Reviews

As others have said this film does have several problems. Grace's best friend is undeveloped as are the parents' church friends. The people on the music tour with the exception of the one nice guy are black and white bad. The main problem though I saw was that the main character seems too old for the part. She was 21 or 22 at the time of filming. Her character has just turned 18 or just graduated from high school. That kind of age gap in filming for shows and film is not unusual and usually works, but in this case - as others have said - she just felt too old for the part - and too old to be playing a naive 18 year old. I am surprised that the father hadn't talked to her more about the dangers of the music business and why he left.

What does work in this film though is the spirit, the story, and the music. Because of those things it is well worth seeing.

I did have to see the film however a couple of times to figure out what was happening. My own LDS/ Mormon culture doesn't have as what some Protestant groups term a "music ministry." Our regular meetings are very tame and very solemn. We do have what is sometimes termed "Mormon Pop" - which unfortunately gets sometimes made light of - which is played for fun, but never at formal meetings. It was a shock to see wild music played in regular church meetings in this film as well as other Christian films such as "Heaven is for Real" and "Miracles from Heaven."

Once I realized that this film though was about Christian music aka good uplifting music, I loved it and loved the spirit of it. The other night even the film was on again I sat down and watched it in it's entirety even though I had other things to be doing that night.

Even with all of the problems with the film bec. Of it's spirit and message it is well worth seeing.

As all of the "Ruby and the Well" episodes, this was a sweet episode. However, two of the guest characters were miscast because of their ages. Amanda Richer who plays the deaf girl does great in the spisode. The problem though is at the time of filming she was 36, close in age to the actor who plays her dad. The actors who play her parents aren't named on IMDB, but I recognize the actor who plays her dad as Evan Buliung who plays the father in "Holly Hobbie." The characters of the children during the final season of "Holly Hobbie" are aged 14 to 19. Buliung's age isn't listed in IMDB, but I am guessing from the characters in HH and from his appearance that he is in his mid - to late thirties. The actress who plays Richer's mother in the episode does look age appropriate. This makes Builung at the same age or just older than Richer. Buliung being near the same age as Richer wouldn't be that disconcerting - her character appears much younger - but he is obviously much younger than the actress who plays his wife in the episode. The age difference made me really uncomfortable and it made the romantic scene near the end of the episode feel very awkward.

Amanda Richer though does a great job in the episode and it was fun in the one scene where here character is teaching sign language for the viewers to have the opportunity to learn a bit of sign language.

The other reviewers are right. This movie could be better.

For starters it does not have the same tone of the original "Marley" film. OK whatever it is meant for different audience - that of young children. But if you are going to keep to the character of the original "Marley" keep to the character. The whole point of the Marley story is that other for some basic things such as not going to the bathroom in the house he is UNTRAINABLE!!!! To suggest that two 13 year olds who are untrained as dog trainers can train an untrainable dog doesn't even make sense.

Then you have two 13 year olds acting like they are five, particularly the boy. A 13 year old boy having to convince his mother that he is old enough and responsible for the responsibility of a dog is laughable. Thirteen year olds are not responsible, but they are not completely irresponsible either.

Then you have the evil characters. This is a film not a comic book. Even if this film is meant for children, let's try to be at least somewhat believable.

I did like the actor who played the grandfather. He was very likable.

:((((

This film drove me nuts. Granted part of it maybe thatI have a hard time relating to southern culture and southern accents.

The main character of "Madison" is 16 but is written as 13. The actress Dora Madison Burge was 22 at the time of filming. For a 22 year old to be playing a 16 year old is enough of a stretch, but a 16 year old acting like a 13 year old becomes sketch comedy rather than drama.

We get used to older actors. Understandably an 18 or 19 year old will play a 16 or 17 year old in shows and films so production companies don't have to deal with child labor laws - or parents, and their added maturity is obviously an advantage on set, but that much of an age gap is way too much. Five years in teen years and young adult years is huge. Age gaps are routinely used in sketch comedy for humor, but for a film that is trying to be serious it just doesn't work.

I liked the actress in "Cowgirls 'n Angels" so I am sure that it isn't her that I necessarily find so annoying but the writing.

