DramatistDreamer

Just started reading Grillo-Marxuach’s statement and already am taken aback by the use of portmanteau of Lindelof and Cause’s names. Were they really called “Dalton”? Hopefully my local library will get the book in some form (I made a request for an audiobook and an ebook) because this sounds like an interesting read.

How so? I would genuinely like to know how.

During the series run of Lost, I was in the midst of an M.F.A. program in Dramatic Writing and of all the criticisms I have had about such pre-professional writing programs, I can at least be grateful that Lost was never held up as any paragon of dramatic writing, at least not in any the courses that I took. I agree though that they were totally winging things—the zeitgeist was intent on presenting Lost as doing something extraordinary when they were pulling plots from nowhere. The sudden appearance of a smoke monster…well, it’s not exactly Masterpiece Theatre, is it? Your mention of circular character building made me chuckle a little because I immediately thought of what Mad Men did with Don Draper. At least with Draper, the conclusion served to confirm how shallow a person Draper was.

I will never watch that show again. 😂

Until the show brought him back and ruined him anew in the early 00s, the character of Craig Montgomery was definitely put on the road to redemption in his friendship with his ex-wife Betsy Androupolos during mid 1980s ATWT. There were other factors that also helped redeem his character, like his tortured, at times star-crossed romance with Sierra Esteban but his friendship with Betsy (over the vehement objections of Betsy’s husband Steve) and the reaction to it exemplified Craig’s struggles to shed his reputation. Betsy’s insistence that her ex-husband is indeed a changed man and her steadfast loyalty to their friendship got almost everyone who held a harsh judgment against him to reconsider their judgments about Craig.

Those statements by Abrams and Cuse are total gaslighting. It showed up on screen, so I agree, it’s unsurprising. In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising to say that the majority of writers rooms are like, or very similar to this— an exclusionary space where offensive behavior, under the guise of freewheeling creativity is prized and anyone who doesn’t fit into that archetype is othered and treated with an undercurrent of hostility, that is, if they let you in. In the very beginning, I had hoped for the show and admittedly, the diverse cast is what drew me in, but yeah, I could see that the story was narrowing in on the triangle between Jack, Kate and Sawyer, which was so disappointing because it seems so conventional and basic- a storyline that has been done to death. Then the argument between Locke and, (was it Jack?) about faith vs. science, which was so convoluted and reductive, yet people treated it as if it were some sort of elevated discussion. I liked most of the actors and that’s probably the most I can really say about it. I lost interest in the series but felt compelled to watch the final two episodes, probably because they brought the original cast back together. But yeah, the ending was dumb too. It made me think, this is not going to be the ending, is it? But yeah, it was.

A new book about the making of the ABC hit series Lost makes some serious allegations about racism and toxicity in the workplace. I have already requested that my library purchase this book so that I can read it. https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/lost-showrunners-racism-toxic-writers-room-damon-lindelof-1235628095/

There’s a reason for the high cost and the precarity of grocery stock and it may not be what you think. Discussion about the cost of groceries might seem somewhat pedestrian and a topic only reserved for inept politicians to haphazardly make mention of during elections, it is an aspect that merits serious analysis and discussion, especially the ties to corporate interests and how those interests are pitted against farmers and consumers. Keep in mind that this is an Op-Ed article but the insights proposed in this article seem to ring true to what has been occurring. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/29/opinion/inflation-groceries-pricing-walmart.html?smid=tw-share

Reading this article made my head hurt. Just when I thought that the U.S. was behind the curve, I am reminded of how regressive society is in Japan in terms of women’s rights. For a society that is seen as inherently rigid and fastidious to the set rules, one would expect that they would have already have a set policy regarding fraternization between students and their teachers. And for a nation that has seen its fair share of dangerous cults, one would think the law wouldn’t be so dismissive of the power of coercion as a means to compel someone to do something against their will.

Y&R appears to be attempting to keep the Winters family alive in some small way. I know what they were trying to go for with having Devon belatedly taking on the Winters name but it doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense with the family so hollowed out. At least with the Abbott and the Newman clans, there are some discernible links to their roots still on screen. And what’s more, there are direct links actively fostered between generations and it’s been this way for years. The Winters have been fairly disjointed over the last decade- I know some people were hopeful with the emergence and re-emergence of Moses but where is he now? Lily, while joined at the hip with Cane, spent several years being more Ashby than Winters. The Barbers line seems effectively dead and gone at this point (and I doubt a recast of Olivia is going to change that), and unless the show can get Malcolm back on canvas for an actual story arc with any lasting impact, there is no Winters clan and the family line is at best a shadow of what it once was. Which basically puts the Winters family line with one foot in the proverbial grave.

