DRW50

I saw one of the people from that biphobic show begging Frankie Grande to appear. They must be desperate. (I don't mind Kenya - just hate the show)

I don't really think it was about Tyreese's head. It was about various themes of good and evil on the show. Tyreese had no great reason to think about people like The Governor. They were doing it to show viewers the best and worst in people, and then Tyreese choosing to die because he couldn't take the worst. I wasn't thrilled with all of it myself but I thought some of it worked. I prefer this to shock value deaths.

Interviews. http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/walking-dead-postmortem-tyreese-dead-governor-return-1201427889/ http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/the-walking-dead-tyreese-death-chad-coleman-interview-1201428453/ http://www.ew.com/article/2015/02/08/walking-dead-showrunner-scott-m-gimple-explains-trippy-tragic-midseason-premiere http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/walking-dead-tyreese-dies-interview-770602 http://www.ew.com/article/2015/02/08/walking-dead-director-greg-nicotero-breaks-down-shocking-midseason-premiere Sonequa Martin Green interview (before tonight's episode) http://www.ew.com/article/2015/02/06/walking-dead-star-sonequa-martin-green-explains-how-they-hid-her-pregnancy-show

If any soap could have made that work for viewers it would have been OLTL.

That bothered me. I hope it's just that the actress was busy on Teen Wolf.

This was a really weird episode. It was pretentious as all hell - I kept waiting for Laura Palmer to show up in the room and take Tyreese's hand - yet some of it did truly work. The show is becoming very stylized and niching (is that a word?) itself, perhaps because it's gone on far longer as a massive hit as TPTB may have thought, so they're just going, "!@#$%^&*] it. We do what he want." That will chase away viewers, but I guess they're going to lose viewers anyway, so I can't really chide them. I wanted to thank Chad Coleman for 3 years of strong work, even with scripts and characterizations that often felt incomplete or were barely about Tyreese at all. Tyreese became a symbol, not a character, but Chad always gave his best. A true talent. I will miss him. Summing up my thoughts: - So that's it on the "voice of hope and morality," right? They've killed 4 now. Can we put that trope to rest and not have to see Rick angsting over it anymore? Surely that was the whole point of Tyreese's long, slow death here? - Damn did Andrew Lincoln look good in that tight, sweat-soaked tee. - Sorry, but I just can't blame Noah for Tyreese's death. If anything got Tyreese it was either that he has a hangup on twins, or he was just plain tired. He knew the walker on the bed was still alive, and he still got distracted. - I'm a terrible person, but when Noah sprinted to his house, my first thought was, "He can't take any more of Tyreese's moralizing speeches. He'd rather die." - I also laughed at the obstacle course scene when they were trying to get Tyreese out. And then the raining walker torsos...we were supposed to laugh a little, right? - Speaking of Noah, Tyler James Williams was absolutely superb in this episode. The breakdown in the middle of the street really got to me even as I start to become dead to the big displays of grief on this show. He is a fantastic actor and I'm sorry this is often overlooked for "He replaced Beth, how dare he!" or "He gets people killed!" or Everybody Hates Chris jokes. - Was that Andrew Lincoln's voice on Tyreese's internal radio (the British accent)? - Rick listening to Michonne and having cool walker kills with her. YES. THANK YOU. - When Beth showed up, singing, the first thing I thought of was this board and how much some people would be raging. It cracked me up. - Some evil part of me wanted to see The Governor or Martin in the car at the end too. Maybe The Governor talking about how much Rick stank. - If we were getting voices in the past, why didn't we get Karen or Hershel? I get that The Governor was there to represent evil and the worst of life, but I also wondered if he just popped up because David Morrissey has a show on AMC this year. - Glenn being put in such a central role makes me very nervous. - I wanted to cry when I saw Sasha at the end, so clearly in shock and numb, to the point where she could barely walk. I just want to hug her and tell her everything will be OK. I never thought she'd make it this long. Roles like Sasha's are almost always fodder for manpain. Now that she's made it, please, TWD, don't just kill her off for shock value or filler death. Make her character count. Show Sonequa Martin Green's talent and ability as she has consistently shown from her first scene.

What bothered me with Michael's self-righteous fury is that he dumped Donna (making her think he had cheated on her). That's what led her to sleep with Jake. Yes, the coverup and losing Mikey was bad, but his part in it was ignored so he could look sympathetic. All it did was make me despise the character.

There doesn't seem to be much of their relationship period on Youtube. Zoe was a great character. I guess we'll probably never see her again.

Charity/Zoe was complicated, as it was part real and part Zoe struggling with schizophrenia and behaving irrationally (there was a horribly depressing scene where Chris was watching his sister in the institution and weeping hysterically), along with Charity manipulating her emotions to keep a foothold in the family. The show would go back to it here and there - when Charity was on trial for killing Chris (he'd actually committed suicide and framed her), she manipulated Zoe into testifying on her behalf. Zoe overheard her talking about her plans with her lawyer, and blasted her on the witness stand, further sinking her case. A few months before Charity's 2005 exit, she and Zoe buried the hatchet and clearly still cared about each other. (Charity's red-faced runt of a fiance, Tom King, stewed in the background) Debbie/Jasmine was only ever a plot device for Debbie/Cain drama (Cain seduced Jasmine to make sure her relationship with Debbie ended, as his daughter being with a woman repulsed him; Jasmine got pregnant and Debbie, to pay him back for his betrayal, convinced Jasmine to have an abortion), then for Jenna Louise Coleman's exit, but they did have a following. The timing was off because most of their relationship took place a year or so before gay couples started getting big online fan followings ("McDean" were the first big one).