I also didnt care for the grandfather, but I suppose that was the point of the film. I never did get why the grandmother was living some place else.

The plot isn't all together original. It is a cross between "Flicka 2" and "Marley 2." City girl with chip on her shoulder growing up when sent to the sticks - er a rural environment. If anyone has seen "Storm Rider" the storyline is similar as well. Add that to "Marley 2" - two 13 year olds - whose characters are acting like they are 5 - training a dog for a competition.

But yes, it is a good family film with good values. Not enough of those around any longer.

Linda Ann Sheldon I loved them both - exc. Mark's mustache. Interesting to see them much less caricatured than they are in LR2C. Dawn is such a delight.

Linda Ann Sheldon 10:58 a.m.

Last night I watched the 2020 British mini-series "The Trouble with Maggie Cole." It was about the dangers of gossip, but I also saw it as showing the dangers of only knowing half of the story, and then jumping to conclusions - making wrong conclusions from only knowing and being able to see half of the story. Either tell the whole story, or don't tell any of the story. Avoid the appearance of evil bec. Then people are then only getting a portion of the story.

Fun to see Dawn French and Mark Heap is more realistic roles than their charicatured roles in "Larkrise to Candleford." Dawn was all Dawn in both, she is such a delight - that smile of hers lights up an entire room.

IMDB is nuts that it is poorly written. It well written The girl that plays the daughter-in-law was so cute and so funny and so wry?, outside of Mark and Dawn, she was my favorite. Fun to see the British small town seaside scenery. I have to go spend so time now in a small British town.

I had heard of it, but hadn't thought of trying to find it, but the other afternoon while searching the Orem Library for the LDS "Pride and Prejudice" I happened to see it, so decided to watch it to see Dawn and Mark.

At the beginning you start off feeling kind of dirty hearing the things that Dawn's character "Maggie" says, but then when you see her very sincere heartfelt albeit sometimes clumsy and comical desire to make things right with all of her friends you fall in love with her. The other IMDB reviewers were nuts that she isn't sincere.

Anyway, it does present some interesting thing to think about.

"A Christmas Wish"

I love this film. There are granted several of plot holes but it is one of those film that as it is about service is just makes you feel good.

Kristy Swanson is fun to watch, KC Clyde is fun to watch, but the fact that Kristy is eleven years older than KC is distracting. Fortunately, the film is not really about their relationship and there is no ending big kiss or romantic resolution. I didn't think that Kristy was necessarily too old for her role, but she just didn't match with KC.

The film instead is about "Martha's" circumstances and the kids. Why did Martha leave where she was living? She at least had a roof over her head. Did I miss her being evicted? Surprising that even with kids that considering her circumstances that she hasn't been working. Bart Johnson is too nice of a guy to be playing the abusive husband. The parts of the kids were well acted. It was disappointed that they didn't do much with acting elsewhere. The girl in particular was well acted. As someone else commented, it was interesting seeing Ed Herrman with his as usual amazing acting and in a different sort of role.

Dani Cuchran in the teen part of her career was fun to see.

Things as usual in Christmas films did "wrap up" a little too nicely.

I originally saw the film under the working title "A Rootbeer Christmas." I was disappointed when I saw that the title had been changed to "A Christmas Wish" which is far from a unique name for a Christmas film. I think that I heard that it is because people in Europe don't care for the taste of rootbeer that that is the reason that it was changed.

I understand the films made by the LDS/ Mormon market that clearly take place in that market using terms such as "pastor" to make the film more accessible to other groups, but it still bothers me. Hello just say that the nice heavy set man is the bishop and not the pastor!

The film made me wish to live in a small town like Mapleton, Utah where the film takes place and to work in a diner such as "The Rootbeer." Evidently, at one time it was an actual diner, but is now an insurance office or something. I was disappointed to learn that it is no longer a real diner. I keep meaning to drive passed it, but I haven't.

"A Christmas Wish" I love this film. There are granted several of plot holes but it is one of those film that as it is about service is just makes you feel good.

Kristy Swanson is fun to watch, KC Clyde is fun to watch, but the fact that Kristy is eleven years older than KC is distracting. Fortunately, the film is not really about their relationship and there is no ending big kiss or romantic resolution. I didn't think that Kristy was necessarily too old for her role, but she just didn't match with KC.

