Faulkner

Wheeler’s production model was poorly executed, but it was probably the only thing that kept the show on the air those last few years. It’s just tough to imagine a world in which a lot of these dead shows survived unless they were re-imagined to the point that they were no longer recognizable as soaps as we defined them years ago. Technology and social change caught a lot of industries off guard, but only in the past few years has anyone thought to future-proof their products. Daytime soaps unfortunately missed the boat. A lot of the budget bloat from the late-‘70s and early-‘80s came back to bite these shows hard when the Luke/Laura bubble burst, and the networks had trained their audiences to expect a certain thing. And the problem is bigger than soaps. It’s the media industry and advertising, period. Again, we were lucky to have these shows as long as we did and at such a high quality during their heyday.

Honestly, it was lucky to survive as long as it did and probably should have ended in the ‘90s even though there were very good things about the show in the new millennium. In a perfect world, “good writing” would have saved the day, but there’s a certain point when the economics don’t work (and that’s ultimately inseparable from the quality, as pressures from the bean counters lead to desperation). It’s just reality in a larger business that’s dying in all aspects apart from streaming/SVOD. The show was alive longer than most human beings. That’s a mighty good run.

Ugh. Good for Caroline. She seems lovely, and she’d toiled as a punchline, an otherwise highly decorated, long-running No. 1 player who’d never won a GS. And she had been down 5-1, 40-15 in the third set of the 2nd round and mounted a comeback win. Shades of Kerber against Misaki Doi at the 2016 AO, but far more impressive because of the steepness of the climb out of the hole. But I was rooting for Halep honestly, mostly due to those gritty wins over Davis and Kerber. She would have given up in those matches a year ago, and it showed growth that she found a way to stick around and prevail. Those matches probably took a lot out of her, though, so she needs to find ways to be more aggressive, pounce on weak serves, and conserve energy. I think she’ll get there eventually. Kim Clijsters had, what, four GS finals before she finally won?

Yep. Y&R is the show I stuck with, simply because it took longer to fully deteriorate. But in a very short period of time, GL was the show that I fell in love with, the show that made me fall in love with soaps. Which made its sharp drop in quality seem like a betrayal. I did not stick with it because seeing it so shockingly diminished was just too painful.

So glad that Def Leppard’s original recordings are back on streaming.

To me, the Nancy Curlee era (1991-93) was the pinnacle of my 25-30 years of soap viewing, so to see so many people saying it was bettered makes me want to take a deep dive into earlier eras. I suppose the entirety of the ‘80s is on YT.

The men's side is again an absolute bust while the women are creating absolute barnstormers. It feels like an anomaly that this year's women's title comes down to No. 1 vs 2, even though there were plenty of upsets.

Ryan Lizza, who was fired from the New Yorker, is back at CNN: http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/ryan-lizza-cnn-sexual-misconduct-investigation-1202677796/

James Franco was digitally removed from the all-star cover of Vanity Fair's Hollywood issue due to his sexual misconduct allegations. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rambling-reporter/james-franco-was-scrubbed-vanity-fair-hollywood-issue-cover-1078634

The race to destroy The Shape of Water as frontrunner begins: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jan/25/shape-of-water-oscars-paul-zindel-similarities?CMP=fb_gu

They did briefly have five previous winners in the same category, including the last winner, present the acting awards. I thought it was cool but time-consuming.

Fergie released videos for every song from her CD? Shows how out of touch I am with her. I wouldn't put it past JT, though.

That hasn't been announced yet as far as I know. Maybe it'll be a woman. I've seen people suggest having Mira Sorvino do it as a #metoo statement.

Justin has released his duet with Chris Stapleton, which is better than the last single by a wide margin (even if the chorus is a bit repetitive):

I'm sure he was discouraged from participating, but it is the tradition.

Casey Affleck has withdrawn from presenting Best Actress at the Oscars: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-casey-affleck-wont-present-best-actress-award-1078422?facebook_2018125

I suspect you're right, but it won't be without serious backlash.

For many reasons. Many reasons. It'll be interesting to see how the USTA handles Sandgren should this tournament be more than a fluke.

Chung prevails! I tuned in for that last game. He really tightened up for a bit but pulled through.

Good for her! The guy's repulsive.

I'm sure she would have brought some good things to GL in the '90s. But I also realize that, around that time, every soap wanted to achieve DAYS' Reilly-era success by mimicking its outlandish stories, and she would have certainly been forced to write the same type of sci-fi/fantasy stuff that B&E had to do in '98.