Vee

I've never liked Friends and I never will!

Both cuts of it are on Criterion. Diva is less renowned now, but I think I may prefer it - from a series of books with one of the supporting characters, a sort of detective/nomad. It got a re-release and restoration a few years back but I don't know if it's on Blu-Ray. It goes on and off Criterion and various services.

Good news:

Crystal Hunt is, in fact, the Antichrist.

Beineix is best known today for Betty Blue, but his Diva was another of the founding films of the hyper-stylized 'cinema du look' French films of the '80s, many of whose directors and styles (like Luc Besson) ultimately headed West as well. I love Diva.

Say what we will about Farah (and you can say plenty), I have always appreciated her blunt attitude and the fact that she made no secret, from Day 1, how much she respected Erika Slezak and looked up to her. Farah doesn't respect everyone, lol. She never stopped talking about her for her entire run on the show, and their bond worked onscreen. Erika doesn't suffer fools either, and seemed to always like her.

She never elevated AMC. But it didn't surprise me she got hired at Y&R, where she'd never have made it 20 years ago. The pool is small and she's alive.

I just frankly think that as CLB has got campier and campier the pairing has seemed like more and more of a farce. I think you can tell a sensitive storyline about a bisexual Michael coming out late in life without dishonoring the couple. It's not like they're doing anything else! And it would definitely make the latter-day Michael more interesting.

I will say this about 'retconning characters to be gay': I'd do a Far From Heaven story with both Michael and Kevin on Y&R turning out to be gay and/or bi (probably Michael being bi and Kevin gay) in an instant. It doesn't destroy the audience's memories of the good times with Michael and Lauren but it is a more honest accounting.

I understand the impulse. And if it was a different situation I might be more for it, since Kevin Spirtas has been flamingly gay for decades. But the Craig/Nancy thing was wish fulfillment for a segment of the audience and I think it's a shame to take that away from them. Nobody needed to make David Vickers gay on OLTL because I think most of us assume David was already omnisexual and would sleep with anything; why not simply do the same thing with Craig?

I don't see a reason to doubt Burgi's story on his face, if it's true he's vaxxed (my first thought when he was dismissed and recast was that he wasn't). He's not attacking the show. I do also suspect that given his resume he costs less than Robert Newman, so his mistake would be a convenient excuse to recast and cut costs. But they could be completely in the right. It won't make the show any better.

Of course!

The media wants a horse race, is bored and is also not so subtly hoping for a major Trump/GOP comeback. The inflation narrative has gotten traction unlike some other failed pushes, but they launched it too early. By the time November rolls around we'll be in a different place and they'll have forgotten all about inflation just like they forgot about caravans, Afghanistan, etc. And I still don't believe Trump will ever run again. He does not want anyone else to have the nomination, yes. He believes the election was stolen and he should simply be returned to office, yes. But he does not want to run again.

You don't get to see enough of these kids because (wait for it, I've said it before) they didn't sign them to coooontraaaaacctttsss 🎶 Good thing Howarth still has one though!

LG and the character deserved better, IMO. They misused her.

I know he's not under 28 and depilated, but major TV star Ian McShane wasn't exactly ugly in the '70s and '80s.

I think it just probably wasn't good enough. And I wasn't enthused about the premise, which I suspected would be reductive and as crass and ADHD as most modern primetime network-based soaps today. I may be wrong, who knows. I'd still like to see the script. For me, I still think the future of these brands (if they have one) is on streaming. But we'll see if that ever happens, now or later.

Oh damn.

Put her back with Tags and let him be on more often when Real Andrews is well. Or try bringing In Tom Jr. I don't know why Donnell Turner lost so much of his charisma and began reciting scenes like he is an Epcot tour guide, but it's happened a lot whenever I tune in recently and I don't know what spurred it.

I think on a better-written GH I was hoping Newman would be available to take on Jeff Webber, a character they were actually seriously hinting at finally bringing back a month or two ago instead of just idly mentioning his name which makes too many fans cream their jeans. Who knows if they've dropped it again. But this is Y&R, so knowing them he'll be free again soon enough.

1) It's Quinnipiac, and 2) 'Independents' are generally idiots who lean right. The polling numbers need work overall, but there's time and I don't go by Quinnipiac.

When will they be firing the sexual harasser EP? Just asking.

Still looking for that pilot script, BTW.

There's no reason to think he isn't vaxxed.

Thomas Friedman unbound!