Julia Season 2

May 2024 · 27 minute read

The show that had a few fans here and a whole lot of haters is back, bitches!

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by Anonymousreply 127January 16, 2024 5:52 AM

This lady was deeply homophobic and the rewriting of history to make her some kind of lovable feminist bon vivant makes me sick.

by Anonymousreply 1November 17, 2023 4:20 AM

R1 Her homophobia seems much more complicated than the simple tribalism it usually stems from today. And it is fascinating to see how it was tempered by admiration and appreciation of the gay people she actually knew and worked with.

by Anonymousreply 2November 17, 2023 4:25 AM

The first episode was a bit "Previously on" but the best thing about it was, hands down, Bebe Neuwirth.

Judith Light is serving HAM! HAM! HAM!

And Russ the hot Don Draper wannabe was still hotly hot in this episode.

by Anonymousreply 3November 17, 2023 4:49 AM

I really enjoyed the forst three episodes that dropped, interesting in ways I was not expecting.

Isabella Rossellini was unrecognizable for a moment and very good. Stockard Channing looks ghastly, like Madame in the old Waylon Flowers and Madame ventriloquist act. Danny Burstein looks bigger and taller than I was expecting, or maybe Bebe Neuwirth is just tiny.

by Anonymousreply 4November 17, 2023 6:18 AM

I liked if for a while, then her voice became tiresome.

by Anonymousreply 5November 17, 2023 8:26 PM

Too much Earl J. Waggedorn for me.

by Anonymousreply 6November 17, 2023 8:42 PM

Stockard looks OK for 79. Her work settled a bit. Her little speech reminded me a bit of her monologue from Six Degrees. Well, when one has Stockard one gives her a monologue.

Sam was quite the dish. I didn't buy the Jacques Brel thing for a second, though.

I'm sick of almost everyone at WGBH. I want to see Julia and Avis.

by Anonymousreply 7November 18, 2023 4:51 AM

R7, I agree about the tv station employees. They’re generally so pedestrian and uninteresting (although I admit that Rachel Bloom was a good addition).

by Anonymousreply 8November 18, 2023 4:56 AM

Is Sarah…larger..this season?

by Anonymousreply 9November 18, 2023 5:02 AM

R8 I like Fran whatshis face aka Russ but honestly I couldn't tell any of the others apart.

by Anonymousreply 10November 18, 2023 5:05 AM

The writing on this season is DREADFUL.

Was it this bad last year & I just didn’t notice?

by Anonymousreply 11November 18, 2023 6:16 AM

I like this season almost better because it covers less familiar territory.

Helen Gurly Brown shitting on the milquetoast, male supremacist host on air was funny.

by Anonymousreply 12November 18, 2023 8:10 AM

Episode 3 was good, although it beggars belief that both Brel and Sartre would be crossing paths with these people.

I knew how Alice's story would end in this ep from the word go, though.

by Anonymousreply 13November 19, 2023 5:59 AM

I thought Sartre didn't speak English. In e3 he's being a drip in English.

by Anonymousreply 14November 19, 2023 5:59 PM

That Paul was such a homo.

by Anonymousreply 15November 19, 2023 6:08 PM

Every time I see this thread title I think:

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by Anonymousreply 16November 20, 2023 6:13 AM

this show is boring as fuck

by Anonymousreply 17November 22, 2023 12:16 AM

Fat and not shaped like Child at all.

by Anonymousreply 18November 22, 2023 12:46 AM

I feel like the series just doesn't know what it wants to be or what it wants to say. It began so well its first season but I saw the seams showing before they were done. Episode 1 did not impress me. But I'll keep watching, of course. as I do love the cast.

