Khan

Well, of course, the NYT won't come out and admit that Harris is destroying him. They want a horse race, because that's what sells papers. Anyone who's watched "His Girl Friday" even once knows that the press can't be trusted to do their jobs. Ever.

In his defense, he IS a Kennedy.

I know, it just cracks me the hell up, lol!

I couldn't make it through the first week!

That wasn't just a plunge. America literally pushed "E-R" off the balcony after the first episode. Except watch "People Do the Craziest Things," apparently. LMAO!!

I truly cannot recall being excited when I heard the news of Conboy's hiring. I remembered only too well his work on CAPITOL and SaBa (and had seen at least bits and pieces of his work on Y&R) and believed he was an odd choice for GL's new EP, to say the least. Conboy had always been about opulence and old-school glamour, two things which GL never was about, even during the height of the Gail Kobe/Pam Long era.

Honestly, if Donna Reed had joined the show as a sibling or cousin of Miss Ellie's, with the explanation that Ellie had either passed away or was out of town for health reasons, I think viewers might have accepted her more. Primetime isn't like daytime in the sense that you can just recast a character and expect viewers to go along with it.

You are correct, sir (or ma'am), lol! The truth is, Hallmark movies are so strictly formulaic that all you really need IS the title.

LOL!! I can't believe the number of Jell-O Pudding Pops that I ate as a child on account of that sleazy bastard.

On the whole, I hate TCS' opening sequences, because I'm always sensitive to African-Americans being portrayed as smiling, dancing "colored folks." It's very "coon show" to me. I mean, all that's missing from those sequences is the cast chomping down on some fried chicken or watermelon.

LOL!! Watching that opening sequence, you think, "When did the Huxtables move to the Caribbean," lol. I agree. I tend to agree with those who insist that the first season of TCS was its' best. The writing during that season was sharper and had more purpose. Subsequent seasons just seemed to be a weekly, half-hour excuse for Bill Cosby to act goofy around kids.

Wait, what??

Not that I'm letting Nuzzi off the hook, but...once a Kennedy, always a Kennedy.

And the Cheryl Hines Personal Redemption Tour begins in 3...2....

Why would the name "Jackson" be problematic for this show's core family? Am I missing something?

Frankly, I'd rather see Valarie Pettiford (and Stephanie E. Williams) join the cast of BTG. They don't need to be on this sinking ship of a soap opera.

The folks behind this show ain't [!@#$%^&*] around. They intend to slay.

Yep, lol. "A Very Good Year for Murder" and "Crimson Harvest" definitely were homages to FALCON CREST, while "Northern Explosion" was more than a little inspired by "Northern Exposure." There's also "The Wearing of the Green" (S1, E6), which features two female detectives (played by Patty McCormick and Lucie Arnaz) who were spoofs of "Cagney & Lacey," which had ended its' run on the network only months before. I love that, lol! Jessica Fletcher seemed to have travelled everywhere and met everyone. Yet, they never had her travel to Africa and go on a safari as research for one of her novels.

I don't think there was any reason to shade them since MSW outperformed them all in the ratings and none of them were up against MSW on Sunday nights either. On the other hand, it's pretty clear MSW was taking a few jabs at "Hunter" in "Murder, According to Maggie," even though "Hunter" aired on a different night, but it was done in such a way that you wouldn't have known unless you watched "Hunter" regularly.

