DRW50

Those credits are from 1978 (I'm guessing, based on Rebecca Hollen's name being in them). In some of the early appearances of Brad I wondered if they might have paired him with Lisa, but I guess he was only using her. A Brad/Lisa pairing might have been interesting under other circumstances, as it didn't seem like they knew what to do with Lisa (the Whit pairing could have been a boon but the casting was poor). I am surprised they never tried an older woman/younger man pairing with Lisa. They seemed to hint she had feelings for Cal Randolph, but that never went anywhere. And then when they bring Rick back months after Melinda's death, they do nothing of merit with him either. I wonder if they ever had any plans for Melinda to make a play for Dan, or to be involved with John. By just having her involved with the dull partners of Dee or Annie they didn't ever capitalize on her relationship with Kim. Or they could have had her get involved with Eric while he was dating Betsy. Similar to bringing in Valerie with ties to Kim, and not really doing anything with those, it's a sign of how adrift the writing had become. Reminds me of the last years of the show when they brought in an egg baby for Emily and just had him as a killer, or whatever they did with him.

I skimmed through a few - you're right, nothing that special, although it's not awful. The most interesting part, maybe reflecting where it is made, is them redoing the '80s Steven story. If it had lasted longer, I wonder if he would have gone back to men too.

At about 3 minutes Esther Shapiro gives a statement about her new film, Living the Life, written with her sister-in-law. This was her last project. City of San Antonio City Council Meeting - Living the Life (1999) (texasarchive.org) Living the Life (2000) - IMDb Looking at her credits also takes me to this - can't remember if it was ever talked about here or not, or if any of it is worth sitting through. (she had no involvement - just got a credit based on Dynasty) You can see looking through the episode guide that they just adapted the first two seasons of the original show, not the CW version. Dinastija (TV Series 2021–2022) - IMDb

I agree - the usual cheap sets would have made me feel nothing. Having real locations gives more of a gut punch. I didn't think he was bad in the scene where he woke up from his nightmare, but overall...yeah.

These may have already been posted via other outlets, but just in case they haven't: The Tyrrell Historical Library Collection - PM Magazine Episode (1981) (texasarchive.org) The Tyrrell Historical Library Collection - On the Set of Dallas (1980) (texasarchive.org) https://texasarchive.org/2011_02110 https://texasarchive.org/2011_02108

All they showed was Brad finding her hair ribbon. The body was found offcamera. I think she didn't because she was so drunk and it happened very quickly.

Nice to see some reaction from Barbara. I don't think I've ever seen them in a scene together. I can't help thinking of the alleged reasons for why Munker left (she wanted to get away from the Zenk and Jacqueline Schultz feud). I don't know if Munker has made any comments on these videos - she commented quite a bit on the AW videos. That may tell us how she feels about her ATWT time. Annie and Brad, grieving through plaid. The AI-shaped (?) closing credits lifted from 1978 are interesting.

Thanks for the article. Dixie and Annie were masterful at getting all they could out of that scenario - you'd think Hal Holbrook had been shot by CBS.

I think there are three issues. - how much are polls undercounting Trump support? (based on 2016 and 2020, probably a good amount) - how many "undecided" voters or RFK Jr voters are actually Trump voters (I'd say a good amount) - how successful will the media be at doing what they did in 2016 and turning the race into being about his opponent rather than him? They did this very successfully with Biden. They are now doing the same by zeroing in on any negative they can find with Walz and endlessly hyperventilating on Harris not doing enough press, while whitewashing and praising Trump at every turn. I think he still has an advantage, but at least there is a path for Harris, if enough voters have any sense and voter suppression doesn't carry the day.

NYT doing cleanup duty again. The "reporter" who wrote this did the same on a recent bizarre interview or rally with him.

I can see why people would feel that way. Her work was genuinely good and she finally chose a good reel for herself, but the optics weren't great. Sorry, I know this is way off topic now so I'll stop.

