Vee

FV seems to have learned from OLTL not to do that. They went full bore with a frontburner LGBT story and canvas there, only to take a hit in the demos he and Frons prized. As far as I can tell, the 'lesson' he learned from that experience was to fire all minorities, hire more hot white str8 guys and keep any minority characters to the margins from then on so as to preserve what he sees as their only solid, shrinking audience. It's a rule he has mostly adhered to since, with a few current if uncertain exceptions.

Episode 10/11 (Emergency/Abby's Choice): A big two-parter. Diana going off with Gary and Abby re-ignites more of the domestic/suburban linkages that are so layered and rich for the show and its canvas - just Val catching sight of Gary's car across the cul-de-sac is a moment unto itself. And I loved her telling Karen "I got more important things to do" than pine after Gary forever. The languorous pan across the limos, sports cars, etc. on the horse riding grounds for their trip was a deliberate look at how the other half lives, an other half Gary and Abby have now bought their way into. And Abby is determined to lojack it for all she's worth, as it seems her whole trip up there was a ploy to get closer to Munson. I still can't tell how long Chip and Ciji have known each other. I'm not sure I buy that they first met onscreen, given how close the relationship seems to be. And Grinnin' Kenny is as clueless and thoughtless as ever! Poor Ginger has barely had five lines in the last ten episodes and now Ciji is poaching her songs. The look on Kim Lankford's face was powerful, though, and she held her own with Lisa Hartman. Abby is right about Kenny - if he was going to make the big time he would've by now. The big sting and sinister music at the climax of Ginger and Ciji's confrontation and then carrying throughout the hospital scenes, plus some very atmospheric lighting in the corridors, was really effective and haunting. I've never heard music like that on this show before. Diana's pallid makeup in her hospital bed was also really unsettling. The slow zoom in on Karen as she's slowly totally overwhelmed by what the doctors are telling her, still with the creepy music, then as they dash back out into the darkened hallway from her POV - so great. It's not the same director as the key hospital sequences in the first two episodes of Season 3 with Sid's death, but the visuals and music are equally haunting if not moreso. And for an illness plotline with one of the most annoying characters on the show it's remarkable they can still maximize the drama and emotional and suspenseful weight of it. As usual, it's Michele Lee carrying so much of the performance element. Val confronted by Gary and Abby up close and personal finally at the hospital cafeteria. I wish Val and Mack had been able to talk about the situation with him and Karen, and his bachelor life. I did love Karen finally succumbing in Mack's arms, and the two-shot at the end of the first episode - Karen and Diana's hands clenched together, eye to eye - was great. So was Abby losing it after arguing with Gary about Munson, starting to cry over Diana. Abby and Diana's doctor was some amazing stuff, as Abby plays both sides of the fences re: donating her kidney and grows more and more upset; later, she tries to use sex with Gary to balm her feelings and can't do it. Again, more credit given to Mills' wonderful performance and the writers for allowing Abby to be much more than the show's resident bitch queen. They've (so far) always kept her nuanced, layered and somewhat relatable. There's some nice reconnection with Gary and Val which feels well-timed, as even Val offers sympathy re: Abby, and then Val and Olivia who try to openly parse the complexities of their little relationship, from adult to child on the outside. And of course the moment at the end with Karen kissing Abby as she sleeps was lovely. The Laura/Ciji friendship (or whatever) I've heard so much about begins here, fairly innocuously. They are definitely engaging together. I did like Laura telling her shrink she no longer knows what to do or how to feel about Richard from day to day - that's fairly evident onscreen.

