Vee

The beat goes on:

Once again, Puck News (who got an exclusive from him) scrambles to save Will Lewis' job:

The Daily Beast ran a dishy Will Lewis expose a few days ago, but has their own problems editorially which sound hair-raising:

I never watched this but my dad did. He went on about Rosalind Shays and the elevator shaft for years. I assume the attempt at a revival (like so many other fizzled pitches for other classic shows in the streaming boom) has been quietly sunsetted.

I know A Martinez did a stint on the show as they tried to shore up the sex appeal after some exits near the end. Was he successful on it or not at all?

7 hours ago, AbcNbc247 said:

LH’s Tate is too laid back, too carefree. I don’t think he’s a bad actor but I think he should play Tate more like JMM did. 

Leo Howard's talented and hot, but he projects a little too old and more importantly too confident for the part. I would sooner see him on GH tbh (maybe as Cam). Would I want poor little JMM (who's also talented) back to get stalked online by barely legal twink hunters? Nope.

10 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

@Faulkner Thanks for the Gould article. Unlike Sutherland, Gould often seems forgotten today, aside from occasionally popping up somewhere like SNL. I hope more people appreciate him while he's here. 

I did not know Sutherland had a falling out with Altman that was never repaired. I guess that explains why they never worked together again - I don't really see him as an Altman-type actor anyway, but I'm sure he would have slotted in somewhere in Nashville or Short Cuts.

I didn't either. That explains a lot, but it's sad as he was pure magic in M.A.S.H.

Elliott Gould has been around off and on in stuff over the last decade or two, particularly the Ocean's films. I wish he'd do more. He was so brilliant.

2 hours ago, titan1978 said:

i never thought we would see scenes like these ever again. Even Korte must have thought it was worth knocking Carly and Jason down a bit.

That or it's more of the last of Mulcahey. Reminds me a bit of those great scenes several weeks ago where Anna absolutely annihilated Carly onscreen for visiting Brennan at Pentonville.

4 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I love that. Cyndi and Bonnie together feels like something that should have happened long ago.

In typical RTD tradition, the show seems to have ramped up by leaps and bounds since the rocky first two eps or so. I'm just now getting to it but I am pleased to hear about ol' Sutekh (anything that isn't the Daleks, Master and Cybermen again works for me). Hoping we get Susan tonight, trying not to spoil myself. I think the show is doing very well on Disney+, which is the only metric that now matters for it ratings-wise.

The Tales of the TARDIS ep that features a cutdown version of Pyramids of Mars with the Doctor telling Ruby Sunday all about Sutekh is available on iPlayer in the UK (where they also keep all uncut classic Who, while over here we have it for free on Tubi now) but I'll see if I can dig up the clips on YT eventually.

@DRW50 : Cyndi Lauper, Bonnie Langford and Sutekh.

34 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

He may still be credited, but that influence is much lighter in the last few weeks. Even Gregory’s funeral is nothing like the depth we got when Dante was shot. Those scripts were old school.

I think the first week of June was fairly strong, despite the Sonny stuff I mentioned, and the onscreen acknowledged stall with Pikeman (by Brennan in the script) or on many plots, like with Kristina vs. Natalia or Ava and Natalia - well-written sparring, but what is the point? Why is the surrogacy story still going? Why did Pikeman have to stall this long unless FV is trying to save JPS? I can't speak for the rest of the month as I'm still going through it and have only watched a bit of this week ahead. I still think the Drew, Nina, etc. stuff early in the month is pretty well done, and the Nina/Maxie stuff still sings for me. I'm waiting for it to totally fall off before I drop it again, but I intend to.

15 minutes ago, Antoyne said:

I was so shocked how hooked I was on the show. I had to get through like 10 episodes and I was totally all in. You guys gave me worried this won’t last which sucks. There’s a lot of good things that are working for me on the show right now. I haven’t watched this much GH in I dunno how many years at this point. I genuinely didn’t think the show could draw me back in but here I am! 

I'm out probably at the end of the month, since Mulcahey quit and his work is already being affected/barely even got onscreen. The wedding/death stuff with Gregory, etc. was well done, as were a number of other things but that was in April and May. It's clear the show is a mix of creative/executive directions right now but it has been even since the beginning in March, and the focus on the town turning on Sonny, the refocus of the moral center has gotten a bit muddled again in the last month or so. There's still some intelligent dialogue and good scenes, but what upsets me is that with the exception of Drew/Nina/Willow, etc. it's clear almost none of PM's stories really made it to the screen and he was allegedly prevented from trimming the cast as well. (I'm still not convinced ME or JPS/Valentin are going anywhere with Mulcahey now gone.)

GH could still be great, but keeps just fumbling at the gate. I have little faith in the remaining creatives continuing any lasting quality.

Dr. Mark Greene? Really, Ron?

10 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I really don't think she will join The Gates though.   I would love to be proven wrong, but I have never gotten the vibe she wanted to join a different soap.

Me neither.

One down. @DRW50

And why is half the cast swimming in their fúcking shirts??

It's just frustrating seeing a lot of great building blocks and setup about to go to waste, and not just the Drew/Nina/Willow, etc. stuff. Jake stumbling upon Finn while he and his little dumbass friends trying to drink underage is classic soap to me, and Hudson should still be on a contract (and the presence of an Asian pal reminds me they really should add young characters or another doctor - or both - from the Asian Quarter). And Carly sticking her nose in on Drew and Nina for no real reason is classic Carly, though I won't be surprised at all if EK and co. use Carly to bust up this entire storyline and end it ASAP so Nina can go back to her role as the show's all-purpose punishment goat.

