fun with this request! <3

rollo x reader who often visits the city of flowers (gn!reader)

of course, i don't mind you making a request!! especially a rollo-related one, hehe <3

this was so fun to write, thank you sm for requesting! i've been giggling and kicking my feet the entire time, haha. it would've been even more fun if tumblr saved my writing after the power went out, but oh well.

♡ when you had to go back to nrc, rollo knew that he will.. uh, miss you, if it's okay for him to say that. you were the only nrc student who knew everything about his actions, but still thought that he's a good person who deserves to be forgiven. you were still kind to him and when you had to leave, you even hugged him and waved him goodbye as you walked away with other students who looked at you like you just killed someone in front of them. like, how could he not miss you after this? but he knew that after everything that happened during the festival, there was a very low chance of you ever coming back to the city of flowers.

♡ .. so why exactly are you here again? no, of course, you coming back is a very nice surprise, but still.. why? rollo couldn't believe his eyes when he saw you and he needed a moment to process this. is this really you? maybe he just misses you so much that he literally sees you everywhere now? okay, if this really is you, you probably came back because of something school-related. maybe there's an event of some kind? but rollo thought that nrc students don't want to do anything with nbc students now.. wait, you came back because you liked this city a lot and wanted to see it again? that's understandable and he's very happy to hear that. he'll gladly show you all the places you haven't seen when you came here last time- if you're comfortable with that, of course. he doesn't know if you're okay with his company..

♡ you suddenly take both of his hands and smile at him while saying that you would love that. his hands were so cold before you did that and now they feel much warmer. however, you wanting to see the city of flowers again is not the main reason why you're here.. rollo asks what you mean by that. w-wait, you're here because "you missed him so much, you just had to come back"? you?? missed him?? huh?? great, he's even more confused now. ah, you probably mean it in a more "friendly" way, right? like maybe you just think that you and rollo could be friends or something like that? he stands there with his usual face expression all this time, but you can still notice his cheeks becoming a little more pink and him looking a bit lost. hehe, he's so adorable~

♡ but he keeps his promise and he does agree to show you the city of flowers once again. and even though you're not a couple (yet), whenever you're with rollo, it still feels like a date. he's just always so unintentionally romantic and it doesn't matter that he looks like a more cold type of person on the outside. of course, you take a chance to flirt with him every time he says something that can be taken in a more romantic way. his reactions depend on his mood, honestly. he either genuinely doesn't get it and stands there while going "???" or his face becomes more red and he tries his best to stay calm, but you know that you've successfully managed to fluster him. you love all his reactions though, they're equally cute.

♡ and again, even though you are not dating, literally everyone else thinks that you and rollo are in love with each other. every time someone sees you, even if it's just you and rollo walking around or buying something, people are like: "oh, you two are such a lovely young couple!!" rollo explains that you're just a friend who likes to come to this city often, but you can still hear him stuttering a bit and sounding not as calm as he wants to be. you love to go "but i thought we had something together :'(" and "come on, honey, we literally went on a date yesterday!" to make things even harder for him. you are going to kill him, y/n. and the worst thing about this is that he's trying so hard to make sure people know it's just a joke, but he's also going insane because "wait, did they just call me "honey""?

♡ every time rollo hears something about you visiting soon, he tries really hard to hide it, but everyone can see how excited he really is. it's hard for him to focus on other things, like his student council president's work, and he gets distracted more easily. other students don't even ask him anything anymore, they just know that it's something related to you. and yes, almost all nbc students think you two are dating. it's not like they're judging though, they're actually very happy for their president and think you two look very cute together. but when other student council members ask rollo if he needs some dating advice, he's not happy about it.

♡ when you can't visit him and you spend a long time not seeing each other, you still make sure to stay connected. rollo sends you letters and gifts and they're always so cute and thoughtful, they remind you of him every time you see them. you can also feel how shy he really is about all of this, when you read his letters, it's obvious he thinks he's being annoying or "too much". you encourage him to be more affectionate though, you love that side of him. whenever nrc students ask about the letters and the gifts, you proudly say that they're from your boyfriend. oh? they want to know more about him? it's a secret <3 if they say anything bad about him you will literally kill them

♡ when you and rollo finally start dating, you two can finally be more open and honest with each other, but.. other people think nothing has changed between you and him?? when you say that you two are dating now, everyone just goes "um, yeah, we already knew that". like, for example, you really do love the city of flowers, but rollo is still the main reason why you kept coming back. and if rollo knew that you're going to visit, he literally couldn't stop thinking about you. also, even if you couldn't see each other for a week or two, you and rollo felt like you're not gonna see each other ever again. you two really were dating all this time, you just didn't know about it.

#twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland imagines #twst imagines #twst headcanons #twst x reader #rollo flamm #rollo flamm x reader #rollo flamme #rollo flamme x reader

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jennamacaroni · 2 months

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Deborah is always giving things to people, and people think because she is very rich and very capable, she doesn't need anyone to give things to her. But Ava gives her something. [you take over from here]

its been two and half years that i've been ruminating on this prompt and never have been able to figure out what this gift could be. this morning i finally found my answer. thank you for sending this prompt which i'm sure at this point you've long forgotten about <3 love u

The package arrives by courier the same evening that Deborah learns ‘My Bad’ is going to network television. After an obscene bidding war, the purchase price from NBC Universal’s deal will be more revenue for Deborah than all 2,500 Palmetto residency shows combined. It also happens that NBC has the Super Bowl next February, and network executives pitched the big game to Deborah’s team as the perfect lead-in to maximize viewership.

That’s how big Deborah Vance is in popular culture these days. Big enough to follow up the most-watched television program of the year.

It’s kind of stunning, Deborah thinks, as Marcus offers her the iPad with the contract pulled up, ready for her signature. Maybe in her wildest dreams she imagined this level of fame and brand recognition, but it was never all that realistic. Especially not at her age. It was impressive enough to sustain her Vegas residency as long as she did in a culture where even the most prolific actors are put out to pasture after age forty. But here she is, about to sign the biggest deal of her career, north of seventy years old.

Josefina interrupts them before she has the chance to sign, knocking softly on the doorframe to Deborah’s office, holding a small package wrapped in a recycled paper grocery bag. “Sorry to interrupt, Deborah, but this was just delivered.”

Deborah waves her off. “Leave it in the kitchen, I’ll get to it later.”

Josefina turns to follow Deborah’s instructions, but something changes her mind. She hovers instead in the entry to the office, a strange look on her face.

“What is it?” Deborah asks, studying Josefina’s frown, mind going back to Ava hovering in a similar doorway holding the envelope from Kathy back after Frank died. She shakes the memory away and stands, holding out her hand and beckoning Josefina forward and to get on with it. She thought this was finally over, that after nearly hitting her with the Rolls Kathy would have gotten the goddamn message.

Josefina enters but stops short of handing it over. She looks Deborah clear in the eye and says, “It’s from Ava.”

Ah.

Deborah isn’t sure if anyone on her staff is still in contact with her ex-writing partner, but it’s been six months since Deborah fired her on that Hollywood rooftop.

First came the denial: Ava teary eyed on a night that she should have been celebrating, not believing Deborah’s words. I can do three months severance and extend your health insurance for six. Then came the anger, weeks of indignant and resentful texts and voice messages, Ava at her worst poking at every tender part of Deborah she knew, which is just about all of them. Deborah never once wrote back. Then bargaining for her job back, even when Deborah knew she was doing just fine writing for television back in LA, that she was even becoming pretty successful. Then came the weeks where Deborah heard nothing at all, Ava’s messages stopping completely, no updates on any of her social media that Deborah most definitely didn’t keep checking, just to make sure. Ava’s name in the credits became the only way Deborah knew she was still out there, still okay, still working.

Deborah clears her throat, swallowing down the acute tightening, ignoring the quickening of her heart rate.

“I’ll take it,” she says, curtly, “give me a minute.”

“I already opened the champagne Jimmy sent,” Josefina explains, handing Deborah the box across the desk. This was a night for celebration, but Deborah suddenly feels like anything but.

“I said, give me a minute,” she snaps, more forceful this time. Her tone clearly hits the mark because Josefina and Marcus share a knowing look before seeing themselves out. The contract, Jimmy, the champagne, it can all wait.

She sits back in the opulent wing-backed chair and lets out a long exhale, holding the small wrapped package and measuring its weight. There’s not much to it really, just wrinkled paper, crooked lines of clear packing tape, and Ava’s chicken scratch with her name and address.

She unwraps it carefully, like she’s afraid of what might be inside. There’s a plain white envelope with Deborah’s name written small in the center and a box for a pair of noise canceling headphones. She slips her finger under the seam of the envelope, tearing it open. A piece of note paper is tri-folded inside, Ava Daniels in neat block printing stamped along the top of the personalized stationery. Deborah chuckles, thinking Ava has come so far from writing solely on post-its. The note is simple, Ava’s messy handwriting in black ink in the center of the page:

For your collection. - Ava

Deborah opens the box but there are no headphones inside, only a bunch of balled up paper surrounding an oblong taped up ball of bubble wrap. Contained within are two ceramic figures, an unlikely pair: it’s quintessential Deborah in her favorite updo wig, a pants suit dusted in golden glitter, complete with golden high heels and microphone in hand. The other is a slightly shorter and paler figure with short auburn hair, striped t-shirt, high waisted jeans, and thick black Doc Marten boots. The tiny Ava is holding a small black notebook. They’re both laughing, and if placed side by side, the salt and pepper shakers turn slightly into one another, like they’re leaning in and sharing a raucous joke.

Deborah tears up, staring down at them centered on the desktop, Ava the pepper to her salt. The other half of her pair. She misses her desperately then, and if she’s serious with herself, has been for the past half of a year, never letting herself truly sit in those feelings until now.

She picks up her phone, squints at the screen through tears, and pulls up Ava’s contact. Before she knows what she’s doing, Deborah hits the call button.

The phone rings twice, then is sent to voicemail.

The recorded message says, “It’s Ava, drop it like it’s hot.”

Deborah clears her throat. She has no idea what she even wants to say. I miss you. I’m living my dream, I’m famous as hell, about to be more rich than ever, but I’m not happy. Not without you. Please come back. None of it is worth it without you.

But that would be selfish. Ava is doing fine, thriving even, without Deborah. She needs to let her be. Instead, she says, “Hey, it’s um, it’s me. I got your package.” She sniffles, swallowing tears. “They’re perfect. Thank you.”

She hangs up.

After her hands stop shaking and she’s gathered herself, Deborah carries the shakers to the wall of china cabinets where her collection is fully lit and on display. She makes room right in the center one at eye-level and sets them together, close enough to touch, their heads leaning into one another.

A few moments later Deborah signs the contract and the house celebrates, Jimmy toasting Deborah and her accomplishments over the phone to a bottle of Dom Perignon, a vintage for 1976, the very year Deborah filmed the late night pilot and ended up starting her stand up career.

If anyone notices the new addition to the salt and pepper shaker collection, no one mentions it.

#hacks #hacks hbo #filling some prompts to get back into it #so if you remember sending one i never answered you might get lucky :)#ava x deborah

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toreii · 2 years

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Glorious Masquerade spoilers #4

Rollo tells the group he’s been expecting them. He welcomes them to Noble Bell College.

Trein confuses Rollo for the headmage given his attire. Rollo introduces himself and clarifies that he’s the president of the student council.

Riddle notes that unlike their school, the student council exists as an autonomous organization in NBC. Roro confirms that, in a way, he is the representative of the school.

Other NBC students approach, and Idia freaks out saying more people he doesn’t know appeared.😂 Azul is like “What did you expect?” Meanwhile, Sebek is impressed with Rollo’s power, summoning all those people around him.

Rollo remains quiet, and for a moment Epel thinks he’s mad. Rollo continues to be silent, but then he explains that the other students are the vice president and assistants. He explains that when he heard that his wish to meet everyone who he respected were coming, he couldn’t help but take it all in just listening to them. That said, he formally welcomes the NRC group to Noble Bell College again.

Trein is impressed with Rollo’s manners. Deuce comments that Rollo seems like a gentle, expressionless guy. Silver says he’s relieved they didn’t offend him in any way.

Rollo tells everyone it would be best to leave their luggage, so that it doesnt get in the way. So, he suggests showing them to their rooms first. In the meantime, they can deepen their mutual understanding.

Idia is like “There, there, there! The guy who breaks the ice before the main subject~!” Idia says it’s really impossible talking with people he doesn’t know for the first time. Riddle wonders why a guy like Idia even came, and Trein is like “Let’s not talk about it…”😂😂

Noble Bell Courtyard

Azul is kissing Rollo’s ass. Just kidding. But, he’s eagerly talking to him, impressed to hear that Rollo is a third year student and student council president especially in such a small school. He also wants Rollo to address him without honorifics because Rollo is his senior, after all.

Idia interrupts Azul like “What are you doing?” Azul gets upset telling Idia that he’s busy. But Idia tells him that when Azul gets affable, he usually thinks about bad things that it makes Idia uneasy.

But, of course, Azul isn’t going to let this opportunity pass by. He’s here on business.

Malleus joins them and tells Azul he’s been watching him the whole time. He wonders if he too should act like Azul is doing. Azul notices Rollo staring at them, and apologizes to him for being caught up in their little banter.

Azul goes to introduce himself since he realized he hadn’t done so yet. Rollo says “No need. I know who you are.” He then proceeds to name Azul in full, and his position at NRC, plus the fact that he is a merman. Rollo does not stop there. He names Idia, and the fact that he’s a member of the Shroud family. Names Malleus, and details everything about him, including being one of the top five magicians in the world. Names Riddle, Jamil, Rook, Sebek, Silver, Epel, Deuce, and Ruggie. Rollo reveals he got all his information from a detailed report Crowley gave him.

Azul is pissed at Crowley wondering if that man has any sense of privacy. Idia quips that Crowley cannot complain even if he gets sued. (Crowley clearly hasn’t learned his lesson. Gives zero fs for the law🤣)

Rollo then takes note of Grim. He approaches him and asks who he is. Grim introduces himself as he usually does. The great Grim, strongest magician. Yuu also introduces themselves.

Rollo remembers that Crowley mentioned they are the students who are the attendants for the group. He then tells Yuu that he never imagined they would bring their familiar since Yuu is a person who can’t use magic.

Grim gets upset because “it’s the other way around.” He’s no familiar. He’s the boss. Rollo continues to tease Grim calling him a “reliable partner”. That said, Rollo tells Yuu it must be stressful being surrounded by magicians every day. He hopes Yuu can forget about school, and relax their “tired wings” at NBC.

Rollo directs the same sentiment to the others. He then decides to bring them to see the statue out in front of their school.

There he is. Frollo is finally in twst.

Anyways, Sebek comments that the place is clean. Not a leaf in sight. Rollo says that the students all love cleanliness. They’re very particular about it. Malleus comments that it is indeed neat and clean. Rollo is pleased that he understands. After all, they believe in integrity and purity.

