DRW50

I remember Marlena de Lacroix panning the show in '99 because nothing was ever happening. That had happened even before then but it wasn't fashionable to say.

RIP Tom Hayden. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/25/us/tom-hayden-dead.html

That would make sense. Do you think Emma will bump him off? That would be Finn's luck...

Is this a brief bit of Maureen Garrett in the A1 ad near the end?

She doesn't really say much about it, does she? Did the "4 people working hard" thing mean her and Mike/Maggie/Nick or something else? I like that she tried to get Doug Marland to mention Althea on ATWT. If only... I'm still in mid-1969, as I watch with my mother when we have time. The Mike/Nancy story is both boring and occasionally hellish, but the rest is OK. I have a feeling the worst is to come though. The best part of this period is Anna Ford.

Sure. I think Jed Allan could have been an OK Don too, although I'm not sure if he was still acting by that point. I'm still not sure how Wally Kurth ended up being cast as a disturbed man with a puppet.

I never understood why they got rid of Andy as he had the most ties and most potential out of most characters during that time. IMO, he should've been the leading man. Not Jack. Not Holden. From watching clips around Caleb's arrival and early years on the show, I always got that Caleb was the ladies' man, who made mistakes (like you stated). I guess once he became a cop they had to declaw him. Thinking about it, did you ever think that Jack/Carly were knockoffs of Julie/Caleb? Caleb/Jack being a cop and Snyder man. Julie/Carly being the town screw ups. I always pondered about that... Do you think that Seth could've been brought back in later years? When Wally Kurth was brought on, I was hoping they'd make him Seth or Caleb but instead they made him weird ass Sam and just totally wasted him. I felt Stuart Damon would've been a Don Hughes recast but they wasted him too. What are your thoughts on that. I don't think they were Julie/Caleb knockoffs, as I doubt those running the show knew much about Caleb or Julie. I do think Seth could have returned, sure, although I would have preferred no recast. A Don recast could have worked, especially if they brought back Teddy and his other child with Mary. He could have worked with Tom and there could have been tension over cases. He did change once he became a cop, but the biggest change was MDM's death. Up to the time he passed away Caleb was still a bit hotheaded, still got jealous. One of the early 1993 episodes he was in had him jealous of Julie at a modeling shoot.

For me Caleb was Michael David Morrison. Graham Winton was a decent actor but a brand new character - for one thing Caleb was never supposed to be a goody-two shoes. He was the haunted, hurt brother who made mistakes. Seth was the "good" brother. I don't know about fan followings for them but I think they could have easily moved Julie into other realms. I understand why Valente let some go, and I'm not going to say that Julie leaving was a death blow to ATWT, but I think she and Andy could have easily been kept around and contributed to story. The idea was supposed to be getting rid of all the people who weren't main players, but in the long run, whether it saved a bit on budget or not, it hollowed out the show in record time. ATWT at its best had the structure you currently see on Emmerdale - multi-tiered.

Where do you think they could've taken Julie had she stayed? Plus, with Carly already on the scene already taking her crown, would you want Julie reformed? Carly was never the same type of bad girl Julie was - Julie tended to make mistakes and get into one bad idea after another. Julie was semi-reformed for most of her run and I think she could have stayed that way. I would have split her from Caleb, had her move in with Lisa again, maybe bring back Pete and bring in Jenny more often to show more of her as a not that great mother who did sort of try. She would have fit into most of Lisa's stories (better written versions, ideally) with the John sham romance and the Hong Kong follies. I would have had her start a design career maybe, working with Carly. And maybe she and Emily's cute boyfriend at the time, Jef Hamlin (one of about three decent love interests KMH had...) could have a one-nighter, which would cause a lot of guilt and regret and then damage her friendship with Emily when the truth inevitable came out.

Someone put up part of Joe's death/funeral aftermath (watch while they're still up, if you're interested...): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXPdhDDT7nM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko2Az-yqpYU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNXj4_yeUUE

Yes, although I don't think that was the intent at the time. It just played into what happened when they were fired. I was such a big fan of Julie. That whole thing still angers me 20 years later.

Thanks. Sounds like good drama.

This is one of Emma Caulfield's appearances as Carly's scheming partner. This is also about a week before Luza officially rejoined as head writer.

Temp Hal recast.

Thanks!

