DramatistDreamer

We might have discussed this in this thread previously, but I have a question about the first episode that aired in the 2p.m. EST timeslot on March 23, 1987. (because of the debut of B&B in the 1:30p.m. timeslot): Does anybody know what specific stories and characters appeared on that episode? Unfortunately, it's not on YouTube.

Serena was never going to go to the Olympics. She had already expressed reservations about the issues with COVID outbreaks in Japan. She has a toddler to consider.

What really annoys me about all of these articles and think pieces is how they neglect to mention that NYC voters did trust a progressive mayor for two terms and many came away disappointed. People may not want to remember this but DeBlasio was voted into office in his professed progressive 'bonafides' and disappointed in many areas, the reasons are complex in some regards but the current mayor's defiant stance in wanting to credit himself, even for things he has yet to accomplish probably had a hand (even a small one) in the current standing in the mayor's race, although there have been whispers that DeBlasio had a preference for Adams to succeed him. That alone should've told everyone that things were never going to fall squarely on ideological lines. But somehow when it comes to POCs and politics, many would rather claim we're simple "sheep", rather than people weighing the history and making practical decisions.

Honestly, I think it's myth that the majority of actors who have been on soaps are ashamed of having been on them. I think soap fans are being too sensitive on this. The disrespect that the genre gets is mostly by industry executives, those with actual power to decide what we see on our screens. Are there some actors ambivalent about discussing their time on soaps? No doubt ,there have been a few well-publicized examples, but even out of those, I'd separate those who don't want to discuss their time because they felt their performances were subpar, or that they were so "green" that they didn't really know what they were doing. This is just me talking, but I get far more put out by the lack of acknowledgement of these shows' impact on the television and media landscape, as well as the lack of a rigorous critique of its shortcomings and how this may have led it to where it is now.

The New York Times decided to interrupt their regularly scheduled habit of navel-gazing at Trump supporters to try to analyze something that should have been fairly obvious to anyone paying attention for the last decade. And the analysis still falls short.

I shouldn't be judging by today's standards, where there are all kinds of scholarly think-pieces. I'm still hoping for a Ken Burnsian type of documentary series, or at least a Television In America type of series, which gives a robust insight that can't be so easily dismissed by people outside if the genre. The soaps have, even at their height of popularity, not gotten the measure of respect that they should have gotten. JMO, but I didn't see any if those publications helping in that regard.

That's fair. I do wonder though, how far they could take a storyline like that before it starts to plateau. Sierra's not Meg, neither is Lily, so I see them eventually becoming amicable after a few months, whereas, Lily's birth story stretched out nearly two years, and involved several characters. Everybody involved in that storyline got a lot of mileage out of it. Jordana Brewster didn't look anything like Benjamin Hendrickson but somehow, they had truly believable father/daughter chemistry. Tess and Nikki were two characters that I would have liked to see pop in in occasion, especially after the characters left the canvas. I wished the show had thought to ask Brewster to do a cameo after BH/Hal Munson passed away. Did the current production people even remember that Nikki existed?

Does that mean that Y&R will be submitting those scenes of Moses, Lily and Devon at Neil's memorial for next year's Daytime Emmy?

Did someone call Nancy Lee Grahn, Nancy Lee Graham during the show? I thought I saw it mentioned on Twitter last night. I didn't see most of the show but it seemed like the camera shots were tightly focused on a very small group of spectators to make it look like a full audience. I wonder if they taped the audience shots all in one sitting, then spliced the footage in during various segments to make it look like the presenters appeared in front of a live audience. The little that I saw, it looked as if only Sheryl Underwood appeared onstage in front of an actual audience and even then, the angle looked weird, kind of, off. It should be obvious that the soap categories are the least cared about- a complete reversal of when the soap stars provided all the glam and were the main event. The show was just kind of a mess overall.

At random, or maybe algorithm, I came across this NYT interview with Julianne Moore for their Screentest series. It's from about 11 years ago, in which she notes the cancellation of ATWT. Perhaps it has been posted here previously but some people may not have seen it.