Malleus, however, says he prefers abandoned and decayed🤣🤣🤣 Idia mutters that it’s no longer abandoned. Azul wonders what is a school without people.

Changing the subject, Rollo asks if they’re doing okay. Epel says yes. He’s in a different school, so everything is a first for him. Deuce feels the same. Epel then inquires about the statue. It’s the same as the ones at NRC.

Grim comments that it reminds him of the angry lady statue. Deuce clarifies that it’s the Queen of Hearts statue, the one he and Ace burned. Of course, Riddle gets this angry look on his face upon hearing that😂 Never gonna forget.

Anyways, Grim asks who the guy on the statue is. Rollo replies that he is the “Righteous Judge”. Grim doesn’t recall the name, so Riddle explains that he is one of the greatest men in history.

Trein says that 1st years are one thing, but 2nd years should obviously know from magical history class. Azul is like “Of course! I learned it in your class. You can’t forget!” Ruggie is shocked and is like “Really? My class hasn’t learned that yet.”

So, Trein decides to review right then and there. According to Trein, the Righteous Judge is a judge to have once existed in the City of Flowers. He was a very fair person, and always made the right decision. He is regarded as a great man along with the Great Seven.

Rollo says Trein is correct. When the city was about to be overtaken by bad guys, the Righteous Judge returned peace to the city through fair judgement. Everyone who lives in the City of Flowers respect him, and the students at NBC try to be fair like him.

They’re interrupted by an incredibly loud chime throughout the school. Idia is surprised by the sound. Malleus recognizes them as the bells, and Azul comments how loud they are. (I was wearing my headphones. Azul is right. I was not expecting it to be that loud.)

Rollo says it’s the sound of the “Salvation Bell”. Idia says it’s a magnificent name. Roro agrees. He explains that it is a magical tool that has been passed down from generation to generation.

Malleus akins it to the magic mirror at Night Raven College. Trein says yes. Magic tools that embody the school are often passed down at magician training schools.

Trein goes on to say that it’s been a long time that he’s heard the bell. Azul asks if Trein has been here before. Trein replies decades ago, on his honeymoon🥺🥺 He couldn’t see it because it’s an important magic tool, but his wife was very impressed by the beautiful tone.😭😭

Rollo tells Trein that he is welcomed to see the bell. Trein asks if it’s okay. Rollo says of course. The whole purpose of the exchange is to deepen mutual understanding. Trein thinks it’s a wonderful opportunity to learn about different magic tools from other schools.

Ruggie is already wondering if the precious bell is glimmering in gold. His sticky fingers are ready. Rook is looking forward to seeing the bell, wondering how beautiful it looks. Rollo points to the bell tower, telling everyone they will go to the top floor to see it.

To be continued…

I saved this screencap because of the handkerchief😭 It’s Esmeralda’s handkerchief😭😭😭 The little details…

#twisted wonderland #disney twst #twst spoilers #glorious masquerade

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cleolinda · 1 year

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A couple of days I had this overwhelming urge to talk about shit, so that happened. It was a good thing, maybe, and I’m #thankful for all your love and support. Anyone who said, “Things you wrote have helped me”—that’s why I write about personal things, like mental health and being bipolar as well. That’s entirely why. I truly believe that I am not alone in any human experience I have had, and I hope you can feel like that, too.

I realized that I did, in fact, talk about being bi here in 2015. I have no memory of this at all; I think it says a lot about the last 6-7 years that I didn’t even remember a time when I felt like I could say that.

So the post on Monday might have been superfluous after all, but I cried while writing it, so I guess that tells you I needed it. I’m not a crier, is the worst of it. I cry like three times a year. My backed-up Tear Concentrate burns like xenomorph acid. I don’t care for that shit at all. But it was kind of a good cry? Emotions, why do we have them.

As a point of interest, I still didn’t know I was sapphic bi when I was angry about the LGBT storylines in NBC’s 2013 Dracula series, which I recapped for a while. I was especially furious about Lucy’s bisexual “let me come out to Mina so she can throw me out into the street” arc, and I’m seeing some things about myself in the rearview mirror there. Also I will never forgive the show writer who was congratulating himself for having “real” storylines about how difficult it is to be LGBT, which included the horrible deaths of a gay male couple. Fuck off. We don’t need your “help.”

I absolutely did know when I was raging about The Magicians (when was this, 2019?). I believe I even said I was bi in the post about that, but talking about myself wasn’t the point there, and I don’t know how many people saw it. Those show writers, also, can fuck off into the sun, and I hope the sun tells them to fuck off as well.

I don’t know that I’ve ever been this blunt, this harsh about how angry I am. I’m usually very diplomatic. But this shit has consequences. I don’t cry often, but I cried in 2014 at the realization that I “couldn’t” be “normal” and straight, in the year before I came to love being normal and queer. Stories like Lucy’s are, subconsciously, why I would cry like that, why I would feel horrified at the idea of being myself. (Which I will write about later.) And that’s just the small way media effects me. We are seeing, in real time in the US now, the rippling consequences of insisting ever more hatefully that LGBTQIA people don’t get to be happy. As far as I can tell, media is crawling towards being better in the last few years. I wouldn’t know; I don’t invest much of myself in TV anymore.

I did not intend for this to be an angry post, but here we are. Maybe that’s why it feels different and even necessary to go through all of the “did I mention I’m queer” business again seven years later. I’m here and I’ve gone feral about it. Being angry right now feels like community. Wrath Month.

I am going to keep writing about some of the things I thought and went through during the year(s) I was figuring this out, because I think these experiences were weird and absurd—and recognizable. This is my blog now, welcome to hell. And happy Thanksgiving.

#me for some reason #long post #text post #I will never not be mad about the magicians and everyone can deal with it #welcome to hell it’s my blog

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idkthisisjustforfanfic · 2 years

Text

A STUDY IN YOU, chapter seven

August 30th, 2018

When you approached your supervisor at NBC about Jason’s invite, you were sure it was a reach. After only a few weeks at the internship and an awkward first impression when you almost tripped up a flight of stairs, you didn’t expect Maggie to go for it.

She’d nodded thoughtfully, said she’d get back to you after a conversation with her boss, and didn’t bring it up for another week. But then she gave you the green light.

Graduate Interns had rotations on various script development teams anyway, and if you wanted to forgo rotating and stick it out with Jason’s team, Maggie said that was your decision. No application necessary, but also no pay.

So after introducing them via email and wondering what Jason had been up to all summer, you smoothed out your t-shirt before you knocked on an open door frame.

“Hi,” you greeted, watched as he looked up from his computer at a conference table in midtown.

“Hey,” he smiled a little when he looked up. “How are you?”

“Good,” you smiled. “Fancy seeing you here.”

He laughed a little at that, your heart thumped when it sounded familiar.

“Wow—” he looked you up and down, a playful smile paired with a serious tone. “Surprised I made it a whole few months without a panicked email!”

“If I recall—I’ve panicked to you in person more than over email,” you defended, a quiet laugh when you crossed your arms over your chest.

“Oh, right,” he nodded, playing along. “I forgot that when you really need something from someone you just show up at their office first thing in the morning.”

“That was only once,” you rolled your eyes. “And 10am isn’t first thing in the morning.”

He rolled his eyes, smiled a little but then held your gaze.

You’d wondered all summer, checked your email a few times before blips of disappointment when there was nothing new.

When he’d texted in late June you smiled for a few days, knew that somewhere out there—in a bar or his stuffy office or maybe his living room—you existed in his mind.

But then July came and went and you wondered if whatever seemed to click into place in Cannes would vanish into the thick summer air of August.

Now he smiled up at you like he was about to say something, footsteps over your shoulder cut him off.

“Hi,” a woman smiled, shoulder length dark hair and cute glasses. “I’m Jennie. You must be…”

She offered a hand towards you, an eager look on her face when you fumbled with a greeting.

“Hi—I’m Y/N L/N—nice to meet you.”

“Uh—Jennie’s great, Y/N, she’s on our staff and she’s super talented.” Jason nodded and watched the two of you, still shaking hands in the middle of the room.

“I’ve heard so much about you,” she smiled sweetly. “Jason’s said a lot of great things.”

You pulled your hand back now, uncomfortable with the way your stomach churned with jealousy.

It’s not like you expected it to be just the two of you. It’s not like you expected to waltz in here and be his favorite and to sit and laugh and ignore everyone else in the room.

You just hadn’t really thought much at all about how the dynamic would shift with other adults around. Especially women.

Stupid—you felt the self-judgment rush in when you found a seat and greeted the other writers who had similarly disappeared for a snack or bathroom break. Coffee in a pitcher in the center of the table.

They launched in, read through what had already been secured for a storyline and did some brainstorming on a white board before lunch. Some of them knew each other from previous projects or mutual friends, you tried not to feel like the outsider.

You were quieter than usual, watching in awe as they excavated the fine details and sculpted the overarching themes. Jennie seemed more comfortable in the room than you—more confident when she threw out ideas or built on to someone else’s.

A loud but pleasant laugh when she tossed her head back—you tried to temper your own disdain.

You packed up your bag around 6pm, pretended that you didn’t see the way she gave him a playful shove when the day wrapped up.

“Hey,” he caught your attention when you turned towards the hallway. “Let me walk you out.”

You didn’t say anything, nodded and offered a farewell to Jennie and the gang over your shoulder when he fell into step beside you.

“Decent first day?”

“Yeah,” you nodded, though you weren’t entirely sure. A pang of frustration when you contemplated his actions. Was this a pity walk out?

“I’m glad you’re able to work with us,” he smiled. He watched you press the button for the elevator, it chimed in arrival before you stepped on.

“Me too, yeah—I appreciate you thinking of me. Hope I live up to your expectations.”

He smiled a little at that, one of those flirty smirks that had you second guessing your every move and swallowing down desire.

“You’re gonna be great,” he said.

The elevator buzzed in frustration—pick a floor!—you snapped back to reality and hit the L.

“You don’t have to come down—if you’re not leaving,” you scanned over his body. No messenger bag, no hat or sunglasses. He left his things in the conference room down the hall and shrugged when he met your eyes.

“I want to.”

The doors slid shut, a feeling of warmth washed over you when you were alone again. He smiled at you like he had something to say, like he wanted to crack a joke.

“What?” You looked at him now, a narrowed glance when you waited for him to spill it.

“Just—I don’t know—you’re funny and I guess I—“

He cut himself off.

“Say it,” you looked up at him, still unsure where he was going but certain you wanted to find out.

“I guess I missed you this summer, but—I don’t—I don’t want to be weird by saying that.”

“You’re not,” you shook your head a little, maybe too fast or too eager. The doors opened and you both stood frozen for a moment in the elevator.

You stepped out and he followed behind.

“I definitely missed Chinese take out,” you shrugged, another experiment and having the upper hand.

He pushed his lips out and nodded, a playful look on his face when he watched you for a second. You weren’t going to fold that easily and apparently, he knew it.

“Well, I’ll see you for class. Friday?”

“Friday.” You agreed.

So Thursday was quiet, you caught up on reading and emails and cleaned your bathroom. Your internship seminar with Jason was three hours, Friday evenings.

A small class, limited to 10 third-year students who were preparing to launch into the industry after completing 600 hours of internship over the two semesters.

Discussion and support and time to work on your capstone project: a year-long assignment of your choosing that could be added to your portfolio and would, hopefully, exhibit your growth as an industry professional.

Lucky for you, Max had also managed to secure a spot in Jason’s internship seminar. He sat beside you on the first evening and when both your phones lit up with the group chat, he offered a sly smile in your direction.

Sophie Mendez (6:32pm): when Max and Y/N get out of class let’s do O’Halloran’s—cheese fries sound perfect

Which is how you ended up in a booth by 7:10, Max tugged you out of the classroom and muttered under his breath: you need to leave him wanting more.

They put you on trial after the waitress took your order, desperate to hear how the first week in the writers room and in the classroom was after weeks of no communication.

“He walked me out of 30 Rock,” you fluttered your eyelashes a little, more of a brag about the location than the company.

“And we thought things were hot and heavy in the spring,” Naomi teased.

“Yeah—but—probably best to leave all of that in the past.”

“I’m sorry—did your crush not carry into this semester?” Max sipped his drink, implying you were full of shit.

“No--I just--I don’t know,” you laughed. “I feel like I need a fresh start with him, right? Now I’m doing my internship, somehow we’re writing a literal tv show together--”

You didn’t dare tell them his disclosure: I missed you this summer.

That didn’t feel like something you say to a student. You knew if you told them, the booth at O’Halloran’s would become even more of a courtroom and you’d get even more questions.

Sophie gave you a knowing look. “Which means spending way more time with him.”

“I’m in the writer’s room like twice a week, okay? And I only have one class with him,” you defended.

“But I feel like the stakes are higher,” Sophie cooed.

You couldn’t necessarily disagree. The start of a new semester had you wondering if this was a mess worth getting into. Did you want to throw yourself at him half of the time? Yes. Did you want to deal with the possible backlash and awkwardness that could come of it? No.

The obvious fix had to be repressing your crush, right? Right.

On Monday you showed up to 30 Rock and stayed focused. You were the first one there, sipping a coffee when Jennie walked in with a smile on her face.

“Hi!” She greeted, dropping her bag into a seat across from you. “Happy Monday!”

“Happy Monday,” you played nice, aware that your dislike of her was rooted in nothing.

She fished through her bag for some chapstick, applied it before she asked: “did you have a nice weekend?”

“I did,” you nodded. “Did you?”

“Yeah,” she took her seat. “Relaxing--Jason actually sent me a great movie recommendation, it was nice to just lay low.”

You smiled a little, had no clue what to say when she brought him into the conversation.

“Must be so cool to learn from him, right? He seems so knowledgeable and experienced.”

“Yeah,” you looked up at her now, uncertain where she was going with it. She was also hired by NBC to write on this show. After a late night google search fueled by red wine and pettiness, you learned she’d written on another successful sitcom in the early 2010s and had enjoyed a fair amount of celebrity from it.

Wasn’t she also knowledgeable and experienced?

Dan--a guy in his late 30s who always wore vintage band shirts--walked in and distracted her, thankfully. The rest of the team filed in and Jason did too. He took the seat next to Jennie and muttered something to her after offering a smile in your direction.

You dove into the pilot around 9:30--felt nervous in moments but weighed in a bit more as the clock ticked towards lunch. It was fun to be creative with new people and watch the way ideas snowballed into conversations and debates and finally, full-fledged scenes.

“If we do that--if Shawn does that,” Jason corrected, tugging on the collar of his shirt as he built onto your idea for the main character. “There’s no way one of his friends doesn’t get pulled into it.”

You nodded in agreement, knowing his comment was directed towards you as you fleshed out a detail. “Right,” you looked up at him before sprinkling in a joke, “pack of idiots type of thing.”

