DRW50

Thank you @slick jones and thank you again for everything you do here with such vital information. 2022 was a very rocky year for me, and 2023 isn't likely to be different, so I'm glad I still have this place to come to and friends to talk with. Any time there's a new discovery of a soap classic, rare as that is, I'm reminded of the importance of having a place to share it and talk about it. I hope you have a safe and happy NYD, and may 2023 be the year you deserve.

Great find @kalbir , although I need some time to heal after seeing Michele Lee try to act sexy.

I never forgave ATWT, or Katie, for the retcon that Lyla neglected her and forced her to participate in child pageants.

The episode where Bert's death is announced. I wonder how viewers at the time felt, with the focus going to an Ed who had been on the show for a year and a half and had barely interacted with Bert. Ellen Dolan tries, and RVV does as well, but these scenes should have involved characters like Meta, Hope or Mike. Even odder is this feels like a C-story in the episode. No matter how pretty John Bolger looked in eyeshadow, it's not exactly the main priority.

I assume this was around before, but in case it isn't now: @SFK @Joseph @Nancy L @victoria foxton@Soapsuds @slick jones

I wondered that too. Probably, but I still think they could do something funny and also respectful.

However you feel about her, Barbara certainly changed the game for women in journalism, and was very intelligent at reintroducing herself to generations of viewers over a 60 year career in front of the camera. Rest in peace. I had wondered if we'd get another big celebrity passing before the year ended.

I wish Carol's main years were available to watch, especially her early relationship with Tom. She was vitally important to transitioning ATWT to a new era and in keeping viewers there when the rockiness of Irna's last years alienated many core fans (of course Irna had brought Carol back to the show in the first place). She was the ingenue accepted by fans even as many attempts at the end of the '70s to try to usher in new ingenues never worked out, for one reason or another, and wouldn't until Meg Ryan basically took her place in Steve's life. I wonder if Steve was any more bearable with her than he was with Betsy. I know the P&G soaps have been off for many years by this point, and no one is getting any younger, but this year has had so many major losses, it's impacted me in a way most of these passings won't. I just wish there was enough of a respect for the soap genre that most of these people had had proper interviews while they were still with us. There is for horror movies, there is for porn movies, but soaps remained bottom of the rung culturally, and now we're paying the price.

Thanks @depboy

They seem to have chosen to leave the drama to the season premiere. I wonder why. The drama doesn't look fantastic anyway, but still, it would have been more of a finale. Anyway, Back to the Bay put out their fan poll for all time favorite characters. This was the first year they opened up voting to people who were not forum members, which apparently led to some real shifts. https://www.backtothebay.net/news/2022/12/23/home-and-aways-most-popular-character-2022-revealed/

It was saddening to see so many try to interpret this as glorious camp, or just say they didn't care because the actress was so bad anyway. The idea that Janine would be so neglectful and abusive toward her child goes against so much of what the character should have been. But she was a meme to the current EE, not a character, as shown in the incredibly poor scenes today where Martin was talking like a stan account about how she would be back and they would film a documentary on her.

Sad to say, I have hit my endpoint with Janine, I think. Charlie just doesn't seem to know the character anymore. You could feel it in that Christmas episode. She has moved on, and likely never would have returned if not for the pandemic. The last episode was fine, very strong even, up to the point she went back to the house. Janine would have just left Walford when Linda gave her the out. They wanted to overload the whole Janine/Scarlett dynamic one last time, which didn't even work, because the girl who plays Scarlett can't act. Ricky lashing out at her also felt unearned because we have barely seen their relationship in his return. The whole Mick/Janine story really hollowed her out, and they also made her relationship with Frank into a bad joke, which is something it's going to take me a long time to forgive as a fan.

Disgusting.

Yes. The main problem with EE of recent years is they so often go with what sounds iconic on paper, but poorly translates onscreen. Everything with Mick and Janine was exactly that. Not helped by the actors taking many, many breaks and the show accommodating this because everything has to be stalled out for Christmas.

Our first Christmas without Jerry ver Dorn. I can hear him saying, "From our family to yours..." right now. One last smile before we close out the day. We miss you, Jerry.

It's not really the same now for Christmas greetings without the status updates, but I still wanted to say it while I have a chance.

They did, yes. Much too rushed.

Another example of EW going far down the crapper.