Vee

I agree in general, but Ava has always been pretty fluid and has outlasted many terrible stories. What I'm disappointed by is how they seem to now be shutting down the whole angle of Ava as the schemer in Sonny's home, which seems like a 180 from Mulcahey's story - Sonny has immediately kicked her out. Am I glad Sonny has come to his senses about Ava overall as opposed to their ridiculous civility and friendliness over the last several years and is now regularly citing Connie's murder to her face? Absolutely. But I also quite liked what PM was doing with it by making Ava the spider in his lair, ruining him. I suspect the plan was for Ava and Valentin to link up with what they knew about each other's schemes, and work together.

Oh, right. I read Stepakoff's book, I'd just forgotten all about it.

I'm about two weeks behind, so that was quick. I was just wondering how long it would take. I'm still so embittered about that, because it seems clear PM wrote a fair bit of the (pretty good) Gregory farewell and death material and Finn's spiral - lifted right out of Ed Bauer accidentally taking a drink, etc. And to have him gone as Jonathan is returning, oy.

Critiqued by JJ, no less. He was not happy with his depressing, dark storylines or the inability to reunite Lucky and Liz, both of which led to his leaving again.

You're gonna have to expound on this one.

Like everyone else, I've been here before and I'll believe he's gone when it's been a year. But yes, I do think he was fired due to the network and to pay for Jonathan. I think he's actually done a solid job with this storyline (which I am slowly making my way through, stuck in bed with a summer sinus infection), but good riddance. LMAO, you should've.

Sonny would not care that much about the disbarment lol. It's obviously just Korte, etc. doing a 180 on the Ava story. Like a lot of the recent shift in the writing for him back to sympathetic.

Thank you so much for this. I had no idea Liz almost came back. What a class act.

Bitter Liason fans losing their shít on Twitter don't count (even if they are very funny to watch). IMO most general audience are or will be over the moon. The Deadline article says he's back for a long (their emphasis on long) run. That's not 4-6 months. That makes me assume he is locked in for a couple years. Of course the show could terminate that the same as they can any soap contract, but I don't see that happening unless he and FV really butt heads.

Oh God. Who cares about that guy.

It makes no sense for Luke to be dead anyway, his bizarre offscreen death (and the utter lack of reaction to it onscreen) was embarrassing and a clear ploy to try to keep TG in reserve story-wise. That being said I'm not sure he's well enough, otherwise it might have happened by now. I thought he would be back again eventually. His career ain't that hot. I did not believe he would ever return on contract to Frank Valentini's GH though.

I can make allowances for that, considering we know how unhappy JJ was with his last stint and the writing therein - he allegedly hated the angst and the darkness, and had expected and wanted to be re-paired with Becky Herbst. Instead he got everything but, and quit again as a result. Huge waste. I never thought FV would buckle re: a star that is too big for 'his' show. I guess now we can see what he's willing to bend on in order to keep his own job. I hope it augurs good things for the larger show, but I'm still pretty sore about the whole creative situation. And I agree, without better writing a strong performer returning only goes so far.

I'll be damned. And yes, I'm with @Khan - very bittersweet this is happening without PM.

"Intentions," Martha.

I noticed him there while revisiting the 90s, I believe. Isn't he also on the credits for Marland's ATWT in the 80s, or am I hallucinating?

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.