DRW50

"Freshest mouth in town." They knew what they were doing.

Thanks. What a treat.

Thanks for your notes. Great insights. As I was skimming through I didn't even realize that was Julia - I suppose I didn't recognize Faith Ford with that haircut. I'm not sure what it was with AW in these years having women stalked for days before they were murdered (the same happened with Maisie). The scenes have the potential to be chilling but weren't very well-directed and just seem goofy. Another character who shouldn't have been killed off. Good catch about Laura's exit date. I suppose she would look heavy by Hollywood standards, which is why she's in a black blazer, but she looks beautiful to me, and to anyone who isn't a pig. Blaine was likely coming to an end as a character anyway, so Laura not getting to play out that last year or so is just a sour taste.

Thanks so much @SoapDope ! I believe this is still one of the few sightings we have of Patty Lotz as Ava. @slick jones that seems to be Dan Frazer as Wayne. Is it? I don't see it listed in any of his credits. Very good use of Jack - just stripping Perry Stephens down. Normally Dane bores me a bit but his scene here with Shana had some fire for once.

Thanks.

It's become more and more of a concern for the left in the UK in recent years, at least from what I've seen online. They had to move further to the right in part because they were under threat of drastic cuts from Tory governments for such a long time. Criticism of the direction of Question Time and anything involving Laura Kuenssberg were probably top of the list. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Kuenssberg#Accusations_of_bias As for being accused of being leftist, I feel like the right accuses any organization of that because the organizations get defensive and cater to their whims. CNN would probably sacrifice most of their employees to a volcano to get Trump back in power, and they are still called Clinton/Communist News Network.

I understand why Kate Mansi feels the need to defend herself, but actors just need to stay off social media unless it's curated photos of themselves on Instagram with the comments shut down. I do understand why people feel offended how this story was handled but it's not a great idea to trust a soap on this topic. I'm also way of the idea of Kristina being "turned straight," although I wouldn't be surprised if the show just puts her with men from now on.

I never have understood some of the choices in this period of the young cast they let go, which meant they just had to end up relying on a few actors (and Tom Eplin is the only one who had a long run). Perry was another one, although I wouldn't be surprised if they felt he was not straight-presenting enough. With Ben they even brought on his whole family, which just makes it even stranger. I wonder if he even knows his mother isn't dead. If I ever write any AW fics I suppose there's all kinds of material to dive into.

Thanks for letting us know @I Am A Swede

Given the rightward leaning of the BBC I shouldn't even surprised that they too are pushing the "new Trump approach" laundering pieces. Astonishing how barely the bare minimum for him is seen as a smart new strategy, and of course time spent pushing the talking point about Harris not doing interviews so that means Trump gets to define her. The media will do anything to help this man win. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg3pp79wjxo

@mikeaw1978 Not sure if anything from this episode was already available or not. I wonder if they made a mistake writing Ben out for good - not sure if he was ever even mentioned in later years. New writers may just not have even known he existed.

Trump has several advantages. - The press just adores him as he will always chatter with them, he gives them palace intrigue, he gives them the chance to cosplay as crusaders, and he gives them ratings and book deals (even if that hasn't been as true this year). - He has 40 years of press coverage and a popular TV show (for a few years anyway) selling him as a smart and tough businessman and an alpha male. - Trump's bigotry and incoherence are seen as just Trump being Trump. It makes him "funny" and "real." I notice more and more people, including those who love to describe themselves as noble socialist and communist heroes who think of the welfare of all, seem more than happy to throw out racial slurs, ableist slurs, misogyny, homophobia, under the guise of being "real." You can also see that in the reaction many Palestine advocates have had lately to black Democrats pushing back against them, including calling all black Democrats "colonizers." In terms of bigotry and hatred, in many ways this is Trump's country and that is only increasing by the year. I was reading a Dave Weigel tweet earlier and he reminded people that this is actually a better period for Trump in terms of polling than at this time in 2016 and 2020 (and that's if we hope that he does not outperform polling again this year). Even as he just sputters and has visibly decayed, he still has a strong following and could easily still win. It makes me sick, but so many continue to either deify him or ignore their qualms because they are greedy hatemongers.

Thanks. I couldn't remember if it was her or Potter.

I remember after he passed away there were some indications of that (I think there was a story claiming at his home he put a photo of someone he disliked in the toilet so that's what you saw when you opened it up...), but he was generally more discreet in the press. I'm shocked he was so crass about Hulswit, especially given his popularity with fans. The show also did not try very hard to make Ed some sort of sex god (Marland immediately put him in a long term relationship). It was actually Hulswit who had more love with the ladies (at one point Rita, Holly, and Lainie Marler all had some type of feelings for him). Anyway...this is only a partial episode.

