Vee

A beautiful scene we could all use these days. I don't know if this is also Michele Val Jean's work but I suspect so.

I think what Guza brings first and foremost is adrenaline, and a sense of what events/sweeps months need. This show will need someone like that to amp it up out of the starting gate in a very difficult climate, and while competing for the loyal GH audience. For all his sins I won't lie and say I didn't wish he'd been somehow on hand in GH's recent somnambulant years, and I'm not the only one. He also can do very incisive character work - when he chooses to, and when it isn't lazy or misogynistic. MVJ had a front row seat for the Guza years at GH, and knows what became of the Black canvas there. Yet she's remained close to him personally and professionally, and has often said online that he wasn't responsible for various unpopular choices in those years. Whether that's true or not, who knows. I think he was long past his best by the time he was fired and it was past time, but I do think he has real talent that can be brought to bear on BTG. We'll see what he has to offer today, and if her faith in him can prove out.

After Chris Murphy and others began staging a sit-in, DOJ appears to have backed down on allowing Musk and his child soldiers unfettered access to the Treasury. This kind of relentless pressure is what it will take.

Thanks!

I don't even remember hearing what happened to Kyle Sampson.

I like how he came back to town and was like 'idk is he alive? could be, don't count him out Laura!' But I haven't seen the Puerto Rico caper/November '94 sweeps eps in their entirety since they first aired. I wish they were online.

Dark Shadows has lasted over 50 years in syndication and on streaming despite no successful revivals or reboots, and despite (and perhaps somewhat because of) its wonky budget, FX and onscreen production foibles. Any fan of the show (including several of us here) knows its issues very well. As DRW points out, Peapack GL cannot say the same. It's because they couldn't put story or characters across the same way. Though I do think a better GL deserves a shot on the air today.

That is hysterical. It was the 10 year old Puerto Rico remote footage (both Luke and the boat) that finished me off.

Time for folks to start leaking! I did notice another restaurant/club locale in the new video - apparently "Uptown" where some of the characters were dining, judging by the signage on the windows.

What a shame.

Isn't Sarah doing the Dexter prequel show? I doubt she is hurting for money or needs to do this. Nor do I think a sequel/remake series really needs to exist. I can understand keeping Joss out of it after all the trauma, but without at least some of that past creative team it's going to feel very strange. The tone and language of BTVS/Angel was very specific. Very strange for Chloe Zhao to go from winning Best Picture a few years back to the Eternals flop and now well, this.

Oh lord, I'd almost forgotten about that weirdo.

That's why they didn't do it with Jason (and hesitated to re-pair her with Lucky), and why they won't ever do it with Jason. That perception of her character, and their preference for other leading ladies. Though the only time I was ever behind Liason (and I've said this before, too much) is in the mid-2000s - when she was a working mother who had left all that behind her, was married to a good man, living a domestic life and then suddenly got involved again with the guy who got away. That to me was very real and gripping, so of course they let it slip away. They're deeply uncomfortable with Becky Herbst and Liz being a foundational lead for the show in the same way Jackie Zeman and Bobbie was, but that's who she is and she's very good at it IMO. So if she finally gets her place there with Jonathan's Lucky, I'll be glad. Even if they're not getting half the airtime they should. And I definitely thought of Martha Byrne for Carolyn as a major choice at one point - her past work on GH IMO proved she'd be very good. But she is potentially too young, again already played Andrea Floyd in the late 2000s (not that anyone would care) and finally, has unfortunately gone full MAGA.

I did think of Maeve. I assume she's too old or retired.

I doubt it happens again. Being pushed back twice is enough. Plus JJ is back and seems very eager to be reunited with her onscreen, and IMO most of the audience is taking to it. I just wish she was given the story weight she deserved, because Khan is right - her life story is a lot of people's life stories. Adult Elizabeth has always interested me much more than the teen girl. And it was nice that they had Lucky pointedly say the other day he doesn't viewer her as an angel or teen damsel anymore, a repudiation of some of the writing in his last contract stint. There's a weary maturity there for them.

Eeesh. Interesting, but I dunno! For reasons neither of us need to remind each other of. I once thought of MTS for the part, but she would never leave Y&R and people rightly reminded me no one would ever buy her as a surgeon. And I definitely thought of Martha Byrne, but she is potentially too young, already played Mayor Floyd in the late 2000s (not that anyone would care) and finally, has unfortunately gone full MAGA.