France has always had a consistent pipeline of considerable talent. The question always is whether the individual players can capture the titles at the highest levels. That is when things tend to become less than consistent. I have followed many of the Frenchies for years and I have had my eyes on Fils, among a few others for the last two years, or so. I am pleased to have seen Fils get his first ATP Tour title. He must be elated at taking the title in his home country in front of family and friends. Having said that Cerundolo crumbled in that 2nd set, after getting the lead, although to be fair, it seemed as though Cerundolo’s lead was always tenuous in that 2nd set. With the confidence that Fils now has in getting the win, it’s going to be interesting to see how he plays with the expectations of the French fans and the glare of the spotlight at RG.

For the record, I am vehemently anti-scabbing, I just don’t know whether daytime soaps garner enough attention and interest to draw protests. If there are picket lines in front of Sony studios, it will likely be because of their primetime shows. Once the GH, Y&R and B&B run out of first run episodes, I will assume that they will draw upon the same strategy employed when production was shut down during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was to show reruns.

Other Hal Ashby films are shown but not The Landlord and I believe there is a definite reason for that. Or at least a motive behind it. I can personally attest to this. Being There had a cult-like following among a certain group of instructors and students in the school I attended, but the Landlord never got so much as a mention.

The executives at the very top find everyone else to be expendable, no matter the industry. And they are not above pitting one industry against the other to further their aims of avoiding any type of profit-sharing within their companies, all the while hiding behind the goal of “efficiency” and crying poverty all the while. Very interesting question. In this day and age, do soap operas draw enough attention from the general public to become a site of protest spectacle? Or do they think not enough people will care since soaps seem to be hanging on by a thread?

@Vee In some of those “esteemed” art schools, I could never understand why the works of some filmmakers were never shown in class. They will show the likes of Bertolucci (who, yes, directed visual stunning films, but even then, the characterizations that showed up on screen were often highly problematic) but not a film like the Landlord, which was a film that had great performances as well as had a lot to say, some of those issues are not only still with us but have intensified. At least when I was in one of those schools I got a sense that there was not much interest in presenting students with those types of films if it centered on a situation in the U.S. In countries like Brazil or India, sure, but not in the great US of A.

Marlene Clark was also in Hal Ashby’s film The Landlord, a film, which besides never having gotten its fair due, really showed how luminous Diana Sands was as a leading woman and what possibilities were lost in her untimely death. Hopefully, Ms. Clark’s passing was peaceful. Like @Veesaid, she was standout in a great many roles.

So SCOTUS has basically rendered the long-standing Clean Water Act ineffective in regulating most water resources against pollution. This horrid branch of government.

Absolutely! And you can also elements of gospel (of the Sister Rosetta Tharpe kind) as well as elements of the blues, this woman was from Nutbush Tennessee and never abandoned that part of her. Even as she incorporated new sounds during her career, she never abandoned what she had built before.

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. Everyone talks about the movie, but I hope people will give her book I, Tina a read.

IMO, it wasn’t about “playing” victim or not playing the victim, she was a victim of Ike’s abuse and an industry’s willful disregard, it was about Tina shedding any labels that were put on her. She was indeed victimized, but she didn’t want to stay there. Paraphrasing what Angela Bassett said, she showed other women and people who were victims of domestic violence and intimate partner abuse that they didn’t have to stay victims, it would be hard but they could indeed free themselves from their abuse. As well as go on to (re)create the kind of life that they wanted.

Didn’t listen or tune into to that flop of a Twitter Spaces announcement, but I read that, by the time they got the audio and technical difficulties worked out, the audience had dwindled from 500,000 to 163,000 listeners.

Ms. Tina Turner’s personal story is also instructive because it illustrates to women, and Black women that you can move past trauma and start anew, and after after 40+ at that! With all her talent, drive, appeal and grit, probably the way she was able to start over at a time when society used to want to discard women and ignore Black women- that’s a legacy every bit as important as her vast legacy she left through her musical and entertainment career. Bless her soul.

For years writers have chafed the term “content” being affixed to their work just because it now lives online. Content may be fine for the tech world but it has a cold, somewhat bloodless connotation and shouldn’t really be glommed onto any work art that has been created from an analog source, like a pen and paper. It will take some time and it won’t be pretty but these issues will get sorted. At least the WGA isn’t waiting as long as the music industry to deal with the problem.

It’s what CNN deserves.