I do think she deserved a lot of the criticism she faced, but reflexively, I would just resent people who trashed her. Not everyone, but some people, it was a real battle for me to not want to smack them. Even characters I liked, like Amanda. Donna was another who did bad things but I couldn't stand the constant judgment she faced. I was enraged by the way Stacey and Michael treated her. If they ever had a "fan February" for AW mine would have been putting a foot in Michael Hudson's flat ass every day of the month.

Yeah, the Beth Jordache story was the show's last real period of popularity, before various things (too much shock value, the incest storyline, etc.) began driving viewers away. Beth Jordache was an iconic character for many viewers, which is rare for a lesbian on a soap, especially at that time. This channel has a lot of videos (and some Emmerdale stuff too). https://www.youtube.com/user/EmmerdaleFanx In a way it's crazy that someone like Hawley, who to me has immense star quality, is on a soap, but he's said in interviews that he struggled to get work for years and years. So if he stays (if they let him stay) I think that could end up being a reason. The channel that puts up Barton family stuff has his other roles, if you ever want to see them. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6fkbcXyuGjykf7LO7VtzhA It's funny...I normally detest gay couples on soaps, or am bored silly by them. While I wouldn't say Emmerdale is problem-free in this area (I'm definitely not going to say that if Robert goes the "evil bisexual" route), three of the only gay couples I've ever liked on a soap (Zoe/Charity, Debbie/Jasmine, Aaron/Robert) have been on this show. A relationship like Zoe/Charity probably wouldn't be written on a soap today, sadly.

November 1983 Daytime Digest

November 1983 Daytime Digest

Lucas was rough around the edges but he had a soft side, and humor, and I think Iris responded to that, especially as she was at her most vulnerable with Mac gone. The way she was dumped for Felicia and as always was the town pariah left a bad taste in my mouth.

November 1983 Daytime Digest

I think she did go back to Brookside for a while, maybe just to finish out the character's story. One of the Brookside books I used to have talked about when she and Sheila Grant (Damon's mother) went to Rome to scatter Damon's ashes, and they said you could see the Pope in one of the shots...as if he was personally there to tell them goodbye (which he wasn't, obviously, but it's amusing). Danny says he is back until the show fires him, as he's done things elsewhere and that's the main reason he wanted to leave before. Whether that's true, I guess we'll see. Probably depends how much story he has. The Danny and Marc stuff is just speculation. Some of it may have been ITV, who seemed to put serious brakes on chemistry and sexuality between gay men until the last year. For whatever reason, it was a big part of why I couldn't take Aaron - I felt like Miller was extremely uncomfortable playing a gay man. I don't feel that now, and while I'll never be a huge Aaron booster, that does help. I can see Hawley leaving after a few years, especially as his wife lives in London. I hope if the show wants him, he'll stay and stay, as Robert is vital to the show's future and to the future of the Sugden family, but realistically, I know we'll be lucky if Robert is even around a year from now. Ugh. Speaking of ED actors in other roles, if you ever get a chance, you should try to see (if you haven't already) Bill Ward (James) as Charlie Stubbs on Corrie. He's about 5000000% better. He just seems like a zombie on Emmerdale. What a sad contrast to James Thornton as John, who gave great performances, and was a super hot piece of ass.

I thought he loved her. It wasn't a big love relationship for either of them, but there was love. I get the appeal of Lucas and Felicia, but I couldn't get past how he treated Iris.

November 1983 Daytime Digest

Felicia was very much like the radio soap heroines in that everyone (aside from Cass) came and went from her life while she stayed still. Dano's old school soap acting played into that. I think it helped make the character stand out. Of all her relationships, I liked Mitch the best.

November 1983 Daytime Digest

Those are interesting comparisons. I think Adam is more like Maisie and Pete is more like Ryan. Finn as Will, I can see. James would be Faye to me, as boring gatekeeper of secrets. Ross reminds me so much of Cain...a more emo Cain, with less animal killing. I don't like that Robert is so defined by Aaron this time around, nor do I think Robert and Aaron are a "supercouple" - I'm not even sure the show has longterm plans for them, other than Robert manipulating him. I wouldn't mind seeing Robert with other people, in real relationships and not shams like what he has with Chrissie, so his fate won't depend on Aaron fans. But Ryan Hawley and Danny Miller have such dynamite chemistry and they obviously put a great deal of effort in their scenes together (it helps that they get along well - there were rumors that he and Marc Silcock [Jackson] did not get on and I've always wondered if that's one of the reasons they had so little chemistry). I think if the show resists just writing about poor Aaron suffering and being abused, he and Robert could drive a hell of a lot of story for a long time. This is the first time I've cared about Aaron since about 2009. We were talking about Brookside in another thread. You may already know this, but the woman who plays Emma played Debbie on Brookside, best known for "Damon & Debbie," the first ever "soap bubble," and one that absolutely devastated countless fans (especially teenage girls) back in the day. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeTSqTsV18xIqn5vnsyJRKq0XtkB34ZcV

Daytime Digest November 1983

Yeah...I agree about Emma. It's a waste, as I think some of the Bartons will be around for a while (Ross seems to be extremely popular, and Pete and Finn both seem typical of longrunning characters), so their mother could add to their stories. The beats have been so rushed and we've already seen her skirt the edge of truly reprehensible behavior once (leaving James to die), so I assume she won't be around long. I hope I'm wrong. Robert...