DRW50

A 1960 episode! I know there are a few kinescopes around I've seen from the early '60s or very late '50s that aren't up but I THINK this one might be entirely new (to me anyway)? Sorry for anyone I forget.

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Truly pathetic from Axios.

1 hour ago, Ryan Mason said:

I don't know that I realized he was on this! Or that he had passed. He was one of my favorite playwrights.

It just came out earlier today, as someone kindly mentioned in the obit thread. I didn't know he had aphasia either. A wonderful talent.

1 hour ago, titan1978 said:

Stuff like this is exactly why the show still needed AJ. We need someone to be in Jason’s face about Michael and his hypocrisy at shunning the Q’s and then totally ignoring his own children. He’s actually a worse parent than AJ would have been when you count the abandonment, shootings, kidnapping, constant threats. Jason Morgan left because he wanted to be free to choose his own path. Are Sonny, Carly and Jason’s kids free? 

Honestly I'd say the show was even more biased in Jason's favor when AJ was there. They are never going to let anyone score points against Jason.

I love that we lived in a time when you could flip channels between Murder She Wrote and House of Buggin.

Michael Gross is asked about Family Ties being moved against MSW. (his interview starts about 5 minutes in)

This is at a black conservative group by Byron Donalds, who might be Trump's VP (if you look at his record you'll see how much they have in common). Rarely have Trump's reasons for running, and the bigotry that has fueled so much of his life, been on such plain display. Luckily for him the media will ignore and fawn.

RIP Christopher Durang (he's 11 minutes in this).

8 hours ago, Faulkner said:

For theater fans. I remember seeing Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike on Broadway (with David Hyde Pierce and Billy Magnussen of ATWT fame) years ago:

 

Pointed dramatist, hilarious satirist Christopher Durang, 75, a great loss: "Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You,” “The Marriage of Bette and Boo” “Why Torture Is Wrong and the People Who Love Them” “Vanya and Sonia, and Masha and Spike."https://t.co/PH7NIlQPHy pic.twitter.com/Rd3y6C0tV4

— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) April 3, 2024

Durang also appeared on the premiere of SNL's 12th season, when Lorne was trying to take the show in a classier direction. He was in the first Church Lady sketch and later sang a Brecht and Wagner medley with Sigourney Weaver in the last piece of the night. I still think sometimes about them singing Oklahoma in German.

He was briefly on Ryan's Hope. I'll put that in the RH thread. Thank you for telling us. Feels like we've lost a lot of people the last few days.

Sorry, not sure if this promo was already around. I just saw it now.

Thanks @slick jones . I had forgotten Cindi passed this year.

3 hours ago, applcin said:

R.I.P. Barbara Baldavin, who appeared in Star Trek several times, guested on many shows and was also a regular on Medical Center.

https://www.cbr.com/barbara-baldavin-star-trek-dead/

Balance of Terror is one of the more moving Star Trek episodes.

@jam6242 Thanks for letting us know. Sorry to hear about Lynn. I had no idea she was involved in the Heat of the Night TV version (which I do think was a genuinely good show for a while). 

I'm glad a few episodes of Lynn's Search run are available. She seems like a very competent, likeable actress, with a real presence. I can see why they never really found someone else to fit the part.

1 hour ago, Khan said:

It's always incredible to me how eerily accurate that parody was.   Everything about "The Days of the Week" - the acting, the writing (that doesn't include the jokes), the pacing, the music and production values - was just so dead-on.  Anne Beatts ("SNL") once said that you can't satirize anything you're not a fan of, which makes me think the SCTV crew must've enjoyed watching the soaps.

Days of the Week was one of the very very very few soap parodies, along with Acorn Antiques, that rings true to me (Victoria Wood was also a soap fan). SNL tried soap parodies for many years, but there were only a handful that ever worked (two of which were guided by Susan Lucci). 

Anyway, I just loved watching Joe. He was a hilarious man. SCTV was a brutal show, especially in the earliest years (one sketch had John Candy beating his wife [Catherine O'Hara] with a can of dog food), but it was easy to overlook because of the warmth of the cast. Few were warmer than Joe. You could take those tough parodies and jabs because you could tell he was a good man. 

