Vee

You were warned!

Based on limited material available I think both Pfenning and Tribbey were very arch and different than Alice. As you said, Tribbey in particular reminded me more of Iris.

Admittedly at a glance, all of the recasts seemed way off to me except for Harney who was a serviceable replacement at best. Tribbey seemed like she was playing a completely different person - a fine actress, but nothing like Courtney's Alice. Very remote and/or arch. It was bizarre seeing what various shapes they seemed to keep trying to mold the character into, from Pfenning to Tribbey to the amazingly bad Borgeson.

They're right about The Wire. I don't count Twin Peaks since it began in 1990, but those two are the top for me TV-wise with a bullet. The Americans is an exceptional slow, slow burn and everyone should watch it too.

I watched some of the 80s Steve/Alice story recently. Linda Borgeson is easily one of the worst soap actresses I've ever seen - period. Shockingly bad, especially in the reveal scenes with Canary. It was never going to work, nor do I think they should've tried to recast a singular presence like Reinholt's Steve with IMO a very different actor in Canary.

Is this for all PBS stations across the country? Tragic.

I think Finn is actually great, but until recently I'd never seen her in anything other than Tremors which I've loved for decades so I'm a bit biased. Obviously that casting would never fly today, but I do think she's great with everyone involved.

If they controlled it as much as they wanted to they wouldn't always get ratioed. Politico's narratives in particular rarely take hold in the public these days but they try hard to push them anyway. Few resonate outside the Beltway, which is why you often see stuff trial ballooned on TV and then grudgingly walked back. (Remember how California was going to be a major referendum on the Democratic Party?)

Sam Stein of, wait for it, Politico gets ratioed over snarking about Buttigieg being "MIA" on paternity leave, then digs in against basically half of political Twitter including Politico nemesis Neera Tanden before throwing a fit and logging off/ragequitting. This is just a small taste of the rest I won't post.

I think showbiz stories can work but rarely do, bc few shows know how to execute. It too often comes back to 'making a film in town with the civilian characters as stars!' I like the idea of using entertainment industry characters like Dillon Q on GH, but his dreams never executed well onscreen. Megan on OLTL at least had her soap opera filming in town and was a proper actress. You can do it, but most soaps get so focused on finding a way to enmesh the characters and town into it without it feeling organic or sensible. I'd like to see it attempted with more intelligence - I think we need more artist characters like that. But DOOL's take is silly camp, again.

McConnell blinked on the debt ceiling bc he was afraid the pressure was on those two too much to pierce the filibuster. That drama will repeat in December, and it probably won't be the last time. When you have Jim Clyburn talking about a filibuster extension, that is what is in the wind.

I don't think so. She's clearly feeling the pressure which is why she's begun to release increasingly irate, irrational public statements.

Not in the last hour since I posted it, no, which of course means nothing will.

Sorry, Sinema.

I don't believe for one second Sonny's organization doesn't work with drugs and guns. My personal take has always been that he takes a cut of them through subsidiaries and other partners, turns his head and pretends. I was under the impression Sonny has always been named as being involved in racketeering and gambling. They've gone after him on RICO charges more than once. I remember intimations that he used to be involved in the sex work trade in PC too and 'keeping the girls safe', but they may have dialed back on that in recent years.

I knew she was just gonna show up to play the damn piano!

Yeah, I meant the magazine.

It was absolutely like that, and it made mediocre-to-bad stories worse. But the heart of the show was back and a sense of fun was there, and that improved morale for people tremendously post-JFP so we forgave a lot. Even the day to day writing was really pretty poor.

This is more an Atlantic thing. The media is fascinated with "vaccine hesitancy" bc they always try to cater to 'the real America' but they've also excoriated the antivaxx problem without always making the direct connection to the 'hesitant' people they love to cover. Whereas the Atlantic, in recent months and years, has become fascinated with posting the most contrarian takes possible. This is their unique wheelhouse.

Only thing that would make this interesting is if Sonny finds out about Jason and Carly catching feelings and legit chooses to have an affair with Nina. His bipolar ass has done wilder stuff.

Heh heh heh:

I have never forgiven Tomlin for playing the baby Jack story for laughs and I never will. He was a good guy with a good heart who got the show back into a lighter place and a happier one overall for the fans and the cast, but a lot of his stories sucked and that was #1 with a bullet.