by Anonymousreply 19November 22, 2023 12:52 AM

Julia has been a background character in her own show this season. Judith and Avis are the most interesting things about the show right now

by Anonymousreply 20November 22, 2023 2:21 AM

I, for one, am not very enthusiastic about the character of Judith and don't know why she's practically railroaded (is that the right phrase?) the series. Why should we care about her? But also, what are the JULIA writers even trying to say about the character? She seems to have "issues" but I don't why or what they ar

by Anonymousreply 21November 22, 2023 3:37 AM

And Alice - instead of maturing with her new power at WGBH, she seems to have become a dithering idiot who can't deal with the station's programming and can't even tell if she's pregnant or not....or what to do about it. She's become spunkless.

by Anonymousreply 22November 22, 2023 3:39 AM

Is Alice's boy friend the same fellow from last season? Either way, I hope he gets a shirtless scene soon to relieve the boredom.

by Anonymousreply 23November 22, 2023 3:40 AM

Now that I know Julia Childs was a "rabidly" homophobic cunt - she's dead to me. Don't want to hear another thing about her.

by Anonymousreply 24November 22, 2023 3:48 AM

I kind of liked the idea of that Stockard Channing character as a sort of Truth Teller confronting all of these strangers en masse and individually with her opinions about them. But her dialogue and delivery was clunky.

Why in the world would young Sam go after old Paul? Were there really no better options in Provence?

by Anonymousreply 25November 22, 2023 2:36 PM

Was Sam in bed with a woman in that end montage?

It seems that Sam was a starfucker/gold digger (obviously) and he must have thought Paul had some kind of cred in the art world.

Beautiful man, though.

by Anonymousreply 26November 22, 2023 2:41 PM

[quote] And Alice - instead of maturing with her new power at WGBH, she seems to have become a dithering idiot who can't deal with the station's programming and can't even tell if she's pregnant or not....or what to do about it. She's become spunkless.

That did seem out of character for her, but I also saw that as a remark on the times, that even a smart, educated woman might not know a lot about her own body and/or human sexuality, as per the moral code of the times.

by Anonymousreply 27November 22, 2023 2:42 PM

I am so excited! I loved the first season and will definitely be my Thanksgiving watch tomorrow. Though, I feel Sarah Lancashire makes Julia more flowery and soft where she was a much harder, butchier woman in real life. I don’t think she leaned as heavily on Paul. And the HBO series is filled with make believe. The real Russ Morash, producer of “French Chef” put out this interview explaining the many fabrications the show made up:

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by Anonymousreply 28November 22, 2023 3:14 PM

Well, kind of a weird episode.

by Anonymousreply 29November 24, 2023 4:52 AM

I thought being back in Boston might give the episode a little more momentum. But still, wtf is this about? All the "plot lines" just seem to meander around without much tension. Julia herself even seems unmoored and purposeless.

Poor Sarah Lancashire....please find yourself a better character back in the UK. The writing this season has left her rather uninteresting.

by Anonymousreply 30November 25, 2023 3:17 AM

Interesting episode.

DHP in a dual role.....hmm.

Bebe owned tonight's episode. She did it all. Or as the kids would say: She ATE and LEFT NO CRUMBS!

by Anonymousreply 31December 1, 2023 5:17 AM

R21, I think the idiom you are looking for is “hijacked.” But I like the character (and actress) so I don’t mind. And Bebe really was brilliant.

I’m hoping Paul’s homo dalliances come into play with the FBI guy.

by Anonymousreply 32December 1, 2023 1:34 PM

I continue to be confused and disappointed with this series in its latest installment. So many story lines that seemed to come out of nowhere and go nowhere -

Paul's twin brother, wtf?

a LIFE Magazine writer who seemed to want to do a hatchet job on poor Julia (are the writers familiar with LIFE?

That LIFE would want to rearrange all the furniture in Julia's house for a photo spread

That women's issues show with the Black hostess, wtf?? And wouldn't they have previewed the pilot with some kind of an audience before axing it?

The uselessness of the Rachel Bloom character

Julia's dependence on Avis for a magazine interview (especially with Judith already there)

Enough with Judith already. Why must she be constantly hanging around?

