DramatistDreamer

I am definitely in that group! Once someone gets on my “list” they usually stay there.

Diminished ratings are still ratings and there are only so many talk shows (talk shows no longer have the type of buzz and popularity that they once had during their heydays) and game shows that they can fill up time slots with. To replace a 50+ year old show with just another game show or talk show, the backlash that would ensue…it just wouldn’t be worth it. Now that another 4 years are slotted, it will be very interesting to see whether the execs decide that what they are doing now is adequate and they’re going to ride the wave or if they feel confident enough to attempt to make some actual changes, bearing in mind that change is not always for the better, especially the way these shows have been known to make them.

It was great to see that type of consistency in a character, tbh. Even in the 1980s, when I started watching as a child, there’d be these warm holiday gatherings and Ellen would be there and Lisa would enter the kitchen and flounce by and Ellen would shoot such a look at her.🤣 Just the memory of these encounters sends me.😂

I think I have posted multiple video clips over the years of performances, so I won’t post them again but if anyone wants to dig through threads, provided they haven’t disappeared, you might be able to find some of them. Guiding Light was mentioned and Kat (Nia Long) and David (Monti Sharp) were quite a saga and provided some powerful performances. As The World Turns certainly did not want for talent as they had theater greats like Novella Nelson, Tonya Pinkins and Count Stovall. I will always remember the combative family scene where Winkler bitterly complains about the cops who killed one of his sons and now his other son is a cop. I was really disappointed that Roy’s family was diminished over the years and the relationship between Heather and Roy dissolved. I know Count Stovall and Tonya Pinkins haven’t been asked about this, but I always wondered whether they have any insight into what happened.

Good for you! I find myself writing more than a few 10 minute plays, as they seem to be in the most demand these days.

Unfortunately there is a No Labels co-founder running in Long Island New York but there are other candidates running as Democrats in that race as well.

It would be a nice surprise if Bonet, Tomei and Devine (we no longer have Mary Alice and Lou Meyers) could be a part of even one of those dates. The other day, Marisa Tomei was being interview on either The Tonight Show or Late Night With Seth Meyers and they brought up her time on ADW with a clip and all and she seemed genuinely touched, mentioning her friendship with Lisa Bonet (she’s also good friends with Cree Summers, but I haven’t a clue as to when/how they became friends…maybe through Lisa?) It’s too bad that there seems to be a big intractable road block to having a reunion show (or even limited series) with everyone as their characters as well as some of the children. I think it would be fun to see where everyone is in life and acknowledge the passing of beloved characters).

In any decent course for writing a play (and even some screenplay courses) prospective writers will be urged to read. It is an assumption (and a fairly accurate one) that in order to write stories that actually have some relevance, you must read. Yes, there is the adage that you should write what you know but if you’re writing a continuing story for volumes over years, there is only so many stories that can be extracted from your only lived in experience before it get monotonous and one-note. Also, tell that to Emily Dickinson or any of the Brontë Sisters. Their writing came as the result of furtive imagination inspired by reading books. Even reading a few news articles a day can inspire ideas. There are many times I have tried to watch an episode of Y&R and it just seems as if the writers don’t read. AT all. There’s no detail, clarity, no focus…there’s no there there. And if things get desperate, pick up an issue of Vanity Fair or GQ, there are some stranger than fiction stories. Pick one and go with it! It certainly works for Law & Order. To a newspaper. Whatever. It shouldn’t be this dire with these soaps, regardless of budget.

And also, people should really stop pretending like colorism doesn’t exist. Soaps have been pulling a fast on on this for decades. Y&R, for all the praise they get for featuring African American characters, there has been a noticeable lightening of color in the featured Black characters. Kristoff St. John even talked about this a couple years before his passing. I know this is off topic but it, along with body type issues seems like a taboo issue that doesn’t get discussed honestly.

Whether or not he had anything to do with the headline and/or lede, I am not a fan of Zoltan Kano Youngs who has done hit pieces on VP Harris in the past.

The ITF/ATP/WTA need to have some training intensive sessions for chair umpires as it seems as if some don’t have full grasp of basic rules. Even if they were in the right, they fail to lower the temperature with players simply because they don’t know how. Alcaraz and his physical issues seem at bit concerning. I wonder if his style of play is accelerating the types of health issues that took years for Rafa to develop. I am getting a similar feeling that I got with Andreescu years ago, just after she won the U.S. Open.

