DRW50

Gay men are often more punishing toward queer issues in the industry than anyone else. At least this time no one went to the press to smear the actors involved, unlike what happened with Kish. I think Brennan hanging around is down to the show just trying to latch onto any charismatic or somewhat well-received white man, especially if he has any chemistry with Laura Wright. The show is in a very odd place with the characters they love most (Jason, Carly, Sonny) because none of them have pairings which are popular with both the powers that be and viewers. Sonny/Nina, Liz/Jason, Sam/Jason are all no-gos for TPTB, but nothing the show is trying to put feelers out for is going anywhere with viewers. Honestly the Anna stuff with Sonny was a non-starter to me anyway. Sonny is always forgiven. Mulcahey followed that line the last time he wrote for the show and I imagine the same would have happened here, with the excuse of his meds being tampered with. I just got the sense Ava was being boxed in, with most of her relationships (what was left of them) being minimized or destroyed, and if the show was cutting longtime characters/actors due to budget, I think Ava (who has never really worked or made sense to me as a character beyond Maura West being a charismatic figure - but admittedly I am nowhere near a regular watcher) would have been an easy choice.

It's going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for either of them to beat Trump, given his advantages. The main difference may be downballot. The downballot effects are what pushed them to want Biden out. If it ends up being a bloodbath in November, then they were wrong, but I can understand their reasons (I'm just sorry it got so ugly, especially that George Clooney op-ed).

One of the best. It's a shame many just know her for The Notebook but at least they know her. Her work remains fresh, which isn't the case for a number of performers of her era who got more notice. Gloria is mostly just a very entertaining B-movie, but she's such a life force in it. https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/true-to-life-an-interview-with-gena-rowlands

If Ron returns Blaze will be played by Emily O'Brien. I wonder if Kate Mansi wanted to have an f/f love story as part of her reason for joining - or maybe just a dynamic romance - and this was the lip service they gave her. I am not surprised they are ditching the lesbian in response to ratings erosion. That and sidelining the black characters remind just how much the show will still try to appeal to extreme conservatives. I can only imagine various writers have extremely different views of Ava and it bleeds onto the screen. I do wonder if Mulcahey was going to finally write her out (with a big long arc), plans that were dropped, but now we're back in a muddle with the character.

What I'm saying is the credits don't match the clip. The clip is from summer 1980. The credits are from sometime in 1978 (I'm guessing). I am not sure why they were put together in the clip. There were no interim writers between Marland and the Dobsons, IIRC. This was the Dobsons. I do think Chris and Nancy were being minimized by this point.

Maybe they can put ELR in a wig and have her play Blaze too?

I see your point, but Trump started unraveling again when he was at a peak in the campaign (the last night of the RNC). He's just decrepit, mentally and physically. He's a sick, broken man. He always gives in to his basest instincts and feels those are right, as he is always backed up by yes-men. I think we are disgusted by Trump, but I just don't know about voters as a whole, especially with the narrative constantly being pushed that he may be awful, but he gets things done, whereas Harris just avoids and rehashes, etc. Again, I think that's BS, but I don't trust the public to agree with me.

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).