And worst of all, Sarah Lancashire is really becoming tiresome because of the bad writing

by Anonymousreply 33December 2, 2023 4:16 PM

[quote] this show is boring as fuck

It’s not supposed to be Mannix, Rose.

by Anonymousreply 34December 2, 2023 4:25 PM

I've enjoyed S2 well enough but agree that Julia seems to be weirdly backburnered this year.

And having her away from the WGBH people for the first few episodes was just Soap Writing Mistake #1 - don't island your main character(s). One episode, sure. Three? Give me a break.

by Anonymousreply 35December 3, 2023 1:39 AM

I thought this latest episode was bizarre. A twin brother? Why? The black female producer has been anachronistic from the start, but that chat show would NEVER have gotten that far in 1962 and certainly would not have had a moderator of color.

They seem at pains to show Julia as flawed and rather conservative, which is fine and perhaps true, but a sort of aimlessness seems to have set in with this series and I’m not sure why so many of the supporting cast have come to the fore this season. I’m just not that interested in most of them. And why should we care about the office politics at Knopf publishers in the early ‘60s? Oh, yeah, I know, sexism.

But enough already.

by Anonymousreply 36December 3, 2023 3:57 AM

Bebe and DHP really made a meal of the last show, but again, why is Julia a supporting character in a show named after her?

by Anonymousreply 37December 3, 2023 4:15 AM

Season 2 is trying too hard to be... woke? .... Julia was moderately homophobic until she saw what the AIDS crisis was doing to the population, then she changed her tune considerably. She was never a feminist. I liked Julia Child a lot for who she was, and this "reading between the lines" alternate history is as bad as Bridgerton being what it is complete with powered fountains early in the 19th century

by Anonymousreply 38December 3, 2023 5:01 AM

When did Alice’s boobs explode? I don’t remember noticing them at all last season, but now they’re sailing into scenes at least a yard before her.

by Anonymousreply 39December 4, 2023 4:15 AM

Somebody at HBO needs to pull the plug on this thing.

by Anonymousreply 40December 4, 2023 4:25 AM

They probably will, R40. WBD/HBO is killing most of their shows.

by Anonymousreply 41December 4, 2023 4:30 AM

That might have been the best ep of the season. It was funny and moved quickly. Lots of snappy dialogue.

"Tell my mother I'm dead."

by Anonymousreply 42December 8, 2023 5:06 AM

I think it’s the best episode of the series so far, R42.

by Anonymousreply 43December 8, 2023 3:17 PM

I almost fell asleep during this episode. Those tedious unfunny telethon scenes dragged.

I do love the hunky cameraman who was forced to man the phones, though.

Why do they keep dragging that book editor Judith back for every episode? It's not that the actress is bad, but the character just doesn't need to always be hanging around. Avis filled in just fine previously.

by Anonymousreply 44December 9, 2023 2:16 PM

The beefy camerman was hot, indeed.

As is the actor who plays John Updike.

by Anonymousreply 45December 9, 2023 2:35 PM

The camera man is a local Boston actor they found while filming there. Michael Malvestri, I think is his name,

Updike is Broadway actor Bryce Pinkham.

by Anonymousreply 46December 14, 2023 1:49 PM

I need Michael inside me quite deeply.

And Bryce waiting to slide in after he's done.

by Anonymousreply 47December 14, 2023 2:08 PM

I like it but agree it didn't really achieve a lot. I also think HBO will kill it and Gilded Age. Too expensive for the return.

But I wonder, who's producing what is or passes for the good drama any more? Because all the streamers seem to be rushing for the bottom.

by Anonymousreply 48December 14, 2023 3:33 PM

I do wonder how much of the season of shows like Julia and The Gilded Age are written before a show is given the green light to production. Both of these series had so much potential but (for me) failed to deliver ultimately. They both seem like they're still being written as they're shooting as the arcs, such as they are, meander so badly.

by Anonymousreply 49December 14, 2023 4:36 PM

It's comfort food TV, nothing more. And that's just fine with me.

by Anonymousreply 50December 14, 2023 5:13 PM

THAT was another really good episode.