The April 95 episodes - was ATWT the last show to use beauty shots? They are one of my favorite parts of soaps, especially these that are one last extra scene. I missed some of this at the time - I had no idea they were considering Hal/Shannon (one last insult for Barbara) or Hal/Sam. The show was so good, aside from wretched Mike and Rosanna, before P&G and that hack Valente butchered it.

Another Tim Kaine profile. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/24/tim-kaines-radical-optimism

Thanks. What is the smell story about? A corpse?

I read a lengthy screed from Taibbi about how terrible it was because Trump had ruined the chance of moving away from the two-party system and that this would have happened without him. It's a fantasy - a fantasy I would laugh at if it weren't people who should know better pushing this on young people who don't. If Trump hadn't been in this election, it would have been Hillary vs someone like Rubio, that would have been very close. Third party candidates would have had no chance, whether it be Johnson or Stein (both incompetent - in her case dangerous too), or if their Saint Bernie had run third party, that would have just given Rubio the keys to the White House. There is never any good time for a third party. Even countries that have active third parties have seen their foundations and strengths steadily eroded in large part because of this (the Lib Dems teaming up with the Tories in the UK and helping grease the wheels for a full Tory takeover; the Le Pens pushing France further and further to the right; the current push further to the right in Germany, etc.). Third parties benefit conservatives. They don't benefit liberals or liberal ideas. I'm tired of middle-aged fantasies being given so much weight and slapped around with a fresh coat of paint just in time to do damage. One of the few good things about Trump is that there was no time for any of this false equivalence once he blew up post-primary.

As qfan mentioned repeatedly, that really was a good little storyline, with a good conclusion too. I can see why Michael Logan always said Lucy was never the same after they stopped writing her as a villain.

I still remember the episode where he was wearing those jogging shorts... You can tell the show is hesitant about how far to take Pierce and Emma. I like this as it's more true to life and more tense. Emma was doing ridiculous things last year - leaving James for dead, making Debbie think Sarah had cancer, etc. And last year by this time if the Pierce story had been going on, he probably would have tried to give Paddy mad cow disease. I hope Cain, Paddy and Chas never fully support this relationship or wedding. I know some would say that's homophobia (as some are already saying the show was homophobic to have Aaron and Robert involved in the big stunt and in danger of dying), but it's just reality. Aaron needs Robert, loves him, but it's a toxic, toxic relationship, and the people in Aaron's life may go along for his sake, but deep down they'll never forget. Lachlan - I guess he's just going to be there until they find out he shot Lawrence. I don't know. I thought poor Ronnie might die this week. I'm so glad he didn't. I wondered briefly about Joanie too, as I'm pretty sure she's leaving, but I guess she will just break up with Zak. I agree Zak has never been a patriarch. The show is losing a lot when Ashley goes. They desperately need more older male characters, or even men John Barton's age. He could have been a wonderful patriarch if he'd stayed.

Some good stuff in the explosion aftermath (the Street working together, suspense, characters believably scared and upset by explosions), but I laughed my ass off when Anna started shrieking and waving her hands around when her legs were on fire.

I liked the way they had the fakeouts at the end. If Bill Ward's firing hadn't been leaked a few months ago I might have been slightly surprised (or thought Rhona might go). As we did know, I agree it was something of an anticlimax. The producer said he considered killing more characters but decided it wasn't earned. I would have been fine with several going (Chrissie, Lachlan...), but it likely would have been a supporting character I like, someone like Harriet, so I'm glad they didn't sacrifice characters to fill up numbers. That's one of the reasons I got tired of Hollyoaks. Pierce is just sex on legs. That's the only part of this story that interests me. Zoe Henry and Dom Brunt are good actors but I don't care about the Paddy/Rhona relationship and I never have. I hope they won't take Pierce too far. I've seen some suggest he should hook up with Emma. That would be a terror... I was kind of glad the show didn't bother to sugarcoat Adam and James. I wouldn't have minded a scene, but it was never a close relationship (the paternity story was a huge mistake if you ask me). I hope we see some aftermath of Adam losing two fathers in the exact same way. Ashley trying to remember was very tense. I do think Emma may go after him. I hope not. John Middleton has been absolutely brilliant this week - so so good. He and Gillian Kearney both took the ball and ran with it. Ashley is going to be such a huge loss for Emmerdale. At least they seem to realize it and are showcasing him while they can. I enjoy Robert but a part of me wanted him to drown for that stunt. The whole proposal thing is not for me - I feel like this is being done just for pandering. With that said, the scenes were very well done, very nicely acted. I really need Chas to privately say she can never support such a marriage though, not after Katie.