DRW50

There are many ways they could write a believable backlash to Blaze being outed as there are so many different attacks female queer artists face - that they are lying for clout, that they stayed in the closet as long as they could for their own selfish gain, that they are taking the spotlight from "real" queer artists who don't have a big campaign behind them. Given our increased homophobic climate, if they wanted to say she was dropped after being outed, I wouldn't be that shocked, but the story is so muddled - are we meant to feel sorrier for her, or her mother? Blaze and Natalia just aren't compelling enough to base an entire storyline around. I imagine that's why the show brought characters like Sonny and Ava in, but it still isn't worth investing in.

They also have forms of government that make these moments easier for them. Sadly, in the US, the vocal "left" is heavily populated by Trump supporters and sympathizers. Many like Brie Brie, Cornel West, Jimmy Dore, Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, Jill Stein, etc. would gladly vote for Trump over any Democrat (and likely Bernie too).

Happy 49th. Some of the best soap moments of all time and some of the best actors. I'm grateful I got to watch those first 6 years on Soapnet.

Thanks for finding that @dc11786 ! Sorry if this was already mentioned, but was there any reason why the show didn't seem to get much if any coverage in SOD? (even Rituals got recaps, and IIRC some interviews) Is it the same reason Another Life got little coverage in SOD or Daytime TV - they weren't seen as fitting the proper criteria?

Carol is one of those characters I wish I could see much more of as it's difficult to get a read on her when she just pops up to be unpleasant at Frame Enterprises. In terms of her motivations and romantic relationships, at times she seems to be written more as a male character than the traditional female character on soaps. I wonder what plans Lemay would have had for her if Jeanne Lange had wanted to stay, as he singled her out as one of the cast members he was most upset to lose. Thanks for mentioning more of the Paley clips as I don't think I've watched those yet.

How long have EJ and Eric had the same hairstyle?

Thanks @Paul Raven that's a nice recommendation. (insert rant about what the loss of New York soaps has done)

@slick jones Thank you. I didn't know Jeryl Scott had been on GH. I thought she was great on Walking Dead in a very underwritten part. I was watching a Lights Out episode (The Veil) with a ton of speaking parts but only the main two actors were credited (Lee J Cobb and Arlene Francis). I always wonder if there are soap actors of the day, radio or TV, who are in those types of shows and I just don't know them.

Maureen and Maeve were almost too good - it was easy to underrate them. We were lucky to have them in daytime as long as we did, and especially lucky for the gems they were given in the late '80s and early/mid '90s.

Oh sorry - I thought you meant the last scenes they had together on the boat after Rachel saw Steve's ghost. The scenes at the memorial were also beautifully done.

That's very true. I do respect the efforts the show made for the anniversary compared to many soap anniversaries - there were certainly issues (the Gwen mess, and as much as my heart went out to Iris in spite of her many failings, I'm not sure Robert would have been so forgiving, even all those years later), but Alice's return was a big success. I wish they'd had her come back for the 30th too but I suppose the show had changed even more by that point.

Courtney was a very warm actress, but not in a gooey way, more in a very dignified way, like what you imagine royalty to be. I can't speak for her OLTL run as much, but you can always feel that in her AW work. It was especially striking to me when she came back one last time in 1989 as the show by then was populated by performers who were so different to her. She was almost ethereally vulnerable even as she was mature and restrained - those moments she had with Rachel were beautiful. I remember Lauralee Bell going on about how hard it is to play an ingenue or a "good" character. I'd generally agree with her. Recasting can work sometimes but in many cases it doesn't, especially when viewers have a special connection with a performer. That performer is what strings the character together for them. You have to have that poise and integrity to make the inner life of a long-suffering character work. There are some performers where I don't really love watching them that much, but I respect the obvious effort it took (like Lauren Marie Taylor and Noelle Beck on Loving).

Yes that was another one. Or maybe I am just mixing them up in my head. I think this is the version I remember with the extra guitars: Here's another one (it's not that bad):

@vetsoapfan @Mona Kane Croft Another Jacqueline Courtney scene (in her last weeks before her exit, presumably). A nice little family moment. Even here you can see Hugh Marlowe struggling with his lines a bit.

Thanks. I appreciate your memories. I'm glad you got to see all this while it was airing. I hope some turns up eventually. I'd love to see more of pre-saintly Brooke and more of early Mark too. He had such charisma.

Thanks @dc11786 there have been a number of Capitol videos on Youtube but rarely that high quality.

I don't know either. By the end it had gotten a bit creaky, and they kept experimenting (remember the "rock" version - not too far off this), but Rauch just having a bare bones opening for most of his run helped exemplify the hollowness of much of his vision.

I think that was Elissa Leeds, who had also been on GL and AW as Hope Bauer (I wonder if she ever tried to go back there) and How to Survive a Marriage. I wonder if Brooke and Erica interacted much before Brooke's redemption.

Thanks for your detailed response @Mona Kane Croft . Even if Harney was an adjustment (beyond the charisma issue, her voice is also so different - I wouldn't want her to just do an imitation, but it means a lot of the quiet authority is gone), I can see why fans might have tried to accept her. I appreciate getting the POV on Alice's stories as someone who actually saw them rather than just me reading synopses. The whole triangle with Angie/Willis/Alice does sound like it would be a slog to watch. I'm not sure how it played out but it's hard to imagine sitting through Angie degrading herself over Willis and pining over him for five years, with both actors recast no less. I wonder if they may have planned to pair her off permanently with Vince but the actor didn't work out. Thanks. Sam and Clarice could have been a fun interaction - maybe he could say she reminds him of his wife. I'm reminded of when Hal died on ATWT (years later admittedly) and they kept trying to force in humor by pointing out how many kids he had by different women.

It definitely comes across as a bit more along the lines of Shameless...fitting with soaps of that period.

Thanks as always @slick jones

Was there any mention of Sam when Ada died?

Happy birthday @mikeaw1978

@Ben @Forever8 @LondonScribe From the comment this is July 1, 2004.

This is why all the fallout from the debate has helped them so much. They now have cover for all their cheap shots and bile, from the press and from a number of Democrats and their donors. There's a constant drip, drip, drip, for a week now. I saw a hand-wringing piece about how Democrats in rural areas now blame Biden for their inevitable wipeout in November. Today several more big donors like Abigail Disney came out saying they wouldn't support Biden and suggesting Kamala Harris instead. Sanjay Gupta was on CNN calling for extensive cognitive tests of Biden (while paying lip service to Trump already passing those tests). And from what I've read, George Stephanopoulos is grilling Biden about the same "anonymous sources" and claims against his cognition. This is exactly what they were waiting for to get to repeat the 2016 Hillary playbook. "but her emails" is what people remember, but there were also months of gaslighting about her health. Dr. Drew's interview speculating to no end about Hillary is the exact same line that Gupta is using now about Biden. And it sucks up all the media conversation to where truly alarming stories, like Project 2025, go nowhere. Some would say, "Well that's why Biden should drop out," but even if he does, they will find narratives against Harris or whoever else, because they love Trump on a personal level and they love the money he printed for them. If we all have to pay the price - any price - they're fine with it. More than fine - they're overjoyed.