Faulkner

From London 🇬🇧

I think there’s an argument that, in theory, it could be more relevant than ever, since we have so much data on how people listen to music. Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, and other places all have their own charts, but there’s no place that brings them all together. I just think Billboard hasn’t figured out the right formula to determine what’s a hit. And there are too many ways to game the system (concert ticket bundles, etc.).

For me, B&S never knew if it wanted to be a Zwick/Herskovitz family drama or a political show or a quirky dramedy (like its Desperate Housewives lead-in) or a balls-to-the-wall dishy soap (ditto), sometimes within the same episode, and it did all of those things poorly. The writing never lived up to the *incredible* caliber of that cast. Feels like a huge waste. You know, I actually liked EVC on the early episodes of Revenge. Another waste. Should have been a limited series, but that was before those were fashionable.

It’s been weird. You have these quick one-week flameouts like “Stuck with U” and then you have these viral meme-y songs like “The Box” and “Old Town Road” (and now likely “Rockstar”) that hang out in the top spot and break records. And then Post Malone takes up residence in the top 10 for months and months with songs like “Sunflower” and now “Circles,” which has spent 39 weeks (almost 9 months) in the top 10.

Diana Barton was such a beauty. Like a film noir femme fatale. Loved the frank conversation Sharon and Doris had about money, education, and health care, concerns that would be on the minds of many viewers.

Lol I love it. Reminds me of Donna Summers.

July 2 is Thursday (where did June go?), so at least we don’t have to wait much longer for NYC at least. I like Dorinda and Ramona’s new taglines much better.

From Da Nang, Vietnam 🇻🇳

From Delhi 🇮🇳

From Hat Yai, Thailand 🇹🇭

From Miami 🇺🇸

Dropping this here...

From Miami 🇺🇸

I feel like that clip even left off some good moments. But just his building from Devon’s earnest appeal to Carmen on Dru’s behalf, his frustration with not being able to hear her as well not being understood, up to the amazement and rage at Carmen’s twisting of the situation. It’s just a really great performance. I remember people being outraged that he beat GL’s Tom Pelphrey and ATWT’s Jesse Soffer that year, as if he wasn’t half the actor they were. In some ways, that outrage was understandable: Soffer and especially Pelphrey were leads on their shows, opportunities only offered to white (or very rarely Latinx) dudes on daytime, and the Emmys just reward a few good scenes out of a year. But Bryton never got the chance to shine as much as they did. He was a grown man playing a children’s illness story, completely emasculated and a secondary presence on his show. (But again, it’s funny: when Bryton appeared on Vampire Diaries, people thought he was wonderful.) I will never blame Bryton for what happened with Devon. It’s been the writing 100%.

It’s funny: with all the dismissals Bryton has received as a performer over the years, his scenes were the only ones thus far that have stood out as an Emmy showcase IMO.

Hey, I can’t get the perverse yet poetic justice of MR replaced with a WOC (when the other way around has been so commonplace), BC/GA would be awesome.

Amid the reflection on America’s racist history sparked by the police murders of black citizens, a few country music artists have been taking controversial Southern cultural references out of their names. Lady Antebellum became “Lady A” and now this:

I was also trying to think of frontburner Black villains on soaps who lasted more than a few months and didn’t merely exist just to make a white/Latino character look good before being disposed of (à la Taylor on AMC or Keri on OLTL). Would Liz on Passions and Virginia on SuBe count? (Edit: forgot Lexie’s turn to the dark side on DAYS.) It’s crazy that, in all their years on the show, neither Dru nor Olivia on Y&R ever really had a Sheila/Phyllis/Isabella-type character to go up against. (I know Dru tangled with Phyllis but that was long after Ms. Summers had become a heroine.) Carmen was the closest Dru ever had, and that character was not particularly well-crafted, to say the least.