DRW50

Thanks. I remember the popcorn scene mostly from being on one of the old AWHP tapes - there was a caption on the site that mentioned them both being dead. You can see what different actresses Mary and Faith are - they don't quite gel. I like Faith Ford, but she was too perky to be a Matthews (so was Alexandra Wilson as Josie). Seeing Julia talk about how she envied Liz over being in glamorous New York was a nice break from all the cosmopolitan characters on the canvas in the '70s and '80s.

Fall 1996, I think.

I enjoyed those credits, although I liked the later credits too with the hands enjoined at the end and voices saying, "I love you." I still think Ellen Wheeler used that for some of the last GL openings. Sisters, in their early seasons, often managed to have more heart in the whimsical moments than other shows of the era, especially Picket Fences. I was never that fond of Falconer either. George Clooney has always bored me to tears in dramatic roles. Mitch was a more likeable character and fit in better, even if they had run out of story for him. Adding the affair storyline on top of the false memories plot was what disgusted me the most. It felt like a trashy USA movie.

I think most of the Locher Rooms I've watched with ATWT have had Melanie. She's a very compelling presence. Locher seems to have a long relationship with her so doesn't go over her too much.

North Carolina is always just out of range, aside from 2008, so I have a feeling we'll end up back there. Sometimes I wonder if they should put money elsewhere but when it's that close I can see why they are torn. Nevada is the one where I am most torn because it was stubbornly against Biden for months of polling and is difficult to poll. Maybe they just needed fresh blood (and as much as efforts will be made to tie Harris to Biden's record, she is seen as fresh blood in many ways). I hope so. Some of the media and the GOP have been trying to turn the Arlington PR stunt gone wrong (the tiktok they made of it is stomach-churning - for the sake of any hope I have for this country's future I hope it isn't effective) around on Harris, even though she has said nothing about the matter. This may be the most blatant example yet. I would rarely suggest you watch the Ozempic king in action (and if you don't have Twitter you probably can't anyway) but you can see here just how much he is consumed by hatred and misogyny, and clearly rattled at just what a bad position he is in (especially now that he is fourth or fifth in his own campaign structure below Trump, the Trump family, the whale decapitator and Cruella).

After being dormant or uploading months behind, the Neighbours Youtube channel has started throwing clips up much more quickly. Now that they are mostly caught up to new episodes, they've started putting up some of their social media material. I hope some of the interviews or the weekly Haz spoiler gossips might show up at some point (those were better use of Haz than his scripts often were). Here's the first of a number of recaps they did with Paul. And this is the Toadie pop a squat scene that makes me cringe any time I think of it (which is, sadly, too often).

I have half-memories of that character (Trey). I do remember Joe Jr, unfortunately not for very good reasons. Ron burnt through so much story compared to his successors. That could be, especially if they thought GH was going to be canceled soon.

I am half surprised Frank or Ron never tried to get any of the Ford actors on GH (or did they and I just missed it).

I genuinely liked Lawson on OLTL and felt the character got a raw deal for many reasons. Kelly did nothing for me on OLTL, although I've been pleasantly surprised by what I've seen of him on GH this year (I haven't watched a lot of his earlier stuff where he was, I guess, meant to be a quasi-bad boy).

Tomorrow.

Thanks @jam6242 . Can't imagine facing that type of double blow (especially as I still don't get why they even wrote her off GL). No wonder she didn't do a lot afterward.

All great ideas.

I wonder how long Ross kept that office. It's nice to see more of these friendly Vanessa/Ross scenes. I wonder if the show was already setting up the Dinah story by this point. Not sure if I love or hate Roxie's coat.

NYT is at it again (they later deleted the "progressive" part).

Rick Hearst has always been a mix of smarm and sincerity, and none of the soaps ever knew what to do with this balance. The show did keep him around in some form for a number of years, in spite of all he did (and not being a fan of Sonny/Carly/Jason), but then Frank and Ron had no real interest. I had assumed we'd never see the character again. At least Heart is really putting in the work while he's there. I wonder if some of the people who were sandbagging Mulcahey are trying harder now, especially as the show's future is probably on the line. It helps that some of the worst stories set up under his run have been wrapped up and they're allowing for more emotional material and giving scenes to talented actors who can actually do something when given the chance. Sometimes I forget that GH does have a lot of talented actors onboard. Of course, these stories may have been set up by Mulcahey, and the bottom will drop out within a few weeks or months.

