DRW50

Thanks! What a grimy way for her to have to end her career as a maid. I know some fans enjoyed Colin but I just couldn't be bothered by that point. Thanks for such a detailed response. I really appreciate it. I didn't even know Sharon had a business...

Someone today asked me if Esther is still a maid. I assume she isn't, but I have not watched Y&R very much in a number of years (and years). (I know Esther barely appears anyway) Who lives in the Chancellor mansion now? Does anyone?

I think Schemering or someone said she did raise the ratings in that 86-87 stint but watching the onscreen material I have no idea why. I guess sleaze sells.

Maisie's murder (near the end of this episode). I don't think I'd ever seen it before. I wonder if this is the first time Maisie was ever dressed up. I notice this is much shorter than some of the later strangling - more like a Vulcan neck pinch. Maybe someone at the show decided they needed to go on more.

This reminds me - did your photo stop appearing in the closing credits when you were taken off contract but were still used? I thought I remembered still seeing them (or Roerick at least) in the closing credits for a while. Roerick still appeared fairly often until his death (he died very suddenly - a car crash). Gates rarely appeared those last few years. Looking at his Wiki I see that Roerick was good friends with EM Forster. I never knew that.

I think one episode is missing late in the run but that's all. It's all out on DVD. I'm not sure about full streaming. Amazon Prime has the episodes up to Barnabas' arrival.

What defines the show even more than the tired incestuous stories and characters is that it was born when LA and soaps had a certain glamour - that glamour mostly faded by the mid '90s, and Brad Bell kept the show juiced by tripling down on increasingly OTT plots. And those just don't click anymore, so you have no real foundation and no real future. But aside from that glamour, and a few icons like Susan Flannery and Darlene Conley, and some others further down the ladder that I appreciated when I used to watch [like KKL, Bobbie Eakes, Colleen Dion, etc.) I think B&B has also been one of the most generic of soaps. Due to this generic nature, I don't think it would take as much to improve the show as it would the other three soaps.

Semafor truly is a rag out of its time and place, trying to chase a '00s media market that it can't ever get back. That whole tweet is a huge self-own.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce551e71vl4o I always had such a respect for Marian Robinson, who, after already doing so much in her life to raise a family, had to be there for Michelle, Barack and for Sasha and Malia at a time of such immense racism and bile. I don't think a First Lady has ever faced the consistent level of abuse Michelle faced (and still faces to this day). I know she must be heartbroken right now.

I wonder if this will make them stop their campaign against Biden. Not counting on it. As for public reaction to the verdict, I am so used to the public being apathetic, but I hope they aren't this time. For all of our sakes.

I'm with you there (and fortunately as far as I know Heather doesn't share her opinions on social media).

For any clapperboard fans, you briefly get one at the start of this episode.

I think the biggest failure was being unable to sustain the momentum they were building up in 1983 and early 1984. I'm not sure about the ratings, but to me there was something that had the potential to be special in that time period, and afterward they never really get it back, even in periods that are generally decent (late '80s/early '90s).

I've gone on about this a lot to some people, but I do weep at what PBS has had to become compared to what they were in the '70s and '80s, and even to the '90s. And instead of the diversity, education and reality they provided, we are now just left with tiktok.

Thanks @slick jones . What a find.

At the end of this clip and start of the next, Johnny Carson comes up with some crazy sitcom ideas and tries to get the audience to laugh when he wants them to laugh.

Thanks for letting us know. I'd love if they ran Alive from Off Center.

That's the problem with this type of story. If I know it's going to basically be filed under the lengthy pile of "poor Ste suffers," stories, without having much other impact, I'm not going to care. I didn't have the enthusiasm to feel sorry for a racist/white nationalist. The choice to kill off Harry in part so we'd feel bad for Ste because they were about to reunite felt especially cheap to me, given the grimy origins of that relationship (rutting in Harry's classroom).

I couldn't get past that turning into yet another "poor Ste" storyline.

I remember watching these - those Xtra Normal videos were a craze at the time and the only thing you could do about Frons grinding ABC Daytime into the dust was laugh. Yours are great time capsules but also genuinely funny (like the Kathleen Tolan bit).

It's a savvy move for the show, as Chrishell seems to be much more in line with a potential new Neighbours audience than Mischa "I love the '00s" Barton (I say that having been fine with her run on the show). Neighbours has a lot of problems at present with its core which I hope they can address, but if you're going to do all the guest stars, she's one I can understand. Having "Yas" as a name reminds me of this Succession meme which is stuck in my head.

Thanks!

Thanks @slick jones . Always appreciate the articles and captures. Gene Peterson looks a lot like William Holden in that top cap.

Such a moving story. Thank you for sharing it. The power that soaps once had...

And we see what's happened to Red Lobster.