DRW50

I felt like we were meant to sympathize with Greenlee even then (weren't we already getting the poor Greenlee's parents don't love her routine then?), which I know I should appreciate as Liza also got that type of writing when she was in the same story, but Budig is no Marcy Walker for me. I do respect that many loved her. I do appreciate that Nixon was trying to give the show its old identity back as best she could with the class element. He was the last Charlie. The story was panned - I think SOD named it as one of the worst of 1995. It didn't help that McTavish brought Cecily back and was fired not long after, so they likely had no real plans for her. And beyond Charlie I am not sure if she even interacted much anyone else most of the time.

Thanks. I don't remember them. I wonder if the show had any more plans for them. They seem to be building something for Jolie. Just read about Jolie's end on the wonderful Loving blog. Geez. Truly haunting. I wonder if it plays onscreen the way it does on the page.

I'm not sure how many viewers were bothered. Greenlee was bitterly anti-gay and some fans sure loved her. I think Becca was just a copy of a copy of a copy of Nixon tropes, and she had no real chemistry with Scott. Once that pairing tanked, the show lost interest. The biggest failing was that the whole class structure Nixon had in mind just didn't feel organic to 2000. There were still class struggles, but focusing on the country club set and garden parties just didn't pack the same punch it would have in the '70s and '80s. The spark was gone. That's so nice. Thanks for letting us know. Always glad to hear about Jill - so underrated.

I could swear I recognized everyone in those scenes, but especially the lady doctor and nurse.

@Forever8 Thanks so much. I deeply appreciate the time you take finding these episodes. We have a ton of some periods (mainly starting around 1991) but this one was not around that I can remember. It sure is something I could use with everything going on now. Smart to give Kate a roommate to remind us that she wasn't one of the Corinth elite...especially contrasted with Ava and Clay on a private plane. That shot of them on the floor was well done. As Clay talks about his background I'm reminded again of how much James Horan brought to Clay, but above all else, what a strong yet quiet presence he had. Nice to hear Ava talk about her father, briefly. I had forgotten until watching this that the real Clay genuinely would not know anything about Ava's background. I briefly thought that was Paul in the wheelchair until I remembered that isn't the right timeline. I guess the show got a lot of use out of that thing. Jeff is so mustache-twirling to the point of hilarity, with the foot-wiggling and the dramatic collapse. Who is the man and woman talking about Jeff? The guy looks familiar to me. The scenes with the doctors talking to Kate about her surgery have such a touch of reality to them thanks to Nada Rowand and some tender writing. And does anyone know who is playing the nurse? She looks familiar too. And the lady doctor too. @slick jones @dc11786 @Kane @Vee @Franko @Contessa Donatella @Melroser @Paul Raven @Khan @chrisml @Joseph @Sapounopera

Just this tiny bit.

Neighbours and Home & Away would both take 2-3 months off in their Australian runs. I wish they'd considered the same with Neighbours on Amazon. The most they've done was a two week break this past December.

His name was Gabriel. He was their half-brother. He was initially mute. Bianca was heavily involved in parts of his story, which made some fans wary that the show was going to try to "turn" Bianca (I think they just wanted to avoid writing a romance for her). I think it was Rosa. I think people also pointed out how old the actress seemed for that part, although I may be wrong.

RIP Congressman Sylvester Turner. Texas Rep. Sylvester Turner, Former Houston Mayor, Dead Suddenly at 70

Awful. Netflix Is Using AI to Upscale a 1980s Sitcom and the Results Are Borderline Horrific

I don't think Van is a good actor, but I never thought he was the problem with most of his material. Most of it was just kind of ass. Even much better actors by the last years of the show were not able to do a lot with what they were given. I get the idea of making Reid related to John, but I was fine with him being a brand new character with no ties to anyone else. The only reason John came back was just because Larry wanted to help send Liz Hubbard off, so they wouldn't have had much interaction anyway. And clearly Goutman had no interest in bringing Iva back in those last years.

Thanks. That was around the time I quit watching on a regular basis (I thought the show had just become dull and unpleasant and that hadn't really changed even after McTavish was fired), but I appreciate hearing her thoughts.

I think they see their audience as more along the lines of that woman who went on a racist tirade across soap Twitter last year...and to be honest I'm not entirely sure they are wrong.

I think they are hoping Tabyana will leave, and if she doesn't, they will just keep diminishing Trina until they can dump her the way they did TJ. I know Joss is a "legacy" character but the difference in how they handle her compared to Trina is jarring.

