DRW50

I think the opening in the early 70s was nice. I wish they'd kept it longer.

If anyone wants to see it I have a Mark Hamill interview somewhere from his GH period.

Yeah. That makes sense. What would you do with her?

This was one of my favorite Supremes songs from the first time I heard it, and learning Barry Gordy hated it just made me love it even more.

Sound and picture issues but there's some clips I hadn't seen before.

Cementing that they are no longer aimed at kids in any way, shape or form, Archie has a new issue called "Game of Phones," with Game of Thrones-style fantasy sequences. Archie is Robb, Jughead is, well, Jughead (although I guess he's Theon in a pinch...) Veronica is a pseudo-Cersei, Betty is Dany (complete with dragon riding), and Reggie is Joffrey.

A picture frame. I can't remember if Nancy has ever had personal drama. Admittedly I skipped a lot of the Carter stuff last season. I know she had epilepsy and got married or something. Speaking of Carters, I still have no idea why Tina exists. She spent all her scenes this week wandering around like a blind woman. Odd.

Friday's was all live and they had live inserts throughout parts of Tuesday-Thursday. It was an interesting idea. I wonder if other soaps will follow suit.

I wonder if he even knows about poor Laura.

Is the trailer on Youtube? Matt di Angelo is so hot...I feel guilty every time I say that now, even though he's not his character, obviously. Ugh. I haven't watched the Backstage yet but I saw that Joe Swash was hosting part of it. The Millers seem done and dusted - they aren't bringing him back are they? I didn't mind Mickey, but Swash has annoyed me in his presenting gigs.

I also thought it was odd, and oddly hilarious, that Christian was completely excluded from anything with the Beales (even just a quick scene in this past episode of him seeing Peter run out of the house and looking concerned would have made sense). I never thought of him as part of the family, but I thought the show did. Oh well. No big loss. Max and Abi grinning and celebrating felt off to me too. I get the idea of wanting a happy moment at the end, but I would have just gone with the show ending on Julia's Theme and the Tony and Julia heart on the wall. Still, it was an OK end.

The Carter material still stuck out like a sore thumb for me, with a whole host of silly and completely unsuspenseful wandering around and dithering that yet again, miraculously, managed to isolate them from most of the cast until the end (Danny Dyer was, IMO, very poor, as was Maddy Hill - he barely tried and she was very obviously "acting"). I actually saw someone saying that Danny Dyer stole the entire episode. I guess opinions are like assholes... I don't know if you could have a more sobering contrast between the strengths and weaknesses of Eastenders as what we got in that episode. Otherwise this episode was much stronger than I'd expected. There's an idea that live TV is just a reason for goofs, but it can also be a reason for searing drama that you "feel" more strongly because you are watching as it happens. I'm glad we got that in this episode. The decision to lie for Bobby is one that doesn't make any great sense, as he killed someone, he could kill again, he needs treatment. Yet, for the characters involved, I thought it made sense. Jane sees Bobby as her great hope after her other plans to have kids never panned out. Ian is a very weak man who has often made the wrong choices with his children. Cindy spends most of her time with him and has a young child of her own, and in many ways is still a child herself (I do wonder if Bobby will end up hurting her daughter). The main reason this worked for me is because the show had Peter be so disgusted with their decision, instead of what we often get on this show (and on most soaps these days) - lots of insincere chest-thumping and pouting. I guess Ben Hardy's decision to leave helped solidify this, but it still felt so believable and it actually did get to me seeing the family torn to pieces by this lie. That is probably the only reason I could support this writing choice - I have no time for "psycho soap child" stories, especially since I don't think the boy in the role can play that type of material. When they focus on the fallout of the choice, it is far stronger writing. Seeing Peter rage that he was going to kill Bobby, seeing him lunge at Jane and have to be physically restrained, seeing him tell Jane he isn't even her son and she just uses him, that Ian never even wanted Bobby - wonderful use of Ian's tattered history and a great way to blow up this family. Bobby overhearing them fighting when he'd killed Lucy to stop fighting was a sobering moment. All the (offcamera) smashing of dishes and Ian going to vomit didn't feel melodramatic to me, as they normally would have. They just seemed like the release the characters have been denied while trying to force themselves into happiness over the last year. Hearing them go on at length about Lucy's murder, moving her body, her body rotting away on public display ("you made her a victim!") were everything that needed to be done to remember that Lucy wasn't just a generic blonde girl killed off for shock value. She mattered. I hadn't felt like they'd remembered that so I was very pleased they did tonight. Mimi Keene was a little off for me in various scenes but she sold the hell out of the letter-reading scene, as did Adam Woodyatt. Adam is, when he gets the chance, a wonderful actor. So often he's just treated as a joke and a loser in the writing, and never given lead material. The Beales shouldn't be treated that way. They still have so much to offer Eastenders. I'd like to believe tonight was the start of finally giving them proper respect, especially with Kathy coming back. I really would like to believe this... One of my main complaints with DTC has always been that I feel like he mistakes bad camp and bizarre Dynasty/Dallas hybrids with good drama. That everything has to be a parody or dumbed down. That he doesn't see you can have strong, tough, and yes, over the top drama, and still treat it seriously and with integrity. Tonight, for the first time since he took over with Santer in 2007, I felt like he really, truly got it. And for the first time, I think Julia Smith and Tony Holland would have been proud.

