Vee

I still can't tell NuBen and Callum apart.

I don't know how I didn't make this connection for so long: Emily O'Brien (Gwen on DAYS, Jana on Y&R) voices one of the key female leads in Hideo Kojima's brilliantly insane video game Death Stranding - a character physically modeled on Lindsay Wagner, the Bionic Woman, who also voices, uh, let's say an older iteration of the character. I'd assumed it was a different Emily O'Brien for a couple years. The characters in question look set to return in some form for the upcoming sequel so I assume O'Brien will as well.

Billy Abbott solo podcast episode. Is he still doing that?

The deep memory hole the P&G soaps in particular have fallen into - when P&G and its internal culture used to dominate a massive amount of the historical soap landscape - is not lost on me. I feel really blessed that OLTL got an oral history when it did. So many of the surviving and past soaps discover the same at a bare minimum, but especially the P&G soap opera superstructure. It's particularly sad when you note the cross-pollination of the horror and soap worlds, not just a ton of popular actors (Barbara Crampton, Rick Hearst, Kassie DePaiva, more) but a fair number of longtime BTS soap personnel (Victor Miller, Bob Guza, etc.). These are people horror aficionados can and will invite for interviews and embrace on the convention circuit or give new work. The Shudder app's Last Drive-In show regularly either invites soap vets onto the live segments or freely references any featured film's daytime connections - they know how interconnected those worlds are. They respect them and they'll honor them.

Two legends.

I thought Cameron was introduced as Drew well, because Drew is essentially a blank slate. (A lot of it was admittedly the beard lol) The relationship with Monica, etc. also worked when revisited. I just don't feel he or LW work well together. They have made him a Jason stand-in romance-wise and that's it. They clearly are just marking time and filling space.

I don't understand it either. Talk about substitute dick. They completely wasted a solid introduction of Cameron Mathison who could've done anything on the canvas, and now his role on the show is basically Smiling Jason Cardboard Standee.

It'll never happen (at least not as long as the show is on network), but I'd still accept Sarah back as Carly any day of the week. Laura Wright is a great actress who has done heroic work in the role in good times and bad and I've always admired her on multiple soaps, but it will never not be Sarah for me.

Apropos of nothing: I was talking with DRW50 about The Fan, the infamous slasher from the early '80s with Lauren Bacall and a very young Michael Biehn (Aliens, Terminator) earlier. I watched it this week, it's a huge camp classic. But it is not lost on me that this came out about five years before Doug Marland took over ATWT, and its plot focuses on an aging song and dance star who is stalked by a much younger man who writes loving letters, has a psychosexual obsession and is named "Douglas." Maybe coincidence, but I dunno.

Coloma allegedly tried to use a religious exemption to avoid vaxxing last year when Steve Burton walked/got fired over it. If he got COVID now and it's tied to his exit/firing, I can't help but find some correlation.

Did he ever legit vaccinate?

Cute PR job.

Wonder how candid this one will be!

Existing, as in recently active today? I have no idea. Ask me later when I don't have a bad cold, lol.

I think many of the worst of the UK soap creatives still have more juice than much of the current crop. But I've said that before. Mal Young was a worthwhile idea that did not translate in execution; he was a disaster. But you can't say he didn't have drive. There's no drive at the show now. I'd be willing to experiment, the problem is no one at CBS/Sony is. Y&R only exists now to mark time, it is a zombie soap. GH is not far behind despite a lot of talented people and potential. Its good ideas are regularly anesthetized or strangled in the crib, whereas IMO Y&R doesn't even feint towards trying. It's just the umpteenth old troll account. Block and report.

This also reminds me: Shane Richie has recently confirmed he was offered the role of the Doctor in the Doctor Who revival in the mid-2000s.

They lean on the holiday climax too much these days. It both speeds up and drags story.

Isn't Janine's last day tomorrow? I can see giving Mick a big exit and I think it's kind of fitting someone as big as Janine could take him down, but I also don't see the use of her character's longevity being potentially squandered on his exit. It's a lot of opera, but it's still a more compelling setpiece for me than various other much more forced disasters/shocks in recent years, like Dennis' totally unnecessary death or Mel's truly bizarre demise (not that I was shedding a tear for her).

Happy holidays.

Gone already. Increasingly the young staff of these predominantly online outlets think they can get cute and everyone will appreciate their being edgy for the sake of 'jokes'. The whole 'nepo baby' flap was equally embarrassing while poorly attempting to feint to class critique, which is the basis for so many weak takes these days. Unlike EW, NY Mag/Vulture does some good work but has also tried to put dumb stuff over more than once. Too many writers are stuck believing they're forever 21. It's a systemic thing that permeates the media culture now.

It is very modern soap periodical to run BIs way behind the times. I remember when they warned a certain performer at a certain show re: the many domestic violence rumors floating around at the time in a BI, saying 'next time we name him.' Ooh so scary! They didn't do shít because they had no integrity. That was almost twenty years ago. If #1 is Coloma it would go to explaining some things, but I can't see the show putting up with it from a guy who'd only been there ten minutes.

@DRW50 @Faulkner Heads up: