Khan

Agree. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: if Doug Marland had not passed away when he did, I believe P&G would have offered him the opportunity to leave ATWT eventually and "rescue" AW from its' doldrums. It's kind of sad to think the Michael Laibson/Donna Swajeski regime was the last period of consistency that AW ever knew.

My bad! Thanks, @robbwolff!

I hope so. I really, really, REALLY don't want to see a "No Deal" happen.

Really? They did? If you ask me, the two bigger strikes against SB were its' unconventionality, and the fact that it was up against GH and GL in most markets. (Also, you'd have to take into account the BTS troubles, which definitely spilled over into the writing.) I had no idea NBC blamed SB's dismal ratings on AW, though. That's so damn ludicrous of them to do that, lol.

What I remember most about Donna Swajeski's tenure at AW are the "one-off" episodes, like "A Valentine to Singles" and "Honeymoon on the Murder Express." It seemed like AW was following SANTA BARBARA's, and JFP's, lead.

Will the EU agree to another extension, though? Because, from what @DramatistDreamer posted upthread, that doesn't look too likely, lol. I really believe it will end with the UK leaving w/ no deal. And when it DOES happen, gird up your loins, because it ain't gonna be pretty.

Ah, I see. Thanks, @DRW50. So, what's the latest on Brexit? I just heard on the radio that the Speaker of Parliament has denied another vote on Boris' latest proposal. What does that mean for Brexit? Where does the U.K. go from there?

I, too, applaud Slick's incredible work -- on this thread, and elsewhere.

Why is she even serving as a Democrat? Why not Republican or Independent? Meanwhile, I know Democrats must be concerned about the funds (or lack thereof) being raised by each candidate, especially when they look over and see how right-leaning donors have been flocking to Trump's re-election campaign. But, look at it like this: aside from that one guy, whose name I'm blanking on at the moment, Trump is running again, uncontested. The Democrats, OTOH, still have, like, 800 people jockeying for the nomination. With that many people still in play, the money is bound to be funny. IOW, it's time for many of the Democratic contenders to get real about their chances and Drop. Out. Hickenlooper was smart; he saw the writing on the wall right away, and now he's refocused on running for the Senate instead.

Hey, let's hear it for me! But seriously. I -- I mean, HE -- is right about the many demographics in this country, including African-Americans and South Asians, who are woefully underrepresented by the network and cable news networks. J.C. Watts' involvement in this venture aside, I'm excited to see where this goes. (J.C. Watts might be a football hero to many Oklahomans and OU fans, but to many African-Americans here, he's seen as an Uncle Tom, because he virtually ignored our support when he ran for office, choosing instead to cosy up to old, white Republicans.)

I don't blame Justin Deas so much as I blame the writing, which wasn't doing anyone any favors. Same goes for Marj Dusay.

Yeah, that's the part about Brexit that has me concerned the most. I fear what might happen with Ireland in the event of a "No Deal Brexit." In fact, anyone who knows anything at all about "The Troubles" should be afraid.

Yup.

I wonder how the U.K., and especially the Parliament, would feel if they DID leave the E.U. without a deal and, as expected, everything is thrown immediately into chaos? How would Parliament respond? Because, let's not forget, the U.K. has a real history of beheading leaders they didn't like, lol.

Good point. Like @DRW50 said, Hillary could be launching a preemptive strike of sorts against Tulsi, who is bound to go after whoever will be the eventual nominee. I know Tulsi has said she won't seek a third-party run if she isn't the nominee, but something tells me not to believe her. Mark Zuckerberg's Georgetown speech's already got me thinking 2020 will be 2016 all over again.

I'm sure plenty of folks out there scoff at the notion of Tulsi as a Russian puppet. The thing is, Hillary has said a ton of things about Trump and Putin that have turned out to be dead-on accurate. Just as Bill's argument as to why she lost in 2016 aligns with what all the polling has suggested. Say what you want about the Clintons, but they know wtf they're talking about.

I was kidding with that remark, lol.

OTOH, I appreciate she hasn't pandered yet to Black constituents in order to garner more votes. Nobody needs to see Elizabeth Warren do the Electric Slide at somebody's family reunion.

I still can't believe AMC thought they could get away with casting Beth Ehlers as Liza Colby. I think I would've seen whether Elizabeth Dennehy or Alexandra Neil was up for the job before hiring BE. As it was, she didn't even make for a decent Taylor, and that character was created FOR her!

But...hadn't Adam and Sara divorced by the time both left town? Another idea: bring Marcy Walker to GL as a Beth recast. I don't think Grant Aleksander had returned at that point, but I don't believe that would have made a huge difference. Beth could have returned to Springfield to help Lillian deal with the fallout from her and Ed's affair; we would have learned that Beth and Phillip had grown apart while in Arizona and decided to divorce; and then Beth would have taken steps toward re-establishing her life in SF (getting involved in Spaulding business, perhaps, or even resuming her artistic career; maybe even pursuing a tentative romance with Nick) that would have had her in the right place, both professionally and emotionally, just in time for Phillip to make his grand return.

Yeah, next to the day's other news bombshells, it hardly registers on the "GAF Meter." But...he's gone now, and that's good enough for me. I, for one, am glad to see Donald Trump restore normalcy and stability to the White House.

The same scenario would play out with Buttigieg as the nominee. That might not seem important at the moment, with Biden, Warren and Sanders leading the pack. However, the "little man in the stomach" -- the same dude who told me that Trump would get elected three or four years ago -- is telling me more and more that Buttigieg COULD be the so-called "dark horse," who pushes through as Biden and Sanders continue to stumble (health-wise as well as race-wise); cracks begin to appear in Warren's campaign and facade; and Harris struggles to sustain momentum. That's why, as I said upthread, my dream scenario is a 2024 race between Buttigieg and Mike Pence. Because, even if "Mayor Pete" doesn't become the nominee this time around, I feel he will have built up enough of a following that will be there for him (provided, of course, he doesn't blow it on something stupid...like getting caught in a sex scandal...with a woman) if and when he chooses to try again. Plus, I must admit, the part of me that's perverse af would get a huge kick out of seeing the homosexual (who's actually bisexual, if you ask me, but I digress) and the homophobe (who's so obviously in the closet -- but again, I digress!) duking it out on the national political stage, with the homosexual coming out on top (...so to speak). Exactly. We're all thinking it could be Biden, Warren, or Sanders. But it COULD be Buttigieg. Or Harris. Or Booker. Or Beto. Or Tulsi. Or (God help us) Marianne Williamson. Nothing is off the table. Oh, and another thing: Betty Crocker didn't lace her cake mixes with drugs. You're getting her mixed up with Duncan Hines.

Oh, dear. That isn't saying much.

@DRW50 -- at least, I think it was @DRW50 -- made this excellent point not too long ago: Republicans can throw out these dubious proposals all day long, and no one in the media ever asks them to elaborate. Yet, because we've been conditioned to see Democrats as naive wussies, when one of THEM says he (or she) has in mind a plan to do something -- in this case, a plan to help get more Americans covered on life insurance through a program such as MFA -- the very first question the media asks is, "How do you plan to pay for it?". I'm not saying Warren is my candidate of choice, but...why should she (or any Democrat) be made to answer such questions, when hardly anyone ever asks the same from their Republican counterparts? "How do I plan to pay for MFA, you ask? Let's just say I know a guy. Now, Mr. Callison, are you satisfied?"

Meanwhile, Facebook proves, once again, they are trash: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/17/business/zuckerberg-facebook-free-speech.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage