<p>Some profs will give Fs or WFs (withdraw F when kid just stops going to class but doesn’t withdraw from the class officially) without contacting the kid, administration or parents.</p>
<p>I certainly understand why most of you find Natalie creepy, and I think that the Natalie character isn’t the most believable – it’s like they have written her out of one of the recent pop social science books about hooking up. But . . . she’s 100% right about the unhealthiness of Drew and Amy. And if you want creepy (and sad), look no farther than Amy with her doe eyes and plaintive “The weather is so awful in Boston. You’re all I have left . . . .” I don’t know which is the worse parental nightmare – your kid ditching college, like Amy, or your kid harboring a succubus of a high school girlfriend in his dorm room. Either way, it can only end in tears. If Drew were half as well-adjusted as he is supposed to be, he would have insisted on taking Amy home, and held her hand while she talked to her parents.</p>
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<p>Ray Romano was terrific in Men Of A Certain Age. If you haven’t seen it, get the DVDs. You won’t be sorry.</p>
<p>You’re right- Amy isn’t good for Drew either the way things are now. Was Men of a Certain Age a tv show?</p>
<p>My friend’s DD left for her 2nd year at a small private university, she left the school, no one is sure the details- withdraw, disappear, refund of tuition or not, but whatever happened, the school did not contact the parents at all. They found out when she did not come home for the holiday.</p>
<p>Funny how different people view the same show differently…</p>
<p>I agree with JHS that Amy is a nightmare for Drew right now. But I’ve never seen the show as portraying Drew as well-adjusted. I think it does portray him as fundamentally a good kid, but that’s not the same thing.</p>
<p>Oh, come on. Drew is more than just “fundamentally a good kid”; he’s been rock solid. His father is a total junkie loser, his mother and sister are Drama Queens ##1 & 2, everyone in his extended family is yelling all the time, and he just pushes forward, unperturbed. Actually, not unperturbed: he feels things deeply; he cares; he acts on his feelings. But he doesn’t lose it, generally, and he doesn’t get distracted from his goals. </p>
<p>He got whipsawed by Amy twice, took it like a man, and didn’t get nasty about her or run away to daddy to get drunk. And when she showed up at his door again he responded as if all he knew about her was how great she was. He turned down Natalie’s offer of unlimited zipless sex because he liked her more than that.</p>
<p>A young man can be “rock solid” but easily bamboozled by women. (I speak from personal experience). Sometimes the really sweet guys fall pretty hard, because they are trusting and want to take their relationships at face value – they are simply not prepared for the games that get played within relationships. They want to be the fairy-tale prince and the protector, and are slow to recognize when they are being used.</p>
<p>Glad to know I am not the only one driven crazy by Camille. Not sure if it is the actress (fun fact; IRL, she is Macauley Culkin’s aunt) or the character, but she has grated on me from the beginning. Her returning from Italy, being completely selfish, sprinkling her conversation with pretentious Italian phrases and then patronizingly translating them was just over the top. Love the reaction of Kristina and Adam trying to figure out where to hang her terrible painting. On the other hand, I love the Drew story line (not just because he is at my alma mater…funny some of the stuff they get right and then other things totally wrong. Grizzly Peak is about 2 miles from the Cal campus; no way would you have to stay in a hotel overnight to go there for stargazing!), and find the girlfriend’s issues very sympathetic and real. And I feel the Julia/Joel breakup has come out of nowhere and like others noted, I don’t think he would refuse to get help.</p>
<p>To answer the earlier question, yes Men of a Certain Age was a TV show (on AMC, I think?), and was just wonderful. Ran for two seasons, and just got better with every episode.</p>
<p>Hmm, while I do not like the returned Camille I do think that she has every right, after 40 years, to act out. I would think that she is actually quite angry with herself for signing up originally and frustrated now that change might happen and yet Zeke is not on board.</p>
<p>I find the Julia and Joel situation really off. Not believable and not interesting at all.</p>
<p>I find the Julia and Joel situation really off. Not believable and not interesting at all.>></p>
