NOTE: Now that "Anne with an E" has dropped here in the US on Netflix, the conversation--and controversy--have ramped up even more. "I don't see why we need a 'gritty' Anne," one fan ranted, while others are loving the more complex, authentic heroine, trauma-induced warts and all. I … [Read more...]
This Is Us Recap #1: We’re Having Triplets!
Well, I thought I wouldn't cry on this episode of "This is Us." It wasn't really focused on adoption, the issue that usually hits a nerve with me. But when I started explaining the whole thing to my college son, who had never seen an episode, that did it. "William is Randall's birth father," I said … [Read more...]
Of Adoption, Birth Fathers, and a Good, Good Father
You know, since I've fallen in love with the new NBC drama "This is Us," AND especially with William, Randall's birth father, I've been thinking again about my own birth father, "Ted" and how it all played out between the two of us. SPOILER ALERT: My birth father is no William. In fact, every … [Read more...]
10 Adoption-Related Thoughts About “This Is Us”
They did NOT have me at Milo Ventimiglia’s butt on the trailer for “This is Us.” They had me at ‘finding my birth father.’ Because why? For one thing, to me, Milo is Jesse the Gilmore Boy (we’re still in Season 3 of GG, trying to catch up by November, which we won’t.) I mean, I could have been … [Read more...]
Downton Recap, Episode #2: Farmer Lady Mary Shows Well at the Late Pig Show, Plus Lots of Angst
On tonight's "Downton Abbey," it's all gone pear-shaped as the British say. Which is to say, things became sticky wickets with several of the characters and their relationships. Not the jolliest of episodes, I must say. 1. Things start out in the lonely breakfast room, … [Read more...]