Yes. She made no secret of how much she didn't want to return. Unfortunately, her performances in roles she did seem to really want to play weren't a lot better. But she has her moments.

I think the biggest problems with Rick started in the late '90s/early '00s, which was also when MEK fell off (to be honest I am not a huge MEK fan anyway, although to his credit he has looked much healthier in recent years so more power to him). I can't see Susan in that part at all.

The writing did make Laura a much more reserved character, but I wonder how much is down to Genie Francis losing most of the spark she had when she was first on the show. That can happen with younger performers as they get older. Even by the time of her AMC work she feels colorless to me.

I think he would have been too smarmy, but you never know.

I would agree. Brainard also played a slightly similar character on Santa Barbara, so that's why I named him, but the problem was more the writing and the lack of interest in the characters. By the last years the show only wanted to write for edgy men, even as they had no idea how to write for those men, ending in a bizarre and offputting hybrid (like Jeffrey) along with various psycho or borderline psycho men who often didn't last long (unless they were played by Tom Pelphrey).

Always nice to see Rachel Dratch get work. Two of the current cast members also did an impression. One I enjoyed. One I did not (the one I liked was the second).

A Martinez turned down a role, I think.

Oh for some reason I thought he was in college. Maybe just mixing up as Todd McKee was older than the character. Thanks.

As someone in the comments says, was Sophia even around when Ted went to college? Was that just bad continuity? How do you mess that up given how important her absence was to the backstory? The gesture of Ted passing the torch (or his car keys) to Greg is funny when you remember Greg wouldn't last much longer and would never be mentioned after he left. I'm still half-surprised they remembered Ted after this.

Most of the worst aspects of Rick after he returned in 1995 I'd put down to direction and writing more than anything else, but if I had to choose, I think someone like Michael Brainard might have worked.

Very true. I think he'd only been on AMC a few months when he got that interview. Sometimes I forget how popular he was initially before the character became unbearable.

I didn't love that story but it was definitely a shocking, powerful moment, which helped keep GL's 1997 momentum going. Amy Ecklund was a very underrated actress. She was on paper just cast in a token part but always made Abby seem genuine. They just stopped writing for her, aside from a few moments like the cochlear implant story, because she wasn't intended as one of the leading ladies. I also liked her and Rick a lot as a couple until the show lost interest in them. @Mitch64's idea of a Rick/Bridget pairing is interesting. It could have worked, especially as I think Melissa Hayden would have been a good balance to MOL. Regarding Matt/Vanessa, I completely agree with you that the pairing made more sense when Matt was written with a personality and motivations. By 1996 or so they just stopped writing for Matt entirely as a character. I'm also aware many did love the pairing, and I respect that. Most of my criticism of that period is down to the writing for Vanessa, which wasn't Matt's fault.

Yes. I just thought it was an awful story. Given that Roger had behaved horribly I wasn't rooting for him, but I resented the choices made with the character to get him to that story, including having him rape Dinah. It felt like a major regression all for the sake of having her sleep with his son. The caliber of an actor like Zaslow being stuck in that story...and knowing it would end up being his last storyline. Beaty was certainly a much better actor, but to me that might have been like casting Tim Gibbs as Kevin Buchanan on OLTL - adding so much intensity to a part that didn't need it. The only Ed where I really noticed a blonde look was probably the weakest (Richard Van Vleet), but I do see what you mean. They cast a brunette Rick before MOL too. The main problem with Aleksander as Rick is that Rick hadn't had the dramatic life Philip had had. Even though Jared Ross' Philip was quieter, there was a lot of story for Philip to be darker as he grew up. I think Rick worked as the lighter contrast. It's just that as he got older the show lost sight of how to write for him and they veered into pathetic. I remember MOL telling a story of when they went to Universal for the Lucy and Alan-Michael wedding, and I think he said the director asked him to dance with himself, while all the couples were dancing, and he thought it was [!@#$%^&*] pathetic. And it was.