I didn't realize they still used this background music up to 1988. More tense than anything I've seen on GH in years (aside from Maurice trying to remember his lines...).

That's the one I remember reading about! I'm glad I'll finally get to see it. I'm always surprised at there not being more temporary recasts, especially given how hard the small cast must have worked. I wonder when the next one will be.

Katie was a symbol of goodness to Andy. That's what she had always been. He often sought her out in his lowest moments, like after Jo fled Emmerdale, because if she still believed in him, that meant he was still "good" too. I don't think Andy has ever been mentally stable, so that's why the suicide attempt did not surprise me. Andy is a mess of a man, all stemming back from when he was beaten as a child - the show often ignores this when it's time to take off his top, then remembers it at other times. Well, I know some fans think Robert has suppressed feelings for Andy, so you aren't alone in that view. I don't see the show going there (unless Bryan Kirkwood takes over...), but I see what you mean. I do think Kelvin and Ryan have a lot of chemistry together.

I'm not really sure our opinions differ (I don't approve of suicide, I just don't think it's about being a "coward"), but yes, Andy is babied and has always been babied. Even worse is that the people who baby him aren't there when it counts, like Diane, who was horribly passive-aggressive and expected Andy to have "proper" grieving, which I imagine involves thinking of England and crying beautiful, classy tears. Not that Robert was some type of grief guru in comparison - he only noticed everything with Andy because he saw Andy driving away - but I do think he knows more of all of Andy, the bad along with the good, and isn't afraid to dig deep. I realize they are only playing up a relationship between them so Andy will be even more devastated by Robert's betrayal, but I hope it won't just end at that point. Kelvin and Ryan work so well together, and the brother relationship helps round Andy out as a character.