I did think the early June confrontation scenes with Sonny v. Carly, Brennan and Valentin, Anna and Jason re: his loyalty to Sonny and her past with Valentin, even Carly and Kristina as well as Ava/Natalia and Kristina v. Natalia were very good, as was the amazing stuff from Tracy and co. at Gregory's funeral (minus Violet's damn poem). But it's a definite mix of interests on the show. You can tell they're trying to reset Sonny now back to a softer place and have him all grief-stricken about Jason suddenly. Ava seems to just be randomly scheming at this point. And they even had Brennan call out the stall in the show by complaining that Valentin has been stringing out his schemes with Pikeman for months. Why is Brennan still on this show? What is his purpose and what is the purpose of his flirtation with Carly? Just a few random women on FB down bad for this dayplayer? Who cares? Move this along. And yet half the show still really works for me, but I'm still catching up so we'll see how downward it trends.

And don't get me started on how someone - Korte, Van Etten, whoever - just will not prioritize Trina. Gio is a beautiful kid but seems just very nice and there atm - what is the conflict if Trina gets a random nice guy, unless he is a deliberate contrast to Spencer (who was arrogant, cocky, rich, damaged) and then has other layers? What is the purpose of highlighting the physical similarity to Spencer unless they're going to a weird psychological place? I think it's good to add more non-core people, but he looks so similar to Spencer it makes me wonder if they should've just bitten the bullet, pulled the band-aid off and recast the role with Giovanni Mazza then and there months ago.

It's frustrating too because I can see how you could wrap up half the current mess (starting with Pikeman) in a week or two tops and then just reset and leave in place what works, which for my money is still a fair amount. But it's not going to happen. I could even get behind bringing back Budig for a few weeks (and I hate Hayden) to get rid of Violet - Liz thinks she'll keep her, then thinks her sister will stay, then watches Hayden vanish with Violet again to parts unknown after a mysterious and foreboding conversation with a scheming older woman with dirt on her: Liz's mother Carolyn, recast of course, a brilliant surgeon who is real bad news. (Colleen Zenk is the too obvious choice plus she's busy, so I'm open to suggestions)

5 hours ago, dio said:

like when I came into the thread and saw all the "he's problematic!" talk I thought he was a Trumpster or anti-vaxxer or had SA accusations made toward him. Threatening to break someone's fingers over the internet seems... banal, by comparison. lol 

Feel like you're forgetting the time he livetweeted at length on a plane flight about "Muslim dog eaters" during his and KT's trip to Bali, or when he and Kelly were basically selling private video chats.

46 minutes ago, Antoyne said:

Just saw your edit. I’m actually surprised how much I’m enjoying CM as Drew right now and it’s all because of the Nina story and the obvious simmering with Willow. Honestly the way I despised Ryan Lavery, I didn’t think I’d accept Cam as a recast for a role that I enjoyed the originator of quite a bit, but he’s won me over. And yes the beard helps tremendously.

Drew Q as he's been since the writing change suits his best work on soaps - breezy, cocky, a bit of a schemer/con man and mischievous, not unlike early Ryan. I've always liked Cameron, I just have never felt dark drama was his wheelhouse and he became intolerable on AMC and in recent years on GH because they tried to make him do material he isn't suited for. And Cynthia has soared. I had zero use for either character til March.

I've hung in as long as I have getting slowly through June because I wanted to see how much of this particular story continued (and also finding a lot of the material with Gregory's death/Finn's meltdown pretty good). Some of us have commented on how similar it seems to some of Mulcahey's work on GL with politician Ross Marler and his tangled relationships with mother and daughter Holly and Blake. I assume this will all get a hatchet taken to it with PM gone and be dismantled in short order, but I'm enjoying it for the moment. I'm ready to bail any day, so I will likely be done by July.

25 minutes ago, Antoyne said:

Did he start Aurora as Drew or Jason??

As Jason IIRC, but it was shortly before the Two Jasons reveal and I think was done as part of that setup to show how un-Jason he was becoming. BM's faux Jason had always been making an effort to move away from the mob and back to the Qs, Jake, Monica, etc. so it seemed like a natural evolution to me.

I think CM has actually done a great job with CW and even Willow and the business/political stuff under Mulcahey, so I'll be sorry to see it get diluted or go. It also suits him to grow the beard back out. He's approaching the levels he was at in his successful early months as Drew for me, before he became Carly's male purse and tanked onscreen.

4 minutes ago, Antoyne said:

And honestly this Sam isn’t that surprising to me, I can’t remember if BM was playing Jason or if he was Drew when they were married and got away from the mob to start a company. Honestly it might be the aurora company I keep hearing about. But I remember they were both happily completely removed from the mob world at the time. And I liked the progression. Honestly I had become a big fan of BM’s Jason because of the moving away from Steve’s Jason’s life.

That was Aurora, yes. Drew still runs it and Nina's company (Crimson) is now under its corporate umbrella, hence their working relationship which led to their affair. I agree with you and talked about this and him and Sam a few posts ago.

11 minutes ago, Antoyne said:

Sam used to be the most hardcore of hardcore ride or dies. 

I know. It's wild how far she's come, but to her credit minus some short-term switchbacks and relapses it really did start with Danny's birth in 2012.

One of my favorite moments. (Not my tweet)

I think the best thing for all parties would be for Vanessa to do a Special Guest Star stint on The Gates a la Rosemary Prinz on AMC in the first year. If anyone still has that kind of clout with soap fans today it's VM. That would leave her open to GH, which I agree is her home.

Everything Sam said about Jason was absolutely right. It's just a shame she didn't come to any of these conclusions during the first Obama administration.