The writing is at fault. It matters little who is on the canvas if the writing is ineffective. The last time I watched the writing for Summer and Chance was just treading water and ZS was making lemonade out of essentially lemons, in terms of the writing.

You may not immediately recognize the name but you likely will recognize this young woman from the image of her as a little girl who, through her tears had a very strong impact on the meaning of empathy for people with AIDS and HIV. It felt like such a blessing to see her progress and blossom over the years. Still, 39 is too young for her to pass on. May she rest in peace. https://www.blackenterprise.com/hiv-aids-activist-hydeia-broadbent-dies-at-39/

Do I think FAST is going to fade away after hearing these rumors? No, there are still some strong models for FAST but the ranks may thin a bit with those that are redundant in programming or purpose. I also think Freevee also got themselves in a bind by trying to function both as a gateway for Prime as well as to sell Amazon crap and then also to try to do original programming—they should have picked a lane.

I was still a bit wary because I have heard of companies denying something is happening, only to reverse themselves later. Coincidentally, (or the power of tracking?) I came across this on YouTube. He mentions Amazon having denied something before and it turned out to be exactly what they had previously denied.

Looks like “responsible journalism” strikes again.

And at this point, these media outlets care very little that they continually get things wrong.

Amazon botched Freevee even more badly than the folks who originally launched Quibi. The first mistake was attaching the app directly to Amazon, where you have to log in using an Amazon login, which Amazon likely thought was clever as it would force anyone who didn’t already have an account to start one, which they hoped would lure people to buy on Amazon. The moment IMDB got acquired by Amazon, I was waiting for things to wrong and I hated that you needed an Amazon account to sign in. When it was just IMDB, at first you didn’t need to sign in, then you did need to sign in, then it just got worse when the site got Amazon-ed. The entire process became so clunky and onerous. Had they just let the app be similar to Pluto TV where sign in is optional there would be no problem but no, Amazon being Amazon, they needed to track people and try to herd them onto the site to buy things…well, surprise, people didn’t like that. IMDB should have given preference to Variety or The Hollywood Reporter for the rights to the site. Of course, Amazon would eventually kill Freevee, it was competition to Prime, especially now that Prime is shoving ads , into their shows. Maybe it is a rumor but since it’s already out there, it really got me thinking about the things I don’t like about the app since Amazon acquired it.

Thanks posting this @DRW50. Yeah, Donahue could have waited for the clip to end before talking. It seems like the habit of someone who is pressed for time. In an editing room when people have to decide where to make cuts, that’s when you hear people chatter over film like this. Otherwise, Donahue is actually engaging with the actors and at least isn’t condescending and let the actors on the panel be their charming selves. I wonder who put these clips together? It could be the Donahue people but it reminds me that today, the PAs on shows like The Talk or even The View are unlikely to even watch today’s soaps as the times I have watched their segments, maybe a tribute or anniversary episode on one of the remaining soaps these segments appear out of synch or seem to make little sense. I love how obviously happy Eileen Fulton is to have Helen Wagner back on the show. And Eileen’s insistence that had it not been for Lisa, Alexis on Dynasty is unlikely to have happened is probably a correct assumption, even though delivered with bravado.

Probably as they’ve done it before, even in the halcyon era of the ‘80s but generally that was among ethnic or color lines.

I mean I don’t get it but I do love the idea of Tonya Pinkins (who is in my avi) and Count Stovall being on a project together. I don’t know if they have any scenes together but I remember they were great on ATWT. Also, uh @Soapsuds, you may want to cover your eyes for this one.

A follow up to this story. Fubo (has anyone used this service?) is suing, citing antitrust violations. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/fubotv-files-lawsuit-disney-warner-fox-sports-streaming-platform-1235830781/

I just finished watching Season Two of The Bear and it is intense.

It would be good if these writers could do something like that, but with a more modern twist. Today’s soap writers don’t seem to do mysterious very well. They beat us over the head with stereotypical imagery, like characters in terrible disguises and call that mystery.

Yeah, the character of Lily was another one that came to mind and the show basically writing half a storyline about Lily’s struggle to lose postpartum weight gain, while they constantly had her wear some of the most dour color pathways Byrne was ever outfitted in. Lily has been recasted more than twice, so for me, it wasn’t really about the recast of Lily but the recasting of Faith, for me, seemed really jarring. Not only did they change the actress but the personality seemed completely different, they didn’t seem to keep any of the same traits that stood out in the previous actress.