DRW50

Thanks @Skylover

Glad they were paid more respect than the Emmys bothered with... I always liked Christian Campbell and just thought he never quite found the right parts to suit him. I'm glad he's still doing something (in this case producing a revival of Reefer Madness). Kristen Bell And Christian Campbell Talk 'Reefer Madness: The Musical' (deadline.com)

I found an old upload of the 1981 Christmas episode (not sure of the exact date) on a disc. I looked on Youtube and Dailymotion and didn't see it up anymore, so I decided to reupload it. If it is already up and I missed it - my apologies and I'll take it down. Sorry - I made a mistake with the first video. I'll post the fixed version.

Christine recently had an interview on The SNL Network if you want to see her (she couldn't remember most of her time on SNL but she could still sing the songs they wrote for her). I have thought highly of her talent ever since I saw her in those RH reruns on Soapnet, and am glad she pops up as often as she does. This is another pilot she did, Kid Mayor (or The Mayor). Sadly, in spite of the strong cast (the kids [Ben Feldman and Anna Kendrick] would go on to sitcom and film success and most of the adults were long established), it reeks of the worst of culture in the early '00s. Prison rape jokes, sexual harassment as comedy, and just overall crudity and desperation.

That's very true. And the rapid shifts then allow them to have more inner lives than a lot of the younger characters in the show's first decade - I like Steve, Stacey and Trisha well enough, but they are much more basic.

Trump has had such cognitive decline that the media is ignoring as much as possible, and even when they talk about it, much of the public goes "la la la" because they still think if you are loud and obnoxious that means you are a strong man.

Thanks @Franko . I am a fan of most of that cast so I will have to try it later. CBS had some interesting attempts at sitcoms in the late '80s, most of which didn't go anywhere.

June 1989. That was Kim Morgan Greene. Landry was the singing Nicole - tall, brunette, a bit matronly. I should probably try to watch more of the late '86 episodes to see how far they went.

Eddie Drueding's uploads have now covered pretty much all of Crystal Gayle's appearances. Still one of the most fascinating celebrity guest stints on a soap for me. She was never an actress, yet she agreed to do a whole week of episodes that involved violence and high drama. Given how devout she was, I'm surprised she was OK with the material, but it was certainly great promotion for her at a time when her mainstream career was winding down. Due to her status she probably ends up being the toughest opponent the Sin Stalker ever faced. Speaking of the Sin Stalker, I'm not sure if I'd feel that way if I didn't know he passed away a few years later, but David O'Brien looks so frail to me. It makes the story even more difficult to believe. Petronia Paley really sparkles in those last days of Quinn's romance with Zack. I think the worst part for me is knowing none of that story would have even happened if they weren't killing Quinn off. I hadn't realized just how heavily they went into grand passion and romance for Michael and Donna after Philece's debut - it feels much more Harlequin than Anna's Donna and Michael ever did. I guess they were hoping to capitalize on Philece's DAYS popularity but it's all so generic. I also didn't know Landry's Nicole never even got an exit. Peter and Nicole never got the respect or exploration they could have had as characters.

Thanks. I had totally forgotten about this. It's not as bad as I had expected, although that's mostly down to the extremely likeable cast - the writing itself is about as basic as you can get, in spite of Zweibel's pedigree. You can really see Christine Baranski's charisma and likeability shine through here, in a great reminder of why she's managed to have such a long career. Dan Vitale is a real trivia question. He was cast on SNL but barely seen all season because he was in rehab. https://www.vulture.com/2020/04/dan-vitale-snl-interview.html

Willie Mays, baseball’s electrifying ‘Say Hey Kid,’ dies at 93 - The Athletic (nytimes.com) A true legend.

Thanks @MissPalmer . What a bizarre, deeply unsettling sight...and that's just poor Jacquie Courtney having to rock a headband and sweatsuit in high drama. Was Pat on the way from an exercise class? OLTL in the early/mid '80s is so weird. I wish everything was available so we could do a deep dive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEh388O1Kyc The pilot for Coming to America, via Eddie Murphy's production company. Apparently this was written by people from Diff'rent Strokes and Webster, which...makes sense. Tommy Davidson, a few years before hitting it big with In Living Color, adopts a dubious Jamaican accent, but his high energy and charisma is the best part of this, along with seeing underrated actors like Hattie Winston and John Hancock (who passed only a few years later).

Thanks @Vee . I avoid anything involving Fuller and his ego trips, but I am sorry for the loss of what this show might have been, and for Adrienne King. Not sure if this is the right thread but close enough. I never knew Gene Siskel had people send angry letters to poor Betsy Palmer.

@Contessa Donatella Sorry to hear about your channel. Youtube seems to use these methods to junk what doesn't make them enough profit, while 5000000000 "Disney went woke and got broke" videos remain. I think someone (maybe it was you, I don't know) said the show later fixed this mistake and established that the Frames did not grow up on that farm.

Thanks. I'm glad Danny is still doing OK.

I think when Fletcher returned at the end of the show they mentioned Meg being in a school, but I'm not sure.

I suppose it worked briefly in the ratings with Kate Oates, but it did real damage to Corrie (already damaged enough as it was).

Thanks. Never seen that. I think CBS used to have those (maybe the last network who did). Danny Thomas back in the '60s had a number of burnoff pilots. One used to be on Youtube, uploaded by the actress who was in the title role (her brothers are obsessed with marrying her off - you think it's going to end with her actually falling for the guy they want her to marry but then they decide they hate him because he's not from their village and they kick him out - very sour ending for a comedy).

I think Rick dated her. And did Frank date Dana - I don't know, I have not watched a lot of that story. You have great ideas about what they should have done with Nola. I wonder how much was hurt by how depressed Lisa seemed as Nola the second time around - she was much closer to Iva. At least in her final brief return she had a little more of the old spirit.

My main memory of Eastwick is one of the women (maybe Price) using her powers to get a gay man to want her. Rather than trying to make it something wicked or hot, the show was more honest about it in that his boyfriend found them and was disgusted, and then the gay guy, with the spell now worn off, was confused and horrified. (if this had been done on daytime I imagine certain soap columnists would have called it hilarious and brave)

Maybe she was a big fan of Mad Max.