Vee

For no one's perusal: The second episode this series was a fun, classical Who story making rare half-decent use of the Sontarans, who in the past have only played well with me as side characters like Strax from the Matt Smith years. Whittaker got a decent space to perform alone with the guest characters, which her run has rarely afforded her; the character still isn't much under Chibnall's pen but has a bit more room for her to act. What was much more interesting, though, was the ongoing serialized mystery of the series, which is still nowhere near as innovative or experimental as Moffat or RTD's best but at least isn't feeling like it's just marking time or ticking boxes, as most of the Chibnall era has so far. These two episodes so far, while far from perfect, represent the apex of what has been a thoroughly mediocre and plodding period for the franchise overall. It's just a shame Whittaker and Mandip Gill haven't been better-served before now. Which is not to say I think either character is very well fleshed out, but they've done a lot better in this series so far than the past two combined. The actress playing Mary Seacole was a delight, and Dan's easy almost-stoner energy is a nice contrast to the usual 'what's going on Doctah!' eager beaver business of this regime. The highlight so far though, of course, is Azure and Swarm, the most camp villains I've seen on Doctor Who since the depths of the glitter and cocaine '80s. The makeup is a bit dodgy in that classic JNT way yet still uniquely creepy, and Swarm sniping about 'you pathetic temporal hags' is hysterically fun. The only thing that's missing is the Black Guardian's feather boa. I can both take them seriously and not at all, which is a nice change from the parade of anonymous, pointless 'new, dark' villains Chibnall has attempted to put over since he took over, most of whom I cannot remember the names of as they all looked to come out of bad aughts sci-fi movies geared to teenage boys. These two, OTOH, are OTT, fabulous and pure Davison/Colin Baker-era. And also, spooky. A fun time so far. Let's hope it continues and doesn't implode. It cannot save the Chibnall era for me, but it's nice to see the show on some kind of upswing again.

Ingo has been right wing for years. He was quieter about it before Trump then went full mask off, like a lot of folks. A great deal of daytime is conservative and/or hardcore right wing/fundie; it's a fact of life. I don't pay it much mind as long as it doesn't affect what they do onscreen and they don't show it in public nonstop. I'd welcome Sean Kanan, who's said all sorts of obnoxious shít, back tomorrow because he hasn't gone full Ingo on us. I don't forget who they are but as long as they're not putting public health at risk and openly palling around with white supremacists I will allow them to shut up and act. Ingo has gone past that point. I agree with caroline that I don't think Ingo has ever phoned it in; I think he was always present and working hard even with bad or minimal story. I think he was Laura Wright's best pairing and Carly has never recovered from losing Jax the way she did; who was a good man for her and her children. But that's all over now, he's become a liability and he is way past sell-by. So yes, it's time to kill him. No regrets. As for Burton, IMO GH is going to drag out announcing to the audience that the god of GH is gone for as long as possible and they will do it with the full complicity of the decimated soap press/blogs who need access to these shows. Not because of lawsuits, but because access is essential. Also, I suspect GH is still hoping to convince him to come around.

I still think he was awful and common.

To this day I'm unclear if they canonized Meredith not being Victor's daughter or not. You can hear Niki Smith taunting him about it in a very old clip from 1969 (which, woof, for my money makes the DID/molestation retcon even more plausible, listening to the way she talks to him), and I know it came up on and off in the '70s but I don't know that it was ever made official or dug deeply into.

Oh my lord.

Erika Slezak and Erin Torpey on OLTL take the crown. It isn't close.

Been bingeing both early '80s and mid-late '80s OLTL - two very different shows - and while I've seen my share in recent years before, it's only recently, perhaps during the pandemic, that we've been blessed with more consecutive material from so many eras. Am I getting this right? Cord married Kate Sanders two months after Tina went over the falls? I know they were on the outs before that but good lord!

