Vee

I see you, @EricMontreal22!

Yeah, it's backwards. By '85 or '86 I guess the Forbeses had all been supplanted by Gwyneth, Trisha, etc.? I wonder whose brainchild bringing them in was.

Nice!

The writing + performance for the killer is so layered in the LM - The moment at the end of #39 where the spectre of "Trisha" - long-haired, face unseen - 'kills' Gwyneth in her dream is terrifying, straight out of Japanese horror.

The pilot was a mix of interesting and bland, but you can't say the dark, gothic roots weren't there from the start - most of what works about it was all Lloyd Bridges and more importantly, the truly demonic performance from Geraldine Page. Very EON and yes, very Loving Murders. Kalember and the guy playing Roger don't work for me at all. Few others drew the eye beyond poor Bryan Cranston and the loopy woman playing Ann Alden Forbes. Susan Walters had a long way to go! I do wonder how Gwyneth, Trisha, etc. were introduced and why Curtis was there first. It is surreal to see Cabot and the Alden manor set with a predominant focus on not the Aldens but the Alden relations/in-laws, most of whom would be gone in under five years. The Forbes strand of the family is all but a nonentity by '95; no mention is made of Stacey's children being heirs. I know there's been some talk of the first year being more Dan Wakefield and Marland; I wish we knew more about Agnes' hand in things, as she clearly was keen on Chris Marcantel, took notice of Debbi Morgan and later (when?) introduced her next Erica/Mona iteration in Ava and Kate/the Rescotts. A striking contrast: Watching the '95 episodes where Cabot and Isabelle say their sweet but heartbreaking goodbyes. Beautifully written and performed quiet, melancholy scenes, but jarringly contrasted by the hard cut to B&E's edgy new characters, some of whom work and some who just don't - pulsing '90s dance beats throbbing over canted angles as lecherous Danny hits on Cassie and Lisa Lo Cicero slinks about. I don't mind a lot of the hyper-stylization of the period, and I think the LOV of '95 is far more successful than the bulk of that pilot, but what a shift. Yet you can't say evil wasn't in Corinth all along.

Viki and David Renaldi.

Uhhhhh, what the hell?!

As I'm coming up on the deaths of in the LM, I thought now was as good a time as any to finally watch the Loving pilot, full of people who will be out of the picture shortly. I hope you'll all accept my preemptive apology for questions you've all answered before. - WEHT Merrill, Roger and Ann? And I guess Susan Walters/Lorna? - When did "Clay," Gwyneth and Trisha enter the picture, and where are they? - Is that really Geraldine Page?? (Who I last saw in John Schlesinger's brilliant and demonic The Day of the Locust, a film I do not recommend watching at the outset of a terrifying global pandemic) The pilot is notably directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, esteemed music video director for the Beatles and the Rolling Stones who also helmed the original Brideshead Revisited miniseries a few years prior and the original Broadway production of Agnes of God, and long-rumored to be the illegitimate son of Orson Welles.

IIRC Lemay said that too.

@marceline I am calling you out! I am dying for your thoughts on the Loving Murders. Just got to the big scenes with Debbi and Darnell near the midway point (after Curtis' death, just before Charles is revealed as Lorraine's old flame) and damn. Sure, Jacob was largely Jesse by another name but it worked, both then and now. I'm not clear on Jacob's full backstory - something about his wife and son dying in a bombing somehow? What month did he come on in '95? I was always glad AMC never killed him off later on, as I'd grown up watching Angie and Jacob. I like to think he and Lorraine are together in Paris (his last known location), if she didn't patch it up with Charles.

What exactly happened to Jack #1 again? He died IRL? Was the original story with him and Stacey her as the friend/'ugly duckling' who got him after Lily, or what? I don't know when or how the plans for Jack/Lily died.

They also wanted Lisa Peluso for Amanda around then.

I remember losing my mind when Gaskill showed up on AMC. I'd watched and enjoyed him on Models Inc., where he had a good role as Linda Gray's son only to be unexpectedly written out midway through. Months later this grown-ass man showed up at a high school locker like 'how do you do, fellow kids?' I was maybe 14 and baffled. I loved Kelsey. TC Warner got a raw deal. Could not stand Laura or Anita. None of the Scotts registered for me.

I think these reunions (as well as the Loving Murders uploaded in their entirety) have been a real gift. I hope the response to these events, the classic episodes and the overall need for comfort food for people at home in all walks of life makes some network folks think again about what they have at their fingertips. The fact that ABC is choosing now to run a primetime special about soaps certainly gives me pause. I am dying to know when the LM culprit was told they were the one. Even a third or so of the way through, with having just been killed, there are so many leading looks, lines and performances.

1/10

It picks any topic you all will respond to (JFP, Ellen Parker, Passanante, beloved vets, Daniel Goddard, livestreams) and transparently pushes to get attention. You don't have to reply to every thing it says just to let people know how you feel for the umpteenth time. This is an old game with a slightly more roundabout approach.

They have no stakes. It's just another angle. Starve it and when it gets desperate enough to show out more, that will be the end. But you can be rid of it now by cutting it out of your presence.