Vee

I had no idea on that one. How long was he gone in '88?

Also, sorry to spam people: What exactly went down with Jake Meyer's exit? It seems like Sam Behrens may have gone for a long stretch of 1988 before he finally exited, but maybe I'm misunderstanding. He's so good with Jackie, it's too bad.

It's hard to know what is happening or what to believe. Best to just filter and curate as best one can.

There is no compensating for Dena Higley. That woman was outed as conniving and deeply unwell in her last go-round, I don't know how they could seriously take her back but this is Ken's Korner we're talking about.

That was the claim in Connie Passalacqua's column at the time, per a Wikipedia link. I am watching them and I just think it's very bizarre. I don't see it.

These are so invaluable. Howie is always insufferable. On an unrelated note, I am baffled by another piece of history: The inexplicable recast of Duke with the very American Greg Beecroft (Tony, GL), who could not be more different from Ian Buchanan. How on Earth? It seemed to not last very long - less than three months, allegedly. You don't often see that kind of turnaround on a disaster with a major character today, usually they just dig in for as long as possible. Is there any backstory on that messy recast?

I honestly wouldn't put it past Corday even now.

As if we didn't have enough going on over here between our politics and the reign of David Zaslav, meanwhile in Russia: An informative, long thread: Near the end of it:

Wow - Paramount is cancelling the animated spinoff Star Trek: Prodigy (already in post-production on Season 2) and pulling it from the service in a matter of days. Also going is that weird Grease show that literally just aired. Supposedly Prodigy will be shopped and hopefully aired elsewhere. I haven't even finished the first season. This from Paramount which very recently was priding itself as the home of all Trek, the one jewel in the crown that's kept them going. It's a very strange, dark time for this industry. Studios and streaming outlets are crashing, slashing and burning desperate to keep afloat. We all know about WB/Discovery and what it's doing to HBO, TCM, etc. but this is starting to look like another frantic fire sale for CBS/Paramount, which is allegedly struggling to survive like so many other overheated would-be streaming outlets. There's a lot of talk about Netflix acquiring Paramount's library and programming in future. I think I will happen eventually. I think the upcoming/ongoing live-action Trek shows are safe for now, but God knows where they will end up airing down the road.

Vile. Some more from the article:

I'd like to know more about this.

Just send Kirsten off. This isn't good for anyone. It's giving Corpse Bride!

And furthermore:

Oh my fùcking god.

I have both! I'll have a look.

I absolutely do not believe the network mandated Bo and Hope not reunite. I can see them wanting to keep the story open but that's not the same thing. Ron learned the wrong lessons from his many rounds of storyline musical chairs/stall tactics with FV at OLTL and GH.

Wish I knew where to watch the show in decent quality across the pond. I'd like to see this one for myself.

I don't get it. Is Cindy doing a bigamy thing? Did she disappear on the new family to shack up with the old one? Thomas Law has done some good work post-EE as an adult. I can't speak to his run on his recent cop show but he was good in Edgar Wright's The World's End.

Just discuss it, no one's going to care. If you really want to be careful use spoiler tags. For example:

As someone who always had Colin Salmon earmarked in my mind to play Genie Francis' final dashing WSB love interest on GH, I'm at least relieved to see him turning up on a soap (he's done far more low-rent projects than EE over here).

That's 100% what's happened to a segment of their audience and it's why they now write Carly the way they do, long after the Guza team is largely gone. They are both afraid to do anything else and don't want to. But most of the Guza team (minus Liz Korte, who's still there) knew how to write Carly ugly and go for the throat, right to the end. As I've said before, they were not averse to writing Laura's Carly as hard, cold and ugly to the wrong people/heroic protagonists - and Laura played it very, very well. When Carly had a vendetta, even in her later dotage with Jax and the kids, the money and the beautiful yellow house, you knew LW's Carly could still make it her mission in life for all the wrong reasons. Yes, she's been overpropped and over-indulged since at least near the end of Sarah's run but they didn't have to lay out nearly as many hosannas to Carly's kindness and greatness until this show became Frank's house and only Frank's. Until I'd say the mid-2010s they were still able to allow Carly to sometimes be two things. I will admit to being pleasantly surprised how central and intimate they've allowed Spencer and Trina to be lately. That doesn't mean it should've taken this long. They are definitely still trying to play them and Dex/Joss for equal time though.

Frank has made it pretty clear they focus on "certain parts of social media" and not others - the message I took from that is, we're focusing on our perception of what we believe to be a white, red state Facebook audience and Twitter can take what we give them.

Not necessarily. The profile I posted up top indicates he is highly susceptible to fame and flattery, and kowtows to those he considers to be big names in Hollywood. But you're right that there is a sustained cultural movement Trump was the flashpoint for, and while we've made some gains it's going to be a long road continuing to fight it off.

A statement from the filmmakers:

Different rules, double standard. Older audiences love Sonny and Jason so they accept it. You can have an aging, cranky 'good' mobster but not major story for gays, bigger Black story, extramarital affairs, abortion, etc.