The film instead is about "Martha's" circumstances and the kids. Why did Martha leave where she was living? She at least had a roof over her head. Did I miss her being evicted? Surprising that even with kids that considering her circumstances that she hasn't been working. Bart Johnson is too nice of a guy to be playing the abusive husband. The parts of the kids were well acted. It was disappointed that they didn't do much with acting elsewhere. The girl in particular was well acted. As someone else commented, it was interesting seeing Ed Herrman with his as usual amazing acting and in a different sort of role.

Dani Cuchran in the teen part of her career was fun to see.

Things as usual in Christmas films did "wrap up" a little too nicely.

I originally saw the film under the working title "A Rootbeer Christmas." I was disappointed when I saw that the title had been changed to "A Christmas Wish" which is far from a unique name for a Christmas film. I think that I heard that it is because people in Europe don't care for the taste of rootbeer that that is the reason that it was changed.

I understand the films made by the LDS/ Mormon market that clearly take place in that market using terms such as "pastor" to make the film more accessible to other groups, but it still bothers me. Hello just say that the nice heavy set man is the bishop and not the pastor!

The film made me wish to live in a small town like Mapleton, Utah where the film takes place and to work in a diner such as "The Rootbeer." Evidently, at one time it was an actual diner, but is now an insurance office or something. I was disappointed to learn that it is no longer a real diner. I keep meaning to drive passed it, but I haven't.

September 22, 2021 10:48 a.m.

I really liked this film as I have most of the Christian films. In my obsession I then skimmed through different things on IMDB. I was very saddened to find out that the lead actor was in a production on Broadway that I understand (I don't plan on seeing it, but from everything that I have heard) very irreverently, very crudely makes light of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - aka the Mormons. My church has had a history of conflict with other subsets of Christianity, but I thought that some of that conflict was lessening. So sad that this actor would associate himself with such a production.

I was not familiar with Bart Millard prior to this film - other than obviously hearing the song. I thought his portrayal was good. I was confused if it was the actor doing the singing or if the vocals were done by the real Bart Millard.

I liked Madeline Carroll who plays Shannon. I also like the actors who played them when younger.

Reading through the comments - I think that it was for this film. I do not understand the antagonism against Christian films in general. Do you not feel better about yourselves and about life after seeing Christian films? Do they not affect you? Can you not feel something? Yes, because of lack of funding the acting and other aspects of production isn't always the best, but the heart and the spirit is there. You should not misjudge them based on their lack of funding.

This film follows the typical Hallmark formula - uptight girl with high finance job returns to her small town from the big city and falls in love with boy she grew up with who has a folksy job. In this case it is the boy who returns to the small town, but the girl is still uptight - only mildly, and it is her that has the folksy job. Horrendously predictable with the the expected conflict, but the conflict happened later on and wasn't nearly as bad as expected. In a way I liked having a film that just followed a relationship without too much conflict. It gave a sense of realism to how relationships usually progress. Watch this on it is sweet. The trivia says that the two leads at the time were engaged and you can see the realism in their chemistry which was nice - and also without the wince knowing one or both of the actors are married to someone else in real life. (Maybe I am weird, but I did do that while watching a different rom com last night.)

Did they really leave the airplane? Did they really drink lake water? Oh yeah and fighting off wolves.

Family flicks are good bec. they are family flicks no matter how bad, but really folks.

Oh and the acting...

Kids don't drink lake water without boiling it first!!!!

This episode was both powerful in some aspects and unrealistic in so many others.

The scenes where Jack was revisiting his relationship was powerful.

Every other storyline was unrealistic.

Ty would never have risked his vet license by doing something below board.

Lou's immorality and the low levels that she somehow manages to go somehow always surprises me. With the Dude Ranch to go to, as well as the Loft being available to go to since Tim was evidently out of town, not to mention Mitch's trailer she has no need to be sneaking someone into her room.