Yeah, I have a hard time believing Hollywood star Kirk Douglas was a dual rapist-murderer - it's way too visible a profile, even for back then. I can and do believe he raped Natalie Wood.

It's more than that in the case of MC.

Obviously some actors slip through the cracks, because if that's Vinnie #4 and Danny #-whatever, neither have been listed for the characters anywhere. The Danny listings claim the last kid, Eddie Moran(?), was gone by '79 or '80 and he didn't return til '83, and I've never heard of a fourth Vinnie. I believe the first brief Tony recast post-Reinholt also was never listed. Just goes to show we all are subsisting on apocrypha.

Meanwhile Marcus Coloma's doing a musical dedication to Steve and Ingo on IG, lol.

I don't think they can on Afghanistan, bc the public doesn't buy it. I do think the public is often fickle, which is part of what led to the VA Governor's race and what often leads to brutal turnover against the incumbent in most midterms. But not always. I think what will matter a year from now is a big open question, but I do think this bill - and BBB - will have an impact with the base, among other things, as well as trickling down (haha) to the squishy middle for other advantages. There's so much to do between then and now that I am not going to assume anything, even though the media is absolutely gagging to see a revitalized, 'sensible' GOP run rampant.

Coloma looks awfully gaunt these days. (Maybe he's been trying some sort of homeopathic Aaron Rodgers nonsense for COVID) The thinner he gets the less talent he has, IMO.

I honestly can't tell if that's Michael Ingram (Vinnie #3) or not, judging by recent 1980 episodes that also feature him prominently. I can see why it might not be though. That kid playing Danny sure looks broken up over Nat Polen. You didn't usually see soap child actors that emotional so I wondered if that's somehow the same kid from the '70s or what.

Right now, the Beltway pundits just seem very depressed the Dems passed the bill at all and got something done. I don't agree that they 'buried him with Afghanistan' - the public did not care and does not care about that withdrawal, which led to a lot of tantrums for the DC press over it. We'll see what happens with BBB, but Biden seems very committed and I think Pelosi and the CPC played out the stalemate for as long as they reasonably could and possibly beyond. They secured a lot of conditions from the moderates so we'll see what comes next. The Beltway above all wants a 'normal' GOP they can cheer on back, and will chase any potential hopeful or whitewash any 'just folks' GOP voters story in the hopes of getting it. But I do think 2022 is a long way away right now and this bill will be a part of it - if the Dems get behind it in real messaging. They also need to face the race issue, voting rights and the lies about stuff like CRT head-on instead of running from the debate, which too many do.

I do, yes.

Some shows, not others. He absolutely pulled punches on Ron and Frank back then.

They're not recasting Jason again, and they're def not recasting him with anyone you mentioned.

I knew about the Kirk Douglas rumor years ago. I still love a lot of his work, but it's never been far from my mind when watching him. I believe it's probably true. That being said, I know Natalie's daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner, has been vocal in criticizing Lana Wood for what she felt was exploiting her mother's past with falsehoods, including in the recent HBO doc. (She may be biased, given that I believe she was raised as Robert Wagner's child.)

At least one other actor allegedly did attempt this, but relented recently and took the vax.

And pathetic and disgraceful. But as you say, that's been the nature of the industry for years.

A lot of the tweets pertaining to the sites being required or choosing to keep mum were already posted upthread, but again, I didn't get my confirmation from Twitter or any of those people. That being said, most of those sites and/or the daytime press are being silent until it breaks because they don't want to bite the hand that feeds. Given that in this business there are almost no hands left. As Chris said just above me, this is extremely common in the daytime industry with a rapidly shrinking and often compliant soap press which has happily buried stories or sat on them to keep good relations with the networks or shows for decades now. You have watched soaps and been a part of soap fandom long enough to know about plenty of those situations as well as I do, so please don't act brand new now. Exactly. Where is this supposed deep credulousness re: the Morina scandal? Or RKK? Or Tom Eplin? Or maybe other things that went underreported.