Faulkner

I love how the reporter in the first clip subtly undercuts the L&L phenomenon by emphasizing the rape and mentioning the person Luke punched “wasn’t Laura.”

I actually thought I was feeling deja vu. Like didn’t they already do a pirate dress-up? Apparently not but I think they did it on another franchise? Everything is just blending together for me, including the newbies.

Glad to see she’s back. She’s the rare genuine weirdo this show has cast in recent years. Totally shameless for better or worse and in her own world, which makes her watchable (to me). Otherwise, the show is a bit too self-aware.

I wish they’d let Victoria be single for a while. Bring back Reed and let her focus on that mother-son relationship or something. It’s tiresome to watch her be made a fool of time after time, in addition to looking incompetent in her role at Newman. Have her develop an addiction. Anything but the same sad desperate dance she does for Victor. Olivia’s absence has been deeply felt, and Nate’s been back in Genoa City, what, five or six years? It’s unbelievable that she’s been off the canvas for more than a decade, and they never considered a recast if TLW wasn’t available or interested in a return. Amelia Marshall would kick ass, even if for a short stint like Tricia Cast or Jess Walton do from time to time. But I just don’t think they care that much. They especially don’t seem that interested in reconnecting to the Barber side of Lily/Devon/Nate’s family. Mamie spent more time doting over her geriatric Abbott kids than bonding with her actual kinfolk during her most recent return.

Viewers seem confused: Nate seems like a totally different person now. They don’t love to hate him. They just see him as a loser. The writers hoped we’d suspend disbelief since we barely knew Nate before, aside from his medical background. He wasn’t fleshed out at all. Generally good guy on the surface. He was kind of a cad, yes, but his affairs were very plot-driven. In his story with Amanda/Elena/Devon, he was the only character that lacked a real POV. Certainly, having Olivia return in some capacity would have helped us understand Nate more, perhaps giving us insight on his treatment of women and his identity as a physician, but I feel like we’re giving more thought to Nate as a character than the writers do. Maybe if they’d deepened the friendship between Ashland and Nate, making Ashland more of a business mentor and a bad influence on Nate, it would have done a lot of the work to explain his shift, in addition to the anger he felt toward Devon over his career-ending hand injury. Or Imani as his Lady Macbeth goading him to more and more devious acts would have helped. But it feels like these shows are written week to week instead of planned out, and promising stories get dumped on a dime. Nate as a big exec at Newman Enterprises just isn’t credible, and since he’s so opaque and ill-defined as a character, the audience doesn’t have anything to hold onto with him. These writers don’t want to (or aren’t allowed to) do the work.

It’s a really good watch. Very emotional. The written messages from BarBara Luna, JdP, and the soap journalist who lost his eyesight (whom AE befriended) were so moving. Sad that some of our best people leave us so early.

Started watching. Surprised at how good Bob Woods looks.

LOL. How random!

A tangent re: nuRHONY. A discussion of how the past few years have affected NYC nightlife: Is The 'City That Never Sleeps' Adopting An 'Early Bird' Schedule? https://www.wnyc.org/story/city-never-sleeps-adopting-early-bird-schedule/

What is this I hear about Summer and a roller coaster?

I just don’t get why they’re always in someone’s apartment or house. It almost feels like another pandemic season.

LOL. Another legendary bit from Friedkin on his distaste for Pacino: “I don’t give a flying fûck into a rolling donut what Al Pacino thinks.” 😂

15th week at No. 1 for Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night”:

The beginning of Friedkin’s Boys in the Band. The Ryan Murphy adaptation with the most recent Broadway cast was an abomination.

What a filmography: Cruising is such a weird, harrowing movie:

This new cast of NYC just isn’t holding my attention, which bums me out as they looked so good on paper. I thought perhaps the women had stronger friendships and bonds, but turns out they don’t? We see them bonding and getting to know each other but not really interacting much with the city, which is a huge missed opportunity. NYC isn’t really a character on the show in the way it should be (or maybe this series is an admission that NYC is well and truly dead). They also lack a strong supporting cast. It just feels… slight.

Glad to see her making adjustments and those adjustments are paying off:

I love DeBarge. The In a Special Way album is such a statement from them about what they were capable of. The (sorta) title track “Love Me in a Special Way” is an exceptional use of gospel music as a vehicle for a romantic song (back to R&B’s roots as mixing the sacred, the secular, and the sexual) and shows off El’s vocal power and range: