DRW50

Thanks for sharing that. It's good to see soap actors who are so kind toward their past, and it's a nice story to hear. And she is so talented, he was totally right.

I thought Pat and Bo were together earlier than that (when did the Olympia story take place)?

I didn't mind them that much in GL's last year, as I thought it sort of made sense in closing out the show and focusing on the problems of their children, but Beth was so, so badly damaged in the '90s and '00s that I just had to ignore most of her recent past. Judi Evans just felt like a completely different character.

Trump doing his distraction technique again, and also doing more work for Russia - if we pull out of this arms treaty, then Russia can be even more open about developing more nuclear weapons. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/20/trump-russia-nuclear-agreement-withdraw-920043

I agree. They still could now, but they obviously won't bother.

It's been said The Doctors was his worst head-writing stint (although I guess we haven't seen much of his Loving work so that one is still a question mark).

For some odd reason I could see him as a love interest for Becky more than one for Jackie.

That piece won't do a lot to stop the criticisms of Vice's leanings...

They should say Ronnie is the mayor or something.

I hadn't seen that. It's good to hear more about her story for this season. The Dan and Becky relationship I don't remember getting as much focus in later years so it will be nice to see again. I liked her answer about reaction to The Conners - she can't begin to guess and will leave it up to college students to study. Not that this has anything to do with the above, but I just read that Tom Arnold's aunt played the "other woman" of Roseanne and Jackie's father. I never knew that.

A look at data on who watched the premiere and what they thought about it. https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/heres-how-viewers-reacted-conners-who-was-watching I watched a few old episodes today, for the first time in a very very long time. They were two of the episodes that focused on Dan's mother. Seeing these again also reminds me that Dan had a lot more humor and personality in the early seasons compared to the second episode. I grew tired of him as well through the passing years. I suppose it's true to life though. I think by the time of the second one they were already doing all the Bev stuff that I had no real patience for (S&M, lesbianism, etc.) but this episode has none of that, fortunately. The first episode is still when they were mostly trying to be a "traditional" sitcom, with a bit of edge. That worked so well for them (even though I think the shift starting around season 3 or 4 also worked, and was probably needed by that point) and the episode holds up very well today. You can tell that there were probably zero plans to make Roseanne and Jackie's father an abuser until later retcons. He was a pain in the ass, but that was about it. I had forgotten that Crystal had an older child. I guess they haven't mentioned any of that in the new season. For some reason I had remembered Roseanne's speech to her father took place in their old house. I don't know why... (that speech was probably Barr's best moment as an actress) If I went back and watched full seasons now I'm not sure how I'd feel but I think season 5 was the last really good season for me. (that Jackie Thomas Show plug at the end didn't age well, did it...)

Maybe they could bring back Michael O'Keefe. I didn't care for the way the original show treated the character.

Oh I remember him. He used to get a ton of media attention in the '00s when they were heavily pushing the narrative that black voters would become Republicans for religious reasons.

Thanks. And they aren't geoblocked, which is nice.

I've never thought the Republicans would lose Congress. That's one of the reasons this is one of the few political forums I post in - because in places that are too devoted to politics, people are more likely to blindly believe in a "blue wave," or too likely to believe it will never happen and use that to viciously attack the Democrats and Democratic leaders because of their own agendas (anarchy, Berniebro-ing, being a secret Republican plant, what have you). The media has been greasing the "it's a comeback!!!" wheels for a while now, as they do around this time every two years, because the media would sell every vital organ they have to keep Republicans in power. This is a very recent article, which lays out why the Republicans are on the comeback. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/18/midterms-republicans-house-913906 I resent that so much focus is being put on Kavanaugh, because I think they were likely going to come back no matter what. They have over and over and over again. (I'm aware one of the big reasons for the eventual wins is voter suppression - I'm talking more about the enthusiasm that happens before voting) I feel like the press already has their "Men Strike Back" articles ready for the day after the elections, as I imagine the debates and anguish over abuse and harassment of women has upset them as much as it has upset the GOP (we certainly know how much it has upset CBS and NBC). They desperately want Kavanaugh to be the reason because it suits the agenda that not only keeps their Republican friends in power, but also keeps them in power. You can see how confident the Republicans are, thanks to increased base frenzy as well as knowing that thanks to voter suppression and intimidation, they already have many races locked down. You can see it because their goals for next year, announced to get votes, are pure red meat for the base. The days of throwing out token items to appeal to some alleged "swing voter" are long gone. These voters don't matter - and in many cases, they still end up voting for poverty, hate and bigotry anyway. I have a great deal of respect for Nancy Pelosi, but I do wonder if numbers would improve if she would announce she won't run for Speaker. There are so many talented candidates who have plans and goals, but it doesn't matter, because all the average sees is Speaker Pelosi and many, many investigations of Trump. I knew all the outsized media focus on how much time would be spent on investigations (which many people can't relate to and likely feel uneasy about) would hurt their numbers, and it looks like it probably has. The Democrats presumably have lots of detailed items on what they will do to help people if they are elected, but unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, absolutely none of that has broken through. 2018 is 2016 is 2014, and so on and so forth.

