DRW50

I always loved that too but I can't say it's anything I've felt the show has lost recently. I'd say it started losing this years ago, especially after Gavin Blyth took over in 2009. Since then I have never managed to watch on a consistent basis as there are lengthy dead spots, lots and lots of plot over character, and lots of stories that are hyped but in the end feel nasty and pointless. I'd say Kate Oates was the worst for that. A number of her stories, like the Alicia rape story and the Katie death story, damaged the show in ways it will never fully recover from. I barely bother to watch at present and I doubt a new producer will make a difference. The strengths of Emmerdale remain its cast and some of the individual scriptwriters. Hopefully that will continue to be the case. As for when Macleod will be fired, the ratings are still good, and producers are rarely let go, so he won't be. All of the Corrie and Emmerdale producers of the last few decades only stay 3 years, so this will likely be his last year. I'd say Liv is mostly there to recreate Aaron's old stories, more than giving him anything to do. Aaron has become a meaningless character - nothing is about him. Isobel Steele is a wonderful actress so I can see why they will want to use her until she moves on. I just wish her stories weren't interchangeable misery. The problem with Tracy is the show's refusal to write her as anything but a victim and a "poor me" character. They posture about how tough she is, but all of her stories from the time they brought her back have been the same. I've lost count of how many characters have been damaged to benefit her. The problem with Priya is that she is and has always been a plot device. She was brought back for this purpose, so that Cain could sleep with her to hurt Jai. Then she was there to keep David and Alicia apart. The only time they almost wrote for her in her own right was when she was pregnant and when she was involved with Rakesh, but she barely appeared. And then last year when she began to get airtime again - shocker, she's back to being a plot device. Maybe this will change. I hope so, as Fiona Wade is a good actress with real charisma. I'd say that the grimy, trashy affair with Jai damaged Leyla more than David ever did. And she's another character who was trashed to prop up Tracy. David was changed for the better as a character when he got involved with Leyla and slowly began to mature, rather than just being a dumbass. Of course that too also had to eventually be ruined for Tracy prop duty. Tracy Tracy Tracy. I don't mind her, really, but they are desperately insecure about how viewers feel about her, and it does nothing but damage all in her life, and the show as a whole.

He is a horror show and the damage he's done to Wisconsin is likely going to be felt for a long time. A man who looks so much like a well-lit version of the monster from the Goonies being so hyped as a Presidential candidate for years tells you a lot about the low standards for the GOP.

49? I guess fake cancer takes a lot out of you.

Dan Schneider, whom there have been rumors about for years, is leaving Nickelodeon due to creative differences. http://deadline.com/2018/03/nickelodeon-tv-series-producer-dan-schneider-part-ways-1202353698/

I'm glad to hear this. And I'm glad people fought for the show to get another season as I imagine that helped. I think they have at least one more season in them. I'd be OK with that being the end, if need be.

You're right, but I'm still sorry we never saw any of 1982 (bar one episode). I know the year wasn't known for being any good, but I hated so much of 1981 that I'm sorry that is my last glimpse of the show outside of some scattered 83-89 episodes I've never fully checked out.

Speaking of that, I saw something on Twitter (I can't find the tweet now) from someone in Oklahoma (or claiming to be from there) with a picture of a magazine all about Saudi Arabia. I think their new king was on the cover. They said it was at their local drugstore and had no ads. I think they also said that it was done by the people who do the Enquirer. Has anyone heard anything about this? Maybe it was just a fake tweet, I don't know.

I read Politico pretty much every day, and while I can't deny that its leanings are clumsily obvious (see their article yesterday about "Democrats in disarray" in one Congressional district - an article pushed onto their main page), I find it much more balanced and informative than a number of papers like NYT that wrap themselves up in the money-begging blanket of "resistance."

That's probably one of the reasons I can't get into watching any of this. The consequences are serious (fatal, most likely). Yet so much surrounding the public view of Stormy Daniels treats it as a game. I know someone who bragged about how they were going to flip back and forth between her interview and TWD. It gave me flashbacks to what a game everyone made of the Clinton-era scandals. I don't enjoy being there again. Between that and the people I've seen making a game of the march crowd sizes and letting it overshadow the message, I'm reminded of how easily we all slip into making everything some kind of 'sez you' tabloid frenzy.

None of this will make a dent in Trump, or how his supporters see him. I think the only reason it upsets Trump is because she and her team have capitalized off his name and refused to bow down to him.

I thought the abuse plot felt so grafted onto Sharlene and really made her more generic. A lot of Swajeski's AW felt generic.

Thanks for posting all those. I can imagine someone not in the US looking at them and seeing it as a snapshot of us these days.

Thanks to both of you for catching that. Per his Wikipedia his last acting role was in 1981, so I guess this was just about it for him.

