DRW50

1989 Loving Soap Opera TV Promo - YouTube

Seeing Phoebe on a proto-cell phone is fun. I hadn't even thought about that AMC connection. Pat really did make the rounds.

People got way, way too into the family dramas of the Conways last year, many forgetting that these are sick grifters, and that Claudia Conway was not a sassy social media "kween," but a very troubled young woman stuck with terrible parents. I hope some of them now regret getting so involved, and I hope Claudia can get the hell out of that house.

It seems to be based on the idea that "bipartisanship" is what the public need and want (backed up 24/7 by a media who push this - at least the kind that benefits Republicans). It is based on the fantasy of feeling special and Above the Fray, and also on the delusion that the GOP is operating in good faith if you just try hard enough (it's not just "centrists" like Manchin who fall for this, as many deadenders on the left say nonsense like oh if Schumer had started the impeachment trial immediately, Senate Republicans would have convicted Trump - but those people are not in office). The games and let's-not-help-people-and-say-we-did posturing from this ilk and their pals like Susan Collins also helps lead to stuff like this: The longer this goes on the more that $2,000, and now $1,400, drifts away. That is what Biden campaigned on, and what Warnock and Ossoff campaigned on assuming they would be backed up, instead of being left open for attacks the way that these 'bipartisan' Democratic senators are now leaving them open to. If they do en up drastically changing the stimulus amount, then it was a mistake to ever open that door during the runoffs, because the media and the GOP are going to make this an issue over and over and over. Anyway, after all my bleating today, at least something is moving forward, even if McConnell again gets to come out of it as if he set the terms.

Unfortunately with 50 votes, one or two of them are enough to be the majority in situations like this. By a few weeks the media narrative of failure and disarray will have already set in and be difficult to shake, especially since right now it's difficult to see whether they will even be getting more checks out due to the likes of Susan Collins and (yet again) Manchin. The pace they have set feels out of step to me with how things are going. I am aware Schumer may not have a lot of choice, but if that is the case, then they are never going to be able to do anything beyond the bare minimum.

Manchin and Sinema only seem to have much of anything to say when it's time to talk about bipartisanship or how they aren't going to do this or that liberal proposal. The clock is running out quickly on so much. Any day lost is something else that may not ever get done.

McConnell may as well keep it. The more time passes the more I believe those who say many Democrats in the Senate were bewildered at winning the majority and were content to just be in the minority. Well, if that is the case, then the way things are going, they can be happy again in two years.

Rob Portman is another of those Republicans feted by the media as "reasonable" but who still votes party line every time. In comparison, here we have another of the "golly gee" Democrats who are happy to sink the party to cover themselves. Never mind that if the country is that right wing, then she will lose her seat no matter how much she or Manchin are against getting through a progressive agenda.

I can't remember where the magazine scans are but I think Kavanaugh and Reinholt both gave their own opinions on topics like feminism (and I think he also talked some about her) - they were pretty much as contrasting as what you get here.

I think Beau left more because of a housecleaning of the younger set of that period (with Andy/Paul/Lien/Duke moving more into that role). I do wonder if that was down to Calhoun leaving or Marland wanting to just hit reset with Martha Byrne leaving. I also wonder how he felt about the interim writers' handling of the Laura storyline. That April fragment on here has that wedding flashback of them; I suppose the tone is partly because they were trying not to let viewers know they were siblings, but it feels very gothic compared to how noirish and campy the later material was.

It's impossible to imagine Jack with Faith Catlin's Faith... I remember the person who uploaded the '80s RH episodes saying they chose not to upload the strike episodes because they weren't worth uploading, in so many words. I still wish I could see them. The Ryan family feels played out and at a real loss by the time the Soapnet run ends, with Pat and Frank gone, a wan Siobhan recast and an unsuccessful introduction of cousin EJ after bailing on her brother Barry after only a year. I can see why ABC may have wanted a fresh start, while still keeping the figureheads of Maeve and Johnny, along with Siobhan. I can also see why they tried to rebuild after the changes caused further audience erosion. I haven't really watched enough of 1983 to know how it would have worked out - the Delia stuff is so bad and the show just feels very flat in that way ABC soaps of the '80s sometimes can, if you know what I mean. That and I'm not exactly rushing to see Faith/Pat round 4 (or was it 5...).

Someone awful is going to win, but I don't know if she has any real base there. They probably have a deep bench full of hatemongers already.