He laughed at that, “exactly.”

A moment of quiet in the room. Jennie and Dan exchanged a glance, Javier scribbled on paper and sipped more coffee.

“Should we break for lunch?” Jason looked around, eyes scanning the rest of the team. Nods and stretches when you stood from the table, grabbed your wallet from your bag and headed for the door.

“Y/N--wait up,” he called behind you.

You paused in the doorway and smiled, walked with him towards the elevator when he asked: “Where are you gonna grab food?”

“There’s a sandwich place a few blocks down that I’ve heard is good.”

He smiled, “Burton’s Deli, yeah.”

So he followed you out into the hallway and all the way there. He laughed when you told him how Max’s internship was going, he’s not famous yet so…he’s upset. Once you were in line behind other people on their lunch break, he turned to see you.

“Everyone on the team is pretty cool, right? I feel like we have a good vibe going.”

“Yeah,” you nodded, not sure if you really meant it. A step forward when someone else got their sandwich. “Did you know any of them before this?”

“I’ve known Dan for a while--him and I have worked together a few times before. I also recommended him.”

You nodded. “What about Jennie?”

He looked at you, caught the glimpse of whatever it was in your eyes and smirked. “What about her?”

“Did you know her before this?”

“No,” he shook his head. “She wrote with a friend of mine on a show a few years back, but--why? Do you not like her?”

“No,” you let your head wobble side to side. “She’s nice--I don’t know.”

He laughed, another step forward in line. “You don’t know?”

“She had a lot of questions for me this morning.”

It felt good to be honest, you know you could say things to him now and he wouldn’t repeat it. Somewhere along the lines, whatever there was between you had solidified into something. Friends? Colleagues? You pushed the desire for a label out of your mind when he seemed curious.

“About?”

“You.”

His eyebrows raised, not the answer he was expecting. “Me?”

“About NYU and--you know--school stuff,” you clarified.

He nodded. “I see.”

“She’s fine--I don’t know, I’m sure we’ll get to know each other better.”

“From what I’ve heard she’s really great. I talked with producers and we knew we wanted a good female perspective on everything. Nothing’s worse than a writers room with only men.”

“Well if she’s the female perspective, what am I here for?” You teased.

He smiled, rolled his eyes a little at you but then grabbed a soda from the cooler. “Well, number one, I thought you’d be a good fit for this writer’s room because of your talent and skill.” He made a face as if to say duh. He wasn’t going to let you dunk on yourself like that.

“Number two…there’s more--” he trailed off, looked around the room like it hid the word he was searching for-- “history, between us, so, I guess I kind of trust you more.”

History. You smirked at that--unsure if it was a subtle nod to the way he looked at you in Cannes or just a figment of your imagination.

You didn’t reply, met his eyes quickly but moved through the line and walked back to the midtown conference room without asking for clarification.

He had to know what he was doing. At this point, you both danced up to the line and threatened to cross it, daring the other to do it first.

A metaphorical tug of war, and when you left 30 Rock that night, you wondered how it would end.

The rest of the week went about as you expected, you had your first day on set with another NBC show and grabbed drinks with the other interns on Wednesday.

When the weekend circled back again, you spent the afternoon in the park with Sophie sipping on rosé before your phone chimed to signal a new message.

Jason Sudeikis (3:41pm): I know Sundays aren’t for working but I might have figured out a solution to our transition issue in the final pilot scene

Y/N L/N (3:42pm): Yeah? What’s that?

Jason Sudeikis (3:42): We could just have Shawn meet Natalie in the second episode

Jason Sudeikis (3:43): Like have it open with them meeting

Y/N L/N (3:43pm): Oh that might work. That way we don’t have to cram it in

Jason Sudeikis (3:44): Exactly!

Jason Sudeikis (3:44): Sorry to bother you on a Sunday though, just figured I’d share the idea with someone to bookmark it

Y/N L/N (3:46pm): This was only a small interruption to my rosé in the park with Sophie, so I’ll let it slide

Jason Sudeikis (3:48): What a perfect Sunday afternoon activity haha

Jason Sudeikis (3:48): Much better than mine

Y/N L/N (3:49pm): Which is?

Jason Sudeikis (3:50): Avoiding cleaning my apartment by thinking about work

You laughed out loud a little, Sophie eyed you through her sunglasses.

“Are you texting him?”

“I don’t know who him is.”

“Oh my god,” she groaned. “At least it’s elevated to texting instead of emailing.”

“We don’t text often,” you informed her, sitting up to look out at the other patrons in the park. Down towards the tip of the island, kites and boats visible in the harbor when you sipped your glass of wine. “And we’re texting right now about work stuff.”

“I’m so excited for you guys to just fuck at some point--”

“Sophie, I have no idea if that will ever happen.”

“He got you a spot in his writer’s room,” she reminded you. “He texts you. He treats you like you’re his friend--not his student.”

“That doesn’t automatically mean he wants to have sex with me.”

“No--but a few more late nights in his office or whatever and something is bound to happen.”

You thought on it for a second, let yourself imagine what it would be like to feel his mouth against yours or his hands on your bare skin. You sighed.

“What?” She eyed you again.

“Well--I know it’s been fun for all of us to hype this whole thing up but, I don’t know, there could be serious consequences, right?”

“Let’s find out,” she picked up her phone, typed a few things into Google before she cleared her throat. “New York University Policies and Guidelines…Sexual Misconduct?”

“Oh jesus--”

“Here--Policy on Consensual Intimate Relationships.”

The words made your stomach churn with anxiety. Sophie kept reading out loud.

“Entering into a sexual, dating or romantic relationship (“Intimate Relationship”) when one individual has power or authority over the other may compromise freely given consent, put the academic and professional development of the individuals at risk…blah blah blah, okay I’m skipping ahead.”

You laughed a little at her short attention span, another sip of rosé.

“Intimate Relationships between the following individuals are specifically prohibited: a faculty member and an undergraduate student--that’s not you guys,” she injected her own commentary. “A faculty member and a graduate student in the same discipline or academic program; an academic or faculty advisor and an advisee; a teaching assistant and a student in the teaching assistant’s class--okay so that’s two strikes already for you.”

“Okay,” you waved your hand in the air, a defeated tone in your voice. “It’s prohibited--we get it.”

She ignored you, kept scanning her screen. “Although it is recognized that the student or subordinate may be a full and willing participant in an Intimate Relationship--”

“That hasn’t even happened,” you reminded, waiting to hear the rest of it.

“Both the responsibility for adhering to this policy and the consequences for violating it fall upon the person in a position of power or authority, rather than the student or subordinate. Violations of this policy are referred to the appropriate disciplinary procedure based on the status of the employee in the position of greater power or authority over the other individual.”

You stared at her, digested the formal language.

She scrunched her nose and nodded behind her sunglasses. “So even if you initiate it or if it’s consesual, he could get fucked over.”

“Great.”

“Unless you guys keep it a secret,” she wiggled her eyebrows. “And play it super safe.”

“After reading all of that I’m shocked you think I have the balls to do anything.”

“Oh come on--neither of you would ever want to get the other in trouble.”

Okay, fine, fair. He’d never let you take the blame but you’d never let him go down alone. No, no, no, you couldn’t let Sophie talk you into this.

“And if he’s also into you, he wouldn’t want to risk getting himself in trouble so he would totally keep quiet about it.”

“Sophie--”

“I’m just saying!” She clicked her phone shut and dropped it down to the blanket you’d spread out on the grass. “Just playing devil’s advocate.”

“Alright, well thanks, but--I still think all of this is just better left alone.”

“And I will respect you if you choose not to do anything,” she said. You could tell there was more to her sentence. “But I also respect if you need to get laid and think Sudeikis is the perfect suitor.”

Now it was your turn to stare at her through your sunglasses, another sip of rosé with a coy smile. “Noted, Soph, thanks.”

September 16th, 2018

Max got stuck late at his internship, leaving an empty seat beside you in Jason’s internship seminar on Friday night. Class moved on as usual, a glance in Jason’s direction when he handed out initial self-evaluations and his fingers brushed yours.

“These are due in a few weeks--nothing serious but there’s a self-evaluation for you and a professor eval for me. We each do our part, discuss, and then review again at the mid-year mark and at the end of the spring semester,” he explained.

The internship seminar was a full-year course. Meaning that until May 15th, when you walked across the stage for graduation, you’d spend Friday nights with Jason.

“I trust you to fill Max in on all of this?” He smiled down at you before he kept walking around the circle of chairs. You nodded, took an extra for your friend and slipped it in your backpack.

“We can schedule meetings to review these together,” he said to the group. “But for now take them home and let me know if you have any questions in the meantime.”

A majority of class time was spent discussing various things that happened at everyone’s internships: the cool things they did and how they were bringing what they learned in the classroom onto set. The assigned reading was light--memoirs by various writers and directors-- with plenty of excited and casual discussion about navigating the jump from student to intern to employee.

The start of your third and final year felt terrifying, and you didn’t know how concerned to be when you realized that Jason provided just as much comfort at this point as your friends.

It almost came as a relief, to know that you’d move through the remainder of the academic year with this group by your side. Max and the other classmates you’d grown with, books by some of your heroes and the stable Friday nights where you knew you’d laugh just as much as you’d learn.

And after class on the third week of the semester, you found Naomi on a bench outside Grayson Hall. She sat cross-legged with her laptop open, editing whatever project she was working on.

You walked over and sat beside her, she tugged her headphones off and smiled. “Survive another week?”

“Barely,” you laughed. “I don’t know about you but I’m tired.”

She nodded. “Internship plus classes plus work plus social,” she shrugged. “I don’t know how we’re supposed to do it.”

“The promise of a degree and a paycheck one day makes it easier,” you admitted.

“How was your class?”

“Fine,” you said simply. “Max had to run to a meeting for his new doc,” you gestured off through campus, imagined Max grabbing another espresso before his 7pm arrival. “What are you working on?”

“Basic edits,” she shrugged, flipped her computer around to show you how things were coming along. “Easy project for my internship.”

“You like it, though, right?”

Naomi smiled. She was easily the quietest of the friend group, the responsible one. You appreciated her advice and respected that she seemed to be the voice of reason when it came to your inconvenient lusting after Professor Sudeikis.

“I love it,” she told you. “It’s exhausting and I have no energy to cook, but I can’t believe how fast time flies when I’m there and I feel giddy every morning to go to work.’’

You nodded, listened when a thought popped into her head and she laughed.

“Must be what it’s like to go to work with Jason everyday.”

“Ha ha,” you faked a laugh, she reached over and patted you on the thigh, you know I’m kidding.

“Speaking of, though--” you looked over her shoulder, saw him approaching from the front doors of Grayson. “Let’s act like we don’t talk about him all the time.”

She looked back at her computer, did an impressive job of glancing over at him casually as he approached.

“Hi,” his hands were in his pockets, sunglasses over his eyes when he stopped on the sidewalk right in front of you.

“Hey,” you greeted, Naomi offered a smile, the look on her face told you she wondered if she should give the two of you a moment alone.

“Hi Naomi,” he smiled.

“Hello,” she offered him a knowing glance. So much for Naomi’s claim that she didn’t do anything obnoxious.

“I was just heading to my office—gonna try to knock out some work on the script.”

“Oh,” you said, a quick glance in Naomi’s direction. “I could come with you—I don’t mind.”

“Yeah,” he shrugged a little, a soft smile. “Of course—if you’re free.”

“Well then,” you smiled down at Naomi. “I won’t keep you!”

You shouldered your bag and stood, she laughed when you encouraged her to enjoy some leftovers and embrace the exhaustion: all in a day's work.

Jason sent a text on his phone but then looked up at you when you headed for Luft.

“You’re sure you’re up for another late night with me?” He laughed, adding a qualifier at the end: “you know, of writing.”

“Yeah,” you nodded. “I had a coffee at 4pm today which is way too late for me, so I’ve got some energy to burn.”

“Ahh,” he said knowingly. “Is the lack of sleep in this industry finally catching up with you?”

“Either that or I’m getting old,” you joked.

“Please,” he rolled his eyes. “You’re fine.”

“Well--the latte that Max practically shoved down my throat won’t last forever, so--apologies in advance if I crash.”

He told you about his commute when you climbed the steps to Luft--a woman went into labor on the subway and someone was barefoot! You filled him in on the other days at your internship on set for a popular show as a writer’s assistant, laughed about how so far you’d been asked to fetch two sandwiches.

They’re obviously not using your skills to the best of their ability, he teased.

He uncapped expo markers after you both settled in, you tossed ideas back and forth about the script and jotted down some moments of dialogue that you worked out. You took your usual seat, paced around the room when you thought out loud. He smiled and watched you, argued when he thought an idea was not your best, but also complimented your commitment when you tried to stifle a yawn.

“If you need to go home and sleep, I get it,” he laughed. “No need to be a hero.”

“No,” you shook your head. “I’m fine--and we’re doing good work,” you looked at the whiteboard on the side wall. His handwriting was messier than yours, arrows connected plot points and he didn’t erase the stick-figure drawing of one of the characters you’d made.

It was already 9pm. Did your bed sound nice? Did a hot shower feel like it held the answer to all of your problems? Partially. But you weren’t about to give up alone time with him in his office as music faintly drifted through his laptop speakers.

You fell into silence for a while, reading through the scene notes a few times and racking your brain for ideas. You tossed a few back and forth, laughed about the dumb ones but still came up short.

After another ten minutes of silence—and when the words on the page started to jump around—you sighed.

“Alright, I can’t do this anymore,” you slunk down in your seat and pulled the hood of your sweatshirt over your head, tugged at the strings to cover your face. “My brain is fried.”

“Hey, for a fried brain you’ve still come up with some good stuff tonight.”

“Are you kidding me?” You laughed, brought your eyes up to see him when you pushed the hood back down to your shoulders. “I suggested we give a character an evil twin.”

“It’ll come to us,” he laughed, leaning back and rubbing his eyes. “Let’s just—uh—order food! We need dinner,” he shrugged like this was the obvious fix; you hoped it was his attempt at extending the evening.

“What do you want?” You asked, boredom still cloaked your words and he shot you an unimpressed glance.

“I don’t know—we can always do Chinese, there’s a pizza place that’s really good too—“ he rifled through paper menus in his desk drawer.

“Let me see,” you stood from your table in the corner, took a few steps and reached out a hand.

“I’m getting them,” he said, a playful tone when he rolled his eyes in jest. “Hold on!”

“Not fast enough,” you said, reaching from over his arm. “Just let me see it.”

“No,” he laughed, tugging it out of reach as he stood. He held it overhead, arm extending out towards the ceiling. You reached for it but weren’t close enough, a shit eating grin crept onto his face.

You looked up at him, the smile at his dumb humor faded when you felt the heat from his body. Close.

“I was gonna give it to you,” he said quietly, feet still planted in the same spot.

“I don’t believe you,” you rolled your eyes.

