Faulkner

From Germany 🇩🇪

When did Michele Val Jean start? I see she’s in the credits.

Y&R often looks and feels cheaper than all the other series, including the notoriously low-budget DAYS, which seems to make much better use of its limitations. The dip in production values over even the past couple of years has been stunning, even pre-COVID.

Karla’s a good actress and maybe she’d need time to find her sea legs as Amanda, but she just isn’t in Mishael’s league. There’s no comparison to how the Amanda scenes played with KM versus MM. Karla just couldn’t get her mouth around the unnatural dialogue while Mishael makes it feel effortless and impassioned. Even the decent-to-passable actors cast as Amanda’s family can’t do it nearly as well as Mishael. They have no clue what a goldmine they have in her.

Karen Huger just posted this on IG. Is she really this snatched?

From India 🇮🇳

Oof. Dan Schneider interview in the NYT.

For me, she almost singlehandedly makes the show, in spite of the poorly executed introduction of her family. They need to pay her all the money. I would love a behind-the-scenes exposé on Y&R. The show is about as Dollar General as it gets, and they continue to strip it down. I can’t imagine someone like Melody Thomas Scott is long for this world on that show.

These shows feel like they can get more mileage (and social media “moments”) with the completely out-of-left-field twist than the well-paced story. It’s sad to see and really disrespects their audience. It’s also overused in primetime as well, but for soaps in particular, it goes against their main reason for being. (Not that Bradley has ever demonstrated a skill for pacing…) A good surprise or twist every once in a while can keep viewers on their toes, but it has to feel earned, and this one does not. Justin just seems desperately opportunistic rather than methodical or strategic.

Nick Kyrgios. What a clown.

Ostapenko, actin’ a fool, per usual.

An interesting long read on the PTPA and how to address the financial struggles of players at the lower rungs of the top 100-200:

From California 🇺🇸

HBO didn’t pick up the proposed second season: https://deadline.com/2021/07/lovecraft-country-canceled-no-season-2-hbo-1234785811/amp/

Shapovalov looks a helluva lot better without that stupid, ill-fitting backwards cap on.

Something about fulfilling her duties or something, which was a big load of wank. She could have easily skipped that pageant instead of acting a fool with Heather. Oof, Jamal and Gizelle just went live on IG for like two seconds. Was super weird. Jamal was in some store fitting room or something and he videochatted Gizelle, who was in bed looking just as crazy…

We had the same thought at the same time. I deleted mine since you added the context.

R.I.P.

I like Brooke skewering Quinn, but she’s interrupting a… commitment ceremony? “If you continue this, Eric, you’ll be making a big mistake.” Uh, but… they’re already married? Bradley didn’t think this through. It would have made more sense if Eric and Quinn had divorced and were remarrying.

Seriously, what is Mariah’s story here? Is she at all conflicted about being a surrogate and giving away her first child?