DRW50

The Kissing Congressman is running again. For the sake of hypocrisy and hilarity, I hope he wins. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/vance-mcallister-run-re-election Mixed SCOTUS ruling on private insurance coverage with religious beliefs. The consensus seems to be its bad but could have been much worse. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/supreme-court-hobby-lobby-ruling SCOTUS rejects a case about bans on brainwash "therapy." http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/01/us/supreme-court-declines-case-contesting-ban-on-gay-conversion-therapy.html

So much going on here. Reginald's last line cracked me up. Glad to see the Burrells moving back into the story. I'm glad you remembered that Sharlene had slept with/dated the fake Michael. I'd forgotten. Ew. Poor Sharlene. It's all kicking off over Felicia/John... Some real shocks and twists in here.

I mostly remember Gillette for her brief work on St. Elsewhere (she was perfect as Westphall's wife...you could see how he was never the same without her), but she could have been good on GL (wasn't she on Another Life too?). I don't dislike Lee Lawson but she seems very perky for a woman who spent 20-30 years raising children near the poverty line. I think Shipp left GL in early 1984 and began on GL in late 1985.

I don't even know if she was unpopular with GL viewers, or if she just left relatively quickly (she was on, what, a year?) to go to Hollywood. The show was in heavy transition at this point. The same happened with John Wesley Shipp...for such a prominent character, he had a very quick and low-key phasing out from GL. I think she was also involved with Robert Newman (whom she had a story with on GL for a while) wasn't she?

Melissa McBride and Chandler Riggs won Saturn Awards. The show also won for best cable series. Greg Nicotero won a special award. Really happy to see these talented people getting more recognition. This is Nicotero's terrific acceptance speech video, featuring cameos from some familiar faces.

12 minutes of a summer (?) 1990 episode, featuring Debbi Morgan, Randy Brooks, Robert Gentry, Linda Gibboney, Kelly Rutherford, etc.

I'm not sure if Cochran and Lott were ever that close. http://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/02/us/politics-the-rivals-senate-rivals-learned-hardball-at-ole-miss.html I think there are limitations on how much horrible comments in one state take a toll nationally. 2010 had three toxic candidates running for office and getting national attention - Ken Buck, Sharron Angle, Christine O'Donnell. They lost their races, but the GOP still did well in picking up Senate seats overall, in places like Wisconsin that are supposed to be swing states. 2012 was a different story, somewhat, but was also a Presidential election year. The nursing home stuff is very sordid, but I can't see that becoming nationalized either. I agree, but I feel like there are broad attacks from the GOP against defense attorneys in general (the Dem nominee for governor in SC is getting these types of attacks). I do think the laughing is offputting. The best she can probably do is apologize.

I forgot poor Shabnam was even on the show. She and Dean would be far more interesting than Dean panting after frigid Linda to try to make us care about Mick/Linda and St. Mick. Oh well.

I'd tend to agree with her. What I've seen of Cooke in the role seems very generic. Frankly, she also seemed way older than she was. I didn't realize she was just 18 when she was cast.

January 1983 Daytime TV

She may also have meant when Guza left in late 1996. One of the problems is that people so clearly wanted a bigger, flashier GH after Labine's tenure. Curlee wasn't that type of writer.

I wanted to say thanks for the uploads, especially those December 1989 episodes I had never seen before. Many soaps were and are somewhat low-key toward the end of year, so it was a nice surprise to see how action-packed those two episodes were. I had no idea Paul had that insane reaction to learning that Cassandra still couldn't be extradited. The scene was over the top (and not in a good way), but I can see why they did it. Nina Arvesen looked so much like Brenda Epperson in that episode. My eyes were way in the back of my head at Bergman's attempts at playing Terry Lester Jack. It's just embarrassing queening out, which is ironic, since Bergman is straight and Terry Lester was supposedly not. I could swear they were trying to imply that Lauren didn't want to marry Scott and was still pining for Paul. John O'Hurley - ew. Cheesy and off. He seemed to be doing a John McCook impression. The dialogue didn't help. "Lady," as poor MTS wandered out wearing what seemed to be someone's luggage. I couldn't help wondering if that wedding buildup episode was a joke on those viewers who complained that Y&R characters rarely intersected. There were so many introductions in those scenes, I lost count. The wedding scene with Lauren and Cricket was nice...and rare. Really enjoyed everything with the kidnapping. I didn't realize how menacing they tried to make Morey and Lil early on. Marge is priceless. I laughed when she called Rex a "piece of action," because for a few seconds I was sure she'd said, "piece of ass."

