Vee

Starring Brian Gaskill as David Morse on the Paramount Plus revival of Northern Exposure!

This is the first I'm hearing of people loving this period so much with Conboy already on base. It's interesting to hear discussion of from more veteran fans; I may have to go back and look at it again. I just remember the Conboy/Weston regime that followed being utterly deranged in a new way, as bad as Rauch's excesses yet somehow even worse. On a side note I'd really thought Claire Labine would work out at the show, it's too bad she didn't. The MAC/Annabelle Sims story, from both decades, is ultimately just a farfetched, kludged-together ripoff of Peter Straub's horror classic book and film Ghost Story, which came out shortly before the original take on the storyline in the '80s. I couldn't believe they were ripping off the same storyline twice, both times clumsily retconning all the elder male characters as having known each other long ago when it just did not work. I do think Kreizman had some good ideas early on - a Roger revisit with Holly, an Ed return, Jonathan - but it was clear he had no ability to execute (and the Sebastian story became a nightmare).

I blame myself!

I've only seen bits and pieces over the years, but I am in fact watching the plane crash saga this holiday season in time for its 30th anniversary. (There is some claim online Kathy Tate is apparently returning in 2024 after years, but I don't think it's credible.) I always did like Kim and Leah Bracknell's character.

The last I ever saw some years back was some evangelical video. I'm still sad about what happened because I loved her on the show, but I don't blame the show for those circumstances.

Don't feed the troll.

OLTL A case can be made for Adriana replacing Cassie in Dorian's family - Melissa Fumero was so talented and had such good chemistry with Robin Strasser that IIRC what was intended to be a hoax storyline, with Dorian claiming Adriana as hers to keep her away from her grandson River, turned out to be the truth. Like Cassie, Adriana came to town a sweet young teenage girl who soon wanted to connect with her mother. Later, Langston Wilde did the same to Adriana; Dorian adopted her in late '07, and Adriana (who had completed a bitch goddess arc) left for Paris the following summer.

Paging @Darn.

That part I understood, yes. I actually found his descent into madness intriguing. But what I meant in my OP was that I found it inexplicable that it was mostly ignored when he returned after wreaking havoc for years both before and after he exited. They just swept everything he'd done (including Grady) under the rug.

I never understood why they made Phillip into the Big Bad both in his exit and then offscreen, had him invisibly stalking his family and friends for several years as they struggled to get GA back, etc. and then when he does show up he is mostly fine! Very little is mentioned of his psychotic break or all the crazy stuff he's pulled both before and after his 'death!' Except for one thing, when he literally throws that creep Grady off a cliff and no one ever finds out! They just go back to more folk-rock scenes of Phillip strolllng the dilapidated streets and bonding with people! WTF?!

I was just thinking that. We've all heard of those scenes too but this is an opportunity to see them. Pieces of them also recur in some of Gabet's other wonderful uploads from spring of '77 - the typically baroque, abstract dream sequences Slesar adds to Nicole's dreams of Claude Revenant's island, where she seems to overlay an old-style pirate ship on the sea and an island native with a machete (complete with kooky Chromakey FX) onto her memories of the explosion and her abduction. I think the other younger Nicoles have their merits, particularly Lisa Sloan but they just don't have the stature or cosmopolitan vibe of McGuire. They feel like her younger sister, even if I like them with Joel Crothers. I don't know why they thought such a major shift would work, but I guess the other Nicoles did remain popular with Miles for almost another decade. I've always been curious to see if any material with McGuire and Crothers is available. I do remember seeing Kevin in some other old episodes but I can't recall for the life of me when. His story with Raven has always sounded harrowing, but I've actually seen little of Raven period as I have mostly watched EON material where she's not present or in the episode. My long, long binge of the Nola Madison saga is leading up to her return though.

What a fascinating gift this special was - we've all heard about it for so long. It's also, like many soap surprises lately such as the revival of Neighbours on Amazon Prime, very instructive re: how soap is put together. Slesar and co. use several narrative devices - Geraldine's coma dreams, Kevin Jamison's exposition to the doctor and most skillfully the Faraday custody trial - to recap major ongoing plotlines for a new audience on a new network. It's impressive work. They waste zero time with Nicole; this was what, her second day back and her memory immediately returns lol? I didn't realize Lois Kibbee was almost fired as part of this storyline; was it the network move that made them hold onto her and try to get Maeve McGuire back? I also didn't realize that Adam and Nicole must have had some sort of night together again soon after she returned, despite his relationship with Brandy Henderson, for her to be pregnant early the following year. (ETA: Never mind, I misread the dates; seems that episode was from all the way in '77!) Wasn't May allegedly angry they ended Adam and Brandy, and did that contribute to his brutal exit over a year later? And WEHT Phoebe Jamison, or Tracy and Danny, etc. Nice to see Linda Cook from LOV as Laurie.

Tika Sumpter, Eden Riegel and Kristen Alderson are also in the comments.