Finally, some shit with actual stakes happened.

I enjoy this show a lot but this does remind me of Downton Abbey frequently - where things noodle around aimlessly forever and then a bunch of shit happens at once.

by Anonymousreply 51December 15, 2023 4:40 AM

Have we seen the last of Danny Burstein on this series?

Please don't saddle Bebe Newirth with any more Wtf? scenes with that awful actress playing the Harvard (Radcliffe?) co-ed.

by Anonymousreply 52December 16, 2023 1:56 PM

Melanie Mayron is now totally unrecognizable. And, interestingly, it's not because of recent plastic surgery to look younger. She totally looks her age which I guess would be mid-70s.

But from old plastic surgery that just completely obliterated her original face. I had no idea who that was playing Robert Joy's wife until the credits rolled.

by Anonymousreply 53December 17, 2023 3:46 AM

That was Robert Joy's wife? Who knew?

This show works so hard to get feminist, anti-racist points but fails, at least for me, because I'm so distracted by the historical inaccuracies. The White House show took place in 1968, not 1963, when there was no antiwar movement to speak of. Julia, quite the celeb by then, attended the state dinner in question. There's no evidence that Chef Haller was rude to her and they seem to get on well on camera. How nice for his adult children to see him slandered as a snob. Two minor inconsistencies: The head of protocol was a man. Blanche Knopf was dead by the time the show came out.

Chef Zephyr Wright was the Johnson family chef and her story is a lovely one. Apparently, she educated Lyndon Johnson on the need for a civil rights law by recounting the indignities she faced traveling cross-country from the Johnson Ranch in Texas to their DC home. Unfortunately, having her interact with a fictitious character dilutes her impact. Kennedy's French chef quit on Johnson because he refused to use frozen food as the Johnsons requested in an attempt to economize. Wright, a self-trained cook, held down the fort until Haller was hired although she did not do any state dinners.

I was convinced that the bowling night would end up with the two husbands in bed with each other. Anybody else?

'

by Anonymousreply 54December 17, 2023 4:43 AM

OMG I had no idea THAT was Melanie Mayron

by Anonymousreply 55December 17, 2023 2:01 PM

So, is it true that Julia did a TV show with the White House chef but then wasn't invited into the dinner that occurred after the TV shoot? If so, was this well-known at the time?

by Anonymousreply 56December 17, 2023 2:16 PM

I thought I read that she was invited but can't find the cite. It's a non-issue. It was a huge achievement to win the White House's cooperation during the upheaval of the Vietnam War and the 1968 presidential campaign to open its doors to the press. That was the point--documenting the process of what goes into a state dinner, not being an honored guest. She was there to do a job.

The show bends over backward to depict Julia as slighted, God knows why.

by Anonymousreply 57December 17, 2023 5:30 PM

What the hell was that bowling scene about and why were the boys' balls so small?

And are we supposed to think that Paulsky actually had homosexual dalliances during WWII or was that just a false accusation to fire him from the diplomatic corps?

Also, if you want to do a show about Alfred and Blanche Knopf (who I'm sure were a fascinating couple), do a show about them and stop injecting little cliched bits about them into Julia's story. For me they've never really been established as 3 dimensional characters. This episode was the first time I felt anything for Blanche but I might have felt so much more if the character had been more fully rounded from the start. She's a chain smoker - we get it - she's angry!

by Anonymousreply 58December 17, 2023 6:09 PM

Candlepin bowling was a thing in Boston. I am amazed at what details the show considers important and the big lapses it ignores.