Today shows a brief clip of Bellamy Young on AW, and she comments on how she has a hard time looking at the clip. It feels extremely rare for Today to be mentioning AW. I wonder when they last did.

I hope the people at DC who tried to make sure we all knew how wonderful decisions like bury your gays and no returns were read that interview. Too little, too late. I wasn't even that into Luke/Reid (Reid was more interesting on his own) but the story was trite and hollow. I still remember James Rehborn being brought in as some kind of chess-playing homophobic dad for a day. What better way to show the fall in quality from Marland to then.

It's another way to phase Trina out of the show in a way where they know viewers won't miss her. I don't see how it can, but hopefully they will not have a massive drop. GH's drop week-on-week wasn't that bad. The issue is more the drop from this time last year. Unfortunately, they are likely to read the wrong tea leaves, especially since they made some changes that should have been good for the show last year and their only reward was a sizable ratings drop they haven't fully recovered from. Molly is an interesting case because the actresses who have played her as an adult seem younger than the character might be in other hands. Like Belle on DAYS, who immediately seemed 40 once Martha Madison took over. I see the previous Molly (the one who lasted about five minutes) was 40, although I don't remember if that was noticeable onscreen.

If the execs who'd shepherded the revival had stayed, then I could have seen them possibly giving the show more time, but given the contracting economy and how unsuccessful most streaming attempts of soaps are (other than some of the smaller indie soaps like The Bay), the cancelation did feel inevitable. The Varga-Murphy family were the best part of the revival for me - I would have said the Rodwells but all of that was dismantled last year. I felt more invested in the family before the baby rabies plot, but still, I appreciate them, and they are easily one of the most believable same-sex couples on a soap as well as one of the few times a family headed by a same-sex couple hasn't felt like it was built on something offputting (like a one night stand or some kind of mishandled adoption).

I also don't watch anything on live TV anymore. There are a lot of us these days.

When someone last wrote a good script in 2008, I don't believe that. But he's got another show to ruin now. Like many out there, he knows how to fail upward. The amount of hacks hired on that show is another reason I am wary of whether to invest in it. Beyond lack of talent, it's also a bit sad to see him on a new soap after the way Daytime Confidential treated the revivals of AMC and OLTL.

Considering the huge promo and expectations, and how many have been pointedly tuning to BtG to try to wake GH up, the drop wasn't that noticeable (in my opinion). The bigger drop is still from last year, which is what should worry them, but which they probably believe means viewers want to see more of Carly, Sonny and Jason, possibly a return for Michael Easton, and maybe some kind of half-assed stunt involving a washed-up primetime name to be determined. I think they should be wary of trying one of his sweeps stories. A lot of violence and clink-boom rehashes that have already been done to death all over TV and movies may just drive some viewers away. Thank you for the ratings @Soap Opera Network . I hope everyone involved is very proud, especially Michele Val Jean, who has been a wonderful example of how a creator should promote on social media. She doesn't try too hard, she doesn't make it all about herself, and she makes you feel like you can trust her. I wasn't sure what the numbers would be given the state of TV these days and the hurdle of a one-hour show, but at least people did tune in and that's a vote of confidence. Hopefully it will give them some breathing room with CBS.

Considering who is in charge of our federal and spy agencies now, it's not that unrealistic, sadly. She just needs to get a lot of plastic surgery to make herself look 50 and marry a man who is three times her age.

Yes. That was FMB/Broderick. The show had very different tones depending on who her writers were at the time - none of the tones were especially good, but some were worse than others. FMB did at least try to give the older characters story (not so much Susan and Nancy, but she did give her an anniversary episode), which Goutman would not.

With the current climate, GH even having any gay characters is a surprise, one that I am not expecting to last much longer.

Other than certain golden periods, I think GH's cast has often been better than the material they're given. The '60s stuff is obviously much better than anything on the show in recent decades, but when I went back to watch some recently, I did wonder how much I would want to sit through extended hesitancy, Jessie's husband woes, collective misery and a sea of dead babies if not for the performances. It's just there's not much to do now when the show feels so dead and is clearly only on because ABC still wants the space to fill. There's no love and no care. No effort made to try to find a character or a suitable story. And as mentioned before, the show often seems conflict-averse, aside from Kristina and Sonny screaming at everyone, or maybe some of the Drew hate. I think many were moving away even before BtG, and they probably won't be back. The ratings may hold up but conversation was not going to.