DramatistDreamer

As a little girl, I remember Traci Abbott and Brad Carlton. Back then, a great deal of the storylines concerning Traci had to do with her being plus sized (or overweight, as she was referred to back then) and to be honest, other than broad self-esteem issues that Traci had, the show never really created much storyline for her character outside of that.
 

Many years later, when they recasted the character of Colleen, Traci and Brad’s daughter to be portrayed by an actress considered plus-sized, the show sort of offhandedly had Colleen mention being built “like her mother” or some such comment, but they really didn’t pursue the issue. Later, they recasted the actress yet again, to be portrayed by a waifish actress from Australia, whose portrayal led them to kill off the character altogether.

8 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

I doubt that the $$ earned from a few days work at Y&R would help much.

Would she get the same rate as her contract salary? I've always wondered how that works. 

I am not saying that she would be totally reliant on Y&R money to finance her independent film efforts, of course not. With independent film, the margins are often lean and every dollar truly counts. Likely the other work she is already committed to is doing the heavy lifting. But she’s not there, memorizing dozens or more of pages of dialogue just for kicks. I am sure she likes seeing her colleagues but she can get together with them for lunch when she’s in town, and we already discussed that the work itself at Y&R is not exactly scintillating, so there must be something to it.

20 hours ago, NothinButAttitude said:

I love Mishael dearly but she is too good for this show now. Sorry, y'all. As many have pointed out, they stupidly should've never killed Hillary. Even then, they should've given her the writing necessary when she played Amanda. 

C'mon, Shonda! C'mon Dick Wolf! Someone! I am shocked she has not been snagged on a primetime drama/procedural at this point. She has what it takes. 

I agree. Maybe she really wants to do more independent films and this is her way to help finance these projects. I doubt the work challenges her but the security of the money and what she can use it for is probably the lure. 
As for Hollywood, it is a very provincial town, even smaller for actresses of color.It seems as though we tend to see the same group of actresses, sorted according to age group and it’s a rotating assortment. I tell you what though…MM needs to get whoever represents Zendaya to be her agent too, Zendaya is always engaged in some project, whether it’s a success or flop, she’s soon onto another high profile job!

1 hour ago, Taoboi said:

That is too funny. I just watched 2/13 with Billy and Chelesa discussing the name. I ignore their scenes usually. But I like it as CWA more than ACW or even Abbott-Winters. 

Yeah, ACW sounds like a bootleg root beer brand but if JG is really trying to build an entire storyline around a company name— uh, that’s not going to have the effect he thinks it will. 

FWIW, most of the talent are too good for present day Y&R but I understand what you mean @NothinButAttitude due to MM young age and the possibilities that used to be open to Daytime Emmy winners, unfortunately daytime soaps don’t have the same caché they had at their heights.

54 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

Haha

I wanted to see Matt Bomer new series only. I never got to see it.

Btw FreeVee had Tennis Channel 2 to watch this past week.  I was shocked to see it was available on FreeVee.

T2 is also available on the Roku Channel, which has a website in addition to the device. It’s good that someone is trying to make some aspects of tennis more accessible. Now they need to figure out how to bring more matches back to basic broadcast networks.

1 hour ago, Soapsuds said:

I'm not sure why paramount plus and Showtime merged. I had paramount plus but couldn't watch any Showtime shows unless I paid extra for it. Ummmmm....no thanks.

Even with the mergers you're still paying for both instead of buy one get free deal. 

I kept peacock but got rid of Paramount plus recently because it was too much $$ having both.

Whaaaat?! You mean you’re not going to pay extra to watch reruns of Billions??!

2 hours ago, dragonflies said:

It says Paramount Plus won't be profitable till sometime next year & no one knows when Peacock will be profitable.

 

I mean I'm all for paying one price for merged streaming services if the prices aren't outrageous

Wow, Peacock hasn’t turned a profit yet? I guess that’s not surprising, it took the likes of Amazon and Netflix years to become profitable but Amazon existed for over a decade before they started charging monthly subscription fees and for years, Netflix spent almost as much money on postage to mail out all those DVDs.

