DRW50

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John Bowe, who was a fine (if hammy) soap actor, now seems to be steadily going off the deep end (I remember he and I believe Kelvin Fletcher used to post right wing material on Twitter but Kelvin stopped).

I'm glad Tony has done well since he exited Emmerdale. They made a big mistake getting rid of Archie.

I know. I just wanted to ask Ben as he has much more of a history with these shows than we do.

It's good to see you here @Ben if in such sad circumstances. I hope there's some chance to save the show. What kind of situation is Home and Away in? I know it was better rated in Australia but I'm not as sure these days.

From what people in the replies said, that was about their 2007 deal.

There's a huge international effort to try to duplicate these rallies - in Australia, the Netherlands or Denmark (I think), among other places. It all feels astroturfed. Their antics have been disgusting - dancing on and urinating on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, putting far right slogans on the statue of Terry Fox, burning a Canadian flag to fly a Qanon flag in its place - but this is what the media sees as the ideal, as what "real" people do, unlike those damned elites.

She also lost out on a role on Hollyoaks due to her issues (she played it then was meant to return for a longer stint - instead, another character came on, very similar, to finish out the storyline). I don't think it helps that trash sites like Metro ran headlines claiming that EE "axed" Danniella by bringing back Kim, when that is just not the case. She was lucky to ever get to play the part again, to be honest. And I say that as someone who did like her in the part more often than not.

Kim played the role from 2002-2005, then when John Yorke had a big role at the BBC in the late '00s, he brought Danniella back and tried to make the character very tarty and ridiculous (which she had never really been to that degree before). Danniella was there for part of 2009, for a few parts of 2010, then returned briefly in 2016 for Peggy's funeral. Danniella's behavior was erratic enough in the '10s that I was surprised she was asked back in 2016. I wonder if that led her to think she would always get to come back if she wanted to do so. Most of Sam's time with her family was with Danniella - Kim was only on the show with Barbara Windsor for about half her run, and Steve McFadden was also gone for the last year and a half of her tenure. I sometimes wonder if that is why Danniella returned for those last few stints. I do feel bad for her, but she has been deeply unstable for a long, long time.

Unless he can bring a non-homophobic head writer along with this large audience, I'm not interested.

The delusion and defensiveness of MPK, SJP, and various writers is mind-numbing. So much patting themselves on the back for how controversial and brave they are - they knew people would hate their stories but did them anyway! People didn't hate their stories because they're garbage, they just can't accept change! The attempts at brainwashing viewers to accept the destruction of Miranda's character. And most shameless of all, dredging Kim Cattrall's name up for one more press round, going on and on about how THEY won't want her back on the show when SHE made it more than clear she was never going back. These people are just sad and have zero shame. I will never watch their work, and I will never go back and watch any of SATC.

Is this Tuc Watkins in the commercial around 8 and a half minutes?

I can only assume both characters were always meant to be short-term as the actors have worked a lot elsewhere, and that's what the actors wanted to sign up for. I still think that Tom was originally meant to be a much uglier character until the actors who played Prince and Tess quit and the show also knew that the Rico story was a bust with viewers. Now we have Jack with his brother's killer, which is just more misery. They never seem to want to let some of these characters develop. I'm in early December, the conclusion of the story with Vivian, Liam and Chris. The whole thing was very well-acted (especially Chris' fears he had Parkinson's), but I have no idea what to say about Liam attempting suicide and then blowing himself up in the space of about three episodes. The story with Tess is hard to watch, knowing how it ends. Probably one of the most depressing stories I can remember on a soap - an abuser murdering his partner and her daughter on said daughter's wedding day. It's well-acted, but I do wonder if this was the way to go. I find Jojo to be so unpleasant...and with Desi back, doing the same old things (how many times do we need to see her carrying about her wedding?), it's a stereo of entitled child-women.

I think that is partly down to how immaturely Amelia comes across onscreen. It's also why she has had almost no successful romantic partners in her run. They should just pair Robert with someone else. I don't remember him being a big chemistry magnet on GL but I'm sure he would be fine with, I don't, Phyllis I guess (she's still there, isn't she?).

If only Amelia had been as supportive of David Tom...

Wow. I never knew Couric outed him in such detail. I guess their relationship really did break down more than I had realized. It tells you his grip on power that her book never hurt him...

Thanks, @Vee . Oily and deceptive to the end. I imagine he will fall upwards, yet again. What a disgusting pig he has always been. I will always give him a great deal of the blame for foisting Trump onto this country. The Cuomo mess just keeps ridding us of dross.

Imagine treating co-stars that way, especially a young man coming in to a high-pressure situation with little experience. Pathetic ego-driven behavior that would not be tolerated in most performers. I mostly remember Garrett doing a lot of hamming and being very overhyped by a dying soap press that was desperate for "finds" (Filler Miller, Garrett, dull Wilson Bethel, and I remember some attempts at hysteria over Nathan Parsons too).

@Bright EyesI watch little HO these days but really appreciate your thorough writeup. You probably already know this, but David Tag said in an exit interview that he also had a hard time with Sylver's comments to Mercedes, and he and Jennifer tried to do what they could with them.

I believe the NYT also recently put out apologia for Rogan. Just another reason to detest them at every turn.