DramatistDreamer

It was, at least until it was time to wrap up the story, then it just descended into the usual tropes.

For all of the irritation that the handling of The Doctors app/website and re-airings has stirred up in fans, at least there is a component that has has allowed the actors to discuss (without too much moderation) storylines, social mores and their characters in a dignified setting, with decently edited clips. Yes, there was a minor “cheese” factor with how the program is introduced but the show’s producers wisely made that a separate component from the actual program itself that was centered on the discussion.

The last time Lauren was feted for an award, it was publicly revealed that she had been doing the horizontal mambo with Carmine Basco. Wasn’t JG at the helm then too?

Ms. Thunberg is quite the sassy one, lol. I appreciate that. I know next to nothing of Tate and I know that I shouldn’t judge by the exterior but I saw a photo of him a few days ago and felt my skin crawl. I should have known then that he would be a bad actor but I guess I didn’t care enough about him to find out who he actually was. Apparently he and his scum brother were trafficking teenagers? And he felt he could try to intimidate a teenage girl, who promptly showed him that she would not be intimidated by clapping back in a major way. His altercation with the teenager led to him giving up his location to authorities. Only the most skilled writers could have written this one any better.

Just heard the news about the passing of Pelé (Edson Arantes do Nascimento) as close as anyone to a genuine King of Futból. He really did originate the era of the “beautiful game” that the best Brazilian players were known for. No player has equaled his World Cup record. No one. R.I.P. Although I have my issues with Neymar (with good reason) but I cannot argue with his appraisal of Pelé’s influence and appeal, whose impact lasted for generations and beyond Brazil’s borders.

Randomly came across this cover from YM Magazine ca. 1980s. It appears that soap stars made for popular cover models for prominent teen magazines back then. I am guessing that by the early-mid 90s that was all over.

This was a one-time thing. She usually doesn’t even venture beyond her usual YouTube and news channels. Somehow it became my fault and how she won’t be going near the Apple TV+ app on Roku again, lol.

Many people are puzzling over how this has gone so poorly and so quickly because China had about three years to get their COVID-19 remediation strategy into effect and they clearly didn’t. Those of us who have been consistently reading about what has been going on in China these last few years are aware that their domestically produced vaccines have been shown as less effective than others around the world and their rate of vaccination among the elderly and most vulnerable of their citizens has been abysmal. And for much of the pandemic, the Chinese government has been intent on shoving COVID-19 positive people into crowded mass quarantine centers instead of seeing whether some might be able to safely quarantine at home. They never adapted their strategy.

Ouch about that idea about Paul, lol. They could just say that Patty began to show the slightest bit of progress with her mental health and Paul became obsessed with “fixing” Patty and going to the facility every moment he could get, which caused a rift in their marriage and they are now legally separated. And he has subsequently moved to be closer to Patty.

^I like how they used a festive, joyous occasion to effectively launch a story full of turmoil and drama. People should have guessed that John would not be the stalker because when has he called Kim by the name Kimberly? Kimberly definitely describes a less intimate relationship, in its formality. I am trying to remember, is that full Christmas Eve episode on YouTube?

And centered an “out of the blue” character in the episode. Why would the writing imply that Mariah and Tessa were simultaneously dreaming the same dream?! Just bizarre and not in a good way. I also remember that when Bell Sr. had the odd “stray” character in an episode, he/she would be plunged onto a canvas full of regular characters that we all know, not a near empty coffee house with a less than a handful of regular cast members.

Yeah, they state in the fine print that it is a possibility for a charge for facilitating these types of transactions. Odd, because when I did the HBO Max/Hulu free trial last year to be available on two devices, I wasn’t charged anything. She claimed not to have touched any other buttons yet was clearly watching a Hallmark movie.🤔😂 It was only $1, so there’s that. I bought her the Roku Ultra so I used my PayPal to connect her (there’s no charge to use a Roku in general, but that’s for the Free apps or an account you already subscribe to, I guess).🤷🏾‍♀️ I preferred it when my brother was using his PayPal on the account but since I upgraded her to the Ultra, I decided to attach my PayPal to the Roku account. Sheesh! 🙄

