DRW50

The bit about "purging" Obama staffers disgusts me (and I don't think this is a secret plot from Gingrich - it's typical of that porker who was never a tenth as clever as he thought he was). I have to admit I'm surprised that his staffers are still having to do so much because Trump and his people are too busy being spiteful and lazy to even appoint people to jobs. I thought at least one of Trump's puppeteers would realize that they have to do something besides sign EOs to get something done. Clearly not. Gingrich can blame Democrats as much as he wants, this is all on Trump and Bannon. And my guess is most Republicans know this, whether they say it out loud or not.

Emmerdale is a good show. I tried a bit of Neighbours again a day or two ago and there was this annoying as hell song playing on the soundtrack over and over. If I want that I can watch American soaps. I mostly prefer the old H&A. Their more recent material does nothing for me. And so many people quit that there's nothing to invest in.

Not really.

I go back to it because I have seen too many people in the press embarrass themselves over Republican daddy issues. If you think I'm wrong, you're welcome to it. I will never stop expecting the worst of GOP enabling by the press, especially when it comes to middle-aged white men.

People said that about Trump. With that said, I do think Pence replacing Trump is going to happen no matter what so I'm not trying to suggest that people are wrong to anticipate it.

If the media thinks Pence is their forever friend (which they likely will) and Republicans in Congress think he's a safe bet, it will put more pressure on Trump. And we'll then just get a more "Jesus told me to hate you" and slightly less corrupt version of the same for the next 4-8-12 years.

I don't really mind the idea but as always with them it's obviously a shell game.

Oh look, here's Rand Paul and a camera. Democrats would do well to not get too close to him. http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/rand-paul-blocked-gop-obamacare-bill-235613

Ass.hole. He raped Krystle, was a homophobe, etc.

I didn't mind the first Sean (I thought he was kind of hot), but I don't think Marland knew what to do with the character. He also didn't work well with Frannie. The whole story was oddly heavy which didn't work for her when she was new back in town and needed time to build as a recast. ATWT was so dark at this point but Marland mostly made it work. It's a very dense viewing experience but it's on good form. It's a lot more like modern dramas than anything on soaps now. I'm just sorry that he didn't get to finish out his last few years as HW.

I'm not as bothered by this as I should be. Show's a pretty stalwart leading man, which is mostly what Blake also was, aside from John Forsythe's charm. I do wonder if this reboot will address that Blake was often an [!@#$%^&*] or if that will be whitewashed.

@Soapsuds here's the full episode if you want to see it again.

I always get so confused about when she started vs when he (Malone) started.

This was when they were a romantic couple, complete with the retcon that they were lovers and had had a child together (David Allen was thought to be their son but they later learned there was a mixup and their son had died at childbirth, as Lucinda had originally believed). Of course in the episodes Lucinda and James didn't know each other, but that was ignored. Hubbard, as @Soapsuds mentioned, was not happy with this. I think she felt disrespected by FMB, period, as FMB didn't care for her ad-libbing and suggestions. I think Hubbard mentioned a comment FMB made to her that she didn't care for. I think it may have been something like jokingly saying her suggestions were "Liz unleashed" or something like that. She quit, and FMB chose to have her leave by having a beam fall on her head and she was left paralyzed and mute after a stroke. Several months later, FMB was gone, and Hubbard returned. Goutman never really did that right by her either, onscreen (other than the last year, which I personally felt like was the closest to Marland's Lucinda that the show had gotten since the mid-90s), but she never quit or made a real fuss in the press, so I guess FMB must have truly chapped her hide to get that level of reaction.

I'll request those SB clips and see if the person can upload them. Not sure if you saw this but this episode is one where Roya was back as Ava. Elizabeth Savage is also in it.

They are? Well as a gay man who watched a lot more of Bravo 10 years ago than I do now (I mostly keep up with some of the Housewives shows because I enjoy this thread more than anything else), I guess they don't have any great interest in me then or now. What are they going to have...Monster Road Truckers hosted by Stassi? They went very hard into where they are now and it's a little late to shift gears.

In a lot of ways it seems like BH has been lucky to last this long. Almost every season since the third or so seems to be tainted by all kinds of unspoken and yet overly exposed and covered drama with someone who always ends up feeling like a burden or some sort of headache that just doesn't go away (Brandi, Kim, Yolanda, Rinna).

Ugh. Idiotic. They're lucky that the Sessions stuff will overshadow this frat boy crap. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/03/02/democratic-congressman-kellyanne-conway-really-looked-kind-of-familiar-kneeling-on-oval-office-couch/?utm_term=.9c5ab98e8bf2

Thanks! Myrtle should have told Dinah Lee to run for it...

Thank you for taking the time to share clips with us. It's really kind of you. Watching that back I realize I didn't ever give AB quite enough credit as an actress, even if the writing still bugs me.

Geez... http://pagesix.com/2017/03/01/widow-of-joe-bidens-deceased-son-having-affair-with-brother-in-law-hunter/ I feel for Joe. This type of thing can end horribly. Horribly.

I don't actually think Seth was supposed to be gay. I think it's just that Marland put a lot of himself in the character, and this, along with Steve Bassett's performance (which again I don't think he intended to be gay) gave me that impression. Marland was very good at writing as far as he could for an audience that was, as you say, quite conservative. No other P&G soap ever had a black woman as a lead heroine, and not just a lead heroine, but a strong, independent heroine. It just wouldn't have happened. The stories he told were at times very controversial on paper but onscreen they made sense and managed to work. A lead heroine being dragged into a van and raped by an HIV-positive man? And there were smaller moments that genuinely surprised me, like when David Stewart - a beloved longtime patriarch - died, and Marland used a portion of his funeral to have Hank Elliot send a letter that didn't just praise David for his AIDS research, but also pointedly mentioned just how many people did not give a damn about AIDS or gay men dying of AIDS for many years. I was shocked.

Good for them. They shouldn't have to put up with his [!@#$%^&*]. I'm sure he will play the martyr, as he always does, and manage to get a sweet deal somewhere else. He's such a fake and a worthless senator and the sad thing is I think most voters likely know it and they still voted him back in.

That this is happening in California tells you again not to believe the hype about the "blue fortress" and how it's going to be some oasis against Trump. There are still a lot of people suffering there.