DramatistDreamer

Whereas Liz Hubbard and Colleen Zenk seem to look back at their characters' periods as vixens/vamps with ambivalence, Melanie seems to embrace her character's unabashed sexuality, which I appreciate. When men play 'bad boys', I never remember any mentioning regret or hesitation at taking on the role, why do so many women seem to do this? Perhaps it's a generational thing?

+1 same from me.

The AstraZeneca is one dose, I believe. Also, it is said that it only needs regular refrigeration, unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, although there has been some debate over the efficacy rate of the AstraZeneca.

I have been saying this for a long time-- directors matter, lol. Coming from the theater world, I know all too well that an effective director can really coax the best performance from an actor or an ineffective director can encourage the worst impulses from a performer. It may not seem as though they are needed on a fast paced television series but they are, perhaps even more so but that is when it becomes critical to have a director adept at communicating a clear vision for each scene and each character within it. Not just telling the actors where to stand (which I am not even sure they'd do these days). I was under the impression that Melanie really wanted to leave, though don't quote me on that, lol. During the late 80s/early 90s, it seemed like, at times, ATWT was a victim of its own success. Actors hit their strides and demonstrated their talent and appeal in compelling stories,which made them prime targets for casting agents and producers who came calling, which gave the actors more options, which they often wanted to pursue. I also wonder if the production department of some of these soaps believed that, since they had found such talent in the past, there would always be a pipeline of talent waiting and readily available. By the end of the 90s however, that no longer seemed to be the case, at least where ATWT was concerned.

Meanwhile in Georgia-

Please, make it staaahp, this is so much loss!

Never have I ever considered trying to write a letter or call a television show to try to get an actor fired. As much as I critique these show, never have I ever tried to threaten or harass an actor, writer or producer-- that seems extreme. When I wanted to "voice" my displeasure with a show, my response was always to simply stop watching (which I did on occasion, sometimes for several months). For the most part, I rarely read the soap magazines (which likely explains why I knew so little about BTS gossip, etc. until I ventured onto this messageboard, lol.), and I only started going on soap messageboards in the very early '00s, and even then, it was only two (before I took a good 2.5 years' break from posting, visiting any soap related boards) before venturing onto this one. Critique the character portrayals, how the characters are written, directed, lighting, wardrobe, etc. but I will never understand spending hours on end insulting a person's looks. If I thought someone's acting was unbearable, there is a simple, relatively painless solution to this-turn off the television or turn the dial. Having said that, I agree with@DRW50 KMH was severely miscast for the role, and for most of her run in the character, the writing/direction for her character did her absolutely no favors.

A follow-up to the earlier posted news item about the Colorado COVID-19 variant case.

KMH's Emily seemed so fragile, imo. What a contrast to Smith's more stoic, unapologetically voluptuous portrayal.

The man has no travel history either. Here's to hoping that there will be some type of effective contact tracing but so far, the U.S. has been abysmal at contact tracing overall.

V.P. Elect Harris got the vaccine today.

Talk about hubris.

From what I am reading, 44 House Republicans voted with the Democrats for the $2K stimulus checks. Now the laser-like spotlight will be on the Republicans in the Senate.

Speaking specifically about Christmas episodes, for me, Y&R came off as somewhat remote (even as I found it entertaining) because most of the families were wealthy and well-heeled. If Victor gave Nikki or Ashley a gift, it's usually going to be some expensive bauble. The heartwarming "miracle" of Christmas usually did not involve a regular character but an outsider like a homeless person, etc who would be off the show by New Year's. The Williams family, who were middle class were also somewhat remote ad Mary Williams was seen as attending church and doing charity, usually off-screen, in addition to being portrayed as a judgemental busybody. The warmth was just not there. The families on Y&R could be seen as intimate and tight-knit, which can be seen as cozy or they can be seen as insular, not particularly welcoming to strangers. One thing that I can say of ATWT, particularly during Marland's best years is that events and occasions seemed welcoming to the outsider (sometimes to the detriment of a certain character, here and there). Just last week, I mentioned Lisa always being the great connector, introducing and welcoming new people. She once mentioned feeling like s stray who had been taken in by the Hughes, which explained why she was so welcoming of others, as I saw it. If you like at Bob's Thanksgiving toasts, there was always someone new eho hadn't been there in the previous year. It's possible that because those gatherings were more open, less insular than other soaps (which really seemed to tightly close ranks around their family unit), that ATWT seemed colder in comparison but I liked that the characters seemed more welcoming to outsiders. I also think that the show acknowledged the very real aspect of loneliness, despair and alienation around the holidays.

Joe Biden spoke with brutal honesty about just how hollowed out some governmental departments became in the past four years.

1983's Christmas episode seemed pretty stiff and formal to me, from what I saw. Maybe because I also watched Y&R, whose celebrations seemed much more choreographed, ATWT seemed warmer. I guess it's all about your perception.

This father needs to make formal charges of assault and risk of endangerment to a minor against the woman. Her actions were completely unacceptable.

Hopefully GA Democrats ignore that and continue to go to the polls to vote, the same way they ignored Trump's incessant whining about so-called rigged elections.

No need to apologize at all @JaneAusten I know that you are definitely pushing back against cynicism, which is an important reminder. Personally, I fight cynicism daily when I read the newspaper but try to remind myself that perhaps, I personally wouldn't be here if cynicism had been allowed to take hold. At times(if you remember a salty post that I made just before the general election about wanting to avoid negativity), I have forcefully pushed back when I thought I was seeing hopelessness, perhaps more for my own mental health, more than any other reason, but I definitely understand and relate to what you're saying and took it no other way.🙂 It will be interesting to see if, and when the needle can be significantly be moved in Texas, which is definitely 'Bible belt' territory and although the evangelical movement has lost a lot of people, still has a hold which is not easy to shake loose. People don't think of Florida as being connected but, spend any genuine amount of time in that state and you will see that Florida is part of that 'Bible belt' configuration (God, guns and football, NFL, that is). Whereas in GA, NC, AZ and increasingly, TX, you see those states being transformed hy the people that move in, Florida seems to have the opposite effect, those that decide to stay anyway.

The AZ comment was mentioned as a somewhat tongue in cheek utterance, as I know and have read about Indigenous/Native American groups and Latinx organizers working to get people registered. Having close friends and people who are 'like family' who have lived in GA since the early aughts, I know that GA has been slowly transforming for the past two decades and should be the least surprising of these Southern states that flipped. Abrams definitely gave it a jolt by bringing together what is essentially a loose confederation of grassroots efforts and bringing them together via her organization, she said as much in her tweets. ...when she acknowledged other groups that had been doing this work.

My thoughts exactly. Also, I am not sure that people realize that, even in the last election, as Abrams didn't get the governor's mansion, there were actual breakthroughs for a few Black candidates in GA at the local level. The media, so fixated on Trump supporters, rarely takes notice. Now Arizona, I can possibly see the miracle claim being attributed to that state!