A brief clip from Series 1/14 (allegedly debuting in May?) and I think the first episode, or so I've heard, from the Doctor Who Unleashed BTS show: @DRW50 will be pleased to hear that per reasonably reliable leaks - it's not a huge spoiler but a nice return of past minor characters - Speculation abounds that Mrs. Flood is anyone from River (highly unlikely IMO) to the Rani to Old Ruby Sunday, but I still am betting on Susan. Meanwhile, rumor has it that Indira Varma is playing

Oh man! I do remember the scenes where Marina discovered Harley had gotten with rugged heterosexual Cyrus - another needless insta-pairing on the show that went nowhere (Cyrus got it on with the faux Cassie not long after). I will say I thought that was one time Peapack's microbudget rawness worked for the material and Bruno was actually solid; Harley kept rambling on about how their affair had happened and Marina simply kept repeating 'are you going to stop [seeing him]?' And of course Harley did not, though they broke up very soon after when Ehlers left.

LOL I'd forgotten his other terrible roles. He was supposed to be hot at that time from Port Charles - they tried him everywhere, and it all flopped. Be careful? I have her quote about my buddy @Darn in my sig!

I also find the choice of death boring. If you'd really wanted to shock me, kill Phil. @DRW50 is right that EE has become rote with these holiday stunts. There is a reason Doctor Who was already making jokes about the death surrounding Walford Christmases like @NothinButAttitude mentioned as far back as 15 years ago. They're famous for them and when they hit they do very well (I won't be forgetting the deaths of the Mitchell sisters any time soon), but watching first Dennis then all the veteran matriarchs needlessly die off in fairly speedy succession across holiday seasons has left me pretty numb to it. Plus I find most of the big bombshells now are diminishing returns. The show knows people expect them to do these big setpieces and leans into it, but the stories and executions makes me care less and less. I don't think you have to get rid of something that is a key part of the show's traditions and garners them huge numbers, but you do have to find a way to make me care beyond shock value. I haven't cared much about EE in a long time. Their promo game remains impeccable, but the content is the problem. As for Linda, I admit I only keep half an eye on the show from time to time but I feel like inevitably she will be the one on the Christmas butcher block in a couple years. I just don't think she has a long-term future without Mick.

I liked how the disastrous Brian Gaskill Dylan recast got memory-holed. IIRC Morgan Englund just came back at the end and all was forgotten. Mandy Bruno seemed like a nice enough girl but Marina as a character was supremely bland with her in the role. I remember when Wheeler just began pairing up people who were dating IRL like the Mormon collective family she very clearly envisioned the show as being - Mallet and Marina, disgusting since she was born when he was first on the show (to say nothing of when they put her with Alan-Michael, who IIRC literally thought he was her father) but in Wheeler's mind Bogue and Bruno are together IRL so why not, right? I thought (and still think) Robert Bogue was really talented (I will never forget him turning up in a series of eccentric roles in the Grand Theft Auto games, including the central villain of GTA5, but even wilder was OLTL original cast member Doris Belack in GTA4). He had chemistry with a lot of people, so of course the show chained him to the worst possible option til the very end of the run. Then there was the whole alleged drama with him, Ehlers, etc. BTS. It was not a secret that Grant allegedly quit/was fired under a cloud, and they spent years trying to coax him to return. I knew that and I hardly watched the show in those days. I'm not saying you didn't know this, to be clear - but anyone else acting like it was some amiable exit is misinformed IMO.

Curious: Susan Twist, who cameod in the Isaac Newton prologue of Wild Blue Yonder, is mysteriously coming back. She can also be sighted, just barely, by eagle-eyed fans who zoomed in on RTD's office wall in the Blue Peter video above; there is a mock magazine cover headlining her as "Susan Triad". Triad is the name of the OS Mel and Donna worked on at UNIT in The Giggle; Mel calls it out.

Stay after the initial fade out for a mid-credit surprise in The Church on Ruby Road. I knew there was something off on @DRW50 will be pleased to hear Anita Dobson is now trending on what remains of Twitter. The Season 1/Series 14 teaser: Both Rose Noble and Mel appear in there. Quick thoughts on the Christmas special: Fun but very lightweight vs. other RTD's other Christmas showstoppers, perhaps to ease the new audience in. Very modern and fresh, wonderful performance by Millie Gibson. This is really her showcase whereas I think Gatwa's first appearance in The Giggle was a bigger spotlight for him - he is kept somewhat at a distance for a good portion as they lay out Ruby Sunday. I don't have a full sense of this Doctor yet but that is not unusual, though he did very well. They are clearly going for a younger energy, more overall current Doctor on par with the dramatic shift Christopher Eccleston brought to the role; it reminds me most of that in that this is something we've never seen from a Doctor before. His tears were striking. The Giggle gave him more range and colors to play but that will come in time. What interests me most besides Mrs. Flood is the goblins. These are creatures that appear to be from realms of fantasy totally alien to the Doctor, a new kind of threat like the Toymaker; did what Fourteen did with the folklore ring of salt in Wild Blue Yonder bring out all sorts of new mess to deal with?

I'll just crosspost from the OLTL thread:

Oh my God. Kamar had a complicated history on OLTL, but I was absolutely spellbound by him in his first stint on the show. As a somewhat sheltered little white boy he first intimidated me, then broke my heart for Carlotta in their early scenes, then swept me away with the unlikely relationship with Andy that I loved, however mawkish it got; I quickly found him the sexiest man alive. His second run was a mess for so many different reasons, but I always felt they should've given him a better sendoff than how he was shuffled off-canvas near the end amidst I think a contract dispute. What a tragedy. My sympathies also to Sherri Saum (Keri), who he has been with for decades.