If you're enjoying it, that's what matters, so I can't disagree. I'm not really going to say much about the show until DTC is gone, so I won't rain on your parade.

That's a pretty good promo. Not sure what that knock-kneed promo post is about though...poor JLC.

Thanks. I get so confused. I think it's that a lot of 1981 isn't available for the characters (there are "early months" clips but I think she was still pregnant then). It's kind of crazy just how many secrets Quint had.

Thanks! I thought this must have been early, as Helena is more serious here. I always have a hard time figuring out when Nola was pregnant during any of this time...most of those clips don't seem to be online. I've been watching the "Quola" clips with my mother (we're up to the Hollywood Trip), and I must say I have to give the actors a lot of credit for how they deal with strange and at times very inconsistent writing. This is especially prominent with Mrs. Renfield, who went from loving Nola and her baby to seeing them as outsiders and dangerous, to loving them again, and with Gracie, who for a spell (the bugging/Nola as "Mata Hari" storyline) was hardcore anti-Quint to the point where she went on a long "look at your look at your choices!" speech to Nola that made my jaw drop. It was nice to see a glimpse of Kathleen Cullen's Amanda in the clips. I still wish the show had done so much more with her. I love the whole "Quint's harem" setup with Rebecca, Nola, and Helena (with Vanessa popping in for blackmail visits). The whole thing is ludicrous, and a good example of how unique GL was, as it was treated so seriously. I think Helena pointed out the insanity of it once or twice. She's such a fun character.

Most of them can't act and the characters feel generic. Most telling is that their material is about tearing other characters down (Mick exists mostly through this purpose) or isolating and neutralizing them because of lackluster audience response (Nancy, Linda, et al). I just don't like them and I feel like they stick out like a sore thumb.

Good riddance to both, but especially McCarthy. I wonder if the controversy over her e-cig ads was the last straw. She is a dangerous personality and I never knew why the show chose her.

Who do you mean? (you can PM me if you wish)

Phil/Shirley, even more of St. Shirley, and Dean being back solely to try to prop up the huge flop that is the Carter family are my last straw with this show. I will be back when DTC is gone.

I think everything with Abraham just feels like it's from another show entirely. It's going to take a lot to get me to care about him. Does Carl still have the eyepatch in the comics?

GRRM talks about what's to come in book 6. http://shelf-life.ew.com/2014/06/26/george-r-r-martin-winds-winter-tease/?hootPostID=138014b31cbf34939a24b8955b5db64e

Kirkman talks about season 5 and future seasons. http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/06/26/the-walking-dead-robert-kirkman-season-5/

Very interesting results in Mississippi this past Tuesday. Thad Cochran, whose position on programs and outreach for black people in his state is likely somewhere between indifference and posturing against them for votes, began openly campaigning for the black vote in his runoff election, with his campaign even taking the (very, very rare for a GOP primary) step of calling out his opponent for racist language. And boy was there a lot of racist language and kissing up to Confederate groups from McDaniel. My favorite part was this flier, which I certainly never thought I'd see in a GOP primary. http://freakoutnation.com/2014/06/25/nro-thinks-this-one-flier-got-thad-cochran-elected/ As a result, Cochran did the near-impossible, got a lot of Democratic voters to show up to support him, and won his runoff, which many never imagined. I've heard some people say that black voters in MS made a mistake and they should have just supported the Democrat in November, but who can blame them for not wanting to take that risk? It's so rare to see a Republican point out just how vile a fellow Republican is, without fear of retribution from the true believers in the party. Sadly this seems like its something unique to the MS primary system, and to Cochran (as this is clearly his last term), but it still gives me satisfaction to see a bigot who clearly expected a coronation to instead get derailed this way. I just wish this meant something was changing within the party. McDaniel is seething and may try to contest the results. Caribou Barbie is saying she may form a third party. Good luck with that, Grifter Glenda. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/06/thad_cochran_wins_with_mississippi_s_black_voters_african_americans_help.html http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118383/conservatives-outraged-republican-called-racist-opponent-racist http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/mississippi-thad-cochran-108289.html?hp=f2#.U6r7Z5RdXOs http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/25/us/thad-cochran-wins-a-race-he-considered-not-running.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/26/us/politics/with-history-in-mind-black-voters-in-mississippi-aided-cochran.html And meanwhile, if you need a laugh, here's Fox News personality Neil Cavuto, who apparently got the same memo Megyn Kelly did, laying into, as one commenter called her, Baby Jane Bacchmann. Ugh. http://thinkprogress.org/media/2014/06/25/3453420/fox-host-yells-at-michele-bachmann-for-trying-to-sue-obama-youre-being-silly/