DRW50

This made me laugh.

I can't even comment on Beverlee as Iris as I've seen so little of her work. Douglass was a very fit man so I think that's one of the reasons they looked a little too close in age. Carmen Duncan was also 7 years younger than her.

I'm amazed at how badly Hallmark fucked this up. They're lucky because most of their audience doesn't pay attention to these stories, but they have still alienated a lot of homophobes and a lot of queer people and allies through sheer bumbling.

I think they got together in 1991. I think Larry left in 1995 for a new job, and then Emily (?) learned he was cheating and he may have come back long enough for the wrapup.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/trump-urges-rep-van-drew-anti-impeachment-democrat-to-switch-parties/2019/12/14/b201bb4a-1ea0-11ea-8d58-5ac3600967a1_story.html If this is true, [!@#$%^&*] him. No wonder a lot of people don't care about politics. Selfish losers like this are why.

Sorry - I thought you were talking about earlier with the mention of the affair. I felt like Susan was tamed around 1989 or 1990.

I think Marland also tended to tone down many of the characters if they stayed on the canvas long-term, aside from Lucinda, as she had to be wicked in order to drive a ton of plots.

When Bridget left in 1997, Vanessa was "dead" so she took Peter with her. He visited Vanessa for her welcome back from the dead party, and I think they still were in each other's lives offcamera. When we saw Bridget toward the end of the show she said Peter was in college. Or Dylan said it. One of them.

I imagine it will be Thatcher all over again. They loathed her and that loathing has been a key part of their relationship with the Tories ever since. The only real difference is Johnson is less of a hardline conservative and more of an opportunist. He just wants power and money. And Northern Ireland has had no government for two years now. Some think voters decided to punish the major parties to tell them to get back to work. Absolutely. All this came up when Cenk made his announcement and the response from his fan club was usually "Oh he apologized." Which was interesting, as that never seems to be enough for people who are opposed by TYT or their fan club. (my favorites are the people who say he made those comments in his 20s yet no one cares that Elizabeth Warren was a Republican in her 40s. Plenty of people care, and he did not make all the comments when he was in his 20s.) It will also be interesting to see how the Bernie bros react to their messiah "selling out" and being part of "the establishment," as this is a classic move of someone who is trying to be part of the establishment rather than staying with the dregs.

That would be lovely. And have Robert and Andy return for a cameo.

Sheila Mercier has passed away. https://www.atvtoday.co.uk/139345-ytv/ Such a treasure of an actress, and Annie was a tremendous character. So complex. Steely, warm, unforgiving but compassionate. Always one for respect, but willing to buck convention. The Farm years would never have been the same without her, and the show has never been as good without her. I hope the ITV3 reruns have taught a new generation just how good she was.

Will Forte....absolute genius.

I often hear people in the UK say that there is more of a pretense of being anti-racism but in reality it is out there. In the US these days the pretense seems to be long gone. I don't think anyone believes the US has moral ground over the UK. It's just until recent years there was no real question that the UK was a superior place. I feel like, even with some of their history of toxic leaders, it wasn't that long ago that a man who joked about pickaninnies, bum boys, and called burqas mail slots would not be worshiped as a god by so many. The veneer of respectability is well and truly gon.

One of the criticisms I'd read was that some felt he didn't care enough about Brexit, which led to claims he not-so-secretly was fine with leaving the EU. He seemed to want to focus more on what were seen as socialist issues or bread-and-butter issues, in an era where the latter is increasingly irrelevant to the media and to the public vote even though poverty has surged in the UK and you are hearing more and more Conservative politicians return to openly saying that people who are hungry or poor have only themselves to blame. Johnson is a complete con artist and sleaze, but that seems to be what's in vogue these days. Lots of goofy quips and made for TV moments as the NHS is gutted, xenophobia soars, and people are put into the workhouse... I read that Jo Swinson, the Lib Dem leader and one of the main agitators for the election because she believed she could become PM, has lost her seat. The entire Lib Dem strategy of hoping people would hate Corbyn enough to turn to them as kingmakers seems to have backfired, as everyone with a brain knew it would. The best part of that result is probably that most of the candidates who have blatantly run here, there and everywhere this year looking for a party so they could get reelected seem to have lost. As for our candidates, not on the anti-Semitism issue, but I could see just about any of them having a car crash interview at this point, especially Biden or Warren. I just hope it won't get to that point...and these days I don't think those interviews matter in the US as much as they may have in the past. We're just too polarized. The UK wasn't quite there - yet - but they're pretty much where we are now, just with less religious mania and, for now, a better medical service. I will say it's been amusing to see the St. Bernie supporters so obsessed and enraged with destroying Warren and Pete Buttigieg (especially the latter) that they haven't even noticed or cared about Biden regaining more and more of his old strength in the polls. If he, someone they see as the great corrupt ogliarchy and blah blah blah, gets the nomination, they have only themselves and their endless need for holy wars, to blame.

Today I was reminded that Rene Auberjoinis had a small role on SNL in 1975, in an Albert Brooks short film. Watching it again reminded me Joe Gallison is in those segments, and is fantastic. Has Joe ever spoken about how he was cast, or his experiences filming it?

Some are, yes, but a running theme in media coverage for ages has been the idea that there must be some kind of moment where Jewish voters go to the GOP because Democrats are anti-Semites/not loyal enough to Israel/what have you. It's another variation of all the years the media spent tsk-tsking black voters and asking when they will learn to vote Republican.

As the election nears, Trump has become more and more blatant about only caring about Israel, not Jewish Americans. He hurled abuse at a group of Jews he recently spoke with, and he is now designating a rule that has blatant fascist intent. The media who have spent years telling everyone that Democrats are anti-Semitic and American Jews will somehow wake up and vote the "right" way must be trying to figure out what their new talking points will have to be.

Thank you. I saw Kyle doing a contest for Dale Pops (one I'd never seen before - one I think I already have) on his Twitter. I'm glad he's still keeping up interest in the show. Nice to see that bit with Sheryl Lee. She's very right.

I saw that they had Kirk Cameron on the show, which honestly makes me glad I never watched.

The 1972 episode that was on Youtube a few years ago is back now. (it also features a cutaway to several minutes of GL) These were some of our conversations at the time.

The general election in the UK is only a few days away. By most polling, Boris Johnson is favored to get a majority, or very close. It's been dispiriting to see that much of the UK media seems to be as in the tank for him as the press is for the GOP here. The latest moment happened yesterday, when a story about Johnson not wanting to see a photo of a child who had to sleep on the floor of the NHS was almost immediately brushed aside by coverage of claims that Labour activists punched a Tory adviser. This all turned out to be BS, but the damage was done.

You might enjoy Shazam. I've heard a lot of good things about it.

For me Edmund worked well as an antihero. The problem was the material. I thought the writing for him in the big San Cristobel takeover story in 2000/2001 was especially tin-eared.