Vee

Watching The Giggle now. Thus far this is a pretty pointed, smart and in keeping with RTD unsubtle analogy on the pandemic/misinformation era. But sometimes unsubtle is necessary - we live in unsubtle times, and on issues like this he should be bold and loud on public broadcasting. Kate and Mel's reintroduction to Fourteen was very sweet. Bonnie is playing it in an interesting way; Mel is a calmer soul. I never thought I'd hear about Sabalom Glitz again. I did not know Melanie apparently had no surviving family - it's mentioned as though we should know about it, but we don't AFAIK. We got very little onscreen backstory on her. I wonder if this will be revisited in this episode or more likely next year. Nice to see RTD remembered Moffat's bit with Twelve being de facto President of Earth - he can give UNIT authorization.

They've wishcasted so hard for it to go away ever since Dobbs (in large part because most Beltway journalists on the coasts feel no one they care for will be materially affected by this or anything Republicans do). It is not going to go away.

I like Alexis at the paper. It feels like a natural evolution after she flouted the law for years.

O'Neal had a very complicated life, but was a matinee idol and sterling talent with a protean, changeling quality people often underrated. His work in both the hysterical What's Up Doc? and the brooding, stylized, pre-Drive, etc. The Driver for Walter Hill is so far from what his typical image was. And he made it all look effortless. From Lee Grant:

It's the truth. Most people offline just don't care about foreign policy. They do care about abortion. I've seen nothing to change that and frankly neither has the Beltway, which is why so many stories are run to try to change the narrative and handicap Biden. The horserace is all, and they do miss Trump.

A morning show clip from The Giggle features a colorized flashback to The Celestial Toymaker with Michael Gough and Hartnell:

One Doctor to another:

It's wonderful you could do that. I'll just repost my commentary from the Memoriam thread: It is not lost on me that, IIRC, both Holly and Ellen Bethea (the original Rachel Gannon) performed "Funnyhouse of a Negro" onstage decades apart.

Ellen Holly was a legend in her own time. The fact that OLTL had a central Black heroine and storyline early on - and then lost her, only touching base with the same press photo of Carla in her hospital gown whenever an anniversary came around - both fascinated and ate at me for years. It's always been my most fervent wish that OLTL could have properly honored her or her character's family when both the show and the performer were still with us, though she allegedly turned down several opportunities to return in her later years (possibly also in the final months). I still haven't let go of that dream in some way, really; silly of me. I remember seeing one of her last film performances in 10,000 Black Men Named George. She still had grace, presence and authority - but it's her Television Academy interview on YT everyone should see. Sharp, funny, expansive, richly detailed and beautifully eloquent. The advent of YouTube has, at least, given us a window into some of her surviving work as an actor finally, letting us get to know Carla. And her stage work, too - I believe her King Lear with James Earl Jones, GH's Rosalind Cash, AMC's Lee Chamberlin, AW's Douglass Watson and more in Shakespeare in the Park is still on YT. I know more of her is out there somewhere waiting to be found. And her memoir is stunning. I'm glad we can never forget her.

Kim would absolutely dive for that. Her book is pretty candid about a lot of things and she doesn't have many airs about herself. When your Hollywood party games with longtime friend Alec Baldwin involve carrying objects between your buttcheeks from place to place....

Very sad if true, though not shocking.

Oh dammit. Norman Lear. I'd begun to think he'd never die. I'll always be so grateful for not only his classic shows but his wonderful resurgence in recent years. If the OLTL death mentioned in its thread is accurate, it's already a hard week. A thread:

GL couldn't have afforded it. (But in hindsight, neither could Prospect Park whose coked-up venture capitalist owners paid almost no one in full after splashing out on the shows and their amenities like the locations, leaving Erika Slezak to stare down the payroll attendee on site for her last paycheck - and they still owe her money today.)

We'll agree to disagree. I was very impressed with the Prospect Park location work, in part because it was used sparingly and looked atmospheric and very much (to me, anyway) like I'd imagined Pine Valley. Whereas GL managed to make Peapack/Springfield look like Ozark.

I'm not faulting you for talking about it, you know how much I can bang on about this topic or what I'd do with the show. I just didn't want to derail the thread myself.

We've all said this before, but Diane and Robert are being pushed together only because they are roughly the same age. That's it. And as I've said before I would re-pair Robert and Anna tomorrow, but I am apparently the minority on that one both in the audience and BTS. Oh well. Back to the classics!

I liked Blaze in doses in the incredibly cheesy/retro '80s silly storyline with Chase (I talked in the past about how it was a unique mix of topical material - Kesha/Dr. Luke, etc. - with incredibly hokey soapy 'music business' drama where a non-musician character becomes a rock star for no good reason). Do I think she is a great choice for a lead partner for Kristina? Nope. I just don't care.

It's that time, @Faulkner And of course:

He seemed to adore KL in most interviews. Dallas, less so.

I'm pretty sure it was real. I doubt even PP at their wildest would've teased Tad's return if they hadn't secured some agreement from MEK to return.

Impressive.