Vee

Thinking of this fateful episode today for no particular reason, as Angie prepares for her daughter Cassandra's abortion after being raped at the hands of a sex trafficking ring. I always believed Debbi Morgan, a beloved face viewers for generations knew and trusted, practically doing direct address to the camera in this episode around 13 minutes in re: a woman's right to choose (bookended by Eden Riegel's Bianca reflecting on her own pregnancy in separate scenes) was one of the last gifts Agnes Nixon gave to us, as she was allegedly fairly involved in AMC 2.0. It seems so on brand with what she did with other sociopolitical stories in her heyday, and it was a topical issue in 2013 at the time due to the abortion struggle. And is again today.

I'm really done hearing about the focus on 'kitchen table issues'. I knew it was coming, and I don't think the country is dead (yet). But in order to combat this, and roll it back or protect any other crucial rights, serious things are going to have to fundamentally and systemically change with how the Democratic Party actually operates in office with the urgency of the future.

Yes, I checked on them too but news needs time to travel, or they may very well grieve privately. Plus I don't think Gina has had much social media presence since Y&R.

More:

I hope we'll hear more from the GL cast; the news is still flowing out for many, but with others I have no idea if, for example, Maureen Garrett has any social media. I hope we'll hear from Eddie Alderson who can be very private these days. A statement from Erika may take time because she often only communicates online through her newsletter and management.

Gee, I wonder who could've touched that page.

This is typical Ron plotting. He'll be back in 4-6 months for some other silly story. Not that that excuses any of this.

The character became so different under him, but it wasn't until Clint's darker turn that Jerry was able to truly sink his teeth into the part. I felt the evolution had an operatic symmetry to it given how Clint had first come on the show estranged from his father. It definitely had some lowlights or bits that went over the line amidst the good material, but I bought it and he always sold it to the hilt. That day in early 2011 - right on the edge of February sweeps - where the show ended a Friday on a huge cliffhanger with him, RSW and Hillary B. Smith summed up the power of the show and of Jerry in the role, that they could get away with that with actors well over 50 on an American soap opera in the 2010s. They knew it was their A-story. I will always feel Jerry and Erika were underrated together. I adored her with Brian Kerwin and hated to see that end, but I wasn't very embittered because the fact is she and JVD crackled with a spiky intelligence for me. They had real friction and wit, and it was a different Viki and Clint because the characters were both very different, but seeing them together as a couple near the end and on the 2013 revival made it all solid for me. They had their dramas which would undoubtedly have passed, but when Jerry's Clint was in her corner he was Viki's lover and her rock but more importantly, her consigliere, her opposite pole and her intellectual match and perhaps rival. That's not to say Clint Ritchie's wasn't also very smart and her match, but the old soulfulness of Ritchie and how it played onscreen was different. The intellectual intensity and push-pull of Jerry and Erika together is what got me with their Viki and Clint, and that is all because of JVD interlinking so brilliantly with Erika, the heart of the show. By all accounts from both of them, Jerry made it effortless. Robin has been informed:

Debbie Allen is apparently very heavily involved as a creative, I think, a la ADW. I just have never bought into the cult of Shonda Rhimes (though I enjoyed several seasons of the deeply ludicrous How to Get Away with Murder because of Viola Davis' relentlessly powerful performance), and stuff like this is one big reason why.

This (timestamped below at the proper time) is the moment that will always stay with me for JVD on OLTL. At the edge of the end for both the show (it would go off the air on ABC a week later) and his character and Erika Slezak's, Jerry completely sells this moment beautifully despite a very rushed final story. He speaks on behalf of not just himself and Viki but the show itself, and he's just wonderful:

Oh, damn. Very sad. I had a feeling it was coming based on past noise, but it's still a big shock and a heartbreak. Most knew JVD best for his wonderful years on GL, but I knew him best from OLTL. I felt he essayed the role of Clint Buchanan very well in turbulent times, making the character his own and evolving it, often rising well above bad writing. His chemistry with Bob Woods and Erika Slezak was different from his predecessor but stellar and crackling, and he was a sage voice both onscreen and in support of the show. But more than all of that, he was an icon and a brilliant brand ambassador for the soaps and soap opera history, a tower of charisma, striking intelligence and class. He'll be so missed.

It was a hysterical opening. And a good show!

Sharon Stone has carved out a solid career in middle-older age too, on cable and with Steven Soderbergh. She's doing well!

Hoo boy. Y&R had its finger on the puise after all.

Woof, I never knew about this: A letter written to John Enos of Y&R and Melrose Place, no less!

I'd forgotten all about this, from only 10 years ago. I don't think she's made a single good album since the 2000s (Confessions is far from perfect, and Music is a handful of good songs and a lot of obnoxious acoustic/country [!@#$%^&*]; the others beyond Ray of Light are totally forgettable) but she could at least still perform well and put on a show here, especially on Vogue. In some of the choreography for this you wince and can see some of the physical problems that have contributing to wrecking her since.

Last night in Colombia. Yikes. I really thought Madge was smarter than to end up where she has in the last decade or so. I personally don't think any album after her amazing comeback with Ray of Light measured up to it. IMO they became more and more transparent ploys to meet the moment in front of her vs. making one, and got worse and worse (with the exception of Confessions, which was a rather blatant ploy for the gays to save her sales) until they were completely forgettable. Then came her drugged-out, plastic-faced Tiktok era we're in now.

As much as I detest the WH Correspondents' Dinner, it seems Trevor Noah of all people got some good burns in: And:

I've seen some of those times. They had chemistry. Did the show go all the way with Kayla and Richard Biggs as Marcus, or am I imagining something?

100%.