So I've been taking a beat on this for a couple days due to some IRL family medical stuff. I'm getting back in the swing of things but I may or may not stay a bit slower, we'll see. The show keeps getting better and better and my family seems to be holding steady, so who knows if I can tear myself away from the escape of Knots Landing for very long. Season 3, Episode 9 (The Best Kept Secret): Again, a lovely opening with Karen and Val actually chatting and having fun together as opposed to more agony aunt material that often pervaded the last few seasons, with Val weeping or worrying and Karen giving advice. Here, Val's the talk-to and Karen is gabbing away about Mack. It doesn't hurt that Val is now considerably upwardly mobile, more than ever before; Karen marvels at her answering service (ah, the early '80s) and Val sighs about needing to hire an assistant and getting fan mail, while dressed to the nines prepared for a radio show. It's a world of difference from the wilting, weary housewife Val of the last few seasons, but that's what a new sense of self and a personal drive has gotten her. Welcome to the '80s. What are the Fairgate kids playing, Atari? Coleco? I was expecting the whole teaser with the woman in Mack's apartment to turn out to be some crazy misunderstanding (a very old soap/drama trick), so color me amazed when Mack showed up at Karen's and did not immediately tell Karen he wasn't sleeping with his neighbor - I was as stunned as her to realize that yes, he did. And then he shrugged it off and attributed to his bachelor lifestyle! That kind of candid hook-up culture stuff being interwoven into these kind of major love stories does not and did not happen on almost any soaps, anywhere, period, then or now, and I admire the show for tackling it, but I'm siding with Karen. This is a widowed mother of three over 35 who believed she'd made a commitment to a man, only the third man she's slept with in her life. Mack was fooling himself pretending it was casual, and to his credit he does realize it and try to make amends; the show wasn't afraid to make Mack come off both insensitive and vulnerable before he faced up to his own fears and admitted he's in love, and it terrifies him. The scene with Karen and Val on the stairs talking about it, and the classic shitty excuse ('it had nothing to do with us') was beautifully performed by both of them. Michele Lee has such modulated control of her emotions, tempo, pace - presumably all that theater work - that you can't really dare take your eyes off her when she goes for it in the big scenes, like when she compares Mack to Sid: "I had the best!" Richard is meeting Abby halfway about the restaurant but Laura doesn't like it, probably because she just doesn't like Abby. Can't blame her, but IMO Abby is right about Daniel, even if she is shredding Richard's frail ego to do it. Laura could probably handle these things with twice the ease in half the time if Abby would delegate instead of riding herd like a slavedriver - but she didn't even know about Abby's note and lien until now. (Is Laura on maternity leave from the real estate office while helping out? She was making money hand over fist there.) The cold war between Richard and his French chef Henri continues. Every time they weave another bit in with Henri's withering contempt for Richard I just cackle. There is a really great touch with Olivia and her little friend playing Monopoly at the new beach house, listening in with the child's eye view on Gary and Abby arguing about their businesses - Abby wanting to put the screws to Richard and Kenny, Gary still seeing them as neighbors and friends. The moment gets amusingly defused after Gary leaves in a way you don't usually see in primetime soap battles, with Abby loosening up and smiling at Olivia with affection as Olivia punctures her bubble of haughty fury. But Olivia's still learned at Abby's feet, telling her friend she has her over a barrel in the game: "Business is business." Again, this is multifaceted family stuff you just don't see on most primetime soaps of any era, where character and specific, nuanced relationships are able to be woven in with the overarching dramatic plot without either being compromised or slaved to too much melodrama. Abby overstepped with Jeff Munson, who it seems has a thing for Val - are they really going to stick her with this old dude for the rest of the season? Meanwhile, Gary and Ciji are getting closer, and they leave it surprisingly ambiguous what happened with them in her apartment. The silent quadrangle moment in Daniel, though - Val at her table as Abby bristles at her presence and proximity, then both of them spotting Gary and Ciji together and finally locking eyes, saying so much with nothing - was fantastic. I really wanted Val to toast Abby in that moment, but that would probably have been too camp. I did like Claudia going to Abby to confide in - those connections are still deeply rooted in the show. There's so many lovely Val/Karen moments in this episode, like Val once again showing up in her new finery and confidence, asking Karen how she looks as she prepares to enter the Gary Ewing-funded Daniel, and then admitting she already knows she looks damn good. Ciji brings it home for all the characters again with another musical number (as Ginger notably hangs off Kenny, marking her territory) and the ending shots of Karen breaking down listening to the song are really wonderful and sad. Michele Lee kills it again.

I don't think wanting to leave Days of our Lives is a clear indicator of retiring from Hollywood, lol.

