DRW50

Oh that liberal media: (say what you will about Biden's views on marijuana legalization, these remarks were clipped out of context) Speaking of this topic, here is one of the deeply loathsome scumbags at Qullette (a publication lauded by some pseudo-intellectuals even though it does everything from publish race science to a hoax written by a man pretending to be a "Marxist-Leninist-Alinksyite" from Queens trying to join the DSA). I know you aren't supposed to give professional trolls attention, but this particular monster is always given some type of pass she has never earned.

She's a bit wooden as an actress but I can see the woman who plays Marley's drug-addicted mother becoming a bigger name someday. She has a lot of presence.

Likely followed by her barely appearing.

The main problem with Philece's Donna is that she was written as a generic ingenue. This was not unique to her - Anna Stuart's last months in the role before she left in 1986 (I'm not sure if this is part of WHY Anna left or she just left for other reasons) also had her suffering, and being victimized and drugged, none of which I find worth watching. So you had a generic Donna, suffering or being in the midst of vacuous love triangles, with no real depth or wit (which was always key to Donna). I also don't think she had much chemistry with Kale Browne or David Forsyth (although to be fair to her that was not a unique problem...). And she simply looked too young to be the mother to Vicky and Marley. When Harding Lemay and then Donna Swajeski got into the main chair, Donna began to act more like her old self, and Philece was better, but she was mostly just doing what Anna Stuart would do a better job with if she were in the role. Anna basically was Donna. I know that there were bigger roles which were somewhat successfully recast, like Iris or Rachel, but Anna brought so many of her specific nuances as a performer to the role and in many periods of time, was literally the only thing that kept the role together at all. Not to be too glib in comparisons (apologies @vetsoapfan) but I might say it's a similar issue to the attempts at recasting Alice after Jacquie Courtney left the role. Philece likely would have been fine in another part - maybe yet another of Mac's cousins or nieces or whatever, or a recast of Nicole Love - but she just wasn't Donna.

I saw that Philece was trending, in large part thanks to fans of shows like Digimon. Even as soaps dumped veteran actors as yesterday's news, that community seems to respect their elders. One is on its last days and one is still thriving - there's a lesson to be found here. I feel like most of what I have said about Philece involves her AW work, because that's most of what I have seen, but her work (what I have seen) on DAYS was excellent. I can understand why she was so well-regarded by many fans. Her last "telling off" scene she plays beautifully, especially her moments of pain and heartbreak.

Shockingly, the pundits who wrote about how moderate and sensible this court was have nothing to say today.

Christie also hugged Obama, and Christie was distrusted by the extreme right in a way DeSantis isn't, but I think DeSantis is mostly coasting on an anemic field and not being Trump. Meanwhile...I don't think these poll results are entirely accurate, but I do think the complete lack of momentum from Senate Democrats is allowing various narratives about Biden and the party not caring to take hold, which will be difficult to shake:

There was too much telling us how wonderful Frankie was and how Frankie and Cass should be together for me to care about them, especially during the triangle with Kathleen, where they even gave her a miscarriage to manipulate viewers. There was a real insecurity in the writing about viewers not supporting her. I think Alice Barrett and Steven Schnetzer worked well enough together, but I just don't feel like the pairing represented all sides of Cass.

I think Considine was a good actor but everything about Reginald felt so one-note to me, and his family dynamics were never written well because they were all under his thumb. The whole story seemed like another attempt at making AW similar to DAYS, like a Stefano type portrayal. I also loved Cass and Kathleen. I don't think Cass ever had such a good and rounded pairing again, even though I did like Cass and Lila.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/06/the-internet-is-a-collective-hallucination/619320/

The most frightening part is she is an incoming dean at Howard University.

I was part of that distraction myself - sorry. I do think there are huge problems with how New York decides elections, and sadly, the statements from Cuomo or the legislature don't suggest anything will change.

I don't buy the idea of the endless NYC screwups being justification of the Georgia voter law that is there to make sure Republicans can overturn any election result they don't like, and has already led to a number of black election officials being fired without reason. That tweet reminds me of the recent tweets I've seen on Critical Race Theory and how those who claim to be on the left love to take right wing positions and adopt them in order to show how fair and just they are as individuals, even though this does nothing but aid further fascism and censorship.

I knew he'd been ill for a long time, but it's still a heartbreaker. Alan was pretty much rendered one-dimensional a decade before his death, but Stuart always tried his best with whatever he was given. His firing was the final example of just how little respect ABC, Frons, Guza and co had for the legacies that had made GH what it was in the '80s and '90s and kept the show going even through tough times. The way the whole thing was handled felt sick and wrong. Of course Stuart had a long, successful career outside of GH - I've seen many today remembering him as Prince Charming or The Champions - but I'll always think of Alan and Monica, or Alan sparring with Edward, drink in hand.

Joe, and the Martins in general, were so poorly-written in AMC's last decade, but Ray's natural presence always shone through. It was a delight when he popped up on the revival, remarkably poised and on the mark.

Shameful, and not surprising.

In our latest look at the WHAT HAPPENED TO BELIEVE ALL WOMEN??? crowd, let's check in on failed press secretary Brie Brie's very delayed thoughts on accusations against her griftcaster co-host, Virgil Texas (no idea on the thoughts of his former employers, the increasingly irrelevant Chapo). Naturally, this statement was broadcast by one of their big fans.

Emotional connection is the main reason, yes. People see these characters day after day for years and go through all sorts of highs and lows with them. We could say fans are irrational for thinking about the responses of the actors, but then, I'm sure someone would say we're all irrational for talking about a TV show that ended a decade ago and was last good about 10-15 years before it ended. I do think that sometimes fans can be too hard on actors who sneer at their past soap work. I've been guilty of that myself. In some cases like Meg Ryan, where I'd say she mostly just managed to do decent work for about 5 years of her career at most, the snobbery baffled me, but I suppose beyond the workload she may have had other bad experiences as I think the show was hellish backstage in those years.

Thanks @DramatistDreamer sounds worth checking out.