DRW50

Last year was a huge mess. The Chris story had some promise but was quickly undermined by revealing that the POC who were against him staying on were actually on an anti-white campaign (this got dropped VERY fast). The most interesting part of this story was when Raj, one of the board members, began an affair with Jack even as his wife was having a mental breakdown. Raj was one of the few men Jack ever had chemistry with. This could have run for many months. Instead, it was over almost immediately. Tracking the story choices with Rahu, who went from Esther, to Jack having feelings for him, to TK's sister, to TK's daughter, to Nicole...and now, absolutely nothing for ages. A year and a half later I'm also not sure what to say about choices like bringing in Maeve's ex-girlfriend just to throw herself at Dawn. The Brightshine material at the start of this year left the show in such a depressing, unwatchable place. Things have improved since then - the stories don't seem made up as they go along or abandoned halfway through now, and Harry is one of the best recasts/additions the show has had in years - but from what you've said, I do wonder if it's too late. I hope not.

Thanks @jam6242 . Wish I could see some of her Somerset work.

Thanks. That makes sense, I guess, as it does kind of tie into her later being hypnotized when she's being stalked several months later.

The Chris character did seem very overwrought, which made the weaving in and out of how much we were meant to see her as sincere or a psycho more confusing. I think the actress wasn't a good fit. I remember the strike material as being decent, with the character beats you mention. The most blatant filler was the Cass/Nicole ghosts stuff. I'm trying to remember if they were still in strike mode when we got to stuff like Felicia going to Vegas and being hypnotized. I also remember some very padded musical performances that were probably strike-related but still enjoyable, like the DIrty Dancing dancers.

Thanks for sharing some of your memories. I keep meaning to watch some of the old stuff if any has avoided being taken down. Curtis made brief appearances on the show off and on in 2021, secretly visiting Esther, the final time when he learned she was pregnant with their child. He was doing undercover work in a gang. He met his fate in a "summer series", Retribution, where Jack and Esther got caught up in the whole thing. He was involved with Steph, the gang leader's daughter. There were various betrayals, the biggest being that Curtis was unaware Hamish, another cop, was on the take. Curtis only got to briefly be with Esther and their newborn daughter before Hamish arranged for him to be gunned down. The Steph and Hamish stories played out on the main show for a few months - Hamish got romantically involved with Jack, but then Steph (after being beaten up due to deciding to leave the gang life) arrived, and Hamish's dirty deeds (including killing his partner, who had been on the show years earlier as another character - Nurse Awhina Broughton) came to roost. Jack had to choose between killing him in revenge and letting the police have him - he chose the latter. Steph returned again later on as she had decided to become a nurse. She and Esther mended fences as they realized they had both loved Curtis (just different versions of him). It took longer for Jack to get over his disgust for her and her family (as her father had killed Curtis with the gun Hamish had given him), but he finally did. The woman who played Steph was a great actress - I wish she'd stayed around. Before Jack left the show (again) earlier this year, his last story was being prejudiced towards a man covered in tattoos, due to his past gang experiences through Curtis. The man revealed that his life had been ruined, and most of his family killed, thanks to the gang life, and he had been trying to make a better life for himself and his wife and kids. Jack finally saw the error of his ways. Here's the last moment for Curtis:

https://www.indiewire.com/features/interviews/charles-burnett-interview-my-brothers-wedding-1234897039/ @Vee Not a new discovery, but a very interesting article anyway.

I thought Luke Macfarlane said he was done with Hallmark movies. I guess at least gets to play gay now, and isn't working with Billy Eichner. I hope Candace Cameron is stuck on a flight that is playing this movie on a loop for 12 hours.

Genie has said it was not her choice to leave - she considers her AMC run some of her very best. (I would...not agree, but then I'm not a huge fan anyway)

DeSantis is letting his inner bitch out more and more! Don't hold back, Ronnie...we see you and we know you!

For any of the other Roseanne/Conners fans here.

@Bright Eyes I forgot to mention that Mo Hannah, Sarah Potts and TK's wife Roimata appeared in the "go into the light" scenes, if you want to see them again. The episode date was June 23.

