Khan

Well, I hear Billy Campbell isn't doing much these days.

Frankly, I've been too bogged down by personal matters to be as concerned as I have been about TrumpCo. (I can take only so much drama, ya know?) But I am glad the FBI has officially, on-the-record launched their investigation into Russia. Part of me doubts much will come of it. Nevertheless, I'm glad someone in such a capacity is doing something.

The model in the preceding commercial (for Curl-Free Relaxer) reminds me of Linda Dano.

As much as I look up to Douglas Marland as a writer, I think he would have had difficulties collaborating with anyone as his co-head writer. After all, he collaborated with Agnes Nixon on LOVING, and look at how THAT turned out. Not only did he quit the show after the first couple years, his name was removed from the credits as co-creator! IMO, the perfect (soap) writer would possess: - Bill Bell and Claire Labine's interests in all matters psychological; - Bridget and Jerome Dobson's offbeat sense of humor; - Sam Hall, Peggy O'Shea, Gordon Russell and Pat Falken Smith's "provocativeness"; - Harding Lemay's skill in scene construction; - Pam Long's devotion to homespun "family values"; - Doug Marland's love for and use of history as a means of driving story; - Agnes Nixon's bent toward social justice; and - Henry Slesar's knack for suspense and puzzle-like plotting. AND...they have to accomplish all that with Patrick Mulcahey's witty dialogue, Lynn and Bernie Lechowick's (KNOTS LANDING) employment of music and editing as key components in the storytelling, and Leonard Katzman and David Paulsen's (DALLAS) ability to deliver the big "watercooler moments" that will have audiences buzzing between episodes.

Which is ironic for people who won't have none of that evolution talk. Evangelicals are more like sluts. Whisper a little scripture in their ears and they'll be flat on their backs for you in no time.

Yep. Our next Waco or Ruby Ridge is on the way.

Perhaps. Obviously, you WOULDN'T be able to tell a doppelganger story, which is okay, since, IMO, doppelganger/evil twin stories rarely work on soaps. (They're almost the epitome of Idiots Plots, really, where the other characters have to remain complete idiots or else the plot ends.) However, even with another actress portraying Justine, the character still would have needed to be a step above a Disney villain. Her mental state was no excuse for her also being one-dimensional as hell.

I think I read somewhere that Marland had planned for Carrie to kill Jackie Marler while under control of one of her alters and then stand trial for murder. There was going to be a moment when Carrie realized (probably on the witness stand) that she had indeed killed Jackie, at the same time everyone in town would realize the extent of her psychological problems. When Allen Potter let Jane Elliot go, however, Marland nixed those plans.

If Justine had been written with a bit more nuance, then I think the story would have been more palatable. Not more SUCCESSFUL, but more palatable. (Because, to be perfect and frank, that story was never going to work all the way.) As it was, though, it did the impossible: it made Victoria Wyndham look bad.

That might have been when FMB talked backstage about bringing AMC into the '90's, which is when I knew my beloved show was headed for trouble.

Coast Guard and airport security, eh? Well, so much for keeping us safe! A collision between us and North Korea is gonna look a lot like when Homer and Bart Simpson ran into each other with pots on their heads.

Before it's all said and done, we'll learn there isn't a man, woman, child or family pet alive who doesn't have ties to Russia.

All this comparing TrumpCo. and Trump Nation to religious cults does not fill me with gladness. Like, at any moment, I'm expecting to turn on my TV and witness their Ruby Ridge/Waco/OKC moment.

If they're going back to the original premise of Krystle (excuse me, CRISTAL) vs. Fallon, then it's probably smart to have the two women roughly the same age. Anyone who even knows about the Iris/Rachel rivalry on ANOTHER WORLD understands how complex and juicy that dynamic can be.

Trump is REALLY caught between a rock and a hard place, isn't he? If he or his men lift the sanctions and so forth, they'll only confirm what many have been saying about TrumpCo.'s relationship with Russia. If they don't, then they run the risk of the Kremlin leaking potentially damaging intel as retaliation. Either way, the cloud of suspicion and guilt hangs over the administration for as long as they remain in the WH and beyond. I must say, Obama, you played this one well. It might not result in Trump being impeached or resigning (I think there's a good chance everyone AROUND Trump will fall before he falls himself) but as long as someone in the media keeps pursuing this story, everyday he's in that Oval Office will be pure hell.