DAYS' foolishness should still be GH's gain IMO. Marci is too talented for this show, I've always said so, but tbh if she's gonna make it outside of daytime it will likely need to be soon. There's even money that that won't happen (sadly for her), and if it doesn't a smart GH could snap her up as Serena Baldwin, cosmetics wunderkind. But they won't.

Is Adam Woodyatt actually having beef with the production? I didn't realize.

He learned it from Chandler Massey. None of these actors are getting proper direction or being reined in and the young guns just clown half the time.

Haberman and Baker, who were still attempting to carry water for Kushner less than 48 hours ago, are now trying to hitch their wagon to the mood of the major coverage instead with these decent readouts. But make no mistake, they are both access-driven opportunists.

What a week. RIP. @DRW50 Her husband spoke to a B-52 fan group on FB (Julee subbed for Cindy Wilson in the group in the '90s):

Stephanie Ruhle did this right - so few TV people dare to do this to the Jarvanka whisperer journalists:

Not surprising, sadly. But their problem is still serious with or without her.

I'll give it a look. These things have never more relevant.

I think it's still a little of both, which makes it very layered. I don't think you can untangle the crypto-sexual intimacy with Chip from the rest of her issues (and I know a little about Baldwin's character). And thanks!

In Ron's mind that warrants I still don't think she's dead for good, but it's just so unnecessary to do with this character period.

