DRW50

Seeing the Marianne in the 1975 and 1976 clips makes it all the more remarkable how completely extinguished she feels by this point (not that long before her exit). The P&G soaps at this time really seemed to want to age up and drain their ingenues. The scene at 20 minutes between Jamie and Pat (Pat's last real scene on the show) is an absolute knockout. I am not a huge fan of storylines where people wring their hands over what's written about them in books, but Pat's response to "James" (switching to Jamie as she becomes more vulnerable) here is surprisingly layered - not just the feeling of betrayal and of humiliation, but that he got so inside her head that she wrongly assumed he'd had actual conversations with her about her crimes before writing his book. It plays into the power of fiction, and the power of soaps, especially with long running characters. We think we know what is inside their head and we try to shape what they say or do with our own experiences. It reminds me of Kathryn Hays talking about how she felt like Irna Phillips knew her secrets when she played the early material for Kim. Beverly Penberthy has such an ethereal directness (similar to Jacquie Courtney) that makes any scene improve and is truly put to good use when she gets the chance. There's something deeply sad in knowing this is her last time to be able to use that chance, but also satisfying - she is showing the ageist, brain dead execs just what they've given up. And Richard Bekins is wonderful, as he often is, not downplaying the arrogance and naivete of Jamie, but imbuing him with such a soulfulness. He can do so much with his eyes as the camera just latches onto his beautiful face, making the moment where Pat finally gets him to see just what he's lost all the more devastating. If they hadn't fired Beverly, I wonder if they might have paired up Pat and Jamie instead of Susan and Jamie. They have surprisingly potent chemistry here.

Some old promos I found on a disc. I don't think they are up on Youtube at present. If anyone knows exact date, thanks. (I am not sure if the Liza one is from 1995 or 1996 but I just put 1995).

I remember an aunt of mine really liked that first book. I should read them someday.

I wish more of her material from that last ATWT stint was around because there are some ideas she is trying that likely felt new for the time or could have been innovative (like Penny adopting a child and Tom and Carol starting to go into eco-farming, etc.). Her reputation so often seems to overshadow her work.

He was. And over time he became a decent actor too. I think he may have retired not long after leaving daytime.

That would make sense, although I think it's also down to the loss of some of the more stagey actors of those first few years, like Kate Mulgrew. I do love those early years, although I think that particular vibe is lost by early to mid 1976. That's when it feels like the show really shifts into more melodramatic plots and less character beats. Thanks. That makes sense. That was also a good period for Faith in that I barely had to see her either...

I found four City episodes on a disc that I don't think were on Youtube anymore (if I missed them my apologies and I'll take these down).

Thanks.

I hope not either. I know someone who has repeatedly had COVID and has had hearing loss as a result, even as she has had the best access to care. People keep downplaying COVID but it's still out there. At least Jill will be there and hopefully all is well.

I remember him being a likeable enough presence but i'm not surprised he found more success outside of acting. The murder story is probably the show's strongest, IIRC, although they mostly still have a decent run even to the end (although the Bible story near the end didn't seem overly well-received).

Conan O'Brien and Rashida Jones talking about Twin Peaks.

@dc11786 Wow I didn't remember it had been in production for quite that long. You'd think they would have had a stronger early product with that much time. I just wish any of the 70 episodes were available somewhere. Even just one or two floating around on a VHS tape. I should try Hilton Head Island sometime.

Thanks for sharing this. It's unfortunate to hear of such Puritan views, although 1982 was still the years of the Moral Majority. I can't say Ridley's work has blown me away (more often it puts me to sleep like much of that era) but she had been in the part for several years and was probably the most known Annie. I'm confused as to why IMDB has her in a 1970 episode. Did she briefly play Annie as a child? Aside from visits, I think the closest would be late 1988, when Holden and Meg were leaving, and Caleb and Ellie were brought in. I can't remember if there was overlap. And Lisa Brown may have been on maternity leave at this point.

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.