DRW50

Someone else will know better than I do but I think people mentioned some social media posts from him after leaving, or maybe a speech. I know some fans felt that was forced on them to try to fit more into what DAYS had become, but I'm not sure.

I wonder if Jamey Giddens will leave with Ron.

So did I. This type of move is sometimes what happens when a show is near the end, but still, we've been hearing DAYS was near the end since about 2007. Even if it is the end, and even as I am not going to put any expectations on them (other than remembering that Paula's co-HW run in the early '00s got some fan praise) I'm glad they will have writers who care more for the show and not winking, nodding, stale camp, and Twitter beef. Learning that the only writer who had a longer run at the top was Bill Bell makes me envision Bill somewhere up there making moves. (admittedly if he was he would probably be more focused on Y&R...) I can't believe we'll be seeing this stuff until April 2025. You could go around the world more than once in that time.

I think he's more likely to revive Dante's Cove than be on The Gates. GH, on the other hand - I wouldn't be shocked, although he left with very bad blood. Anyway, spare a thought for Greg Rikaart, and when you're done:

Thanks again! @Vee @Bright Eyes @slick jones @Paul Raven @depboy @FrenchFan @Khan @dc11786 @jam6242 @vetsoapfan

I don't think these donors are wrong if they believe Biden and Kamala can't win. It's just that, as she said, they waited too long. I could imagine Carville in particular assuming they can airlift in some smooth talker a la Bill Clinton. If they can find one, good luck to them. I'm not sure how much of a negative effect the speech tonight will have. Some press have pointed out the same old same old quality, but then you also have hacks like Van Jones comparing the convention to 2008 with Obama. And I am not even sure the members of the public who are deciding the election even wanted a new Trump - that was more the Beltway that have spent a decade trying to make him into their special project done right, all grown up. Too many of the public are fine with Trump as he is, especially since they are adept at contorting themselves into just making him what they want him to be. After all the time Tim Alberta spent gushing over Mitt Romney (and Paul Ryan, but especially Mitt), it's refreshing to see him pointing out just how lackluster Vance and Trump were.

This would probably lead to Kamala being the nominee, so I'm not sure. I do hope this lights a fire under Biden, but unfortunately any time he has another interview or we have another debate, the problem resets. However fired up he may be over the war in his party, it doesn't really do anything to help with what he's been losing with the average voter. Still, I can't see anyone else winning either, so I guess the best case scenario may be him staying on and hoping for a miracle...and also hoping all those donors and people in the party who have thrown in the towel will at least try to help down ballot candidates.

Thanks. That would have been interesting.

I wonder what her ideas would have been.

I didn't get into soap magazines for the most part until the mid '90s, and it didn't take long to realize just what superior quality SPW was in every way. I do think that by the late '90s, Marlena, Mimi Torchin, etc. had probably said everything they had left to say (Torchin in particular spent more column time writing about her favorite movies and primetime shows), but Marlena could still give some great material - I remember a column tearing JFP's OLTL apart which meant something because she had often praised and defended JFP's work. Ditto for panning Guza's GH around 1999 or so. It's unfortunate the magazine was completely gutted around this point - you could tell SPW up to that point had a lot of respect for its readers. Afterward the whole thing was extremely generic and hard to believe it was the same magazine that had detailed articles on canceled soaps, painstakingly tracked down dozens of soap actors for a where are they now feature, had the greatest moments in soap history issue that taught me so much about moments I never would have known otherwise, etc. Frankly, I'm surprised SPW managed to scrape through another decade.

That's beautiful. Glad some part of the show lives on forever.

Thanks! And thanks for all your recaps.

I think it's Biden's general demeanor along with his age that concerns them - either that or they were just waiting for a chance because of his poll numbers. Or it might just be down to his being POTUS. Dianne Feinstein was almost completely gone in her last years, reportedly, but she wasn't POTUS so they had more loyalty.

Apparently so, yes. Thanks. I don't know very much about these early stories, beyond the basics with Steve and Jessie and Phil.

That's a great point. I was almost going to complain about this until I remembered the 30 minute aspect, which is much harder. I imagine there must have been a number of 15 minute soaps that had just one person talking but this must be the first we've seen. I didn't even know this was Mitchell Dru so thanks for pointing it out. The most I've seen of him. I guess even though Irna moved him to all the soaps TBD must have been his most prominent until AW.