There were so many hilarious moments, but my favorite was probably whenever anchorman Floyd had to react to the stupidity and narcissism of his co-anchor, Earl (Eugene Levy). The slow burn and blow-up got me every time. 

Other than In Living Color's first few years, no sketch show made me laugh the way SCTV did, and Joe was a huge part of that. 

They came for Florida's sun and sand. They got soaring costs and a culture war. (nbcnews.com)

RIP Barbara Rush.

Barbara Rush Dead: Actress On 'Peyton Place,' 'All My Children' Was 97 (deadline.com)

Thanks as always @slick jones

11 hours ago, P.J. said:

It's weird what you think you "remember" vs what actually happened. I could've sworn that Vanessa backed over Reva in the summer, that she was alone behind the wheel and that Reva was practically about to give birth. Instead, Reva barely seems pregnant, it's in the middle of winter (on a set that looks like it cornered the market on fake snow that year) and it's actually Billy in the driver's seat fighting with Vanessa as the car shifts into reverse.

I thought Reva was heavily pregnant too. The only reason I remember it being winter is because I saw a clip at one point.

9 hours ago, carolineg said:

Okay, so this might sound wacky, but I think it was because she thought Tom was stalking her, but it was actually Kevin, who was having a mental breakdown.  I think the show toyed with Tom being the real stalker because he was being a bit suspect.  Tom/Felicia break up and he sticks around through the Laura is presumed dead story and is in on the plot and I think just goes back to Africa to be with his son.  I feel like when he left Felicia might have been on one of those long trips to see Mariah in Texas, but I could be wrong.

I'm trying to remember - did Kristina leave during this period because her contract talks had broken down? I know at the time there was a lot of talk of how she was barely used. Then she came back in the summer for the doll story that was abandoned.

I wonder if someone wanted to try to recreate Kristen/Susan/etc. with Ashley and Eileen went along. 

This would be more powerful if the show hadn't killed off Dina (although I'm not sure if Marla Adams is still able to work).

I suppose anyone who was hooked on Y&R and SB in the '80s might have another string to draw Eden and Ashley together.

Nick and Lily...I know this happens all the time on soaps (and in real life) and it's not like they ever had major story together then, but all I can think is that when Josh Morrow was first brought on the show, Lily hadn't even been born. Josh Morrow may look very good for his age, but surely Nick has to grow up at some point.

There is video going around from the "free Palestine" protests at the Biden/Obama/Clinton fundraiser - violently shoving and attacking a (presumably) Jewish man who was trying to get through to see his mother, the usual anti-US chants and saying they want to bring Hamas to run the US, and one with a man shouting misogynist ("c") and anti-Semitic ("k") slurs at a woman. In none of these is there any sense of doubt or hesitation, and none of this is about Palestine. Whatever this movement was meant to be is long co-opted. 

I'm seeing some on the left who are angry over Biden trying to get Haley supporters. I would agree it's likely pointless, but when you have such proud bigots who make it clear they will never support Biden and are just fine with Trump, he has little choice. 

Most of them genuinely like Trump, and always have. They just don't want to admit it - yet. 

@Contessa Donatella 

(from the AW thread)

I know there's been some...speculation here about whatever went down with Martha and Goutman. Others may know better than I do.

On 3/28/2024 at 10:17 PM, watson71 said:

I believe that NBC intentionally waited until the last possible minute to cancel the show.  P&G should have been more savvy knowing the show was on the chopping block. They should have had an outline to wrap up the show and if it was renewed plans for summer and fall 1999.

Goutman blundered the end of ATWT way more than he did AW.  He had 9 months to plan the end of ATWT.  It was cancelled in December and went off the air the following September.  Knowing this, did it ever occur to him to pretape an ending with 90+ year old Helen Wagner?  She died before filming was complete, and they gave her a one day funeral.  The vets were treated like glorified extras in the last episode, and a 54 year old program ended with a cheap plastic globe spinning on Dr. Bob’s desk.  ATWT’s ending was way worse then what happened at AW which had 6 weeks to wrap up.

The ATWT ending was pure ego. I blame that partly on his running ATWT for a decade and seemingly seeing it as his show. I will never get past how disappointing that finale was.