DRW50

I feel like a lot of people genuinely are struggling, but I also feel like this only seems to matter when a Democrat is in the White House. Ditto immigration. For these reasons, among others (one that the older I get the more I realize at its core this country is so built on bigotry that it may be impossible to ever break away), I am expecting the worst in November...but you never know. Maybe this will be like 2022. Anyway, this is some positive news (I know it's just a state house seat, but it's something): Democrat Tom Keen flips Florida House seat in special election to replace Republican Fred Hawkins (fox35orlando.com) This report on Trump rallies matches up to what I have felt when seeing him lately (and matches the recent clip of the audience barely responding when he was wheezing out jokes about how proud Jimmy Carter must be that Biden is worse than he is.

Heartbreaking. I saw his girlfriend saying originally she thought it was COVID - or maybe she just meant the COVID led to depression.

That's who the Beltway would support, but I think the toxic combo of true believers and con artists who run his operation will never trust her. I won't be surprised if he picks Byron Donalds - he's a very far right Congressman from Florida. Steadfastly loyal, and also someone the GOP and the media can use to continue their beloved "black voters must support Republicans and if they don't, they are racists" campaign. The only reason I'm not fully sure is because there is a campaign on the right among Trump's biggest supporters to move away from the pandering they'd done in recent years in pretending that they don't hate MLK (and black people in general). This feels to me like setting up a justification to the money men to move back to what they prefer (fully supporting white guys) and just saying, "we're doing this to stand up to woke DEI...if you don't support Adolph Bundy IV, you're the REAL racist." https://www.wired.com/story/charlie-kirk-tpusa-mlk-civil-rights-act/

I saw a clip of Trump from a few days ago, and he did not look well at all. Not even by his usual standards. He looked very disheveled, and his voice sounded extremely frail. They are going to pick the biggest lunatic imaginable as his VP, who will probably make Pence look like Walter Mondale, as I think he will be lucky if he makes it to next January.

I think Lily and Cillian will win, because Oppenheimer has the momentum you mentioned and I'm not sure that the respect and love a lot of people seem to have for Paul is enough. (there will also be building backlash against Alexander Payne, even if the Oscars usually don't care about that type of thing) Lily is the opposite - she's a prize they can give out to a movie that likely won't be getting any others. She's also a way they can pat themselves on the back. I guess it also depends on how divisive Poor Things is or whether people will feel the "she has had her turn" mentality as much with Emma (as she's only won one, not two like Cate).

Sorry for all the trouble you're being put through @slick jones

I just flat out despised Nick for large portions of his run. Only in his last year when Mindy was gone and he had the story with Susan did I feel more moderate towards him. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Vincent's work on AMC, but then, David was just a much more interesting character. Beyond sanctimonious, I'm not sure Nick had a personality.

Oh you're right. Sorry to Felix, wherever he is. Whatever Carlivati planned, putting that message out there with Nick at all was unspeakable to me.

I never trusted him after he had a gay character on OLTL fake a hate crime to keep a man, but seeing Felix try to force Michael to have sex with him was a whole new level of disgust, no matter how funny Carlivati thought it was meant to be. And of course he has continued to push that garbage all over DAYS, even at a time of resurgent homophobia. He's so fun and daring...he's not like the other gays. I don't think it helped that Felix was BFF with Sabrina, who was so disliked by a number of fans. Felix doesn't seem that bad now, but they are clearly never going to do anything with him. I saw some fans upset he didn't interact more with Lucas, but I'm not sure what the point would be. I think if they ever had a child of Jason's as queer, there would be meltdowns.

@DeliaIrisFan That was so beautifully put. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. On paper, Lucas being the show's first major gay character should have been so profound, given his position at the heart of the show starting from the late '90s. Even more than Luke coming out on ATWT. I'm sorry that never happened. I guess at least he hasn't been killed off (yet).

I liked Mallet early on, in the Francesca romantic melodrama and his FWB relationship with Mindy, but he was not compelling as a leading man, as he would go on to prove in daytime and primetime.

Thanks. That makes sense. I'm surprised Conboy didn't.

@slick jones Wanted to say thanks for the Harry Johnson writeup. I'm not sure if this is the same DAYS credit you already have listed for Bryan Cranston (1982) but he mentioned that he had a three-episode stint in 1980.

