max (formerly HBO MAX)

That last episode was bananas! I got home late from a work trip on Sunday, so I waited to watch until Monday. I did get spoiled about who the body was, but was sort of guessing that was who it was already. I knew the who, but not the how. I love that Jennifer Coolidge has gotten such a nice career boost from that show. She's magic.

I enjoyed Meghann Fahy on The Bold Type, but she was fantastic on The White Lotus! I hope her star continues to rise. That scene where Ethan tells Daphne about Cameron cheating on her was SO good. She did so little, but her face said everything. I think that role might have been very surface and fluffy without a really good actress in the role.

I'm really enjoying the second season of the Gossip Girl reboot. Very different from the original series, but still fun. I love the twist of the new GG being a teacher at Constance.

I recently read Matthew Perry's memoir (meh - LOTS of talk about his addiction, which seems to have been the bulk of his adult life). I never did watch the Friends reunion special, so I watched it last night.

I'd mainly avoided it because of James Corden, who I can't stand. I tried to ignore him and just enjoy the rest of the show. I enjoyed it for the most part, but I also found it a little sad. Mainly, it just felt like MP was barely there. Like he was a shadow of his former self. The others all seemed present and enjoying themselves, but he felt like a shadow. Kind of a bummer. I sort of wish I hadn't read the book, because I can't imagine watching Friends now and enjoying it the way I did, knowing what I know about MP and what was going on while the show was in production.

I didn't watch the Diane Sawyer interview. He did talk about his teeth falling out in the book, but he didn't use it as an excuse for why he was "off" at the reunion. If you know that that happened, it explains how his teeth looked. It looked like he was wearing badly-fitting, too-white dentures. I just felt sad for him. Reading the book, I just imagined that he couldn't have gotten as much out of the whole experience of Friends as his cast members did. He claims to have never used or been under the influence on that set (I honestly don't see how that's possible), but the effects were obvious. He did say that, any time he had a goatee, he was on opioids. His addiction was so out of control at some points that I'd guess that was pretty much all he thought about.

I thought, of all six cast members, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer seem to have aged the best. No (really blatant) plastic surgery and they both look terrific. You could really feel the true affection they all had for one another.

Agreed about that dumb fashion show. Waste of time. I felt that way about anything with Corden on screen. I would have liked more of the six of them just reminiscing about their experiences, watching clips and reading scenes. That was the stuff that got me the most emotional.

I enjoy HBO Max, but it felt weird that this special wasn't on NBC as a special event.

It's really good! I watched the first season or two back when I had Cinemax. Now it's all folded into HBO Max. It's a detective show, but the chemistry between the leads is what makes the show for me. I love them both. I had a crush on Tom Burke when he was on The Musketeers, so I was onboard with C.B. Strike as soon as it was announced. Holliday Granger is fantastic too.

Station Eleven was excellent! I'm sometimes hesitant to watch movies or series based on books I love, but the reviews were so good that I had to give it a chance. Plus, I really love Mackenzie Davis.

LOVE Perry Mason and Matthew Rhys! He's fantastic and I love Juliet Rylance too. I'm so glad it's back.