DRW50

I think she would have been in the way for much of the early-to-mid '80s, but by the late '80s, when Val and Gary were clearly out of stories, and the show was not really as full of strong dramatic performers (instead having people who were charismatic but not as knockout in the dramatic realm), I would have seriously considered having her appear on Knots again. The ludicrous story with Valene going nuts would have been more heartfelt and less camporama if she had gone back to being younger (mentally) and Lucy was there to spend time with someone who saw her as a peer rather than a daughter.

It's not that uncommon, and I prefer this to the de-aging freakish CGI of today. Joan being in the part adds a certain level of continuity. Seeing that clip again reminds me of why I never bought how quickly Valene accepted Lillimae back into her life.

To the surprise of no one, the loathsome Greg Abbott is using the Uvalde tragedy as justification to terrorize schools even more than before.

I saw this going around a week or two ago:

@Vee This is the first episode of Knots I ever saw, so I am thrilled to read your review. This is also my strongest memory of anything with Jessica Walter. That ridiculous fashion show is the type of camp nonsense I miss with soaps (partly because the show was still low-budget enough at that point for it to work as cheese rather than the more tedious Dynasty posing). I agree that the part about her envying Karen's having kids was trite. Knots did keep up the thread for a number of years that Abby genuinely cared about Sid's children, which I appreciated.

These are the deadenders and grifters who call these futile gestures, then get upset when Biden does not play along with futile gestures by having his people go on talk shows to say platitudes about gun control that no one believes will happen. They decry identity politics while only caring about identity politics. Just worthless figures who dominate so much of the online and media discourse and can barely hide their glee at Democratic losses or Republican wins.

The strange part about Slesar not being asked to adapt with the times is I think he did try to adapt with the times. His EON became markedly more youth-oriented, which he made work as best he could; even when P&G went to the extreme of dumping their beloved police chief and replacing him with a sweet piece of ass (which is something a lot of the other soaps did not do for quite a while, if ever), he managed to make that work. He even tried to go along with the "adventure in a foreign land" trend of early '80s soaps, even if that didn't really work out.

A look at the pretty rough sitcom Henderson Forsythe did around the time he was phasing out of ATWT.

Ranking of 30 years of Shortland Street. https://thespinoff.co.nz/tv/27-05-2022/all-30-years-of-shortland-street-ranked

I was going to ask if there'd been any complaints but I'm not sure if Shortland Street has as much impact in NZ now compared to past years?

You won't have heard about it, because it wasn't high on the list of national priorities (I had forgotten this was even happening), but longtime media darling George P Bush, whom we were told over and over would be the first Latino President, lost in a landslide in his attempt at running for Texas attorney general. Like all the Bushes, he is a homophobe (promising to defend marriage if elected), has the charisma of a dead tree, and is craven to the core (cozying up to Trump over his own father), but he did not have the timing, luck, or connections to pull it off. Good riddance to bad trash. https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/24/texas-attorney-general-runoff-results-ken-paxton-george-p-bush/

I actually think this is a timely and interesting topic. The truth is when you are rich and powerful, and involved with your co-workers, there is going to be some inappropriate behavior in terms of power imbalance. And I get the feeling that his relationship with Zoe repulsed many viewers at the time. With that said, I do think the choice to have this become about a Maori woman wanting to cast out all the white devils is in very poor taste, and feels oddly tone deaf for the show. Anyway, thank you and thank you to @Bright Eyes and @Dion who have both done a lot to help introduce me to the show on here and talk about it over the years. I hope you are enjoying it. And if you have any sway with the producers, can you please bring Boyd back and ship Desi off in his place? Or just ship Desi off...I'm not choosy.

Trump has never been as influential in primaries as he's made out to be. It's that the media obsesses over any endorsement he makes. Speaking of Georgia, Lucy McBath, who beat a truly brain dead Republican hack (Karen Handel) for a swing district in 2018, was put into another district and won her primary tonight against a fellow Congresswoman. She ran for office due to losing her son to gun violence, so today must be all the bitter and none of the sweet.

It's that time again. (this whitewash was written by the equally talentless grifter sister of Bari Weiss).

@Vee amazing writeup - I especially love the details about Abby's house. I was never that thrilled with most of Lillimae's writing in her years as a regular compared to her guest shot, with the exception of two story arcs, but Julie was always at her best.

Rosemary is terrific on here - while I appreciate the array of old Hollywood names who pop up once the show became a hit, I miss the early seasons having so many soap figures in rich support roles. I have never really gotten John Considine's appeal, but I blame that partly on how much I hated his AW character.

If you want to keep doing long thoughts on each episode, that's fine with me. These first few seasons are so different week to week and also very different to how streamlined the show is going to get around season 4 or 5, so this is the best chance to explore these thoughts. I had totally forgotten about this episode so appreciate the recap. Steve Shaw was never much of an actor, but to me he was the soul of the Fairgate family. Once he leaves that setup becomes more and more ossified and Karen becomes more and more of a caricature. I was always much more drawn to Val's friendship with Laura, which we don't get as much of. Karen and Val are...fine, but also tends to veer on forced.