All My Shadows

As a matter of fact, it sure is! I totally see the Ilene Kristen resemblance too. Belle's dress is my favorite, even though it's so plain. It looks absolutely gorgeous on her.

That's a gorgeous picture! It does indeed have a DS feel. Belle reminds me of Nancy Barrett, the other blonde looks like Lara Parker, Amy kinda looks like Alex Moltke, and Val looks like Joan Bennett. I love those color 60s soap cast photos. The fashions were top notch. Must be Ohrbach's.

Ryan sure knows how to pick them, eh? The best thing he can do is let Stacey take the fall, and if he wants to be dirty, get Janine for attempted murder. Take his daughter, move away, and start all over somewhere else. Because hooking up with these Prisoner Cell Block H character isn't good for him at all. Peter was totally spot on about Ian. He's a selfish pig. Even this far into the whole mess, he was willing to make Jane think Peter pushed Glenda because she rejected his advances. The hell!? I hope Peter comes back soon. And what was with Ben? Are they afraid to give this guy too many lines? I'm interested in how he's going to handle Ben being the one who pushed Glenda. The way these stories have been going, it's impossible for a newer viewer to not get wrapped up reading all of the back story. What did you all think of Bradley? Honestly, reading all he did, it looks like he was fast on his way to becoming another Ian. The shy "nice guy" who is really controlling a bit sadistic.

The last few episodes have been overwhelming, to say the least. Charlie Brooks is working the hellll out of everything she's being given.

That really sucks.

Don't all of the soaps do this, though? Well, at least Corrie. I know it'll be airing this Saturday as well.

Did you all see the extra "Red Button" scene with Janine and Stacey? Absolutely amazing work by both, but especially Chuck.

The Ryan stuff was hilarious, and I guess it wasn't intentional. Neil looked like hell, that's for sure, and poor boy was trying, but there's not much you can do to make that kind of stuff work at all. Stacey always leaves Lily's stroller just sitting around while she tends to her business. I mean, she was planning to push the stroller all the way to the airport from wherever it was she and Ryan screwed on top of Jim and Dot's car. She's a hideous mother. I finally saw all of Glenda going off at Ben's party, and it was great. It felt kinda forced, though, because the only way Glenda would snipe at someone was if he or she actively intervened in her sniping at someone else, so you have random people like Billy and Heather stepping up even though they probably would have never invited that kind of attention. Hilarious nonetheless, though. I'm surprised Ben didn't just slap her when she called him the "party princess." Phil might have been impressed if he had just clocked her in the mouth. Ian's gross, to be honest. I used to like him, but the more they push him as the bumbling hypocritical idiot, the less I do. They need to give Carol something else to do. This turn in the story with Connor has been a big bust for me, and it's sorta depressing watching her go around bitching at Whitney all the time. Whitney needs it, but I need to see Carol in more positive scenes. I'm gonna need them to do something more with Denise, too. I know she's still kinda fresh off of the Lucas madness, but Diane P. is too pretty and too good to just sit around. I'm loving her with Kim, but I want more. Speaking of Kim, her and Fatboy, of course, were gold.

I can't believe Graeme gave the eulogy at Ashley's funeral. Ugh. I'm glad we didn't have to suffer through that. And wow, they're really trying to make him into a heartthrob, aren't they? They changed his whole look. Re: James returning. I didn't see a second of that storyline, but I'm still hopeful that some good might come out of his return. Of course, I'd rather they ship Sean out and have Todd just so happen to come back to Weatherfield around the same time. That reeks of "interchangeable gay syndrome," but whatever. Sean sucks. Interesting bit there about Roy's mom showing up. But my god, I hate the way UK soap producers release statements. All of the flowery ass-kissing of the woman's career just seems so FAKE, and I've seen others do the same thing. "Oh, we are delighted to have *insert performer* join our show. He/she is a British icon, from his/her *adjective* role as *character* on *show* to his/her *adjective* role as *character* on *show*, she/he is a beloved part of our nation's fabric, and we look forward to working with her/him on *soap*."

That's so sad and unnecessary. Yes, Janice has filled the role of "loudmouth" or whatever, but she deserves better than that.

That absolutely sucks. I hope I can come across the first two volumes again, though. I really regret not watching nearly as many episodes as I wanted to.

I just skimmed through today's ep, but I did catch a good bit of Glenda's tirade. Good stuff! I like Heather, but "Where would I start?" was hilarious. Janine is absolutely bonkers. Part of me loves it and thinks it's hilarious, but the rest of me thinks she's nuts and needs to fall hard. I did a quick look-around in regards to Peter/TL, and it seems he's taking time off to do some work on the stage. A return in '11 is possible. I hope so because unless they botch him up real bad, he can be a solid younger leading male. Ian and Jane sans the kids would be awkward as hell and there'd be little reason for Jane to stick around.

