Vee

Oops, wrong one.

Link seems dead, so I reposted it:

Oy, Brando.

Yeah, I only caught up very recently bc the Chibnall era is utterly uninspiring to me. But Flux is a bit of an improvement and I am reinvigorated by the news of RTD returning in future.

Are you ready for another longwinded DW post you won't read? I thought so. SPOILERS for Episode 4:

It's good for the genre, even if I find the quality often lacking. You would wish ABC/Disney would follow suit.

Again, regardless of quality, they're clearly continuing to invest in Days on streaming and that's good for the genre.

Interesting.

Exactly. I think Haiduk is very talented and has been poorly used, but anyone who thinks the weak link in this equation is Eileen vs. the writing, the show or the recast is delusional. If they can make it work with Ali or people like Victoria Konefal or various other people going in and out, they can use Eileen as Kristen on a recurring basis. It's all she needs anyway. Kristen on a long-term contract burns out of story fast.

Showing two Kristens in one episode is completely ridiculous. Full stop.

I think it's unfortunately necessary to stroke her ego for a vote on BBB.

I'd have to go back and check but it's one of the first 1980/1981 eps posted recently, near the end. I remember someone claiming Robin and JC didn't interact much at OLTL but it seems that's not true, because I've seen any number of eps with Pat and Dorian clashing or complaining about each other in the shared workplace over the years, especially lately. Amusingly, Dorian's scheme in those eps to supplant Pat as host of her show on WVLE ultimately seems to have come to fruition; by the mid-80s, Dorian is hosting the show herself.

Christine's hair has mesmerized and terrified me since those old Eterna stills. I'll comment on it more when I get there, I'm sure. I just wanted to say though that the entire social set of the Ina Hopkins crew - Karen, Ed, Marcello, Katrina, etc. as well as Marco, Edwina, Brad (when did he rape Karen?), et al - is just fascinating stuff for 1980-81, and in some ways ahead of its time. It's an idiosyncratic, sort of alternative social circle almost more tonally consistent with today's post-crash economic era. It's bracing that they let so many of these characters and their entire milieu be so integral in that period. And it's true what people say about the writing for Karen and Marco, it's next level, especially together. I think it was Jozie Emmerich who talked about them and this period in the OLTL oral history and went to the show's writers asking how they came up with their dialogue. She was told 'they're writing themselves.'

I do care, but I'll care more when he's behind bars or flips.

Yeah, I'm going to be heading into the '88 stuff soon after watching a lot of '87 (alongside 1980-71). It's a wild shift.

There was some great stuff for Jacob talking about the dead family with Angie during the Murders (I will capitalize the Loving Murders to my dying day). I think the show did a decent job fleshing out Danny in the latter half of the Murders with the well thing (which seems like pure Linda Gottlieb to me from concept to production values - supposedly she was working on the show at this time, according to Lauren-Marie Taylor) and discussing his family, but it never went far enough to sell a pairing with Ally and clearly The City failed to pick up the ball properly. I think it could've been done in time with proper care. I'm pretty sure Special Agent Iva is from the same magic swamp agency as Irene Manning.

"TOLN" was always a grift. Everything would change on a dime about the supposed 'network,' its PR releases and often weird videos, its big moves, etc. and their public conduct was often really unprofessional and volatile. The entire venture was clearly the bluff/brainchild of some coked-up venture capitalists from the start. I was less surprised that it fell apart and far more surprised that the shows happened at all. That being said, against all odds the shows themselves were IMO very good to excellent despite the shitshow BTS. It took a mix of veteran creatives and people outside the daytime bubble - however crazy they were - to shake up the medium. I just wish better hands had steered the larger project. I maintain that AMC 2.0 was the best soap of the 2010s.

Loving 1995: Pre-Murders! I had no idea that Casey died this close to the Murders - I thought he bought it early in the year. Nor did I have any idea Jacob's backstory was linked to Charles or this drug ring. @DRW50will be pleased to finally get to see Lisa Brown as the villainous federal agent who... drugs and brainwashes Charles, apparently?

Get help! 😘

The most that's been said is no one got paid at all, lol. I believe Erika Slezak said that flat-out, among others. I've heard a lot of cast and crew (including Horgan and the other revolving door HWs) being surprisingly very positive about the shows - aside from Debbi Morgan, who has every right to be deeply hurt - but I think that positivity reflects more on the productions themselves than the larger venture. I was always fairly aware that the PP head honchos were shady characters with pretty infamous records; it stunned me that they managed to mount the shows at all. They couldn't even adhere to the terms of the legal barriers re: crossover characters which they sued ABC over - Natalie on OLTL mentioned Sam on GH by name on the show, which was verboten yet they were suing the network! Nonetheless, the shows largely worked for me. It's so much else higher-up that apparently didn't.

I'm pretty sure it was Felicia Minei Behr and/or MADD who hired Susan Batten from ABC, not the HW.

Yeah, Debbi was who I was thinking of too. But I don't think any of the talent would begrudge the creatives at the shows or the EPs who worked hard, like Ginger Smith and Jennifer Pepperman. I think the only companies likely to do these ventures are the original networks and their parent companies. But as of now they seem to have no interest in advancing the genre.