DramatistDreamer

Years ago, when the scenes originally aired, I remember thinking that Paul couldn't come back from this, in my eyes. In a way, he never fully did, at least when it came to a pairing with Christine. Paired with anybody else, I could mostly forget but I found them to be an unsavory coupling when they were reunited. Maybe I would need to watch the storyline all over again because much of the motivations for why things happened made no sense to me. Why did Christine decide to date Michael? I know the motivation where the writers were concerned but there is no logic behind why Christine would actually see Michael romantically. Paul was known for sometimes having a temper (the way he would bellow at Lauren, in the wake of her latest scheme backfiring) but having his anger cross into physical and sexual violence seemed beyond the realm of what had become acceptable of that character. Why wouldn't he just tell for Christine to get therapy and walk out, similar to what he'd do with Lauren? Then, somehow we were supposed to accept that Paul came back to himself because...he cried afterwards? Perhaps if they had Michael in that role, it would've been more logical, but that would've been it for the character of Michael Baldwin and like everyone has been saying, CLB had attained popularity on the show by then and when a character, particularly a male character, attains popularity, soaps are more inclined to write to reform them as quickly as they can, even if that means having the town heroine date them, though it may go against everything in both characters' history. With the benefit of hindsight, I think that storyline showed early on that writers struggled with how to write compelling stories for Paul and Christine as a couple, at least, a storyline that didn't involve a criminal case.

Hey, I liked Josie Davis in the role! I think the character' motivations were a bit more nuanced than the full on vixen that she would become with Gareis (although I enjoyed Gareis in the role). It's just that Grace's motivations were about ascension into what she saw as a fuller, bigger life, rather than snagging Nick and I appreciated that complexity. I wish that, rather than chasing Nick had been more of an emphasis when Gareis was in the role.

Don't think I've seen those Paul and Christine scenes since they aired. Boy, did Paul come off as violent and coarse in those scenes!

Folks didn't want to hear what I was trying to say. CBS is looking out the front door and Sharon's racist nonsense just may have given them the opening they didn't even know they had. If there is a way to cleanly cancel the show with a decent replacement and without much downside, they'll do it. The show was lucky to have survived as long as it did, it's had bad karma since the beginning. Honestly, the show is not even worth fighting for but it is CBS. CBS is the name and toxic behavior is the game.

Here's where P&G the corporation was definitely out of their depth compared to a traditional film or television production company-- negotiating relationships. In the previous decades, P&G seemed to have a few personnel that knew how to do these things (I can remember when Cartier, Harry Winston, Bob Mackie and Brooks Brothers--a company that has also seen better days nowadays-- all featured heavily onscreen in the 1980s) but maybe those people all left the soap industry or passed away, leaving profit-hungry bean counters in their wake. I don't think that P&G ever functioned the way an arts production company would function in their decision-making process. Everything was usually about profit over art, which makes me believe that P&G projected when they wanted to end their two remaining soaps about 10 years ahead, as corporations are won't to do with projections. Arts production companies can barely plan for the year ahead. I have worked at at least 2 arts production companies, I should know, lol.

I am not buying Goutman's alleged prowess as a director either. A director usually has to work well with actors (although some directors are known to be stand-offish and remote with actors) or at least make them feel respected. Goutman was never known to be one of those people, by most accounts. I am sort of in between where @prefab and @Vee mindsets. He was likely there to keep ATWT functioning on the shoestring budget P&G prescribed because they knew the end run was in sight and just wasn't about to spend any more money, even if that meant making the show look appealing. They no longer cared. *Please pardon the grammatical errors--it's been a long day.*

I have dropped and picked back up soaps ( before dropping again) intermittently throughout the years but the most recent attempts had to do with B&B and Y&R. The last time I tried to resume viewing of B&B was likely when the show brought back the Avants, a half-hearted attempt by the show and me, as a viewer. It was a short-lived stay for both. Y&R, I'll occasionally tune in, as I briefly did during the memorial for Neil. I also tuned in for a couple episodes to see what the Amanda character would be like. Also, to see Devon deliver a virtually socially distanced punch to Nate, but I don't expect much and I never planned on staying as a viewer. That time passed by a long time ago.

And nuance is exactly the element that seems to have gone missing from the minds of politicians and pundits alike, from what I have been reading lately. I also think many critics now believe it is safe to pile on because they know Obama won't respond the way that a Trump would, nor will he compile an enemies list. I had to read an article where AOC basically decried the failings of the Democratic party as her political coming of age. I did chuckle though, when she tweeted about the people needing to mobilize in order to get the student debt cancellation through Congress and someone responded "Girl, ain't that what you're there to do?" 😂 Even though I don't dislike her as I know others do, I do admit that when someone calls her AOC/Always On Camera, it also tickles me. Legislating is tough, I know. She, of all people should realize this, from the way Bernie's recent legislative attempt flopped in the Senate.

