Faulkner

WHAT IF... this will turn out to be a same-sex romance between Mariah and Abby? Nina senses there’s a connection between the two of them. And Chance returns just as Mariah and Abby realize they’re in love...

This story of Abby moving forward with this stressful and unconventional pregnancy without Chance is stupid, but if they ever needed an excuse for Nina to stick around (as support to her daughter-in-law), this is as good as any.

I totally forgot these were coming out today. SAG has some overlap with AMPAS, so these nominations could be an interesting bellwether for the Oscar nominations. They appear to have enjoyed Hillbilly Elegy more than the critics, and Helena Zengel is somewhat of a surprise.

From Ghana 🇬🇭

From Taipei, Taiwan 🇹🇼

I suspect that’s one reason why his cast mates weren’t clamoring to send him good wishes on his way out.

This Carter rant at Zoe would have had more impact if they’d given him an actual point of view as a character. This show needs more Brooke. She’s been desperately missed. JMW can’t be the only lead on this show with charisma.

Not loving Matt Ashford’s strident performance.

The lead-up to the Australian Open has become a disaster as a hotel worker tested positive.

For a second there, I didn’t recognize Freddie Prinze, Jr. and thought why is Punky with this old man? Did Mr. Warnimont give her a complex? Then I realized Freddie has gone into full-on daddy mode at 44, and it works for him. Soleil looks amazing.

Just a nice photo of two acting titans.

Oof. I said “Oh dear” out loud watching that.

Omg, that gif. 😂

From Venezuela 🇻🇪

Mark-Paul talking about Dustin’s death on Tamron Hall:

Lark Voorhies’s IG tribute to Dustin: https://www.instagram.com/p/CKzkmwKDXzw/?igshid=f0ehhckkdo8h Elizabeth Berkley’s https://www.instagram.com/p/CKw-5Y6nzr9/?igshid=1vezgl5rjfut3

Josh Duhamel confirmed to replace Armie Hammer: https://variety.com/2021/film/news/josh-duhamel-shotgun-wedding-jennifer-coolidge-sonia-braga-1234898430/

No effin’ way. Ron and his bad fan fiction...

Can we have a Suddenly Last Summer-style demise for Peter August in which he’s mobbed and devoured by cannibals? But make it way more graphic. We’ve endured his smug, dead-eyed face for far too long.

And he’s Victoria Monét’s baby daddy. Lucky lady.

From South Carolina 🇺🇸

I just watched AOC’s Instagram Live where she spoke of her and her legislative director hiding in Katie Porter’s office the day of the Capitol riots (after being directed by a supremely unhelpful and rather hostile police officer to go to an unspecified location). Harrowing story. It’s unbelievable how unprepared they were for such an event, when even the local elementary school does active shooter drills.

I don’t even know what you would call the soaps these days. They aren’t particularly realistic. They aren’t really fantastical. They just don’t have much range at all. Part of it is budget. Part of it is just inertia—it’s so easy to take the path of least resistance when baby switches and endless shallow triangles have worked in the past. No need to frighten execs/advertisers with anything too out there or too potentially “depressing” like COVID. Patrick Mulcahey has talked about this stuff. But they’ve also chosen to cater to a subset of Middle American Facebook Karens solely—possibly out of mere necessity—as their other viewers simply have too options to get more “realism.” The current daytime audience has been trained to want a certain thing out of their soaps, and we see how vocal and entitled those viewers become when they don’t get it. Those viewers don’t appear to be interested in a deeper exploration of life or anything that doesn’t validate their insular view of the world. But I’m also one of those naysayers who doesn’t believe soaps could really gain much traction again. The world has evolved past them, and other genres have stolen their tricks.

The Times released their obit of Jamie Tarses, which a few people call mean-spirited (as it rehashes her fraught tenure at ABC):