DRW50

I think 3 or so - maybe until he left TV Guide Canada. I mostly remember it because any time he would mention an actor in a column, if they had gotten one he would throw it in.

Yes, by the man himself (for several years), which makes the constant plugging of them in his columns even more hilarious. https://michaelfairmantv.com/oltls-takes-most-nods-in-soap-opera-spirit-award-nominations/2008/12/23/

There's an article on Politico today (I know most don't like the site so I won't link) with operatives just saying outright the CRT stuff is the new astroturf Tea Party to get Congress back. I guess with Obama not there they need to drum up insane racist hatred some other way. It's also being used as a smokescreen for this type of terror:

Melissa Archer and Jessica Morris.

Asexual?

I also meant the Twitter journalism pundits who had an outsized influence in 2016 and 2020 and still tend to now. This tweet probably sums them up (and your larger point):

I meant in terms of media coverage. They had little interest in Adams compared to Yang (or to others whose campaign flameouts and scandals got a lot of notice, like Morales or Stringer). Once the media gets a bit in its mouth, it will work nonstop to drive a candidate into the ground for clicks. Yang was a lousy candidate and ran a lousy campaign, but he also seemed to run afoul of a lot of media personalities and they spent months wearing him down.

Nellie Oleson and the Daytime Confidential hacks are one of the main reasons I posted a lot here early on. That's the main thing I choose to remember then by...that and sometimes I think of "Soap Opera Spirit award winner" and laugh.

Oh look, it's the can...sailing down the road...again. At least we have Chris Coons telling us how special bipartisanship makes him feel.

As @vetsoapfan might tell you, I'd say he's much more striking and charismatic onscreen.

I would say Rick #1 > Jeff > Rick #2 for hotness. Something about Richard Dean Anderson has always felt a bit cold to me.

Initially, until de Blasio got the momentum in the last weeks of the campaign. There was a lot of built-in animus toward Quinn for approving Bloomberg's third term. I remember some hot takes about how Yang was in a post-Trump world where negative media publicity doesn't matter. I'm not sure if that finally took a toll, or if his own gaffes did. His pro-Israel tweet seemed to be what really threw him off balance. Adams seemed to benefit from being able to wait and watch with all the attention going to Yang (or Stringer or Morales, etc.), as it meant so many weird comments and plans from him and mini-scandals hit too late to make a difference. Stuff like this feels like something from an SNL impersonation:

Thanks.

This was amplified by Politico. What is not mentioned is none of these legislative successes did anything for the Presidents involved or the members of their party who voted for them. (W and the GOP ran on terror, not tax cuts). I get the idea of going out and speaking forcefully, and I also get why some feel Biden's lack of speaking up is further hastening his declining poll numbers, but this is a situation where it doesn't really matter what he says or does - Manchin and Sinema are not interested, nor are the senators hiding behind them. Here is Sinema actually laughing at people who are frightened about the end of democracy:

Fascinating. I have to admit I was surprised when I went on Wikipedia and saw that characters like CeCe or even Marty or Tess or Dawn had just been around since 2019 as it feels like they have had very long, pained histories. I suppose it's a credit that CeCe and Louis both feel like compelling characters even though they went through so much story, but it does make CeCe feel somewhat isolated. I guess at least some of the more longstanding characters like Drew, Boyd or Harper still manage to seem fresh. Has the pacing always been like this?

The pacing on this show fascinates me. On the one hand, at least bad stories are wrapped up quickly, but it's dizzying when I go back through 2021 and see that in mid-February, Marty meets a dream woman in a delightful romcom setting (so much so that he even trips and crashes into things - repeatedly - at the mere sight of her) and by early May, they are both complete emotional wrecks, as he has to stop her from going to the police over mercy killing her father and she leaves Ferndale to get away from the agony of her memories, asking him to never contact her again. I mean...wow.

Glenn and Grim have found yet another new progressive hero to hide behind in their crusade against sexual harassment allegations (unless they are by mentally ill grafters that can benefit St. Bernard, of course).

That isn't shallow at all - we all have our own tastes. I have barely seen most of his mob period but if I didn't like Joe a lot as an actor from his ATWT run I'd probably be less interested, as most of the time they don't do a great job showing the love between Paul and Ava. That's a very true point about Carly. Maybe that is what they intended. Either that or they just put the character through such a wringer, the material had an unintended consequence for viewers. By the end of her run it's just 100% angst and crying and binge drinking. I don't really buy that Paul was still in love with her, either. I guess they just had to get him off the show in a hurry.

Yes, I remember this episode too - just without commercials, and in better quality. It was good to see the episode again...as you said, Giff had so much potential as a character and such natural chemistry with those a round him. I never understand how characters like this are so easily sacrificed. What I like most about the Giff and Dinah Lee scene is when she tells him she's the only person in Corinth not related to the Aldens, and he reminds her he is in the same position. The concept of Corinth having a higher class and people tied to them, then "others" like Dinah Lee, is so much more compelling than Dinah Lee going through various Alden men or the husbands of Alden women. Carly is such a draining character. Any time she's onscreen I just feel a weight hang over the room. I think Colleen Quinn was a fine actress and she worked as Ava's sister and Kate's daughter, but that whole story with Paul and Ava is just very good actors coping with middling material.

There are somewhat unique circumstances in Colorado and Virginia (at the time Republicans controlled one or both chambers). Oregon is an outright failure.

Christine left the public eye after Loving, although at least she did that reunion last year. Lisa is someone who may have had the misfortunate of being a big part of shows that were in their last years or not well-regarded. Still, I think she has her share of fans.

Emily/Paul is an odd one for me, because I felt like it made sense mostly as an example of psychological hangups - Paul wanted to feel like he was a man, and protecting and loving Emily was part of that. Emily needed to be protected (as they mentioned in the recent interview, nearly all of MS Emily's love interests gave her a gun!), and she also bonded with Paul because they were both scarred by James. Yet I don't think they ever would have worked as a pairing once they both got older. It's one of the reasons the later Emily/Paul relationships are white noise for me. Thanks - I forgot she gave it to Lily rather than battle. ATWT got some flak in the early/mid-90s for having too many companies and too many rich characters. On paper I can see where cutting the material down made sense, but in the long run it left a void. The corporate battles in the '00s also did nothing for me because they felt hollow, and also because I was completely repulsed by Craig. We also got no hint of reality or work in the corporate dynamics compared to Marland or the first few teams post-Marland. Yes, I know that wasn't realistic either - gorgeous people in perfectly tailored suits and tight blouses and skirts - but at least it was an attempt, one which made the people involved seem close to human.

To be honest a story where Lucinda got too attached to a barely closeted gay man (with the implication being that she knew, but she had come of age in an era where she was willing to play dumb as long as he was a handsome escort to parties or kept her company) and then he ended up betraying her with a family member is something which might have been interesting with better handling but it was so rushed and seemed to be something someone got cold feet about (I'm surprised it got through at all). I was talking more about her storylines in 2010 as enjoyable to me, although I agree part is down to low expectations. It's the same reason I enjoyed Barbara's material in her last year more than anyone here, probably. Liz did offer ideas for stories that would have been about Lucinda, like Lucinda going back to school. I wish they'd been accepted, even if in Lucinda's case, her being a spoiler/meddler was ingrained in the character and seemingly difficult to shake.