Vee

This is going to burn out a lot faster than I thought. He's in a spiral. To be clear: It still won't be good, but I'm not sure he can keep this up for a year, let alone four. And yes - NBC deserves it all, especially as someone there seems keen to re-stock half their line-up with Fox castoffs.

A lot of that will be stuff that is unavoidable, and that bores him to tears.

The sheer hours wll age Trump if nothing else.

Mark Frost is denying TP will be screened at Sundance:

She's an apolitical, uncurious and amoral careerist with no integrity beyond herself.

In addition to next week's TCA event, looks like TP 2017 may get a Sundance preview this month!

Again, Mike Storm's rare appearances were equivalent to that of the Yeti well before 2003-04. I hate what happened to the Woleks and there are plenty of legitimate things to hammer Frank Valentini on over the years, but Larry was reduced to a bit part long before he got there. I remember being shocked and pleased when Larry had a substantial role in Viki's heart transplant story in '04.

I have no problem with NuMartin, actually. I've seen him before but this sold him instantly. NuMichelle seems a bit too old and placid to me, and again I suspect she is doomed. But I'll give her a chance. Is Ben out once and for all yet or is he still rehashing the same storyline he's had with his father for years?

It is deeply surreal seeing Kathy Beale back behind the counter. To say nothing of NuMichelle and NuMartin. I'm not complaining as I love those characters, but it's definitely strange. Isn't James Alexandrou actually having a pretty busy career? Also, why do I feel like they brought back Michelle to kill her off? I did find it weird seeing her forcing a domestic scene, but granted I haven't watched a lot of the old Michelle stuff in many years.

Remind me where you can watch these in full or circumvent the iPlayer? I'm curious to see more of FakeMichelle and the aftermath of the drowning. I never stick with EE these days as they've killed or tormented too many people I care about and it's so grindingly numbing (why are all Ian and Phil's sons insane, criminals or never accepted? Did the last gay crazy son leave yet? Stephen?) but I do love when they do well, and the new producer does seem committed to, well, something.

Larry was basically reduced to cameo status long before Frank took over. JDP and Fiona were taken out by Brian Frons.

Wow, that's dark. And very well-shot. It is admirable. American soaps almost never quite go for the vicious, poetic punch that the British soaps so often do. I guess the problem is the UK soaps so often do now. I kind of threw up my hands after EE let Pauline die on Christmas.

Phil Morris (ex-Y&R, Seinfeld and son of Mission: Impossible's Greg Morris) turns up on Fuller House as Bob Saget and Lori Loughlin's boss. John Brotherton appears to be in there for the long haul as a regular and Candace Cameron's new full time love interest - despite my many issues with the Cameron family I will admit they have a lot of chemistry and he is still very funny.

I haven't. Soon, possibly after binging Class.

If it was true, I think it was Ron's weird idea of a gag - they are both famous for that courtroom scene and him being her nemesis in that storyline, and then tada, they turn up married. A variation on that was another idea Ron apparently pitched to John Stamos at GH for the Nurses Ball - he wanted Blackie Parrish to return married to Demi Moore's Jackie Templeton as a quick, jokey cameo. Stamos didn't get it, didn't want to do just a mere cameo and said no, as did Moore. I think Ron was too enamored of precious little jokes that sometimes are beneath the performers and their characters, and certainly would've been wrong for Call and Light. I'm all for cute humor where it's apropos, but a lot of these people are worth more than a cheap gag. I know there were also rumors Ron wanted to attach Karen to Terri Conn's Aubrey Wentworth/Christine Karr, who may or may not have been Katrina Karr's daughter from the Karen/Jenny/Katrina baby switch story. I think that would have been a terrible idea for a pointless character.

My recollection was that Larry was on RC's alleged "wish list" for the guests in the final stretch of the show, along with Karen, Herb, Kyle and Fish, possibly Carla, etc. Judith Light and Tony Call turned them down (Call claims that Ron wanted Karen and Herb Callison to come back married to each other, which Light doesn't seem to recall). Whatever was true or not, they clearly did not make Larry a priority and once he wasn't in the mix they clearly didn't bother inviting Michael Storm. It's a shame, and there were plenty of other things which could've been cut from the final weeks and months. I've gone on at length before in the past about how I would've re-introduced Larry and the Woleks to a modern audience that isn't as familiar, but suffice to say it would be easy to do.

Looks like the Season 2 marathon of TP on Showtime will air 2/20-2/21. Am now hearing the premiere date announced for the new series may be Sunday, April 9th.

I'm deathly allergic to even the mention of Mama's Family.

I did that a long time ago.

When you're right you're right.

The key is that not all Trump voters are created equal. Some are diehard bigots and/or lock-step right-wingers. Some are evangelicals who held their noses. Many are just apathetic, disaffected white people with no particular affiliation who were quietly racist, anxious about a changing social and racial America, vaguely dissatisfied with life and thought 'why not try the TV guy? (Plus he's a white guy and not a woman)'. Trump is a desperate attempt to reinforce a lot of people's comfortable views of an America that is fading. Eight years of a black guy plus rapidly changing social issues and now a woman made a huge segment of our old culture face an existential crisis. Trump was a last, petulant gasp for baby boomer-era white supremacy. But he is the last. And his coalition is not a coalition at all, it's just a bunch of disparate voters plus the Republican/Tea Party bigot base, all of whom can and will turn on him in a flash for a million reasons. I don't like any of these people right now; I actively detest many of them. But the ones who are apathetic, disaffected, party-less, passively racist or at least deeply uncomfortable with their place in a changing America - many of them can be peeled off from Trump, reconnected with, brought into the fold and told it's not gonna be so bad. And some of them will have to be. I just don't know if I'll be the one able to do that.

I think there was a vision - the media and a lot of the public just consistently ignored it, as a lot of it was the longtime party platform (which isn't all bad or outdated). And I do think there were mistakes made. They were wrong not to do what both Bil Clinton and Obama suggested, which was go back into the Rust Belt as opposed to assuming certain Democratic strongholds would hold. Many did not.