DRW50

I can't help rolling my eyes way back at the "Canada feels sorry for you!!!!" people. The last time that went on they ended up electing Stephen Harper. America is broken and will never be repaired, but most other countries are not far behind.

It's always a game to most of the media. That's why they are still fighting for Trump and need us to sympathize with him. Between the Melania story, John Solomon, and the fascist propaganda Rising, The Hill should have zero credibility left.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-06-29/coronavirus-brings-american-decline-out-in-the-open Good piece on America's steady decline and how COVID has just made it impossible to ignore.

Thanks. I figured if they did it would be Cady's Rosanna.

I'm trying to remember if Rosanna and Lily ever had much interaction.

I don't know if you were here then but we were trying to figure out whether she left to reconcile with Ben or if she had reconciled with Ben and then just stayed in Springfield for a year or two before leaving to join him. I do like the actress, and I think she's a good contrast to Lenore Kasdorf, but I'm surprised she lasted as long as she did. That stalker story with Amanda's flaming uncle seems so ludicrous in the clips. How did it play out onscreen? I think this is the highlight:

They basically were phased out - by the end of 1993 Iva, Angel and Seth were written out, while Ellie and Meg just had visits. By late 1995 only Emma was left, and the Kasnoffs were being pushed as the new lead family. I still think Emma worked as a talk-to and a supporting character, but Kathleen Widdoes was a good enough actress to where she could have easily done much more. It's unfortunate that her one lead story in this time period was boring and also not really about her (dull Ned and his dull daughter Debbie).

I agree that he was good, although I think by the time they recast Rick he would have been too old for the role. Seeing Grant's first episode reminds me again of how confused I am by Eve's last year or two on the show.

I don't really think Casey and Lyla had hot chemistry, but I think the story was interesting in showing her choosing between love and career, and her interactions with his very traditional family. I thought Shanks and Sward worked well together in emotional scenes. The one downside is that Casey was basically more of a plot device and never really seemed like his own character, but he was pleasant and a good balance to the more hyperdramatic members of the family, like Margo. I don't think most Marland-created couples had incredible chemistry, although there were some who had their moments (Jessica/Duncan, Frannie/Daryl, Lucinda/John, Emily/Brock). He wasn't that type of writer. And I'm not sure ATWT was usually that type of show in the first place. There are couples that were beloved and apparently were meant to have burning chemistry and I'm just ??? when I watch them, like Betsy and Steve. But that's just me - I know a lot of people loved them and loved Holden and Lily, so no judgment on my part. The one time I would say I wish Marland had been a bit more Sheffer-esque is that I wish he'd let his younger characters sleep around with more people. But then this was at the peak of the AIDS crisis, so I guess Marland never would have done that. Lyla and Cal were a pleasant background pairing but mostly seemed like a combo of marking time and wanting to tell more stories about Cal's big business ties after those had already been done with Cal and Emma. I kind of wish they'd kept him with Emma longer as I thought Patrick Tovatt and Kathleen Widdoes had a certain charm and sweetness, which Emma needed by that point as the Snyders were so heavy.

Oh that liberal media.

Ben Smith's dubious history aside, another reason to be wary of the Washington Post.

I think MDM and Michael Louden were fine actors. I don't think the show ever quite knew what to do with Duke though.

From what I've seen some Prince fans say, he got him involved with some shady people in the last years of his life, so between that and his involvement with the Kardashians I wonder if he's been involved in questionable business for some time. Here he is on CNN, while hiding his involvement in the bill, struggling not to react to the former sergeant who dismantles the sham bill he insists everyone is in "violent agreement" with.

I knew his CNN appearances were thinly disguised Trump propaganda. I knew it. Now I want to see if CNN has the guts to do anything.

Probably because Winton's Caleb had no real personality in comparison to MDM, other than judgmental I guess.

It was also two different writing teams. Katie may have been lying, but the whole thing was so poorly put together, it's impossible to tell. The show, all the soaps, had such a focus on trashing past character (assuming no viewers would no them) for new pets, and it backfired over and over. @Soapsuds I think those aired in May 1993 but I may be wrong.

You said it better than I could @marceline . I think Bolton mentioned in his book, from something I read online, that Trump or his people whipped up a media controversy to distract from one of Ivanka's "business" scandals. Between the media burying the Russia story, using Tim Scott to try to blame Democrats over police reform stalling, social media more upset about a Golden Girls episode removal that no one ever asked to be removed anyway, and Maggie Haberman and co trying to help Trump road-test new nicknames for Biden, today has reminded me of just how many advantages Trump has going into November. I just hope that there is still a voting system in place by November and that people will still be motivated by that point.

In order to distract from the Russia news, Trump has retweeted a supporter saying "white power" and also said "Joe Biden is shot." The media, desperate to help him and also to support racists, is happily going along, burying the Russia story. It's just sad.

Lorraine Broderick had Lyla as a selfish mother who was solely focused on her cruise ship singing career and only cared about Katie when she could enter her into child beauty pageants.

Wasn't it that she had gone too far and Marland wanted to keep her around? Or was it a ratings thing? Considering the ugly tension between Potter and Marland, she may have been a victim of a proxy war.

I was fine with Caleb leaving (although I would have recast him after a year or two, maybe), but I do think they had more mileage left with Julie and with Pete. Jason Biggs was great in the role. I guess he was not likely to stay long anyway, but they had more stories to tell - he might have added some flavor to the tediousness with Nikki and Dani, anyway. I was not watching for most of the '00s but the few stories I heard about Julie annoyed me to no end. I think was about how ill she was and how she couldn't raise Aaron for that reason. Such a fun, lively character made into a frail figure so that her son (a son she likely never would have taken back in the first place) could frown his way through Oakdale for a few years before being forgotten. They could have at least brought her back one time for his stories. Hal could be an ass but that felt very extreme. Maybe it was just the scriptwriter for the episode...

I had a few more questions, if anyone can help. Did they ever say why they recast Matthew Morgan? Was it to make him more menacing? There was, for a brief time, a lot of heavy buildup with the Ned Calder character, the main operator of the shipping fleet, he'd loved Elizabeth for years and wanted her to marry him, and so on. Then suddenly he just leaves town. Did plans change? I wish they'd considered keeping Bill Malloy around longer. Of course if they had there never would have been any supernatural elements on the show... I think I heard the first mention of Jeremiah and Josette. Carolyn says they married and built Collinwood in 1830, and Josette also has another last name ("Laflornier" or something).

Probably right before Election Day...

Geez seeing that opening again gets me emotional - it's just perfect, the shots they used, the balance in tone, how they show all aspects of soap, the ending shot... I was so lucky that I got to see this, Santa Barbara and As the World Turns On and On and the Y&R theme as my first real soap themes. Imagine what some kid now would feel having to watch that GH theme, getting a seizure, and being rushed to the hospital.