I think they are obsessed with the idea of the "heartland." Joe Sixpack. NASCAR dad. Flyover country. To them these people are just the newest strand. They can cluck their tongues yet secretly yearn for what they believe is the average male identity of today. Beyond that, NBC News is run by conservative white men. They likely share more of the views of these men than we realize.

Thanks for finding that.

Larry said he was at the hospital when he heard Ed was going so he went along. I was a bit surprised at that heavy psychoanalysis from Larry as I didn't think OLTL was written that way by 1981 - it seemed more like Agnes Nixon's type of writing. Maybe they were trying to help explain to fed up viewers why Viki had ever gotten with Ted. This is one of the strongest examples I've seen of the Viki/Larry relationship - the bond between them is so clear. Christine and Michael Storm work very well together. I think part of the reason may be because Erika Slezak was more like Michael Storm in her performances, so there wasn't as much of a contrast as we got here. I could actually see this Viki and Larry as a couple, oddly enough. This is the most I've ever seen of Christine Jones as Viki (and it's more than I ever thought I'd see). She's doing a lot of her Janice Frame, as Janice was so mentally broken by the time she died. It's certainly interesting to watch, although I have a feeling months of this would have been exhausting. I think Erika ended up taking the right time for her maternity leave as this type of material would not have suited her - can you really see her Viki being drugged and being a shell of herself, etc.? I see this is back when Bo still had an accent. Lovely scenes with Asa in Clint's room. It's so nice to see a beauty shot at the end. And that closing theme - I've never heard that version. Lovely.

I still wish they could have worked something out like McTavish and Broderick both writing (although McTavish may not have wanted that), but watching some early 1995 I can see why they moved on to Broderick. One episode I watched, every single story in the episode was about a woman losing a child or wanting to get pregnant, with the exception of a story with Julia keeping watch over a young gay man dying of AIDS. That story was surprisingly good (the guy was a good actor, and it was oddly rare for a soap to actually say that yes, a lot of gay men were dying of AIDS, even in 1995), but very bleak.

Their original story was much more negative. The EW one also had negative framing, focusing on being down from last season's premiere. I get the feeling the press wanted it to be an outright flop as it fit their narrative. EW's site is so cheap and ugly and feels irrelevant these days, but still, I was shocked that 99% of the comments in the comments section were just right wing talking points.

I wasn't sure about watching the premiere, but was finally pushed to do so by all the whiny bitches and trolls going on and on and on about how the cast had stabbed Roseanne Barr in the back and how the whole thing deserved to fail miserably. (I also have no time for this idea being pushed that this death was degrading or demeaning...if you want that, go watch Aunt Fran's death on Mama's Family). The ratings seem decent considering they were going to be declining anyway, with or without Roseanne. I have seen people say these ratings are artificial because people wanted to know how she died. That's somewhat true, obviously, but the audience was highly polarized (online, anyway) compared to most situations like this, so I think a lot of the people who watched may want to stick around. We'll see, I guess. Overall I liked it and I think it has great potential. The show is creaky and there is an uneasy mix between the creaky older cast and the polished, TV-friendly younger cast (my main issue with Darlene's kids and why I never quite believe them, although there were some great scenes with Darlene/Harris and Dan/Mark last night [I have to admit I didn't really know if Dan would have been so completely supportive about Mark, but it was still a nice set of scenes that had good work from John Goodman]). I have had lots of issues with Jackie since somewhere around 1994, and I feel like the character mostly exists through Laurie Metcalf, not much else, but on the positive side, the last scene with Darlene and Jackie was great and a real hint of what Jackie was in the earlier seasons of the show. John Goodman really does vary from scene to scene, to put it kindly, but he had some strong moments here. The highlight for me was the material with Becky and Darlene. If the relationship between Jackie and Roseanne was a strong point for the best years of the original show, Becky and Darlene carry the same torch. Sara Gilbert continues to be the best at both comedy and drama in the cast and Lecy Goranson has killer comic timing, along with some dramatic chops here and there (the scene where she said she couldn't help with the bills because she'd already done all of this with [her] Mark was one of the most powerful). Their relationship feels so real and rolls right off the screen. I also liked the little scenes with DJ giving them crap and their bantering back with him. I really like the woman who plays DJ's wife, and the little jabbing between her and Darlene about religion. I do hope in future we get more believable moments with her and DJ as an actual couple, because it kind of feels like they just grafted her and the child onto him. Last night's episode at times seems to almost deliberately downplay their relationship (even cutting away when they were going to kiss). The pill story was skillfully written. I could see Roseanne hoarding pills and still keeping her addiction a secret, telling herself it was to help her family (and part of it was probably was). The scene with Dan, Darlene and Marcy was extremely well done, although if I'm being honest, as talented as Mary Steenburgen is, I would have rather seen as a lesser known actress in the role. Beyond the bits with Darlene and Becky, and of course seeing Crystal again (and Chuck), my favorite scene was with Darlene and Harris, when Harris was talking to her mother about whether Roseanne knew she loved her, and Darlene punking her about the the goodbye letters Roseanne had written everyone. It was one of those moments that I've felt in my own life, and then the joke at the end was a great way to relieve the pit in my stomach - old school Roseanne humor at its best.