DRW50

Thanks. Can't wait to dig into them. Thank you both for all this.

Congress passed a big budget deal yesterday. After one of his main hacks, Mulvaney, claimed he would sign it, today Trump is saying he may not. He's saying it's because of the border wall, but many think it's either the "gun research" provisions, Faux and Friends piling on, or...this: https://www.thedailybeast.com/congress-snuck-new-russia-sanctions-into-spending-bill

Thanks.

He was someone I don't think was that known to the public until 2005 or so when that administration, or the neocon parts of it, got very cocky after W was reelected. He was just nuts going on and on about Iran and more war, right when people were sick of the topic. I do think more scales are off more eyes now - I just hope that matters. Speaking of that branch of the left, I saw that Thomas Frank was one of the people tsk-tsking about Russia. I remember how hyped he was by many because of that "What's the Matter with Kansas" book - they made him into a virtual god. He seems to hate the Russia stuff because he thinks it takes away from the reality of why Democrats lose. I think that can be true to a point, but the problem is even the mere discussion of Russia's influence leads some to get very sneering and dismissive. I guess in many cases we know why. I'm trying to remember if she's the same one who said it wasn't Christian to get vaccines. (probably not) I remember the media hyping her up in the '00s, along with Osteen.

Trump wants to be anything he thinks will make him seem popular or unique. I wonder how all those who insisted he was less of a warmonger than Hillary feel now. I will admit I hoped that might be the case, but I still voted for Hillary, because I just didn't trust it. Reading about how he wasn't chosen last year because of his mustache, and that Trump is just hiring him because he's pals from cable news - I would like to believe that means he will have no strong influence, but the problem is that Trump is clearly itching to go to war with someone (I'd guess Iran is #1 on the list). I would say maybe the GOP will finally stand up to him, but we all know how that song ends. If they do, then they should at least block Pompeo's approval. I doubt they will.

Are things as bad in South Africa as some in the right wing media keep saying?

Thanks for finding that. I'm glad he and James Marshall are still friends.

Looks like the plans to gut Voice of America are still on: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/house-dem-plot-to-oust-broadcast-board-ceo-our-worst-nightmare

I think given the scant audience left for US soaps, a lot of those who are left are there to the end (or until they die), so this is the best time to try something different.

Thank you both!!!

GL added Alex (although we rarely saw her in business stories), and AW to a lesser degree Felicia, but yes - Lucinda was the main female character who was shown so heavily in both worlds and in a masculine role.

Thanks. I thought so but I thought it might be too much of a coincidence. I wonder if a casting director saw the commercial.

Huge numbers of birds in France are dying: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/21/catastrophe-as-frances-bird-population-collapses-due-to-pesticides?CMP=share_btn_tw

Is this Pat Peterson and Kim Lankford in the first ad? @vetsoapfan @SoapDope

Esther Shapiro interviewed about 10 minutes into the first video. The second is filmed on the set of Dynasty.

Anti-abortion groups fought hard for Lipinski. It will be interesting to see how much his win is pushed by the media to help depress turnout and enthusiasm. I imagine it will work with the usual suspects.

I think so, yes. There had been rich characters on ATWT before - Annie's husband Beau was rich, and his mother (played by Georgann Johnson) meddled in his life. James Stenbeck was rich (before they took that away from him). It's just that there was a certain stuffiness in the way wealth was treated. With Lucinda you got the shift toward wealth being more flashy and fun and ridiculous, and also with it becoming more and more embedded into being a part of daily Oakdale life. This eventually led to the stuff Harding Lemay complained about in the mid-90s when three different characters had their own private jets.

The soaps ramped it up around 1982-1984 or so. There was a shift in how rich characters were treated - much less focus was put on their ordinariness (just compare the way rich characters were written on GL in the late '70s to the way they were written by the time Bev arrived as Alex). The biggest sign of the shift for ATWT was Lucinda.

Heather Tom was superb in the story of Victoria's baby loss. The problem for Herbst, as with Genie Francis, is aside from some individual scenes and scattered episodes, the writing was very hollow, and centered on men. To me the rape story with Liz and the rape revisitation with Laura were about Lucky and Luke - viewers being asked to cheer Lucky as he verbally abused his mother and asked to pity Luke for the burden of being stuck with the woman he'd raped. I thought the whole thing was disgusting. I had a difficult time believing in or connecting to much of anything with these characters under Guza. Liz eventually became loathsome after Lucky "died" and she was paired with Jason, and Laura just felt empty and aimless, whether it be with Stefan, at the hospital, wherever. I also never connected to any of Lucky's "death" story, acting or writing.

Rick's main presence on the show was under Con Roche. He was there with Barbara and their mother Jennifer in the early '70s. He left town and then popped up again briefly in 1981. You can find a bio on him here: http://soapcentral.com/atwt/whoswho/rick.php

I know. I was agreeing with you. It's just so blatantly crass, to the point where at first I thought Nixon must have originally said something about her being a lesbian. But, no - she's just that crass.

I remember a lot of talk at the time of the NYC mayor race (which she and others seemed to think she was owed) about her nasty personality.

i'm glad you mentioned this as I'd forgotten to - what was that music in the John scenes? It was so un-Y&R. It sounded like something from Vangelis (who did the Blade Runner music).

I think those 2-3 years, from the pill addiction to Bianca's eating disorder, were Susan's best acting work. She really did deserve that Emmy. In the case of the kidnapping it helped that Erica did go to jail for a while. Of course it wasn't long, but still - it's more than many soap characters faced.