DRW50

Thanks @FrenchFan ! Never knew National Review reviewed the show (or sort of reviewed it).

They've recast Peter multiple times, and it never really works out. I don't think it would matter if the writing was better. In this case, most of the people in his story aren't good either, so it doesn't stand out as much.

I think there was a plan with the Finn exit story, as it progressed naturally through Mulcahey's tenure, alongside Gregory's exit (it might be the only story that did). What I'm wondering about is if Valentini was trying to get ABC to bring Finn back after his rehab stint, rather than permanently writing him out.

Another new upload from that channel.

https://deadline.com/2024/07/doctor-who-analysis-disney-deal-ncuti-gatwa-russell-t-davies-bbc-1236008287/ I feel like the spokesperson from DWM is rewriting a tad about the ratings for the first series. I know the show didn't fully take off until Tennant, but I remember a lot of success and notice from the start, with a particular focus on Billie Piper.

I do think they moved into encouraging uglier behavior because of the atmosphere created by Luke and Laura, although the biggest changes happened after the nihilism, misogyny and glorification of abuse under writers like Bob Guza became so prominent. You can see the hints like the fumbling attempts to make viewers care about Reid/David, whose washboard abs got more focus than the scripts. And then when Sheffer comes in this tilt to callousness becomes the norm. P&G was too morally pure in earlier years, but still, I'd take the executives that put their foot down on Edith Hughes and Jim Lowell being able to marry over the executives that went along with the hilarity of Craig mocking a rape victim or Craig having sex with the young woman he'd raised as a daughter.

The same reason any show has taken an actor off contract and brought them back later on. Sometimes for financial reasons or pressure from up high it happens.

It's more noticeable than the show's longtime history of having no interest in black characters beyond tokenism because Trina had a hard-fought path to becoming one of the most talked about characters of the last few years...and instead of capitalizing on it, the show was so frightened and also so comfortable with the status quo that they went out of their way to puncture any of that momentum. And not even because some other interesting character had come along. That just exposes the game even more blatantly than they probably realized.

I think the idea of the Heather story is very juicy, especially considering Laura's role as mayor, but it ended up underscoring just how limited Laura's role is on the canvas as they couldn't or wouldn't figure out how to make her arguments for Heather more central to everything going on. This is where the lack of continuity and connection really comes into play as they didn't care enough to involve the characters who were directly affected by Heather's crimes, either because of laziness, or because they are hoping viewers will forget Heather went on a lengthy killing spree a whopping two years ago. Imagine if 30 years ago they had decided to do some type of story where Laura wanted to free Ryan, and Steve and Audrey just weren't involved. I do think the fans who speculated that Valentini fought hard to push Mulcahey out to try to save Easton's job might have a point, but the decision must have made to dump him around the time the decision was made to dump Howarth.

That's ridiculous to have such blatant errors for a modern character. It makes my complaints about the Meta and Trudy bios seem silly. I wish someone could put together a page for GL along the lines of AWHP, but I know that's painstaking work, so maybe being able to correct on a soap Wiki is the best to hope for.

That would be a great way to end the story with Heather and also help justify Laura's actions. (I would then have Heather find a portal in her cell and never return) I wonder sometimes if the very vocal criticism the show gets for the treatment of Portia, Trina, etc. on Twitter only hardens them further. One of the reasons it was so hard to believe Finn was actually leaving was just not believing Frank would let him go. I suppose Valentin is more popular than Finn, but it's why I am expecting any time to hear Easton is back. You have a good point about Mulcahey and the black characters. I don't think it was his doing, it just seemed to hit when he was starting (due to factors like the end of Sprina), but the optics didn't help him at all.

It's "today is the day he became President" all over again. You can hear the adoration and admiration in her voice. Meanwhile, Trump looks like he doesn't quite know where he is.

You can tell from the poor anniversary material in 2008 that this is what they wanted to recreate (and also what fans of theirs like Jamey Giddens tended to love most). The difference is, terrible as much of this material had been, those involved treated it seriously. That's the only type of camp that works. Ron always treated this stuff as a joke. He has continued to do so on DAYS. When you see someone winking at you over and over, you don't marvel at their brilliance. You're either creeped out, or you give them the number of your eye doctor.

I don't think it would have mattered as much if Lisa and Ellen Parker hadn't appeared together, but you're right, Lisa was very busy on ATWT. The Soapcentral histories are messy because they are often full of people just writing what they want, trying to fill in blanks. Hopefully they didn't do that here.

Sadly, I'd say Guza just ended up replacing them with his own aimless storylines (especially Stefan/Laura, Ned/Alexis/Jax/Chloe, and the baby Opie saga), although he did wrap up what he was given. I remember they seemed to briefly suggest Alan was going to get Emily hooked on pills, which would have been more interesting than anything they ever did with that character. I don't think he's relevant, per se, but then most of the people currently on the show aren't. I figure since they went to the trouble of bringing him back, giving him some type of story, or giving Jason, Carly and Sonny something new with Karen, might not be the worst idea, although I doubt it will happen. I wouldn't be saddened if he leaves but it annoys me when these returns are done for little to no reason. Anna seems to be in the same place Alexis was with the Julian pairing. I guess at least in Anna's case she does have history with Duke. Valentin isn't worth the effort though.

Thanks. I meant to type 3, not 4.

You're right - Mulcahey did what he could to add some flavors to the whole Pikeman mess and the longstanding issue of how spent and confused characters like Sonny and Ava feel. I do get why viewers weren't thrilled, especially as Mulcahey was likely being sabotaged, but the lack of patience from a lot of people seemed to doom any real change from the outset. And now we're just back to what people said they disliked before he got there.

That's it exactly. I was spoiled watching ATWT growing up as there was a sense of history and a realism in everyday - not just bringing back old characters for visits, but also letting us see many characters react to news. That's why all the changes forced on the show in 1995 stung me so much, and I don't know if I ever really forgave them for it.

It may be a bad choice, but anytime someone leaves a Ryan Murphy project I say good for them.

Mike Farrell pops up at around 10 minutes, 23 minutes and 32 minutes in this - no dialogue. He has a bit of dialogue around 26 minutes.

You said it! It can never be said enough. ATWT, at its best, used history in a way that made viewers feel like they were a part of Oakdale. In the long run this probably hurt the show more, because it was harder to just say, "Oh it's a soap," when important character traits were dropped, but it also caused brand loyalty that kept the show about 15+ more years on the air than it would have otherwise.

I know that a hack like Carlivati would have done all kinds of callbacks to A Summer Place, camp sogging and clogging up the screen. I'm glad AW never did. The whole Pat/John breakup confuses me a bit too as I am not sure if he still expected to go back to Pat after sleeping with Barbara. He seemed to take Pat for granted. This story is so rich in layered drama - I wish we could see all of it. Speaking of Dave Gilchrest, I notice that he was on for 4 years, which is longer than many Lemay introductions. Did David Ackroyd want to leave or was he let go? That's a long time for a character to not have any real stories or pairings. The number of women he hung out with or dated or was hot for is extremely varied - few men would date Pat and fall for Rachel. I wish we could see some clip of him. The most I've seen is that tilted camera Paley episode where he is at Iris' pool and is wearing a tight black Speedo.

Taggert seems to have been completely forgotten. I hope it's not due to Real's health. The show has moved away from the black characters in general. The Pikeman story feels like one of those plots they just stall out to eat up time with having to churn out 5 episodes a week. I don't think anyone involved knows or cares what's going on. And being stuck in the quagmire of the story is probably a big reason why Mulcahey never even got a proper chance.