DramatistDreamer

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.

When were things in Afghanistan ever going successfully? I have been asking for over a decade.

They've been saying this for the past few days. Apparently, Tsitsipas has been using his phone at certain times during matches? Don't know how he's getting away with this, if true. That's why I was making fun with the E.T./Tsitsi "phone home" GIF.

There never seemed to be anything negative between VR and SC. (MS and VR is an entirely different story). VR and SC have each tweeted very complementary things of each other in the past. Has there been a new development between them?

They're taking turns imploding in this match.

Zverev and his non-volleying a$s is still leading this match. Stef phone home.

JMO but Y&R being the #1 daytime drama for so many years hasn't really been a good thing.

I doubt we will ever truly know why Ji-Min was dumped as a character, especially seeing that Eric Steinberg had leading man potential written all over him. It makes me wonder whether it could have been racist viewers writing in to express their displeasure, but since I have never heard that being said, it makes me wonder whether some other cast member with more seniority might have felt threatened by the charisma and sex appeal that Steinberg exuded and perhaps that cast member feared he might be displaced. Even when Ji-Min was on the canvas, I had never had hopes that tptb would ever have built a family around him, he was presented as a pretty singular character. When Ravi was on the show, some people liked to suggest that he was boring, the way they usually do whenever any male character of color is on Y&R, without considering the fact that the character is almost always underwritten, with little to no actual story written for him. There was a South Asian family on OLTL (briefly) and I really enjoyed Shenaz Treasurywala, as well as her co-star, Nik Choksi (who I found to be adorable), and in my writer's brain, I imagined not only the scenes that Abhi and Shenaz could have at the time, but also the dynamic that could have been had the sister and Ashley locked horns, when Ashley was mixing business with pleasure with Ravi.

The sound that comes out of Rublev's mouth is quite... something.🤐😫

Wasn't it Sony that had their files hacked by the North Koreans , only to uncover a barrage of offensive e-mail correspondence? That company has been an entire mess for ages now. This was so blatant though. The shade--I must hand it to whomever runs their social media account.

Although this gives no specifics regarding who still awaits evacuation, this is a good reminder that, despite how dire the images in Afghanistan look, things could definitely be worse.

It wouldn't do any good to try without changing the executive and writing staff first. The current group have no idea how to write for diverse characters, or well, anyone at this point. Of course not. Nor did I even expect things to change after Moonves got the boot, which is why I stopped watching a long time ago. I have to be honest. I rarely watch CBS anymore.

Okay now I am seeing the news about Mike Richards stepping down, but how on earth was he ever allowed to name himself as co-host??! How ridiculous 🙄. Now the show is conducting a new search? Even if some are recalled, it looks like a full waste of time and energy for the candidates. Aww, Abhi, had Y&R had an ounce of competence, that situation should easily been worked out. Abhi is a cute guy, seemed professional and has done good work on other shows. Y&R could have brought on Shenaz as Treasurywala as a big sister and struck gold. Instead, the same lackluster stories. If Sony did more than talk about diversity, Y&R could have had an Asian family. It should now be clear, the reasons why these shows are such a mess.

Had that man been darker-skinned like "Arab-looking" or Black, he would have never made it out of that truck alive. America claims now to understand that the biggest terrorist threat is that of white supremacists, but just seems to give lip service to the matter. Media outlets are already putting out stories of a grieving son. I expected nothing less. Not to belabor the Afghanistan departure issue, but one aspect that befuddles me is that, I could've sworn a couple months ago, it was announced that flights out of Afghanistan for diplomats and translators, U.S. and Afghani and their families would begin in the second week of July. Why are there so many people still trying to get out? Supposedly, some Americans are in that number. If this is true, how did this happen?

And not even having watched a full episode of this show since KSJ's memorial episodes, just by perusing the Y&R thread, I can figure out which actress he is referring to. They are just so predictable.

When I tell you that I am not surprised. Wow, in addition to sexual harassment of this actress, he also referred to a Black actress as having a hot body but the head of a "Chia pet". Y&R ought to clean house. They've allowed misogyny to reign over that show for too many years. The entire daytime industry has. The daytime drama genre has acutely suffered because of their misogyny and racism. No wonder daytime soaps are circling the drain.

According to his video statement, which went viral (the only reason why I even saw it as I don't follow him), he is getting the surgery to repair the knee so that he can have a good quality of life, be able to walk and play with his kids. This, according to his video, is his main concern. He said he hopes to be able to return to play but is being realistic. If overzealous fans are interpreting this statement in any other way, they are conflating the issue and misinterpreting his statement. Fans need to know when to let these players make their own decisions and stop trying to read tea leaves. Retirement is inevitable, let people come to their own awareness. At least it's not as if he's Jack Sock, doing nothing for years, while still getting WCs.🤷🏾‍♀️

Tennis has been a sh*tshow for years, it's just that the obsession with chasing records and the Big 3 or Big 4, or whatever they are has papered over this. The corporate entities in charge of the sport have been mostly concerned with which side of the bread is buttered the most than any longer term problems facing the sport. Well, you have an entire generation of tickets-selling superstars with one foot out the door, you have a game of 'hot potato' with some talented players who don't want the responsibility of taking up that superstar mantle and all the pressures associated with that (and who could blame them, really) and you have some also-rans who can snatch an occasional big title but most people couldn't pick out of a lineup of two. You have matches, of various quality, scattered among various broadcast and streaming services, with lackluster production values...you even have some long-time tennis fans rapidly losing interest, meanwhile the ATP is busy chasing down social media accounts that post...GIFs. Otherwise, everything's great.