DRW50

They got together last fall, when they were going to con Archie.

I can't see Janine being all that interested in Ryan for a long period of time either. I'm sure he's very good in bed but he's kind of a drip and sanctimonious and Janine's sense of self-loathing will lead her elsewhere in time. Matthew Rose was a fascinating character. Joe Absolom seems to have worked constantly since leaving so he made the right decision for himself, but I wish he'd stayed around. I think he was probably the first teenybopper favorite on the show -- Wicksy was probably popular with those who were a bit older, and Aidan wasn't around long enough. Then when he left they quickly replaced him with the dull Jamie Mitchell. Jack Ryder should have done like Sid Owen and stayed as long as he could. He must hate Kym Marsh for having him leave the show...then going on to clog up Corrie for years.

I'm just glad they are finally having Phil pay some for his mistakes because I think that the last few years of Phil just sort of putting up with a fey son and bedding beautiful women was a big avoidance of just how damaged Phil is as a person. Looking back I sometimes wonder why they even had Phil do that, unless it was supposed to be some great tragedy for him or something (even though he lost nothing). Either that or it was the show's way of trying to make up for the Watts dominating the show for a few years while the Mitchells had all vanished. At least they didn't have Sharon find out and forgive Phil. That would have been awful. I know what you mean about the reveal. I actually think the show is pretty decent at the moment but they will eventually lose some interest if people start saying all the reveals are poor. All the "Santer did this better" makes me roll my eyes, although I guess he did most of the time (I didn't think that the Branning hit and run story or Danielle being killed by the world's slowest moving car was all that thrilling). The Revealed shows always have such hyperbole, I just tried to tune it out this time and hoped I would forget. I think it worked. Treadwell Collins did the most but at least he has a lot of enthusiasm for the show. I couldn't get over how much fire Janine had in those clips from Barry's death. Boy do I miss that Janine.

Watching the Revealed, it was fun to see how lighthearted they allowed themselves to be, when talking about the Walford police, cheesy last lines, and then Lucas's various crimes set to "Nobody Does It Better." I loved seeing all that with Steve Owen and Matthew Rose again. They had insane chemistry, that was the most homoerotic relationship ever on Eastenders. And then there was Dennis's death, which still upsets me every time. Funny how they go on about how killers pay, yet said nothing about Phil paying for his role in Dennis's death. Then again, with kids like Louise and Ben, I guess that's a punishment. I wish they hadn't included Pauline's murder, that story sucked, it did not deserve inclusion. So they were originally going to have Little Mo stab Trevor with a knife, not hit him with an iron. And they almost made Peggy Archie's killer. I wish they'd done that. It was telling that the only reason they could come up with for Stacey killing him being a good idea was that they envisioned the scene where she said she did it. That's not a reason to do a story. All that proves is just how empty the story has been. I'm glad they went out of their way to try to reassure viewers that Denise will be staying around. Bryan Kirkwood looks like a kind of rough Michael Buble... They seemed to have a great deal of respect for Don Gilet, and I can see why. He seems like a wonderful man, very funny, and when they showed all the clips again I was reminded of what a fantastic actor he is.

Some said they were bothered in Thursday's episode that no one tried to attack Lucas while he was keeping them in the house, but this from the Digital Spy synopsis suggests a scene which was cut: On Friday's episode, did this happen?

I think you've mentioned this before, but I wonder how much of this was down to difference in networks. ABC, once they got going, seemed to do what they could to try to bolster their daytime lineup. It seems like NBC just didn't make as much effort. From what everyone here has said, The Doctors did not need to be canceled, there was still so much life left in it. Those stories sound great, especially the one about the tumor. It seems like shows then were so much more willing to be more expressive and not just have, oh look, someone fell down, they have a brain tumor. I wish I'd seen more of the Doctors cast in other things... That's true, although sometimes I wonder if more creative soaps had stayed on the air, the soap genre might have been healthier, more of them would still be around, and there might not be such an apathy and a rot.

The scene with Roxy and Chelsea was great. Rita is very good at being a supporting, talk-to figure, and when Tiana is good, she's fantastic, she really lets you feel Chelsea's pain. I think they are smart to tie Fatboy in with a beloved character like Dot. For a long time they seemed to be so desperate to try to show us how hip Fatboy was by only having him with the other "teens" (even though he looked 10 years older than many of them) and by being rude and stupid. Showing more of his sensitive side is a way to make viewers care, instead of chasing some type of Skins demographic. Somber exit for Lucas. I wondered if they were going to have someone in the family confront him but I guess not. That boy who hit Phil looked like Gaz from Hollyoaks. The Darren and Jodie stuff is silly but isn't bothering me the way it's winding some viewers up. I think it's just harmless. Stacey and Max DO have incredible chemistry together. I wish they had had this type of writing a long time ago. I loved loved loved the scene where Tamwar and Zainab stood in front of the door, trying to be supportive, as Chelsea and Libby kept closing it and reopening it and arguing over and over. Guess this may be the last time we'll see Pat working in the Vic. It's like old times...

