DRW50

The other has a lot of Sierra/Craig and Montega material too, although I know that had also been up. It would be nice if all of 1985 is available eventually.

Thanks. The same episode is up elsewhere with a different date (December 29th). I'm not sure which date is accurate.

Thanks as always for your hard work @slick jones

She does, yes. I remember a 1986 or 1987 episode with an amusing moment where they cut to her standing on the stage at the Mona Lisa in full evening wear immediately after she has finished singing offcamera. I imagine the fans who were tired of hearing Lyla warbling were pleased for the break. I'd forgotten until looking on IMDB that she also played the very tiresome Hannah Lafferty. I wonder what they would have done if Lyla had needed a temp recast around then.

To me Philip often had much more of an edge than Rick. I do think Rick suffered from being in Philip's shadow, and it seemed like they had no real idea what to do with the character for most of MOL's first run after they split him from Mindy (which seemed to be a popular pairing - I'm not sure why they went with Kurt instead, unless it was down to Kurt being hunkier). I can definitely see where a viewer of the period would have found the material disgusting. I think ATWT even had Dani calling Craig "Daddy," which means they weren't unaware (as GL may have been, just as I doubt OLTL's '96 writers knew Cassie used to babysit for Kevin), they just wanted people to get off on the perversion.

The quality isn't the best, but I couldn't find another version of this (may have missed it, sorry if so).

Thanks @Forever8

I stumbled on this interview from 2009 where a John Maczko says he appeared on ATWT (his character "kidnapped a kid"). His CV has him as "Masons man." Not sure if that means Derek or Niles Mason. MACZKO.com - John Maczko - Resumé A photo of how he looked around those days, presumably.

Another PSA that was new to me or I had forgotten.

Hadn't seen this before. A rarity (to me anyway), and all the more notable as CBS wouldn't have the show on much longer.

Joe Rogan, whom you may remember as being the very, very white whale of the Bernie cultists back in 2019 and 2020, has endorsed RFK Jr. My guess is he is going to backtrack on this before November, as it could hurt Trump given the affiliation of the few bros who are hooked on his podcast and shitty standup. Still, it tells you of what a weak position Trump is presently in that Rogan is even going here. https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/joe-rogan-endorses-rfk-jr-president-1236101220/

Today Jim Muneco uploaded a number of episodes from 1984, 1985, and 1988. Just posting the first.

I think Soapclassics put up one of her final episodes on their website as it was a wedding. It was around Christmas 1981. I don't think they were the couple getting married. I think she may have mentioned being with him or planning to marry him. For some reason I remember this conversation being with Tom, which made me all the sadder they never thought of bringing her back to see Tom again in later years. I think it was Rita's choice to leave so I assume they would have had more plans for Carol if she hadn't as they could have just written her out with so many others in 1980. I wonder how I would feel about Carol/Steve if I saw more of them (this and the episode where they were going to raise Annie's baby, or whatever that plot was, are it). I do prefer seeing Steve styled more maturely and with a woman closer to his age, unlike how juvenile and overwrought they wrote his relationship with Betsy. Rita brings a real sincerity to the part that makes her stand out from the sea of bland ingenues of that period. Jim Muneco put up an episode - it has been up before (I mainly remember because of the temp Lyla recast, and maybe the rarity of Scott's Craig with the wet look), so I won't tag, but I will @DramatistDreamer as it has some Craig/Sierra material. It was clever to have Craig, here in semi-reformed mode, forced back into selfish behavior rather than getting what we would often get in later years - having characters behave selfishly as the writing bends over backwards to tell us how wonderful and perfect they are. Trigger warning for anyone who like me has a limited patience for Lily weeping and wailing. Who is the actress at the end doing that cod Irish accent? They also uploaded another episode I am pretty sure was up before but hasn't been in a while. There are some fun scenes in this involving Lyla and the speaker system...

I can see where the inaccuracies would annoy you, especially as the info was probably available somewhere. You could say that his grandson called himself that to honor his grandfather, if you want to reach, I suppose. I was surprised to finally see a bit of that Rick (Phil McGregor - ? can't remember) when some early 1983 material was uploaded. He wasn't bad. You're right, they had no real interest in Rick. Probably down to Ed mostly having romantic stories with women who had no ties to Rick, while Philip had four parents on the show for a number of years. That's one of the reasons I didn't care as much about Blake/Rick sleeping together in terms of inappropriateness (I did think it was a very hacky writing choice), because even though they were meant to be raised as close, I don't know if I have ever seen them together in old clips.

