DRW50

A recent Marie Wallace interview.

Didn't Van Jones also make a backhanded compliment about Michelle Obama? I tend to believe that the Republicans have more enthusiasm, because they pretty much always do in recent decades outside of one or two cycles, but that doesn't make the blatantly biased reporting any better. "Purple wave." The pure joy in that text. They may as well have said "eat the libs." I know Andy Lack wants to. That Haberman tweet where she is so impressed with Trump's political callousness is something we see over and over with Beltway types. They are so divorced from reality. Chris Cilizza used to tweet that type of stuff all the time too. They can't see humanity anymore. They probably never could.

Iyanla would have been all over the daddy issues that helped us get where we are today. In other happy, happy, happy news: And it looks like Republicans have the edge so far in early voting, which sadly doesn't surprise me. You can feel the glee in this NBC writeup. "Purple wave" indeed. Andy Lack must be grinning ear-to-ear and extending Megyn Kelly's contract right now. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/republicans-outpacing-democrats-early-voting-key-states-nbc-news-finds-n922881 Seeing that Trump's approval ratings have climbed even as he is trying his hardest to get us into nuclear war and even as he and the GOP openly say they are coming after Medicare and Social Security and even as tariffs make the economy falter more and more just makes me feel like if there was a tipping point we've already passed it. The bar is SO low for this man because the hate he spreads is so alluring to so many. I guess all we can do is vote and hope for the best.

I really wish that so many did not always start with 210. Some of the pre-Barnabas episodes are the show's very best.

I was unsure about the episode before it aired, because I just don't think grafting social issues onto Doctor Who is the best idea (I know it's been done before but many times the results have made me cringe, especially in the revival), and because there's something a bit offputting in 2018 about a white character saving the day for a historical figure, and because the scripts so far haven't exactly filled me with confidence. Overall I thought it was good - better than I thought it would be, anyway. The rightful decision to strip away goofy asides meant that Jodie Whittaker delivered what I'd say is by far her best performance as The Doctor, making the role her own with many moments of seriousness and quiet strength (and she did have a few small comedic bits, which she nailed). Beyond that, the biggest assets came from the multi-companion format, especially since two of the companions are people of color who would experience prejudice directly. Their private conversation was the highlight of the episode for me, and touched on some complicated truths that I wasn't expecting. And it's so great to see companions who, while they clearly like and respect the Doctor and are enjoying the journey together, do not exist for the Doctor. I did think Bradley Walsh was terrific in this episode, and made what could have been tone deaf (the white companion devastated and outraged by racism) feel much more natural and believable, but I'm glad he wasn't the only voice. In earlier years I can imagine a lot of scenes of Rose or Donna crying in closeup about how bad racism was, which both Billie and Catherine would have acted the hell out of, but it just wouldn't have fit the tone. I'm also glad the Doctor was, while clearly disgusted by what she was seeing, more conscious of staying in the background, instead of what we have gotten with some past Doctors, which amounts to focusing too much on how awesome it is that the Doctor hates racists and putting the suffering of the actual people being discriminated against in the background. I think my biggest complaints are that I didn't really understand why Ryan didn't immediately clock that he would experience racism when they got to 1955 (he may not have known a lot of history but he would have known that, surely), I didn't know why the Doctor didn't have them return to the TARDIS (before they decided they couldn't) for more appropriate clothes, and why this needed a sci-fi element at all. I get the whole idea of telling us that the future also has racism (which would have been more profound if the scene itself hadn't been so clunky), but I really, really wish this could have been a flat out historical, with the Doctor and her companions preventing natural occurrences for the time period to help make sure history happens. I think this could have been done without taking away from Rosa's fight, and would have made for a more cohesive and powerful episode. I also thought that the locals were all one-dimensional props. While I understand why they did not want to go the usual route of inserting a sympathetic and wonderful white character, as we so often get in these types of subjects (Roots, The Help, etc.) having so many different caricatures, many of whom struggled badly with their attempts at Southern accents, made the episode feel much more artificial than it needed to be. (and while I understand why they didn't want to insert all kinds of material about MLK as well, him being introduced so randomly for one short sequence made me wonder if something with Ryan's story was cut for time)

Kathryn Leigh Scott co-hosting a 1985 Disney Channel preview special.

I know it's been a month but I just saw this so wanted to say thanks.

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.