And Katie. A little girl who had been on a horse since at least four, and who at seven who on her own - al be it with also seven year old friend Brick - was riding a horse all on her own a half mile to the dude ranch, would not suddently at age eight either be afraid of riding, let alone having forgotten how to ride. With her messed up here and there childhood, being raised by anyone and everyone, it is maybe possible that she could have some jealousies or insecurities when it comes to Luke, but I doubt it. Growing up at "Heartland" she knows that people coming and going is a part of the life at the ranch. And an eight yearold would definitely NOT have been using the phrase "I grew up on a ranch."

I was shocked when I found out that Megan Follows had directed this episode. Yes, the scenes with Jack are totally Megan, the rest was not.

There isn't a lot that I can add to what the other reviewers have said about this powerful film - I didn't see one negative review - but just a few of my thoughts on casting.

The Trivia info on the film says that Patty Duke turned the role - or her managers turned it down for her - because of fear of typecasting having just come from "Helen Keller" with a similar storyline. For that reason, she probably did make the right choice. Ms. Duke with her incredible acting ability could have very well pulled it off, but in spite of her own troubled childhood there is a bit of a brashness about her that wouldn't have fit the role nearly as well as Elizabeth Hartman's fragileness. Contrary to Ms. Duke's insistence she was more of "Patty Lane" than a "Cathy Lane."

The Trivia info also mentions Haley Mills turning down the role. Maybe Haley Mills suffered from her own typecasting, and it would have been interesting to have seen her at the time in a serious role, but it is hard to imagine her perky personality in this sensitive film. Seeing the too familiar to us Haley Mills in the rape scene would have been unbearable.

How do you not totally love Sidney Poitier? In every film he is almost too perfect, but in spite of that it comes off as absolutely believable. I was raised to believe that it is best to marry within my culture - at least my faith, but in every film I've seen Poitier because of his kindness and intelligence and yes attractiveness I have wished for him to be 30 years younger. At 21, I remember falling hard for someone who was completely out of my league because of his kindness to me. The attraction belied facts. It happens.

Like another reviewer mentions the film does leave us with wanting to know what happens next for Selena. Does she become able to live alone and support herself? Does she ever see Gordon again? Like most stories we have to hope.

Michael Landon was notorious for recycling storylines for "Little House on the Prairie" and "Highway to Heaven." This two part episode begins with "Touch of Blue" showing the blind girl - under the same tree no less - in distress and a stranger comes to assist her but bec. of her blindness an important fact about him she doesn't know. Add in some "Beauty and the Beast, and you have the storyline. There is an LDS genre film called "Rigoletto" that granted Landon wouldn't have seen where the townspeople comes after the monster for sins supposed just bec. of his disfigurement. Evidently, that is a well used storyline. There is also an LDS genre film called "Blind Love" (ya gotta love actress Barta Heiner) from the '70's where the girl who thinks she is unattractive dates and married a blind man. When he has an opportunity to receive his sight she is distressed. Landon would likely not seen that film either, but it too I am sure is a storyline used more than once.

In spite of Landon's unoriginality though, you can't but love him however for giving us family fare and fare that teaches moral and social lessons.

2:40 p.m. I am watching "Sophie and Sheba" 2010 right now on Ch. 11. It is about a girl who fights to get her elephant back. Her parents own a tiny zoo, and they have to sell her elephant to pay for her ballet training. It is a nice little film. It was made in and near Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I find it really interesting that many of the family films and shows are made by the Toronto film community (and the Hallmark romances are made in Vancouver - smile.) I find that interesting. I wonder if there is something special in the air in Toronto?

Most of the BYU-tv shows and films were made in Toronto - "Wind at My Back," "Holly Hobbie," "Malory Towers" and several films - including our Utah produced, but made in Toronto by Toronto actors "Christmas Jars." Amber Marshall star of "Heartland" is from Toronto.

. In "Heartland" the several times that I have seen the pilot it has bothered me that it is never shown or told how Marion and Amy are found after their accident. Amy didn't have her own cell phone - did she come to enough to find her mom's Marion's purse and find her cell phone? Did one of them tell Jack where they were going? When I asked on one of the fan pages someone made the point that it wasn't needed for the storyline. Yeah maybe.

A question for the screen writers out there -

Just curious as a screen writer how that you feel about about plot holes or missing information? Is adding too much information bogging down the story lines too much?

