DRW50

Yeah I guess I just wondered if it was originally planned as a permanent departure or if it was always meant for a return.

If it's Libby it will likely be for Denise to keep the baby. If it's Jay, the same reason for Phil (some say it would be angst for Ben but he and Jay barely speak now). I've also heard spec it might be Sylvie, as she is barely a character and her story seems over. The show mostly just slogs along these days until these "moments." The Lee one is the one that really disappoints me because it tells viewers if they are suicidal, their family will shame them and they can't get any help. The worst part of all the depressing material is the show doesn't have the weight to make it work. There's no grit or heart.

I didn't want someone to scream and shout all the time but she seems like she's on some meds...

I was pleasantly surprised by last night's episode as we got multiple scenes showing her talking about why she put the baby up for adoption and characters actually listened to her, for the most part. I was annoyed by Carmel making it all about herself (as usual) and by Shirley's pathetic line that this was so hard for Phil, he wouldn't do this (obviously setup for his upcoming child stealing...), but the rest was OK. Her scenes with Libby were some of the best she's had in a long time, and easily Libby's best as a character. She's only been on a few times but Denise's mother doesn't do much for me. She seems oddly low-energy and detached from everything. No wonder she never showed up.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2017/01/18/daily-202-lamar-alexander-is-dragging-betsy-devos-across-the-finish-line-to-become-secretary-of-education/587e5785e9b69b36fcfeafd7/?tid=pm_politics_pop&utm_term=.87e3833768da By Fix standards that's actually a good article.

Babies are fashion accessories to Kim.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrxAVXhoSjM

They kept it from her as the relationship ended with the pregnancy reveal. I hope Denise tells her - Denise would do that and I want to see her smirk fall. I love Bonnie Langford but I just can't stand anything about Carmel. Kush was better as a solo character. I'm so disappointed with how they've handled the Lee story and so much with the Carters as of late. And Whitney looks just awful in this story as she has done everything but mount Mick while he's sleeping. I was actually happy about yesterday's episode because I genuinely thought that the baby was going to be adopted, but apparently some soap person is saying no, it won't happen. Of course we need to make sure child abuser Phil gets one more kid to damage.

That's an incredible find. Thank you.

She will likely be gone next week or the week after. Carmel has always been a terrible friend and is a terrible human being. I can't wait for her to find out Kush was dicking her BFF for months.

Stay safe.

Slowly reading the Twin Peaks book and I had absolutely no idea of the way Meriwether Lewis died. Obviously a lot of that isn't real, but then I looked on Wikipedia and it wasn't as fictional as I thought. I guess you can't say Twin Peaks doesn't teach you anything.

Obama is commuting Chelsea Manning's remaining sentence. http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/obama-commutes-chelsea-mannings-sentence-233722

I suppose it's about privilege (especially white privilege). I guess if some haven't learned yet they will soon.

On the one hand I'm dreading everything after the inauguration because it means Obama has gone and we're in deep [!@#$%^&*], but I'll be glad when it's over. I think all the focus from some people on strongarming acts into canceling was a waste of time and energy and just fed into a lazy narrative that distracted from how many bad things are going on with this Congress and with Trump and with state legislatures. If there was one lesson I thought people had learned after the election it was that pop culture isn't a tenth as important or relevant as it thinks it is and that it's time to reassess their role in society and how they communicate. Sadly, it just hasn't happened, and I guess it never will. You've had genuine attempts (that of course got the usual Faux News outrage), like the Hamilton cast speaking to Pence, but for the most part you still get the same old tedium, like SNL, which actually used to help shape public opinion many years ago, now settling for grade school "pee-pee" jokes and Alec Baldwin screwing up his face for cheap chuckles. The cable comedy shows are doing more, but they're always going to have a limited audience who already agree with what's being said. This used to be something that people took seriously - pop culture would talk about responsibility, there would be classes about the right way for civil disobedience and speaking out. Now you have dumbasses like those men on the plane where one tweeted about the other going to berate Ivanka Trump in front of her kids. Good for you - who does that help?

He was fired.

On the one hand it's a shame they went the cliche psycho route with Pierce, but the control aspects of the story and the acting is keeping me interested. I just wish it wasn't going to be all about Paddy in the end. Finn saying "it's just a matter of time" made me uneasy to say the last. Yes it's Emma all over again. I just wish they could have let the character be happy. He and Kasim could have had potential, and the hooker, Nathan, was gorgeous. I don't know if they still plan to have him back with Kasim but he's going to have to change a lot (Finn). I thought Joe Gill acted the scenes well but I wish the story was not so weird. The stuff about Charity and Bob cracked me up. Nicola Wheeler is such an underrated actress.

If you get to Ryan's Hope summer or fall 1981, she's in several episodes as a soap actress.

Unfortunately, it's lazy tee-heeing from people who enabled him throughout the election season. They want publicity, as does Alec Baldwin. They're no better than Trump.

They voted for him, but not when he needed them most in 2010 or in 2014. If they had I wonder if things would be very different now.

Sadly they don't vote...

If this wasn't literally life and death for millions I would say this is hilarious karma, as the GOP likely never thought they would have to actually deal with this issue. I think they had hoped to dance around the issue with a Republican President who would say the right things (again not realizing that the base has no interest in "the right things" unless you mean the right type of match and lighter to burn it all down) and then when Hillary seemed likely to win, they could know they were in a stalemate, with the ACA slowly dying out, as they planned. This is their worst case scenario, because they have a POTUS who isn't interested in working with them, or making nuanced decisions, and is instead badgering them. And while they, and the media, will still blame Democrats, that's much harder to do when they have total control of government. I think some, like Paul Ryan, genuinely want to help - it's just that their idea of "help" is terrifying. Others, like McConnell, just wanted to kick the can over and over every 2 years, every 4 years. And now the can is gone.

Speaking of that: http://www.9news.com/news/congressman-coffman-leaves-frustrated-crowd/386167135

http://deadline.com/2017/01/jennifer-holliday-msnbc-joy-reid-donald-trump-inauguration-backlash-1201887313/

No. Other than the destruction of Mack, being bored out of my mind by Paige/Tom (DIRTY COP!!1!111), being annoyed by how one-note and sour Olivia was as an adult, and disappointed by a great deal of their material for Abby, I don't think they were that bad. They made some changes to Knots that needed to happen, like the move toward the corporate structure just as this was becoming more prominent in pop culture and the show was facing off against a corporate hit (LA Law). And the corporate stuff was actually fun and entertaining. Outside of that dullard Tom, Paige was a fascinating character, probably the most complex young heroine ever on a primetime soap, and she refreshed a show that had two lead heroines who had seen much better days. They obviously had no idea what to do with Gary ("Sally's friend"), but that had been a problem for the show ever since he broke up with Abby, his true best partner. While I didn't care for the way they moved Greg out of Meg's life, he remained a compelling character even without his true soulmate Laura. I'm sorry things ended so badly with Lynne Moody, but Larry Riley was a charismatic and genuinely likeable presence who made the cul-de-sac feel less stale. And Michelle Philips was simply a blast as Anne - the role of a lifetime for her, just as Paige was for Nicolette.