Which is why I'd ask him to recur (or get Gregg Marx!). Carolyn, the scheming mother/brilliant surgeon, would be the real meat of the ongoing story for me. They did. And Frank allegedly tried it again in the mid-2010s.

I think Lucky absolutely was, particularly when Jonathan returned. Liz was always part of the package, though she did have moments of being more with Jason. And I think the show's disinterest in her (and discomfort with her being paired with their 'star', as JJ wanted that pairing in 2009-2011 and didn't really get it) was and perhaps remains an issue. But I think she's been consistently underrated since she grew into adulthood and motherhood onscreen. She almost didn't, as we know in 2011.

Oh, that's a great idea. I did go with Newman because I think he has a fierce intellect onscreen and is too often underrated. I would've been into Richard Burgi too but he unfortunately played Paul Hornsby in the '10s (not that anyone would care in the era of Howarth and Easton's triple-dipping). Still, the mother (Carolyn) would be the heavy.

Yes, but that's why I said around the same time - he came to GL what, 2-3 years later? He's in the same age range! I would not do Ric and Nina again, but I would eventually (probably not immediately, there's still juice in the saga with Willow and Drew) just write Nina out - probably happily at this point. I like Watros and the character's just been through enough lol. Ava doesn't want happiness or a good man. Only her stans want that for her. Ava wants power and trouble. The Liz/Lucky stuff lately has gotten a good response from the audience (even the Liason stans who attack every single day he's on have been quieter, maybe retraining their weaponry on Sasha) so I would stick with it. But we'll never agree on that, which is fair enough. I think it's both. I don't know if it's true FV didn't want him back (since he was also said to have been holding out for Jonathan for years, or maybe that was an excuse he gave) but at this point it wouldn't shock me. I suspect bringing back Lucky became a priority for the network, but it does feel now as though Frank is slow-walking or marginalizing story with Lucky and Liz as much as he can (a la Spencer and Trina) even though the writers came out and called them 'a foundational part of our show'. Either because he didn't want Lucky, or because he resents Jonathan insisting on Lucky and Liz or just preferring 'his' stars. It's idiotic treatment, but of a piece with how little Genie has been seen in the last year. Though that could also have to do with a family tragedy.

He was a soap heartthrob at around the same time as Richard Dean Anderson (and William Moses), he's fine. And no, Zimmer is not suited for that part and Colleen Zenk is frankly a tired choice at this point. Especially after that Y&R stint. Woof.

I could and would recast both Liz's parents tomorrow (I'd even try to get Robert Newman as Jeff on a recurring basis, because why not?). They could drive a lot of story with that relationship, especially with her mother as a domineering schemer at the hospital and in that family.

This I didn't know about (either part, but particularly a meltdown?). It's too bad, he was great on each show. Though that he had an attitude to match many of his characters does not surprise me.

I've said it (too many times) before, but one of the worst parts was when they would break out the old existing studio sets while using the new handheld cameras. You could tell places like "Main Street" or wherever were totally fake in that lighting, that these were in no way outdoor locations and that the surfaces were weirdly shiny. It was like being inside an Applebee's or a theme park. Zimmer wrote in her book about how they had to struggle to maneuver around the cameras in any sets as well for blocking. When they couldn't get a shot or workable sound, which was apparently often, they would just do some of what was mentioned above - cut to anything, anywhere and overdub it. Like the infamous sequence with Jeffrey's voice over the American flag, a pond, some flowers, whatever. Just ridiculous. Don't get me started on Wheeler's office doubling as both the church and Cross Creek or something. It looked ridiculous, like kids filming in the break room at their parents' office. It was so embarrassing. And the 'convenience store' I think was some closet.

I agree. Elizabeth's story of setting aside her dreams after getting pregnant very young by the wrong guy, and then still building a wonderful life and career, is very relatable and is something that strikes to the heart of the genre and its audience for me. Which is why I only grew truly interested in the character after she became a mother. Though I also think Becky and Jonathan still have it (much moreso as weathered adults for me than as a teen couple, when I found them too sweet together) and they should be A-story. While it's sadly common for Becky and Liz, it's inconceivable to me that JJ especially is being relegated to the B-tier atm. In any event, they should be central.