Vee

The new Johnny Carter is pretty adorable. I am finding the show enjoyable on YT. I know a lot of the people. But my nagging issues with EE in the 2000s are still around. My problem with EE in the 21st century is that as often as it goes 'real' on an issue - hammering home something by not having a happy ending to a social issue story like depression, or addiction, or coming out or whatever else, or avoiding an easy closure by leaving something open-ended - and as often as the executions of many of those stories are either well-acted, well-scripted, well-produced or some combination of the above - that the 'hard' approach has kind of become rote. And that in and itself almost becomes glib, because they do it so often. Someone gets a drug addiction; they die horribly. Someone (Lucy) is a troubled teen; she dies horribly. Gay kids struggle in a difficult home environment (Ben); they continue to wrestle with their families for years with no active evolution. Ian has a cavalcade of illegitimate children and several have gone nuts, died or become pariahs; nobody really handles it except sweeping it under the rug or living with it. And now Danny Dyer's cute son is horribly depressed and a [!@#$%^&*]-up; he may very well kill himself. In a vacuum or on a case by case basis, playing these stories out with tough, sad conclusions, or lack of conclusion, or letting them just percolate for years is very admirable. But with EE it just feels grinding to me these days - I mean, there are so many stories like this. Peggy committed suicide, Pat died, Pauline died in the street! No one is ever happy for long, their fates are always to be hard done by, nothing is ever really lasting. When everything is approached so coldly or coolly through such a searing eye, it's hard to invest. I mean, does whatshisface (Lee?) really need to kill himself to drive a point home on this latest dark social issue story? And can Ben or Johnny's storylines feel like more than window dressing when they don't have to do with the Mitchells or Danny Dyer? It feels like two things can be relied upon: That the stories will be as depressing as possible and then rarely resolved with a note of hope, and that the gay or minority characters will still sort of float about a bit, however prevalent they now are. I hope that makes sense. The show goes harder at stuff than the Americans ever would which I have always admired, but in terms of turning a page I think they often find it very difficult on some things. If this was an American soap Ian's entire patchwork family would've publicly exploded years ago. Possibly literally.

I think Trump is just stir-crazy, period. He never wanted this job, he's in over his head, it's incredibly complicated and taxing, it demands all these things and attention from him, he's regarded as a fraud, he keeps having to answer all these questions, and his inauguration is looking humiliating. And there is no end in sight.

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.