DRW50

That's great to hear.

It definitely does - there was already something profoundly sad to me about their 1984 material as it is, and especially now...

@dc11786 Thanks. I didn't know much about Jeff's family. I agree this Richard (a bit of a detached player) is more dramatically sound than a psycho obsessed with Trisha. I think you're right about the Minnie and Kate scene. It's fun but it feels very loose for the show. @Kane Thanks for that promo. It's too bad how they wasted Rick in the long run. Was he even mentioned in the Loving Murders? I knew that Gwyneth's father was a reverend but I didn't know he was so old. That makes a lot of sense, somehow. Seeing Tudor play herself in (gauzy) flashbacks reminds me of how much younger than the role she apparently was.

https://deadline.com/2022/07/jak-knight-dead-stand-up-comic-from-peacocks-bust-down-was-28-1235065080/

Fun Jeopardy ads at the start and end.

He'll always have Nate Silver...

Fun interview with Michael Corbett and Maree Cheatham. He says - without naming names - that one time a performer on RH went nude in a bedroom scene. I have my guess...

Always rare to see Bobbie Wygant interviews with soap actors. Maree is a hoot here.

More of the bin-lining Washington Post arguing that if we just hate persecuted groups a little more, then everything will be all right. Zakaria has a very defensive response afterward. I'm so sick of the dishonesty of media hacks and pundits. We have been here before. The media complex that lives and breathes based on right wing propaganda is never going to be satisfied.

Bruenig also wrote an embarrassing piece about how now Republicans can help mothers and babies, when any idiot knows that isn't going to happen. She tried to make another of her "cute" tweets about how pro-life figures can now care about the death penalty, only to be roasted by them, pointing out she has done nothing to help their cause (which is true in the long run as all she and her pig husband care about is their own brand). The dead end left and men who want to [!@#$%^&*] her will still be there for her, and I imagine centrist/right laundering sites like The Atlantic still will, but as someone who is so desperate to be loved and in need of constant engagement and support, Dobbs was a certain line in the sand moment. Dave Weigel and other Washington Post personnel who turned a blind eye over Trump's friendliness and monetary ties to Saudi Arabia are now SHOCKED over Biden. And other loathsome figures like [!@#$%^&*]-eating Brian Stelter, retweeting "gotcha" embarrassments like these: I have my criticisms of Biden, they are some of the reasons why I would have preferred another primary choice, but the absolute loathing the Beltway media and the "respectable" "reasonable" figures like Chait and that ilk have for him is palpable. It turns my stomach.

Everything with Manchin is why I pretty much gave up last year on any real progress being made. All he cares about is publicity and the checks he gets from the right and big business. I know many politicians and many progressives gave him a chance, and another chance, and yet another chance, but I think everyone has pretty much thrown in the towel now. He does not care and he never will. I see that David Hogg is now using old William F Buckley lines (yes I got that from Twitter, I won't lie) in his further lurch to enabling and supporting the right: The next time you see him or similar figures begging for cash for their causes, show him this.

Some neat promos where the actors play out recap scenes as their characters. I'd never seen these before. Then they move to more generic bits with actors saying to watch the show. Michael O'Leary was so handsome in this period.

I was mostly talking about Kamala's first stories being so tied to her being a Carol fangirl.

There's also a lot of "They ruined/rewrote too much of her origin and made it so confusing!" but I wonder how many viewers care about any of that. There are a lot of questionable optics in tying her so closely to Carol Danvers so if they have moved her away from this in her origin it probably isn't a bad thing.

RIP Ivana Trump. Here is her cameo on OLTL.

I know there was a podcast interview 7-8 years ago, but not much else.

That's Constance, yes. I've seen that clip before, but Judith Barcroft is just luminous. It's sad to think she then spent the '80s in various fill-in or brief character parts, slowly moving down to bit parts.

There was a lot of anger over this on Twitter, although I tend to agree with those who felt people who hate Kevin Feige/the MCU were just claiming to care about the Inhumans as an excuse.

I read the whole BS display earlier about the 10-year old. The whole right wing echo chamber jumped, likely because they knew this could be used to shut down the many valid and horrible cases we're going to be seeing. What disgusts me is, as you mentioned, a "respectable" media publication jumping onboard. I have long thought Washington Post gets too much of a pass compared to New York Times, as they have so many callous people working there, like ex-Tucker hanger-on Ashley Parker, always eager to jump on the latest Biden hit piece (like the Jill Biden taco story). The same people at both papers who loved to pat themselves on the back for their bravery in the Trump years (all while whitewashing Trump and his sycophants at every turn) are desperate to brainwash the public to move further right on lgbt issues, abortion, etc. I'm too past cynicism to pretend it won't work, but at least these trash outlets don't have the influence they did 20 years ago. Not that public opinion even seems to matter anymore. It's all about what an elite lies to themselves about to get through the night.

Sorry, I was not implying she was poor in all her later HW work. I just meant the criticism she and her writing partner got when they were briefly back at ATWT.

Thanks. I forgot about how close she was to Reginald. I find him so repulsive - he's a big reason why I struggle watching a lot of 86-87. I also don't believe he would have really left Vicky his money, I think he would have just cut the whole family dead, but I do give the show credit for never having Vicky lose the money, which I hate and is so common on soaps. Lau just seemed so ill-at-ease on AW, lacking chemistry with anyone, family or love interest.

Sorry to hear about Jessica Klein. Her brief 1997 co-headwriting run was not well-received, but given that no other headwriters at that point were any better received, I'm not sure how much is on her. Her work on ATWT in 84-85 is very underrated, and Marland and Calhoun could not have turned the show around without the efforts Klein, Bedsow Horgan, etc. made, especially in cleaning up how grim and unpleasant the show can feel in the early '80s.

@Vee So great to see your recaps back. With Greg's arrival and Lotus Point on the horizon we're heading into the show's most consistent and strongest years. I appreciate all the nuance you give the characters, even more than I gave them credit for while watching. A few months ago I saw a video talking about the slap scene and comparing it to Will Smith, saying it would not be aired today, etc. All I could think was how much more misogynist a great deal of the TV landscape (and all of soaps) now is compared to Knots at this time. The scene was high, delirious camp, but also served the purpose of showing how even the most innocent of the family (along with Michael) could no longer accept what Diana had become. It means much more when watching the entire show than it does just that one scene.

David Cowgill went on to give a very touching performance in a recurring role on Y&R for a year or two - he was probably more successful on daytime than she was. Weird how things go. Rhonda does seem a bit more in focus here than she was on AW. I wonder if the huge mess the show was at that point and having no one she could really lean on (as she just had Michael and yet another Jamie recast) hurt her.