Thinking of the "Heartland" show and a Utah made, current day Cinderella story from a couple of years ago. In "Heartland" the several times that I have seen the pilot it has bothered me that it is never shown or told how Marion and Amy are found after their accident. Amy didn't have her own cell phone - did she come to enough to find her mom's Marion's purse and find her cell phone? Did one of them tell Jack where they were going? When I asked on one of the fan pages someone made the point that it wasn't needed for the storyline. Yeah maybe.

In the Cinderella version the prince figure - the popular guy at the h.s - his father is a social worker who is the one who helps "Indy" escape from her situation, but they inexplicably live is a multi zillion dollar rock home to obv. give the castle like appearance. The last that i heard social workers make less than teachers. He has two super nice sisters but nothing is ever said of his missing mother. Because people understand that the multi zillion dollar house is just to - metaphorically maybe - show the "castle" ad it doesn't need to be added in and would have bogged down the film or is there a way that it could be explained? On the first date couldn't "Indy" have asked the prince figure - named 'Bryant" in the film in a half teasing way someting like "Is it really true that your grand-parents own Jet Blue?" (I think that a Mormon really does own Jet Blue.) Bryant could reply something like - "We were living in California when my mom died, and my dad decided that we needed a fresh start so he got a job in Utah. The same time that he got his new job my grandparents received an assignment from our church to serve for three years in Germany (a castle filled place to go) so they asked if we would take care of their house while they were gone." I dunno. Maybe it would be unnecessary.

Another thing that bothers me is that most emotionally abused girls are so screwed up that they have few friends - let alone a hot guy and not just one hot guy - er great guy - but TWO great guys fighting over her. Oh well. It is a good storytelling anyway.

Later I might try to write all of the things that I loved!

Jenni - if you see this - this are just a few picky things. Know that I loved it!!!! :)))

9:38 p.m. Did anyone else watch the new episode of "Last Man Standing" tonight? I thought that the "Home Improvement" "Last Man Standing" crossover didn't work at all.

Tim Taylor was obliviously cocky. In tonight's episode of "Last Man Standing" they instead made him lacking in confidence and kind of pathetic. They shouldn't have made him fat and gray and in a t shirt. Tim Taylor was always well dressed. Tim A. really wasn't the character as I would have expected. He was more the character when Patricia Richardson guest starred those two times. The episode would have been better if Patricia Richardson, Jonathon Taylor Thomas, or Richard Karns from "Home Improvement" had also walked in.

When Patricia Richardson was on the show they did an homage sorta I guess to "HI" by doing some of the same things such as the way that they showed the houses, and the music, and the fence. It was really cute and funny. They tried to do the thing with the fence using the breaker box door, but it didn't work as well as having an actual fence with someone on the other side. As far as the scene with Ryan and Kristin and Kyle and Mandy it didn't work either. Later season bits with Ryan and Kyle have been pretty funny, these scenes didn't work as well. Neither did the humor with Ed and Chuck.

Things just felt off.

Missing Eve (Kaitlyn Dever) as everyone is and even Jenn who I actually kind of like.

2:45 p.m. My review for IMDB of "Soul Surfer" -

Jan. 2, 2020

"Soul Surfer" aired a few times this weekend on byu-tv which is owned by Brigham Young University which is owned by the LDS/ Mormon church. I've been a bit surprised, because of the immodesty of the actors and one scene with the parents that byu-tv would chose to air the film. When I saw the film years ago in a theater I was shocked that two Christian girls would be running around on a beach in bikini's - and church on the beach ???? I know that other denominations and traditions have standards different than my own, but it still surprises me.

I was also surprised on the other end to read that during the making of the film there was some discussion of leaving out the Christian elements, and I am surprised in reading the other reviews that there were some who didn't care for the Christian elements. I don't get it. The Christian elements are the entire story. A belief in God and His part in our lives is the entire thing of what life is about.

