DRW50

The writing for Shannon changed quite a bit in 1988 when they began delving more into Duncan's backstory with Lilith and that bizarre story where Shannon was afraid Duncan was going to kill her. She was second fiddle with Tom while Margo was away (I guess the pairing might have lasted if HBS hadn't changed her mind and stayed another year) then got involved with that evil Richard Burgi character. She was pregnant with and lost his baby, while dating his nice brother and keeping Duncan at arm's length. The latter story was a very heavy, depressing tale, and also very generic. It has always seemed odd and un-Marland to me, but 1989 was a transition year for the show and she seemed to get caught up in that. I assume Marland must have loved writing for her, and Margaret Reed always did a good job (that's one of the reasons I was fan of the character when I started watching around 1989 or 1990), but looking back I honestly think she stayed a few years too long and no longer fit into ATWT or Duncan's life by the time she "died."

Kyle interview.

Thank you for finding that article, @Paul Raven. Her name seems familiar to me but I think it may be the character more than the actress. Was she in the psychic dreams story with Barbara?

Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.

It's what I expected, but still, seeing some of the reactions on Twitter are so disgusting, especially some of the reactions about Kevin Spacey. I kept seeing one man tweet over and over "I knew exactly what I was doing when I was 14!!!" which I take to mean they think Rapp was some kind of all-powerful, callous manipulator of men. Ugh. Or people saying he did this for his career, which makes no damn sense, as anyone in the industry knows this is likely to hurt his career, not help. And the people tweeting rage because they "lost" House of Cards. [!@#$%^&*] you.

An article about how the "fake news" mindset means we're near a breaking point: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/2/16588964/america-epistemic-crisis

That's one of the greatest things I've seen a soap do for longtime fans in many years. It was great to see Julie again.

The whole role of agents in this has been a secondary story, but in some ways it's the most disturbing to me, especially when I read Deadline comments (which could be BS, I realize) about some of these agents and see people say that there have been stories for years on how they've violated and abused and nothing is done. Yet this doesn't get the publicity that actors or directors do. I was listening to a podcast today about this issue and they were speculating on who from this group will have a comeback, and when it will be, etc. and also when the "alt-right" or Faux News will start championing these men. I do think that it will happen soon, if the story keeps on, and hasn't yet mostly because these men are all seen as being part of liberal Hollywood (and in some cases are Jewish, which makes them evil personified to many these days). Even those at Faux News who have gotten the hammer were't especially popular (O'Reilly). If someone from one of those "pro-family" (ugh) film series or TV shows were in the crosshairs of these scandals, we'd be getting a much different reaction from many in the public, and also the press. I do wonder if any of these men will make a comeback. It feels like a lot of them were either on the way out or heading for a fall anyway. And most of them are people who had had rumors attached to them for years. There are some I don't think will be that affected long-term, like Ratner. I also think some who haven't gotten as much attention, like Hoffman, will probably continue on with their career, probably more successfully than some who haven't been accused of doing anything but have come out looking like huge hypocrites (many attached to Weinstein). Speaking of Spacey - the people in the Deadline comments also had some just awful things to say about the production company for House of Cards. Anyway, Julianna Margulies shared her story - the part about Seagal is pretty hair-raising. http://deadline.com/2017/11/juliana-margulies-claims-sex-harass-by-harvey-weinstein-and-steven-seagal-1202201691/

She was EP from 1994-1996, and a producer before that.

Maybe this will tell people that Bernie is not a Democrat and never has been - it's time to stop flogging that horse. https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-sits-out-a-tight-race-in-virginia-after-his-candidate-falls-short

That cracked me up.

That's fascinating. I can't say I quite get the attraction, although he did have some charisma.

I was reading about a former Star Trek Voyager actor, Manu Intiraymi, who tweeted some really nasty comments about Rapp after the news came out earlier this week. So anyway, not that I've ever heard of him (he was on the last few seasons of that show) but if you ever see his name on anything you watch, keep that in mind.

Watched the 1989 episode... I didn't realize Philip lived this far into 1989. They really upped the heartbreak for his death, with Nina knowing he was off the wagon again and agreeing to keep quiet. Thom Bierdz wasn't much of an actor but he played these types of scenes well. And poor Nina - Tricia Cast always added so much honesty and intelligence and sadness to her work. Telling Rex that she has everything she wants, yet we know (and she soon knows) this can't last. Her relationship with Rex - the two outsiders - is touching. Rex as the outsider of the family added such a fresh perspective on the Chancellor dynamics and the Jill and Katherine dynamics. It's a shame he was so casually disposed of. I had to laugh at Brittany wearing her smart lady lawyer glasses - it doesn't really work. Those are good scenes though, with the judge and the court seeming genuine and the jail having a real sense of menace (did you notice the maniacal laughter in the background as they cut from one of Paul's scenes?). I also laughed at Mary, Lynne, etc. all trying to talk to Paul in court as the bailiff tells them to stop. I'd forgotten there was a Clint before the one we saw most of the time. This guy seems very different - although not bad. I wonder if they decided they needed a more snazzy, slick figure once they moved into the con portion. Patty Weaver was also such an intelligent, unique actress. How I took for granted seeing women like Patty and Tricia on daytime, Chase is so cute in that last scene with Cricket. It's too bad that pairing never went anywhere. Cricket looks like she just got off the Gunsmoke set. Her icky sweet "little sister" scenes with Scott earlier in the episode make me a little queasy...

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/11/paz-de-la-huerta-harvey-weinstein-allegations http://money.cnn.com/2017/11/02/media/house-of-cards-kevin-spacey-harassment/index.html This stuff is just the surface. A lot of people will continue to be afraid to speak up and those who do will be made to pay for it. The best to hope for is that this will help even a few people out there in vulnerable positions.

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/muellers-next-target-is-pro-trump-group-with-ties-to-mike-pences-chief-of-staff-report/ I'm trying very hard not to make a comment about that photo.

Lamar Smith, mostly memorable for causing all sorts of problems for scientists in recent years, is retiring. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/02/lamar-smith-wont-seek-reelection-to-house-244477

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/nov/02/dustin-hoffman-faces-second-sexual-harassment-claim

Geez. It's pretty awful reading that out. Some of the comments were also pretty awful (it looks like some were removed), but Vulture is a trash site, so I'm not surprised.

The amount of leaks are still shocking me even after a year.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-kent-41828728

I wasn't expecting that either...

I wasn't sure how known it was, so maybe they didn't - apparently the Olivia Munn stuff was, as I saw that a few days ago Marni Noxon was trashing him on Twitter about that. (on another note, Noxon's Twitter says "I ruined Buffy," which made me laugh)

I remember reading that people said he was one of those difficult method actors, and so on, but that still surprised me. I guess we (or me, anyway) underestimate the permissiveness of the industry, especially back then. I read about this a few months ago - claims that he was awful to Meryl Streep. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/dustin-hoffman-slapped-and-taunted-meryl-streep-with-the-name-of-her-dead-boyfriend-book-claims-a6959356.html

I see that Jaime Ray Newman (ex-Kristina from early JFP GH) is one of the women. I saw someone say that these women are taking a risk because Ratner still has a lot of power in Hollywood. I hope someone is going to be there to help them. So Gal Gadot must have had a heads up and backed out of giving him an award. It doesn't say much for Patty Jenkins' feminist bona fides that she took Gadot's place.