DRW50

Yes. I understand why they both said no, especially as Loving was a much smaller show and it would have been seen as a degradation. I am glad Debbi and then Darnell were willing to take the chance, and I think it paid off for them. Speaking of Lillian, I don't really understand why this is in her IMDB. Maybe they will delete it: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4426708/?ref_=nm_flmg_job_1_cdt_eps_tt_9 Sometimes I wish I could go through the various stories Jesse and Angie had in their first AMC run as some seem much better than others, not that that was exclusive to them (the "fake Jenny" for Greg was a terrible idea, whether it was meant to make him move on from her or not).

Loving did not do anywhere near enough with black characters in the '80s, but Minnie was not the first black character on Loving. Art Hindman was recurring through the decade, and we also saw his kids, Dave and Tally. I have a feeling that if AMC had not already had a number of black characters at the time, they might have brought her back. Of course, many of those characters began filing out and/or were given poor material starting in 1994 (I remember Dondre Whitfield complaining about Mimi and Derek getting married in the Chicken Shack), which never improved (I think most of the material with Noah and Julia veers between boring and unwatchable, not to mention the desecration of Taylor as a character). In contrast, I think Loving, and to a lesser degree The City, had some genuinely good material for their black characters, rather than voodoo princesses and poor Leslie Uggams and Randy Brooks being stuck in something that felt vaguely lifted from 1972.

Storm brews over Byron Allen Media's plan to consolidate TV weather Local Meteorologists Give Emotional Farewells After Nationwide Layoffs Bit by bit the money men are making sure local news is decimated.

You won't be surprised to learn that the brain dead leftists out there like Ken Klippenstein have been leading people to care more about Schumer's statements and how inadequate they are meant to be than about this crisis itself. Meanwhile, that piece of [!@#$%^&*] Jon Stewart has been working hard to minimize what Trump is doing and telling us we shouldn't care as no one even knows how many federal attorneys there are. This is why Trump gets away with whatever he does. So many are bought and paid for, waiting to play mind games and make sure everyone else is made to take the blame.

So we're still waiting. I hope I'm wrong, but I do think this is it.

@Vee Thank you! What a wonder. The uploader mentioned that he got them from Matt McAllister himself. I remember reading some articles about him and maybe asking @vetsoapfan about him before but had never seen him. This is amazing. We've all talked about how many soap actors may have had some of their footage saved. Some, like Jacquie Courtney or Laurie Heineman, we may never know, but I'm glad some like Matt are making this stuff available while they can.

I suppose you could say Genie and Alexa haven't really had the chance yet, but I agree. I just don't think there's anything especially compelling in the Laura/Lulu relationship and I don't think Genie has much of a spark with those around her (she did when she was younger, but I don't think her work has ever been the same since she was forced to return to the show in 1998). On paper, there's a story to tell about Lulu not being very close to Laura compared to Tracy because Tracy was there for her in the years Laura could not be, the years that made Lulu who she now is. Unfortunately, that story is probably never going to be told. Not really an NAC fan, but I do wonder if it's all that uncommon for someone to not attend their former onscreen love interest's birthday party. I just hope Tabyana gets more respect from the show. If not then I hope she leaves, if she is able to do so.

Thanks.

@dc11786 Thanks. Always enjoy reading these updates. And yes, the idea of Michael Storm and Charita Bauer as partners is a jolt.

I think she has only stayed on due to being the last Sugden.

This is Marcus Smythe, isn't it? I couldn't find credits. He's also in part two - not sure if that one is on Youtube.

I imagine some is spite toward Genie from the show, but Laura has also been such a dead character for a long time now. She just feels isolated, even as the mayor. There could have been some story to play with the return of her kids, especially Lucky, but I'm not even that sure how compelling it would have been. Admittedly I just don't think a lot of actress or character.

I suppose they may feel the only audience they have left are old conservative white people. I would like to say they are wrong...

Nothing against MVJ, it's just when two people who work with/for you took over longtime shows and ruined them beyond recognition, I'm going to be wary. I think ABC is somewhat concerned, but if they were really concerned, they'd have made more changes. Instead, they seem to have only marginalized their black characters further.

I've heard that a lot too. Given this show I am expecting it.

It was. Even though they made a poor choice with Frankie on The City B&E also gave focus to Jacob, Angie and Lorraine. They also tried to use black characters on GL, which never went anywhere (a number of writers tried after them too but someone repeatedly shut that down).

They won't make any effort to actually showcase their black cast but will put them on the Jennifer Hudson Show. It likely shows they don't think Beyond the Gates is actual competition. Given the minimal amount of viewers for soaps now, they probably aren't wrong, but they have given a lot of their fans every reason to move (at least if the likes of Guza and Carlivati weren't there).

Thanks. Those are such soap names, especially for that era. I wonder what his plans were for them.

If it was to shore up Sasha it is counterproductive as her parents are barely on and all they did was end a decent enough relationship she had. If they still wanted to have her get pregnant with Michael's child there were other ways to break her and Cody up.

Thanks! I don't really know anything about that character.

I don't really think she left because of her marriage. She was visibly burnt out with the show. Staying would have given her more money but if she wanted to go, I don't think she was wrong to go. They got so much wrong with Fallon until the final season.

The odd part is they haven't even tried to recreate most of the Aaron/Robert relationship, unless they think the only reason they had fans was Robert being unpleasant to people and being a Sugden. It's all so half-hearted. I still assume the whole thing is just so John will be revealed as evil or an abuser and Aaron will have to be saved from him. Either that or he will just leave town, like Pierce's son who was presumably meant to be much more than he was (a shame as I liked the actor).

Putting her in a romance with an actor over ten years her senior - a number of actresses like Sarah Polley (not from AMC just in case someone points that out) have spoken about their regrets over being put in those situations. I'd say most movies or shows now wouldn't put an actor her age, or Mick Hazen's age with what he played on ATWT, through that, but given the big rollback on any basic decency we're seeing, who knows.

That's a good line. Even by 1987 a number of viewers may not have known she even had brothers.