<p>Me too. And I’d bet the farm that we’ll be seeing Joel looking for comfort in the arms of his pretty boss any time now. </p>
<p>I loved Men of a Certain Age. I wish it had found an audience.</p>
<p>Totally disagree about the Julia and Joel situation not being realistic. While some aspects don’t ring true – Joel’s stubbornness to work on the marriage and Julia busting in on his work meeting and yelling at his boss – the underlying issues of how she feels giving up/losing her career and the role reversal/pressure for Joel I think are incredibly realistic (I’ve lived part of it!) and one of the best storylines going.</p>
<p>And how Julia is relating to her mother’s predicament and how she fears that’ll be her in 40 years is totally believable.</p>
<p>BTW, I’m excited this thread is getting so much action this week and hope that means I don’t have to worry about the show being cancelled.</p>
<p>Re Zeke and Camille: Ah, how quickly we forget how badly Zeke reacted to Camille’s desire to sell the house. I can see that it may take them a while to get back to communicating.</p>
<p>Do you think they will communicate? Seems like Zeke has never heard Camille. I was wondering if his friend talking about his deceased wife would prod Zeke into action.</p>
<p>I have always liked Bonnie Bedelia. I’d be fine if she and Mae Whitman were the only two surviving characters at the end of the season. They could move to France together and leave the rest to awkwardly talk over each other.</p>
<p>Zeke, took her out to the fancy Italian restaurant, trying to get into her world. She sits as far away from him as possible. It might be too little too late, but he is trying.</p>
<p>Maybe we should start a campaign to get Mae Whitman nominated for a Golden Globe instead of Monica Potter.</p>
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<p>Haha, cartera, love it!</p>
<p>I love Camille. I do admit that I was a little uncomfortable with her decision to rush off to the museum with her friend the day after returning home but the rest, I understand. I think Zeek is a difficult man, and pretty near impossible to communicate with in many situations. </p>
<p>It’s funny, I didn’t find where they were sitting in the restaurant at all strange. It’s exactly how my H and I would be seated, across from each other to allow for easy conversation. I always find it very weird when couples sit directly next to each other in a booth, or even worse, sit on the same side of the booth, especially at our age. </p>
<p>What I find strange about the Julia/Joel storyline is Joel’s reaction, and his acting is very wooden. It may be a directorial choice but his constant anger and rigidity is so unlike his character’s personality previously, it’s not believable to me. Also, what about all the time he spent with “Pete” in earlier episodes, including late nights, fancy dinners? Is he that clueless that his own behavior didn’t have some effect on Julia’s feelings and situation?</p>
<p>I haven’t read the other responses but I’ve been dying to bring this up concerning the Joel/ Julia situation. (If someone has already brought this up forgive me) During season one Joel was a Stay at home Dad. There was a storyline where Sydney’s best friend had this hot Mom who had the hots for Joel. He admitted during a conversation when the mess hit the fan that the Mom had confided in him about problems in her marriage aaannndd kissed him! Joel didn’t tell Julia right away. This came out when Julia confronted him. Has Joel forgotten this? While the situations aren’t identical, they are similar enough. Julia moved on she didn’t move out. They worked it out!</p>
<pre><code> I agree about Mae Whitman being deserving of some emmy and globe nods. That girl is phenomenal!
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<p>I relate too well to the Aspergers storyline. My son (now 9) was diagnosed about a year before the show started. Its the reason I tuned in (well that and I’m a big Gilmore fan). There is a lot of Max in my son. We’re always wondering what his life will be like down the road.
If the surfboard company didn’t want to hire Hank , would they take kindly to Sarah hiring Hank anyway?</p>
<p>Although it might not make for good or believable tv, I have seen personality changes like those we have seen in Joel, IRL. They didn’t make sense and were attributed to a mid-life crises which I realise Joel may be a bit too young to being going through.</p>
<p>TVenee, since the writers and the family have apparently forgotten about one of the kids (Haddie), it is certainly possible they have forgotten this earlier storyline!</p>