DRW50

That host is basically Mo Collins from Parks and Rec.

The only thing worth watching is Lee's story, and Dot losing her sight. The rest just isn't any good, or it's incredibly bad. Beyond that the only highlight is that he or someone else decided to put a number of male characters in tight trousers, complete with myriad shots of their asses and thighs. Oh, and this past Thursday had some good scenes where Ben had to go see a therapist and blew up at him, and realized that he's only doing this transplant because of his severe mental health issues, not because Phil is worth a damn. This led to him breaking down in Jay's arms.

Some of the worst acting I've ever seen on a soap from Tilly Keeper in Monday's episode. It's a shame so much of EE is still a mess. The one really good story got an actor fired. I don't get it.

Reading the Senate projections at Daily Kos they have it as 50-50, which includes Wisconsin and Indiana even as polling has shown them steadily move away (although WI is still in contention, even if the huge amount of money thrown at it the last few days doesn't bode well). I hope the Democrats outperform the polls or have some surprises as Hillary would have no real chance of actually governing if Republicans keep the Senate. I'm so tired of the morons out there who still split tickets and believe in the fantasy of a divided government. There will be absolutely nothing good that can come out of those hatemongers keeping the Senate.

Elaine Princi in this bank ad, several years before OLTL.

A lot of things will be masked thanks to gerrymandering, luck (the Senate 2018 map is tough terrain for Democrats), and general anti-Clinton fervor. I guess the question is whether raging misogyny will be as potent as fear and rage toward a black man, which helped the GOP ignore their identity crisis over the last 8 years. And media involvement. The media worked overtime to push the Tea Party and try to convince voters that they weren't extreme or dangerous (even though they were), that they were just everyday people who wanted less government and lower taxes. The same is likely to spring up again now. The other question is how much power the Koch Brothers, who powered so much from 2010-2014, will have after they took a powder this year and are clearly at odds with the Breitbart wing.

I think Beck is both a huckster and messianic. It's much more like the '30s (which we may be back to soon enough anyway...) than most modern day shills. It makes him out of touch and confusing and also dangerous. I do think he's out of step with the Breitbart wing that now controls most of the GOP, and I wonder if he may eventually be part of a third party movement.

Obama is now more popular than Reagan was at the end of his Presidency. After so many Reagan leg-humpers seething and seething and claiming Obama was ripping off their hero, this puts a smile on my face. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/07/barack-obama-is-now-viewed-more-positively-than-ronald-reagan-was-in-1988/

I thought Gregg's Tom and Julianne's Frannie had the more blatant bond, at least under Marland - she would call him "Tommy" and had a certain happiness and emotion for him that she often didn't have for others in her life. It wasn't quite there with Holmes, as you say, although they did sort of keep it going with Holmes and Mary Ellen Stuart.

Cokie Roberts, whose name I last remember for whining and whining that Obama looked anti-American for vacationing in Hawaii, is now suggesting the only thing that will stop an increased Latino vote is birth control. But she loves those Latino people, don't get her wrong. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/cokie-roberts-latino-voters-birth-control Meanwhile, the bigoted, disgusting NCGOP openly brag about how low black voter turnout is compared to 2012, when their vote suppression machines are the biggest reason why. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/nc-gop-brags-about-depressed-black-turnout I hope at the very least that nasty little man McCrory loses, as that state truly has self-destructed in the last decade and it makes me sad. Looks like they're still trying to keep it tied. http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/trump-battleground-states-230875 I can't remember who the state polling favored in 2012. I'd say Hillary has a slight edge but I do think there's a lot of anti-Clinton fervor and frightening Trump worship that is going to make it close. Hopefully no one out there is assuming she has it wrapped up and decides to stay home, at least if they're in a close state.

So they're still pushing the narrative. Typical. They'll want to depress turnout if possible. I'm glad they're getting pushback. Mook's been a pretty good campaign manager to her, especially after the disasters of 2008. The Clinton White House had so many colorful characters and she was right up there. I think I best remember the merciless SNL parodies of her that she helped spoof toward the end of the '90s.

