Vee

Absolutely disgusting.

Brenda is the only WMD GH has left, and I say that as someone who couldn't stand her a lot of the time. But even Brenda can't get this show out of the doldrums as long as Frank is controlling the show and it's kept in a sort of perpetual undead limbo creatively, which it has been for most of the last decade. When it's not bad it's mostly terribly boring, and it's usually both. They don't invest in quality, so they can't support Brenda or anyone else to the full extent of their capability. If they somehow get a major creative overhaul (which they won't) and Vanessa, then I'd be curious. But I don't think the former will happen as long as the show is on network television. GH today is just filling space.

Debbi is the greatest of all time.

On a completely unrelated note: I have been resuming my ATWT 1986 binge I began in 2020 and am about to hit May sweeps. It's a bit tedious watching poor Tonya Pinkins get wasted as a talk-to role that clearly will never expand too much further. Has Pinkins ever talked much about her time at ATWT?

I never forgave GH for killing off Alan, and I probably never will. I know Frank and Ron had allegedly hoped to bring Alan back to life in 2012 during the Robin kidnapping story, particularly when the show seemed poised to go off the air, but Stuart was simply too ill. You could tell he was frail when he made appearances as Alan's ghost after that. He was a witty, warm, classy father onscreen and a pillar of the show. I loved him to death. Can we please fix the spelling of his last name in the header?

Sure thing, YouTube.

Damn. RIP

Joel Bocko's Journey Through Twin Peaks video essay series has finally begun diving deeper into Season 3:

One of the OLTL directors(?) said Marisa left ATWT though they wanted her to stay because she couldn't handle the daily grind and didn't feel she was doing her best work. I've never heard of her talking down about the show though. Alec Baldwin, to his credit, has I believe always been very supportive of the soaps (and went so far as to be critical of early Y&R at one point for ruining the genre!). IIRC Kim Zimmer has said she and Alec are close to this day.

It's pretty obvious who VR actually is/was.

A lot of people stanned hard for Carlivati vs. actors at OLTL and GH as well, not to mention DAYS.

I think there are some folks are outright disdainful and shitty about it, but in fairness the soaps can be a meat grinder and shitty, especially in modern times. I can't blame some for being uninspired and unhappy in their years there. I do think a number of the cases cited of ex-soap actors being 'a bitch' about it are unfair though - I remember people wanting to draw and quarter Robin Wright for a long time for her commentary when she was younger, when it sounds like she was at Santa Barbara during a time of constant upheaval while also being a very green young actress unhappy with herself and the work. And her attitude on SB has shifted a bit since. I don't know about Meg Ryan.

I'm an idiot; I had no idea she was married to Wisner Washam. From WLS: From Washam re: Anne -

You can generally tell from archival stuff when a recast doesn't go over because after a few lamentable years they're offed or sent out of town. I assume that was the case here too. I'd never heard of Brooke being a replacement for Anne but I suppose it makes sense. Judith Barcroft had a long run at a couple shows, though at AW she was replaced by the legendary Susan Sullivan pretty handily. I've always wondered about Barcroft, one of those bygone soap stars who faded away from the scene in the 80s. Millette Alexander did the same.

Crossposted: Jordana Brewster (Nikki, ATWT) discusses her soap days while promoting F9.

Jordana Brewster (Nikki) discusses her time on ATWT while being interviewed for the latest Fast & Furious film.

I don't see how the benefits of this deal fade if both the bipartisan deal and the reconciliation package pass. Pelosi and Schumer have made it clear they will not pass the bipartisan bill without the reconciliation package, and Biden has backed that up. The GOP whines and the press avidly covers their whining in good faith, but none of that theater can stop this deal.

"Doesn't intend to veto" doesn't mean "will do it while scuppering reconciliation". It's word games. This is performance. He knows what Pelosi will do and supports it. Beltway reporters who mostly were raised and reared by GOP education and later GOP sources (Sherman, etc.) are taunting 'liberals' claiming Biden made a veto threat and then withdrew - he never made a veto threat. They'll be negging this deal and being spiteful about it until and after it passes, just like they do any time the Democrats pass anything without the GOP. But it's important to screen them out and not like they are massively influential. The fact is outside the Beltway they don't move the larger public, and the polling has proven that for Biden so far.