Faulkner

Far too young. R.I.P. This is a nice scene.

From Hawaii 🇺🇸

Other than Zoe slinking out of town, there was no real follow-up to yesterday’s events, which is insane. Basically the same thing happened with Quinn after the Shauna/Ridge fake wedding revelation: Eric ripped her a new one, and she disappeared for what seemed like weeks. There are so many loose threads that could have been addressed today: Quinn’s vengeful anger at Paris and Brooke; Ridge wrestling with the betrayal of his best friend; Carter’s status at Forrester; the list goes on. Instead we got Ridge giving a play-by-play of the aborted “commitment ceremony” 🙄 to Steffy and Finn, and a pivot back to the Spencers/Justin/Thomas stuff. And that pathetic farewell from Zoe… They treat Rena only slightly better than Heather Tom: they throw her a frontburner story every blue moon to act her ass off and then treat her like a glorified extra. You’d think, with Zoe gone, Brad might play out the Quarter romance, but like most of his stuff, the affair feels like a stunt and a momentary diversion from Liam.

Wow. Really great scene that I don’t remember watching. These veteran actors add so much richness and wisdom to these stories. Such a shame these shows began to see older actors are expendable. (Even today, they could play Jackie Zeman with Eden McCoy more to tighten the Bobbie/Joss bond. It would add a lot of depth to Joss’s character.)

Bershan is a breath of fresh air who deserves a midseason apple, and the vibe is closer to vintage NYC than other episodes this season. I do like the tension between Bershan and Eboni. These shows don’t often highlight different approaches that black women employ to navigating mostly white environments (sometimes in competition with one another), so that feels somewhat fresh. And Eboni’s talking-head interview in which she said Bershan was encroaching on her territory was interesting. Glad that Eboni’s connection to Fox News and past statements were addressed. Her mother voted for Trump. This season is basically a write-off, though. Maybe a necessary transition? I dunno.

Sharp elbows in the Queens Borough President race:

LOL Luann mentioned that hats on the bed were bad luck. I learned that watching Drugstore Cowboy.

Very sad but freak accident? That’s…. hmmm…

Funny… FAA is dating Alja Tomjanovic’s cousin, and Alja is dating Berrettini, who’s playing FAA in the quarterfinals:

Erstwhile Hollywood starlet Carroll Baker, now 90, gives an impassioned defense of Bill Cosby… Lordy:

It’s an effective game, though. Whether or not that’s a damning statement on the rest of the WTA is up for debate, I suppose. I don’t love watching her play either, but she’s a respectable No. 1.

Well, NuChanel is… diving right in.

Ash Barty just made 25% first serves and still won her opening set 6-1. The level of play is simply not Grand Slam caliber this year.

What Ben is doing is not cute. Agree with everyone else.

A sixth week at No. 1 for “Butter,” a song I’ve yet to hear in the wild. (Its airplay numbers are decent, so it may just be me.) Ed Sheeran’s latest enters the top 10 at No. 5.

It’ll be hilarious if this is the year Karolina Pliskova wins a major title. Lord.

From Nashville 🇺🇸

EL/Tara being No. 1 is NUTS. They are truly clueless.

Certainly B&B too. GH at least has some peaks and valleys lately (the lead-up to Peter and Cyrus’s departures had energy I haven’t seen on Y&R in years, but it all just deflated almost instantly).

Yeah, it’s super sad. The dialogue feels like they think it’s smart but it’s really not at all. It’s just stiff. Victoria, Ashland, and Amanda and her family feel particularly hampered by it. It’s not as pop-culture cutesy as Amanda Beall’s work on AMC, but something about it makes me feel like she has a hand in it as co-HW. If a certain spoiler comes to pass, I might be out. Just out of principle. Part of me watches because I’m trying to envision what behind-the-scenes environment fosters such a show. And I like the community here. But it’s a slooooog to get through episodes, and life is short.

I don’t think what you’re saying is at odds with what I’ve stated. Of course, they have a budget. But storytelling isn’t the priority for them. Other shows manage to do both a little better. The show *feels* like they’ve been told, we don’t care if there’s anything happening on screen. Are you under budget? Yes? Approved!

Oh god. I knew something was coming, but maybe that’s my call to skip this episode. Especially with that TV-14 LSV rating…

Saw FAA just beat Sascha. That’s a huge step forward for him to make a slam QF.

Just embarrassing:

I heard Sonego has been playing stupidly but also had some sh!tty luck with some bad line calls (one of which he didn’t challenge) and the rain delay, which happened when he was BP down (he double-faulted when play resumed). Meanwhile, Federer is just skating along…