DramatistDreamer

L'affaire Olya vs Sascha is really blowing up, big time!

This is definitely "On Brand" for Politico.

Honestly, if these remaining daytime soaps get cancelled tomorrow, I would not shed one tear. There are so many intellectually regressive human beings on these shows and B&B looks to be one of the absolute worst. Did someone mix a stupidity serum in all their bottles of Perrier or something? How does one vaccinate a building? You vaccinate people and animals. You don't vaccinate inanimate objects.

Thanks @DRW50. Kasi Lemmons always makes for an interesting interview. That project that she spoke of writing for her husband Vondie Curtis Hall was a short film, Dr. Hugo, in which Victoria Rowell appeared. Interesting fact that both actresses had once played the same character on As The World Turns. (Lemmons also directed another film in which a former ATWT alum co-starred-- The Caveman's Valentine with Tamara Tunie). Always interesting to hear about an artist's process.

Interesting article, about the author of several Jeopardy-themed books, who delved into the podcast recordings and called attention to them, ultimately leading to Richards rescinding the hosting gig of Jeopardy. She asserts that there was was a toxic culture at TPIR while Richards was over there and that his podcasts were a lot worse than has been publicly mentioned, as she has listened to every podcast episode. https://archive.is/GJTLN

Lots of star power absent from this year's USO but they can always ask about players like Basilashvili and Zverev carrying domestic violence charges or allegations. Probably won't do much for ratings over all, but hey, at least it would be creating a new narrative for the fortnight. Also, the last new American woman to win a major title, Sofia Kenin, is out as she has been diagnosed with COVID-19. She is vaccinated and has mild symptoms but still has the virus and, of course, is ineligible for play.

Newsmakers from a few years ago, I remember them. Also, I prefer this greeting much more than a handshake.

Personally, I agree. I do think that they all probably believe that they are protecting the bottom line (although most are unlikely to admit this). Of course, protecting the bottom line is arguably what led to daytime soaps falling into the dire state that they're currently in.

That's a possibility but it's very likely that they never intended to keep the story up, knowing how dependent they are on Sony's and CBS talent and insiders for their blog's content. THR, Variety and Deadline, otoh, are not reliant on that whole soapdom for their existence and reportage. CBS, and Sony/Y&R, in fact are much more dependent on those major media outlets to help them maintain some kind of relevance. This is why, if this story is to have any type of continuity in the follow-up, it will be up to those major entertainment media outlets to follow up on the story, not the soapcentric media.

Not especially surprised that the soap media has mostly remained mum about this. CBS looks to be hoping that the story will just fade. Morons is not Moonves, after all. It's really up to the mainstream media to keep agitating and pursue the story since the Fairmans are much too intertwined with the CBS/Sony/soapdom brass to be critical. EDT-Oops, I meant Morina, but I am not mad at auto-correct, for once.

Has anyone read the Demi Moore memoir Inside Out? I've been listening to the audiobook and am currently on the section where she talks about her time auditioning and acting on General Hospital. Distinctive ways of speech, like hers, were meant for audiobooks.

There is a surprising amount of politics at play in the arts and entertainment field, tbh. And television seems to inspire the worst use of this impulse, judging from my brief time freelancing in television.

Thanks for this video @slick jones, this was very enlightening. You know, I have heard of "Your Arms Are Too Short To Box With God" yet I have never seen it. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with her soap work either. Are there any videos of her work on YouTube? (Okay, reading about the show history, it ran until 1982, that's why I have never seen it.) It sounds like she built up quite a legacy.

One thing that I have learned from having to critique people's work, in the past, even in person, face to face, during writing workshops, is that you should lead with a positive comment first. I would say "I appreciate the fact that you started these virtual reunions during a time when there is so much anxiety and people are looking for comfort". Then I would say "I like that you're using clips of scenes from these soaps that the guests can comment on", then I would suggest that he'd probably be great at focusing on producing the show and working with a host, he could likely do even more.

When SoapClassics released their P&G soaps boxes sets, I always wished they'd had kept going on the hope that someday they could've included bonus material like commentary from writers, directors and some long-time actors on certain scenes. In my experience, execs are usually not going to explain any choices they make, particularly the ones that go awry. Some may see it as an admission of some type of personal character failing, others simply lack any type of self-awareness. Others will just lie.

I don't watch CNN or any cable news (every now and then I will see something that piques my interest on their Twitter pages, but I generally avoid "talking heads") and what I will watch is mostly PBS. Cable news is a wasteland. Some major newspapers are nearly as bad, except for sections where you can still find decent quality reporting (e.g. NYT Metro).

This is one of the many reasons why I will never stop believing that these daytime soaps need a change in structure if they are ever going to slow the deterioration of their serials. They have proven in so many ways that they are no longer capable of sustaining a show that is well produced, well written or well performed at this pace, at their current budget. It's open for debate which model would be optimal, whether the running times ought to be reduced from sixty minutes to thirty minutes, whether the number of days per week ought to be reduced, or have a episode load similar to telenovelas, with a hiatus. I don't know what is the best model, although I can speculate, like everyone else. It just seems as if the current model just doesn't seem to be working, to put it mildly. And oh, replacement for some of these key production and executive staff needs to be part of those changes. As a creative, I care less about threadbare sets, than the quality of writing and performance. If those aren't there consistently, neither will I be, as a viewer.

I was watching the reunion upload with Carolyn Ann Clark and Kristen Vigard and although I thought the two were entertaining, I burst out laughing and thought of this conversation when I heard him say this.

Andy makes several good points here. If you're going to grill players, do it across the board. Don't just pick certain players and leave others.

Has anyone seen the documentary that's airing/streaming on PBS called Broadway: Beyond The Golden Age? It's got a number of former soap stars and some actors who have appeared on soaps like Alec Baldwin, Kelly Bishop, Denise Pence and some others. It's a decent documentary, I liked seeing the archival footage but there were some aspects that were missing, imo. Perhaps those aspects are included in the other installments-- this was the second in a trilogy. I haven't seen the first and I am not sure when or if the final one will be released.

Unfortunately, it's not just Twitter. Many of the largest newspapers have been relentless in the "what if" style of reportage. Even glancing at the newspapers (I rarely watch television news that's not hyper local) the coverage of Afghanistan is breathless reportage of every single aspect, including minutiae). I mostly skip those headlines. Needless to say it takes a lot less time to read the newspapers these days. The media needs to be more diligent in trying to better inform people against misinformation, which is a 'battle' that is being lost in real time.

Have to admit that I was always skeptical of this group, due to its 'top-down' hierarchy. I know that a grassroots organization would be unlikely to get as much attention in the beginning, but it would have been more likely to get more credibility and just maybe have avoided these traps, at least in the beginning. A grassroots structure with perhaps some support from prominent women might have prevented this, because when you place the well-heeled and the well-connected in these positions of power, you are likely to have problems, especially when it comes to other well-connected and well-heeled people being the focus of investigations and scrutiny. Someone posted a link this article, in a nifty non-paywall format.

On 8/10/2021 at 7:31 AM, DramatistDreamer said: There was a reason why I soured on the "Times Up" group. Like many advocacy groups, most fall away from the essential mission, especially when they can align themselves with the nexus of power. The people who are in most in need of help, don't get the help.