DRW50

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/04/inside-the-new-right-where-peter-thiel-is-placing-his-biggest-bets

Tegan is one of my favorite Doctor Who companions of all time. Some people love to say all she did was moan, but she was actually extremely important in paving the way for the more complex companions of the revival series - we saw various members of her family (at least three, in three different stories) and we also saw a number of stories and key events through her eyes. She even learned to pilot the TARDIS (sort of). I knew there had been plans over the years to bring Ace back but I never thought we'd see Tegan again. I'm very torn about this, because I truly disliked Tegan's exit - it was forced, grimdark in all the ways that epitomize how detrimental Eric Saward was to the show, and felt too small and rushed for a character of Tegan's longevity. I never felt that should be her final moment on the show. I'd love to believe this can be a long-overdue chance to right that wrong. Yet, if she is returning just to be killed off, bait and fodder for a finale almost no one is invested in, then it will probably kill the last bit of good will I have left for modern Who. I desperately hope that isn't going to happen.

The Powers That Be is where I first saw Valerie, David, or John. I still have a vague memory of the theme song. One of the "different" types of sitcoms that NBC was trying at that time that I felt attached to (Grand was another, with the underrated Pamela Reed). When Rami hit it big a few years ago I watched one of the supercuts of all his scenes on War at Home. Michael Rapaport has long been offputting to me (even before he compared Kenya Moore to a gorilla), and the kid they played as the straight son Rami was friends with/in love with was a bit miscast, but once you get through all the cliches Rami's story was surprisingly watchable at times, mostly because of that weird crazy energy he brings and because they phased out some of the sillier earlier choices (like Rami lusting after both his friend and Michael's character). There was one episode later on where he and Michael had to do some kind of father/son performance together that I enjoyed - less frightening than Karen and Diana doing the same on Knots Landing, anyway. I watched Yes, Dear for several years at the time, because I did like the cast's chemistry together and I felt that it was an underdog, but the show ran too long and it was obvious the network kept trying to kill it but couldn't find anything better (the same would happen to that Oliver Hudson sitcom later in the decade). I remember one bizarre episode where they were living in the Big Brother house, which made you despair slightly at just how prominent reality TV had become at this time. Mike O'Malley was always my favorite actor on the show. He's done well for himself as a character actor and producer. https://www.avclub.com/mike-o-malley-on-testing-for-ron-swanson-and-being-the-1847495539 As for John Belushi, I do tend to prefer him as a dramatic actor. I think Twin Peaks and his pre-tapes on SNL are some of his best work. Here's a short film he did in 1980 around the time he was in Second City.

https://www.etonline.com/patricia-heatons-husband-david-hunt-accused-of-inappropriate-touching-by-carols-second-act-writer I think there may have been more too. Yes. Outlets like NYT, IIRC, proclaimed it as one of the best sitcoms of all time. I'm a contrarian too often and this just further pushed me away from the show, which I already thought had become unpleasant and unwatchable after 2-3 seasons, and hugely wasted some incredibly talented people like Doris Roberts and Peter Boyle. It has definitely faded into obscurity and aside from The Middle, no one from it seems to have gone on to much success. I saw more praise from people who thought Ray Romano looked like a DILF/GILF around the time of the Irishman press tour than I have for a lot of his work in recent years. Personally I just stick with my better memories of Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist...

I used to sometimes think I was letting my political biases cloud my view, but after hearing about her and her husband on her last sitcom, I don't anymore.

Bleh. One of many moments of the show I have blocked out. I always hated the men vs women episodes.

That makes the whole thing even worse. Julie deserved better. I did watch the montage at the end and it is very effective (I can see why one might think the scenes were filmed for the show as they have that feel to them). They tie into some of Linda's very valid complaints about the way Les Moonves treated women on CBS. I forgot to say, as I was skimming through this now to see Carol Burnett and Marilyn McCoo, I saw a part where the women expressed enjoyment at Ned Beatty "crawling around on all fours," "being tied to a tree," and "squealing like a pig." His character was raped in that film. When an episode that is meant to be about exploitation of women makes such a point of trivializing a man's rape then it just proves the point of so many MRA types out there who diminish the suffering women go through. A great example of why these shows are so impossible to rewatch, especially without the talented ladies (and Meshach Taylor) of Designing Women.

Wow! I tried watching this show at the time because I wanted Delta Burke to succeed and I always enjoyed Suzanne, but I couldn't make it past the first episode. I couldn't make it to the end of this one either. Naming characters Eric and Lyle for a Menendez brothers joke was bad enough, but the dialogue given to Delta was the last straw...once we got to "I don't like S&M, I like M&Ms," I stopped. Patricia Heaton is one of the most unlikeable actresses I've ever seen on television. I never knew Julie Hagerty and Valerie Mohaffey traded off in a role. I've spent decades thinking how similar they are.

What a pathetic embarrassment. Ron has done so much to set back gay representation in entertainment. Self-loathing gay men are a curse to the industry.

The whole story was tawdry and desperate. I don't even remember if Kimberly was of age. To almost immediately have Seneca lusting after her took the story to a place it could never recover from. She always felt very badly grafted onto the show to me.

A godawful human being loving a godawful story. What a surprise.

He's just trying to hide his assets. The worst part is so many still deify him and insist he was right on everything.

That was Gemma. Lachlan caused a car crash that killed his mother and grandfather. Later on he killed his friend, Graeme. It was that moment that made me finally stop watching Emmerdale on a regular basis.

The last I heard of Cox was a messy breakup with Jay Mohr...that and her plastic surgery issues.

I love this ad. @SFK @Khan you might enjoy it too.

I imagine Vanessa or Beverlee's Alex cutting Elon down to size, or Lucinda and Emily/Kirk/Connor vying over his business, or some big confrontation with Victor, Jill and Jack in Genoa City. Really though Elon Musk is like someone out of the mentally scarring last years of Passions.

I think the people who believe Musk is being backed by those who failed at making the many, many, many "alternatives to Twitter" viable and now want to rot away Twitter itself are right. Over and over these grifters and hatemongers made a show or announcing that they were leaving Twitter and never did, because they did not want to live in ghost towns. They will do what conservatives always do - destroy everything. Some people may be hyperbolic, but I do think a lot of Twitter users will leave if he takes over, just as many people abandoned tumblr when it made drastic changes in the late '10s.

Thanks. Considering that Ron clearly saw all of that as great fun, I am not surprised.

Another month, another post complaining about how unwatchable the Desi and Damo story is, and how it never, ever seems to change or take a pause. If the finale of this show is a nuke being dropped on the hospital, Desi would be the one survivor, still going on and on about her [!@#$%^&*] wedding.

Sometimes when I go around on Housewives Twitter, I see someone whose Twitter handle is named after Vicki's ex-husband, Donn. I believe they even have in their info that they are a parody. It cracks me up when people reply, incensed, assuming he is the real Donn.

I suppose that's true for many of the vets. I still cringe at some of Dobson's work in those years, before he improves a bit for the Jason story.

Seeing this again for the first time in years I am reminded of what tender, layered performances Donna Mills was still capable of giving by this point. Michele Lee is very up and down, which spoils the scene a tad.

I hope Greg Rikaart puts Patrika Darbo on his Christmas list for calling him a young man. Speaking of Leo, did Craig ever find out that Leo sexually harassed and assaulted his son-in-law?

Brad Pitt was a mega-star at this time. They were going to put his photo, rather than caring about accuracy.