In some ways it's impressive that P&G let ATWT be pulled back from the brink and let Marland do as much as he wanted to do. I'm not being fair but so much of what I've seen of early '80s ATWT, up to about 1984 or so, is just a mess, a mess, and so alien to what the show should have been. Even what did work, like Tom and Margo, was full of overwrought musical montages and hysteria. That and the casting and focus on pieces of ass and "adventure" and so on are the first real signs of the ABC-ization of ATWT that would kill it in its last decade.

I may be wrong but I thought I read it somewhere. Given the general decisions at P&G in those years I wouldn't be shocked.

Hopefully that sticks. Thanks. I'd enjoy seeing Ayotte lose. She's a complete idiot who has gotten a free pass for 6 years because the media wants a Republican woman as VP or President and because she hangs out with the media's forever friends McCain and Graham

She left. Claire was decent enough. She fit what Sabrina was on paper. It just never quite clicked, maybe because she was never a character. The main reason Marland created Sabrina, IIRC, was because P&G wanted to fire Julianne Moore for not being attractive enough. With Sabrina the show could have Moore as mousy and as Frannie, make her more attractive.

What did they say about the NH Senate race?

I don't think Robin had the range. I thought Mary Ellen Stuart was a very good Frannie. She was the first Frannie I ever saw and I loved her work back then. I think it holds up now, although I didn't quite realize at the time what a vacuous character Frannie was. They were finally changing that as MES was leaving, and sadly that was the end for the character. I didn't watch Claire Beckman's material closely - I guess I should find time to go back and watch some of those episodes while they're up.

Barbara slept with Daryl before he was with Frannie - several years before. The problem was that she kept the truth a secret - about the one-night stand and about Jennifer (she also kept the latter from Daryl for a number of years). Tom was always very close to Frannie and he just never was with Sabrina. He didn't know her. The main time she was in Oakdale was a terrible year for him personally, which didn't help. I think they were friendlier when she returned in 1990, but she seemed to be an isolated character at that point. They should have explored this more in both her stints. They also should have kept Frannie/Sabrina a dual role, as Sabrina on her own wasn't that interesting. The whole Sabrina and Seth thing was murky and unfortunate. They tried to claim that he did love Sabrina, was growing in love with her and moving on from Frannie, but if a woman had come across a fiance's twin brother, mistook him for the man she loved, and he had sex with her, it would be called some form of rape, even on a soap.

It really wasn't any better. The best I can say was that at least Alan was still around.

They'll want to keep pushing that narrative to Election Day, as it helps Trump.

By the end Peter had seen the error of his ways, but of course was then written out never to be mentioned again, aside from one or two bits. Just like Ben, which made no sense long-term. Cass and Kathleen are one of my favorite soap couples ever. Few else can compare. I never know if it's just low expectations, but I do enjoy a lot of AW I see from the early/mid-80s (not counting the earliest '80s as they're a slog - but from about 1983 on). It's a shame the ratings weren't better as it would have spared the show being torn up and down in 1986.

If you get a chance to watch, the January 1986 episode is especially good - lots of Vicky and Marley (and even Vicky playing Marley), good work from Robert Lupone (Neal being yet another squandered character...AW had so many), and wonderful work from Doug Watson and Irene Dailey, with Liz's love and idealization of Mac being as heartbreaking as ever. It's too bad so much of this would be eviscerated with yet another overhaul, although the show would have had to make huge changes with Ellen Wheeler leaving anyway.

Shameless. Put this out just when Trump needed the momentum and Republicans needed help keeping the Senate. Now deny days before, where it can easily be dismissed as some pressure move from the Clintons. I think Hillary win narrowly win and would have even without this latest clearing, but it means she's far more likely to have an extremist Congress making sure she can get nothing done. It's a great way to help this country burn. It's shameful.