DRW50

I had a feeling she would die - her entire return has been about impending death - but I thought she'd die in the October stunt, maybe some dealer or Emma would accidentally kill her or something. I'm glad that it didn't go that way and it was raw and solemn. Natalie J Robb just tore me up, and Adam Thomas was also good. I used to love the little Barton family so seeing them broken always breaks my heart. It was even worse because we did get to see Holly trying to rebuild her life and finding happiness. And I wonder if she even relapsed or if it's an old wrapper brought out by the wind. Then I also wonder if Jai will get the blame when people find out about their relationship. People will probably think they were using in secret. I'm so glad the show remembered Moira's friendships with people like Diane and Vanessa that have gone by the wayside in the last few years. Having them there helped show more of the loss and grieving of a community. Kudos to Karin Young, who wrote the first episode, and also wrote the episode years ago where Ashley and Laurel's son Daniel died.

Is Wendy really that influential these days? I know a lot of her fans were unhappy with some of her recent comments.

RIP Gary Glasberg, who helped create NCIS New Orleans and was the showrunner on NCIS. Apparently it was totally unexpected. Even the woman who played Ziva, who left the show on not the greatest of terms, commented. http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ncis/news/a809461/ncis-showrunner-gary-glasberg-dies/

I said that I thought the debate mattered in that Hillary didn't hurt herself. That's a big deal, because a lot of people were waiting for her to fall into their Al Gore trap. I said I didn't think it mattered otherwise because I don't think it does. Trump says and does insane things and acts like an !@#$%^&*] and it rarely matters. The election will be close and hopefully she'll win. I think she and her team have done a good job with post-debate spin, and I don't blame them for things like blowhard Howard Dean going around talking about Trump and coke and feeding into the "both sides do it" narrative and having Hillary's concern troll Axelrod pop up to further push that narrative and say that Dean = Trump. That type of stuff distracts and hurts her and is another reason why Democrats seem to have no real idea about messaging. Hopefully the polls will show an uptick for her, and the next debate won't be pushed as a Trump comeback. In terms of being positive about the debate, I can't claim I am when I don't think it will change any of the core issues in the race. She did well and avoided damage, which was the best case scenario.

I'm sure there is a lot of enthusiasm. The reason I posted the article is because I know there's been discussion about how much there is and as I generally trust Politico even if I don't agree with them (that and TPM are the only political sites I read) I thought it was an interesting read, because I've felt a lot of apathy out there with people I know (not a lot who talk about politics, I'll admit), and I wondered if it's a problem for the campaign, even among voters who feel Trump is targeting them. I wasn't trying to say all black voters aren't enthusiastic and I'm sorry if I did.

You might want to goto twitter and look at the shitstorm this article is causing. And Nina Turner is a disgruntled Bernie supporter. Check out Darren Hutchinson and Tom Watson. Black people are getting TIRED of being told they only show up when an when a black is running. This is the same narrative the press ran all primary season when Bernie became the hot ticket. I'm not suggesting not being concerned but all we can do it vote and support ALL OF US. I'm actually volunteering to work phone banks something I have NEVER done before rather than sit back and stress myself out along with 2 AA colleagues who are actually tied of hearing how unenthused they are by the press. I know what you mean, but it was about various groups in Florida (not just black voters), and had several different quotes (not Nina Turner), which is why I posted it. It wasn't some attempt on my part to say black voters don't care about supporting HIllary Clinton.

Democrats worried about lack of enthusiasm for Clinton among minority voters in Florida. http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/hillary-clinton-florida-black-voters-228822

I already asked about James in the ED thread, so anyway, another question - what do you think of Jack's niece? She reminds me of one of those Loose Women presenters....pairing her with that Liam is odd but I guess the show is trying to make them happen. I'm glad that even after all these years Jack continues to have random relatives popping into the village.

She's never been on there (I don't think), she's just a Corrie "type." They've been popping up lately - the arson inspector (I liked him), the guard at the prison when David visited Frank. People keep saying Macleod wants this to be Hollyoaks or Neighbours or whatever, but I get more Corrie vibes in these types of moments. I hadn't thought of Lydia in a while but I always remember the name. I guess you bringing up Zoe Lister in the HO thread reminded me as well. I kind of wish they'd bring up Amy's attempts at an abortion but I guess no one in the village now even remembers that, and it wouldn't make any sense for Kerry or Joanie to know about it or mention it. Speaking of HO, what do you think of the James abuse story? You can just reply in that thread if you want. I've seen a bit and it seems rushed to me and I'm so tired of gay men needing to have a history of abuse.

