DRW50

https://abc7.com/brad-johnson-actor-obituary-melrose-place/11923142/

Oh this isn't a pro-Oz post, he's absolutely a quack, but the media loves him, and loves Trump, so I will be surprised if he isn't all over TV giving his opinion on Fetterman's medical history.

Dave Weigel yet again trying to show us what an edgy edgy boy he is (he's 40 years old - not age-shaming, as I'm around there too, but I am not working at a "prestigious" paper which should mean some basic level of pulling back your endless shitposting) and then backtracking.

Was not expecting this. Kudos to Guy Pearce for being willing to return, and to Jason Herbison for thinking to ask him. https://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/neighbours/a40190862/neighbours-finale-guy-pearce-mike-young/

And he is likely running against a doctor who can easily use all this against him, with expertise no less. I hope all the people on the left who insisted Fetterman was the ideal candidate against Oz can help with a strategy session - oh wait, they want to lose, it makes them feel special. Never mind.

@Vee I haven't watched the episode yet, but the bits I've seen leading up are pure propaganda - characters going on about "Her Majesty" and how "family means everything" to her, and a very pointed choice to remove the portrait of Lady Di in the Queen Vic (the landlady is or until now was a huge fan of Diana's) replaced with one of HRH. It's obvious that the BBC, which is so cowed by the Tories at this point, mandated all of this.

I sound contrarian but I find myself far away from the opinions of many devoted fans, I'm sure. I skimmed a bit on Youtube just now but most of my opinion is from 15 or so years ago. I will say as an Abby fan I think it's a very important episode in keeping her as a nuanced figure, even if some might say it is not part of her overall narrative (and I don't turn a blind eye to thin material just because it has Abby in it - most of her material is dull as hell). I'm always glad to hear your thoughts on the incredibly compelling Richard/Laura relationship (Laura always has the most compelling relationships on the show, even if I think this hurt her in the end because it's much easier to watch or enjoy - or write - more cookie cutter material like what you increasingly get with Karen and Valene). It was around this time when I was finding my way into the show that I immediately connected with Laura...somewhere around this period is when we hear her talking about her mother and such. I do wonder if, as said above, Laura had a certain appeal to gay men, for a number of reasons - chief among them her never truly feeling like she belonged, no matter how much her financial or marital situation rose and fell. I like the Cricket story in that it calls back to Val and Lucy, something which should have been important to Val's narrative the whole time she was on Knots, but it's much closer to a generic early '80s plot, something you could find on Incredible Hulk or Little House with a few changes. Don Stroud I mostly just remember as being one of the first male celebs to pose naked in Playgirl. I just loved Stephen Macht's work on Knots and I wish he could have stayed much longer. Karen could have used him back in her life a few times to help puncture a certain bubble around the Fairgate house and her storylines and position on the show as the years passed.

Eerie, as Shadrach died in part from an accidental fall (into the river). Andy was a wonderful actor...Shadrach was a mess of a character, but Andy was so wonderful in heartbreaking moments like baby Daniel's death. One of the finest stories ever on the show.

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?