Vee

Too late:

Intriguing - thanks!

I like Olivia a lot, who's easily the most skilled of the younger set but was also a cute kid, and I've always liked Michael and Eric (and now feel guilty as they've grown into attractive young men). Jason the Immortal One never seems to grow at all but we rarely see him, lol. Brian I have no opinion on except for his being the bratty kid from Tremors and a few recent MST3K episodes who's okay enough, but I know he is replaced by David Silver very shortly so we'll see if he develops a personality. That is a good idea. The absence is glaring, and I say that as someone who cannot tolerate Charlene Tilton for longer than ninety seconds at a time (which is three times as long as she can act on-camera). I understand why they divorced themselves more from Dallas, but I like the connective tissue to be used when it can. I did like when they addressed it in Season 5 where Val claims she and Lucy are doing great to try to lift Karen's spirits over Diana, then Karen asks how long it's been since they've talked and Val admits it's been nine months - that felt real. I look forward to the next and I assume last crossover episode, also the first in a long while, which will be next season for me. I'm only up to ep 8, so I don't yet understand why Scott Easton, who I believe is supposed to be a lobbyist Abby secured from inside Sumner's campaign to further her interests there (which leads to a discussion of how Abby in early S6 has seemingly sublimated her aborted sexual relationship with Greg into power games of corporate dominance after having recommitted herself more honestly to Gary, but that's a topic for when I cover the last 10 or so eps), is clearly the man starting to mastermind the theft here. Why would a political lobbyist stick his neck out on what is essentially human trafficking for a business interest? He's not Wolfbridge. But obviously I don't know the full story yet (and there is a whole weird subplot with some murders or whatever that is beginning to build in an interesting way).

I will differ on this one. I think kids are part of the fabric of any soap, but especially a show like Knots where it was centered around a cul-de-sac/neighborhood and around families and couples, some with kids. I think it adds to the texture when you just see them living life, growing up. The difference here is the schedule and arena. Knots (thus far) has given more attention to those kind of characters than most primetime soaps I know of ever did vs. the glamorous or simply adult leads, largely because it was baked in for the show from the pilot - Karen's children, Laura being a parent, etc. They're part of the package here unlike many primetime soaps, just like any more critic-palatable 'non-soap' network family drama of the last 30-40 years (Parenthood, Picket Fences, This is Us; take your choice). OTOH, plenty of daytime soaps in the last 20 years have taken it way too far with the kids, partly I suspect because it's been alleged (and I believe it) that the networks, fearful of the perceived shrinking/conservative audience base for soaps, often will only rubber-stamp baby stories over anything too edgy. That's how you end up with shows like GH today or AMC 1.0 near the end, where there's a gaggle of children you can't remember the names of flocking around every young woman in sight who shouldn't have so many, and you just want them to stop shrieking and get out. (I'll never forget that endless sequence with Alicia Minshew and Sarah Glendening on AMC where their collected onscreen kids chased them around a set for two separate segments in a scene that did not seem scripted or controlled.) Ellen Wheeler's Mormon GL was the same.

She's always a pleasure to watch in those rare episodes available online featuring her character, part of a bygone era for ATWT even well before it ended. Best thoughts to her and hers.

Meanwhile, re: DeSantis' latest disgusting trafficking stunt:

The Dem messaging on Graham's (strategically) stupid, stupid announcement has been very strong.

I enjoy Bernthal, I like Schrader's work and the original film and it's an interesting idea for a kind of movie update (and I do think he works in the role in a very different way), but a sequel TV series? I can't imagine a good reason for that. I'm happy Cheryl Dunye and Gregg Araki are getting high profile work to direct for it, but that's where my interest ends.

I've been looking forward to Ava Gardner. I adore her in On the Beach and Seven Days in May.

I'm almost a third of the way through the first mega-sized season (30 episodes - I haven't dealt with that in a long time), so I'll probably reserve my early commentary on the first part of Season 6 for when I hit 10. I'm not doing them episode by episode again any time soon lol, but I do have a lot to discuss in addition to what I already have mentioned here in the last couple pages. So far it seems the show has simply gone from strength to strength, and as I've said it seems Gary and Abby are better than ever together at this point - honest with each other about who they are but still carnally in sync and passionately fulfilled, in part because of how they differ and counter the other. I'm also enjoying the gradual deconstruction of Greg Sumner's character, digging beneath the grinning, opaque master politician who, as his wife says, always keeps his mask up. He really is coming apart.

Sarah lasted almost two years as Claudia. The writers didn't change, though Guza was on strike IIRC when Claudia first appeared and JFP crafted a lot of early material herself. I don't believe she was hired against Guza's will though (unlike JFP's attempt to craft frontburner solo story for Rick Hearst while he was away). Technically Claire Labine helped plan and mold the concept of Carly and may or may not have had her name on some of her most early episodes, I'm not sure, but she was gone before the character began airing and every writer who was part of both those teams (ValJean, Harris, Mulcahey) has gone to great pains to say that Guza was ultimately the main driver of creating that character. Madison on DAYS also lasted almost a year, along with her writers so no, it wasn't that brief.

This is a streaming service. There's no spoiler rules for a daily episode anyway.

It's like Lindsey wants them to stay in the minority. The WH and Dems have wisely pounced. The Beltway would love to find a way to nuance this because they don't want to admit that their good friends in the GOP or who their families vote for would actually do this for real, but it's not going to fly. This is the line that will be taken and that's why McConnell is already starting to distance himself.

delete

First William Klein, now this. A complex and at times punishing but still staggering legend. RIP. I've been meaning to dig deeper into his '80s work (after loving Every Man for Himself with Isabelle Huppert, very different from his classic films and experimenting with speed and motion) and I'll watch First Name: Carmen today (along with another Klein film). My Life to Live (Vivre Sa Vie) will never be equalled.

So happy for Sheryl Lee Ralph. She's been putting in amazing work forever, but I'll never forget her turn in To Sleep With Anger.

Both well deserved.

Yeah, that was my understanding. I just have never seen Shaw in the press shots of the cast for each season beyond the first (with all the families and their kids), whereas Petersen and Crowe both got to be in those as adults, as did Claudia Lonow and Lisa Hartman in Season 4 (pre-their opening credits additions). I think it's a shame if he never got to be in at least the press photos lol.

Wasn't Petersen in the opening for at least a couple seasons near the end? I have also seen him and Tonya Crowe in the yearly ensemble shots a la Lonow; I'm not sure if Steve Shaw ever made it into those.