And this worked when the cast they brought in for the refresh was strong enough. When it didn't work (the people brought in around 1999/2000) the show paid the price.

I wonder how much Anne suffered from the loss of Judith Barcroft. I know she wasn't the first Anne but she seems to have been the one who registered. They could have tried to just write Anne out rather than kill her off, but then considering Paul Martin wasn't killed but still barely ever came back, it might not have mattered. I wonder if they killed her off to try to show viewers they were turning the page into a new era, the era of Cliff, Nina, etc.

Certain disgraced media figures (and even if he has been welcomed back Mark Halperin will always be disgraced) are going hog-wild with conspiracies. Andrew Bates is one of Biden's spokespeople. This type of stuff is just going to make him more determined to stay in the race.

I know there is more GH out there than other soaps of this era but still any time I see something new it's a surprise and a treat. We certainly need those these days. Thanks again to @MissPalmer for alerting us.

This is the episode that was on the Facebook page.

Thanks. So it definitely wasn't the pilot.

Going through this Youtube account (which I mostly just knew for the 1974 AW) they have an episode I don't think I've seen before or if I have, I don't really remember it. I find soap trials tedious but there are some fun touches in this (like the defense attorney with a prop door and knife - David Kelley eat your heart out!). @FrenchFan @soapfan770 @slick jones @vetsoapfan @Paul Raven @danfling @Mona Kane Croft @Vee @Khan @dc11786 @ZoeTate @jam6242

Thanks! I just looked on Youtube and a channel mentions this as January 1963. Someone in the comments said the date is accurate because it was the pilot. Does anyone know for sure? @Paul Raven @Vee @BetterForgotten @dc11786 @slick jones @vetsoapfan @FrenchFan @jam6242

Sorry, I meant if Obama of 2008 tried to run today. I think the country has become even uglier than it was at that time. I would never expect him to run again even if he was legally able, after what he and his family had to go through. It's difficult with Kamala because she isn't as hated but also doesn't seem to have the support Hillary had. In an ideal world she could win. I felt like those plans were in the works if 2022 had gone another way, but the people who want him out now should have been more vocal at the time, yes. They seemed to just give up. I think many were either assuming Trump wouldn't get back in (bad idea) or were fine with Biden running and losing so they wouldn't have to face Trump themselves. Only lately has something - bad poll numbers for them rather than just him, it seems - shaken them up. But they need to ask themselves how many of the voters they do have left might be demoralized if they push Biden out. All of this is just a mess and makes me wonder who is even in charge. I don't want the party to be run by thugs and sociopaths craving power at all costs, like the GOP, but we shouldn't have gotten to this point. Whispers and nudges aren't enough.

This country is so racist and sexist, I just struggle to ever see her winning. I don't even know if Obama would win in today's America. She is certainly someone I'd be happy to vote for, I think she'd make a good President, but I don't see it happening. She has had a constant barrage of hate and mockery for years and that will quickly fill the media for those who still don't know who she is (as many don't ever know who the VP is). I tend to wonder how many who are pushing Biden out are in a dream because they live in places like California, where memories of the Tom Bradley loss are presumably far away. I wonder if all those in Congress who are talking about the harm downballot realize how many in their districts and states are too bigoted and misogynist to ever support Harris. If Biden had had more public support before the debate, then I don't think it would be such a crisis for some in the party, but the bottom fell out around 2021 and many were already willing to dump him if the midterms hadn't gone as well as they did. They seemed to be willing to grit their teeth until the debate. And some still are. Some others do genuinely support him. But those who never did are now, much too late, trying to finally speak up. I don't know if his team, or whoever else in the party is with them, still fully understands the pressures or consequences. I saw Politico was claiming that Hillary Scholten, after saying Biden should go, was briefly removed from a Biden campaign and state party effort to elect candidates. Some were cheering this, but she's in a district and a state that there's a very strong chance Biden will lose, so I don't blame her for trying to save herself (it bothers me more when people are nasty about it, like Julian Castro was in the debates). That they didn't see this and instead just created more bad blood for themselves in the party doesn't seem great. It's a very hellish choice because I think Biden could keep it close, which I can't say for Harris or Gavin Newsom or other potential candidates, but the Biden in debates, or interviews, or struggling to get in a car, is the image people seem likely to remember, and the one repeated back to them every hour of every day. And I don't know if that can be overcome, especially with some of the people around him.