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by Anonymousreply 59December 17, 2023 7:21 PM

FWIW I believe this season takes place in 1964, not 1963.

by Anonymousreply 60December 18, 2023 3:23 PM

I hear they're working on a spin-off for next season - Those Krazy Knopfs

by Anonymousreply 61December 18, 2023 3:24 PM

R60 I think so, this would clearly be post-JFK.

by Anonymousreply 62December 18, 2023 3:34 PM

It kept driving me crazy who was playing the wife. It finally hit me that OMG that’s Melanie Mayron!

I’d read a little about Zephyr Wright. It was nice to see them portray her in such a great light.

Oh and Hannah Einbinder! That was fun.

by Anonymousreply 63December 19, 2023 3:29 AM

[quote]Oh and Hannah Einbinder! That was fun.

Thank you! She was so familiar to me but I couldn't place her.

by Anonymousreply 64December 19, 2023 3:39 AM

Melanie Mayron has also directed episodes she's appeared in. Right now she's doing an off (off off?) Broadway play with DL fave Marilu Henner.

by Anonymousreply 65December 19, 2023 3:42 AM

OMFG I did NOT know that was Hannah Einbinder. She really modulated her voice. Or didn't give it the vocal fry she does on Hacks.

by Anonymousreply 66December 19, 2023 5:13 AM

Season's already over as of Thursday. Bummer.

by Anonymousreply 67December 20, 2023 5:19 AM

They did a good job casting Zephyr. The actress playing her looks like the original.

by Anonymousreply 68December 20, 2023 5:20 AM

[quote]Now that I know Julia Childs was a "rabidly" homophobic cunt - she's dead to me. Don't want to hear another thing about her.

Not even the fact that her name was CHILD and not Childs?

by Anonymousreply 69December 20, 2023 1:38 PM

R24 probably also watches Sally Fields.

by Anonymousreply 70December 20, 2023 4:08 PM

That was a good episode too....maybe the perfect one to end the series with.......and the final line was hilarious.

by Anonymousreply 71December 23, 2023 4:53 AM

If they don't return for season 3 then they left everyone in a good place. I loved the scene in the diner with Bebe and the college student. Hilarious.

by Anonymousreply 72December 23, 2023 3:38 PM

Like watching "The Crown," I learned a little history from factchecking each episode.

by Anonymousreply 73December 23, 2023 4:25 PM

r73 Make sure to watch "Archie" and do the same thing.

by Anonymousreply 74December 23, 2023 4:52 PM

Archie left out his gay relationship with Orry Kelly and their operation of a speakeasy. The problem with Archie is that Jason Isaacs is charisma-free while Cary Grant could light up a room..

Haven't factchecked Maestro but I may have PTSD. from it. Read my partner the DL review, "worse than Tar", and that says it all.

by Anonymousreply 75December 23, 2023 5:21 PM

r75, please go into Maestro with an open mind. I found it to be very fresh and innovative filmmaking, not schmaltzy like the trailer led me to believe, and I'm not even a Bradley Cooper fan.

by Anonymousreply 76December 23, 2023 6:48 PM

While I enjoyed “Julia” episode by episode this season, I was thoroughly perplexed by it. Where is the focus and what is the point?

The real Child single-handedly helped to make Americans more sophisticated about food, about the pleasures and enjoyment of preparing food well and feeding one’s family and friends. She told viewers to insist that their supermarkets stock a variety of fresh vegetables and herbs, things that were not commonly available then. She promoted a French (really a European) idea of enjoying communal meals, the beginning of the “slow food” movement. And she raised the level of sophistication about food. Because the U.S. in the early ‘60s was all about TV dinners, canned and frozen vegetables, etc.

But what Julia Child was not was a progressive culture warrior. She was in fact a natural conservative who perhaps loosened up and became more tolerant over time. And why have all the supporting cast become so important to the series? I’m not passionately interested in the politics at Knopf and find the general Sisterhood-Is-Powerful vibe to be completely anachronistic, along with the black feminist female producer at WGBH.

