DRW50

There sure was a lot of focus in that article on how hard it was for Cogman. Not to be hard-hearted, because I'm sure he genuinely was upset with the whole thing, but he also chose to write the scenes, rather than ask them to give someone else that script. It's not as if he was held at gunpoint. The whole thing has the usual sycophant-EW undertone of "Don't be critical - you'll hurt his feelings" and praise him because he's "speaking his truth," or whatever the jargon would be. The other problems are: - This is not a realistic show. It's a fantasy show. Why is it that when women are brutalized, it's suddenly time for realism? And if we're talking realism, then Ramsay would not have left her alone as she repeatedly shunned and belittled him. He wouldn't have just killed some servant she barely knew. He would have repeatedly raped her, or he would have tortured or killed her. That's Ramsay. He has little self-control when he is not completely in charge. - His comments about her wanting to "get the hell out of there" remind me of the ideas that she needed to be empowered through rape. But none of this happened. Said empowerment amounted to a few sassy one-liners to Ramsay and berating Theon. One could say that she eventually broke through to Theon, but this was not well-told onscreen, and it could have been done without a rape scene. The people who run this show got high on their own hype and they are also lazy in how they write for characters who are not their favorites. So Sansa got shoved into this story because it saved time and they thought they could pass off a season of nothing beyond a rape scene and being locked up with the Boltons and Theon (whose "redemption" reduced him to a bit player and basically just existed to pit abuse victims against each other until a rushed denouement) as some type of strength. And since it didn't get the result they expected, out come the violins.

So she lost that but won the lottery when she left the show? When the news broke my first thought was, "Thank God Janine never came back while he was there." That "Abi is the new Janine" nonsense from Lorna Fitzgerald just cemented it.

Zoe Henry was absolutely terrific in the double bill (a rare example of what a double bill should be - NOT the shooting or car crash of the week), with some cracking and wickedly bitter one-liners to say. Putting this in the same episodes as Zak/Lisa/Joanie just underscores why that story doesn't work for me - it feels small stakes and juvenile and diminishes everyone involved (Joanie in particular seems like a silly idiot, not the mature woman we saw last year). I can't help noticing that with Jai back and Leyla clearly still in love with him (ugh), they're transitioning her style to be much more severe and dark. I guess they can get away with the different styles because Roxy looks good in anything. It was great seeing her with Doug again, however briefly, and saying he's the father she wanted. Warms my heart.

Absolutely. And pushing for more soaps to be ABC in tone pretty much gutted the P&G soaps longterm.

I've heard so many good things about the David Bachmann story. I hope I can see it someday. I think Channel disliked the hype and putdown of traditional soaps more than she disliked Nixon, but she really did let AMC have it multiple times in this magazine.

I'm not sure I do but if I find it I'll be happy to post it.

I love those.

Daily TV Serials February 1975

Daily TV Serial February 1975

Daytime TV Stars October 1975

Daytime TV Stars January 1976

I know some think Sam Womack will quit once he's gone.

Thanks. Those photos are cute.

Thanks for the detailed writeup. Some good stuff in there. I wish more of his FA Run (or any of FA) was available. I know some blame him for the show ending but others have said the decision was made before he arrived. I don't know if you saw it but I put a link in the FA thread to a lot of Pete Callan clips.

Didn't she leave because of something with her mother?

I think maybe they will trim the herd (I could see Lee, Tina, and Babe going). Danny Dyer may quit if he isn't given star treatment the way he is now. Would anyone even notice if Linda left...

nm - I'd already said that above, sorry...

Right. And for nothing - has anything with Ben been of value since his return? I just wonder if this was planned or if the BBC had become concerned. I doubt it was a big factor but I'm sure they aren't thrilled that the show is basically in a tie with Emmerdale these days, mostly because of the ratings drops for EE over the last year.

I'm so glad it wasn't Alex Lamb, as some speculated. I also hope that he will break away from the smug, stalled out, bad camp feel DTC always immerses EE in. The Kat stuff was the highlight of this year so far - I wonder if he had anything to do with it? I don't think the cast is that bad at the moment (not as bad as it was the last time DTC/Santer left), but I think Gavin, Kush, Claudette, Vincent, and unless the writing drastically improves, Ronnie and Roxy need to go.

DTC is outta here! OUTTA HERE! http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/eastenders/entries/dc5a0a28-acd5-4386-9102-c311b9627eda My reaction

Just ugh. Even if a woman said it, there's no need to repeat it. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/02/17/sanders-surrogate-killer-mike-sparks-controversy-with-uterus-comment-at-atlanta-rally/?tid=pm_politics_pop_b

Wow at this treacly prose over media darling Marco...even by Politico standards. How embarrassing, if not surprising, that he can have a huge comeback by saying, "Look mommy, I did well in the debate!" http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/marco-rubio-south-carolina-219310 Meanwhile, it's morning in Vancouver: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/marco-rubio-morning-again-ad-vancouver

Poor Jacqui. She was one of my favorites.

Prince got away with so much crudity in these songs, but they were and are absolutely brilliant and haven't dated anywhere near as much as one would have thought. Is it me or does the white woman look like Ada's daughter Nancy on AW?