I guess it shows how much acclaim is worth in profit that they won't pay her money but will go to the press to either head off a story or try to look good. And now Matt Smith is expected to pay her money for something he had no involvement in. This type of thing, if it goes on too much, is likely to lead to lawsuits over spilling contractual details. Considering how many people throw around money for various crowdfunding gestures, maybe they should just raise the money for Claire Foy themselves. I also see from Claire Foy's comments that she did not ask for any of this to become a public issue. This is something which will likely be an issue for her career as well as Smith's. If they were not approached first, then the company's tub-thumping about how much they now care about women and equality rings very hollow indeed.

Julianna McCarthy is a world away from what Y&R became by the late '80s, yet the few times she appears even in those years she always has a special spark. It's a shame that we never got to see her all that much with Jess, as the Liz relationship was such an important part of Jill's character. Jill was rebuilt so many times, probably more than any other character on the show. You wonder what she could have been if they'd taken more care with her. I guess we should be happy she wasn't even more ruined than she was compared to some characters. It's a credit to Jess that even after seeing the other Jills I still respect her work a lot, as I am not like that with other recasts (see: Jack), but when I watch older material I feel like she ended up missing out on so many players who made Jill special.

Yet he went back in 2010 for that trash story with Liz. Bleh.

I always feel like that I just don't want to say it I remember when he was on China Beach and I thought he did a decent job. Soaps really did not seem to be his forte. I still don't know how he lasted so long. Clearly viewers liked him more than I did.

I think August was also when Craig came back from the dead (1988) and returned to Oakdale. I haven't watched those episodes in years but I felt like all of Oakdale stopped for the dual occasions, as there was a big party for Craig's return. It cracked me up. They didn't just know about it - they talked about it in great detail. Early on with Byrne in the role they did have more characters who had little time for her, like John, but as 1986 rolled along that faded away and the only character on the show who was allowed to dislike her was the mixed-up vixen of the day (Meg, then Emily).

That was a nice thing for him to do. The rocks - how long will it be before kids use them against teachers - or each other? I saw that Killer Mike was speaking with the NRA about black gun ownership. All I could think was that I wonder how much Bernie wishes he could have been involved, rather than posturing with students. (well that and that I have a feeling most NRA members are terrified of the thought of black people having guns)

Did Victor not come in to help Katherine go against Derek? I always thought that was the reason. Yet the story isn't in that place here. What did you think of the first Patty?

I think GL also had a story about a mysterious South American place around this time, with Alan being caught up in it. It does feel a bit odd for Y&R. It was also odd to see the corporate material as I'm so used to just seeing it with the Abbotts or Victor.

I wonder when the signature style of the meaningful glances and so on at the end of scenes began. In that second episode there some abrupt transitions - the first Jill and Liz scene ends so fast at first I thought it was a tape edit.

I also thought Bond Gideon did a decent job. I guess this shows how important it is to actually see the material rather than just read about it. I would have assumed she was awful. I wonder if maybe Bell thought she wasn't quite tough enough or self-loathing enough to play Jill? She is a bit of an ingenue. Yet as you all mentioned, there's a lot of Deborah Adair in there. I also see Lauren Koslow (minus Lauren's brittleness). I really liked the scene with Liz a lot - the Jill/Liz relationship is a special thing and it feels very natural here. The scene with John was also alright. I don't think this guy was too bad. Had Mary had her miscarriage by the second episode? I liked the early scene with Mary and Patty. You don't get a lot of good mother/daughter stuff on Y&R, usually you just get conflict. The guy playing Patty's date looks familiar. Paul ends up in the cult too, doesn't he? Why? I had to laugh at his scene with hammy Greg, the back and forth "man!" that Chris Schemering complained about in the dialogue of this era. Hauser manages to give a competent performance in the scene with Nikki. MTS is acting her ass off there. The cult stuff worked much better before they started singing. Just too hilariously cheesy. Those off-key harmonies should have sent Nikki out the door. Going by these two episodes there is a huge array of storylines going on. I wonder if that's why the ratings dropped around this point.

Finished the first one. Were the last few minutes part of another episode? Wow - never thought I'd get to see Victor's first meeting with Lorie. Were they both there to see Nikki? I thought Victor came along later in Katherine's story with Derek. Did Katherine know at this point that Derek was going to try to get the company? I will never understand that casting for Derek... So many times when I watch these old episodes, Nikki is in peril. In this case it seems to be from Wings Hauser chewing the scenery from under her. Yikes. I don't understand how he stayed in the role so long. It was nice to see some of the 'bad boy' days with Paul, and when Mary was allowed to be a real person, not a caricature. Tammy Taylor's very strong as Patty. I'm glad they had Paul stop calling her "Pip." Seeing her here, such a believable young character, just makes me sadder at how she was ruined. I've always liked Jerry Lacy, due to growing up seeing him on Dark Shadows reruns. Great to finally see him as Jonas. He does his best with all that expository cliche material, and he and Victoria Mallory have good chemistry. She seems more alive here. And good to see more of Lucas (Tom Ligon was so hot). The guy who plays Sebastian is good casting. Those scenes have a believable murkiness to them. Could I clip the ATWT/GL promo?