DRW50

Mark Damon Dead: Actor, 'Monster' Producer Was 91 (hollywoodreporter.com)

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/bob-ellison-dead-mary-tyler-moore-show-1235896638/

Susan Backlinie of JAWS fame passes away aged 77 — The Daily Jaws Susan Backlinie Dead: 'Jaws' First Victim Was 77 (hollywoodreporter.com)

That's nice. I know that you can't go home again, but Miner and Buffington were the ones with the history. You can't fake that. Danny as a Bauer and this being discovered early enough to put the kibosh on his relationship with Michelle would have been a relief.

I didn't really care about their pairing, but I didn't object to Bill and Beth, probably because I never saw Cosgrove as the Bill I cared about anyway. That's also why the attempt at pairing up Bill and dullard Nancy St. Alban did not mean anything to me - that wasn't the Bill or Michelle anyone needed to see together.

They also put up the episode after this one. Watching them both, it looks like they have been up before, but I still enjoyed seeing them again, especially all the buildup to "The Truth About Jennifer." Immersing in Marland's world again also reminds me of how much I took for granted the feeling of community and continuity that would be ripped away (yes, the variations on "where is Holden/I hope he's back soon" can be a bit repetitive at times, but the actors tend to make it seem fresh).

@slick jones Thanks. It's unfortunate how often soaps easily discarded longstanding servant characters. I don't know if Louise or Vivian ever got exits on AW. I'm glad Wai has done well for herself.

I didn't even realize Carolyn Hinsey was still around...and using a 20-25 year old publicity photo. Good for her, I guess.

Thanks. I'm glad to hear it. I see on her Wiki that it was just last year. So maybe she is not doing much.

They know they won't get away with it if they protest right wingers. I saw that there's a NYT article going around that is trying to shame or put a spotlight on HBCUs not being more involved in protests. They really are desperate to paint a narrative in the press of all students wanting to travel back to 1968.

I don't think Maeve has happy memories of her time at AW, but I'm not sure about the others. Wasn't Susan sick a few years ago? I hope she is doing better.

He has looked better everywhere than he did when he was on AW. I am not sure if he was just struggling then, or what happened.

I definitely think he would have made the show more compelling than what we got - I just don't think he would have been given much of a chance.

There were highlights in those final years, but ATWT lost its identity after 1995 and never found it again (GL had lost its identity in the early '80s). 1994 is bad and I don't really connect a ton with 1993 either but I do appreciate more now that those were still moments when the show remembered what it was and there was a chance of still being that show. One of the reasons I felt so betrayed by FMB is because she talked a good talk and I genuinely believed the show could improve again. Then Alyson Rice Taylor's firing in favor of an ABC pal, plus just how awful the material of that period was, reminded me you could never go home. I do wonder what might have been if Lemay had had more involvement. Probably nothing much...I mostly just remember the interview where he complained (this was after he'd moved on to consulting at AW again) that when he was at ATWT too many characters had their own jets.

The Daytime Emmys often just thought it was a smarter idea to drop in primetime cameos or have endless jokes about how stupid and sleazy soaps are. I remember their main "tribute" to GL being Betty White. I loved Betty White and she was extremely gracious, but beyond a promotional campaign for AW, she had no ties to P&G and it was obviously just trading in GL's name one last time for clout.

That's lovely news for JJY.

Thanks. I should have made that clearer. I was not talking about any head writer at GH - I was mainly talking about DAYS, which has a headwriter who is obsessed with "soapy" moments. I don't feel like going through all the rest of that post but it was my mistake for being vague.

The show has been in such a lengthy malaise, to the point where I'm not sure anyone could help, but it does feel like there was a lack of basics that could have been there for their early moments. They are clearly setting up plans for Jason and his kids, and probably Jason and Sam, but I do wonder how many of the fans they were courting with his return that they lost by not having more of Jason and the harem, or Jason and Spinelli (have they shared scenes?), as more of a priority on his return. It's unfortunate that the current soap headwriter who focuses on soap staples is a bitter and delusional hack who sees the genre as a big joke.

Kathryn always underplayed her material, which probably hurt. Liz was likely seen as difficult, so that probably hurt her.

I think Trina had the potential to be a necessary character, but I don't think the show ever saw her as one. Many of her fans only seem to watch for her as well, so the show would have less reason to care about keeping them rather than just continuing to push "important" characters like Joss and waiting for them to click. I have a feeling Tabyana will not renew and they'll let her save face because the optics are bad otherwise.

That's a good point, and of course you can't base decisions on Twitter rage, I just don't know what direction they plan to take Trina. I have a feeling she may just quietly be in support until the actress leaves.

I don't think either of those relationships would have audience support these days due to how much focus goes on age gap discourse.