One of President Obama's "failures" was being a black man who realized that being black in a position of power meant having limitations and finding a lack of trust from Centrist Democrats, progressive Democrats as well as GOP, especially as it relates to handling the money. Older white men have no such limitations (see Trump and his profligate spending, in and out of the White House).

Oh, okay. Looks like you answered your own question.

From my recollection (and someone can fill in the details), Paul knows that his father is still alive and he as met him since then. I don't remember whether Mary was ever made aware of this, but instinct says no, that she was never told the truth.

Politicians are likely reflecting on Al Franken but the average New Yorker is likely reflecting on the possible upheaval in changing the governor (even if for a lieutenant governor that should, in theory, be ready to tackle all the challenges of ascending to the job) during a pandemic, and how this would affect them. TBH, in a "normal" year, the nursing home crisis and the fact that Cuomo has caused political fissures in the Democratic party would likely have been enough to cause Cuomo's ouster, which is a strange irony of the crisis that this pandemic has inflicted. He's had three terms, which matches his father's three term gubernatorial tenure, which is likely one of his legislative goals. He can cross that off the list but come next year, he should abstain from flinging his proverbial "hat in the race" for yet another term. We shall see whether he once again chooses his own political supremacy over the viability of the party he claims to be a part of.

Yaphet Lotto is one of those figures that I would wonder about, from time to time, especially as it receded from the public eye in recent years. Saddened to hear of his passing.

When the Georgia Chamber Of Commerce put out a statement disagreeing with the voter suppression bills (after pressure, of course), I knew it would be a matter of time before some of these corporations would start to make tentative statements afterwards.

Those scenes between Jill and Larry are hilarious. Katherine putting the screws to Jill while admiring Larry's physique, lol. Crazy to look at that 92 episode and see Nicholas and consider where he's be in less than two years. To see the Chancellor mansion so full of people! I'd forgotten that Dru lived at the Abbott's. Was that because of Mamie? So many future relationships between the younger generation that the show never made good on. Kate and Nate should've had some type of friendship. Kate and Lil' Phillip/Chance should have been in and out of each other's lives. But then we got "Chloe" and everything went out the window. So Paul and Lynn actually dated? I knew Lynn had a thing for Paul but I never remembered whether things went any further. Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I thought Cricket and Danny were a fun, cute couple. Christine became so solemn and stern later on, with a life flof near constant crisis and tragedy.

It won't be an overstatement to say that this is a historic moment.

Oh, I knew right off the bat that it had to be Goutman. Mean-spirited and disrespectful were practically his middle names.

During that last decade of the show, I took breaks from watching until I just gave up on watching, so I missed her run but her experience sounds accurate to what the show had become. It is heartbreaking, to think back to what the show had once been in it's history and what it descended into. Good for her, telling her truth. A lot of soap fans like to in paper over just how bad things got, in favor of a rose-colored image of the show, when we (and anyone paying attention) know there was a great deal of toxicity and mean-spiritedness. One only need to listen/read the accounts of some of the veterans (Bryce, Byrne, Fulton) who have spoken about how badly they were disrespected to understand this.

Like others have said, Van Ark's Gloria was far more formidable, with the potential to be much more of a factor in the Abbott family, including, perhaps especially versus Jill. Speaking of Jill, Walton and even Dickson had that type of role for years, which is probably why the character managed such longevity, as other characters fell by the wayside in the intervening years. Gloria was a thorn in the side of the Abbott's until being shunted off to permanent residence with the Baldwin clan. I remember some people claimed they enjoyed Gloria and Jack's fling but I wonder how much of this enjoyment was a function of both characters being somewhat at loose ends as a result of a lull in storyline. In any case, I was fine with them not venturing into that territory again since the show had already been there with Jack and Jill, with much better writing. Chapman's time in the role has mostly been played for laughs. And as the character became more campy, it seemed as though the Baldwin/Fisher family became camp too.

Might have to keep this in front of mind.

Maybe it is just my TL, but I didn't see anyone judging Abrams for what she said during her interviews. It was mostly people amplifying her remarks and agreeing with her.

Don't be surprised if Drew Barrymore gets slotted in there. It should be obvious that this show has not been performing well for quite some time. If it were, Sharon would have been suspended pending investigation, rather than the whole show being put on temporary hiatus. Also, don't be surprised if that temporary becomes permanent. Honestly, I could care less, I just find these excuses kind of ridiculous. ETA: the hiatus is two days? Is that long enough for CBS to plot whether they want to put this broadcast eyesore to bed?

Wow congrats to TT!

"This was a pivotal week," said Adam Jentleson, a former Senate Democratic leadership aide and author of the book "Kill Switch," which argues that the filibuster is crippling American democracy. "Manchin's comments were certainly encouraging, but the most important thing may be the fact that zero Republicans voted for the American Rescue Plan. I think that drives home the need for reform more than anything else."