Estelle Parsons' Weird Semi-Exit from The Conners

Laurie Metcalf and Estelle Parsons 
in The Conners

Episode 3 of Season 6 of The Conners (aired Feb. 21) featured a weird semi-exit from the series for 96-year-old Estelle Parsons. Her character Bev (mother of the late Roseanne and her sister Jackie) was on an experimental drug trial that improved her cognitive functions, lessened her dementia and brightened her mood. In this new state of being, Bev proposes she and Jackie (the brilliant Laurie Metcalf) spend a day together in Chicago for some long overdue mother-daughter bonding. 

At Union Station in the Windy City, Bev reveals she plans to go on a "great adventure" while she still has her wits about her and to board a train headed eastwards. She has no specific destination in mind and only one small bag of her belongings. She hugs Jackie and apologizes for her belittling behavior. (She wanted to have one perfect day with her daughter before losing her mind.) Jackie protests but lets her go. If only real life could be this simple--letting your nearly century-old mother on a train with no clear plan or means of support. You say goodbye and go on about your life.

Cutting the Cable Chord: Part 7: Troubles with Hulu

Since we got rid of cable, we've saved money, but there have been issues with Hulu Plus Live TV.

Sometimes when you replay a show you've recorded and already watched part of, it will start at the beginning instead at the part you stopped it. Then you have to fast forward. Last night there were buffering problems with the latest episode of The Amazing Race. I got about 20 mins. into the show and then it just stopped playing. No matter how many times I would go in and come out, the playback got stuck as they bearded brothers were hauling mattresses and the father and daughter from Texas were getting stuck at fish market roadblock. I even unplugged my TV and reset everything.

I finally had to buy the episode at Amazon for $3. I couldn't have watched it on Paramount Plus because I gave that streaming service up when they dropped the Tony Awards pre-show and it went to Pluto TV. 

This season of the Amazing Race has been fun. The episodes have been expanded to 90 mins. because of the actors' strike. The idea being that CBS needs to take up more space of non-actor-necessary content. They have a whole season of 60 min. episodes in the can as well. (The writers' strike has been settled but the SAG-AFTRA one drags on. Will it be settled in time for the delayed Emmys in January and the subsequent Oscars?) Another Amazing Race change is the elimination of charter flights since the COVID pandemic has lessened. So we're back to scrambles at the airport and travel agencies which I always found boring. No favorite teams yet.

The rest of the night I switched to Disney Plus for a Season Two episode of The Mandalorian. It was pretty exciting. The Mandalorian had to transport a frog-like alien and her eggs someplace but their ship crashed and they were chased by a horde of giant spiders.

I might try the Loki series on Disney Plus and I'm eagerly awaiting the new episodes of Doctor Who.

Cutting the Cable Cord, Part 5

Only Murders in the Building with
Selena Gomez, Steve Martin
and Martin Short
Credit: Hulu

The last blog post about Cutting the Cable Cord (Part 4) was written in Jan. 2016. That was the first time our household experimented with cutting cable. We eventually re-attached Spectrum, the lure was just too strong. But now we have severed the connection again for two reasons: 1) our monthly bill for phone, internet and three cable boxes with DVR was over $300 monthly; and 2) streaming services have gotten much more sophisticated and inclusive of most of the networks TWC Spectrum provided. Another reason has popped up in the past week: 3) Spectrum is in a dispute with ABC and their various Disney channels, just as they were in a battle with CBS a few years ago--chronicled here in a blog post from 2013. So Spectrum has apparently cut off ABC. That spat will probably be resolved soon, but the first two considerations still loom large.

Cutting the Cable Cord Part 3: Default Mode Viewing

Judy Garland guest-starring on The Andy Williams Show

The cable cord is now totally cut and I don't miss it at all. We now have a digital antenna for broadcast channels with Netflix and Amazon for streaming. Almost every show I would have missed from cable will show on the latter two services sooner or later. The same for most broadcast shows since we no longer have a DVR. I did catch all of the last season of the Amazing Race and I have caught up with Big Bang Theory for free on CBS's website.

Contemplating Cutting the Cable Cord

Vicious with Frances de la Tour, Ian McKellen, and Derek Jacobi
is one of the shows that can now be seen online without cable TV.

It's finally happened. Media-obsessed nut that I am, I am actually considering eliminating cable television from my life and just going with Netflix, Amazon, and the Internet. There are several factors in this momentous decision:

1. Too expensive. I live in an area (Queens, New York) where Time Warner Cable appears to have a monopoly. We can't get Fios and I'm fairly sure Optimum, DirectTV and Dish are unavailable. My bundled bill which includes cable for three TVs, internet and phone comes to $190 a month.