DRW50

I didn't have a problem believing Josh could become a minster - he always had extreme emotional swings, career doubts and jumping into one thing or another (especially in the '80s), he was always very holier-than-though. It's just the story didn't really have any purpose in the end.

That trailer feels very underproduced, from the lazy voiceover that sounds like she's selling air freshener, to the lack of music until near the end. Andy is just out of place, especially the crass sexualizing of black men. Robin looks like the Purple Man.

I'm surprised you could make it through 2015/2016, which were so grim (especially late 2015/early 2016 and late 2016). The show does feel very grim again now though, but I think the material is better than most of late 2015/early 2016. Aaron's abuse story will always be a low point for me with this show. I was more unhappy with Moira not doing more to help clear Adam's name than with the Matty stuff. I felt like they mostly used Moira for a generic PSA and then she accepted him in a few weeks. I agree about Joe - I think it's less about the Dingles winning (although that's a factor) and more about them realizing that people weren't here for a Robert vs Joe pissing contest and that was just going to make Joe a hate figure for viewers. So, since they didn't want viewers to hate him, he is...just there. He needs more Tates, even if they have to invent a few. I doubt it will happen but I hope they do pair him with Priya. I actually don't mind Graham at all, but I think the flashback episode was mostly "We're doing flashbacks - wow!" and "Ghostly vision - wow!" without enough real effort taken. And the stuff with Megan is just a bore and seems pointless, as she keeps going back to Frank anyway, even after cheating on him and trying to get him locked up.

This man sounds completely insane yet it sounds like nothing is even going to happen to him.

Oh look, another hard right Republican in Congress fails for other office in spite of humping Trump's leg. https://www.vox.com/2018/8/2/17639464/tennessee-primary-2018-diane-black-loses-lee

She did, yes. And Zimmer (again). That must have been...something.

More on Jim Jordan: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/08/wrestlers-coach-asked-us-to-recant-jim-jordan-allegations.html

Thanks. I'd forgotten. For some reason I thought Long had her planned as Christina from the start but this makes more sense.

Thanks. I guess since Long created Maeve she might have been reluctant to go that far. I'm trying to remember what other strike issues she had. I know some felt the Sonni/Solita story got completely out of control.

She was barely a character. She was also one of several around that period (2001) who vanished without a trace. No exit, nothing.

Yes. I think they took advantage of "ooh Marah's a fashion designer" to offload the worst. I think Marina had some howlers as well. That's interesting. I wonder if killing Maeve was a strike decision or it was down to Long/Calhoun. I can't remember. Didn't they do the "never found a body" with her?

They never seemed to know how to style Reva for most of Zimmer's last stint on the show. As people have mentioned in the past, the attempt at some kind of upscale pseudo-soccer mom look she often had under Rauch never really suited her either. GL seemed to have some really good wardrobe and hair people in the '80s, compared to some of the other soaps, and they seemed to know what to do with her. I remember the scenes where she was running around and got hit by Josh's car - she had that green cloak and she looked stunning. Anyway, I finished that October 1986 episode, and the mourning for Beth became much more real as it went along. The visit from IQ (wasn't that his name?) and that girl (I don't know who she was) helped, but the most powerful moment was Jessie reading the letter Beth wrote to her when she and Philip were on the run. It was beautifully written - it sounded a lot like Beth and it also painted a picture of the purity of her love for Philip at that time, a picture that the cheesy (if endearing) made up flashbacks of her dancing with Bolger at "their" prom could not. Bolger also did well in that scene, with his wistful stares. I also really liked the scene near the end with Philip and Lillian looking at the sky and Philip saying he knew Beth was out there somewhere. It played into the obsessiveness he would feel a few years later in proving she was alive. Didn't Grant Aleksander return just a month or two later? I wonder why they didn't just wait. The other stories in the episode just felt so flat...Jessie/Simon (I don't get the Simon appeal) and Fletcher/Maeve/Reva/Kyle. Leslie Denniston was a competent actress but never should have been cast in a lead role.

I was watching this John Oliver segment on sexual harassment, and at around 5 minutes they show a clip from a 1981 training film called Sexual Shakedown. I did a double take as I'm pretty sure the young guy is John Callahan.

John Oliver interviews Anita Hill.

Is this Rita Lloyd in the Stayfree ad around 13 minutes? (I think Bob Hastings is in the ad around 23, and Anthony George around 34)

Regarding health care, I think that Democrats have been so badly burned by the 1993 and 2010 fights that they just don't know how to have these battles in a way the public will understand. Even now when we get the CW that everyone will understand what Trump is trying to take away, I honestly don't think they do. The problem is that the voices which often seem to get the most attention are pipe dream types, like Bernie Sanders, or his protege Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who seem more interested in talk shows and road shows than in actual plans or progress.

I think I may have posted it some years back...it's just a weird little blip...I think it's something like they have Robin Strasser posing by some lockers, for a silly gag, and then maybe they talk about ideas that were pitched. I can't remember now. I thought most of Fillion's tenure as Joey was a waste, to be honest with you (it didn't help that his last two years on the show revolved around dead weight Gina Tognoni), but he and Robin Strasser were great together. He was very mature with her, so it turned the older woman/younger man cliche on its head. That was one of the heartbreaking elements of their relationship, in that he in the end was too grounded and good for Dorian, who was never going to be able to actually be the woman she made him think she was. I was sorry they never revisited the relationship in later years, with a proper Joey recast. Instead Joey stayed the same age for 20 years (hello Tom Hughes...) while Dorian was shackled with David "laugh at me now" Vickers.

The odd thing is there is an SOD article from 1993 or early 1994 which heavily hints at it happening even when McKenna was still in the role.

I'd get rid of everyone but LPV and keep her on for one last season, to bridge the gap and say goodbye.

Ah. Yes. That's JFP for you. Ugh.

What was it you disliked about him? I barely watched JFP OLTL so I can't say. Bolger was very good in Parting Glances (and it was very brave to take that type of role in that era) but it's always weird seeing him as Philip. I wasn't a huge GA fan but he really did embody the character. It's not as difficult with India but seeing him grieve for Beth is odd. Watching this episode a lot of the grieving for Beth feels kind of forced. I think it's because GL had no real heart in this period. I don't think it got that back until Pam Long returned.

Distracted from all the flat angst with the Matthews ladies by how gorgeous Jerry ver Dorn looks. I will always say JvD was one of the most beautiful men ever on soaps. And I didn't realize just how much he did look like John Bolger, so that was good casting in some ways. I laughed when they started talking about Kurt being in Venezuela. It reminds me of Maeve Kinkead commenting on her 1988 exit and how in the late '80s everyone kept getting written out by going to Venezuela.

RIP to former Congressman, and Oakland mayor, Ron Dellums. https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2018/07/30/report-former-oakland-mayor-congressman-ron-dellum-dies/

Not at all surprising: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/30/eye-popping-payouts-for-ceos-follow-trumps-tax-cuts-747649

He would have fit more with the somewhat goofier and more likeable persona that the last Dan had (when he wasn't being kind of crazy intense, anyway). I don't think Armstrong was awful, but honestly the highlight of his acting career was Eden, where he was one of the only men I've ever seen who looked good in a purple Speedo.