My concern is what it usually is when mergers happen, layoffs and consolidation of services so less customer service, more nonsense AI replies and some way to raise fees for less service.

1 hour ago, Antoyne said:

We actually haven’t seen Jill care about the name at all, it’s been Billy.

Welp. I mean…they could just name it CWA and call it a day then. I don’t really see the big deal either, it’s not like it’s a law firm where a person has to undergo a process to become partner, more like an accounting firm like Price Waterhouse Cooper becoming PWC- one press release and it’s done, no biggie.

Josh is literally taking office kitchenette minutiae and trying to create storylines from it. It’s not even interesting enough to be nicknamed Watercooler Talk, lol.

That’s interesting news @dragonflies. I suspect neither service is looking particularly sustainable down the road.

The Paramount+ merger with Showtime didn’t appear to accomplish all that much, at least in the short term. They did the stupidest thing with the Grammys by tying the streaming rights to Showtime. What do the Grammys have to do with Showtime when someone with a good antenna can pick up the broadcast. I’m beginning to think that one of the reasons why so many of these media companies are struggling is due to their lack of ethical business practices catching up with them.

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

Sometimes I am disappointed because the stuff I want to see is never likely to materialize, but I should be happy with any new find. 

Speaking of which:

Fans get rare chance to see lost Billy Connolly Big Banana Feet film (bbc.com)

"If it's pre 1950s and smells of old socks, get it out of the building because it's highly flammable."
 

Yikes! That paints quite an image. And smell.

Yes, I know I wish there were a treasure trove of reels from P&G soaps pre-1980s but I don’t expect that to happen.

3 minutes ago, BoldRestless said:

They can always bring back Mac and her kids. Brock was a Reynolds.

I dunno, they’re likely to make her seem like a totally different character. I figure, they may as well use…totally different characters, ones who are aggressive, with a winner take all mentality, which would be antithetical to Brock and Mac’s personalities.

Also, the writers wrecked Mac’s possibilities by saddling her with JT’s kids. Bringing back Mac would inevitably give Victoria and the Newmans more license to eat more of the show.

Wow, these missing reels of BBC programs seem to turn up fairly often, it seems.

1 minute ago, BoldRestless said:

That sounds like a soap character who has been married too many times. 

 

Poor Gary Reynolds, it was originally his company that was renamed to Chancellor Industries when Kay married Phillip.  

I’m surprised the show never dug up some long lost Reynolds descendants to try to stake a claim to Chancellor Industries over the years.

No doubt, they got that Superbowl bounce but I actually prefer CBS Morning’s more newsy-flavored format to GMA’s and Today Show, primarily because I’m more of a news junkie.

If Jill is spearheading this effort to get the company’s name changed, why Abbott, which Jill hasn’t been in such a long time? Is she doing it to solidify Billy’s tie to the company, as Billy has always been an Abbott?

Someone who watches the show these days will have to explain the reasoning behind this to me when they get the chance.

If someone were to ask the actors behind these companies on Y&R to describe in one sentence, what their companies do, I wonder how many of them could actually do this without faltering?

Last time I watched, even Jabot seemed to be involved in everything except making cosmetics.

10 hours ago, JaneAusten said:

 I believe Navalny knew what would happen to him if he returned.  Including his death. Heck he could have died in Germany or anywhere else in exile as it was had he not returned as happened when they poisoned him and he was lucky enough to live.  Maybe he was hoping his death could set a trajectory that would lead to changes.  I am skeptical.

I follow Tom Nichols on twitter and have read his books and a lot of his writing. He used to be involved in the National Security apparatus and was a teacher at the Naval War College before he started his writing career. He now writes for The Atlantic primarily. He also spent several years in Moscow.