I was put off, if not surprised, that the "K-File" guy who writes those stories made sure to initially only tweet framing that paints him as a liar and not to mention until a tweet or two later that he was in honest in 2018. I think CNN is or was also trying to find their own version of a Jeremiah Wright moment for him.

You're right. Even here they are straining to explain why Elizabeth isn't around, or Philip. There was so much potential with Philip's parentage that the Dobsons set up and nothing was ever done with it, unless you count the pointless return of Justin in the late '80s.

He is a sick man going all the way back to what he got up to during the first campaign. I'm not surprised Trump is nostalgic for 2016 and believes he can repeat that success with another woman running against him and a media who love him and need to have him in power. The very tight polls being another bonus for him. I've noticed them (especially CNN) tripling down on any negative story they can find about Walz (the latest is about his DWI). The positive of that is it means there's still less to focus on negatively about Harris. I'm also seeing that the Daily Mail is posting "relatable" photos of JD Vance goofing off in college and high school to try to endear him to people. Nevada is an odd state in terms of polling. They often undercount Democrats. I don't believe Rosen is that high up but if Harris squeezes out a victory, I could believe it.

If it gets more people to somehow search out that episode I'll be glad.

Watching the July 1982 episode and I am as is often the case with the Carrie story extremely impressed by Jane Elliot's work but left unsure as to why Marland thought it could go on for much longer. I'm glad to get to see the reveal of her third personality. I had to laugh at Josh going around in his sunglasses. I can't remember if this is before or after he got a shitkicking from Kelly. I think it's before. Around the same time Vanessa would also go around in sunglasses to show us she like him was bad to the bone. The scene where Vanessa drops her act and is so upset to learn about Jackie is an early reminder of what she could be and also of the strong connection between Maeve and Jerry. A real contrast to the frivolous, tedious material with Vanessa as spoiler to Hilary/Tony. I love the idea of wicked Vanessa being draped in layers of cream-colored clothes, even if she looks like she is on her way to a Sunday service. The scene with Tony and Bea is a pleasant change of pace, but otherwise the character remains the same boring/off-putting presence for me, especially in an episode with such emotional content elsewhere. I can't complain about multiple scenes of him wandering around shirtless, but that's about all he has going for him. Quint and Nola were barely in the episode but they made sure to have them at the start and the end, I guess due to their popularity. This must have been around the time Lisa Brown was on Broadway. I love Lisa Brown but I'm never quite as into this pairing/story as I want to be. Ed and Maureen laughing and having fun was a nice surprise. Peter Simon did so well at somber Ed that I think people tend to forget he did have a few comic or warm moments. (and that scene would be in the opening credits soon enough) The scenes with Justin struggling to grieve for Jackie were the highlight, especially when Katie, with that very very very Marland-esque tone stamped to her forehead, pushes hard for him to be in touch with his feelings, and he tells her he has said the same thing to so many patients over the years. Tom O'Rourke was very strong. And as always I don't know why they got rid of him as he was still such a handsome man. When Katie started telling Philip it was OK to cry, I wanted to hear him say - who are you, lady? I guess he would have known her from being around Justin at the hospital, but she was being very overfamiliar. The little moment with Bert walking away after talking about Samantha growing up without a mother got me. I kept wondering if she was going to talk about what it was like when she lost her husband but Charita played that sense even if it wasn't in the script. I know they had written Philip out at this time for recasting, but I really wish they'd brought Jarod Ross back for the episode. Him learning offcamera didn't feel right.

Thanks for taking the time to compare both and show the differences. This is fascinating.

He began in early 1980 and left in summer 1982. He left early because of conflicts with the producer, Allen Potter, along with the firing of Jane Elliot and quick wrapup of her storyline, which upset him. He wasn't pushed out in favor of Pam Long. There were two headwriters or more in between them (Pat Falken Smith, L. Virginia Brown, etc.).

Jim Muneco has put up a bunch of episodes from January 1981 and a few from 82/83 that were among the DVD releases. And two from 1988 that weren't on DVD. @P.J. I can't remember if you were asking about the date for the Quola wedding but it was 6/24/83. This is probably the most interesting to me as it fits around a few of the 1982 episodes on Youtube and it's just interesting in general to see the end of Marland's GL run. I guess this could have been on the Philip DVD. I'm not sure.

It's very confusing to me when I learn of or remember these details. I saw someone on Twitter asking why Sam wasn't more supportive of Ava as she is her aunt. Did they ever have a relationship along those lines? (I know they are biologically related)

I think Sherry had already believably played Blake falling in love with Ross, but I would agree what they did with the character afterward wouldn't have suited her.

I just don't trust polling (and even if I did, a lot of it is super tight). I hope Harris wins, but there are a lot of Trump advantages that are going to be hard to beat even in his decrepit final form.