Vee

I think the show has been bland as hell since long before 2020, myself. I just don't get the sense Disney even really knows or cares GH exists. It fills a slot and is passable for numbers, therefore it continues to function. For most of the time that appears to be the extent of their purview. Yes, you hear stories of occasional things being clamped down on but this is far from the days of Brian Frons or Angela Shapiro or any other micromanaging network figure who had a real stake in the soaps. The most you have is middling executive Nathan Varni, a meager fish by comparison with nowhere near that power. I absolutely do not believe the 800-character ensemble, fixation on Violet, Valentin, four characters for 2 OLTL stars, etc. has anything to do with Disney or ABC. That's all Frank. I agree. They've been doing real work and I think the material has been good. I do agree with others that Easton and Nancy have chemistry, but it's too late to capitalize on. I think the most Finn and Alexis had was one makeout session a few years ago, and they put it to bed IIRC bc they were both recovering addicts and felt it would be unhealthy. Were Mulcahey still there I suppose I wouldn't mind a ONS, but what's the point? Just get rid of Finn period.

Going well:

I doubt Disney gives two shíts about the content of GH. I haven't seen evidence of them substantially meddling in this show in years and years, otherwise it would've had a real executive and creative changeover long ago. It's Frank's world and he's an easy, cheap guy to leave in the position, and so you have a show that is largely constructed around his preferences and tastes. Nathan Varni might get involved, but that's about it.

Which is how it's been since at least 2016 IMO. RC's tenure became an absolute debacle and he fully deserved to be fired, but there was not a sense he was just marking time. It was his nutty fixations all the way. Frank alone is another story. I am still watching for at least another week or two, but I'm also a week or so behind. I think there's still some good day to day material onscreen and interesting potential but I agree the stories remain a schizophrenic mess, and like caroline I also find it futile and hopeless since Mulcahey already has exited. As of now I have no faith in systemic improvement with FV still at the helm.

I knew the British Invasion would burn out in time, but not quite as fast as this might go:

Barbara Crampton (Y&R/GL/DOOL/B&B) and Connor Paolo (Travis O'Connell, OLTL) are both featured in the well-reviewed The Last Stop in Yuma County (and can be seen in this trailer):

One of the co-writers, Siobhan Hughes, got pressed on some of this on CNN and sort of stumbled around admitting McCarthy often lies, but wildly suggested he only lied 'tactically' in the past when praising Biden:

That's kind, but you don't have to stifle talking about an ongoing series because of me or anyone else. This thread is for all-purpose use and there's no need for spoiler tags or anything else. Just post away.

Yes, I added stuff about that piece to the post above. It's getting hammered.

Wow. @DRW50 As always, these stories can bypass the paywall using archive.is to plug in their main URL. Meanwhie, re: a WSJ hit piece on Biden's mental capacity that ran today with mostly quotes from Republicans like McCarthy and Johnson and zero on-record quotes from Democrats, it's getting blowback from all sides: Always a friend to Trumpworld and the right, Nuzzi has seized the moment and gotten clapped back:

I thought the scenes surrounding Gregory's death with Finn lashing out at Liz were very good. My only issue is that downward spiral should not have been staggered out as much, where people just kept talking about the one drink for days. I still suspect the reason the brakes haven't been fully taken off yet is because FV intervened to save Easton after PM quit, just as I fully expect him to do with JPS/Valentin. But now he's drinking again, so maybe it's on.

A very mysterious upcoming new Tales of the TARDIS. @DRW50 I will be catching up on the new season soon.

YMMV! I just think JK is very charming and witty and has made the most of a terrible introduction early on and is pretty fun in his role. But I also know he can easily lift out. I wanted to believe that was just Spin's office space, but people keep showing up there acting like it's his house! In other news the Congressman Drew Q/Willow/Nina/Maxie stuff from last week is still quite good and I am going to be depressed to presumably lose all this and the weird love triangle undercurrent with mother-daughter. It may or may not be a lift from PM's GL work but I think it is inspired.

I can buy it. They have chemistry together and I liked those curious early scenes with them. It wouldn't be the first (or last) young stud with an older grande dame on soaps. Also, I still don't like how they've dressed up Spinelli's 'apartment' as one studio storage closet tricked out like an alcove in a Dave & Buster's. Where is the living room? Where is the kitchen? He hosts his child here, right?

He Thought of Laura, obviously.

Late obviously, but I'm with @dc11786 from last month - I think Mulcahey has been playing with something with Cody and Tracy since the beginning. Her name-checking him as a young Gregory in her mind is far too deliberate, and there was a lot of very ambiguous, suggestive stuff between them before that too since March or so. Wouldn't shock me if some kind of May/December romance there had been the endgame and got shunted off (just like the hints of Finn/Tracy back in the day when he first debuted, and it was and remains his most exciting relationship). Stay tuned for more late dispatches from me you didn't ask for!

Not unexpected, but still sad. I'm so glad he got to come back (and did the home video segments, audios, etc.)

Richard Culliton did not exactly cover himself in glory at GH.

Natalia has always been a stealth homophobe. As someone said, there's still plenty of 'liberal' people like her out there. Like many, I think they brought her on as obvious conflict for the boring couple. But I also think Frank saw hiring Eva LaRue as another big soap get he could fanboy out over, and keep her around for months or years doing nothing but being a superficial feather in his show's cap like so many other actors. I think that's why the show has attempted to test her with Maurice. If past creative choices show out under FV we could be stuck with Eva for another couple years. I'm hoping the reaction is so negative it won't take that long, but we all saw the reign of Peter August. I'm still slowly catching up on the show after being busy with personal stuff - I'm about two weeks back. The scenes surrounding Gregory's death and the fallout, Finn, etc. were very well-done and carefully paced, with real time taken. I'll probably stay another week or two to see how much more of PM's vision we can get, but if it degrades more as others have said I won't be staying until Mulcahey's name is off.

That's explicitly not what happened.

The time for this cockiness re: a UK invasion was at least 20 years ago:

From a longer thread: With a candidate whose numbers have dwindled in each election, these inches matter.

I am loath to highlight any Conways regardless of their political affiliation, but this is worth noting. This discussion was spurred by last week's on-air blow-up where Conway called out CNN for employing a willfully lying GOP rep, and Kasie Hunt became apoplectic at this disrupting their panel discussion by defending the right winger as one of their friendly contributors.