Lucinda was old-fashioned in certain aspects. I remember a scene between Lucinda and Craig where they were arguing over Sierra's estranged marriage to Tonio when Lucinda was trying to convince Sierra to stay with Tonio even after the affair with Barbara had been revealed. Lucinda insisted that "a baby needs a father" to an incredulous Craig who chided her by saying something like "How incredibly progressive you are, Lucinda!" and that Sierra needed her friends more than she needed a faithless husband. She also expressed joy and pride in being referred to as "Mrs. Dr. John Dixon". So, Lucinda could be incredibly old-fashioned in some regards. I think that what people may have a hard time with is, the delineation between Lucinda as master of the boardroom but preferring a more "traditional" role on the homestead. If you look at the personal biography of someone like Lucille Ball, you'll see that this is not so uncommon, particularly of women from certain time periods.

What Sierra knew of Lucinda was what others told her. She had never laid eyes on Lucinda until she got out if Montega. Lucinda had a different name when she was married to Jacobo Estefan, Sierra's father. From what I remember, Lucinda had seen Sierra from afar at Bob and Kim's pre-wedding ceremony reception, and actually said "Is that her?" sort of to herself. She hadn't seen Sierra since she left her as a baby. Jacobi, from Lucinda's telling, was a highly chauvinistic, strong-willed, patriarchal man with a despotic disposition, whose word was law. She once said that Tonio very much reminded her of Jacobi, except Tonio was "prettier". That has more logic than the aspect of Martin Guest being able to procure Lily through an illegal adoption, without Lucinda having anything to do with it. I would have loved to see more detail of how Lucinda rose to power. Was it similar to Barbara, who had been a dormat wife previously... until after Guest's suicide? Barbara becoming a barracuda had plenty to back it up, but there were some holes in Lucinda's personal backstory, imo. But yeah, it was actually Martin Guest who handled the adoption. Guess Lucinda was an old-fashioned wife who let the husband handle all those pesky little details.

At least it is unlikely that Ms. Redd was watching because, why would she?

They should have chipped in a few extra bucks to make sure that the Black actresses on their soaps had the right photos and names spelled correctly during the show.

It's nice for Marla and Max in their respective categories (Y&R will be looking to kill someone else for the next Emmy).

From what I have seen of this ceremony, the Daytime Emmys don't seem to give much of a sh*t about the daytime soaps anymore.

Well, it could have been Mishael's name that got put in the Chyron.

It might not have been so bad if the industry had mix of good journalism right along beside the gossipy fare but there was never a good journalistic sector (and there were issues worthy of investigation and exploration), so the trash floated to the top and that flotsam was the only thing people could see. It's no wonder soaps ended up getting so little regard.

Susan Bedsow-Horgan should have long ago been on a livestream from one of these podcasts discussing her work on ATWT in depth. Wagner too. It's negligence that they haven't been included. I only got to see the last four, five minutes of the reunion and could tell immediately that it wouldn't be worth my time to go back and watch the whole thing. Sometime last year, I mentioned that I wished that someone like Roger Newcomb would host or produce (and choose a host) something like this because he has more experience interviewing soap talent and knows a lot more about these shows, as he used to run the We Love Soaps blog. Unfortunately soap fans have become used to very little, so will be praising Alan to the hilt for offering such mediocre content.

Oh. I wish someone would talk to Meredith Post and Maria Wagner. Wagner in particular, was a director-I could be mistaken but I don't remember seeing many women directors of daytime soaps in the 1980s. The job of a director just seemed far more integral back then since scenes had a lot more movement, not stasis of today's daytime soaps. Good direction really showed back then.

I couldn't get on in time to catch this. What years are these production people from?

It's about time.

This morning, I saw a headline that said that former president Bill Clinton called for the suspension of the filibuster. I'll have to watch the rest to see the specifics if what he's saying, but more people are beginning to see the filibuster as a definite obstacle to the Biden agenda. In other election news, I don't know why people are so shocked by India Walton's win in Buffalo. It's similar to AOC's victory over a multiple times incumbent. Buffalo is even worse in how economic progress for people has stalled for many years. It's not inconceivable that people would actually want a change when they have been languishing for decades. It looks as if the losing incumbent might try to pull a Joe Lieberman-type maneuver in the general election.

This man was not well-liked (with good reason) but where else could this go?