I skipped last week's episodes to catch up, so what's going on with Janine/Ryan? Is that crazy bitch drugging him? nuBen is kind of creepy. He barely had any lines at all on Tuesday, yet he was in most of the episode. Just mugging and whimpering. I'm going to need to see him do more before I can form an opinion. I personally liked campy Ben. Not because it would have been a massive bee in PhatAss's bonnet, but because I thought it was sort of endearing. I loathe Jay with the heat of a thousand suns at the moment. Carol and Bianca trying to push Whitney with Peter was awkward as hell. I like Peter. I think he's a good kid, and very handsome. Why he wants chavvy Whitney is beyond me. I wouldn't mind it if they somehow put him in with Afia and Tamwar for a triangle. Though I don't know how many more connections the Beales and Masoods can take right now. Billy/Julie continue to work well, and I loved them putting in some work at the laundrette until Heather showed up. Julie always looks like she has an odor, though, but I guess that's part of the character.

I shudder to think of how Collinson decided to write out Ashley. But that Claire spoiler kicks ass and will make me love Claire forever. The new studio/set thing is interesting. The new set is gonna be set up near where they did a lot of the footage for the opening titles in the 60s and 70s, so it kinda brings the show "closer to home." I wonder what will become of the damaged end of the street.

Sophie/Sian being modern doesn't really annoy me as much as them not having a whole lot to back up what they won. So I guess that kinda does fit in with them being more recent. For example, and one of the DS people said it perfectly, how can they be on a list for "memorable storylines" when their initial storyline is still in progress? I skimmed through some of the live episode. I'll watch it all later, but some things stood out for me. It didn't feel like a live episode much at all. Maybe it's because I haven't watched in a while, but it felt like a normal Corrie episode to me, nothing out of the ordinary that would make someone see it as a different episode. The 40th anniversary live episode had a certain feel that made you just know it was live. The dialogue is pretty terrible and cliche and predictable and what you would expect from something like this. I mean, of course, there are general characteristics that most people have when they're in a situation like this, but it all just felt...calculated. And for the love of god, 90% of the lines were either gasped out or cried out. I get what's going on, but jeez, Molly spilling it all to Sally took forever. "We. Loved. Each. Oth. Er. For. A. While. But. He. Chose. You. And. Your. Girls. Over. Me. And. My. Boy. He. Didn't. Want. To. Hurt. You." And Sally STILL didn't get the hook. Maybe I'm horrible, but if I were Sally's place, I would have called after the paramedics, "Hey, come keep this bitch alive so I can whoop her ass." Sally Whittaker (I know that's not her name anymore, but I forget how to spell her husband's) did pretty well at the end. Rita just rolling around on the Kabin floor was painful to watch and almost symbolic. "We dropped a building on history, and nobody knows or cares. But oh my god, we've got to get Graeme's thoughts on Ashley!" Poor Ashley I don't understand how the writers can say they have absolutely nothing to do with a character without even trying anything at all. Poor Gary! The PTSD scenes would have been better without the special effects, IMO. Oh, and I swear I saw Izzy stand up in the Rovers. I thought the actress was paralyzed as well?

Those results are interesting. The Sophie/Sian stuff is so Nuke-ian, it's ridiculous. I almost want to join DS just to point them into the direction of vanhansis.net to show them what they have to look forward to. Affair? Are they talking about when Sian was with Ryan? Jeez, that lasted for all of two minutes. It's good to see some old school entries make it, though, like Rita/Mavis, Annie/Rovers staff, Hilda, Ena/Elsie, etc. Today's my first full day off in a long, long time, so I'm going to be lazy and watch Corrie all day. I've only been a fan for such a short, short time compared to how long it's been on, and even though it's a show based thousands of miles away and that virtually no one has ever heard of in my neck of the woods, I can't help but feel a little proud. I need to wash some of the Cockney out of my head anyway after all the EE I've been watching lately.

I don't get Brendan either. I gave up on Oaks not long after I decided to give it a chance (wish I could find episodes from December 2006 and on, though, I was really enjoying those!). I was interested in the Jasmine/Bart thing, but once they introduced Fern, I checked out. Ste/Brendan went nowhere very, very quickly. The rest of the show failed, epically, to capture my attention. I read on some random site that there are cancellation rumors afoot.