“You don’t seem to believe a lot of what I say.”

“Well sometimes it seems like you’re full of shit.”

“I’m not,” he shrugged innocently.

You stared at him for a second, tried to count to three to see if it was worth the risk. It was.

You leaned up and pushed your mouth into his, hands cupped around his jaw before you felt his hand link around your waist to tug you closer.

But then he pulled back.

“I shouldn’t—you know, uh—I’m sorry.”

“No,” you shook your head quickly, wiped the trace of him off your mouth. Oh god. “I know—I should probably go.”

“Okay.”

“Yeah,” you moved over to your seat, picked up your bag and slid your laptop and papers inside. “I’ll see you in a few days, I’ll let you know if anything comes to me,” you gestured down to the script that was now tucked in your bag.

“Okay, yeah—ditto.”

“Alright,” you hurried to the door. He scratched the back of his neck, the watch on his wrist would keep ticking, the moment slipping away into the night.

“See you—“

“Yep—bye.”

The door shut behind you and echoed in the otherwise empty building. You hurried down the stairs and rounded each corner with haste.

Holy shit. Holy fucking shit.

It was exhilarating and terrifying all at once, something that floated into your mind with ease on a sunny afternoon or when you climbed into bed.

But now it happened—not just in your brain—but in his office. The September night was quiet when you came out to the safety of the sidewalk. The sun left streaks of orange in the denim blue sky, you took a deep breath.

Well, there was that.

To: Y/N L/N

From: Jason Sudeikis

Subject: review

September 18th, 2018 - 11:12am

Hi Y/N,

Your first internship review is due by the end of the month. I’m sure it’s on your radar but since you haven’t mentioned it yet let’s find a time to meet. Let me know.

Prof. Jason Sudeikis, PhD

Cinema Studies, NYU Tisch

Office hours T/TH 5-7pm or by appointment

To: Jason Sudeikis

From: Y/N L/N

Subject: RE: review

September 18th, 2018 - 1:48pm

Hi,

Yes, been meaning to schedule that. Sorry for the delay. I could drop by office hours? Let me know.

Best,

Y/N L/N

MFA Candidate

Cinema Studies, NYU Tisch

(212-555-8495)

To: Y/N L/N

From: Jason Sudeikis

Subject: review

September 18th, 2018 - 4:31pm

Hi,

Office hours are fine. Let’s aim for Tuesday this week. See you then.

Prof. Jason Sudeikis, PhD

Cinema Studies, NYU Tisch

Office hours T/TH 5-7pm or by appointment

September 20th, 2018

It took a few days for you to wrap your head around it. Luckily, for those few days, you were able to avoid your friends and throw yourself into work to avoid whatever questions they’d have and whatever answers you didn’t.

It was the weekend, so you did some obsessing over the script and some cleaning of your apartment to keep busy. You did your grocery shopping and picked up your laundry from the wash and fold on your block. His emails had come through on Sunday.

So when you made your way through campus later in the week, you were sure he wouldn’t be late this time.

He was actually already standing behind his desk, looking out the window when you knocked.

“Hey,” you met his eyes when he turned to see you.

“Hi,” he said, voice quiet. He took a step forward but then stopped awkwardly. “Do you want to come in?”

“Do you want me to?” You treaded lightly, not sure where he was at.

He nodded. You shut the door behind you when you stepped inside, careful to be quiet as it latched into place. You hadn’t seen him since it happened, hadn’t been inside his office or close enough to remember what it felt to be pressed up against him.

Your thoughts raced for a second: what did he do over the weekend? Did he think about you and what to say and what it meant? Was he angry?

You took a few steps towards him, parted your lips to speak but he cut you off.

“I want to apologize, I guess, for the other night. I think I was just caught up in the heat of the moment, and I crossed a line and that wasn’t cool.”

You blinked a few times, simultaneously touched by the sentiment in his words but also desperate to feel him again. It had been one kiss--quick and clunky and one that came with an immediate sense of confusion. One that you initiated and knew was steeped in risk. But it made you want him more.

“No, I’m sorry—I’m the one who crossed a line, I don’t--I don’t know why it happened.”

He laughed a little, a casual shrug as if his words didn’t shatter the air around you, as if you weren’t lying to his face.

“I mean, I think there’s always been something here.”

You waited a beat—gave him a chance to clarify but he left you hanging.

You spoke quietly, the look in his eyes told you he knew the game you were playing. “What do you mean?”

You kept your eyes on his for a moment, leaned against his desk and crossed your arms over your chest. Hearing him say it out loud made your pulse quicken, but it didn’t stop the alarm that sounded in your head: don’t be stupid, he’s your advisor.

He took a step closer to you, eyes scanning over your entire body like he was just as confused. “What do I mean?” he repeated your question with a smirk. You watched him come closer until there were only a few inches between you, close enough to smell his aftershave and feel the heat from his body.

You both leaned in this time, slower and less scared but somehow just as timid and shy and soft. You felt him smile against your mouth when you let out a quiet moan, your hands reached up to his face, the stubble on his chin scratched your skin in the best way.

He reached a hand down and grazed the inside of your thigh, right above the hemline of the button down skirt you wore. A shiver down your spine when his fingers met the fabric of your panties. Maybe it was wrong or unethical or whatever, but when he pushed the material aside and made contact with your clit, you were putty in his hands.

You melted into him, pushing yourself on top of the desk to grant him better access. You spread your legs almost involuntarily, aching into his fingers when he bit your lower lip. His middle finger swooped to gain entrance and he dipped inside you with ease.

He knew what he was doing, no doubt. But the build up and the slow burn of wondering if anything would ever happen seemed to amplify the sensation that grew between your thighs.

It didn’t take long before you rode your orgasm out onto his fingers, his other hand was firm against your jaw before he pulled away and cleared his throat, he was almost out of breath.

“Should we—uh—should we do your first review?”

You tried to catch yours, nodding when he walked around to sit at his desk. “Yeah--yes, uh--I don’t--do you have the form?”

“I do,” he nodded, scratching his jaw when he clicked around on his computer. “It’s here somewhere.”

You smoothed out your skirt and your hair, sat across from his desk. “Okay.”

Silence for a moment, your heart was in your throat and the excitement of the moment sprouted roots in your chest, delirious. Hopefully that would happen again soon.

“Here,” he said, seemingly more settled. He let out a longer breath and scanned over the form. “I fill out the advisor one, you fill out the student one.”

“Makes sense.”

He clicked his mouse again and then the printer behind him came to life. A green light on the screen before it spit out four pages--two for him and two for you. He didn’t say anything when he stood and got them, turned around and handed you a pen before he took his seat again.

He looked over his form and you tried to focus.

The following self-assessment is intended to…

You chanced a look in his direction. His brow was furrowed and he bit the top of his pen. Was he waiting for you to acknowledge it?

Okay, nevermind. You looked down at the paper.

On a scale of one to five, please rate your current performance in the following areas.

Now you felt his gaze. You looked up and met his eyes for a second, the corner of his mouth pulled up and yours did too.

table of contents | talk to me & join the tag list | the playlist

tag list: @sheerangermany @clarebearr @tedlassostan @hart-kinsella @kahluamystery97 @airplanes924 @trulymadlykiki @thisismysecondrodeo @mypugsley @jng4kook @msolbesg @stankface @ljej95 @ivetastedbloodanditissweet @pascal-reyes @paola-carter @rubberduckingaro @golden-hoax @ccbb2222 @caplikeme @outofthecradlex @mackenzmeme @reann-shitposting @very-berry-harry @winter-soldier-007 @tinydeskwriter @femmel90

AN: OKAY HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!!!

I've been so excited to share this chappie with you guys like from the START. And tbh I have to give myself a pat on the back for how this ends.........with the smirking. I'm so into it even though I wrote it oops. OKAY hope you liked it lots more to come pals! ALSO. the playlist is now up and I'm having a lot of fun choosing songs!!! ALSOOOOO asking a favor. I'd love to know what peoples' favorite parts of chappies are. Especially those of you who reread them??? I would love to know which sentence or paragraph really hits you, so if you feel like entertaining me and making me happy, I'd appreciate it a lot!

#asiy #jason sudeikis #jason sudeikis fic #jason sudeikis fan fic #jason sudeikis fanfic #jason sudeikis blurb #jason sudeikis imagine #jason sudeikis smut #jason sudeikis x reader #jason sudeikis reader insert #ted lasso

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columboscreens · 2 years

Note

thoughts on ransom for a dead man? i noticed no one really acknowledges it when discussing the pilots even though it came before murder by the book (i think), so isn't it considered a pilot too? or am i wrong and it was meant as a standalone?

ransom for a dead man did indeed precede murder by the book, as it was a second pilot ordered by NBC. prescription: murder was the actual pilot, but after finally snagging peter falk for a full first season, the network wanted to whet the popular appetite in preparation for the mystery wheel.

if you can believe it, falk was reluctant to sign on in the first place. he wanted time to do films, he'd enjoyed but gotten burned doing network serial television with trials of o'brien, and friends john cassavetes and elaine may tried to talk him out of doing it! "luckily", he'd been swindled out of a hefty sum of money by one of his managers, so the man needed a paycheck, and judging by the public reception to rx: murder, NBC was willing to hand him anything on a silver platter. and so columbo we got.

that said, this episode is actually one of my personal favorites. while rx: murder showed us a surprisingly fleshed-out character for just a pilot, this is the first episode where we get a fully mature columbo; the whole team now knew who the character was. characteristics were solidified all around: the (dyed brown, at falk's request) suit, the unseen wife, the lack of firearm, the raincoat (he wears one in the previous episode but it's a different garment), the shaggier hair, the fear of heights, the love of chili. the format, the banter, the gotcha. all of these were codified in episode two.

but the true star of this episode in my opinion is lady lawyer leslie williams, one of my all-time favorite columbo villains. lee grant portrays her pitch-perfectly, lending beauty, cunning, and intellectual gravitas to a character that commands all of the above.

i'd let her shoot me in my own living room. what? i didn't say anything

in this era especially, she is truly special in that she is written like a man. by that, i mean she is given the same treatment of multifaceted characterization and competence that a man would. she's not owed the lachrymose sympathy of the forgotten lady or given the erratic hysteria of the lady in waiting. she kills simply to get what she wants.

peter falk was sort of benevolently sexist in that he tended to push back against having too many female murderers on the show, especially those who were less than sympathetic. he didn't like portraying women as villains, and you'll notice that each season has on average only one female killer.

and sure, that sounds about par for the course for murder statistics, but women are flawed in interesting ways too, and i believe true equitable treatment in media includes showing that they, too, can be evil, greedy, and cold-blooded, without making them one-note. leslie williams embodies every hypercapable, calculating aspect of a culp or cassidy killer, but is also feminine and charming, with a certain softness, vulnerability, and calmness about her. she has no inclination towards children, but isn't cruel for cruelty's sake--it is only when her stepdaughter stands in the way of her plans that she incurs her wrath.

what i also like about this episode is that it's not her arrogance that leads to her downfall per se, it's her avarice and lack of empathy. naturally, nearly every columbo villain is filled with great amounts of arrogance; you kind of have to be to take someone's life like that in the first place, right? but though she initially considers him little more than rumpled window dressing, and though she taunts him when she's nearly gotten away with her crime, this esquire senses columbo's frightening intellect as soon as he begins engaging with her at length.

while partly for the audience's expository benefit, this insight does rattle columbo somewhat, and he's mildly taken aback at just how accurately she's pegged him. it solidifies his opinion of her outstanding ability, and, now on the back foot in this exchange, he immediately shifts gears in his approach. he now knows that he needs to get creative in the way columbo gets creative in order to arrest her. to me, it's one of the most interesting villain dynamics of the series.

uh......shit. listen ma'am do you wanna do a show on broadway together

so yeah, i highly enjoy this outing. it tickles the little girl in me who always loved seeing badass female characters, especially ones who didnt necessarily have to punch and kick their way through things. and because leslie williams' badassery lies in her strength, complexity, and intellect, i'll always have a soft spot for this episode.

their PALPABLE chemistry aside....

#i love you sociopath lady lawyer #columbo #ransom for a dead man #ask #text #longpost #lee grant

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theonethinginlife · 1 year

Note

Ok having Amanda saying she's bored with teaching but doesn't want to break Sonny's heart, this is some juice for a good come back story next season, it gotta be or they wouldn't put it out there. Reading major 'we fucked up and now we trying to patch things up with a plausible come back' no shit sherlock.

Anyway that's my Amanda sweet honey, loved that she's not magically healed up and she still struggles a bit on talking/sharing, now with a bit of fear on not wanting to hurt or disappoint the people she loves and who loves her, understandable, she just have to talks things out with Carisi AND Liv, sometimes it's hard I get it, especially if you don't see your best friend every day anymore and you fear to disappoint her? doesn't know how to explain it to her?

Also I believe Sonny would have noticed something was off with Amanda, he knows her so good too, but with the baby news he got a bit distracted and he has his worries and probably it skipped his mind a bit, also understandable, hence talking! I hope we get a good scene on svu next week about this with both Amanda and Carisi and her and Liv. Setting up hopefully her return next season. Maybe they could keep her as a consultant or something for a while plus she still teach part-time at Fordham, but if the show goes on for more years (which it's totally possible, yes it got less viewers than before but it's still the most watched/popular show on nbc they won't drop it anytime soon) she can slowly come back to svu as detective (Stabler left nypd and then came back to it so totally possible), maybe ranking up, something that she deserves, giving her less time out in the field 'in possible danger', or they can work something up with Liv anyway, possibilities are endless. Key word coming back.

Hey anon! Does really feel like they're setting her up for a return in some capacity--I'd ideally like it to be a consulting type of role, because that lets her flex her psychology muscles while still not being in the line of fire.

I really think that the only reason Amanda hasn't told Liv about the baby is simply because she knew that Liv would clock her about her uncertainty about her job, and she's not ready for that yet. (More details in a Twitter thread here.)

I hope they do flesh this out a little more--and I can't think of any reason to do that unless they want to bring her back somehow.

#rollisi #jenna answers #svu spoilers #amanda rollins #rolivia

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moviemunchies · 8 months

Text

[Doing another TV show review. This one can be found on Roku.]

Over a decade ago, the Sci-Fi Channel/SyFy was known for two things: terrible original monster movies, and great original television shows that it canceled too soon. Alphas was the first SyFy original series that I watched, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

I was fairly impressed by it.

Alphas takes place in a world (perhaps the same world as Eureka and Warehouse 13) in which certain individuals, dubbed “alphas”, have enhanced physical or mental abilities–superpowers. Ordinary human psychologist Dr. Lee Rosen (played by David Strathairn) leads a government-funded team of alphas to investigate criminal cases involving alphas, especially regarding a secret activist group called Red Flag. Along the way, the team has to cope with their own problems–after all, each power comes with a physical or mental drawback.