Episode 7 (Investments): Cannot believe even Val, an easy mark for her mother too often despite her still-visible resentment, just swallowed her gut and acquiesced to Chip staying with them. Val has a long way to go. I knew Diana would get involved with Chip, but I didn't know she'd be that hot and heavy that fast. What a simp. I did think the instant Ciji saw Chip that they knew each other and had a bad history, but I can't tell here if she seems to be yet another woman enamored of his pretty, pretty face. I did like that he twigged onto the driving ambition Ciji has, and hooked into it with his own. Karen has a great line to the cocky Mack about their sleeping together: "Call me an anachronism, but I like to be consulted on decisions like these." Her turning cold with Diana was a studied moment, but Michele Lee makes it. I liked her pulling back from Mack, and them meeting each other halfway at the end, admitting they're both nervous and scared, just in time for afternoon sex. A fascinating insight into both Gary and Abby's evolving philosophies when he takes her and the kids to see his latest dream: A ranch of his own, having never left behind his love of Southfork and working the land. Abby sees things differently, and very '80s: "Use [money] to make more money. Build bigger dreams." She sees the bifurcated Ewing in Gary - the one who can be an empire-builder, a la Jock or J.R., despite his lifelong love for the peace of the wild. I think both those men exist in Gary (like his love for both Val and possibly Abby), but Abby's only truly interested in one. Anyway, Gary's already found his next bigger dream: Ciji! I LOLed when he told Kenny "I thrive on risk" with a straight face. No shít! That's his whole history! That's why J.R. told the story to Abby about teenaged Gary driving his new motorcycle through a plate-glass window seconds after buying it! I have to believe the writers have a sense of irony about Gary once again embracing his impulsive, sometimes very rash judgment, yet at the same time this is Gary actualized in a lot of ways, finally. He is able to explore the power of his heritage and begin to flex it, and the record label is a solid choice; it also helps to finally begin to consolidate story for key players together, like a more full-on soap. KL Motors didn't quite cut it the same way, and Ewing Records or whatever they call it is much more of the moment with the '80s. The scene with Gary and Abby reconciling their differences over business and ambition were great, and I do believe Abby is being honest with Gary - or as honest as she can be - about her needs, her willingness to meet him where he is, etc. I think she also believes she can nudge him the rest of the way to where she wants for their shared business interests, hence her being delightfully heavy-handed with Richard about Daniel in the delightful sequence where she gets him over a barrel about cutting a deal for Ewing cash. Was it cruel and demoralizing for Richard, particularly to be cowed by the glammed-out rising executrix, the self-crowned 'Princess of the Ewings' who was once just the divorceé housewife he had nooners with while still operating as an upstanding corporate lawyer? Most likely. But I can't blame Abby - look at Richard's track record, both mentally and professionally. Will she come down hard on him and crush his dream, almost certainly, but Richard has been doing Richard for a long time. Evidently it is now time to abruptly write Joe out of the show mid-story. I won't really miss him, though I do think Joe improved a lot in his place on the canvas in recent eps. He had significant chemistry with Val and it seemed like they were positioning him to continue in her sphere even mid-episode, before he told Karen was leaving. I really wonder what happened behind the scenes there. Episode 8 (Man in the Middle): Again, let's be real: Is anything Abby is saying to Richard re: Daniel super evil or way off? More seating, more lunch service, Sunday brunches? She is not wrong - even if Richard or the audience takes issue with her tone as she, his former suburban housewife mistress, humiliates and emasculates him moments before his wife arrives. You see both sides of the equation, esp since restaurants take real time to turn a profit. And it turns out TPTB are doing just as Peter Dunne and co. did at MP almost twenty years later, like I mentioned before: Consolidating story around the musician character and the businesses. Ciji Dunne goes to gig at Richard Avery's Daniel just as Eve Cleary on MP became the singer in residence at Kyle McBride's Upstairs jazz club in its final season. If a formula isn't broken don't fix it, even if Rena Sofer's Eve, while mysterious and viable for the plot, was never as intriguing as Ciji (until she went batshit crazy). Anyway, it's smart storybuilding and canvas outgrowth, tying so many threads and people together. Speaking of MP, Gary Ewing did the Michael Mancini maneuver long before Michael: Cheated on his wife and moved to the beach with his sidepiece! That is a hell of a beach house. Way bigger than Michael and Kimberly's! The tone and disposition Sabatino's Chip affects with many elders, but especially Lilimae is fascinating - often obsequious, yes, but at times very tentative, meek and eager to impress. Obviously we know much of this is an act from a natural born grifter, and Chip bows and scrapes to flatter and please in order to manipulate, but when he nervously tries out his wardrobe in front of Lilimae I don't think it's all bullshít. I think he is genuinely a nervous manchild not born to privilege who is trying out high society duds, and so the mother/child, Oedipal thing with Lilimae hits deeper in these moments, as does the crypto-romantic desire Lilimae has for him that she denies to Val. You can read everything on both Harris and JVA's faces in those scenes, and they're heartbreaking. I was not surprised to find Ciji and Chip in bed together. I had a feeling when they met that they'd known each other before - it's not made clear here one way or the other re: how long this has been going on, but I still think so. Chip running game on Rolling Stone and other contacts for Ciji is great, and I liked Abby listening in and admiring his scammer hustle. Gary trying to play Phil Spector was funny as hell, and led to Abby marking her territory, sensing the spark between Ciji and her man. Seeing Val and Karen together for the first time in a minute, their bond here feels fresher and more spontaneous in their gabbing about Mack, the tour, etc. Val seems lighter of spirit and it's not all about Karen bucking up her sadsack friend. It's more enjoyable to watch. Speaking of happy people, the Averys seem unusually happy together this week; it seems bringing Daniel into their life (both Daniels) has temporarily smoothed things over. This episode is all about Chip and his machinations, and Michael Sabatino performs it all beautifully. It's really something and the show is ascending onto a bigger, grander canvas and scale, in tune with the '80s and upwardly mobile suburbanites. But I don't feel it's lost its roots - it feels of a piece with the changing times, just like Season 3 did. The web of connections and secrets just clicks together beautifully.

Errol's up to some tomfoolery.

This screams 'immediate cancellation' but I'll still watch Susan Sarandon in most things even if I find her political mindset absolutely idiotic.

If it's the 105 minute cut, it's probably the director's cut. But Amazon has it in 1080, of course. You can very easily search them for '54 director's cut'.

The director's cut of 54 - suppressed for decades by the Weinsteins, who cut/reshot the movie immensely to remove the gay content and a lot more amorality and darkness written in by its gay writer-director - is now available on streaming. It's a much more worthwhile film (and includes a gay scene featuring AMC's Cameron Mathison, who was just starting on AMC at the time).

Yeah, it got middling but decent enough reviews for me to give it a watch along with a lot of other stuff for Pride. I figure it's not hurting anyone to give it a shot.