The story line isn't original, but compared to other similar stories of the injured athlete coming back, it is real. In "Ice Castles" we have a fictional Alexis/ Lexie Winston returning to skating after becoming partially blind. We see her grit and her learning to make adjustments in the practice of her sport based on her new reality. In "Soul Surfer" we have a similar situation with 13 year old (in real life) or 16 year old (in the film) Bethany Hamilton with some ups downs and and first deciding to give up and then later coming back to her sport figuring out ways to make it work with her new situation. Bethany though in contrast to Alexis/ Lexie is real. In contrast unlike Lexie we see Bethany learning how to use her reality for the good of others. Her trip to Thailand shows her teaching children traumatized by a recent tsunami how to surf, using surfing as a means of getting over their trauma. She is not just a "Gidget" hanging out on the beach everyday during summer for her own enjoyment and to spend time with the boys. She uses her new fame and new reality in a platform to speak to others - shown a bit in the film, but not as much as I wish that it had. We hear her youth leader saying to her - "I don't know why terrible things happen sometimes, but I have to believe that something good is going to come out of this." When asked by a reporter (in the film - I don't know if it happened in real life) if she could go back and change the day that she lost her arm if she would and she replies that if she did she couldn't be talking to them now. We see her as well reaching out to her fans.

Taylor Firth, the skater turned actress who played the 2010 "Lexie" has a quote on line where she talks about having a God given talent and using that talent. "Ice Castles" chose not to show "Lexie" crediting God in the use of her talent, but gratefully "Soul Surfer" did.

There is a scene where we see Bethany being able to "feel" that a wave is coming. We all have something in our lives where we just feel and know how to do what we are doing, what we are meant to be doing. Bethany is an example of not giving up on that.

Yeah, the girls run around with practically no clothes on - outside the LDS/ Mormon tradition do people really do that ??? - but in spite of that, it is a film not to be missed.

I finally finished reading "Time out for Ginger" and then last night watched the "Shower of Stars" tv version, and the t.v. pilot version. Interesting to see what changes were made from the play to the t.v. version to the pilot.

The two sisters were combined in the pilot and then the sister's storyline was changed completely for the film. Oh and the name goes back and forth from Joan and Jeanne, to Joan, to Jean.

Fun to see a dark haired accentless Karl Swenson. Oh, I guess that sounds kind of racist, it is just different and a switch after growing up knowing him primarily as Lars Hanson on "Little House on the Prairie."

Somehow Candy Moore got directed - misdirected question mark - to be a too loud, too butting in overgrown female Dennis the Menace. It is too bad that the pilot failed probably bec of that - but yet DM lasted for how many seasons??? Without that, I can see that the show could have had some heart and some promise. I guess that you are not familiar with the currently running Canadian drama "Heartland" but it has the character of "Mallory" who is overly talkative and always butting in. She brings in the comic relief,butyou can't help totally loving her. If the pilot version had made Ginger that kind of character, maybe the show could have worked.

I especially liked Roberta Shore. Since she is LDS, I know a bit of her career. She did several things here and there, but it would have been nice to see her in more of a main part in a hit show. She may not have been able to carry her own show like Marlo Thomas, but I can see her taking the Tim Considine/ Don Grady oldest child role in a female "My Three Sons" or an ensemble role in a 60's "Facts of Life" or a t.v. version of "Daddy Long Legs" sans the quizzical 80 year old love interest. (Poor Leslie Caron and Audrey Hepburn with their similar stories both being paired with Fred Astaire who though great was far too old for them to be playing against.)

Candy Moore is far too femnine to be convincing as a tom boy, and Janet Parker is a bit too unattractive to carry a show - though convincing as a tom boy. It is a difficult balance. Patty Duke does show that with a nice balance. I still don't care though for her hair in "Billie."

Difficult conclusion in the play, t.v. version, and film - not addressed in the pilot - that you can't be a girl and athletic. I dunno. I somewhat follow BYU women's athletics. The gymnasts are of course all cute petite feminine girls, but some of the volley-ball players, soccer players and basketball players are ... not. But, yet there are some who are. I dunno. I know that we have discussed all of those things before.

Oh the opening dialogue in the pilot between Agnes and Lizzie was well done. It that tone - although far too sexist for today's standards - had been the tone of the entire show - it also would have worked.

Interesting to see that many lines in the original play made it into the film in spite of the story line with the sister being changed from being in play to being newly married, and the story line of the dad from his bank job being in jeopardy to his run for mayor being in jeopardy.