I think Jimmy and Nicola have been put into such a comedy slot the show is reluctant to ever take them out. I guess at least they had some dramatic material for about 2-3 weeks. In this case I could understand her anger as he was pretending she was dead. The scenes did make me laugh, although I kind of wish she hadn't let on so quickly. The woman annoyed me though, the Corrie reject. Did you notice her name was Lydia Hart? A Hollyoaks in-joke? I'm glad they've allowed Nicola to continue to have the aftereffects of her injuries for 3-4 months now. That's fairly rare on soaps these days. I wish they would go for Ross/Charity but it seems like it may have just been a feint for Cain's return. Clearly that won't end well, and she will be at a loose end after that. I don't know if they will just go back to Ross/Debbie though. I guess you heard about all the furor from some fans and animal charities over the dog stuff. I don't think it's that big a deal (no one is going to kidnap a dog because of Emmerdale), but I can understand why some aren't thrilled. I just hope it won't lead to even more censorship and fear and OFCOM hysteria, especially after people wet their panties over Nicola and Dan joking about palsy. I even saw someone infuriated that Kerry joked about a diabetic coma. Anyway, I don't really know if anyone writing this has any experience with dogs. Or they were just in full comedy mode. I've heard some fans insist the show wants them to hate Ross and that's why they had him talking about how he was holding 5 dogs up at Wylie's Farm (the most cursed farm on this show - which is saying a lot), but I don't think it's even that deep. Someone just got stupid. Jai and Holly are so sweet. I wish it could actually end happily. Laura Norton and Denise Black really are doing a good job with this pregnancy story. I assume she will back out at the last minute, but if she doesn't and it really does blow up her relationship with Dan that would be good drama and something different. Liam Fox said as much. I tend to laugh at the DS types whining about how Dan and Kerry are unworthy of leading status and should only be given B comedy stories. I'm a lot more invested in this story than I am in most of the "A" material at the moment.

http://flavorwire.com/590312/watch-john-malkovichs-impersonations-of-david-lynch-characters-including-the-log-lady

Did you watch the debate? She didn't win because they were harder on him. She won because she was prepared. If the media softballs him like the Lauer debacle just to "level" things they will get slammed again. Last night was a level playing field and if he had prepared there were opportunities for him to counter her. Nothing is going to change that. Even if they ask him his favorite color and ask her about her foundation(which I hope they do because I'd love to see the Trump foundation can of worms exposed on National TV) it won't matter. The CIC debacle was not just about Clinton being treated unfairly. The audience themselves were pissed because many of their questions were ignored and not answered period and with Trump in particular, he was not pressed. Nor did Holt really press him last night. It was HRC who mainly pushed his buttons. It doesn't really matter what actually happened though, it's about the spin and how the press reacts to it. And they've already been reacting to the camp that said it was all unfair and biased against him.

Except she did talk about the emails. Really, nobody's buying the spin. They are trying to astroturf the hell out of it but it's not working. As for Benghazi, she herself mentioned sitting through 11 hours of questioning during the discussion of her stamina. After the butt-whooping she gave them then, I don't think they want to revisit that to her face. We aren't, and I doubt a lot of people care either way (most already have their minds made up), but the media easily succumbs to pressure, which is what this will be. There will be more of an effort next time to "prove" they are impartial by taking the hammer to Hillary and giving Trump a soft kiss.

It's clever, as it puts more pressure on future moderators to shill. And most of them will. I'm already seeing the spin become CW, from various pundits and political sites, that Trump was unfairly treated and that he got most of the questions, while Hillary didn't have to talk about Benghazi or e-mails, etc.

Hillary took a backseat after the 1993/1994 health care fiasco, so I do wonder how much she was involved with NAFTA, but it's a no-win situation. She can't run on claiming she was the little woman, but I question how much of a role she had in policy after early '94.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/clinton-trump-debate-takeaways-228758

Chuck Todd is the belt buckle of the Beltway, with a hipster goatee to try to seem different. I was trying to read the debate recap at The Fix and had to stop for a while when the guy doing it said Hillary was doing a less annoying version of the "Al Gore sigh." They really are trying to push that narrative against her. We'll see if they manage it over the next few days.

well, we still have two more debates. the next one is a town hall I believe. he just....that was the worst debate performance I've seen. Is saturday night live premiering this week? because if they are...they are going to be BRUTAL towards Trump. Lorne has a soft spot for him, or NBC does, or both, as they let him host even after his worst. Darrell Hammond has also spoken somewhat positively toward Trump. The sketch they did with Palin (who has fucked off this year - I wonder if someone in Trump's entourage told her to go away or else) and Trump had her as the crackpot and him as the wise sage putting up with her antics. We don't agree on some things but I tend to agree with your view of why Trump is popular. And I tend to think you will be right here. I don't think it will make any real difference in his support.

The audience cheered when he said he'd only release his tax returns if she released her deleted e-mails? So much for the audience keeping quiet.

It's about a conspiracy theory that Obama was born in Kenya and that any claims otherwise are a lifetime forgery. This tends to go along with talk about his father and his father's side being dangerous or out of control and implying he is as well.

It doesn't really matter how he does - the media will spin it as a win no matter what, or say she lost by winning, but I'm glad that she is able to do a good job. Any slip would make everyone pounce.

Not really sure how I feel about the abusive tone of the Cain/Charity relationships. I don't agree with the fans who claim the show is "trying" to make them look bad (their relationship has always been like this), but I'm wary of whether we'll get any exploration of Charity's feelings and I'm wary that with the inevitable Cain and Moira reunion this will be swept under the rug as she is "good" and Charity is "bad." http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/emmerdale/news/a809203/emmerdale-spoilers-cain-dingle-loses-it-attacks-charity/

Matt Milburn was so good on Hollyoaks...why do soaps keep wasting him? Do I need to petition Kirkwood to bring Joe back from the dead? http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/coronation-street/news/a809196/coronation-street-spoiler-hollyoaks-emmerdale-matt-milburn-as-footballer-tommy/