DramatistDreamer

Many people will say that what they value most in a daytime soap is the escapism that it offers. At least, that's what I often would hear on various messageboards before coming here-- that they didn't want reality to intrude on their fantasy world. However, I am with you. I think the lack of keeping up with the times and these shows being so divorced from reality is why so many viewers decided to leave soaps behind. I know many will bring up societal change and more program and channel options, while ignoring that "Downton Abbey" seemed more progressive than Y&R ever was, and I grew up loving Y&R. Y&R 20, 30 years ago, with all its flaws was still a lot more grounded in reality than Y&R today. Last year, I got a chance to watch and appreciate the Kat and David storylines on Guiding Light and its blend of romance, conflict and social justice and, do any of these shows even try to broach these sorts of storylines? I often mention that ATWT had a storyline (relatively brief, though it was) that would not be out of place today in the BLM era. And even putting aside social issues, you just had characters relating to each other on a hunan level-- wives broaching the uncomfortable topic of lack of communication, lack of desire, lack of sex in a relationship, people having money issues, some may take extreme measures to resolve their issues but the heart of the matter, what lies beneath the surface at the root was usually what people related to. Today's soaps seem to lack those qualities, one reason why I don't watch the current ones. Just on a technical note, today's soaps feature characters that seem really insulated from a realistic world. The drama feels fairly manufactured. Even good sci-fi seems capable of producing conflict that seems organic to that particular world. Daytime Ssoaps seem to have lost this feature.

Blizzard conditions where I live, which reminds me of previous years when children in Washington DC would sled off of Capitol Hill area. Now because of the insurrection, children won't be able to do that this year. I guess the pandemic might have reduced the numbers, but the security concerns have really put the kibosh on any possibility of it happening.

Maybe my opinion leans too much one way but from what I've read, it seems like many Burmese are not too concerned with the fate of the Rohingya, only as far as it makes the country look bad but among the exiled Myanmar community there seems to be an acknowledgement that the treatment of the Rohingya has been poor.

Re: Myanmar. I've had this debate with friends over the last several years now. I think Daw Aung San Su Kyi has been a big disappointment, afaic. Friends have argued that she is not in full control and has to try to cajole the leadership (many who are former adversaries, and some former military) so she can make incremental change and that it's not up to her but she has claimed countless times that she is above the current leadership, so I can only be left to think that she is in agreement with the policy on Rohingya, which is 'ethnic cleansing' at the very least and genocide by many definitions. OTOH, it's never a good thing when the military stages a takeover.

Military coup in Myanmar.

^^Good mental healthcare accessibility is severely lacking in the U.S. and it's so sad.

Apart from their role as antagonists of the former administration and their suing the dickens out of Giuliani, now would be a good time for The Lincoln Project to begin to slink away and I hope they do. At least, it doesn't appear that too many Democrats allowed themselves to become too enamored of this group. They can settle their lawsuit in the shadows. It's time for them to quietly go away.

This came to mind for me as well. It's like, when certain factions on the left, or right of center within the Democratic party can't be seen as going along with anything Nancy Pelosi proposes, so they feel compelled to demonstrate some type of pushback, even if they later vote in favor of the proposal. Some vote against it, when there are enough votes elsewhere to get the measure passed. So much of the pushback often seems performative, but I guess whatever works with the hometown audience?

Exactly.

^^So good that the Biden administration is starting this effort early on in his presidency.

Others may have forgotten about his legal exposures, but I sure haven't.

Oh, I could never forget that $1.3 billion lawsuit! I had this image of Rudy ending up trying to rent Lucy Van Pelt's booth after he can no longer afford to hang his shingle anywhere else. That is, if he's not disbarred by then.

For years now, I have believed that what's his name would be facing multiple lawsuits but never gave a thought to Giuliani getting sued left, right and center but here's another lawsuit coming down the pike with the Lincoln Project. The company you keep.

The term "Black excellence" can truly wear thin at times too. Ms. Tyson was excellent in every arena in which she performed, no qualifiers needed.

Even as a little girl I remember loving Mindy's theme music. Hearing it again brings back a warm sentiment.

"Mainstream" culture may have lost track of her for a few years but in Black culture, Black women, in particular, Cicely Tyson has been ever present. Films starring her still air on BET, Bounce and TVOne frequently. She, like Diahann Caroll were two examples of Black womanhood that represented a dignity, a humanity and a beauty that spanned socio-economic strata and time itself. R.I.P. Ms. Tyson

Just the other day, I watched that interview with Ms. Cicely Tyson. I can't really put into words how this news makes me feel right now.

Yeah, James, Doug Cummings and Tad Channing were meant to stay dead and gone. I think, in his way, Marland might have been pushing against the romanticization of the charismatic villain that had taken hold of soaps in the 80s. You can call it a somewhat Puritanical view, but this is probably why when characters schemed and engaged in wrongdoing on ATWT, they usually paid such a hefty price. This wasn't just an occurrence in Marland's ATWT, Craig's going to prison and becoming a parolee preceded Marland's tenure, so obviously, there was something in the show's DNA that saw the long-term villain that always got away with wreaking havoc on the rest of the town without ever really paying the price, as anathema to the storytelling. In addition to those villains who were killed off and meant to stay that way, Marsha Talbot and Denise Darcy were meant to be incarcerated. Denise was the only possible redemption story I could see happening out of that entire bunch--her, they should have brought back, after she served her murder sentence by the late 90s, especially seeing that the show really needed a boost at that time.

In any case of spasms, the kind being attributed to Sen. Leahy, are usually connected to stress. JMO. These Capitol police suicides are yet another reason why just moving on as if none of this ever happened is not a sensible option. Regardless of the outcome, it would have been irresponsible not to had a trial, it would be an invitation for this to happen again. These Capitol police suicides are yet another reason why just moving on as if none of this ever happened is not a sensible option. Regardless of the outcome, it would have been irresponsible not to have had a trial, it would be an invitation for this to happen again.

Chuckling at Billy and Josh referring to Alan-Michael and Harley as "The Teenage Crowd". And Josh, saying "I didn't even know that she knew these people". Josh will be getting to know Harley a lot better in future. Blake blissed out with Phillip, we know how long that lasts. That's an interesting dynamic going on with Vanessa and Frank, Vanessa and Billy, and Vanessa and Ross.

If anyone here is in touch with Morgan Englund, please convey my deep condolences to him and his family.

Poor Morgan 😞

He tried to kill a plane full of people, that's pretty hard to come back from, in terms of redemption. The problem is that what made James such an intriguing figure was the fact that he was so singular, he thought he was smarter and better than anyone and that his way was the only way. Behind the power grabs, deep down, Roger wanted others' approval. James wanted power and he was convinced that those closest to him, Paul and Emily, would see that he was right, if only they would listen and see things his way. As brutish as Roger could be (rape etc.), I don't see him pinning a fake murder on Holly and letting her be imprisoned, the way James did with Barbara, or Roger torturing Holly the same way James did to Barbara. James claimed that he loved Paul but his love manifested itself as control and dominance. Also, I just cannot see James genuinely confiding in anyone-- the moment he starts pouring his heart out to someone, that intrigue is gone. One thing that I appreciated about ATWT, until the wheels fell, that is-- they let villains go when it was their time to go. For the most part, when someone had done something truly heinous, like, kill maliciously someone--they had to go. James was somewhat of an exception, and I still think the mistake was bringing back the character after he was shot by Paul in 1989.