Vee

As I posted a few days ago, Maggie got roasted by David Simon the other day for pushing that story. She's got a reckoning coming. And now, from a NYT staffer I actively despise:

As I have said before, I can't stand Maggie Haberman but she is a pipeline to the mentality inside that demented administration. You can know either their feuds or what they're floating as strategy by taking her in with a grain of salt.

The Whisperer speaks:

This is a harrowing read. I'm calling it: Kavanaugh does not make it to Thursday. As marceline so often says, everything Trump touches dies.

Four?? And I think most of us said there'd be more than one. Did I think more than two would come forward - not necessarily! Incidentally, I am from Kavanaugh and Ford's old stomping grounds and all I'll say is it turns out it's a real small world.

I don't believe he'll last to Ford's scheduled testimony on Thursday. But I've been (very) wrong before. McConnell apparently didn't want Kavanaugh because of skeletons like gambling or his drinking or something - Trump allegedly insisted on him because he felt Kavanaugh prioritized executive protection from prosecution (for Trump). Could they confirm someone in the lame duck session? Maybe. The important thing is we've put up the fight and can continue to do so. This was supposed to be a slam dunk for the GOP.

Uh oh!

Bada bing:

I look at Avenatti very sideways these days, but if it's true Ronan Farrow is about to drop a story about Kavanaugh, that's curtains. Meanwhile, more levity:

This.... is hilarious. What next, his merit badges? Sixth grade book report?

Those scenes are still excellent.

To be clear: I'd kill to see those scripts with Agnes' notes.

I wasn't the only one, but I think overall we all posted a bit too much, lol. It's def an essential buy. I only wish someone could do the same for the P&G soaps. Kim Zimmer's book is the closest we have, and it's candid but still a bit polite/cautious on certain details.

I don't remember that HBS comment at all! I'll have to go back and look. I think the approach to Niki was in part a product of the times and the evolving public understanding of mental illness. I understand Agnes' intent and I understand fans loved Niki in the '80s, etc. But the fact is Niki and DID as explained in 1995 is exactly how they would come to be. It's not a joke, it's not funny. There is no other plausible explanation for (theoretical) DID - I knew that even as a child. It always goes back to sexual abuse, and Victor had been well-established pre '90s as a philandering man of secrets. Do I think Niki could be sympathetic and somewhat dimensional - yes, I understand why fans liked that and I don't have a problem with that Niki as far as she went in the 1980s. I have a problem with her being presented as a semi-functional part of Viki that the rest of the cast of characters could all just roll with as a person in her own right. Do I think stories in the 2000s, etc. took Niki too far? Yes. They sometimes presented her sympathetically - a hallucination of Niki, the only 'mother' Tess knew, helping her give birth to her (miscarried) child in 2008 - but for the most part her stories were crass and ugly. Tess should never even have existed, and the Niki caper in 2002 may have been entertaining but should have been written for Tori. Though tbh I wanted Viki's DID completely retired after 1995. It should have ended there, period. ETA: I did find the HBS quote. I would quote it but I only found out years later Jeff Giles was not happy we (mostly me!) quoted liberally from the book on here back in the day. I should have known better. I never wanted to hurt his sales, it's just a fantastic book.

IIRC Erika had shoulder-length hair for most of the '70s. Robin's flashback look OTOH appears to be channeling Rachel Davis.

Ask not for whom the bell tolls:

Bloomberg will never get the nomination.

Viki puts a bow on the Sloan/Victor thing in late '95, I guess? Featuring a cameo by Crystal Chappell as Maggie Carpenter, her one character I really liked and one of Malone's last:

I believe Gottlieb was all in on the long-form DID storyline and helped craft it with the writers. It was in motion before she exited. She/they evidently had planned to do the reveal a year earlier in '94, but Clint Ritchie's accident delayed it. Anyway, here's Viki and Dorian having flashbacks to the night Victor died - enjoy Robin wearing a '70s wig and Viki looking, well, about the same in this low quality video. I know Robin and Ron Carlivati maintain Dorian killed him and he stayed dead, or at least they suggested it in 2007 without delving into it or proving it. I still believe Viki did it, but at least the show basically undid the 2003 story from then on by changing Victor's gravestone to the 1970s in the later years. I also think it gives Dorian more dimension, the truth that she protected Viki's secret for decades. Also a treat: Erika Slezak's Skeletor voice as the Satanic "Victor" alter which I still find terrifying, if also sometimes hilarious.

It's a miniseries that already aired. It was very good!

It was a Michael Fairman interview (naturally). IIRC Gottlieb did mastermind the DID arc but left in '94. I thought Horgan and co. did a fairly good job of maintaining the existing style and tone until '96, though others disagree. She's not Linda Gottlieb but she's never gotten enough credit for her work, which is part of the reason I was happy to have her back at OLTL 2.0 - instantly the show was, tonally, serious and adult again.