There is a sect of very right wing Catholicism that you often get with converts in recent years - I don't mean just your average person converting, but the circles of the rich and powerful. Many of them are attached to Peter Thiel. The Red Scare (the nasty podcast by two women who mainly spew all kinds of right wing hate and tradwife talking points)/Dimes Square circuit is in the same vein. https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/j-d-vances-radical-religion https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/08/jd-vance-post-liberal-catholics-thiel/679388/ What Peter Thiel, J.D. Vance, and Others Are Learning From Curtis Yarvin and the New Right | Vanity Fair https://ravenewworld.substack.com/p/the-grimes-red-scare-debate-was-a That's such a short clip (from a right wing account), but I wouldn't be surprised if it's true. There was a great deal of hostility toward Harris and I don't think she has defined herself, which is one of the reasons I was anxious about her being the candidate (she's certainly done well so far). With that said, Don Lemon has always been hollowed out, just switching personality and viewpoint depending on the political winds of the time. There's a lot of money out there to promote the line about how much black voters love Trump. And Trump did improve his performance in 2020, with a strong chance of doing that again this year, so he has all the more incentive to push that line. He looks completely exhausted. I guess similar to former BFF-for-the-cameras Chris Cuomo, selling your soul over and over has consequences. He is apparently so exhausted he forgot what battleground states are. Indiana, Illinois, New Jersey and Ohio are not battleground states.

Joking aside, after the depressing, miserable exit Fiona had on OLTL, I wonder how Frank feels about her... (I guess he did bring her back for a cameo or two) I do remember the abortion story getting some praise, but sadly I don't think that's what the show wanted from her given the hard pivot into mini-Carly. And that seems to be who Tracy misses. I guess the idea was meant to be she was a mini-Luke, whatever Luke was meant to be in those last decades.

I take it as they are facing budget cuts so Frank finally got to do something he's wanted to do for years. He might have said - OK ABC, you're making me fire my friends Howarth and Easton, so I'm doing this too.

Another longtime media darling, Ben Sasse, who may be best known for laughing when Bill Maher dropped the n-word on his show. More Trump ugliness which everyone will shrug off or paint as "based." This is the line of most of the alt right and those weird convert Catholic sects. Much of the time they also bemoan that more white people aren't having children. He can't say that part, yet, but once he dumps his hatemonger wife for a white version and writes off his non-white kids, he will soon parrot the same.

This is a great example of just why the last P&G soaps (especially ATWT) were gutted to try to be ABC-like. The narrative was how hip, fun and fresh ABC soaps were, and how the other soaps were dinosaurs.

Given that Valentini's era is the one that watered Lulu down so much it's interesting to see them addressing and trying to give explanations. I wonder if Korte wants to return Lulu to being a mini-Carly, as she was under smugbot JMB's era. I notice the only clips of her that ever get interest are when she's verbally or physically abusing other women. I don't know why that is a legacy to return to, but it just reminds me of what a worthless character Lulu has always been and likely always will be.

Thanks @jam6242

He only played Alex for a year and a half or so, maybe two. I think he had a Youtube channel for his standup work. I asked once about his being on Loving but there was no response. I agree about the recast issues, although James Horan is my favorite of the Clays. Any time I see Dane it feels like his stories were left unfinished and he is just there to move the plot along. I do like seeing Anthony in a role outside of overused James. This is right after James was at his most repulsive (Marland really threw him all the way under the bus at the end) - openly abusive and racist and planning to likely brutally murder Emily - so I appreciate the lower key. I agree about Jack and Stacey. I know they did have some fans - one fan put up a compilation of many of their scenes that is still around - but they don't do anything for me. Not that it ever would have happened, but I would have enjoyed a secret gay affair storyline with Jack. A passionate feud at Alden Enterprises as Stacey sits at home with their son wondering what has become of her life.

Isn't Jagger leaving anyway? I still would have gone ahead with the likely plans to write out Ava. Maura West is much more dynamic than some on the show, but the character has no real purpose anymore - if she ever did. You could argue the same for Nina. Of course, this is what happens when you have so many spent characters played by actors who don't care - you can't really argue to get rid of Ava or Nina when the actors are trying so hard when the likes of Sonny and Jason and Michael and so on are there. I have warmed to Cody in what I've seen of him in recent times, but I wouldn't be too surprised if he's gone this year or next year, if they are going into a lower budget. Sasha as well. Dex and Gio would be no loss, although Frank will probably keep trying with Dex. Joss should also go with them but being Carly's daughter will probably save her in spite of a lack of any real purpose or fan support. I would guess most of the black characters will also be written out over the next year, and the show may just keep Jordan on as token rep.