I agree. By S12, MSW was at the point where the clunker episodes were becoming more noticeable. Not only did you have the back-to-back music industry episodes that I've been mentioned above, but you also had the back-to-back western-themed episodes early in the season, with "A Quaking in Aspen," followed by "The Secret of Gila Junction"; a two-parter ("Nan's Ghost") that was filled with a negligible amount of filler (and was pretty much like every other Ireland-themed episode, right down to the use of several of the same guest stars); the show's one Japan-themed episode ("Kendo Killing") that suffered from the fact that it was clearly taped (like all episodes were) on the Universal Studios lot; an episode ("Something Foul in Flappieville") where the milieu was too vague (sometimes, it seems like it's taking place BTS at a live-action children's TV show; sometimes, it seems like it's really taking place at a cartoon show or puppet theatre; and sometimes, it feels like we're at a toy factory!); an episode ("Southern Double-Cross") that finally sent Jessica "down under" for the first time in 12 years, but throws every stereotype about Australians at us in the process; a Cabot Cove episode ("Evidence of Malice") that revolves around Deputy Andy Broom and reveals just how thin and serviceable the character has always been; an episode about teenagers ("What You Don't Know Can Kill You") that was written by someone who hadn't been a teenager since the 1940's; and a next-to-last episode ("Mrs. Parker's Revenge") that was so un-MSW-like in its' plot about biological warfare that I still suspect it was an unused "Matlock" or "Wonder Woman" script that was refashioned for this show. Frankly, whenever I get to "Death by Demographics" on my PlutoTV rewatches, I am READY to start the whole series over again, lol. I get it, too, lol. TBH, I go back and forth on "Murder Among Friends." Sometimes, I appreciate the episode for its' satire on MSW's main competitor (and ultimate show-killer) that season; other times, I feel like most of the characters in that episode are REALLY unpleasant to watch. If "Friends" had been produced while Peter S. Fischer was still showrunner, I think he would've softened the blows with more humor, just as he had done with the "Hunter" spoof on "Murder, According to Maggie."

Between this random casting news and the news that B&B will introduce a new Forrester who was named after a comic book character, it's been a red-letter day for the Bell soaps, lol.

If B&B is adding a new character named "Electra" to the show, then I insist they also cast her sibling, and that their name be Dyna, Medea or Asylum.

That's what I thought! So glad I'm not the only one who remembered that, lol! I agree. What's next? Harrison Ford joins the show as Jed Andrews? (IYKYK, lol).

TBH, @DRW50, I don't think I've ever read any of the MSW tie-in novels, and I think that's because they don't have any bearing on the TV show. S's 1-5 certainly were MSW's most inventive seasons. The plots were formulaic, but Peter S. Fischer knew how to keep the show from becoming stale. S's 6 and 7 had their moments, too, but as a whole, they're bogged down by the "bookend episodes," which are polarizing, to say the least, lol. S8 sees new showrunner David Moessinger attempting to "shake up" the show - shorter scenes, quicker pacing, less reliance on humor/comedy, edgier music, fresher guest stars, NYC as a permanent locale - but, as I've said in the past, there is a feeling that the show is being "dumbed down" in order to boost the ratings. (For one, the concept of J.B. Fletcher teaching criminology at a university, despite having a background as an English teacher and mystery novelist only, is one of those only-on-TV conceits which, thankfully, gets downplayed and then eliminated entirely as the season wears on). If you ever wondered how Dean Hargrove would've produced a cerebral, non-violent show like MSW, then S8 provides you with the best answer. The last four seasons - S's 9 through 12 - are probably when MSW begins to go on auto-pilot, so to speak. J.B. remains as endearing as always, but other shows that Bruce Lansbury had produced in the past - "The Wild Wild West," "Mission: Impossible," "Wonder Woman" - tended to become generic after awhile, and his sister's show was no exception. No offense to him or to the rest of the Lansbury clan, but Bruce always struck me as a production executive-turned-creative who thought more about budgets than about creativity. By S12, there *is* this feeling that either MSW probably needed to end or that Lansbury and Co. are so miserable over how Les Moonves has treated them that episodes become more by-the-numbers than ever. I've always said that having back-to-back episodes ("Death Goes Double Platinum" and "Murder in Tempo") centered around the music industry was a sure sign that somebody at the show or the network just plain didn't care anymore, lol.

Am I wrong, or didn't Stephanie E. Williams take over HER role on OLTL?