Khan

Wow, for someone who reportedly hated working on soap operas, Bruce Gray sure did appear on a lot of 'em.

Agree. There are four -- count 'em, four -- U.S. soaps left; and by my estimation, none of 'em are what I would call "healthy." Ergo, what do TPTB have to lose by "trying something different"? If bold experimentation, or simply getting back to basics, fails, then nothing really changes since, as I've said before, the remaining soaps are on the proverbial last legs anyway. But, on the slim chance that efforts to draw viewers back in actually succeeds, then maybe they've staved off the death of the genre.

Why does anyone still bother telling that man what (and what not) to say? At this point, they should just skip to the part where they either "clarify" his comments or deny that he ever made them. Oh, and of course he wouldn't take a harder stance with Russia. Would THAT surprise anyone at this point?

To me, it's a testament to Susan Lucci's appeal as an entertainer that Erica could do something as heinous as kidnap a child (even if she were under the mistaken impression that the baby's mother didn't want her) and emerge relatively unscathed from the whole ordeal. But, compulsively watchable or not, I could have done without that illogical story.

I must admit that as much as I deride Drake's skills as an actor, I probably would have liked him better as MacGyver.

RE: "One of the Boys" -- years ago, Dana Carvey was on some talk show (forget which one) and he talked about that show and about Mickey Rooney. According to DC, Rooney, IRL, thought he was gay and Nathan Lane was straight, when, in actuality, it was the other way around.

A perfect opportunity, I thought, to tell a story about how a woman like Erica Kane, who has always been about youth and vitality and beauty, copes with menopause. Her late(r)-in-life pregnancy could have been a "false positive" or even a chance to deal dramatically with all the challenges in giving birth to and raising a "change-of-life baby." We could have had, too, some wonderful scenes of Erica bonding with Ruth Martin, who would have known a thing or two about carrying a child at that point in a woman's life. But, no, let's just use Erica's pregnancy and miscarriage as some thin motivation for Erica to steal another woman's baby down the road.

I read somewhere (maybe in his memoir?) that Harding Lemay would do something similar on ANOTHER WORLD, but with the expressed intention of having one storyline or scene serve as a counter-point to the other. Nothing that I have seen on this show (and I will admit, I FF sometimes, because some of their [!@#$%^&*] is just too unbearable) suggests to me that the Pollocks had similar intentions with their material. We didn't see Mike and Karen commiserate over their similar, custody-related dilemmas. We didn't see Alan and Stacy get blotto and end up in bed because they're still hung up on their exes. We didn't see Ann and Stacy bond and decide to get over their sexual hangups by knowingly seducing the same man (on different nights, of course, or even on the same night, in some sort of envelope-pushing threesome). It's just lazy, irresponsible storytelling.

I've said this before, but one negative trait that characterizes MMT's first run for me is scenes where characters are yelling at and being uncivil toward each other. That was VERY off-putting to me, because I'd never known AMC to be the kind of soap where people were often confrontational.

I'd agree with that, if I didn't feel like the Pollocks told the same story over and over again. (Right now, I'm watching Carolee talk to Althea about how she caught Steve hugging Ann after a nightmare, and I'm like, "Gawd, we JUST went through this [!@#$%^&*] with Karen! Now it's with Ann! Give us a [!@#$%^&*] BREAK, Pollocks!".) Which is ironic, since, for the most part, the characters on this show trended toward being UN-stable under their watch. Yeah, but I'm not looking forward to . Maybe it's because I'll be watching (hopefully) from 2018 or 2019, but I feel like that kind of story had to have been played out even back then.

I've read and heard the same. In some ways, I guess, you could see Agnes and Felicia Minei Behr's influence on Megan McTavish's work the first time around. AMC, as a whole, was not the heartless, unrecognizable mess that it would become during Megan's second and third runs, and beyond. IMO, though, Megan McTavish's first HW'ing stint was also the first time AMC began to favor gimmick over character (not just the Janet/Natalie thing, or the Kendall history retcon thing, but stuff like bringing back James Patrick Stuart as a Will lookalike), making it no more the warm, funny, thoughtful show I looked forward to watching everyday as a youngster. To this day, I'm curious as to why Wisner Washam, whom Agnes had brought back to the show to push it out of the ratings doldrums, not only quit but also asked to be let out of his contract immediately, per a SOW or SOD report at the time. In his interview w/ We Love Soaps, he makes it plain that Megan McTavish was a big reason for his leaving again. But what EXACTLY did she do or say (or did ABC do or say) that was the "red line" for him? Moreover, I wonder why the plot twist that was supposed to be Janet, as Jane Cox, bombing Trevor and Laurel's wedding ended up being the thing that got MMT fired (or got her to leave, or whatever). Yeah, the timing of that story against the OKC bombing WAS unfortunate, forcing the show to rewrite and to air a disclaimer (with Robin Mattson, I think?) before the episodes in question. But it wasn't as if MMT was the ONLY HW in soap history to have had the misfortune of plotting a storyline that would end up mirroring a real-life tragedy. By his own account, Henry Slesar, when he was HW at EDGE OF NIGHT, had to scrap his original plan(s) for the character of Eliot Dorn once the Jonestown massacre had occurred, but P&G didn't fire him. So what ELSE was going on at that moment that made FMB and/or ABC say they had had enough?

Wow. Just...wow. So, just how much hot water is FB in right now? Because, my head is spinning so much that I don't think I'm processing everything as well as I should.

Well, I hope Robert Cenedella doesn't make me want to chuck my desktop out the nearest window like the Pollocks did. I know they have their fans, but....

IIRC, Agnes was "Executive Head Writer," a position that I dare anyone to explain.

I've got to hand it to her team: they chose not to touch on her acting career in that video, which might be savvy in these times when so many appear to be "anti-celebrity." I wish her all the luck in the world.

The more I read about Gen. John Kelly, the more I can't WAIT to see Trump fire his ass.

Obviously! I DEFINITELY envision a scenario where Trump fires not just Mueller, but Rosenstein and even Sessions as well. It's going to be a REAL bloodbath.

Yeah, good luck with that, Nicolle, lol. If Trump believes he can finally say what he feels, then what in the Samuel Langhorne hell has been spewing from his uneducated mouth since day damn one??

I don't recall what motivation they gave Dimitri for aiding Kendall in her quest, but knowing Megan McTavish's work, I'm sure it was flimsy as hell.

Wait, Drake Hogestyn guest-starred on a primetime show? WTF? Have they officially run out of middle-aged actors in Hollywood?

Let's be honest: Melba Moore has her fans, yes, but I don't recall her EVER setting the music charts on fire, if you know what I mean. Which is not to say she isn't talented -- because she is -- but she's just never been that lucky.

I still believe it's just a matter of time before Trump shows Mueller the door. But no way do I believe Congress will ever do anything about it. Nope. I stand by what I've said before: he'll go down, alright, but not for anything Russia-related.

Frankly, I'm shocked they found enough material to fill an entire episode.

I just couldn't get past the fact that history had been rewritten in order to make Kendall's existence possible, and that the quality of the writing under Megan McTavish was becoming more and more trashy like some horrific, mid-afternoon talk show.

When are these men going to learn just to shut up and listen?