They should have set the series in the ‘70s or ‘80s if they wanted to show a rapidly changing culture. The U.S. was just not there yet in 1964. And this show acting like it was just bugs me.

by Anonymousreply 77December 23, 2023 7:54 PM

R77 It didn't have a clear narrative arc this season, to be sure.

It seemed to be "here's the quirky people we hang out with" and not so much about Julia herself.

by Anonymousreply 78December 23, 2023 7:57 PM

Agree with you both, r77 and r78. This series began last year with so much potential (and fun) and devolved quickly in the first season to an odd aimlessness. It always feels ti me like it was being written weekly and shot without any clear point or focus.

by Anonymousreply 79December 24, 2023 12:29 AM

I still loved it - a pleasant hour spent with interesting adults without abuse, antiheroes or nihilism.

But yes, it devolved a bit this year especially.

by Anonymousreply 80December 24, 2023 1:15 AM

I'm so with you, R80. After the pandemic, I wrongly predicted a fierce desire for happier, affirming, optimistic entertainment. Instead we got more vampires. I was wrong. But I love cocooning with this show. It's just a break from it all.

by Anonymousreply 81December 24, 2023 3:10 PM

I actually think it makes sense that post-pandemic entertainment is heavy on monsters, zombies and apocalyptic stories. It one way a culture works out the trauma,

by Anonymousreply 82December 24, 2023 3:27 PM

Why the fuck did there need to be a scene with Judith and Madhur Jaffrey? The way Judith ate that Indian food was really annoying,

And as awful an nachronism that Alice was I did adore Adrane Lennox as her mom and the guy playing Isaac was adorable.

by Anonymousreply 83December 24, 2023 11:10 PM

I want Isaac in me quite deeply.

by Anonymousreply 84December 24, 2023 11:28 PM

R83. Not half as annoying as the way Judith Light ate up the scenery.

by Anonymousreply 85December 25, 2023 2:57 AM

Isaac is played by Tosin Morohunfola. Check out his Insta - lots of hunky shirtless photos!

HIs beard is very sexy but I wonder if he wouldn't photograph better without it on TV as he has such beautiful dark skin? I found it a little hard to see his facial expressions. And I question a beard like that on a Black lawyer (any lawyer) in 1964.

by Anonymousreply 86December 25, 2023 3:29 AM

That silly Commie hunt plot line went nowhere.

by Anonymousreply 87December 25, 2023 3:30 AM

I find it odd that Julia was homophobic considering the number of homos she had on her Baking With Julia series.

Oh, and that one episode with the couple, where the husband is clearly transitioning, is rather disturbing to me.

by Anonymousreply 88December 25, 2023 3:38 AM

[quote] Oh, and that one episode with the couple, where the husband is clearly transitioning, is rather disturbing to me.

???

by Anonymousreply 89December 25, 2023 3:40 AM

I think Julia and Paul had a weird sort of homophobia that was expected in their day - they liked individual people who were gay but at that time ,most people didn't really grasp it as an identity.

To her credit, when her awareness was raised she changed her attitude. If I can give Tammy Faye Bakker the grace to change I'm sure able to do it for JC.

by Anonymousreply 90December 25, 2023 3:42 AM

r89, IIRC it was a bread episode with Jeffery Alford. It replays on Pluto TV with regularity.

If he isn't transitioning...

by Anonymousreply 91December 25, 2023 3:47 AM

Well, apparently Katharine Hepburn was homophobic in spite of being one and working and partying with many of them. It was a different time.

by Anonymousreply 92December 25, 2023 3:53 AM

Tosin Morohunfola is FINE. Damn.

by Anonymousreply 93December 25, 2023 2:05 PM

Oh FUCK yeah.

I may have to borrow from a certain DL troll but if any one deserves the "king" monitor this dude does!

