DRW50

Thanks for finding this episode. Is that Mia Korf in the toothpaste commercial at 21 minutes? The strongest material is probably Gabrielle and Max marrying. JDP and Fiona had more of a connection, but Walker and Fiona also had a very strong, dark chemistry, The whole "God is cursing me" stuff with Gabrielle in this period always feels like piling melodrama onto the character, but Fiona plays all of it beautifully. Her chemistry with Father Tony is also a pretty interesting side aspect to the story (I wish the show had done more with him but I guess Gottlieb wouldn't want two angst-ridden, sexy ministers on the show). Walker and the woman who played Andy work so well together. On paper I get why Dan acts the way he does about living in the home of Michael Grande, but the execution and performance just makes him look bratty. It also makes Brenda look like a complete idiot. Why does she have a wedding photo with Michael (a wedding where she was drugged out of her mind) in her desk? Why is she using WINE GLASSES WITH HIS INITIALS ON THEM IN BIG ASS LETTERS? The Badderly stuff is just so weird - so much emphasis on hijinks and wackiness while trying to take down a drug cartel. Say what you will about DAYS, but they didn't have so much focus on Hope acting like she was from Lil Abner in the middle of their Miami Vice homages in the mid-80s. As much as I love Jessica Tuck, the most interesting part of this was probably the dynamic between Charlotte and Johnny Dee. (Audrey Landers also looks gorgeous throughout this episode) Why does the way Sarah is dressed and behaves here reminding me of how Jensen initially played Vicky Love? Did that bird fly all the way from Badderly to Llanview. And Jake...swam there? Was there a tropical island near Pennsylvania? The show isn't bad, per se, but you can see most of the positive qualities which Peggy O'Shea and later Michael Schnessel brought to the show were gone and it just feels kind of empty and very confused as to what it wants to be. Too many different Rauch eras on top of each other, squeezing out what's left behind.

Murphy turned down what could have been a pretty big media moment for him in 2015 when Norm Macdonald wrote a Celebrity Jeopardy sketch with Murphy as Cosby for the 40th anniversary. Macdonald is an absolutely brutal writer, so Cosby would have been torn to pieces in front of tens of millions of viewers. That was a real act of generosity on Murphy's part. Sadly sociopaths like Bill Cosby can't process such things.

Monti Sharp interview from 1998.

This is what she wore for the last season finale.

She's very good. She reminds me of Jan Hooks, sort of. Sometimes she likes to dress up as movie characters for the goodnights - I think last season she dressed up as the girl from Welcome to the Dollhouse. She also has a show with Will Forte, I think. Here's an interview with her. https://www.inkansascity.com/innovators-influencers/people/in-conversation-with-heidi-gardner/

I've been leery of their political material since the early '00s, with all the sketches about how loveable W was. It's one of the reasons I quit watching the show (along with the bad gay jokes, the exit of my favorite cast members like Ana Gasteyer and Tim Meadows, and just finding the show to be embarrassingly bad and juvenile too often). The Trump stuff just confirmed many of my views about what an amoral figure Lorne Michaels is. I did mostly avoid the show for over a decade, but I've been watching off and on since I was 7 or 8 years old. I have a lot of happy and sad memories of the show; it's been more a part of my life than most people, pathetic as that is to say. When I watched again last year I realized I liked a lot of the current cast and I still like the feel of watching live and seeing what will happen, even if the show isn't anywhere what it was in the '70s or '80s or early '90s, and even if Michaels is still an odious figure. If the quality gets even worse or if they go back to shilling for Republicans, then I will probably stop watching, but with the way things are going these days, where I never know whether we'll get nuked or get put in camps or what have you, I've decided to just be a hypocrite and enjoy the show while I can.

I started back watching live late last season (damn you, John Mulaney...), and the show has a lot of issues with pacing, energy, and also sketches being put in the wrong order. Generally the cold opens are not this long (usually they're about 5-6 minutes), but some nights you have had a cold open and then a long-ass debate sketch taking up 15-20 minutes of the show. The last few episodes have had more life, and the pacing has been a little better, so maybe that will continue. Doubt it, but you never know. A ton of cast members are probably leaving after this season (I'm guessing somewhere between 6 and 8 ) so I'd think that would have to cause some sort of changing of the guard backstage as well. That and one of the headwriters (Colin Jost) is getting married to a movie star, so you'd think he would have less time for his role. Anyway, if anyone wants to see them, here are the two sketches cut from the episode.