Breaking my Y&R “fast”, I tuned in to see the Danny Romalotti return and I also was expecting to see a continuation of that story the next day. It was weird that they left it hanging that way, with Daniel and Danny embracing on the threshold of Daniel’s door. To choose Christmas to present an episode where a joint dream occurs, featuring a character from out of the blue was just bizarre to me. Since I haven’t watched B&B in ages, this was the first time that I had truly seen Courtney Hope and she was truly good, especially in her monologue describing her childhood and the environment in which she grew up. Unfortunately, I don’t see any romantic chemistry between Sally and Nick and the dialogue between them was stilted. Although the dialogue between most of the characters was stilted, that’s a writing problem and an unfortunate one at that. I had mentioned this too, sometime ago and I got the sense that not many people were interested, but I had imagined a scenario something like the one between Julianne Moore’s and Mark Ruffalo’s characters in “ The Kids Are Alright”. And bring back Heather (Vail Bloom) on the back of that, really make it a messy scenario between these characters. I would be interested in seeing the likes of Grimes, Graziadei and Bloom mix it up. I will say that Cait Fairbanks’ acting has improved overall since I last saw her on this show but it still strikes me as fairly one-note. Maybe I haven’t seen enough of her in various situations.

The Apple TV+ app already comes installed on the iPad and I have an iPad Pro but it’s the principle of the thing that I don’t care for. My Mom wanted to watch a Christmas special so I logged her onto the Apple TV+ Roku app via iPad Pro, so she could watch the special and she ended up drifting onto Hallmark Channel and taking up a 7 day free trial on Roku and I got charged a transaction fee to my PayPal account. Merry Christmas, lol.

“…of his hands”. Huh?? Can EW not afford to hire a proofreader? Besides the egregious typo that someone let slide on through, what an uninspired lede. Just tired and tiresome.

The article that I posted upthread gave the details on how to stream for free but I just don’t like the way this is being done. It reminds me of how HBO bought the exclusive rights to first-run episodes of Sesame Street, leaving PBS with the only option to show reruns once the entire season of first-run episodes had already run on HBO. The whole idea of Sesame Street was to be accessible to children who had been marginalized. The fact that you used to be able to watch this programming if you had a basic television and an antenna and now you have to sign up for all these things, just doesn’t sit right with me.

Smart move, those of you who have it it on DVD or digital download. Honestly, I didn’t envision the day when the special would leave broadcast television. I guess I should have known, given the fact that the special began on CBS, then moved to ABC after decades of being on the same network. Still, it’s weird that Apple TV+ would be the platform. At least last year, people could watch/stream on PBS networks and the PBS website. Now, completely corporatized. SMH.

Has anyone else been watching these discussions about The Doctors on the It’s Real Good TV website? Clearly, I haven’t been keeping up because I am just now finding out about this. https://watch.itsrealgoodtv.com/player/43132/stream?assetType=episodes&playlist_id=165

Oh that hurts. Bell was an unassuming genius who didn’t really get the praise due him.

Good luck to the constituents of George Santos. Those who didn’t vote for him must be especially pissed.

It depends on your perspective. For a soap with multiple characters, it would make more sense to shoot with a multi-camera setup to get multiple perspectives. If you have a show where you have 3 or 4 characters which usually involves shorter scripts, or you’re filming on location and not a stationary set and you need to show movement, it makes no sense to have more than one camera, it would be unwieldy and unworkable and from working on independent film production, time is definitely money. I mean, wasn’t Guiding Light using handheld towards the end, lol. If you have people who know how to work a camera, I don’t think that’s what busts the budget. It’s more likely to be the talent, the sets and the wardrobe. The multi-cameras that are used to film sports, now that costs a whole lot of money!

The soaps these days look like they only use a single-camera filming technique, which is cheaper than multi-camera. I don’t know whether it is but last time I watched, it sure looked like it. Those camera operators from that Calhoun-produced era were truly gifted. Most of the sequences that I am referring to were done in a single take, although there probably was some rehearsal and at the very least blocking involved. I have filmed and edited my own scenes in grad school and I can tell you, rehearsal or not, the technique involved to shoot with that type of fluidity, that takes skill! And it requires a lot more dexterity when you’re filming and editing in analog, rather than digital equipment. I just doubt that that type of skill is being taught these days.

@SoapsudsMy eyes!!😖😫 Who the hell’s decision was it to make the courts yellow?! I just saw a highlight clip on YouTube and could barely get through it.

One of the aspects about As The World Turns that I absolutely loved was the continuous camera technique, where the cameras would roam from table to table at a place like The Mona Lisa, making the viewer privy to everyone’s conversations, as if we were eavesdropping. And it was done in almost one continuous complete take. Genius. I am not sure that anyone filming today’s daytime soaps still possesses that level of skill to film multiple characters in different parts of a room without cuts or edits.