Thanks. I knew it was something with four letters Sounds like a good story. All the changes made to The Doctors in those last years, they sound very interesting, I wish they had done enough to keep the show around. From everything I've read The Doctors sounds so much richer and deeper than most of GH has been for most its tenure. When Julia Duffy was on the show do you think anyone had an idea she would go on to be popular on a show like Newhart? I often wonder about that with soaps, if those who went on to be famous were expected to be and if some that fans thought might become famous never became famous.

Schemering's book said that at the end of The Doctors, Ivie, a black songtress, suddenly said she loved Mike. Did that happen? What did you think of the story?

Dario Can You Get Me Into Studio 54? - Dane & Gene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIacsdOfKAQ

I guess I'm so used to the fake tans, that and it looked different when they got inside the house. I wonder how many guys are going to be in this shoot, since so many are leaving the show. That would leave Carl, Rhys, Ste...one or two others I'm forgetting. They are probably going to have less sales without Ricky Whittle, so they should compensate by having them just pose in their underwear

I don't remember if Gilly has ever had a job. Everyone might have already seen this but here's a backstage video for the 2011 Hunks calender. Ashley Taylor Dawson (who looks great aside from the fake tan), Anthony Quinlan, and the guy who plays Riley. Love the very pervy crotch and midsection shots of Ashley and Anthony, and the hand rubbing baby oil on Anthony's stomach. And they even joke about the stupid baby oil.

Finally watched yesterday's episodes. Great stuff! I don't think there was one poor scene, although I don't care about Eve's money problems or Doug's job. The best part was the interrogation between Nathan and the hot detective. As always Nathan has a lot of chemistry with other men in antagonistic situations. Beyond the shallow, the scene where Nathan realizes that there was no way Natasha could have accidentally killed Mark was FANTASTIC. Great work from Lyndon. You also have all those fault lines building up in the family, as Maisie and Will are both increasingly convinced Nathan is the killer. I wish Maisie and Ryan didn't have so much chemistry...loved their scenes in Thursday's first episode. And Viv trying to be nice, even if it wasn't appreciated. I wonder if that scene where Natasha basically blasted Ashley for being a lousy vicar was a shoutout to those fans who regularly go on about how bad he is. One even has a "Vicar Watch." Gennie's dress was very short wasn't it? I remember when she used to go around dressed like a kooky aunt from the Brady Bunch.

Did you hear that when Gilly (who was even more difficult to understand than usual) said that being with Jem was always excitement? What did they do, go around eating brains? Yeah, Ste was in some long running baby stealing plot last year. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abi_Raven#Abi_Raven I agree about the exits so far, they've been lackluster, although I thought Newt's last scenes were nice.

I guess Pat will go back to living with Bianca and her kids but I kind of wish they could put her back in with Denise and Patrick. Denise and Pat used to be close, and that was at least acknowledged slightly by having Pat be the first one to hug Denise when she ran out of the house. I think it helps that Max and Jack have both finally moved forward in their lives, although that might just be temporary. I think a lot of shows believe that you constantly need to have macho men who are in conflict, but that's not always how it works. Sometimes it's better if you have men who may be stubborn but can also genuinely care about each other. Jack and Max work much better this way than they did as rivals. Soaps seem to be judged more and more on the reveal, although that's partially down to these being so hyped. I think sometimes it blurs the viewer's mind, or some viewers, about the quality of a story. The Stax reveal was great but was the story itself that good? It always seemed a bit like a cheap Shannon Tweed film to me. The Danielle/Archie reveal was good but was the rest? Rinse and repeat for the reveal of Archie's killer. I mean obviously these stories were popular and that shows how important the reveal is but I'm hoping people will remember that the story has picked up a lot of steam over the past few months, and that it did a great deal to help revive Denise as an important character. I know some are upset about Lucas not killing anyone, or killing himself, but I think that that would have taken away from what the story always was, a window into his madness and how that madness affected other people. They should have paced the episode better and they should have had stronger reactions to Denise returning from the dead but aside from those disappointments I thought the reveal was decent. I just think that they shouldn't worry quite as much about balance between light and dark moments on future reveals.