This show came out about a year after the NBC series Heroes, I think? Do you remember Heroes? It was a show that everyone went nuts for even though I don’t know of anyone who has much positive to say about it after the first season (it also got hit by the Writers’ Strike in its run, so maybe not its fault). Alphas got a lot of comparison to Heroes. It had a much lower budget, but I think that it works in the show’s favor? It’s aiming for a more grounded attempt at superhero fiction, after all.

I do not want to call the superpowers in this show “realistic”; some of them are quite ridiculous! But they’re generally smaller in scale and the show works to create explanations that sound somewhat plausible. There’s an alpha who doesn’t turn invisible, as much as walk in people’s blindspots. There’s an alpha who can shapeshift, but he has to study his subject extensively before transformations.

Leaning into that: a fascinating aspect of the powers in the show was that each one came with a disadvantage. Some of these are physical; on the team, for instance, Bill has enhanced strength that kicks in with his body’s fight-or-flight response. The problem is that his body can’t handle going through that for extended periods of time. Sometimes (and seemingly more often) the side effects are psychological; Nina, whose power is temporarily being able to mind control people, has significant trust issues and a tendency to use her ability for petty tasks like getting out of speeding tickets.

This adds a dimension to the powers–it helps build these characters, so that their powers don’t feel as if they’re just tacked on. The psychological aspects help the characters feel more grounded, as it questions how people would act if they had these powers, and the physical limitations puts boundaries on what the characters are capable of. There’s nothing as gaudy as time travel or throwing bolts of lightning here.

The main conflict of the series is between the government and the group Red Flag. It’s pointed out more than once that alphas have every reason to be antagonistic towards the US government, given its tendency to exploit and imprison alphas whenever they want. Many in Red Flag have sympathetic motivations and backstories, making the heroes wonder at times if they should really be fighting them at all.

If you decide to get invested in this series (which maybe you should, as it’s pretty good), you should be aware that it only lasted two thirteen-episode seasons, and it ends on a cliffhanger. Not one of those, “Oh, what happens next?” cliffhangers, a full-on, “Everything is screwed!” cliffhanger, that makes you think there must have been a really good plan for what happens next. That doesn’t change that the show is good, but you might end up deciding that it wasn’t worth getting worked up over a story that’s clearly unfinished.

But overall, Alphas is good. It’s really good. If you’re into superhero fiction, but won’t mind the lack of costumes or secret identities, this could be a good show to try. Or if you’re just interested in science-fiction series, it’d be worth giving Alphas a try.

#Movie Munchies #Alphas #SyFy #superheroes #reviews

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jxckyx3 · 1 year

Text

God, I don't even know at this point but this prompt dates back to like... probably two years ago?

(⁠;⁠ŏ⁠﹏⁠ŏ⁠)

If I remember correctly, I got this idea by watching a show called 'Last Man Standing' on NBC I think? It's hard to remember what television network it was, but I just thought it was cute and funny so here ya have it!!!

❤️🖤❤️

__________________________________

Ship: Team 6 poly

Top(s): Tyler, Brian & Marcel

Switch(s): Evan & Jon

Bottom: Nogla

AU: Team 6

Setting: /

Type: Fluff

Warning ⚠️: This chapter contains heavy swearing, sexual comments, friendly stalking, mention of sexual harassment, flirtatious comments and other mentions or situations that may disturb, trigger or offend the viewer. Reader's discretion is advised.

__________________________________

Evan's pov -

"Just like this?" I asked cluelessly, frowning in deep concentration as I mixed the deep red paste with the whisk.

Jon peered over my shoulder, chuckling lightly before pressing a kiss to my cheek.

"Yup! Just like that." He said, smiling sweetly before returning back to the oven to check the cake.

He had wanted to bake a cake to celebrate us moving into our new house. I didn't necessarily know how to bake a cake, let alone a red velvet cake, so he wanted to teach me.

When starting out YouTube career--or trying to start, it wasn't as easy as we thought it would be. We had underestimated all those more famous YouTubers and we realized we couldn't always come off as cocky and rude.

It wasn't a lie that we had put on fake personas when we started, trying desperately to be liked. But after a year or two of trying, we realized how tiring it was and decided to just be ourselves for once.

So we dropped the vlog cams, dropped our fake personalities and decided to just start gaming.

After a year of doing what we actually loved, we had started to get recognition and grew from there.

We weren't really confident in being totally personal online but we didn't want to be fake anymore and came out to our little bit of fans.

It seemed after that, that they had started to like us more. We got more views, more likes and even got sponsors by bigger companies.

During our big realization that we just needed to not care what people thought of us anymore, we decided to move out of our big house that had more rooms than needed and bought a much smaller house big enough for just the six of us.

It had one room but that's exactly what we wanted. The room was large, so that was an upside considering all the clothes and personal belongings we had.

It had two bathrooms, one upstairs and one down. The living room was large, we had an even larger office where we did our recordings--it wasn't very efficient to record in the same room at once, but the fans thought it was funny. Especially when we'd lash out at eachother or tackle one another for fun.

Our kitchen was huge--which was a good thing since my boyfriends loved to cook. And we had a few other entertainment rooms which just had most of our personal stuff. Like collectors items and shit.

The front door was just over to the left of the living room where we had a nice big entrance area and lastly we had a back door connecting to the kitchen. Placed right next to our garage door.

Of course, we weren't entirely big on the internet still, so we had gotten a few jobs here and there. Just the minimal wage because we didn't want to overwork ourselves with stress and all that.

We moved to this new house not too long ago and we were still getting used to the change of setting.

The neighborhood was friendly, filled with kids, parents, elderly and other residents. It was quite large actually, and it took some time for us to remember to not be too loud.

The town was big as well, but it was crowded and the buildings were all pushed really close together. The streets were always full with traffic, there was always kids running around. Going to and from school and what not.

Not to mention that we found ourselves having to be more social than planned.

Back when we lived in our old house in the forest, we never really talked to many people. Hell, we never even went out much. If any of us needed anything, we'd just Dash it.

But now, we had to be more open to friendly chit chat and randomly getting compliments. Especially since half of us worked as waiters or cashier's at grocery stores.

I didn't really mind though. It was different but...it was a good different.

"I'm baaack!"

I smiled, turning to the back door upon hearing the cheery voice.

"Hi loves!" Nogla greeted, wrapping his arms around Jon's neck, who was already pulling him in close and into a kiss.

I set the bowl down on the counter, making my way over to the two. Nogla pulled away from Jon and moved over to me, smiling as he leaned down and gave me the same treatment.

I hummed happily, reaching a hand up into his dark hair.

"Mm, smells good in here. Whatcha makin'?" He asked, pulling away from me.

"Jon wanted to make cake to celebrate the move- and, for hitting two million on our channel." I said, pulling out my phone.

Nogla gasped at that, his eyes lighting up.

"We did?! When?" He asked excitedly, taking the phone from me once I got to our shared account. Jon chuckled at his little fit, wrapping his arms around his waist.

"Just three hours ago. It hit before we even started to bake the cake." Jon said, peeking over Nogla's shoulder to look at the number on the phone.

Nogla sighed in happiness, biting his lip and staring for a second before handing me the phone back.

"Time ta hit t'ree next." He said, earning a chuckle in agreement from Jon. I snorted.

"If you wanted to do that, you could always just go in the back yard." I joked, earning a loud laugh from Jon and an exaggerated huff of offense from Nogla.

"Y'know what? I'm not sucking yer dick tonight." He said, grinning down at me as my smile dropped.

"Who's getting the 'no-sex' penalty now?"

I looked over to see Marcel walk in, looking sweaty as he sipped his water bottle. I frowned, raising a brow in confusion.

"Well me, because I said something offensive, but better question, why the hell are you so damn sweaty?" I asked, watching as Marcel came in and set his bottle down on the counter, making his way over to Nogla.

"Was working out. I ate too much sweets these last few days and decided to do something about it before it got bad." He said, trying to hug Nogla. Who was definitely no having it, considering Marcel was wet and sticky.

"Ewie! Get yer sweaty hands away from meh!" He squealed, running away to hide behind Jon when Marcel made no attempt at listening to him.

"Work out? Weren't you supposed to pick David up from work?" Jon asked, taking the words right outta my mouth. Marcel sighed in delight, finally managing to wrap his arms around Nogla and hold him in a strong hold.

Much to Nogla's displeasure, might I add.

"Yup! But I decided to let him walk today." He explained, earning a hum in confirmation from Nogla.

"What?!" Jon exclaimed, pouting as he looked to Marcel.

"What?" He asked, taking the chaste kiss from Nogla before moving to the sink to splash cold water on his face.

"Ya can't just let him walk home, Mar! Y'know how many sketchy people roam around his work area." Jon huffed, setting his hands on his hips as he looked up at Marcel.

"Well, of course I know that. But David wanted to and I wasn't just gonna say no. Look at him!" He said in defense, gesturing his hand over to Nogla.

He glanced up at us, quickly taking his finger out of the bowl of frosting I had been mixing to give us an sweet smile, swaying back and forth like an innocent child.

"Ugh, no wonder he's the only bottom." I muttered, earning a scoff in offense from him.

"And that's also why we can't just have him walk home by himself. It's too dangerous." Jon said, giving Marcel more of a concerned tone than of anger.

Marcel sighed, nodding in understanding.

"I know, I know. But David's an adult, he can handle himself... mostly." Marcel said nervously, leaning against the counter. I sighed loudly, pinching the bridge of my nose.

Nogla worked as an assistant manager at a library. The women who owned the place was very old and Nogla worked hard enough to get promoted over there.

The library was big and local, so it had lots of people going in and out twenty four seven.

The thing was, the place was known to have a lot of drug dealing going on in there, it was near a hot spot for bad people and there was always criminal activity in or around it when broadcasted on the local news. Or so I heard anyways.

It could all easily just be rumours, but we weren't willing to take that chance.

It wasn't like we were just gonna force Nogla to quit his job because of it all either. He loved that job because he doesn't have to talk that much and he just loves books. And second, he pulled most of the money in that we needed to pay for the bills with so we couldn't just drop that.

So instead, we had just drove him to and from work whenever we didn't have a shift. It was easier that way for all of us.

"Hey, I'm a grown man." Nogla butted in, a small pout on his lips as he continued to stick his fingers into the frosting.

"No offense Daithi, but you're a sissy lala. You can't even look at a roach without screaming like a little girl." Jon said, trying to be as nice as possible about it. Marcel and I laughed in agreement, earning a raspberry in return.

"Nu-uh!" He retorted, glaring half heatedly.

"Yes huh. Now stop sticking your little fingers in the icing or I'm gonna stick my dick where the sun don't shine." Jon grinned, pulling the bowl away and smacking Nogla's ass.

He yelped in reaction, his face burning as red as the icing as we all laughed at Jon's remark.

"Well- I...ugh!" Nogla groaned, not being able to come up with a comeback. We laughed even harder at that, causing his face to burn darker--if that was even possible.

"Fine, ye don't get ta fuck me tonight either!" He huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. That only made Jon smirk up at him, setting the bowl down and swiftly bending Nogla over the counter.

A small squeak escaped his lips as Jon leaned over his body, placing his mouth right next to his ear.

"I don't think ya get to decide that sweetheart." He teased flirtatiously. Nogla whined in defeat, trying to push himself back up.

"Argh! I hate t'at ye guys are stronger t'en me." He complained, earning a laugh from Jon.

"And that's exactly why you can't go walking the streets alone, let alone taking the public bus." He said, pulling off of Nogla and helping him stand up straight.

"Eh- but I want ta! I like walking! Helps me think. Plus, today I passed a really pretty park surrounded in big rose bushes! Ya should've seen it." He said happily, a wide smile breaking to his face and replacing the earlier blush.

I sighed, frowning over to Jon as Nogla started to ramble to Marcel about what he had seen and all the different colors of roses.

Of course the two of us didn't like the idea of letting Nogla roam town alone, and I knew that Brian and Tyler would like it even less than us.

But if this is what made him happy, then we had to respect that.

"We thinkin' the same thing?" Jon asked, lifting a brow at me. I hummed, nodding in response.

I glanced up at Marcel and Nogla, who had stopped mid conversation when Jon spoke up.

"Okay...you can walk home from time to time," I started. Nogla started to smile and clap happily before I could finish.

"But," I said, watching as he immediately stopped and gave me a look of hope. I smiled at that, finding the expression all to adorable.

"But you have to watch where you're going, keep your phone out at all times and if you feel like your being followed, go to the most public area you can find and call the police. Or better yet, one of us so we can come pick you up." I sighed, earning a wide smile in return.

Nogla bounced forward and pulled me and Jon in a big hug, squishing us into his chest tightly despite his slim, weak arms.

"Awww, I love ye guys!" He said in a high pitched voice, still somehow jumping up and down with us.

I chuckled lightly, pressing my hands to his back as the others laughed along.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get too ahead of yourself. You gotta do the honors of telling the other two." Marcel piped up, making Nogla stop mid excitement and drop the two of us.

"Shit." He cursed, drooping over the counter in defeat as he already knew what they were gonna think. And those two were the most protective and possesive out of all six of us.

"Ah, don't worry Nogla. I'm sure they'll understand why you wanna do it." I encouraged, rubbing reassuring circles on his back as he sat himself in one of the bar stools.

"Mhm! Plus, ya give mean head. I'm sure they'll give in if you offer a few blow jobs." Jon grinned, pulling his oven mitts on to pull the cake out of the oven.

The sweet smell of red velvet filled the kitchen as he did so, warming up the room. I inhaled deeply, already feeling my mouth water.

"Ye know what? I'm not even embarrassed by t'at. I take it as a compliment." Nogla sighed, setting his work bag down on the floor and folding his hands on the counter.

"Your blush says otherwise love." Marcel said, placing a kiss on his cheek as he seated himself right next to him.

I laughed at the glare Nogla sent his way, picking up the bowl of icing to help Jon finish the cake.

Third pov -

"What time is it?" Brian asked, glancing at his wrist to check his watch.

"Mmm." Evan hummed with a shrug of his shoulders, reaching towards the coffee table to grab a handful of chips from the clear bowl.

It was Saturday and none of the guys had any shifts this week. Valentines day had passed a few days ago, so they were all given a week off.

Well, except for Nogla. The owner had called in sick so he had offered to help the new employee while the owner was out.

"Oh...oh, shit. It's Saturday... Nogla's coming home soon." Brian mumbled, staring down at his watch for a few seconds before grumbling audibly and lowering himself into the couch.

Tyler groaned in agreement, throwing his head back in frustration.

"Why did we have to come up with that stupid agreement anyways?" He huffed, flopping down and laying his head in Marcel's lap.

The guys had all collectively came up with the agreement, that Nogla would walk home every other day of the week. Brian and Tyler weren't entirely happy about it, but Nogla was able to convince them.

"Because we care about his happiness and we trust him to make adult choices without needing our permission." Marcel said, running a hand though his boyfriend's hair. Evan chuckled.

