DRW50

I second that. I would love to hear his thoughts.

I think it's partly that her narrative purpose is to get reactions out of other characters, often very violent reactions, rather than nuanced writing, and partly down to Lisa Hartman just clicking this part after years (and for years after this) of ill-fitting roles. I think the main complexity of Ciji is that she challenges the idea of a woman wanting some independence and wanting a career through easy tropes - made to do so because of being widowed (Karen) or further pushed into a professional life by a failed marriage (Val) or scheming and grasping to be the bitch of the street (Abby). She is just raw ambition, finding her way in a world that's not really meant for her, and, similar to Laura, full of ambiguity, destined to make most people around her feel off guard by her presence because deep down they know they can never fully control or understand her..

@Vee Really happy to see your watch has resumed. Ciji/Laura is one of those relationships which I certainly think could have gone that way, in another era, anyway (I could see them trying this on a late '90s show...probably not very well). I tended to interpret the relationship as the fear that society and men tend to have toward a bond between women that is difficult to define. That is so much of the allure and tragedy of Ciji - she's a very complex figure in a world (and a show) that required more simplicity. The same struggle Laura had. Lisa's next role on Knots is, to me, much butcher than her run as Ciji, although I don't think that was intended...

@Skylover Thank you for sharing the writeups! Beautifully put together, detailed without seeming laborious. I always feel like I missed the better periods for characters like Libby and Lou...so many fans seemed to hate everything with Libby after her return. Interesting that Scott and Charlene weren't in there, but I totally understand why. I agree that I don't see H&A lasting to 2028, if any soap does (if any of us do). I hope 7 does genuinely support them. I sometimes wonder if H&A has more longevity in Australia because they have more stereotypically Australian roots (many beach shots, and Alf Roberts), but I can't say. I don't know if they ever considered it or not but I wish they'd brought Lance back to interact with Amy before the show ends.

Phyllis in that big hat reminds me of her getup when she crashed Phyllis and Paul's honeymoon. I didn't recognize Michael at first. I thought he was a coffee house musician who stopped in for a chat.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/17/business/media/sally-buzbee-washington-post.html A dive into the turmoil at WaPo.

On paper, I agree with you, but between the poor acting from Kim, my finding Michael repulsive after he helped cause Siobhan to miscarry, and being disappointed at Rae just existing for Kim drama, I could never get into it.

Yes, also where they booed Cornyn and attacked Dan Crenshaw and his staff (no tears left to cry on that front...). In past years people would say oh these are the extremists, not the people in power. That is far from the case now. They run everything. @JaneAusten talked above about the basic stupidity of voters that I've been thinking about ever since. I keep hoping they will not just welcome fascism because of gas prices and inflation, but it's hard to hope for anything beyond waking up in the morning.

A wonderful news item @DramatistDreamer. After trying to follow some of whatever the hell happened in France's elections today and after hearing about the virulent anti-gay push at the Texas Republican convention yesterday, I needed that pickup. Thanks.

@dc11786 I hadn't thought of it before but you are probably right - this does seem more like a story they would have done on one of their other shows (if any of that content was available for us to see).

Thanks @Skylover . I'd love to read your commentary. Last year I would have said H&A (which I hadn't really paid much attention to modern years of because I heard it was often just about the River Boys and crime) was in a better place than Neighbours, but this year, Neighbours has turned things around, due to choices like ending the throuple story and the evil Harlow story, and clearing out the Cannings (as whatever went on backstage with Colette cast a pall over her scenes). There are still some issues for me (I am...never going to be interested in Chloe's love life, and the Paul/Terese merry-go-round isn't to my taste either). but most of the show is in a good place - a strong cast, good returns (Glen) and new characters (Zara, Kiri, etc.), and the writing is very well-balanced and well-paced. I still like H&A well enough, but that's more down to a number of the core cast (like Roo, Marilyn, Palmer, Irene, etc.) and then a few others like Mac - the show is extremely aimless at present and is bleeding cast. I wrote up Logan's exit in the H&A thread if you want to take a gander. To be honest I think if you showed someone a new H&A episode and a new Neighbours episode, they'd think H&A was going off the air.

That's a great idea. I think if they had written Beth as being a real person and not as a constantly desperate schemer, she and Matt slowly falling for each other (and Matt wanting to "save" her as he originally did Vanessa) would have worked. Anyway, I saw that these two original versions of the '86-91 theme were uploaded. I always associate this with later characters so it's weird seeing way too much of, say, Calla Matthews. Or RVV Ed and Ellen Parker's Maureen - in my head they just didn't overlap. I do like that both work in John Bolger, who was model gorgeous enough to be well-suited to this type of intro.

Just got to Harley Bonner's exit in Australian pace (it took place around June 3rd and 6th), and boy can you tell it was abrupt. His character, Logan, due to legal and romantic problems, was becoming increasingly brusque in his job as head of the ER/ED. He was then shown in his office, making a phone call to the military (he'd been an army medic before coming to Summer Bay). The only other thing heard of him is a goodbye voicemail to his girlfriend. The main reason you can tell just how abrupt it was is that Logan had been set up for a clash with new paramedic Xander (who isn't much of an actor but is likeable and pretty, befitting a Hemsworth cousin), and then suddenly after he left, Xander starts clashing with the new head of ED...and you know he was hired in a rush because the guy playing him was schlubby and not a sweet piece of ass. The character was also fired from the hospital in two episodes time, detailed mostly through very expository phone calls between Xander and his sister Jasmine...followed by more expository scenes with Xander and John Palmer, rather than actually appearing in a scene with Jasmine. Jasmine is also leaving in the next few episodes...can't wait to see how messy that one will be!

I don't think Toyah was the problem. They just had no real interest in the character. She certainly wasn't the problem with Peter, who has been a dead character for over a decade now. The actor who played Imran was gorgeous and charismatic, but they never really wanted to do anything with Imran, as they do so often with Corrie (Ryan is another along these lines).

Welcome back! So glad they did that for you. If you want to share any of your thoughts on the final weeks feel free.

https://archive.org/details/wdsusoaps-541988

https://archive.org/details/wdsusoaps-541988

Two October 1993 episodes, with commercials. https://archive.org/details/vhs-11-days-of-our-lives

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTTjE3bwt2w The scenes with Mike, Nancy and Timmy were tremendously moving - and just to lighten the situation up a little, we got the extra playing Hallucination Josie (as Louise Shaffer was on Ryan's Hope by this point). Never seen Jayne's Nicole this early - it seems like they aged her up a little by the time of the episodes I have seen more of (summer '79 and on). I love everything with Raven, Steve, Kevin and Logan. The image of Raven and Kevin just sitting in their living room "catching up on reading" (today they would be looking at their phones or Tablets), Raven's flirty games with Logan (which remind me so much of how she was with Derek a few years later). The conversation between Logan and Steve felt so real, not at all leaden the way many soap talks can be. The actors and writers all tried so hard at Edge.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/12-year-old-granted-order-of-protection-against-ezra-miller I'm always wary of these types of stories because they can easily fall into right wing hysteria against queer people, but there has been something wrong with Ezra Miller for several years now and this just keeps getting worse. This latest allegation made my jaw drop. I don't know if any of my fellow David Lynch fans have read it or not but the whole thing reads like something that I could see popping up in Fire Walk With Me or season 3 of Twin Peaks...

Yes. Even Frazer Hines pushed back on that a few years ago on Twitter. I think the show is very rich in most of what I've seen of the '70s (I have not seen a lot, admittedly, but I imagine it was along the same lines), with everyday life, layered characters, laughter and tears, a believability. I would much rather watch this than anything on the current show.