Two of his old writers came back with him (beyond SNL they also wrote Coming to America, Boomerang, and his new Dolemite movie). I do think Ebersol was probably better at working with Eddie, but I think there were two problems in that most of the characters were so rooted in their era, and Eddie isn't the same as he was 35 years ago (as no one is). You could see him flubbing and being nervous throughout the night. The Velvet Jones was probably the one which suffered most from flubs - I hope we might get to see the dress rehearsal version, as I always enjoyed Velvet and I thought writing-wise the character was still on point (I laughed when he shamelessly pivoted toward faux-empowerment of women by advising them to become "Instagram hoes"). Mister Robinson (other than the end) and Buckwheat were alright, but I think his best returning character was Gumby. The showbiz trappings with Gumby could sometimes get on my nerves, so seeing him let loose on Weekend Update, making life hell for the anchors, was just absolutely a blast of fun and energy for me, just as good as the old days. I do think he was more at home in some of the new characters. He seemed to really let loose with that elf sketch at the end of the show. That reminded me a lot of how he used to be as a cast member. My favorite part of the episode, aside from Update and maybe the family film, was the goodnights, when you could see how happy he was and how much getting back into live performing had excited and exhausted him. That made the fumbles all the better because it just made for more of a journey. SNL tends to drown in its own history, but this was one night where the history helped them to soar - you have someone who saved the show, who was made into one of the biggest stars of the world by the show, coming back, so many years later, and still commanding the stage. It was a real moment, the type you can never script. He made the show fun again. It was a good way for SNL to end the decade, and for their sake I hope they can keep some of the spark he left behind. (tonight was also one of the nights where I wondered why Maya Rudolph has never become a bigger star)

I read a little about this a few days ago but not the more recent details. My blood ran cold when he was going on about hymens. Men who focus obsessively on anatomy this way as excuse or justification just show they are sick and/or have no respect for women. And this is the man who was pushed as the heavy morality candidate.

I'd read she would be in a "women of Corrie" documentary but wasn't expecting to see her here. Very moving. And I'm impressed at how lucid she still is. She made the right choice to never go back, but I still wish sometimes we could see her pop in, just for a few scenes, to talk with Rita. I'm glad they gave Julie the last moment. It's the most we'll ever likely get of a farewell for Bet. Corrie of all the soaps has such a rich history...those clips really get to you no matter how many times you see them. They are all indeed friends.

Of all the shows RHOC is the one I most often see people say it's too toxic and they despise everyone, so a reboot may not be a bad idea. I know they said that about RHONY and then the reboot caused backlash, but it worked out in the end.

I read about the Graceland move. I think that may be a mistake (it's also a bit disorienting - I'm imagining Twin Peaks fan talk in the carpet room...), but it's not my money anyway. I hope it works out for them. I saw that Dana Ashbrook and Madchen Amick will attend. Boy I'd love to see that.

I wish they hadn't tried to make Andre Braugher look like John Amos. Just wasn't going to work. I'm so glad John was there - his work on Good Times was some of the finest on any sitcom and is too often ignored because of all the backstage drama. From that clip, they seemed to just think Wilona made sassy quips. She had more layers, which unfortunately I don't think Tiffany Haddish could have conveyed.

She has no real chance either way. The claims of her being abusive toward her staff and her hollow platitudes did her in. Pete has no chance of winning either, because he has no support outside of rich white old people. She's fighting for the chance to crash out post-NH instead of winning. Neither of them should have run. The number of times she tried to claim that people should vote for her because she won a Congressional district of an ex-Congresswoman most voters have never heard of said it all. And he's just a vanity candidate. Selfish people who run for President just to get cash are one of the reasons this country is falling apart.

I can't believe these are the candidates. Only caring about tearing each other apart, pandering to a road to nowhere, saying nothing of value but trying to either scream it as loud as possible or delivering it like they watched too many Bill Clinton speeches circa 1992. I can't wait until this godawful primary is over and most of these people go back to taking money for doing nothing and I can pretend they don't exist. At this point it's likely to just come down to Bernie and Biden anyway. I will vote for Biden and hope for the best.

The modern evangelical movement is about $$$$ and access, not Jesus. This magazine is just covering their backside for when he's out of office, in a year, or 5 years, or whatever. Most of the Trump voters who claim to be Christians just see that as meaning they are good no matter what they do, and everyone else will burn in hell. I bet they ate up Trump saying John Dingell is burning. That's their type of talk.

Yes. Bobby Warner in 2005 or so.

The amount of Republicans who continue to be agog at their party being full of sociopaths and money-hungry husks is amazing...even after all these years. Liz Cheney stabbed her own sister in the back for a failed bid at power, and is deeply proud of a father who bathed our country in the blood of millions of people. Her being a Trump sycophant is about as surprising as the sky being blue.

How was Jamie Foxx's daughter? Not that you need a lot of acting to play Thelma. I know some were upset because of her appearance...

Wow. 30 minutes. Thanks. That's almost as good as getting to play it.

The View has always been a right wing show. They continue to enable right wing viewpoints and give money and jobs to the children and wives of Republicans - these "ownings" of Meghan are literally money in the bank for her. I guess at least they've taken a break from telling us which rapist we should feel sorry for.

She was also seen as not spending enough time being in her riding, or whatever the term is, even though her seat was marginal. I know some were hoping the same would happen to Boris, but no such luck. Speaking of Boris - here's that great conservative benefit to the economy. https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/pound-sinks-on-boris-johnson-drastic-law-that-risks-no-deal-brexit-2019-12-1028767946

Swinson was a minister in the austerity-era and voted for many of the cuts, and very unpopular items like the bedroom tax. I think many in the higher levels of the party underestimated, even this year, how much that would hurt. Her decision to run a "Presidential-style" campaign with the assumption that viewers would love her also backfired, as...they didn't.