I think I don't have as much invested in the show as most viewers do, so I'm able to just take what they're giving and enjoy it for what it is. Unlike AMC, where all of the stuff that makes no sense and is just bad severely hinders any chance of me enjoying the show. I can recognize EE's faults, but on an episode-to-episode basis, I don't mind spending a half-hour on it. I like the general atmosphere right now, the stories aren't too confusing or convoluted, all of the characters get a decent amount of airtime, and there are different tones/emotions throughout episodes, so I like it. I can't quite put my finger on what tuned me out of the Santer era. I think some of the stories then made it very hard for a new viewer to come in, and so it was hard to follow a lot of the show.

Shhh!!!! Don't ever make it known that you think the "gay" character seems to be legitimately interested in his "beard."

Carl, I finally moseyed on over to DS to see how bad the posters were trashing the show. Jeez! I guess it's safe to say that their idea of good soap is a lot different from my idea of good soap. They're all obsessing over the tram crash, which I'm interested in a bit, but my mind's totally preoccupied by EE at the moment as far as soaps are concerned. Dialogue-heavy scenes like Kat/Ronnie at the Vic, Max/Lauren, Masood/Jane, Masood/Zainab, Carol/Bianca, etc, will always be more interesting to me than watching nightclubs explode and trains falling on terraced houses. I'm loving the Masood drama, the Tamwar end of it at least. Nitin G. was phenomenal in the hour-long episode. He's always great, though, and I'm enjoying all of the chaos with Mas/Zainab, Jane/Ian, and Glenda/Phil/Shirley. Also loving Carol and Connor. The Dot stuff has been depressing, especially when Heather showed up and changed her mind about leaving George with the Brannings. Poor Dot I'm interested in the Stacey/Ryan/Janine stuff, but Janine being clinically insane and Ryan being a liar and Stacey being a murderer is kinda making it hard for me to find someone to root for. I'll just root for Ryan's jeans. The auction at the pub was great fun. I love those things the best, the whole square mixing it up with each other in the pub. I like Kat and Alfie best behind the bar, and it's really cool to see different characters who wouldn't normally interact talking, like Peter and Patrick randomly chatting in the background. I love my Corrie (for sentimental reasons), but in recent months, the Rovers has never been as lively as the Vic. Sylph is going to give me an "I told you so" because in the spring I said EE felt dead while Corrie felt alive. Totally the opposite now (though I haven't watched Corrie in a while...I guess I'll view this week's eps). The last episode I've seen is Thursday's, so I'm getting caught up finally. One thing I've noticed is that nearly all of the cast is being seen somewhat regularly. The only absentees I can think of are Fatboy and Mercy.

Crap. I guess I gotta watch that. The old music cues would have been more effective. I always liked how the final scene ended with that one particular part of the theme, and it would have worked well here. My Rita

That was some great piano playing, but damn it, I can go the rest of my life without ever hearing another 80s family sitcom theme again. Except for Mama's Family. Oh, and Re: Moonlight Feels Right. I don't think the lyrics are THAT good (except for that opening line - "The wind blew some luck in my direction. I caught it in my hands today." - that line is smoooooooth) because I hate it when songs get too specific. I'm from Louisiana, I don't want to sing about Ole Miss or Boston or Chesapeake Bay. But musically, I love it. The instrumentation and the melodies are fantastic. And in regards to Who, I'm really interested in the first four doctors and I like what I've seen of Tennant.

I'm guessing some folks couldn't make it or didn't want to participate. The main one missing is William R. Moses, but it would have been nice to see Laura Johnson as well, and perhaps some of the more well-known one-season wonders like Morgan, Cliff Robertson, etc. They got most of the long-running cast members, though, so I'm impressed. And wow, I was checking to see if Chao-Li Chi was still alive, but apparently he died two days after Simon McCorkindale died. I'm surprised the article didn't mention that because Chao-Li was around longer than Greg was, even if he was just a background presence for much of that time. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/latimes/obituary.aspx?n=chao-li-chi&pid=146150986 I don't think I read about this at all when it happened. ETA: Oh wait, Carl, I just realized you meant the S2 DVD cover. Totally agree about Vicki and her hair.

Well, of course. If you're gonna dig the scene, might as well do it with the gangsta lean. Hearing stuff like that reminds me of all the big family parties we'd have when I was younger. The first thing that comes to my mind is playing hide and seek in the back part of my uncle's El Camino I've been getting acquainted with Doctor Who a lot this past week for some reason (never had an interest in the show before, but now I'm obsessed), and I can't get this out of my head: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI5B4kYzwSM

Did anybody know about this? http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/falcon-crest-reunion-18792/ Good God, Ana Alicia is absolutely beautiful/gorgeous/lovely/delicious/fine, and Abby Dalton looks great for 75.