"And because he gives good blow jobs." He reminded the two, small smiles breaking onto their faces.

"He really does." Brian moaned, staring up at the ceiling.

"Jesus Christ, don't get hard!" Marcel exclaimed, noticing the expression on Brian's face. It was the look he had on whenever he was aroused.

"Anyways, we did it because we love him." Evan laughed, throwing his legs over Brian's lap. The Irishman simply pouted, frowning in defeat as he ran his fingers over the muscles in Evan's leg.

"It's not tat I don't trust him. I don't trust 'is work area." He mumbled, earning a humm of agreement from Tyler. Marcel clicked his tongue, rolling his eyes at the two.

"You guys are over exaggerating." He said with a fond smile, resting his hand over Tyler's face to annoy him.

The American huffed, pulling his boyfriend's hand away and pulled into his chest, intertwining their fingers instead.

"They talk about sexual harassment and loitering criminals on the news all the fuckin' time. How could I not over exaggerate?" He asked rhetorically, looking down at their hands with an even bigger pout than Brian.

Marcel glanced up at Evan, the two of them exchanging a smile.

Despite both Brian and Tyler being the most masculine and anger infused out of all six of them, they tend to get like this whenever they weren't getting their way.

It happened more often than expected and the rest of the guys always loved it because they honestly found it cute and hilarious.

Very uncharismatic of the two.

"It's the news, Ty. They're the masters of over exaggerating. Well, besides Google but you get my point. They just say anything to get a unique and big story." Marcel said, giving his boyfriend's hand a soft squeeze with his own.

Tyler merely grunted in response.

The four sat in an awkward silence for some time, Evan and Marcel not knowing what else to say to reassure their boyfriend's.

Then, there was a sudden knock at the door. Brian was the first to shoot up, shoving Evan's legs off his lap and running to the door.

Expecting to see his Nogla, he opened the door with a wide welcoming smile, only to drop upon seeing a tall man dressed in a police attire.

"Uh- hello officer. How can I...help ya?" Brian asked slowly, standing up professionally as he looked up at the cop in confusion.

The rest of the guys stiffened at that, turning their heads to see what was going on.

"Hello sir. You must be Brian Hanby? I believe I have something that belongs to you." He greeted with a tip of his hat.

Before Brian or even any of the guys could question him, the cop turned around and gently pulled Jon up the steps by his arm, moving to undo the cuffs on his wrists.

"Oh my god. Oh my god Jon, what did ye do now?" Brian asked with a loud sigh, running a hand over his face.

Jon's mouth dropped in offense, glaring slightly as the cop released his hands.

"Excuse me?! I didn't do nothin'!" He exclaimed, rubbing his wrists as he moved into the house. He moved to the couch and plopped down like a child who had just gotten grounded from his playstation.

Hands crossed over his chest and everything.

"So...then why did you get sent home by a cop?" Evan asked, smiling slightly in amusement. Jon just stuck his tongue out at his boyfriend, the cop laughing at the boyfriends' shenanigans.

"No actually, he was wandering around the local library? The one just downtown. I got a few complaints about another loitering criminal." He explained with a slight laugh, earning a groan fom Marcel.

"Jon, what did I say? David is old enough to walk back from work by himself. He's fine, nothing bad is gonna happen to him." He scolded, the other averting his gaze in self disappointment.

"I know, but he's too pretty. Someone's gonna snatch him up if we're not careful." He whined, earning a roll of Evan's eyes.

"Anyways, how did ye know my name might I ask?" Brian asked, looking back to the cop. The officer chuckled, gesturing back over to Jon.

"Your boyfriend is quite the rambler under pressure. All I had to do was cuff him and ask what he was doing there. Practically told me everything about you all. Not to mention that David greets me every morning since I'm part of the security team on that side of town." He explained with a shrug of his shoulders.

Tyler burst out laughing, dropping Marcel's hand to roll over and accidentally land on the carpet with a grunt.

"Shut up! I thought he had a warrant for my arrest or some shit!"Jon shouted, only causing his boyfriend to laugh even harder despite the fact that he was lying face first on the floor.

Evan was laughing too. But not because the fact that Jon was horrible when it came to cops. But because the way Tyler had fell.

Marcel simple sighed, shaking his head lovingly.

Brian rolled his eyes with a smile, turning back to the cop once more. He glanced down at his name plate that was right next to his badge.

"Thank you officer Daniels, I promise that this won't happen again. Right Jon?" He asked, raising a brow over at his boyfriend. He earned a puff of breath in response.

"Right, Jonathan?" He tried again, this time more stern yet still keeping on his flashy smile.

Jon glanced at him from the comer of his eye, knowing that look on his boyfriend's face. He knew he'd be in deep trouble if he didn't obey.

"Yeah, whatever." He stuck his tongue out, earning a satisfied laugh from the other.

"Welp, I should get back to work. Let's hope we don't have another incident like this again gentlemen, yes?" Officer Daniels said, giving the guys one last smile and chuckle before heading down the path.

Brian gave him a friendly wave, shaking his head as he shut the door.

"Jon..." Marcel started.

"Can it bitch, I hear ya." Jon grumbled, taking Tyler's old place and setting his head in Marcel's lap.

"Ugh, you guys are unbelievable." He muttered, shaking his head with a happy smile.

"At least Evan's got my back on this. Right Ev?" He said, glancing to the second couch. He blinked, seeing the Canadian staring down at his phone.

"Ev?" He asked.

"Huh?! Nothing!" He shouted, fumbling with the small device and dropping it into the carpet.

Marcel frowned in confusion as Evan cursed, reaching for the phone. But Tyler was faster, reaching over from his spot on the floor and snatching the phone right outta his boyfriend hands.

"What's this?" He asked curiously, darting his eyes around the screen.

"I said nothing!" Evan exclaimed, trying to yank his phone back. But Tyler was faster, wrapping his legs around Evan's waist when he got close enough to hold him in place as he inspected the phone.

The screen was white, with yellow and grey lines randomly placed. It was only then that Tyler realized that they had addresses, and the lines were actually roads.

"Is this...are you tracking Nogla?" Tyler asked, handing the phone over to Marcel as he finally let go of Evan, who had been biting into his knee to break free.

"Uh...no?" He muttered, laying on Tyler's stomach.

Marcel huffed loudly, taking a well needed breath before setting the phone down.

"Like I said. Unbelievable." He muttered in disappointment. He was slightly insulted that the guys didn't trust Nogla enough to let him walk home. And that they didn't trust Marcel enough to believe him when he said Nogla was fine.

He understood why they were so worried. He really did. But they needed to let it go. Nogla was an adult, and he wanted to be treated like one.

Marcel wanted to respect that, as well as have the rest of the guys respect it as well.

"Look guys, I'm sure he's fine. He knows his way there and back by now." He said, trying to comfort them.

"Uh...he's turning the wrong street." Brian suddenly said. At that, all eyes turned to the Irishman, who had picked up the phone in curiosity and was watching the big red dot that blinked as it moved along the yellow lines on the screen.

Marcel quickly snatched the phone from his boyfriend, feeling a wave of worry crash into him despite him being the most supportive of the little fucker.

"Eh, he's probably just chasing a butterfly or something..." He tried to excuse, forcing a small wavery smile as he watched the dot turn into the more unfamiliar streets that they haven't been to yet.

It was still near the library, but it was heading into the opposite direction of their house.

"Uh...at thirty-five miles per hour?" Tyler asked, peeking over Marcel's shoulder as he saw the speed of the dot at the top right corner.

All of their stomachs dropped at that, getting increasingly more concerned.

"Yeah he doesn't run that fast, let's go!" Marcel said worriedly, handing the phone back to Evan and bolting for the door with the guys not too far behind him.

They quickly threw on their shoes and their jackets that sat organized at the entrance area, running out the door in record time.

The house sat quiet, nothing but the sound of the cars engine outside.

"I made it!" A voice called.

Nogla walked in to the living room from the kitchen, having used the back door again.

He frowned, seeing not a single one of his boyfriends in sight.

"Lads?" He called, still earning no response. He pushed his lips into a pout of thought, setting his work bag down.

"Huh..." He muttered, scratching his neck as he glanced around the messy room.

"Probably out shoppin' er some shit." He said was a wave of his hand, rolling his sleeves up and beginning to clean up the mess they left behind.

"Speed the fuck up!" Brian shouted.

"I'm trying! We're near a school zone though, dumbass!" Tyler yelled back, keeping his eyes fixed on the road.

"That car! That car right there! Chase that fucker!" Evan exclaimed, glancing up from his phone to point out the small black car.

Tyler stayed close to the vehicle, practically riding the driver's ass as his boyfriend's continued to shoot and wave the car down.

Eventually, they caught the driver's attention, pulling over on the side of the street.

Jon was the first to hop out, stomping over to the car as the driver hesitantly rolled his window down.

"Oh hello! Why can I do for- ahh!" The man made a noise of shock as Jon grabbed him by the collar, practically pulling him out of his seat and pulling his upper body out the window.

"Where is he?!" He shouted, not caring that bystanders started to stare as the guys raided the man's car without permission.

"W-what? Who? I-i dunno-"

"David, you fuck! Where is he?!" Jon continued, shaking the man as he pulled him closer. Half of his body was now hanging out of the car and he looked absolutely terrified.

"D-david? The as-assistant manager? H-he left a f- a few minutes ago. Like, fif-fifteen I'd s-say?" He stuttered shamefully, holding his hands up as Jon tightened his grip, his glare menacing.

"Found his jacket." Marcel informed, pulling the dark green coat from the back seat that Evan had placed the tracker in.

Tyler growled, grabbing the man from Jon's grasp and fully yanking him out of the car with a loud yelp.

"Where the fuck is he?!" He demanded, slamming his back into the car.

"I dunno, I swear! He left a little bit ago!" The man cried, looking as if he'd literally cry any second now.

"Then why do you have his jacket?" Evan asked, shaking his head as he gestured to the article of clothing.

The man glanced over at him, trying to muster up words to explain himself.

When David told him about his boyfriend's...he didn't expect this.

"Hi! Where were ye guys? I got worried when ye weren't here!" Nogla said cheerfully, opening his arms with a welcoming smile as the guys tumbled into the kitchen.

They all quickly rushed over to him, all trying to hug him at once despite his slightly messy state from cooking.

"Oh!" He said in surprise, holding his arms up and stiffening as his boyfriends hugged him tightly.

Of course, they always tended to show him and eachother affection. But he's never seen them be this clingy before. Especially without an explanation for it.

Tyler was the first to pull back, grabbing Nogla's face in both hands and pressing a rough, intense kiss to his lips before pulling back.

"We love you, so fucking much." He stated, eyes looking determined as he stared down into Nogla's green flustered orbs.

"O...kay?" He said with a small smile, narrowing his eyes at the rest of them.

Now he was very confused. His boyfriends were still very embarrassed about using the L word. Especially Tyler, so this was really new to him.

"Are ye guys okay?" He asked, finally managing to breath as they all let go of him.

"Yeah, we were...we were just a bit worried." Marcel admitted, however not wanting to tell Nogla about their whole trip and how they almost killed his new employee.

Nogla frowned, tilting his head at them with a confused smile before chuckling lightly.

"Well I'm fine!" He said happily.

It wasn't like he was gonna ask why they were worried, why they weren't home when he got here and why they looked like they had just robbed a bank.

He had already knew. Seeing as the newbie from work used his emergency contact to call him and inform him of how crazy his boyfriends were.

He knew better than to mention all that. Instead, he was just happy they were home. Safe and sound.

"So...you traded your jacket for a box of chocolate?" Brian asked, eyeing his boyfriend in disbelief.

Nogla giggled, nodding in confirmation.

"Yup! It was a steal too." He said, turning and grabbing the large heart shaped box from the counter and showing it off to them.

Tyler and Marcel exchanged a glance, both as equally wanting to say something about how dangerous and stupid that was. However they couldn't bring themselves to do it.

Nogla's happy smile was simply too adorable.

"Ye know, ye're a pain." Brian said, saying what they were thinking instead. Nogla laughed at that, shrugging his shoulders as he set the box back down.

"Well, back ta makin' dinner. We're having lasagna tonight." He informed, turning around and going back to layering the dish.

"Yeah...we were just a bit worried." Marcel muttered, feeling slightly disappointed in himself.

All this talk about how the guys needed to trust their boyfriend and here he was being just as bad. He looked over, glancing at the rest of them.

On the other hand, the others were stuck staring at the taller Irishman, watching him cook in interest.

He still had on his casual work clothes and wore a green apron over them. The strings tightened at his back and cinched his waist, showing off his curves beautifully. He wore a head band to hold his dark, curly hair back and he still had on his glasses instead of switching them out with his contacts like usual.

It was no wonder they loved this man so dearly. He truly was irresistible.

"You're right Jon. He is too pretty to be left alone." Marcel gave in, sighing in defeat as the other hummed.

"See? What'd I tell ya?" He teased, smirking as Nogla turned around and raised a confused brow at them.

"Who?" He asked, not having heard the conversation they had too long ago when the officer had dropped Jon off.

"Nothing important love. Just continue what ya were doin' and look pretty." Brian waved him off, earning a small blush before Nogla obligated and faced back the other way.

"Oh yeah. Just like that." Tyler smirked as he leaned against the counter. His eyes trialing down Nogla's back until they stopped at his ass, chuckling lustfully.

"You guys are perverts." Evan smiled, grabbing the box of chocolate from the counter to eat some.

"And what?" Jon said in defense, tone offended but his eyes never leaving Nogla's body.

The Irishman rolled his eyes, smiling to himself as he heard his boyfriends banter and argue shamelessly.

Oh how he loved them so much.

5572 words

__________________________________

Believe it or not, I finished this in only two days! Ha!

Well I hope you liked it and I hope y'all had a great day!!

Until next time, my loves!! (⁠ ⁠˘⁠ ⁠³⁠˘⁠)⁠♥

❤️🖤❤️

- Jacky

__________________________________

Featured or mentioned characters:

Main -

Nogla - Nogla, David, Daithi

VanossGaming - Evan, Ev

H2ODelirious - Jon

BasicallyIDoWrk - Marcel

Terroriser - Brian

IAmWildcat - Tyler

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rapeculturerealities · 2 years

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NBC 7 Investigates: San Diego Police Face Scrutiny Over Woman's Murder

They finally show up,” said Michelle. “They’re walking up and I’m noticing them looking around and I come out of my door and I point to the unit and I say he’s in there, and they just nodded their heads. So they flashed their light, they could totally see the broken glass.”

Police say officers tried calling Connie’s phone and looked for her car. But since Connie didn’t answer the door, officers ultimately left.

“At this point, I'm like what is going on?” said Michelle. “Where are they going? What’s happening? You have no idea what he’s going to do. He can easily break into someone else’s home. Especially on the first floor if he got into the second floor. And I was thinking why is it not an emergency? Why are they just walking away?”