Her father, before devoting himself full time to trying to keep Longshot in the Mojoverse, left office scandal-ridden and unpopular. She has zero accomplishments to her name, zero charisma, zero brains in her oversized head. The only thing anyone ever remembers her for, beyond never being able to find a dress that properly fit, was getting kicked out of a restaurant and being humiliated so badly by a standup comic at a press club dinner that they never had one again. She couldn't even manage to make a facial expression that didn't look like someone had just belched the contents of a rotting refrigerator right in front of her.

Putin will have them tortured and killed. This is very brave of them, especially since they likely know it will accomplish nothing but are trying anyway. Fathead Newt Gingrich is now trying to compare them to Trump supporters in his latest attempt to get Trump free of any punishment for his many crimes. Just when you think these pieces of garbage can't get any more craven, they find a new level.

I hope they paid that guy (was that Clay's old chauffeur?) extra money to have to give conviction to that "Phoebe Wallingford AND Claudia Cohen..." line. Unless he was glued to Regis & Kathie Lee every morning I doubt he would have known who she even was. This was a clever way to show just how powerful and influential the Alden name was, and I especially like the dueling phone call with Claudia and Phoebe (Ruth Warrick must have gotten a kick out of this since by this point Phoebe wasn't used as much on AMC in this capacity), but it really is bizarre they had her not interact with Jeremy at all. I don't think they were close on AMC, but still, why not use the connection that's there? Loving: A Visit from Phoebe Wallingford - YouTube @SFK @All My Shadows @Pine Charles @Jonathan

Other than helping to ruin a decent soap, I have little to no history with her. I guess kudos to her for avoiding my radar more than the truly wretched Rachel (who has stunk up the airwaves for 30 years) and her dead-eyed, failed politician husband with closet case vibes.

I knew there was a reason I never liked her. Non-acting, squeaky flop.

I had read about a New York Times editor being fired this week due to conservative backlash. I had wondered why, only to learn that it's because she said she got chills from seeing Biden's plane take off, and also made and then deleted a tweet about Trump not letting him have Air Force One. That's it. She is getting ugly threats, on top of losing her job, and the "paper of record" kicks her when she's down. This is a "paper of record" that, among other things, currently has a truly mind-boggling scandal involving Michael Barbaro (someone I actually had some respect for, but not a whole lot at this point) and his reaction to criticism of the downright dangerous and fradulent Caliphate podcast. https://www.npr.org/2021/01/12/955873886/public-radio-stations-rebuke-times-for-ethical-lapses-related-to-caliphate-podca

Needless to say some are already trying to work up a lather over the dog not being his. I hope no one buys into that fake controversy. When I saw the ads I flashed back to the Michael Steele puppy ad in Maryland's 2006 Senate race, which got a lot of praise but did nothing to help him in his run for the Senate. I'm glad it worked out better for Warnock (it helps that Warnock was a stronger candidate and the ads were not anywhere near as 'cute').

She really did alienate all sides - she got on a high horse about her value to Faux News, underestimating just how much non-Faux viewers disliked her for years of racism (and also because she's cold, hard and phony). She belly flopped at NBC - from day one she was a failure. She tried to get mainstream attention again last year with the Tara Reade interview, which went nowhere fast. Now she is in the podcast grift game, whining with other bridge-burners like Glenn Greenwald or Bari Weiss about what victims they are.

Lovely moment with Ava and Egypt in this promo (I'd never seen it before). It's a shame they trashed Egypt in her return. Good Morning America & Loving promos, 1990 - YouTube

One Life to Live & Growing Pains/Doogie Howser MD promos, 1990 - YouTube Episodes ad, 1990 - YouTube

Loving: Angie Can't Bowl - YouTube A rare light moment for Angie. Robert Tyler almost loses it a few times.

I can see why Marland and Calhoun (was it still Calhoun then?) didn't keep Robert Tyler, but Loving was very smart to pick him up. He became a decent actor, and was very likeable, along with being prime eye candy.

"Thought leaders" like the loathsome and deeply phony Matt Taibbi. What a joke. I never thought much of Larry King as an interviewer (he was mostly an anti-interviewer), but he could be entertaining. Norm Macdonald's impression of him on SNL never gets old. More right wing media shilling. It makes me more mad every time this stuff is pushed. They will do anything to help Republicans.