DRW50

This is the only other one they've done so far: https://thebitchywitches.com/2017/11/24/breaking-out-the-real-housewives-of-new-york-city-kelly-vs-bethenny/

Poor Michele Lee having to come on right after Lucille Ball, bless her heart, all but opened a vein on national television (it's so hard to watch anything with Ball in the last 15 or so years of her life - she is just so broken). As a result Michele doubles down on her cutesy coo persona that reminds me of how difficult Karen became to tolerate as the years passed. The highlight of this is Lucy becoming increasingly tired of this snappy patter wink wink. It's a good thing the interview was relatively short as I think it would have gotten a bit ugly if it had lasted much longer.

I saw a pretty good blog entry on that episode: https://thebitchywitches.com/2017/09/10/breaking-out-the-real-housewives-of-orange-county-naked-wasted/

Later than that, I think. The Snyders did come in very quickly. Meg in particular tends to feel shoehorned onto the canvas, to me, mostly salvaged by Jennifer Ashe's talent and charisma until Marland eventually stopped trying to write her as Nola for the MTV era.

They definitely seemed to be testing Iva and Steve, and I think at one time began suggesting she was falling for him. I don't know if fan complaints or Frank Runyeon leaving made them drop it.

The general comment when Byrne played Rose is that she was a lot more like Rose in real life than she was Lily, which is one of the reasons she enjoyed her. I think that she also wanted some changes when Lily came back in 1993 so Lily would not be such a victim, but I can't remember for sure.

I'm always surprised at how many people are willing to enable Alex Jones, as he has a huge following underneath the jokey exterior many seem to be amused by. When I saw how eagerly people were playing along with him about this topic I was reminded again how many can't live without the extreme crackpot types, as it makes them feel morally superior. The immigration polling doesn't surprise me - it's a very complicated, touchy subject, and a lot of people who would otherwise be called liberal are decidedly not on this issue.

Thank you for sharing this with us. Sounds like a memory to treasure.

She appears for a few more weeks, in honeymoon scenes at (was it Mike Bauer's cabin?).

Speaking of Spacey: https://deadline.com/2018/07/guy-pearce-kevin-spacey-l-a-confidential-handsy-1202421037/

I still remember him slobbering over her when he was a mentor on American Idol in her season. They both repulsed me, and they have ever since.

I think this is not long after Jill's miscarriage, but yes, it's a very rough look. I wonder if this is one of the reasons Brenda (presumably) started having more voice in her hair and makeup and wardrobe. Marla Adams is always such a pleasure to watch as Dina. I've never really understood why she was so rarely used for so many years... March 1996? That early? Wow. I thought it was summer for some reason. What a rough, harsh actress she was. Ugh. I think I have the "Who Shot Jill?" stuff on a disc too (some of it, anyway), but I'm not sure if it is already out there.

This is another one that used to be up a few years ago and I don't think it is now. Jill, Dina, John, etc.

Thanks for that. I always get confused as I thought Brian was the blind guy...

Mart Hulswit and John Wesley Shipp had such a wonderful chemistry together that I don't really remember with Peter Simon in the role. This was the only time in these years I remember the show putting any real focus on the idea of other people actually living in the boarding house. I think when saynotoursoap used to post here he said that Pam Long made the Reardons feel more like a family and more likeable. I can kind of see that, as Tony always seems very offputting to me in this era. Here's the next episode, which munecojim put up a while back.

I think I asked this the first time I saw this promo several years back, but how long did this weird son of Stephanie's stay around?

There were some very rough GL episodes from the early '80s, but yes otherwise you're right. Maybe GL fans kept their material in better condition, I don't know. (of course a lot of GL is early '90s but some is mid-80s too).

That makes my skin crawl. Seeing him going after Rosenstein last week you could see how stupid and how dangerous he was. He's a Republican, and a very powerful one, so I have a feeling this will just get ignored, but kudos to these people for being brave enough to speak out.

That makes sense (I wish they'd done that with some others who dragged on for years, like that sleazy Brad) although I wish they'd done more with him. Did he ever have any real interaction with James beyond their meeting here? I'm trying to remember if they overlap in 1986. (whenever I see Gary Hudson I always remember that male stripper movie with Thomas Calabro that is very dear to my heart) Thanks. I need to watch more of those as I know a few more have popped up in the last year or two. The quality is so bad sometimes I don't feel like it. That's a great idea. Bringing in the niece of a dead end slampiece of James's (or is it James' - I can never remember) was a waste. Thanks. I think Lisa Sloan was a Nicole on EON. I wonder whatever happened to Davidson. I know she was very popular with fans. You're right, she did. I guess because her big return story was such a flop with viewers, she did start to float around town more. I think the show was right to axe her, looking back, but I do wonder if she could have been freshened up with a new producer as with Duncan gone she was all ready for new stories and relationships, no history to clog her down.

Yes. Lisa something (Lisa Sloan? Or is that another actress?). She is very generic. Considering Reckell came in as the brother of a character who got a lot of focus at the time (Brad Hollister) they may have had more plans, but I don't think either of them made it out of 1981. It's odd ATWT didn't see Dana's potential, but then so many women came and went in this time period thanks to poor writing. That's interesting. I never knew Shannon was involved in any of that story, although I haven't seen a lot of it. Shannon became much more isolated after she got together with Duncan.

Here's an old promo with Margo catching James kissing Connie (which comes up a lot in this episode). Mary Stuart's "ooooggghhh" in this promo always cracks me up. Here's the episode. I still don't know if this is the right month so if anyone knows the exact date: Compared to a lot of early '80s ATWT I've seen I actually enjoyed this episode (even a bit more than I did the first time seeing it). It has some pep to it instead of seeming slow as hell. Some of my main bugbears of this era, like Cricket, Dee and Annie, have a bit more life and less dead line readings (Cricket even manages a pretty good one with Margo) than usual. And Annie is not made up like a Vice President's wife, which makes a nice change. I really love the John/Margo relationship under Colin - such fire, yet you can also feel the bond. And it's good to see Tom with Chris, as working with Don McLaughlin seems to calm Justin Deas down. I know I asked this the first time this episode was around, but: - How long was this cute doctor Larry and the nurse around? I had never heard of them until I saw this. - I get so confused about the Annie and Carol baby stuff. Were they both pregnant at this time? Did they both lose their babies? For some reason I thought at one point Annie was carrying a baby FOR Carol and Steve. Was this that baby? If Rita McLaughlin had wanted to stay on the show I think she easily could have - her hair and makeup and wardrobe here fit the changes of the early '80s beautifully, unlike a lot of ATWT stalwarts who had some very rough patches.