Laurel's story with Marlon (which made me laugh at times [the bus run]) and Jimmy/Nicola were woven into the episode believably enough; a good counterpoint to the main drama. I really loved Bernice unwinding with a drink and another drink and another ("it's what Katie would have wanted") and settling in with Harriet for some bonding. Only the factory business felt out of place to me, as it also did in Katie's last episodes. I like Priya a lot but I don't care about anyone else in that group; I feel the screen die whenever simpering Jai appears. Andy's scene with his kids absolutely decimated me. Anyway, watching the episode and seeing reactions to it reminded me of how many viewers tend to want Hallmark-friendly moments and tend to focus on the harshness of the words without getting the meaning behind them. Not just the Robert and Aaron scene (where I imagine reaction was torn between the fans who hate Aaron lapping it up, and the fans who love Aaron hissing and booing and waiting for Aaron to find a better man [newsflash - Aaron doesn't want a better man, and it won't make a difference, as even his relationships with "good" men have been toxic and dominated by self-loathing]), but also the Andy/Robert scene, where some fans were aghast that Robert wasn't more "comforting" toward Andy. Robert generally says callous things to get the result he wants. The more he knows a person, the more he knows how to hurt them. What he says is often vile, but outside of day-to-day bitchery (like calling Belle a psycho), he tends to say it for a reason, sometimes selfish, sometimes not. What he said to Andy was pretty much what had to be said. Everyone - and I mean everyone - patronizes and infantilizes Andy. They always have. It's one of the reasons he is a shell of a man. Robert tried to praise him, but when it wasn't going anywhere, he started speaking bluntly and pushing every button he could think of, especially with Andy's children. Suicide isn't about being a "coward," and Andy's response at the end ("I'm already dead") shows there is no bright shiny helpline number in the shape of a rainbow just because someone doesn't kill themselves. The way Robert handled it was more than a little nasty, something that will leave scars. Some part of me wished the show had gone for a more emotional, happy-tears reconciliation between brothers. But it would not have been true to the characters, and it's not what Andy has ever needed Robert for, or loved him for. Kelvin and Ryan both did a great job in the scenes, with Ryan effortlessly juggling the acidity of Robert's tongue with the love he felt for Andy, the terror Robert felt for his brother with the confusion and terror he felt about Aaron and about everything he and Aaron had set into motion. Considering that Aaron's main purpose there was just pure melodrama, Danny Miller did a wonderful job of playing just how checked out Aaron was and how much he believed suicide may be the only solution. I'm afraid of heights, but even if I wasn't, I never could have done those cliffside scenes that Danny did. Little to no CGI as far as I could see. Even when spoilers told me Aaron wasn't going anywhere, my heart was still in my throat. You could also see the stark difference between Robert and Aaron in that scene, with Andy caught in the middle. Robert - you have to do this. You have to do this now. Listen to me. I know. Do what I say. It's for your own good. Aaron - I can't tell you what to do. It's your choice. I don't know. I can't be you. The fans who complained the loudest (and as always the fans who complain the loudest have the worst ideas) about how Aaron should have talked about Jackson and what terrible writing it was for Aaron not to mention Jackson when Andy asked him don't seem to have a concept of this type of conversation outside of fan fiction. That was not the time, on a windy cliff no less, for Aaron to go into a long speech about Jackson killing himself and losing Jackson and coping and going on. Aaron isn't "going on," he's coped abysmally, he is the last person to give advice, and even if he had advice, he wouldn't know how to say it, because he's not that type of person. A part of me feels like the end scenes were rushed, but another part feels like they went on long enough, as I was so caught up in them and couldn't take much more. I know some fans were angry that there was no final scene between Robert and Aaron, but it would have taken away from most of what we'd seen, and what was there to say between the characters? At this point there is no relationship, even if the show keeps having them break up and implying that means there is one. Aaron has feelings for Robert, and I'd say Robert has some for him too, but anything between them, if there ever is anything, is a very long way off. And given how plot-driven their relationship is, I would guess it won't start back up until a reveal or until they have Robert go psycho. Any fans who are hoping for Robert's reformation or for happy times are kidding themselves and making themselves miserable. I'd like to believe the fans who think Robert's self-harm comments are leading to him realizing Aaron is self-harming and being devastated by it, but... I'm really sorry that these scenes went against the Lucy reveal on Eastenders (which, typically of Eastenders in the big reveals, was mostly silly shock value, but a good way to get attention), as that means most people will never see them. Yet again ITV treats Emmerdale like [!@#$%^&*] to try to damage Eastenders, instead of fixing their own lineup.

Thanks for linking that article. Great insightful look into the Gazette, and it doesn't make fun of him, which is nice. I had no idea the guy even had to decline benefits to keep the paper going. As much as Linda and Nancy annoy me (Tina is irrelevant and while I think the guy who plays Lee is a limited actor, the character is pleasant enough wallpaper), I think without Mick I might care more. Danny Dyer and his dogged inability to have any reaction at all beyond brow-furrowing and weird happy-face that makes him look like a pet on Johnny Carson's show - he just wears me down, especially because he gets so much airtime.

And one of the reasons I'd say I prefer this to the 25th. The deemphasis of the Mitchells is, for all my complaints about the current show, a good thing, as is not having that block of wood Scott Maslen taking center stage.

September 1999 Soaps in Depth

This man just gets more and more disgusting, delusional, and pandering. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/rudy-giuliani-obama-love-america-thought-joke-racist