At 2013's Nurses Ball Lucy acknowledges Jessie and then Amy, around 9 minutes in, and there are blown up photos. It still saddens me that Jessie got nothing at the time. I wonder if she had just been phased out so much over the years that many of the remaining viewers did not understand her importance or impact. I can only echo what others have said about Ryan Carnes. Carnes was not actually there for most of the important moments in Bobbie's history, but you still felt the weight of his performance. Considering how close Lucas and BJ were, I'm glad, if pleasantly surprised, they gave that final moment to him, instead of Carly.

Was there any talk of changing the opening credits as the years passed, or was the intro seen as too iconic (or they didn't want to spend the money)?

Thanks. So I guess he was a casualty of Michael Easton's contract struggle around that time?

Yes. I'm not even sure what he did as Del, to be honest with you (was he involved with Anita?), but 50 is too young.

I really liked Jeff Phillips at the time because I liked the idealism of his Hart and his love story with Julie. When I saw him on AW I got his limitations more (although at that point Matt was just a cardboard cutout anyway). I was still so mad with GL about Maureen's death and the flood of exits that I didn't pay a lot of attention during the time Leonard Stabb was there. Looking back I can see his charisma and what might have been, although I tend to wonder how long Hart would have lasted. I thought Marshall was OK, but the character was so ill-defined and the story with Dinah and Roger was, at that time, one of the worst I'd ever seen on GL. Frank Grillo was mostly a generic, amiable piece of ass. I accepted him in that role, but he never was Hart. I guess it didn't matter as most of his time on the show was disconnected from Roger, Bridget, etc. anyway.

I think he said in the interview that he'd tried out for Hart when Jeff was cast. He said he tried out for a lot of soaps (I don't think he said exact roles). He went into some details about how much he pursued the role of Hart, much more than a lot of actors do, apparently (it wasn't just him saying this as someone who worked at GL sent in a message to Alan). I don't think they went into a lot of details over why he didn't last but he did seem to suggest he knew the writing was on the wall and wanted to try different things to stand out if he'd stayed - for instance, he wanted to grow a beard. The most interesting part was probably when he mentioned that in a scene where Roger hit Hart, he wanted to hit Roger right back, to show that he wasn't going to take it. Michael Zaslow didn't see the relationship that way and it didn't happen. (I think Marshall is right about how Hart would have reacted but given how degrading and awful that period was for Roger I can see why Michael didn't want to have Roger in that type of scene) There was a lot of talk about his attempts at getting his own TV and movie scripts made, and about helping Leonard Stabb (they showed a recent photo of Leonard - he seemed happy). And he mentioned, post-GL doing a lot of background work on other soaps like GH and Y&R (I think). I don't know if @slick jones has any of those listings or not.

I was dreaming about ATWT (which isn't that common for me) still being on and seeing Kathryn Hays performing a scene. When I woke up, I saw this news. Bill and Susan had a love story that beat most that hit the big or small screen and took viewers along for the ride. Yet somehow, they managed to navigate this crazy balance for all this time. I don't know how they did it, but I'm glad they found each other and that they were willing to continue to be a part of the show even after being seen as past it by the show and network they'd helped define. It was still Doug and Julie, Julie and Doug, to the end...true love winning out in a brutal, cynical world, on and offcamera. 98 years is a triumph, but the biggest triumph of all may be that after Doug was seen as a part of the past, he not only returned, but was a cornerstone of DAYS, all the way to the end. I know there are some fans here who watched Bill for 50 years - even longer, given "Davy Crockett" and Your Show of Shows. My own time seeing him can't really begin to compare. Still, I have to thank Bill for being a bastion of everything that soaps should be - history, warmth, humor, and yes, a lot of drama - in an era that so often violently went against these instincts. It didn't matter what the show threw at Doug, even a serial killer or a demon - Bill made it real and made you care. And that is something that is almost impossible to replicate, no matter how graceful his work seemed. Thank you, Bill, and farewell.

https://www.wired.com/story/david-lynch-dune-sequel-script-unearthed/

On the one hand, I think it's a nice tribute...but to me it's always going to be Kelly's. At least now they don't have to worry about new viewers saying, "Who was Kelly???"

I can't imagine how tough it must be for Kristina Wagner to play that again having lost a child.