Vee

Kimberly Brown is a psycho dayplayer. No way they put her on contract. The character is disposable fodder and she does not fit the shallow type of daytime anymore.

To substack they'll all go! This cracks me up:

And I still don't believe them. I think Politico just uses folks like him to launder their own beliefs and opinions - a common practice with sources in the Beltway.

I think Willis is very often right, but I don't think when he gets on some of his doomier tears (which I can set my watch to, having read him for many years) that he always sees the whole picture. Willis is the farthest thing from a leftier-than-thou guy who hates Biden, but he also simply doesn't always wait for the political ploy to play itself out, he just rants and rants out of frustration and then when the situation actually pops into place he's onto celebrating. I do think he is absolutely right here that there are so many problems with Dem messaging nationwide, but it's not as simple as 'all Dems are bad at it' because they're not. The WH has done pretty well. That said, he's also absolutely right that 'just getting out the vote' is not a solution to the voter suppression - not in 2024, but also not in 2022. Too many Democratic strategists always shrug and fall back on 'just vote!' We're not in that world anymore, increasingly less so by the month. It worked last year, I'm not sure it will again. And if anyone in the White House believes this isn't going to be a major issue in the midterms they're a fool. I personally don't think Biden believes that, but I do think more urgent public address on it is required. The Jim Crow framing worked, so they need to keep using it. And I think you're going to see a major push going forward. I knew the commission would fail. I don't care about that. The House can boil them like a frog in select committees and go Benghazi on 1/6 for the next 2 years or longer and that will do the job. What I care about is how this will affect the filibuster reform and voting rights battle - and I think Manchin is kind of melting down and having a Caine Mutiny moment over the commission push failing. It's been evident all week. That's what we need right now from him. We need him slapped in the face. To me, their broken hearts over the loss of nostalgic Senate comity are good news.

Hot Take(?): With frickin' Punky Brewster and Head of the Class getting Peacock streaming revivals, ADW is more than worthy and necessary. Cast turnover was already baked into the show, particularly in the final season; it could've run another five or six years.

LOL, Joe Bob Briggs showed Troma's War on Shudder last season. He usually runs down the cast of a film and their other credits and background and where they are now. I don't recall if he mentioned Brock, I'll have to go back and check - he's hosted many soap alums on the show (Barbara Crampton, Kelli Maroney, etc.) and discussed their daytime experience. I remember seeing Brenda in the background during Luna's intro episode in fall '91, but I may be hallucinating.

I don't have a problem with E.J. being around, or them recasting E.J. or using him. I don't think he is irreplaceable or monolithic. If it becomes the E.J. Show again that's a mistake.

If that was your point, then yes, you made it - he was a character who had a strong effect on the canvas, like many others. If you want to deify E.J. (or oh, I don''t know, Babe) as transformational for the genre or to the fabric of DAYS as a whole, then no, I'm sorry, that's fantasyland. Firing Reilly, just like hiring him, is what changed DAYS, and that firing corresponded to E.J.'s ascent as a character.

Plenty of antihero characters are lynchpins or drive heavy plot. It's been that way since at least Roger Thorpe on GL in the '70s. If you want to talk about a similar antihero on this specific show then yes, I suppose you could make a case for that. But in a larger sense, E.J. is not different or special; he did not revolutionize DAYS or the genre. The '80s revolutionized DAYS, the supercouple and high adventure era; JER in the '90s revolutionized DAYS. All E.J.'s presence did was help them shift focus while also, not coincidentally, changing the same bad HW who had been there for years. If you want to know what really changed the show, it was finally firing Reilly for the final time. He should never have been allowed back.

E.J. isn't the first or last dark male antihero lead on a soap (let alone on DAYS). He isn't even the thirtieth. He did not fundamentally change the shape of the show. Was he a very popular lead, of course. But there's not one single character or actor on American soaps in the 21st century who has innovated or altered the larger form of any soap opera in any real or lasting way. Can a recast go well - sure. But while the actor seems to have a solid resume the writing isn't there, James Scott isn't there, and I don't expect much from the endeavor. Plus, in this day and age, a rapist lead just isn't cute. He may well continue to have a major presence on the show, but I don't think it's anything revolutionary.

Very quietly dismissed. I was amazed to see network shill Brian Stelter, who avoided the topic like the plague initially when CNN tried to bury the initial controversy, mention this online today.

Those side by side pix are striking. It's clearly what they should do with the two women, but they hate the idea of having Y&R be a show 'beholden' to its Black audience. They want it to be a 2000s ABC soap even though that paradigm is dead.

Yeah, I also don't think Biden is going to dismantle the bill to please Republicans. He hasn't done it before so far and he won't do it here. Will Stancil and co. have never understood how Biden or Pelosi work. And Politico operates under Republican talking points and Republican sympathies, always. It also finds the most conservative voices within any Dem apparatus - even if it's one guy - and amplifies them as though they are the guiding principle on the inside. It's not real.

Thread followed by analysis: Good news for the filibuster crisis, IMO. Meanwhile:

I'll watch. I just wish they'd cast an Anna/Annie Donely who can stick around, which I doubt Caitlin Reilly is willing to do. It's a lovely thing to do for her and the family and I'm glad they're doing it, but you'll need a gap of time between this episode and another recast.

The WLS guy pulled off some very candid interviews over the years (including with Nicholas Coster), and unlike Alan Locher doesn't seem to consider the mid-90s to late 2000s and/or P&G to be his wheelhouse and a sacrosanct topic to not be disparaged. I wish we could get that guy in on it, but I have no idea what happened to him. Also, for better or worse Locher has connections and influence with soap stars to get them to do these streams that others don't always have. I'm very grateful these streams came about in the pandemic and that's largely due to Locher, but someone who doesn't seem to have a relatively shallow knowledge base and a compulsive need to protect his past employers would be appreciated.