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by Anonymousreply 94December 25, 2023 2:27 PM

[quote]R82 it makes sense that post-pandemic entertainment is heavy on monsters, zombies and apocalyptic stories. It one way a culture works out the trauma,

But those subjects were already abundant before the pandemic.

by Anonymousreply 95December 26, 2023 7:51 AM

I hate this, but after reading Our Flag Means Death was cancelled it doesn't come as a surprise.

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by Anonymousreply 96January 11, 2024 3:04 AM

R96. Sad but not shocking. That last episode of season 2 felt like a series finale so they must have suspected something. I loved this show and the cast.

by Anonymousreply 97January 11, 2024 3:53 AM

Fuck. I felt like Sarah Lancashire was really becoming comfortable in the role in Season 2.

by Anonymousreply 99January 11, 2024 4:02 AM

I liked the show much more than most people here seemed to, so I'm disappointed to hear it's not returning. The inaccuracies and anachronisms bothered me at first, but once I realized they were using the bare bones of Julia's story to tell their own I could enjoy it for what it was. I'll definitely re-watch the series in the future.

by Anonymousreply 100January 11, 2024 4:13 AM

I'm saddened but not surprised it was canceled. It was such a sweet show (it's rare to show a series about two married in late middle age who are in love with each other), but it must have cost a fortune to make with all the period clothing and sets. It offered really good work for Lancashire, Hyde-Pierce, Neuwirth, and Rossellini (who was very charming as the explosively ambivalent friend and collaborator).

I am sure we will see much more of Brittany Bradford, who was so appealing as Alice Naman.

by Anonymousreply 101January 11, 2024 4:15 AM

[quote]I hate this, but after reading Our Flag Means Death was cancelled it doesn't come as a surprise.

What exactly has one to do with the other? Our Flag had a natural conclusion and even its showrunners said it's pretty much done, so Max ended it per their wishes. That doesn't seem to be the case here.

by Anonymousreply 102January 11, 2024 4:49 AM

Perhaps a few of us can make our way up to Boston to console the local actor who plays Benny the cameraman.

by Anonymousreply 103January 11, 2024 10:25 AM

Wasn't Julia Childs a super nasty homophobic fat cunt?

Why is she being lauded on DL?

Anyway - it's cancelled.

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by Anonymousreply 104January 11, 2024 10:31 AM

I started season 2 last night and, honestly, had trouble getting through the first episode. I found the first season quite charming. Not a major dramatic achievement, of course, but a well acted and directed hour of comfort food TV -- sometimes amusing, sometimes surprisingly touching. But, I don't know, the first episode of season 2 was such a dud... they're trying to force dramatic conflict into a story that may not have any. Does it get better?

by Anonymousreply 105January 11, 2024 12:02 PM

Season 2 sucked. The show should have been renamed "Julia and Her Boring Friends, But Mostly Her Boring Friends"

by Anonymousreply 106January 11, 2024 12:15 PM

Yeah, they definitely made a mistake with starting Season 2 so slowly and waiting until episodes 2/3 to get everyone back at WGBH.

by Anonymousreply 107January 11, 2024 3:24 PM

I'll still pinch my nipples and think of Benny.

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by Anonymousreply 108January 11, 2024 3:35 PM

I'll miss Sarah Lancashire and David Hyde and look forward to seeing them in better productions,

When Bebe Newirth danced around a kitchen in a men's shirt, the show had jumped the shark. But I watched it until the bitter end.

by Anonymousreply 109January 11, 2024 5:13 PM

I loved this show, loved the sort of ragtag group of characters.

But I think this show made the same fatal mistake that another show I loved, "Home Fires," did. When it got a Season 2, it sort of slowed down story and/or took a long time to ramp up in that second season, because the narrative focused on character or subtle touches instead of plot.

With both shows, the beginning of the second season went off on a tangent and by the time things ramped up toward the end a lot of interest had been squandered.

