DramatistDreamer

Konta...blech! With all the foolishness with crappy weather and courts in crap condition, looks like the Italian Open is going to get the winners it deserves this year.

Eve must've poked holes in that trunk not to asphyxiate herself. Or did she? Does anybody know what happened to Nikki's wedding dress? Did it end up in storage or the Smithsonian? Ashley catching Nikki's bouquet, what irony! Wouldn't it have been a hoot if Ashley's one-time fiancé Eric were somehow related to Clark Garrison from B&B? Am I the only one who thinks Ashley's fiancé is way better looking that Marc Mergeron? I guess the heart wants what the heart wants (shrug). Ashley looked beautiful in her wedding daydream. Brenda Dickson was really good at playing the arch-witch with a capital "B". Looking at her in those scenes, you would've never have guessed that she was the same woman who had done manicures and been so demure. Kind of reminds me of ATWT's Barbara Ryan's transition from mild-mannered wife to vixen. Barbara's deeds were usually more venomous while Jill's words bore the venom. Mamie must've really needed the job to put up with that foolishness. Makes me want to see the next episode. Why is today's Y&R incapable of accomplishing this?

Sloane is out of Strasbourg, Fognini's out of Geneva. I only have a glancing interest in either but still, this tells me that the clay season is wreaking havoc with some players' bodies (and minds). Speaking of taking breaks, or not-

Hm.

...speaking of 1981, a promo for Y&R, ATWT and SFT.

I was watching a May 14, 1981 episode that ends with a blind John falling down the stairs after an argument with Margo (over her affair with James Stenbeck) and damn, where's the next episode?! I hate when this happens!!

What we all pretty much already knew.

Sometimes I can't believe this is real life.

That was supposed to be an addendum to my previous post and got separated by your post. Carole Bouchard is a French journalist who sometimes has insight but if you go to her social media, you'll see that she often promotes her book on Djokovic. Gilbert, we already know about his numerous links with tennis in broadcasting and their Florida campus. He's still put out by not being in the run-off to fill Gimelstob's old seat. I've never heard him use his voice or platform to criticize Nastase's nastiness or McEnroe's ignorant comments over the years. So those two can just miss me with the criticism when no one mentions that Isner has close connections to two guys who've had felony charges facing them in court cases. I've no problem with people putting Nick on blast but why remain quiet about Gimelstob and pedo Bob Hewitt who raped a half-dozen girls or more during his career?

Bouchard and Gilbert have their own agenda. Bouchard can sometimes be informative when she's not shilling her book. Gilbert, we know of the myriad conflicts of interest he has. They're aren't exactly coming from a place of purity either. IJS.

Thank goodness Serena got rid of this guy a few years ago. John Isner was the one who introduced Serena to Poole in the first place! Serena Williams’ former training partner faces charges in hit and run crash in Palm Beach My question is, how does the tennis industry manage to give all this talk about respect while simultaneously keeping quiet about assault (Gimelstob) stalking, hit and run (Poole) and rape (Bob Hewitt). Nick is plenty problematic, I won't argue against that but why won't tennis keep that same energy for the assault perpetrators, stalkers and rapists in their midst?

Madrid wasn't that bad this year, but in previous years, they've sucked too, LOL! Their scheduling has also known to be a sexist mess. Perhaps with Feliciano as tournament director, this can change. These tournaments act like they're Challengers. With the rates they charge on some tickets, they should be able to afford to put a roof on at least one court. The clay court tournaments seem the most resistant to change. In the past, they had a few sprinkles and it didn't stop play for long (if at all) but now they are getting washouts, yet still seem not to want to accept this.

Tennis as a sport is an unqualified mess. They've got to do better. Climate change is not going away, in fact, the weather appears to get more extreme every season. I realize that these tournament organizers want to emphasize the aspect of tennis as an outdoor sport but as long as they expect spectators and fans to travel far and wide to patronize these tournaments, they all need to make better preparations for inclement weather.

Here's some cool news.

Speaking of needing no words-

The only thing that surprises me is that we haven't heard a similar statement about some counties in Georgia.

Boy am I glad I never got into WhatsApp!

So when are folks going to get sick of all of this "winning"?

Considering the fact that the EPA has become nothing more than a corporate shill and a shell of its former self, this is unsurprising news.

From what I've read and heard from other artists from that time, gay and straight, it was painful to lose so many friends. I would imagine that Marland felt it keenly. And often the most poignant written words are the ones that came from what you know. The storyline with Hank Elliott and his lover Charles, who dies of AIDS was very detailed about how Hank had to commute back and forth-- there was so much specificity in that story that I'd guess that he knew someone who was going through that experience. Still, even the tone of the Hank Elliott story didn't feel as somber as some of the storylines of his last couple of years, that writing felt quite intimate in its preoccupation with loss. Yes, you can write from observation (and write very well) or even from research (I've had to do this for a historical drama script) but there is something about a topic that is feels so close to you that compels you to write about it and it's just a feeling I get everytime I watch that those aspects were very much a preoccupation with Marland. I actually try not to think about it too much when I've watched those episodes.

+1 I agree with your assessment, but I know from personal experience that writing at an intense level can be taxing on your health. I remember in grad school, there would be times when I'd be up at 3 o'clock in the morning and my heart was beating at a rate that I knew wasn't good and frankly, it unnerved me. What if that were my experience several days a week on a regular basis? And I can't imagine putting in those type of late night grinds in my 50s! IJS that it might have spared his health had he had someone else who he could truly share a vision and the creative load once they hit the early 90s. Once I got my M.F.A. whenever I got an assignment, I'd make sure to limit late nights, get some regular exercise and eat as healthy as I could because when you're really focused on writing and you almost don't want to stop to take a breath, it can get intense and you can neglect your self-care without even realize you're doing it!

I meant consistency in characterizations by the way. The change really should come in the situations and plots (tweaked for the change in times) but changing a long time character to do some wild sh*t just because you want to "shake things up" tends to alienate viewers. I'm of the opinion that even when you have a head writer, at some point that HW should take on an emeritus role where trained talented writers write the script under supervision. In fact, Marland most likely should have had a co-HW like a Susan Bedsow-Horgan, who had been there and knew the characters and the show's creative landscape. Relying on one writer to do all the heavy lifting on a show that airs five days a week is the surest way to kill that writer, which is essentially what happened. If you look closely at the storylines, there is a morose morbidity running all through the show in the last couple years. That should've been a sign to someone at P&G that all was not well. Marland was not well and he telegraphed it, but no one was paying attention.