The trans stuff is another example of his very online handlers telling him what to say even as he doesn't know how to say it. They are obsessed with mainstreaming transphobia, and paranoia over all the atrocities they insist are happening schools. That's why they keep bringing up tampons. This might work to a certain degree (you can see the increase in transphobia in polling and public life), but as shown in the '22 midterms, many voters just find it confusing. You're absolutely right. This is what the GOP always do. They push the media, already conservative, further and further to the right. That's what we have now with them pushing the media to demand Harris do extensive interviews with them, which is replacing any positive press about Harris because the media LOVES to center themselves and genuinely doesn't know why anyone wouldn't want to see them jerk off at all times. Meanwhile, Trump does the bare minimum, and the media ignores his ramblings and nonsense, instead doing the framing for him and making sure the main story is his agreeing to debates and asking her for more debates - similar to the NYT pushing his lies about a new tax cut proposal, they make sure he looks wonderful, and Harris is on the back foot. Another example of this type of framing (Politico of course did it too) There's no real way for Harris, or any Democrat, to cut through this garbage. The best they can do is hope voters don't fall for it. I would be very cautious about continuing to lean into meme culture, especially as dril is, IIRC, another of the dead end left who was raging about Democrats and Gaza. If he comes out trashing her after she quotes one of his overused memes, it's just more negative attention coming her way.

Rick was generally a character I liked but didn't have any real attachment to. I think he was hurt so much by a lack of family, but then if the Bauers had been in a stronger position they may have recast him anyway instead of bringing MOL back in 1995. I thought he worked well with Barbara Crampton, but she was on the way out the door.

I wonder how much longer it will be for Greg Rikaart. I liked Emily on Y&R but the amount of time spent on her at DAYS, with two very unpopular characters, is a great example of what has chased viewers away from soaps.

I know I already said this earlier but I do think he did a good job with Abby's exit, even if there were some odd choices made (didn't they have him do the entire thing shirtless...and did he sink to his knees or am I just making that up). And maybe when he found out Blake's son wasn't his, although I may just be thinking of Jerry. I wonder if Don Stewart also didn't want Mike to have any other kids.

I tend to agree, although I'm glad for Kadeem and Jasmine to get the work. Jasmine was recently so bullied online over her appearance she went to get cosmetic surgery, IIRC, which disgusted me. I do hope they will not have her just doing the old Whitley entirely all these years later. I would definitely enjoy seeing people like Kim, or even "Uncle Ron," popping in at times. A part of me thinks they missed their chance 10-15 years ago but certainly shows much less warranting of a revival have had them (like Murphy Brown - and I didn't even mind the Murphy Brown revival). At least it's happening while most of the cast is still with us so there's a chance for some of them to get a paycheck.

@slick jones Thanks. I was barely watching by then, but I did remember hearing of this and liking the idea (I wonder if they did it because of the very positive response the 70th episode received). @Mona Kane Croft The reason I mentioned it is because I was trying to figure out if the 2000 Meta speech was establishing Reverend Ruthledge as a fictional character she listened to (a wink at GL itself being a soap), or if he was a real person she listened to on the radio, or someone she knew, etc. So the later mention would lean more toward establishing Ruthledge as a canonical character. Ed did have two kids, and if Christina had stayed on the show I think the show likely would have treated her as Ed's daughter, but they did seem to avoid giving Mike another child for a long time. Maybe they thought of him as a hunky leading man and didn't want him to be tied down with kids. This seemed to be more of a mindset with soaps until later years where characters started having 3-4-5 children. Ed also only had one child until Michelle...around the same time Mike had been pushed off the canvas.

I have to admit I also take the "listen to" as her hearing him on the radio, but we are probably putting more thought into it than warranted. Didn't Josh meet a relative of his when he was briefly a minister? Or am I fancrufting?

Maybe the first time they've run this type of promo around the same time. The main problem with the Neighbours version right now is the story just is not involving. Most of the people involved aren't worth caring about.

I saw Mary Katharine Ham, another right wing sycophant (and often on Tapper's show), braying the same thing on Twitter (the hack who wrote a book whining about the left not being able to take a joke). It's pathetic. Some Democrats still get so skittish about even the word "weird" being used and talk about how centrist or right leaning voters will get upset. When you live in a world of wealth and connections, as they do, this is where you end up. Meanwhile, Trump can go around talking saying the vilest things and everyone is just meant to shrug and laugh.