His perspective on the Russian people are that they believe themselves to be victims and looked down upon by the west. This preceeds current leadership and goes back many years. And keep in mind Russia is only to happy to continue to feed this paranoia in their own people.  I am guessing the population in the cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg might be different because you are likely dealing with a better educated population. We'll see if anything changes but can anything really? time will tell.

Another problem is that the opposition itself in Russia is very fractured. I remember years ago when I first read about Navalny, I was hearing that he had association with people who espoused nationalist and anti-immigrant sentiment, which always made me view him somewhat skeptically but I was never sure whether that was Kremlin manufactured “dezinformatsiya” (and let’s face it, these elements exist in the Russian government, they exist in Ukraine as well) or even if Navalny personally espoused these beliefs. It did make me uncomfortable though. And maybe it might have dissuaded some from uniting as a larger opposition movement.

In movements worldwide, I know that people like to focus on one charismatic leader but it has shown not to work in Russia when it comes to democracy or anything resembling a democratic movement. And there seems to be no signs of coalition politics, at least from the outside.

6 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Glad it was new to you. You can see why the ratings were strong at that time. There was so much going on, new stories building even as old stories were winding down. Not a moment to breathe yet the canvas doesn't feel cold and dead due to constant heavy plots.

1986 was a really good year for how well the stories unfolded and overlapped. Classic dramatic fashion yet not rigid. If only all episodes were up on YouTube, people could really see this in action.

Damn P&G. 

Here’s an article about Julianne Moore, looking pure dramatic actress in the accompanying photos for this interview in The Cut. I keep forgetting to post this.

Julianne Moore’s Dangerous Housewives She doesn’t believe it’s possible to know yourself. That’s why her best characters are searching for an answer.

From what I have been reading, between the $355 million judgement against Trump, including interest, the $83 million judgment against him in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case could wipe out all his cash on hand and liquidity. Good.

Also, what self respecting business would want to do business with a company that not only has to operate under a court appointed independent monitor, who has just been granted enhanced monitoring powers as well as an independent financial compliance director?

People are talking about Trump and his sons being banned for 3 and two years, but two of the company’s officers are banned for life. Not a good look. Real estate prospects can change in a New York minute. Reading the particulars of this judgement has been fun.

Oh yay, for Margaret who,,over the years has quietly built up an impressive CV of work on television shows.

2 hours ago, Sapounopera said:

Jill should have been John's widow. I will never understand why they replaced Jill with Gloria in the Abbott story. 
I am willing to believe that Jill Fenmore Atkinson was Esther's dream.

Sounds good to me. I still can’t get over the fact that they basically erased Jill’s working class origins and for what?

17 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks. I appreciate it.

No problem.

7 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks for warning me. I generally can deal with most of these elements...although I really despise 'ironic" racism, homophobia, etc. that is seen as so cool in recent years.

From what I can recall, these are not among the problematic issues, more of maybe lines that get crossed by today’s standards but were probably seen as towing a fine line back then. I don’t want to spoil it for you in case you want to watch the film for yourself.

^^Sometimes it’s just really inappropriate to be trying to play devil’s advocate. Tur really is doing the entire profession of journalism a disservice by asking these types of questions.

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

@DramatistDreamer Thank you for sharing that. I've never seen Diva, although someone has been suggesting it to me lately. I really should. That was a lovely tribute to Fernandez.

Just keep in mind that 1980s films are not without controversy and only today, I realized in retrospect, there are one or two problematic moments in this film. It is an undeniably beautiful looking film and Wiggins Rodriguez looks and sounds exquisite in it.

Donald Trump must pay $354.9 million, barred from NY business for 3 years, judge rules

Beautiful, talented, certainly was not known for her acting (this was her only acting role) but featured in an iconic role where she played the title character. A Diva with the common touch. Ms. Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez, R.I.P. 

https://www.inquirer.com/obituaries/wilhelmenia-wiggins-fernandez-diva-obituary-20240206.html