DramatistDreamer

I will never stop berating them for their lack of vision. B&B was never my favorite soap (or even 2nd favorite, for that matter), but they have shown that putting up classic episodes can indeed be done. And honestly, they are not putting in that much of an effort but the visual quality of episodes they post is largely better than most of the episodes of ATWT posted on YT. I mean, P&G, show some pride, lol.

Very sad. Very true. Even the lack of preservation efforts with these shows' episodes, says a whole lot.

So, Twitter finally decided to suspend Marjorie Taylor Greene. One good thing to start off the year, so far.

I can't claim to be a faithful viewer of The Fresh Prince, so I can't tell you when things became stale on that series but it's interesting to hear Will Smith talk about when he believes the show "jumped the shark" (sometime in Season 4, I think he said). For all his faults, at least Smith aimed for a dignified ending for the sitcom. I just don't feel the same about ATWT. It looked so down and out at the end.

This is basically what I did, with lengthy gaps in viewing. It was jarring each time to see how the show had degraded from where it once had been with each viewing. When I compare the ending of ATWT and GL to other soaps like Search For Tomorrow, it just seems as if those earlier daytime dramas ended with a bit more dignity. I'm in the middle of listening to the Will Smith memoir and in the midst of a chapter where he remembers the time when the decision about whether to end or continue The Fresh Prince Of Bel Aire and recounts a conversation he had with John Amos, where Amos talks about his firing from Good Times and the lack of dignity in which it was done, as well as in how the series eventually ended, it made Will Smith remember how it made him feel when he watched James Evans being killed off and how the series ended and impacted his decision on how and when the show would end. He recalled telling the cast before the season began, so they could prepare and make moves for what they wanted to do next. From what I have heard from the actors, most expressed shock, despite the fact that they knew the show had been in decline for years. And to me, it showed on camera. Everything looked so forlorn. Personally, any time I tuned in during the last decade, the show looked cheap and degraded, the storylines seemed careless.

And you're right to feel this way. I had the opportunity to watch the FX one some time ago and it fell flat, it didn't really offer any added insight. It reminded me of those VH1 "I love the ____" series, except far less entertaining. Speaking of offering new insights, the Lifetime TV documentary, it seems like it may offer a different perspective.

I read when @Errol posted an article in the SoapLine thread. I was parsing Sony's "legalese" but it seems as though they are going for some types of plausible deniability. The line about the company only speaking on behalf of themselves and no other party. Would the other party be Anthony Morina?

He already pulled some weird stunt in the subway, and is being ratioed for it, so not off to the best of beginnings. He needs to focus. In other parts of the world- This was a sad read. A good friend of mine who is South Korean has said she would never marry a Korean man and I never understood it, thought it was somewhat extreme a mindset to hold but reading this article made me think of her and why she might think this way.

Admittedly, I stopped watching at that time, the show was so bad, imo.

The World Turns On and On is the type of music that sounds even better when played by a full piece orchestra. I do wonder what a stripped down acoustic version or even a rock-ish version would sound like. Someone could have done something with this. This and the theme song before it sounded like they were composed very well and had great flexibility, kind of like how the 70s and 80s Guiding Light theme songs were. A lot could be done with them, without losing the basic fundamental melody.

You're welcome. Since last night, the Jay-Z/Mr. Hudson cover of Forever Young has popped up in my head. They dedicated that song to Betty White during their performance.

@janea4old you really should consider reading this book. It's very good and discusses White's early life and career success/challenges in depth and presents it in context of the society and industry of the times and side by side with the three other women in the book.

The visuals weren't bad but the actual music, I didn't really care for, it seemed like the hold music I might hear waiting to speak to a customer service representative.

These were the scenes I was talking about. The reason why I mentioned them is because they show the range that all three actresses possess, going to to toe. They were well done but everyone is already showing them on social media and the scenes that seem to resonate the most in social media are the ones where Betty White is being portrayed as a force to be reckoned with. In a way, it seems to help people people in their grief, it feels like she is still very much with us on some level.

Such great comedic delivery by Scott Bryce. This entire episode was so funny, with Ralph Bellamy as Rose's father.

He played the doctor who diagnosed Sophia with a hernia and when she admitted that she had been moving furniture (it was wicker), he shot a withering look at Dorothy and said "You make me sick!"

Did the B&B post any clips of Betty White's scenes with Susan Flannery and Alley Mills? Everyone wants to post those final scenes at the beach, but that doesn't even capture the most powerful scenes between the actresses, which were those combative scenes where Stephanie confronted her mother Ann about the physical abuse she suffered at the hands of her father, which Ann, at first refused to acknowledge, with Pam caught in the middle. Those actresses were going toe to toe. It's a shame if nobody posts those clips because they were so dramatic.

Oh, okay. The show was way too cheap and lazy to put any effort into a final montage of the most poignant and captivating moments, on air or online. Honestly, ATWT's online component was severely underdeveloped. I know people will claim that the show ended before social media took flight but, by 2008-2009, Twitter and especially YouTube had taken off and the show could have put up a great 20 minutes montage on either platform. Slapping up 6 or 7 clips on the CBS YouTube page was inadequate at best. Fans demanded so little of Procter and Gamble for so many decades of devotion, and in the end, little is exactly what they got.

I think even the theme song that they had in the mid 80s could have been stripped down and made into a really good theme, like the ones they did with saxophone and sometimes strings within the actual scenes. They could have alternated between theme song, and just played with tempo and meter, use of instrumentation, phrasing of notes. They didn't have to reinvent the wheel, just mold different shapes on it, see how elastic the original mold truly was.

It's refreshing to see people mention the book by Keishin Armstrong on the women who were instrumental in the development of the early days of television (hint the creation/creator of the daytime soap is also included). People really should read this book and learn just how much of a pioneer Betty White was in the medium of television.

Yes, Susan Flannery and Betty White together!!! That was top drawer drama on B&B!

Is this really true??! Just shy of 100 years old. Selfishly, was wishing for more time with Ms. White.