I still don't get why Ginger/ Billie asks her father out on a date to the play/ victory dance when the family is supposed to be going together - and what about the mom. Daddy daughter dates are great, but as their own thing and not a thing as part of a family activity.

Interesting too to see what getting dressed up meant in the '50's, to being dressed up in the '60's. The message though is the same. Ginger/ Billie's sudden caterpillar to butterfly transformation from a tom boy into a young woman.

I was surprised that Ginger at the end of the play brings up that as kind of a joke that they let her play the last couple of minutes and opened up allowing her to score, basically to be making fun of her not taking her seriously, or treating her as what she desired - a total equal. Ginger complains about it, but then it didn't get further dealt with. There was no further discussion, or anything made of Ginger's trauma or frustration with it. In Billie, Billie legitimatly wins, but I don't think that in real life that a track meet would have that much fan attention, cheerleaders, or her being carried off the field.

Two films both based on real events - "Rudy" and "1000 to 1: The Cory Weissman Story" at the end of a game - Rudy football, 100 to 1 basketball bring in a deserving player to finish off the game, but it is out of love, not to make light of them. It is a way of honoring a player who has played his heart out, but situations didn't him to enable to contribute to the team the way that he would have desired.

Cute dialogue in the play with Howard embellishing his own life stories, and acting as if he was the one who got the win. That doesn't happen in the film.

The play is teeny teeny bit racy - as complared to the film. I've never been to Broadway, but my guess is that if I were to go to Broadway now that I wouldn't find anything that I was comfortable with.

One of the IMBD reviewers thought that the Shadow of Stars version was also a pilot. I don't think so. Wasn't it kind of a thing in the '50's to do different plays on t.v.? I know you can see "The Fantasticks" that way - it is now posted on line, and I can't remember if it was "Oklahoma" or "Carousel" or what it was that I also saw.

Anyway, interesting to see the evolution, from play to t.v. to t.v. pilot to film

I assumed the worst when this episode started.

The world has gotten so crazy, and people have gotten so used to assume the worst both in the telling of a story, and in the possible outcome of a situation, that this kind of situation could never have worked in a current show.

A teacher is no longer able to be outside friends with a student bec. everyone assumes the worst and is afraid of the worst happening.

A teacher locally here in Utah got helped a younger student find her way home and got disciplined for it. A high school principal drives three intoxicated students home after an activity, rather than causing more problems for them by calling the authorities, and he was disciplined for it.

The world has gotten so crazy, that someone such as the character of Gail could not have been written as simply a teacher spending some extra time with a student who she can relate to bec. of similar life challenges bec. of everyone thinking the worst about her, and thinking that she is going to do the worst.

A friend of mine who is a jr. high and h.s. band instructor who is very close to her students has very carefully even avoided adding any of her students as Facebook friends.

Singles have the same issues. People assume the worst about us and are fearful of us.

So sad.

9:39 a.m.

BYU tv this morning is airing the Season 12 episode with the man who was the drunk driver who was in the accident that killed Georgie's biological/ birth parents. I thought that I just heard Jack say the parents' names were Matt and Marion Crawley. Does anyone know what her bio Mom's name was? The show's writers wouldn't have given her the same name as the other Marion.

Alisha's acting is totally amazing in this episode. She has learned so much since starting on the show.

Gabriel also does a great job. He shows a positive side of Peter that makes Peter much more likable.

I didn't like the way that the show kept saying "real parents." The character of Georgie doesn't have real parents and "not real" parents. She had one set of parents that gave her birth and nurtured her for the first three yeas of her life and another set of parents that have nurtured her for the last five ? years of her life. Peter and Lou may work too much, but they are very much real parents.

One thing that I do love about the show is that any emotional trauma that any of the character ever experiences is taken seriously. In this episode Peter flies all of the way from Vancouver to Calgary/ Hudson to support Georgie as she is dealing with her feelings concerning the accident that killed her parents.

Other horrible things that have happened have also been taken seriously and how they have affected different characters and guest characters - all of the structures that have had fires, all of the accidents, and all of the illnesses. The entire premise of the show is accident from the pilot that killed Marion, and injured Amy, and injured horse Spartan. The ranch is supported by the work that first Marion and now Amy does on traumatized horses.