I don't want to link to the Sun, but they are claiming Matthew Wolfenden (David) is leaving, due to "lack of gritty storylines." David was a favorite character of mine many years ago, but not in recent times, especially with the rumors that went around a few years ago. I am mostly just sorry over what this might mean for Eric's role on the canvas, and maybe Leyla. Otherwise, bye. And @I Am A Swede can chalk this up as a win too as it makes Debbie returning even less likely.

The few times Krista returned she did seem to make Rick a bit more fun again (without just Michael O'Leary mugging). Considering how definitive Kim Simms was for me as Mindy, I was impressed with how much Krista managed to still find the old character she had played 15-20 years earlier - she never felt forced or tryhard.

Wasn't April just a tortured heroine for her first few years on the show? Then they got to the story about her mother.

I think so. They are or were setting up a story where his wife CeCe is tempted to cheat with a young intern.

Now just Esther (although she has her moments) and Viliami's horrific sister! I don't really know what is going on with TK these days. He dominated story in 2022, with cancer, an affair, and learning that his father was some billionaire (his father died just as TK was going to try to meet him - he then left TK much of his business and holdings, including the hospital as it was on the land of TK's people). Other than the cancer, almost all of his was dropped, with little to no mention, in 2023 (I was shocked they even remembered his annoying half-sister brought in for a while last year), and instead they just kept having stories about TK going back to his old land, returning, leaving again, and then finally he was going to leave again for a new job via David Kearney. Before he could, he was gunned down, and had one of those soap "go into the light" sequences. He is now paralyzed, and I guess has left again for treatment.

Thanks @Paul Raven That "servant problem" section makes you clench your teeth. Milette always does seem so regal and intelligent to me, even in an era with more thoughtful soap acting. Glad to see this was a common view. Her home life sounds like a headache - I'm not surprised that marriage did not last much longer.

This is a special Martin Short did in 1995 - probably a lot of thrown together unaired bits from his short-lived sketch show (only lasted three episodes). At the start of this, before a middling Models Inc. parody, there's an intro where Martin talks about Guiding Light, claiming the soundstage he's on was where GL originated, and even mentioning how much he loved Papa Bauer. I doubt he grew up watching GL (although maybe it was popular in Canada, I don't know), and this obviously wasn't GL's soundstage (and he says the show had been taping there for 30 years, which isn't possible as the studio is in Hollywood). Some writer probably just knew GL and Papa Bauer so he went with it. Still, it was nice to hear GL mentioned, and in a respectful way. Considering at the time this aired GL was thisclose to being canceled, the nostalgia is especially timely. And you get to see the divine Jan Hooks doing a Faye Dunaway routine that goes into a few different parts of this special.

That seems to be the case - I think for the interview she was just talking a lot about her early days knowing Andrea, and the world Andrea was a part of that Fiona wasn't yet. She also talked a bit about Andrea's funeral and how wonderful Andrea's husband was. I may have missed some of the other recollections as I came in late. There's another interesting part near the end where she talks about how after being invited to see a play at the school where her kids were going, she was further invited to whip the theater department into shape as she thought it was dreadful.

I missed some of the start but they didn't really talk in the part I watched about her second run, just her first and her time at GL. She did say Gabrielle was her favorite character of the two because she was Gabrielle during such important times in her life. She also said that after she left OLTL the first time she would have to not cry around 1 and 2 PM each day because mentally she was trained to cry and cry while playing Gabrielle. When she went to GL she wanted to make sure she played a character who didn't cry (that didn't end up happening...). She also talked a bit about just what it was like interacting with Andrea when she joined OLTL, as Andrea was a star and she was not. She mentioned Andrea not really wanting to share too much with her, and also not wanting to go and eat with her, as Andrea was in her own world and had an entourage (which Fiona teased her about a bit), but she did say that she learned a lot from Andrea about acting on the soap, about how you and the writers will eventually find the rhythms for your character, etc.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/17/ron-desantis-republican-debate-memos-presidential-campaign Some of the DeSantis boosters are claiming this is some clever psyop to trick his opponents into thinking this is his real debate plan. Considering how consistently stupid his campaign people are, I have my doubts.

God bless America... https://www.dailydot.com/debug/oliver-anthony-9-11/

I think after that point Frank worked fine enough in a support role. Buzz was such a flighty character, I never really believed him in a parental role anyway.

No.