DRW50

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)

I posted this over in the Shortland Street recently, just wanted to post something different in this type of thread rather than the usual few clips I might have tried to look for, and also because I wanted to try to say something positive about the desolate landscape of current soaps. A deeply disturbed man became obsessed with a nurse, and began to think he needed to get her wife (the woman in this clip) out of the way. He was also a clown, outside of being a doctor, which leads to this incredibly disturbing clown mask visual. Their scenes are in the last minute. It has - even if it's not as good - a bit of that Slesar vibe to it. For a Y&R moment, since @BetterForgotten posted one - I don't know what the visual was like, but the audio of Katherine stabbing Suzanne Lynch and the screaming and screaming really freaks me the hell out.

Sorry, I forgot that was still Tomlin - I think I have so many awful images of Mitch's 2003 run in my head.

To piggyback on what @Vee said, I found a lot of Malone's OLTL return to be grimy and unpleasant to watch. I haven't seen it since first airing but I remember being very disturbed by a scene where that retcon mother of Antonio's (poor Saundra Santiago) fell on a shard of her broken water glass, and died.

The idea of all these girls training for most of their lives, permanently injuring themselves for this moment of glory, only to be told that they won't get to be honored, and to basically get over it - it truly sums up how soul-crushing and beyond repair this event has become. Not to mention the blatant underscoring of many in order to get the desired outcome for Russia. This is a good way to tell all those millions of viewers who have left the Olympics behind that they should never look back.

In the '80s and '90s, O'Rourke used to make the rounds as a "thoughtful" and "comedic" conservative. I have no idea what he was up to in recent years. I hope he is at peace.

Rinna is also going after Kathy Hilton for being at Trump's Super Bowl party. There is a clip going around of her praising Trump, which is being used to point out her hypocrisy. The clip is from 2013, which was post-birther. I would imagine most people aren't surprised at her hypocrisy (if Trump invited her to his party I wouldn't be surprised if she went...if he paid the airfare, anyway), and are just glad for some righteous moment, but really, if people were expecting more of Kathy Hilton they don't know a lot about that family or about rich people in general. I do wonder how much Bravo would want Rinna to draw attention to Trump support, considering how many Housewives are Trump supporters, and considering what a negative response the last NY season got for political/social debate. I am also seeing that Harry Hamlin is, as he has never stopped doing for what seems like 30 years now, claiming that playing a gay man in Making Love ruined his career. Hamlin could never act, and had a brief burst of fame because he looked gorgeous in the late '70s and early '80s. He had a big TV comeback only 4-5 years later, and was luckier than many more talented, better looking performers of his generation. He has been dining out on that story longer than many people have been alive. Give it up already.

I used to feel this way, sometimes I still do, but not as much in the last 4-5 years. It's why I stopped watching Big Brother (or one of the reasons). Then there are shows like Newsradio, which people have repeatedly told me I should watch because it's so good, yet it has Joe Rogan, and also Andy Dick, who helped to kill one of my favorite actors. So it's tough.

There is a Frasier revival on the way, which is probably one of the reasons this gained traction.

Whenever I think of Shannen and 90210 I end up thinking of when she hosted SNL in her last season with the show. SNL was probably at an all time low at that point in how women were treated, and had a toxic backstage atmosphere, yet there is no real distance in the goodnights - she could have just been faking of course, but she really seems to have enjoyed her time, and she has a big bear hug with Chris Farley that makes me feel a bit sad now. It makes me wonder if the 90210 set was so awful for her by that point she was just thrilled at the escape. (if you want to see it you can find it on Archive - it is, of course, very 1993)

The old boys network is too afraid to take a risk. The next GOP President, especially if it is a pig like DeSantis, will not be afraid - and the media will back him up all the way. I hope Merrick Garland keeps that in mind, but who am I kidding? The worship of Mueller, partially driven by grifters who made money off picture books and other merchandise, was shameful, even if many of those who decry it most are hypocrites who never talk about their own incredibly embarrassing idolization of Bernie, or his money-grubbing sidekicks like David Sirota (now an Oscar nominee, ridiculously) and Nina Turner. @Toups sorry to hear about the trucker situation still going on and on. Here, Rand Paul recently called for truckers to disrupt the Super Bowl. So much for caring about the economy or the supply chain...not that it ever matters, Republicans do and say what they want and no one cares. Speaking of no one caring, people are upset today over photos of Kelsey Grammer at Mar a lago. I wonder how many will still be watching Frasier. I never did watch Frasier, something has always put me off about Grammer anyway, so no loss for me.

An oral history of the "please tell me that is not your penis" phenom: https://thespinoff.co.nz/tv/13-02-2022/the-oral-history-of-please-tell-me-that-is-not-your-penis

I'm still not sure why they wrote Boyd out, unless it was the actor's choice, or a salary issue. The lack of interviews just makes it all confusing when people leave. I do agree that a lot of the people who are only on for a brief time were not leaving by choice (like Wai, Marty's girlfriend for about two months, Karl, Tess' boyfriend for a few months, etc.) but I think Tom was showcased enough and relatively popular enough to where they would have kept him if he didn't want to go. I felt like the whole drug story and Louis dropping out of nursing was a surefire setup for an exit - maybe the actor changed his mind. I guess we'll never know...

My guess is that the actor only ever signed up for a limited stint (as so many do with this show, it seems - I notice Francesca is also on her way out) and the original plans for him were going to be more nefarious - beyond his truly vile treatment of Rico and Jack, there was also the toxic bond with Maeve, and the way he treated Tess early on. Tess and Maeve were both involved in the Carla story...if the plans were to have him in Vincent's role (as it's not like that character ever had any depth beyond plot device) on his way out, I wouldn't be too shocked. Then the actors who played Prince and Tess left, with the latter presumably agreeing to stay to finish out Tess' story. So we had more of a traditional love story and tragic wedding. I thought it was kind of clever that Tom, who started out as a liar and schemer, now reformed, sees through the incoming liar and schemer in Jack's life, but yes, it did give an unintended false impression about how long Tom would be there. Regarding Dawn, I assume she is still there mostly because the actress is happy to stay put, but I do feel like she has been showing her age (not physically) of late. The filler story with the vet she used for sex after accidentally pushing him down the stairs ( @Bright Eyes I'm sure you would have loved that one...) was just plain bad, and made her look really bad. And now she is with Louis, which just seems like they don't know what to do with either character (and I'm not even sure how long he will be around as the actor has mentioned wanting to leave for law school), unless she is actually into women, like, as you mention, seemingly every other woman on the show now? I know women are generally more sexually diverse than men, but at this point it just feels like what they do when they run out of story. Look at Leanne - we see her partner, what, six times a year, even though as Maeve's mother she should have more involvement? Why don't they ever have a surprise and have Marty or Louis into guys? Marty/Jack would be more believable than many of the current relationships...