Hey Amello, did you know that the woman who plays the detective on Emmerdale was Abi, who was involved in Ste's baby kidnapping plotline last year? I didn't remember her, but someone on Digital Spy said it was her. Apparently the guy who plays Riley Costello played a classmate of Justin's in 2004. They were rivals but then became friends, before he vanished along with some other students at that time, like Candy. I think they said his name was Nathan? So this guy is playing a 17 year old 6 years after he played a 14 or 15 year old? Odd casting choice. Anyway, the alien story seems to be low-key so far, although He looks too much like Seth Costello. He seems OK other than that. Not all that interested in this story with Michaela and the racism story, although Kent Riley is, as usual, giving a very solid, underrated performance. I'm going to be sad to see he and Kris, the last two of a very strong student group, go. I know Elliot was there too but he came a little later and he's leaving soon as well. But Jess, Zoe, Kris, Zak, they were great together. I miss Jess and Zoe a lot. You'd think Michaela working at the paper would have been fun but I don't think it has gelled and her rival just annoys me, and the way they write Michaela's idea of journalism, like typing in RACIST DES TOWNSEND over and over, is baffling.

It looks like Eastenders got about 8.56 million for their first 25 minutes last night. For some reason the repeat on BBC3 got 1.58 million. I wonder why it was so much higher than normal.

So did Ed Bryce go from this to GL?

I think you both said everything I would have said! I actually enjoyed most of the episode, minus Heather (I was especially annoyed they were back to writing her as she was for most of 2008 and 2009). I think Santer would have done a more powerful reveal but then Santer is the one who took away all the story's momentum in the first place, so who knows. He just didn't seem to care that much about the Foxes. Everyone in this story has done a good job, generally, although Tiana has been better than she was today, and Jordan is the weak link. I still think most of them were fantastic today. Belinda O gave one of the best performances I've ever seen from her. Much better than I had expected. I really hope that this story isn't going to be written off as a disappointment or a failure by a lot of fans because this reveal episode wasn't bigger. I'm afraid it will be. I loved the stuff with the rounders, especially the fun sides of Max and Jack. I'm surprised at how much I like Jack these days. The stuff with Darren and Jodie was OK too, but Abi's crush is starting to go slightly wrong. I hope she's not going to go too far. Great to see Pat at the Vic (it's been years since she ever worked there, I wish it could last) and involved in the game.

Emmerdale is consistently good. I can't remember the last time I watched an episode and thought it stunk. The show does not have big thrilling moments, but they manage to churn out surprisingly good stuff six episodes a week. Cain and Ryan could have a very interesting relationship. I hope that this will happen. I would like to see Cain slowly take Ryan over to a darker side. They have some strange things in common. The man Cain knew as his father for much of his life died the same day as the man Ryan had barely ever known as his father. I really liked the scenes where Betty was so worried about Seth's body being dug up. The show is criticized for not using their older cast members but this was a good way to bring Betty and Alan into the story while still honoring Betty's history. I know. I don't care for a lot of calendars anyway, at least those with the "Let's have the men drenched in water and wax everything in sight", but they'd make a lot of money on beefcake shots of these guys...there's always a Full Monty story or something

Zorro Theme Song

I know what you mean. There don't seem to be any stories like that building up at the moment. Most of the stories building up now seem to be smaller in nature. What have you thought of the last few episodes? I think they've been pretty great. I wish sometimes the show had more of a WOW factor, but then, if they did, I'd probably complain then too. I do like the tight knit feel of the community, how so much affects everyone. Tying together Shadrach's death and Mark's death was a brilliant writing choice, and brought out more humanity in some characters, like Cain, than I've seen in ages. The understated, yet shocked look on his face when he heard Shadrach was dead, and then finally seeing him go over to the Dingles (he barely says a word to most of the Dingles now), and then the quiet nausea which crept over him when Sam said they'd found Mark's body. The scene with Ryan and Cain at the end of Wednesday's episode was chilling and sad. I do wish Faye was a bit less understated but she's always been like that. I don't dislike her but I laughed when Nathan threw her and annoying Katie out. I wish they hadn't written the two detectives as making all those quips -- they didn't do that before, this reminded me too much of Eastenders. Mark Charnock gets a lot of criticism for his acting but I thought he was very good in these last few episodes, his pain, and his fight with Zak, and his regret and quiet anger even after he was at the Woolpack with Rhona. I like the way they're still using the con on top of all this too, to show us Andy starting to go back over the edge. I just hope Victoria gets some reaction to this! David's cute little ass was the perfect comic relief, and Matthew W played that scene just right, he's such a great comedian.

Thanks. So that's why they brought Jerry back. I guess he wasn't around for long? Matt and Maggie don't sound like what I thought they were. For some reason I thought they were one of those couples like Mike and Nancy Karr who were generally together and loyal to each other, but it sounds like there were a number of breakups and some affairs.

Geez. I keep forgetting sometimes just how much of a wrecking ball the writers strike was to some shows in 1981...I don't think it was as bad in 1988, aside from AMC maybe. Did Althea have any major stories when Liz Hubbard returned? I guess I've mostly just seen synopses from when she was away but I barely ever read anything about her storylines. I guess I just wasn't paying enough attention.