DRW50

https://deadline.com/2024/05/barbara-o-jones-dead-actress-independent-black-cinema-was-82-obituary-1235904830/

Lovely thoughts @BetterForgotten I do sometimes feel like her impact is not that respected these days, for various reasons.

Angela Lansbury's brother Edgar has passed at age 94. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/arts/edgar-lansbury-dead-subject-roses-angela-1235890334/

I agree, but I think people ultimately set themselves up to fail when they take this mindset. This is what happened with Kate Oates - her arrival was treated by many as if she were wafting down on a cloud. Then she produced some of the worst trash in the history of the show, which just made the betrayal even fresher because of delusions.

It takes a lot to make a story about your unborn child having birth defects dull, but they manage. If that is Martha Madison...well, at least she's consistent.

There are just a few people I stay on Twitter for, although I am also too addicted to the political turmoil to fully go even when I know I should. Unfortunately, many of the sensible people are gone, and many who are left are just wretched. Some have also clearly had a full breakdown, including a few that I remember as being very different not that long ago. I saw somebody who was going on about how it is "nationalist" if you vote based on America instead of what is going on in Palestine. This is one of those talking points I end up assuming is propaganda baked up by the same people who always want to help the far-right win, or those who are so full of nihilism, or they are just so trapped in an online bubble they have absolutely no ability to allow for basic empathy. The idea that you should sacrifice your vote based on a situation that Trump will do nothing to improve (and will likely make it even worse) because of "sending a message" is just incredibly naive, to the point where it leapfrogs into cynicism and a very clear agenda that has nothing to do with peace. I do think Biden is better off trying for Haley voters, those who won't end up voting for Trump (as many will). I read somewhere he hasn't reached out to her. I don't blame him if so but he doesn't have anything to lose.

This makes me more annoyed each time it happens - the flagrant bias. I just hope that no one pays any attention to that paper anymore, beyond those who are hyperfocused anyway.

I would guess most Gen-Zers don't know him at all. TPIR doesn't seem to have any real buzz anymore.

@kalbir Thanks for all these detailed writeups and ratings info. So much of Dynasty by this point seems built to fail - they are lucky the fall wasn't even steeper. @Soapsuds Thanks for the Cheers & Jeers. Those Jeers felt like straw-clutching.

Thanks. So May doesn't matter that much specifically, but if ratings are suddenly, sharply down, it will. I don't think that is because of Mulcahey and Korte, I think the show has been treading water and heading for an inevitable fall that was likely pushed by some recent departures and decisions, but if ABC does blame them I won't be shocked.

Is there such a thing as sweeps now? He could be doing Puppetry of the Penis and I still wouldn't want her in an episode. She needs a long rest. I don't know if Lucy has ever even had a team. Clearly the current writers have no use for her... Sonny always wins out in the end. The current story has an escape hatch for him via the meds.

That makes sense. The main problem with EE, beyond how heartless and hollow the show feels, is that it is rigidly plot-driven. Things happen to move story along and for no other reason. And that often means ideas that on paper should be strong just kind of fade out onscreen, like Cindy's return, Alfie's cancer, anything involving Whitney and Zack. The show is so cold to me. And it's one of those shows where people deify the producer and go on about how hot he is and all the rest, which just ends up causing a cult mentality.

When a show is hollow, as all the soaps are now, then you are more likely to only watch for a certain character or couple. This has been true for a long time - you could even argue GH helped cement this as the norm with Luke & Laura - but it hurts when they are in a rebuilding period, or as much as they can even be allowed to rebuild. The other problem is, as others have mentioned, the need for your favorite character to be in the right and behaving the way you want them to behave. I've been guilty of that myself with characters, if I think the story is repetitive, degrading, and so on, but I do think the show has made efforts in trying to move forward some characters, like Nina. Yet a lot of her fans just seem to be completely repulsed.

Lazy, offensive.

I know Lucy has always been a polarizing character, but are viewers actually supposed to be hating her or rooting against her for ciphers? Why? Is Katybell the secret third head writer some have been talking about?

True - I suppose Helen was a support player but that would still be a factor. I didn't know Lemay wrote her off. In the long run that feels like a waste.

I wonder if he even knew much about her. He mentioned only getting backstory in depth from fan letters. But he did bring back Susan...

To me they've all been pretty dull, aside from George. They also weigh down Cindy. I've seen fan comparisons between Anna and kids show presenters. I have a feeling they won't be there in a year or two (then again none of us may be). This actor was stuck in a horrible story on Emmerdale. I hope he has a better time at EE.

I might classify her as Cecile more than Barbara Ryan, but the main problem is that none of these characters she would be affecting are very interesting or worth rooting for.

The dead end left takes up so much of the conversation that it can be hard to find any middle ground. They like to "joke" that the middle ground is both sides hating Biden, as shown in a viral video of fascists of the left and the right in an Alabama protest chanting [!@#$%^&*] Biden. It's not much of a joke deep down as many of them loved Trump and miss him every day. I think Biden has handled the protests as well as he probably could have, rather than siding with rich kids who cosplay as Palestinians for clout or the right who wanted to see the water cannons and rubber bullets. Unfortunately being in the middle or handling a bad situation well just ends up causing more dissent among many of those who carry the conversation, and on top of the economy sputtering, does feel like a bad break. I've always thought if he wins it will just be by narrow margins. I'll take that, if there's any chance of it happening. I just hope we at least get one house of Congress if he does. Another example of how important it was to keep that hypocritical grifter Nina Turner out of Congress. Here is the man who ran the "Ninamobile." I wouldn't be surprised if this type of program was ended through having to work with the likes of Manchin or other 'sensible' Democrats to get anything passed.

I definitely don't want him to go via a crippling scandal that would destroy the show, as that continues to cast a shadow over DAYS. And I know there are worse producers to have - like the one before him. I genuinely don't believe the core of GH can improve with him because he is soulless (as a producer, not as a human being), but I do appreciate wanting more and being pleased with more as GH is probably the most viable of the four current soaps.

I didn't think the other Aidan was that bad; he worked well with Becky Herbst. Recasting him isn't wrong, per se, but feels like more of papering over the cracks that is the best you will probably get while Frank is still there. Top to bottom the show has bad actors and most of them aren't going anywhere.

I know that homophobia and gay-bashing is on the rise, and you see every day just how much hell many young queer people face, but I don't really want to see this on the show. I'm tired of this being one of the only stories lgbt characters can have, and I don't trust them to do it right. Frank was involved in a deeply dangerous story about hate crimes against a gay man and I can't forget that.

I remember this awful woman from 2020 but did not know she was the moron who was talking about how the students who took over a building at Columbia needed food. And then we have a Jacobin reporter who bragged about his mother no longer voting for Biden, only for his mother to turn out to be yet another Bernie dead-ender. Last and least, yet another hack from Media Matters. I will stop posting these again and again, but if you ever wonder why the right has so much power in this country, you can see why.

Another of this phony set.