The next morning, just before 8:30 a.m., police say Chambers came outside and told a neighbor to call 911 because Connie was dead. Surveillance video obtained by NBC 7 Investigates shows officers arresting Chambers minutes later.

#Police #Tw murder #California

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madisonrooney · 2 years

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i often think about how httyd is my cursed fandom

of all my main fandoms, ive had a lot of special experiences with most of them, getting to go to fan events and meeting cast and crew members

with httyd, its not just that i havent gotten those experiences, its that i almost have and just barely missed them

examples: - i was out of town the day the second movie came out. this was back when i saw EVERYTHING the day it came out so to miss something that big was devastating. and it was for a family trip i had no control over (which is rare for me since i have a very small extended family) - i was in nyc about a month after the third movie came out and wanted to see the fao schwarz window display. when i went to the store i asked where it was and they said they took it down THE DAY BEFORE - i have friends that camp out for red carpet premieres and it didnt even cross my mind to camp out for the httyd3 premiere and i was so mad at myself when that occurred to me the day of the premiere. it was raining that day tho and i get sensory overload in the rain so maybe it was for the best. plus that couldve effected the set up for the fans by the red carpet - a gallery i often go to had a panel and signing for the third movie but it was on a day i already had plans. i couldve done what i was doing on a different day but id already bought non refundable tix. i dont entirely blame myself tho bc this gallery often announces events really last minute. - toothless was doing meet and greets outside of universal around when the third movie came out so you didnt even need a ticket to the park to meet him and i tried to see him but he wasnt there. if nothing else i got a pic in front of the backdrop they had and got to splurge on all the new merch in citywalk - this wasnt too close to happening but dean deblois did a signing at the nbc store in nyc about a month before i was gonna be there. i was just upset bc i totally know that store and i feel like signings like that dont happen often? - the big one is that ive missed seeing the first movie on the big screen again on FOUR DIFFERENT OCCASIONS. i saw it the day it came out during the initial release but didnt get obsessed with it until 2013 so i was dying to see it on the big screen again. there was a double feature for the second one but that was when i was out of town. my best friend and i tried to go to a free showing at a local independent theater later that summer but when we showed up they said it was full (admittedly that was the same day my liv and maddie hyperfixation was officially born so maybe had i made it in that wouldnt have happened the same, who knows). i had tix to see a re-release in 2019 and showed up to the theater only for them to be showing trolls and they said they CHANGED THE SCHEDULE EVEN AFTER I PURCHASED MY TICKET? and then they re-released it again during quarantine when hardly any new movies were coming out but i wasnt comfortable going out at that time.

i have gotten a couple cool experiences tho. i went to dreamworks animation in concert at the hollywood bowl about a month after the second movie came out which was like the height of my fandom and my videos of forbidden friendship and toothless found/two new alphas are some of the most viewed videos of that on youtube. i met bonnie arnold at a women in animation and got a pic with her + her autograph. i went to the dreamworks store in london where i got a lot of cool exclusive merch and got to hear the hiccup and astrid dialogue recorded especially for the store (even tho it wasnt jay and america lol). and i went to an outdoor screening in a park last summer.

obvs its too late for any kinda fan events to really happen but i still hope i can meet dean some day and see the damn first movie on the big screen again

#under the cut bc its long and rambly #idk i was just thinking about httyd fandom today

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this-is-an-open-letter · 2 years

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Sooooo what are your thoughts on Jesse Lee Soffer leaving PD? Upstead 😫

Sad and mad and confused.

From the jump I was turned off by the statement that was reported because it didn't mention Jesse wanting to leave to further his career in another way, which I would completely understand. But the statement was void of that.

its a weird scenario because him leaving out of any other cast mate is the oddest choice because we don't know what the cast re-negotiated their contracts for past season 7 which is the general term a TV contract is signed for - getting out of that contract before its up is very difficult but doable. So post season 7 they all signed on again for an additional X amount of seasons. There have been some rumours that Jesse has wanted to leave for a while - I can get behind that but I don't think the narrative suits that especially from him. His reaction to leaving hasn't been one that has settled fans into understanding the choice that was made by the network. Its also very unlikely he only signed a 3 year renewal contract - the network will always go for more and its more likely he signed another 7 years with a pay increase. Which means the choice made without a doubt came down to money.

That's part of the logic - the other part is that traditional television is no comparison to streaming which 90% of all consumed media is. The big 3 networks, NBC, FOX and ABC have all been taking hits to their ratings for the past 5-7 years because streaming has become so prominent and more so convenient. You no longer have to pay for a cable package that costs you over $100/month for shitty channels, you can just pay for internet and stream. So the networks are losing money yearly because ad revenue is down - no one wants to watch commercials. There was an article in August that came out about NBC looking to get rid of the 10pm time slot for programmed television and attempt again, to go into news programs - that requires cuts to budgets. Jesse and Kelli are the cuts to the budget it would appear. Cut the bigger stars and higher younger unknowns who they can pay incredibly less than the actors who are still around. Its gross but it is business.

I think its the wrong choice - its not just a budget they're cutting and amending, its someone the show needs in order to remain in whatever reality this show gets to exist in. Jesse/Jay held a lot of this show for a lot of people because he was the moral compass and a morally good person which the show never really had. I think its a loss the show is going to feel in the ratings. The 50+ nightly rating is still the highest demo after each episode, which justifies Jason still being around, but for social engagement that comes from the tried and true Women's 18-45 demo - which is the main demo all advertisers hit for because we watch our shows, we engage socially with our shows and we're vocal about our shows. It has no effect on the actual rating (as i've said previously a large part of the fandom are not American's which means our viewership doesn't count), but we all see how these shows are marketed 99.9% of it happens via social media - 50+ aren't on social media that way 18-45 are. I think we'll see the show lose something here that it won't recover from.

I saw a lot of tweets from people mad that Jason is still around when if they would've fired him the salary save alone could've made Jesse remain, is incredibly true - Jason from a character stand point has needed to go since season 4 like his role and storylines are played out. The show is purposely keeping a problematic middle aged white male police officer on our screens....so he can continued to be a problematic middle aged white male police officer. Its just lazy.

An aside;

Allow me to step on my apple box for one minute and just say; while I fully support Jason being the one that should be gone it absolutely DISGUSTS me that this fandom is now acknowledging Jason's disgusting sexually abusive behaviour because this fandom was so unwilling to believe a woman who came forward with her story, but are more than willing NOW to believe it because it suits the narrative that this fandom wants to paint in order to justify why Jesse should remain and Jason shouldn't. I am beyond appalled by so many people who have been outright misogynistic and abusive and dismissive to Sophia and her experience (not to mention the others that also left bc of Jason's behaviour), that you suddenly have no issue acknowledging that Jason is in fact an awful person who should not still have job, but only because Jesse deserves his job more. This fandom in its almost entirety will remain in the wrong for their attitude and behaviour towards women who come forward with proven and acknowledged stories of abuse.

The other thing is....people need to really stop projecting their feelings onto Tracy, inferring that she's sad or heartbroken about Jesse leaving - you don't know that. We know she's likely sad, of course Jesse is her best friend but to watch bts videos and assume she's being sad on set infers that she is not a professional who can do her job. I get it, we're losing SO much with Jesse being gone but the amount of projection I am seeing being put on this cast to uphold and validate your feelings is not healthy and not fair to the cast- they still have a job to do. And we're just as likely to see videos of them on set being goofy and laughing, are we to assume they're happy that Jesse is gone? I wouldn't think so.

As for the daily campaign to get Jesse back - i think its great, we have seen it work countless times for shows and characters - I don't know that it will work this time - NBC is notoriously ruthless because it holds a great deal of ratings weekly come the Fall season. But even for Jesse to see the effort speaks to him as an actor and to his character.

But yeah...still mad and sad about.

#chicago pd #jesse lee soffer #its a mistake to get rid of him #jason should be gone for so many reasons least of all have to do with his pay and everything to do w/the type of person he is

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cavehags · 2 years

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Would you rec ALOTO before that episode? Or like at all? I tried the pilot but it was meh like it came off pretty cheesy in a one season NBC reject kind of way lol. But I liked all the actresses(the main woman is a bit boring but everyone else is fine)and thought the story could pick up but all the stuff I’ve seen on my dash has been a bit bland and overly focused on ships which isn’t really my thing idk.

i feel weird giving a judgment publicly without having finished it :( i did recommend it to a friend early on because i liked the treatment of history and how it didn't try to smooth over unpleasant truths, especially surrounding race, but I'm not sure how well it stuck the landing with those. i was most interested in how seriously the show took the sexist confines of society and the league system, but disappointingly, those seemed to fall out of focus as the season went on; carson becoming coach was unbelievable to me and her subsequent journey to embracing leadership was more of a girlboss narrative than i was looking for from what had seemed to be a more nuanced show. i wanted to see the women coping with what they were and weren't allowed to do in this time of history, and there was definitely some of that early on (the makeup and grooming classes, the ban on pants, etc), but by the end of the season there were no more men around and it seemed like the show forgot about that piece of its mission.

beyond that, the episodes dragged on too long and were too dramatic for my tastes. and the performances were a mixed bag for me too. i really hated kate berlant's performance and i wasn't much of a fan of abbi's either - both were way too modern, indisputably millennials with instagram accounts. but i really loved max and where her arc was going, and lupe and jess immediately won my heart.

and i love the thematic center this show shares with something like our flag means death where it's a celebration of a surprising queer refuge within history, with all the innuendo and queer references you could ever want. (maybe too many, lol. that was more wizard of oz references than i could take.) but ofmd hooked me more because it's a campy romcom and aloto hit more melodramatic notes than i personally have a taste for. so in general the weaknesses kept it from holding my interest long enough to finish.

to your points though, i don't think ships were given the amount of focus that you're worried about -- that's probably just tumblr being tumblr. i can't tell you if the story picked up without having seen the end (though what i saw of the overall plot did not impress me, max's story excluded), but if you have a stomach for dramas that can get a bit slow, it might be worth circling back.

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jordoalejandro · 8 months

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The Seventh Annual List of TV Shows I Saw the Past Year

I have once again found myself caught off-guard by this list and the Emmys.

I feel like this year it wasn’t really my fault. It was the strikes. The Emmys were postponed and I hadn’t heard or seen any advertising or talk about them so they were out of mind. And then I remembered, as September neared an end, that this was about the time of the year that they usually happened and also about the time of the year I usually post my list. God knows when the Emmys will actually occur, but as I’ve said before on this page, the List waits for no man, woman, or award show. It must go on.

And so, here’s the list of TV shows I’ve watched since-ish the last Emmys (9/12/22).

42. La Brea (Season 2 - 2022-2023, NBC) (Last year’s ranking: 37) - Look, I’ll be honest, it’s hard to really care about this either way. I was looking at my notes and realized I gave every episode of La Brea this season the same mediocre letter grade. I didn’t set out to do that. I think I just felt the same kind of “blah who cares?” way about the show each time. There are shows that had episodes I rated more harshly (coming up shortly!) but those shows also had episodes here or there that I rated highly. This show just doesn’t make me feel strongly one way or another. Is that worse than a show that I hate most of the time and sometimes love? I guess? Maybe not. But I also can’t muster the will to argue this should be higher than those shows, so here it sits.

41. True Lies (Season 1 - 2023, CBS) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - This show comes nowhere close to the quality of the film. It’s cheesy and ham-fisted. The actors feel wrong. It reminded me of some of the early seasons of another CBS show, MacGyver, which also was a real mess in its first few seasons before it realized that it needed to lean into the nonsense a bit more. MacGyver never got good, but it got to a more enjoyable place. Maybe True Lies could’ve gotten there someday if it could’ve continued to figure out what worked and what didn’t but it was cancelled fairly quickly so we’ll never know.

40. The Flash (Season 9 - 2023, CW) (Last year’s ranking: 35) - Disappointed but not surprised that this is where The Flash’s final season ended up. One good episode in the season, but more misses than hits, including a couple episodes I truly disliked. I’m not going to dive too deep into it but something that has happened the last few seasons is they’ve had these episodes where Flash will take a vacation or find some other reason to not be in the episode to, I guess, give Grant Gustin a mid-season shooting break? These episodes are typically the worst of the season because one, they feature the terrible side characters, and two, they usually try to be the “funny” episodes (especially grating because the writers on this show are awful at writing humor). That held true here: these episodes were painfully unfunny and annoying. It came off worse, though, because this was the final season. And it was only a 13 episode season at that. I respect these shows are a pain to shoot. You have to live in Canada away from everyone for an extended period of time. I accept giving the star a break here and there. But in the final season? 13 episodes? Why are we wasting our time here with bad filler episodes? Not that the regular episodes were that much better. The season as a whole remained plagued by the issues that have hurt this show the whole back half of its run: weak villains, annoying side characters, a dearth of ideas. Sometimes these CW shows are able to rally and go out on a semi-high. The Flash couldn’t.

39. Riverdale (Season 7 - 2023, CW) (Last year’s ranking: 40) - The final season of Riverdale had all the characters sent back in time to the 1950s. There was a reason for this but it’s not great and it doesn’t really matter. The point is, we’re back in the past for the final season. There’s a lot of potential to get wacky there. Wacky in a good way. When this show was at its best… well, it still wasn’t very good, but it was at least doing wild stuff and trying things. Unfortunately, even time travel couldn’t spark life back into it. They went back to the past and then did mostly generic teen drama stuff. Occasionally there were glimpses of something more but mostly it was a lot of stuff about how sexuality was so repressed back then and society was changing and whatever. Kind of a waste. Mostly straightforward and fairly dull and that’s no way to be for the final season of a show like Riverdale. The last couple of episodes were a nice finale though, so it at least had that.

38. Welcome to Flatch (Season 2 - 2022-2023, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: 36) - This show improved ever so slightly. More moments of quality. It still struggles to be funny with any regularity.

37. Abbott Elementary (Season 2 - 2022-2023, ABC) (Last year’s ranking: 30) - Speaking of shows that struggle to be funny with any regularity. Like Flatch, it has its moments. I have four episodes this season rated as solid episodes. The problem is it was a 21 episode season. That’s a lot of misses.

36. CSI: Vegas (Season 2 - 2022-2023, CBS) (Last year’s ranking: 19) - The show did lose something with William Petersen ducking out. He brought a humanity and likeability to things that elevated the show from its Case-of-the-Week crime show DNA and, just like when he left the original version of this show, it more or less devolved into that basic genre fare without him. Which is all fine. It’s not bad if that’s what you want. Just not very inspiring.