When it's Stephen [!@#$%^&*] King who is bringing the funny, you know we have tripped into another dimension.

Translation: "Cracker, please!"

x 5000

IMO, hope and inspiration have nothing to do with it. Most of those people are just happy that President Earth, Wind and Fire is gone and that the country is back in the hands of a white man. In their minds, that proves their way of life isn't disappearing (when, in fact, it is). It doesn't even MATTER that we have essentially kissed goodbye our international reputation. They just want to go back to The Way Things Used to Be.

Ironically, neither Mama Khan nor my brother voted. (I didn't vote either, but that was because I couldn't at the time vote for any candidate, not even Griftin' Jill or Stoner Gary. But they didn't vote, because, well, they're just lazy.) But they do watch Fox News; and brother Chavez, I suspect, has been influenced somewhat by my SIL, a pro-life, anti-vaxxing Conservative Christian type, who believes public schools are teaching our kids All the Wrong Things (even though she herself was homeschooled). I love my brother, but he has always -- ALWAYS -- been influenced by white people. Yep. At first, I tried to engage in discussions with Mama Khan about Trump. After awhile, though, it was clear Fox News had gotten her as well. No matter what argument I presented, she'd just counter with "Crooked Hillary/Obama" this and "Liberal Media" that. Even if Trump IS a bigot, for example, "hey, he apologized, people make mistakes, and Hillary and Obama are just as racist as he is!" Now, I just stay in my room whenever she's watching that blasted channel and remain quiet whenever she starts talking again about politics, hoping she'll catch the hint and change the subject. Sounds a lot like Mama Khan. In her eyes, God don't like ugly, so people (and especially those Jesus-hating celebs who want to take Christ out of everything) need to get their mouths off Trump. He might be everything they say he is, but -- and this is straight from her own mouth -- God might surprise us all and actually use Trump for good, even if Trump himself doesn't see it.

Good. I'm glad they got played. I hope more AA's who think Trump is a decent, law-abiding person (like my brother, who had the audacity to say IN MY PRESENCE that Trump was "his president") get played by that carpetbagging s.o.b. I'm especially gobsmacked by those (like Mama Khan and my brother) who believe, because Trump (allegedly) prayed with Rev. Franklin and Billy Graham about running for office, that this is all going according to God's plan; that Trump "walks with the Lort" and will somehow "bring Christianity back to the WH" (because, Obama was a Muslim, don'cha know?). Well, I say, the devil comes in a ray of light, too.

Random thoughts: David Jacobs said it best: DALLAS was the perfect show for the first Reagan administration, and DYNASTY was the perfect show for the second. I've always believed KNOTS was the best-written of the four '80's primetime soaps (even when Lynn Marie Latham and Bernard Lechowick effectively ran the show), because the producers paid more attention to the characters, and because they were willing to evolve. That was one of DYNASTY's (and, to a lesser extent, DALLAS') major problems. Once the Pollocks and Shapiros stumbled upon the formula that made DYNASTY successful, they never strayed or varied, not even when it was clear that what made DYNASTY a hit was now what was sabotaging it. Again, I give David Paulsen credit for coming in and trying to turn things around. Frankly, I think it was unfair of the Pollocks and Shapiros -- who, IMO, were bitter over someone from their main competitor coming aboard either at Spelling's request or ABC's -- turning around after the show's cancellation and saying, in essence, "See, we told you so!". That's why the reunion movie they co-wrote a couple of years later always leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. To me, that POS comes across as one, giant "get even time."

An online blogger said it best: the Shapiros created Amanda, so they could have a royal wedding. That's pretty much the only function Amanda, a character who was generic even when she decided to be petulant, ever served on the show.

Between Alexis, Krystle, Sammy Jo, and even Claudia and Kirby, Fallon was basically boxed in. I'm just glad she wasn't as bland and inconsequential as Amanda. IMO, the problem with the Krystle/Fallon feud was two-fold: 1) the writing didn't match the potential; and 2) Linda Evans was no match for Pamela Sue Martin. Well, tbh, Linda Evans is no match for ANY actress. She's gorgeous enough, but she's also very wan. If there was any excitement at all to Alexis and Krystle's bitch-fests, it's because Joan Collins, while no master thespian herself, played to the back of the room.

The writing did no actor any favors, really.