I'm all for characterization and subtle touches but it does need to be balanced with plot/moving action forward. Having Julia in France for a few episodes really muted that, sadly, in this season.

by Anonymousreply 110January 11, 2024 5:20 PM

[quote]I liked the show much more than most people here seemed to

I enjoyed it too but honestly... did Julia Child live such an exciting/interesting life to warrant a series? Season 1 should have been the one and done.

by Anonymousreply 111January 12, 2024 11:15 PM

The second season felt like it was being written as they shot it. Like they didn't have a master plan from the beginning.

I really didn't get what they were trying to do with Bebe's character, giving her a fun love interest and then snatching it away in such a sour mode. She deserved better from the writers. And I don't know why they thought that Julia's book agent was an essential character who needed so much screen time. Also, I'm just tired of David Hyde Pierce and his schtick. I know everyone loves him onstage and off, but he's very one note to me. The Isabella R. character's thorny relationship with Julia had potential but I just didn't think the writing was deep enough to get it anywhere, like they were afraid to really explore the emotions.

And as much as I have loved Sarah Lancashire on so many shows, by S2, she'd become kind of a shrill caricature. She also deserved better treatment.

by Anonymousreply 112January 12, 2024 11:31 PM

I don't get the love for Judith Light. She may be a lovely person and a champion of gay causes but I think she's a bad actress. Of course she's got two Tony's so what the fuck do I know.

by Anonymousreply 113January 13, 2024 5:43 AM

Totally agree about Judith Light, r113. She's so hammy and obvious. There's no subtlety or reality there. She seemed to get like that with Transparent and never looked back. As I remember, she was fine on soaps and on her series with Tony Danza.

by Anonymousreply 114January 13, 2024 2:27 PM

[quote]Totally agree about Judith Light

What's up with her and her husband? Are they both gay, but... Inquiring minds want to know!

I have a lot of respect for her. I respect any actor that has remained in the industry for so long and has been working consistently.

by Anonymousreply 115January 13, 2024 2:32 PM

R115. Ok, rumor back in the day was Judith and the late (and gorgeous) Anita Morris were lovers. Remember, Anita was married to Grover Dale so.............who knows. Judith's husband also pings off the charts.

by Anonymousreply 116January 13, 2024 4:19 PM

Thanks, R116. They have (in my small mind) an unusual marriage but apparently it works for them and so... GOOD for them!

by Anonymousreply 117January 13, 2024 5:19 PM

Oh! I have to add that what I do enjoy about series such as this one, "The Gilded Age" et alia is that at many times I'm struck by the history and of many of the people involved. I sit with my laptop and google the people and/or events involved and I learn about them. I was unfamiliar with Blanche Knopf (and Judith Jones too) and I enjoyed learning more about them.

by Anonymousreply 118January 13, 2024 5:24 PM

I think Blanche Alfred Knopf are fascinating characters but JULIA didn't have the time to really delve into their relationship and importance in 20th century culture so I think one episode early on about Blanche would have been sufficient instead of the melodramatic dribs and drabs we'd get every other episode.

by Anonymousreply 119January 13, 2024 6:23 PM

The inevitable: a petition has started.....

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by Anonymousreply 120January 15, 2024 10:05 PM

It felt like they never had enough for more than one season then thought, heck, we can develop stories for all the supporting characters!

But I mean, do we care about Russia project? The unrealistic career adventures of a black woman producer in the 60s? The editor, Judith? Bebe playing someone named Avis but always being just Bebe?

We still enjoyed it for Sarah. But there was lots of filler.

by Anonymousreply 121January 15, 2024 10:25 PM

Can't get wrapped up in the travails of characters who never existed when I'm watching something based on a real character.

by Anonymousreply 122January 16, 2024 12:52 AM

Her twat was real for sure

by Anonymousreply 123January 16, 2024 1:02 AM

I love the show but it's done and no petition will bring it back. Plus we'll always have Meryl's cuddly Julia to treasure.

by Anonymousreply 125January 16, 2024 4:26 AM

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