35. Quantum Leap (Season 1 - 2022-2023, NBC) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - It’s alright. Like the original, it’s a quasi-anthology show and so some episodes have better premises than others. Some decent ones, some weaker ones. Nothing that really blew me away. The best thing about this show is it makes me think about how shows have changed over the last 30 years since the original version aired. It has all the new stuff that shows need to have these days, like an overarching serialized mystery and secretive backstories and all that -- stuff that takes about three to five seasons to resolve -- but also the goofy “Oops our hero got sent to a different time and now must go through another adventure!” week-to-week structure of a show that debuted in the 1980s and was built to last 200 episodes. The kind of thing where you can almost hear an announcer saying during the end credits, “Well, looks like our hero didn’t make it home this episode. Tune in next week when Ben ends up in the Old West! Same time, same channel.”

34. The Walking Dead (Season 11B - 2022, AMC) (Last year’s ranking: 23) - This was a fine half a season. Serviceable. Which is, admittedly, a little bit of a letdown for a final season. They never really justified why this was the end of the show. The group had faced bigger and more personal threats than the one here so for this to be the big finale made it feel like an ending just to be an ending. All the characters were even acting like, “Well, this is it. The end. We finally won the apocalypse” as if they hadn’t faced similar groups threatening their survival half a dozen times already. They beat those groups only to have a new group pop up almost immediately. Why is this time different? I guess there’s no real way to end a show about surviving the apocalypse other than to suggest the characters have figured out a system to make it work. Or you could kill them all, I suppose. But what downer that would be. And then you can't make spinoffs.

33. The Blacklist (Season 10 - 2023, NBC) (Last year’s ranking: 32) - Another show with a final season that was just fine. It wrapped things up. Did a few good things on the way out but was mostly average. Like the rest of the aforementioned shows on this list going through their final seasons, it felt about time to end things. A general sense of running on momentum and fumes.

32. Bob’s Burgers (Season 13 - 2022-2023, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: 31) - I’ve noted this before but this show tends to put out a lot of average episodes and one or two spectacular episodes every year now. This year, episode 13.10, “The Plight Before Christmas” was a real knockout. Arguably the best episode they've ever done. In an ideal world, I’d like a few more stellar episodes in a 22 episode season, but I guess you take what you can get.

31. Secret Invasion (Miniseries - 2023, Disney+) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - This just wasn’t up to par for Marvel. The action wasn’t great. The writing often felt amateurish (the acting felt that way at times, too, weirdly). The show kills off some interesting, established characters and doesn’t replace them with better ones, which makes it feel like a net negative on the MCU. The biggest issue is really that they’re doing a hybrid old spy / body snatcher type story -- which, within the MCU, has a ton of potential to be great -- and the show just never has the right energy or sense of paranoia that should come from that. It plays out like a standard thriller. All of this sounds more negative than I intended. It’s fine. I’m using that word a lot in this section of this list but that’s what these shows are. They’re fine. It’s just that, given the concept, and the cast, and the MCU-ness of it all, that’s really disappointing.

30. The Walking Dead: Dead City (Season 1 - 2023, AMC) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - There’s a moment I always seem to experience when I’m playing a DLC for a video game I like. I’ll be on a new map, doing something that’s slightly different from the main game but still obviously really familiar, and I’ll think, “This is alright. I appreciate having more content. But this really just makes me miss the main game.” That’s kind of what this show feels like. Like Walking Dead DLC. Like, it’s alright. It’s cool to catch up with the characters and see them in a new map, interacting with new NPCs, getting new missions. But it’s a little watered down and I kind of just miss the original show. (Not the final couple of seasons of the original show. The earlier ones. You get the idea.)

29. The Night Agent (Season 1 - 2023, Netflix) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - When I talk about how Secret Invasion played out like a standard thriller, this is the show I’m talking about. It hits most of the notes you expect. The main characters were sort of bleh. The show needs a serious injection of personality. But, you know, it moves along fine. Has some twists and turns. If a spy thriller is what you’re looking for, this is definitely one of those.

28. Stargirl (Season 3 - 2022, CW) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - The show wrapped up nicely. This was always a show that hovered around good but never really advanced to great. Some fun stuff, some goofy stuff. Enjoyable enough in the moment but nothing that will really stick with you.

27. The Company You Keep (Season 1 - 2023, ABC) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - A decent show about a family of criminals doing various jobs. The episode quality would vary depending on how interesting the job was but there were a few good ones. There’s a longer arc about the main criminal son falling in love with a government agent that worked fine but honestly was less interesting to me. The structure was there for this show to get better in later seasons but it’s already been cancelled so that’s that.

26. Ghosts (Season 2 - 2022-2023, CBS) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - The show didn’t really get funnier but it did drop a lot of the things that annoyed me in the first season (or at least did them with less frequency). I didn’t rate any episode this season particularly highly but on the bright side, I didn’t rate any very low either. I guess it’s a similar question as shows lower on this list face: is it better to be consistent or better to have more highs and lows? Eye of the beholder.

25. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (Miniseries - 2022, Disney+) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - She-Hulk is sort of the other side of that coin. It had pieces that were clever and that worked and a cast of actors that were pretty good, but also some lulls. Overall, I think the writing was just not sharp enough or funny enough for it to really excel, but it was enjoyable.

24. Family Guy (Season 21 - 2022-2023, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: 17) - Family Guy is kind of the king of the highs and lows TV comedy. A couple of excellent episodes, a few duds. Mostly good ones in between.

23. Fear the Walking Dead (Season 8A - 2023, AMC) (Last year’s ranking: 28) - This is Fear’s final season and it’s wrapping things up in a fascinating way. This show has gone through basically two iterations (seasons 1-3 and seasons 4-7) and it has decided to bring both of them to a close before it leaves. Season 8A was mostly dedicated to wrapping up Morgan’s story. It featured a massive time jump which I will constantly argue almost never works dramatically (and didn’t here) and often messes up character plots (it did here) but overall, it tied up loose ends for the character in a satisfying enough way.

22. The Simpsons (Season 34 - 2022-2023, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: 25) - It remains The Simpsons. Couple of standout episodes. A good “Treehouse of Horror” and a strong season finale.

I’m going to do a mid-list break here to talk about a couple of TV movies or specials or whatever. I think this is how I’m going to handle these going forward because it does feel unfair to put them in the actual list but they are TV. At least, they’re more TV than movie.

Werewolf by Night has a really excellent setting and look, plus some good music. The story is not all there, though. I think it’s more about the Halloween vibe than telling a thorough story and it does nail that vibe. It’s a good watch for the season.

Similarly: The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. It’s sweet and funny, and, like Werewolf, has the perfect vibe for what it’s going for. Also, like Werewolf, the plot isn’t really there. I do think that’s okay, though, for both of these shorts that come in at under an hour. You just kinda do neat stuff with cool characters for 40-50 minutes and dip out. Again, makes for a great seasonal watch.

Okay, back to it.

21. Mythic Quest (Season 3 - 2022-2023, Apple TV+) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - I mentioned in the season 2 write up of this show that it’s about 90% a good workplace comedy and then one of out ten episodes will be this just wonderful, touching standalone piece. That mostly held true in season 3, though the workplace-ness of it all did take a step back. It was okay but not as sharp as it’s been in the past. The standalone episode this year, “Sarian”, though, was excellent. Far and away the high point of the season.

20. The Great North (Season 3 - 2022-2023, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: 22) - Another solid year for this show.

19. 9-1-1: Lone Star (Season 4 - 2023, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: 20) - It has its highs and lows but this show understands itself and is able to land around here on my list consistently.

18. American Dad! (Season 19B - 2022, Season 20A - 2023, TBS) (Last year’s ranking: 16) - TBS splits this show's seasons up and airs them over entire calendar years, so I’m writing this blurb about the final 14 episodes of season 19 and the first 9 episodes of season 20. Whatever. It doesn’t really matter. It was up to par.

17. So Help Me Todd (Season 1 - 2022-2023, CBS) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - This is, for me, what you want from a weekly, network legal “drama” (labelled a drama because it’s an hour-long show but it’s really more of a comedy), if you were looking for that sort of thing. You get your case of the week. That’s all fine. It works. But the show is elevated by its personality and humor. The characters are good. The actors play well off of each other. It’s snappy. It tips over into too silly or annoying sometimes but I’ll live with it if that’s the cost of spicing up a show in this genre.

16. Gotham Knights (Season 1 - 2023, CW) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - It took me a little bit to get into this show but once it started going it picked up momentum and finished strong. You come to like the characters more and appreciate their relationships. The story got more interesting and built to a good finale. And then it got immediately cancelled because the CW is in some kind of flux state where I don’t know if they’re even making shows anymore. It’s kind of disappointing but given the way CW superhero shows go -- good first season, okay second season, bad third season, resurgent fourth season, bad fifth and sixth seasons, seventh and final season of variable quality -- it’s probably not the worst thing. Go out on a high.

15. Welcome to Chippendales (Miniseries - 2022-2023, Hulu) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - A pretty good true crime drama. It does hit a few lulls though. This is the sort of thing that probably would’ve been a much better two hour movie in the past and is now an eight episode, six hour miniseries. Still, enough interesting stuff to keep you moving through the episodes.

14. Animal Control (Season 1 - 2023, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - This show is from two-thirds of the brains behind another show I’ve written about on these lists: The Moodys. I’d described that show as “likeable if not particularly funny”. That description more or less fit this show as well through a good portion of the season, though it did get better as it went on. Hopefully it continues that trend.

13. Archer (Season 13 - 2022, FXX) (Last year’s ranking: 14) - Archer has found a good level of consistent quality in its later years.

12. Reboot (Season 1 - 2022, Hulu) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - Another show in this area of the list that started out a little bit slow and got better as it went along, showing potential for future seasons. Also, immediately cancelled, too, like some of those other shows.

11. The Lazarus Project (Season 1 - 2023, TNT) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - Fun and twisty. It keeps switching things up and plays with the time loop story in fresh ways. It has a good sense of humor, too.

10. Ted Lasso (Season 3 - 2023, Apple TV+) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - Someone made the decision to make this an hour-long show and I think that was a mistake. It spread things way too thin. Too many scenes linger. Too many jokes and storylines that probably would’ve normally been cut remain. It almost makes it seem like it’s poorly edited but I think it’s just that you can actually feel it stretching for time. That said, this show still has its plentiful moments of brilliance, in both humor, character, and emotion. It’s just a shame because you can see where these fine hour-long episodes have excellent 30 minute episodes inside of them.

9. The Other Two (Season 3 - 2023, HBO Max) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - It remained a tremendous, frequently hilarious send up of the entertainment industry in its final season. I do think the one issue this show found itself struggling with was when it tried to introduce dramatic stakes. It has actually sprinkled in drama fairly well in the past, but its humor has gotten so heightened (often surpassing even 30 Rock levels of absurdism) that it was giving me whiplash when they suddenly tried to bring the characters back to Earth and have them argue about their relationships. I don’t know if you can have both of those cakes and eat them, too. Still, a good send off.

8. White House Plumbers (Miniseries - 2023, HBO Max) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - It’s labelled as a political satire but it’s more like a screwball comedy. I don’t know how historically accurate it is -- I’m taking everything in it with a grain of salt -- but it’s a funny, heightened look at a wacky criminal conspiracy and if you don’t take it as much more than that, you can probably enjoy it.

7. American Auto (Season 2 - 2023, NBC) (Last year’s ranking: 8) - I’m not sure why this show never caught on the way Superstore did. Very funny. Good characters who played well off each other. Smart plots. Cancelled after two seasons. Seems to happen a lot with NBC comedies these days.

6. Jury Duty (Season 1 - 2023, Amazon Freevee) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - I’m putting this here with extreme reservations. Is this a show? I think in the same way Borat is a movie? There’s obviously a lot of writing and acting that goes into this. And directing. I don’t know. I’m putting it at 6(ish) and if there’s a moral objection from any readers, feel free to remove it mentally. Whatever it is, it is very funny.

5. Andor (Season 1 - 2022, Disney+) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - A strange structure. It’s 12 episodes and it feels like every three episodes the show morphs into a different genre film. There’s the intro one, the heist film, the prison film, then the concluding film. It’s cool, though. It keeps things fresh and moving along. The writing is smart as is the plotting. The acting is strong. It’s a great look at the non-Jedi and Sith heroes and villains in the Star Wars universe.

4. The Mandalorian (Season 3 - 2023, Disney+) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - It does feel like the quality has taken a small hit. It’s a little goofier at times than it used to be but it’s still very enjoyable. It’s like a comfort show. I’m always having a good time while I’m watching it and if I can get eight episodes of fun adventures every year with these characters, I’ll take it as long as Jon Favreau wants to make it.

3. The Last of Us (Season 1 - 2023, HBO) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - I did not care for the game. I didn’t like playing it. I found it frustrating and unenjoyable. But I enjoyed the world the game was set in. And the story it was telling. I liked everything about the game except the game itself. Or, in other words, a TV show is exactly how I’d like to experience this story. This is an excellent adaptation, capturing the game’s story and world and all-around essence. It’s intense and emotional and funny and beautiful. And it also builds on the game in wonderful ways. Episode 1.3, “Long, Long Time” expands upon something you only hear a little about in passing in the game and turns it into this truly wonderful episode of television -- the best of any I saw all year. But beyond that, the show adds these little touches as well. The cold opens of both episodes one and two are brilliant little short films that wouldn’t really have fit in the game but are terrific tone setters for the show. It’s a masterclass in how to adapt a video game.

2. Succession (Season 4 - 2023, HBO) (Last year’s ranking: 3) - They landed the plane with a terrific final season, highlighted by some truly excellent episodes. 4.3, “Connor’s Wedding” keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole episode and is the standout but the final three episodes of the season are all really great as well as the show puts a bow on this messed up family’s saga.

1. The Bear (Season 2 - 2023, Hulu) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - I caught season one of The Bear not long after the last list went up and I really liked it. I don’t think it would’ve been number one or anything, but it would’ve ranked pretty highly. Season two built on season one and created the best show this year for me. It’s an intense show, and a sharp show, but also a kind show. A show that speeds things up on you and keeps you in a state of high anxiety for an entire hour-long episode and then slows way down and gets you to appreciate something so simple as a man receiving a chocolate covered banana for dessert (an unbelievably moving moment). The characters are tremendous. The ways they interact and grow are so well done. The acting is excellent. It’s a great looking show with a great soundtrack. The writing is subtle and smart. It knows when to be funny and it knows when to deliver an emotional knockout punch and sometimes does both back-to-back or even at the same time. It’s firing on all cylinders.

And so there’s the list. The second season of Winning Time and the third season of Only Murders in the Building started recently and I haven’t gotten a chance to watch them so that’s my bad. Those two have rated highly in the past. I’ll try to fit them on to next year’s list. Also, the Daryl Dixon spinoff started recently, too, and while I’m enjoying a little bit more than Dead City, it still feels like DLC. I guess we’ll find out next year if I thought it outgrew that. A tease!

Enjoy the Emmys, whenever they are.

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Annual Lists of TV Shows I Saw the Past Year

#reviews #Annual Lists of TV Shows I Saw The Past Year

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