DRW50

They're trying - some were trying to push for one during the Super Bowl. I think they will soon enough. My guess is for right now they're scared, especially with the amount of guns in America.

They want to do the same thing in the US. It's also a way to distract and whatabout from issues they need to spin, and are in many cases are well-paid to spin - for instance, the accounts telling people not to criticize Putin because Trudeau is worse.

You can feel the antipathy that the Lechowicks seemed to have for Valene, although I think that peaks with the awful Danny Woleska storyline.

Nolan North had a cameo in the new Uncharted movie. Nolan is of course beloved as a voice artist in games, and voiced Nathan Drake for years.

I'd never seen this before - Angela Lansbury accepting an Oscar for Dame Peggy Ashcroft.

Sorry - it's this one: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Shadows-Kathryn-Leigh-Scott/dp/0938817663 The book says a lot that hardcore fans would already know, but does have an interesting look at the plans for the aborted WB series and just how it went wrong. The other material worth reading is KLS and Lara Parker writing about their experiences with the Burton movie, and Parker obliquely calling Helena Botham Carter two-faced...

I should try to watch but a part of me has always been hesitant, especially after reading the 2012 book describe the big Angelique and Victoria scene as something from SNL. In my heart DS is always going to be the original show, even as I do want the series to still live on too.

The writing for Cassie under Laura's watch was often a mess, from early on - when I watch some of her Gottlieb-era material from 1991 she is ALWAYS about to have a breakdown. I can't imagine how draining that was to play. I think that's another reason JFP assumed she could just write the character out without fans caring (and of course it was also likely a way to get rid of Robin Strasser). I think Cassie had many valid reasons to be appalled by Dorian for Robin's first few years back in the role. After that, it started to feel forced. But this was a longrunning problem with the writing for the Cramer women, even after Cassie left. It's around 1995 that the writing starts to fall into a rut for Cassie again after a few cohesive years. And then having her leave Andrew for Kevin just, in the long run, weakened the character, although I assume if JFP had not come in, Andrew and Cassie would have reunited. I think that's a factor as well. I also think Rauch's horniness plays out onscreen, and I don't think a lot of viewers, who watched Cassie grow up under various actresses, felt comfortable with the more sexual take.

I think the most popular Cassie with fans was Ava Haddad, although Laura seemed to win people over, eventually. Holly Gagnier was the most sexual Cassie, by far. It's hard to imagine her paired with Bo though. I still cringe at the memory of Faux Bo and Tina.

Getting to really play Marley as a character (instead of just a bad wig constantly crying about wanting a baby) was a huge help. She always had such presence, as shown here, but getting to sink her teeth into such a difficult character (it's always harder to play nice characters) along with an increasingly complex Vicky was all she needed. Her work, especially with Eplin, Anna Stuart, PMV, and opposite herself, is just riveting, and a world away from the cliche soap acting that twin roles often have. Oh that's right. Yes, that makes a great deal of sense.

Jocelyn Seagrave also improved a great deal by the time she left Guiding Light. She was, by those last months, a delight to watch. Tammy Blanchard also came on leaps and bounds during her GL run. Anne Heche also improved tremendously as Vicky and Marley Hudson - just astonishing work.

Ari Zuker.

I was wondering - do any of you know if the final episode of Fridays, which Tony Geary was a special guest on in 1982, is around anywhere? The episode he was a guest on with Genie Francis is available, but the other is really hard to find.

The first thing they did when James returned was to reveal he and Lucinda had been lovers 30+ years earlier and she gave their child up for adoption, even though they very clearly met onscreen for the first time in 1986. Marland went to great lengths to kill James, and not in a wink wink way like Roger Thorpe. James had an autopsy, and I think we may have even seen him on the slab. And he was right to do so. I know that the job provided Anthony some comfort in his later years, but that's the only positive I can really say about the character being resurrected.

Yes, the show doesn't seem to have any real long-term story planning at the moment. The start of last year was setting up the Carla story, but there isn't much at present. The Hamish story doesn't affect enough people, and I'm not entirely sure what the other plots are right now...more Madonna drama...more Desi wedding drama (I'd rather watch a test pattern)...Maeve seems to be more and more unstable so maybe that will lead somewhere.

The talking points that are being prepared by the Beltway as, thanks to Manchin and Sinema, the elections have all but been conceded.

I thought that showed how little opinion TK has of Esther, that he assumes she will be all over a man right after her great love has died. The show has made a bit of a mess of Esther's character, in that during the time she was pining for great love Curtis, she was repeatedly having sex with Eddie, then began a fraught relationship with Marty that only stopped progressing further by his choice and also because she got pregnant with Curtis' baby. I really like Marty. I think he's the type of character the show needs in his age range, in that he has some traumas, but is still able to be light because he isn't constantly consumed by misery (like Jack) and also isn't put into one confusing, half-written story after another (like Louis). He's also one of the only male characters in his age range who has not left after about 6 months. The problem is they have just had him completely stalled out while they have been waiting on the Esther storyline. It's a waste, especially since at this point I don't think she is capable of being happy with one man.

I know they film this stuff well in advance, but Philece passed in July, so that must have been before this was put together? If so, how incredibly tasteless and sick. And Ron's sycophants are going to smear this [!@#$%^&*] all over their walls too, for us to smell the stench. This is either completely pointless, or, if they knew about Philece, completely tasteless.

When I first started watching Emmerdale, they had a cot death storyline. The moment was built up to through the episode as we saw a number of lovely moments with mother and son, and others who were close to the family. At this time Emmerdale had an hour-long episode a week, which they often used to layer material in a way that gave more impact to this type of moment. But beyond anything else - the community, the heart - it's Charlotte Bellamy, who played the mother (and is still on Emmerdale - she is one of the finest actors in soap), who absolutely wrecks me any time I watch this episode.

You're right. (I think that may also be why Alice got a relatively light punishment compared to some soap killers - she was in jail for part of a year then went back to working for the Webbers)

Now that Holly has been brought up, I would also add the rape scene with Roger and Holly - it genuinely makes you sick to watch. Zaslow's quiet, sure malice, and Garrett's numb terror makes it all feel so much more real than most rape scenes on soaps. @Khan the comment about Kim Lankford gave me a good laugh. I agree that the scene is disturbing - the slow build to us seeing Ciji's corpse is very effective. While we're talking about Knots, I have to add Linda Fairgate's murder - the blood dripping down the shoes. You would not think one scene could kill off a 13-year old soap, but that did it. (I would also add Maggie's death on Falcon Crest, which absolutely traumatized me as a child, but honestly, Falcon Crest was already dead anyway)