Vee

Speaking of Diana, it seems a fair amount of non-L&L material is hard to come by (or at least hard to ferret out amidst other stuff) in the key month of January 1981 til early February when Diana gets killed. When and how did she hit on the plan to seduce Jeff let alone get him into bed? Around Christmas '80 she seems very nervous about Heather and preoccupied with her but doesn't seem to be making eyes for Jeff yet. Granted I've been skipping around but it seems like it must be a swift turn.

Nice to see this confirmed. Always happy for more Linda.

No, I agree. I think they've had plenty of both for a long time. It's the Frank Valentini house style, as I've mentioned before. Goes all the way back to I Wanna Be a Soap Star and the Ford brothers on OLTL.

They're pretty close!

New Carol Kane interview:

I'm getting there. There is no reason for her or any of these storylines surrounding these women to exist. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Chase is a very handsome man but has the look, vibe and delivery of an overgrown little boy. I cannot take him seriously in any capacity and it's in large part due to the neutered, milquetoast stories they give all these characters, not just him and poor BLQ. Every story turn he has is about how mean ol' Brook Lynn lied to him and crushed his dreams.

She just like me fr. I simply roll out of bed for work (from home) all the time. Where's my huge paycheck? Gladys and Sasha must be destroyed.

And a surprise:

Thought i'd check in with @AdelaideCate007 and anyone else who watches SNW: The premiere was very solid. But Carol Kane immediately stole the whole thing with an accent that vaguely suggests her roles in The Princess Bride or Taxi to me; I love her addition and almost can't believe she took to spouting classic Trek technobabble as easily as she's ever done anything else onscreen. The mysterious nature of her character's species is also very interesting. Given the backstory (camouflaged among humans for centuries, etc.) I choose to believe Pelia is canonically Lillian from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt lol. Maybe it's me but Chapel and Dr. M'Benga have real chemistry of the specific kind. I know Chapel's future path is fairly mapped out not only with her torch for Spock but for her driving focus on her ex/future? husband from Majel Barrett's original debut episode on TOS - I love the reinvention of the character, but it's still very strange at times connecting this Chapel to the often milksop character of the original show. Perhaps she is beaten down by life and tragedy in the interim. But you wonder if there isn't room for M'Benga to be the one man in Chapel's life we didn't know about. The time gap in production is especially noticeable in how much the little girl from last season has grown since last seen, lol. Lovely dedication to Nichelle Nichols at the end.

Just leave:

More casting:

Oh, damn.

It's crazy to me they drew putting Steve and Audrey back together out even beyond James B. Sikking's character (who clearly wasn't necessary). I know things moved much slower back then but I mean, how long were they apart? Close to a decade? I would love to see the tornado/hurricane stunt from Donovan's(?) EP reign just pre-Monty, when they tried to unsuccessfully revamp and killed Diana's daughter.

I'm not a fan of fi-core status. I consider it close enough to scabbing. But I understand why some longtime soap writers have done it.

I don't care about her credentials or who she is. She's just wrong on the facts.

I'm used to people not paying any attention to the ins and outs of daytime. Just keep stunting for clout, girl. She'll never correct it of course.

I think it's possible they intend to retain the fi-core writers and that's what this person is thinking of.

Since the show was namechecked, I will never forget the scenes on OLTL in 2008 where Viki breaks down upon learning what Victor/Todd has done to Marty and goes to the family mausoleum to rage at her father. When Charlie finds her Viki tells him that despite all her accomplishments, once she's gone all people will ever remember her for is what her father did to her and to their family. It was a brutally candid and very good series of scenes and great work by all involved, especially Erika Slezak. But it did end with a note of hope about making your own future and own legacy, and leaving the rest behind; that Viki didn't have to be fully defined by her abuse. OLTL didn't always follow through on that in a responsible way of course, then or later considering the storyline they'd just told, but in terms of Viki and a way forward it was the right way to handle things IMO. I think the article in the OP frankly hits a lot of points many of us or other journalists have already made, but in a more perfunctory way. We already know that everything prestige is soap now, and that they aren't being respected for it. We've known that a long time. Part of this is their own fault, because the remaining soaps continue to marginalize themselves even today in terms of content out of fear of their remaining audience and fear of losing it all if they break from inertia. GH should've played COVID everyday onscreen. They should have Portia, Liz, etc. on the front lines breaking the law to get a young woman (Joss, specifically) an abortion after corrupt local politicians temporarily institute a ban, as is happening in cities and states all over this country right now. There should be more representation, more honest, nuanced, in-depth exploration of contemporary issues in the ways our best legends rarely shirked from. This is the brief of the daytime drama that plays five days a week, year round. It is their social responsibility as part of the historical compact with their audience. If soaps want to survive they have to meet the moment, and make the culture that has pillaged from them stand up and take notice. They're not doing that. I truly hope someday, somehow they can.

It seemed like they very quickly leaned into just turning it into a camp factory of gags, setpieces and in-jokes and not much else in order to survive based on the loyal audience for that. Which worked for awhile on the CW, but wasn't a recipe for longevity. Although tbh I think the handful of long-running network dramas these days are equally formulaic or desperately hyper-paced.

A rare moment of accurate, razor-sharp insight from an otherwise very cosseted, dismissive and self-congratulatory NYT publisher A.G. Sulzberger in this very frustrating but illuminating profile. He doesn't seem to realize he's helped cultivate exactly what he describes.

Another legend. RIP.

I've been meaning to watch the longer, even stranger director's cut of The Counselor, McCarthy's film with Ridley Scott. One of the single most insane moviegoing experiences I have ever had in my life, seemingly written, directed and performed by coked-up Martians, but absolutely spellbinding. And the DC is supposed to be even weirder. I'll be doing that very soon. The boldness it took by all parties (particularly Scott, who can write his own ticket and is never afraid to fail or alienate people used to his more conventional blockbusters, and McCarthy, who never sacrificed an inch of his character or style for anyone). RIP.

People still go to those sites?